Shadow Slave

Sunny suddenly paled.

'Wait. No way...'

The runes describing the Shroud of Graceless Dusk resurfaced in his memory...

[There, they found solace, safety, and shelter. In time, the voices of the gods grew silent one after another, leaving behind only a vast and dreadful silence. That was how the sybils embraced the Estuary, and that was how they fell.]

He looked at Cassie somberly and said, his voice slightly hoarse:

"The... Defilement?"

The blind girl nodded sadly.

"Yes. The Defilement spread from the Estuary, consuming Verge, the city of the Seekers. And from there, the Defiled slowly moved upstream, threatening to devour all other settlements on the Great River. The sybils and their people waged a war against them for a long time. Eventually, most of their cities fell - some fell to the Defiled... but not all."

Her beautiful face looked forlorn for a moment.

Cassie sighed.

"The sybils were truly formidable at the height of their power. It was no coincidence that they had managed to guide their people through the horrors of the Doom War and enter the Tomb of Ariel unharmed. Even the Defiled found it difficult to conquer the cities reigned by the sybils... how would they not, if the defenders knew the secrets of the future?"

She paused for a moment and took a small sip of the wine.

"But the very thing that gave the sybils power ended up becoming their undoing. The most stalwart cities... they fell to the sybils themselves. Because they were corrupted by the glimpses of the Estuary and succumbed to the Defilement, letting the rot spread from within."

The blind girl sighed again, then shook her head.

other two, Dusk was the junior. The senior sybil... she had hidden the signs of Corruption from everyone until it was too late. The day she lost control

moment and

slay the Defiled sybil. But, by then, much of the city had already been lost. Much worse, the seals containing the other Defiled had been broken. And she... she was a much more terrifying creature than the other one. All I could do was abandon

her hands, allowing the

same time, I am a threat to it... or so the River People think, since they don't know that I am not truly Dusk. I was afraid that my own affinity to revelations would place me in the same danger the sybils

not knowing what to

danger of becoming Defiled. Her soul is incorruptible... but how

He shook his head.

"I'm not sure."

then pointed

"It's because I'm blind."

eyes gazed upon the world, unseeing. Cassie sighed

Estuary can't corrupt me... or at least, can't corrupt me in the same way it corrupted the sybils. In the visions I had before entering the Tomb of Ariel, I usually had sight. But ever since coming here,

smiled and moved her hands slightly, allowing the golden chain to fall back onto her

did not know how long it would take. So, I remained in Fallen Grace and defended the city from the attacks

forward and grasped Cassie's hand. White sparks glinted

a long time to travel into the past. We encountered a time storm on the way... which is why, while a year has passed for you,

a

to you that Ananke knew to meet us and point us in

Cassie's face. He frowned,

"What? What's wrong?"

The blind girl hesitated.

And what do you mean she knew to guide you to Fallen Grace?

look. After

who sent a dream message to