Shadow Slave

The words had been said, echoing in the beautiful darkness of the glowing night. Devoid of the wind, the sails of the ketch fell down. The boat slowly came to a stop, drifting in the current.

Cassie remained silent for a few moments, as motionless as the Echo of the Defiled sybil sitting by her side. Then, she asked, her voice tinged with a hint of amusement:

"Should I call you the Mad Prince, then?"

As Sunny's expression changed, she chuckled lightly.

"Gods… come now. I know that you only asked that question to probe me for a reaction, but how does it make sense? I'm not Torment."

Sunny frowned, disappointed at the fact that he had not been able to get more out of Cassie. He was considering his next question silently when she turned to face her Echo and said, throwing his thoughts into disarray:

"She is.".

He froze, stunned by those words.

Then, Sunny slowly moved his gaze to the silent Echo.

The red garment, the empty gaze, the veil hiding her face…

'How?'

Back when they met in Fallen Grace, Cassie said that she come to possess this Echo after slaying the sybil who had succumbed to the Defilement on the day of her entering the Nightmare. The two looked alike, true… but both Sunny and Nephis simply assumed that it was because both the slain woman and Dusk had been sybils ruling the same city.

The Echo was too eerie and revolting, making Sunny unwilling to learn what was hiding behind the red veil. Therefore, he had never tried to look at the creature's face.

The most he had done was glance at its weave, but even then, most of his attention had been focused on the artificial Echo created by the enchanters of Clan Valor — the long destroyed blade mannequin.

Now, however…

her hand and pulled on

an exquisitely beautiful face was revealed… one identical to her own, but devoid of life. The Echo of the sybil… of

expression on Cassie's face, though. A strange

day that one chanced to look upon a soulless copy of their own dead self,

trying to digest the stunning revelation of the eerie Echo's

'Torment… is dead.'

had been dead all

course, he had suspected that something

landed near Verge. Sunny could not accept that the fearsome oracle of the Defilement was not aware of their approach. It would have been fine if it

the cohort had no defense against those who were attuned to fate, which made any attempts at hiding

had not been ambushed as it left the black void. The forces of the Defilement had not descended upon

in Verge at all. Which was strange, considering that she had successfully gotten rid of the Dread Lord and was supposed

the Mad Prince had schemed

the truth was much more

received an Echo for slaying the Defiled sybil.

for slaying Torment herself. Cassie had killed her Defiled copy long before Sunny and Nephis even

He shivered.

it a secret,

Echo's face for a while, then sighed and turned away. After a short pause, she said in a

don't look her in the eyes for too long. It's rather

Solace hurriedly

to grasp the new information… it was too staggering, changing everything he had

he asked, his voice

"...When?"

Cassie shrugged.