Shadow Slave

'Damned sword...'

Making his way into the ruined interior of the temple, Sunny was seething with dark emotions.

What did the Sin of Solace even want? One moment, he was fanning the flames of guilt Sunny might have felt about how he treated Cassie in the past. The next moment, the wraith was reminding him of what had happened, and of how cruelly she had betrayed his trust...

Well, it was perfectly clear what the apparition wanted. The bastard wanted to drive him mad.

And he was... Sunny was mad.

No matter how much he understood why Cassie had done what she did, and no matter how many times he told himself that her actions had ended up saving Rain from being killed by Nightmare Creatures, and him from dying in the Nightmare Desert or becoming Mordret's slave... no matter how many things they had gone through together after the Forgotten Shore and how much their relationship had improved and deepened...

At the bottom of it all, Sunny was still hurt, resentful, and angry at Cassie. While at the same time caring deeply about her.

It was a proper mess...

'What else is new?'

It had been for a while.

"This place... is not creepy at all."

Jumping down from a pile of rubble, Sunny landed in shallow water.

The interior of the lost temple was drowned both by stale water and darkness. Since the island-ship was tilted and partially submerged beneath the waves, the long corridors with high ceilings were tilted as well. The three of them had to walk awkwardly, stepping on the walls with one foot and the cracked floor with the other.

them to jump or climb over the natural barricades

oppressed by the darkness. Sunny could see in it perfectly fine, Cassie did not need sight at

is trying to say that

smiled with satisfaction, proud to have understood

stared at

smug?

such

way deeper into the temple. Cassie was walking at the front, protected by her Echoes. Nephis and Sunny were in the middle, with his Shadows following

from the one the blind girl had lived in, but she seemed

half-collapsed corridors. Sunny felt that they had descended far enough to be underwater by now... nevertheless, the ancient temple must have

surroundings, however, were rather

stale water sloshing at their knees, and the eerie feeling of something influencing the future. It was because this place had served as a prison for the Defiled sybil for a long, long time

as if someone had clawed at them in fury. Other times, there was dried blood smeared across the old

He had slain enough ghosts to

he was

Were the sybils.

not want to admit it to himself, he still shuddered when remembering the

with Naeve and Bloodwave back then.

two of them were weaker than the champions of the House of Night on paper, Sunny somehow felt more reassured in the company of these

had survived far

to be

sure that he'll feel better after putting down another one of these Defiled oracles with his own

"We are getting closer."

Cassie's words were sobering.