Shadow Slave

"...The Well of Wishes."

Sunny stared at Cassie with an incredulous expression, struggling to understand what her words meant.

'What is she talking…'

Then, his face changed slightly, a hint of confusion and ridicule appearing in his eyes.

"The… the children's story? The fairy tale about a magical well that grants the most precious wish of anyone who reaches it? Are you… are you out of your mind?"

Sunny took a step back, barely avoiding falling out of the ketch. His mind was full of bewilderment and disbelief.

"Come… come on! You can't possibly be serious! You don't believe that it's true, do you?!".

That was the fairy tale Ananke had told him, not long before her death. Sunny remembered it well… but he had never expected to hear Cassie, someone so smart and pragmatic, put her hopes in a children's story about a magic well!

The blind seer, however, did not seem affected by his ridiculing tone. She faced Sunny calmly, her face somber.

After a while, Cassie gritted her teeth and said, her voice steady:

"It might not be true for anyone else. But it's true for you, Sunny. If you reach the Estuary… your wish to be free will come true. Free of your bond, free to live your life the way you want. Free of fate itself."

then rose to her feet, too, and walked closer, stopping a mere step

can't have both. You can reach the Estuary from here, but once the Nightmare is over, your chance will be gone. The moment Nephis destroys the First Seeker, your chance would have slipped

and raised the

what you were truly angry about, wasn't it? That I took the choice away

his hands and took a step

I am giving the choice back to you. You can leave and rush to the Estuary… the Guiding Light will show you the way through the mists of the Source,

turned away, lingered for a moment, and then added in a quiet

you make a different choice. That you will stay with us, despite everything. Nephis, I, and the others… are we so terrible? Is it really that unbearable, to share a bond, if it's based on trust? I think you know by now that it's not. What is unbearable is not having been given a choice about

felt empty, as if

I can get rid of Shadow Bond if I reach the

little,

without a shadow of a doubt, is that my words are true. If you reach the very heart of the Estuary before the Nightmare ends, you will become free from fate. You will be fateless. 𝐥ìg𝚝𝔫օ𝑣𝓮𝓵w𝓸𝓻𝐥𝓭~𝙘օ𝕞.

He frowned.

Nephis the last time? The Mad Prince, he… he was…

versions from the previous cycles had all ended up entering the Source in search of the Estuary. If there was indeed a way to break

with regaining his freedom as he was, would have given his

all his previous selves only served to

that was also why Nephis had died in

blind girl, however, shook

was engineered by Torment and him specifically to make sure that all members of the cohort survive. Whether you find the Estuary or