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…"

grew

weren't very

lingered for a few moments, and

had been entrusted to the Maidens, for better or worse… but mostly worse. As I already said, their teachings had grown 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 difference is, she managed to escape.

The little girl trembled.

caught, and the punishment… at the time, they already knew that nothing they did to me would make me obedient. So, they

silent for a bit, then

lethal vessel of War. Of course, they were very inventive in their lessons… what better way to teach someone to endure pain than to torture them to

girl's

end, everyone turned out to be weak.

her piece of meat pie, chewed it slowly, and then

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 put it back together, and

Effie shook her head.

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 and sacrilege. So, they worked me harder than anyone

girl looked away,

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 — when they were not torturing and killing us, of course. My teacher… Hilde… I think she thought of me as her own

for a moment, and

had nothing else to hold over my head, I started planning my escape. I