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.'

the Great River, the Source and the Estuary, the Six Plagues and their connection

living being, from what Cassie had told him, her mind shattered and her will chained by the restrictions of her own

used and discarded, sent to be slaughtered by

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

numerous questions on his mind, but

was the message Torment

not shared her knowledge with the

to the second question should be

— the one that had eventually become Torment, turned into a Defiled abomination by the previous version

Mad Prince was planning, and allowed

long before that happened. That she had needed to be Defiled, for some reason.

He gritted his teeth.

and 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

Cassie faced him calmly.

my knowledge has worked so well in the past? Sure, Sunny. You of all people should know how dangerous knowledge is, what knowing something that you aren't supposed to know

She turned away.

still needed to go to Aletheia's Island. We would have still needed to go to Twilight. Sure, we could have prepared better for what was waiting for us ahead... but I am not omniscient. 𝐥ìg𝚝𝔫օ𝑣𝓮𝓵w𝓸𝓻𝐥𝓭~𝙘օ𝕞. I only know that much. Would it have made a difference? Or would it have just made us complacent and arrogant, leading to our