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…

hand and pulled on

to her own, but devoid of life. The Echo of the sybil… of Torment… was hollow and

Cassie's face, though. A strange mix of revulsion, sorrow, and even a hint of

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

Sunny's head at impossible speed, trying to digest the stunning revelation

'Torment… is dead.'

been dead all

suspected that

one, and had only entered his mind after they 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 was just Mordret and him, wearing Weaver's Mask

against those who were attuned to fate, which made any

as it left the black void. The forces of the Defilement

prevented them from acting against them… or was not in Verge at all. Which was strange, considering that she had successfully gotten rid of the Dread Lord and was supposed to be the new tyrant of Defiled

thought that the Mad Prince had schemed against the Last

truth was much

never received an Echo for slaying the Defiled

this Echo for slaying Torment herself. Cassie had killed her Defiled copy

He shivered.

keep it a secret,

then sighed and turned away. After a short pause, she said

you don't look her in the

of Solace

was struggling to grasp

asked,

"...When?"

Cassie shrugged.