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…"

suddenly grew dim and

very pleasant,

sighed, lingered for a few moments, and said spoke in

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 difference

The little girl trembled.

Iron Hand island. But I was caught, and the punishment… at the time, they already knew that nothing they did to me would make me obedient. So, they

silent for

will. How to be a perfect, merciless, lethal vessel of War. Of

girl's

turned out

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

To teach me how to conquer the fear of darkness. These wretches… who said that I was afraid of darkness, to begin with? So… 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

Effie shook her head.

young age, you see. So, the Maidens saw her as their promised chosen one… a prodigious warrior fated to slay Solvane

girl looked

part was that all the vile crap they did to us was done without any hint of hatred, malevolence, or bad intentions. On the contrary, the older Maidens treated us like their little sisters

hesitated for a moment, and then

else to hold over my head, I started planning my escape. I