Shadow Slave

Shadows suddenly danced across Cassie's beautiful face as she lowered the Guiding Light.

"That was because Torment had a message to deliver to me, so that her wish could be fulfilled. And that message could only be delivered face-to-face."

She took a deep breath.

"So, she infiltrated Fallen Grace and modified the shackles that bound Dusk. She also wrote an accord of what happened in the previous cycles and left it for me to read. Finally, she crawled into the Temple of Dusk and met me, delivering the message."

Cassie's voice turned cold, and her expression became ruthless:

"However, she was still a Defiled. And, unlike the Mad Prince, she did not have a whisper of Ariel to keep her from losing all of her humanity. All she had was a cruel weave of restrictions and commands to push her toward the desired outcome, and that weave was not flawless."

She looked at Sunny without any humor in her eyes.

"So, after completing the mission of delivering her message to me, she instantly attempted to consume me. She was still being held back by the authority of the Dread Lord, though, and so... she died by my hand, instead."

There was silence for a while. The ketch reached the shore of the icy island and scraped against it, coming to a stop.

Sunny stared at Cassie, his thoughts in turmoil.

'So... she knew everything, all along.'

truth about the Great River, the Source and the Estuary, the Six Plagues

one sense. Even though Torment was barely a living being, from what

plan in place to remove Torment from the cohort's path. She had been used and discarded, sent to be slaughtered by Cassie in Fallen Grace. He did not doubt

about it and went to her death willingly... or at least as much as she had been capable of exercising

numerous questions on his mind, but two of them

the message Torment had

had Cassie not shared her knowledge

answer to the second question should

version of her from the previous cycle — the one that had eventually become Torment, turned into a Defiled abomination by the previous version of him —

planning, and allowed herself

That she had needed to

He gritted his teeth.

kept quiet? You did not share any of that knowledge with us, acting surprised when we learned the dreadful truths of this Nightmare? Did you not think, at least once... that maybe it would be good for us to know what we were getting ourselves into, before plunging ourselves into the sea of

Cassie faced him calmly.

all people should know how dangerous knowledge

She turned away.

have prepared better for what was waiting for us ahead... but I am not omniscient. ?ìg??օ???w????~?օ?. I only know that much. Would it have made a difference? Or would it have just made us complacent and arrogant, leading