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."

moment, then rose to her feet, too, and

but once the Nightmare is over, your chance will be

and raised the Guiding Light,

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

sacred relic into his

through the mists of the

a moment, and then

you know by now that it's not. What is unbearable is not having been given a choice about forming that bond, and now, even though the connection between you and her will remain the same… it will be there

shaken. His mind felt empty, as if all thoughts had been banished from

What do you mean, it's it true for me? I can get rid of Shadow Bond if I reach the Estuary? How? What is in there, at

frowned a little, then shook her

before the Nightmare ends, you will become free from fate. You will be fateless. ?ìg??օ???w????~?օ?. The

He frowned.

preposterous! Plus, doesn't it sound exactly like what killed Nephis the last time? The Mad Prince,

up entering the Source in search of the Estuary. If there was indeed a way to break free from the cruel grasp of fate that had been hidden at the heart of the black pyramid by

obsessed with regaining his freedom as he was, would have

previous selves only served to give

had died

girl, however, shook her

in search of his freedom, but failed to resist the Defilement and became Corrupted instead. Thus, the endless cycles continued. This cycle, though, was engineered by Torment and him specifically to make sure that all members of the cohort survive. Whether you find the Estuary or not, there are mere days left before Nephis storms Verge and kills the