Shadow Slave

Effie stared at him with no amusement whatsoever on her childish face, which only made her attempts to appear serious look more comical. Then, she scowled and said evenly:

"Wanna die?"

Sunny shook his head with a grin, then went into more detail about the things he had learned, including various pieces of information he had gleaned in the nightmares, his experience with the Warmongers, and his observations about Solvane and Noctis.

When he was done, there was silence for a while. The others were digesting all the information he had shared with them, full of thought. Well… everyone except Effie.

The somber silence was soon broken by the sound of loud chewing. The little girl swallowed a piece of meat pie, then blinked a couple of times, noticing that everyone was staring at her. Finally, she wiped the oil off her lips and said:

"What? I am a growing child, you know! I need to eat well to grow big!"

Then, she wiped her oily fingers on the tablecloth and shrugged.

"Well, anyway… I guess I'll go next."

The little girl glanced at Sunny, made a face, and turned away.

"There's not much to tell, anyway. My three months in the Temple of the Chalice were not at all as exciting as Sunny's wild misadventures. Although…"

face suddenly grew

very

lingered for a few moments, and said spoke in a

cruel and perverse over the centuries. Now that I know about how Hope is manipulating everyone's desires, I finally understand why. That Solvane… she had been raised in the Red Sect, too, a long time ago.

The little girl trembled.

they already knew that nothing they did to me would make me obedient. So, they punished the others in my stead.

grew silent for a bit,

pain, how to endure fear, how to steel your will. How to be a perfect, merciless, lethal vessel of War. Of course, they were very inventive in their lessons… what better way to teach someone to endure pain

girl's face turned

the end, everyone turned out to be

bite out of her piece of meat pie, chewed it slowly,

so stupid. But mostly, it was just combat training. They trained us ruthlessly. There's a lot you can achieve with a few Awakened healers and no regard for whether your disciples survive or not. If we broke a bone, the healers would put it back together, and order us to continue. If we bled too much… well, you get the

Effie shook her head.

even worse than the rest. The girl whose body I took had the misfortune of Awakening at a very young age, you see. So, the Maidens saw her as their promised chosen one… a prodigious warrior fated to slay Solvane and wash away the humiliation she had visited upon the sect, to avenge her sin

little girl looked away,

treated us like their little sisters — when they were not torturing and killing us, of course. My teacher… Hilde… I think she thought

hesitated for a moment,

else died and the Maidens had nothing else to hold over my head, I started planning my escape. I had no idea if I would survive it, but luckily, before I