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 truth about the Great River, the Source and the Estuary, the Six Plagues and their connection to the members of the cohort, and the purpose behind

precise. The two Defiled horrors were partners in crime... in more than one sense. Even though Torment was barely a living being, from what Cassie had told him, her mind

the cohort's path. She had been used and discarded, sent to be slaughtered by Cassie in Fallen Grace.

Torment knew about it and went to her

his mind, but

message Torment

Cassie not shared her knowledge with

the second question

version of her from the previous cycle — the one that had eventually

had known what the future Mad Prince was planning, and allowed herself to be

that happened. That she had

He gritted his teeth.

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

Cassie faced him calmly.

know how dangerous knowledge is, what knowing

She turned away.

for what was waiting for us ahead...