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.'

Source and the Estuary, the Six Plagues and their connection to the members of the cohort, and the purpose behind the schemes of the Mad

sense. Even though Torment was barely a living being, from what Cassie had told him, her mind shattered and her will

had indeed a 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 for a moment that the outcome of

only thing he was not sure about was if Torment knew about it and went to her death

but two of them

the message Torment

shared

the second question should be evident, by

or not, she had let it slip. When she told him about the 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 — she said that the Cassie of the past had never

what the future Mad Prince was planning, and allowed herself to be infected with the Defilement by him despite

been scheming long before that happened. That she had needed

He gritted his teeth.

dreadful truths of this Nightmare? Did you not think, at least once... that maybe it would be good for us

Cassie faced him calmly.

Sunny. You of all people should know how dangerous knowledge is, what knowing something that you aren't supposed to know can do, and what revealing secrets

She turned away.

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,