Shadow Slave

The Lost entered the inner sanctum of the Night Temple — its very heart — and bolted the heavy doors behind them. As soon as they did, a field of glowing runes flashed for a moment on the dark wooden surface, and then disappeared without a trace.

Sunny glanced at the door with a frown, but didn't say anything.

Cassie had never been to this part of the Citadel, so neither of them had any information about what was inside. The area was not too large, but right below them was the main bell tower of the cathedral, which was taller and wider than the other six belfries.

The two Masters led their people through somber corridors to a spacious hall that seemed to serve as their current stronghold. There were guards keeping watch in front of the entrance, crates with food and water, a fireplace keeping the cold at bay, and makeshift bedding for people to sleep on.

Just from looking at the number of cots, Sunny understood that not everyone had returned from their latest hunt... or whatever it was that the sentinels had tried to accomplish.

All in all, twenty-three Lost remained, some of them heavily wounded. With Pierce, Welthe, and the two of them, there were less than thirty humans left to oppose the mad prince. That meant that in several weeks, Mordret had eviscerated more than two-thirds of the temple's defenders.

Remembering how confident Master Welthe had been in their ability to contain the prisoner at the start of all this, Sunny couldn't help but shake his head.

...Mordret turned out to be more lethal and terrifying than even his jailers had expected.

The wounded were quickly tended to, and the Lost fell on their cots, dead tired. A few went through the familiar motions of maintaining the camp — cooking food, distributing water, and doing other miscellaneous tasks. Everything was performed swiftly and with trained precision, proving once more how experienced and professional these people were.

They were obviously fatigued, both mentally and physically, but not nearly as beaten and unsteady as Sunny had thought. Their spirits were not broken... perhaps because only those with the strongest wills had survived.

was not a single reflective surface in the whole of the inner sanctum. The Lost wore either armor made out of leather or dull steel that didn't give off reflections, and

familiar female sentinel approached them

wish to

and Cassie were led to a separate room, where Pierce and Welthe were waiting for

gestured to a couple of chairs and, after waiting for a few moments,

either Sir Pierce or I give you. You will not use any Memory or item that can be used as a mirror inside the inner sanctum… or outside of it, if you wish to live. You will not conspire against your fellow soldiers or tell a single soul about what you have seen here in

and Cassie glanced at

nodded, then looked

describe how you came in possession of that piece of a broken mirror. This

leaned forward

lying to us, boy! You won't like the

pretended to look at him with a bit

if

Beast on the Reckoning Island and almost lost his life to the strange

how he had managed to defeat such a dangerous abomination, he shared the detail about using the flaw of his own Aspect against the Reflection — while

silent for a while. Finally, Welthe spoke,

to escape, after all. To think that it had been so close all

hesitated, then