Shadow Slave

Cassie slowly closed her eyes and turned away from the young man sitting in front of her. His delicate appearance, polite demeanor, and modest smile…

Were so unlike the frightening, unhinged demon she had witnessed in his memories.

Witnessing one's memories was a strange affair, because what had been and what people remembered were usually two different things. Memories were vague, disjointed, and fragile, like the fragments of a fleeting dream. Some were vibrant and deeply etched, some were dull and shallow.

Some were bright. Most were full of sorrow.

But the Shadow Saint possessed an unbelievably clear memory. It was striking, second only to Cassie's own now that she had Transcended. It was as if nothing he had experienced were ever truly erased… at least not the details of the memory he had chosen to show her, which must have been important to him.

What an irony, then, that his whole existence had been erased from the world.

There was a problem with reading his memories, though.

Firstly, the way the man who called himself Sunless perceived the world was simply too strange. Even Cassie, who was uniquely suited to having multiple points of view and had already experienced the way he sensed his surroundings through her Ascended Ability, found herself feeling dizzy from the avalanche of unfamiliar sights and sensations.

Secondly, and more Importantly… there were countless gaps in her recollection of what she had seen. Those were the moments where the young man pretending to be a humble shopkeeper thought, spoke, or felt something about the places and events that had been erased from everyone's memories.

In the end, what she had witnessed — or rather, could remember witnessing — was even more disjointed than the memories of ordinary people.

The chilling images…

A young man with alabaster skin crawling from the black water on the cracked ice, his eyes brimming with unfathomable darkness. The eerie city where a terrible slaughter had taken place, but only emptiness remained. The days of slaughter across the desolate expanse of the abandoned continent, the snow turning crimson from the spilled blood. An aloof figure observing from a cliff as an army of enslaved Nightmare Creatures marched to their deaths into a raging blizzard.

The furious battle under the slopes of an erupting volcano, The harrowing strength both the monster and the man had shown. The culmination of it all… and so much more.

Cassie scowled.

Why, why was it so hard to cling to the very idea of It?

She had to know…

Countless thoughts surfaced in her mind, clicking together as they assembled into chains of logic.

«The frozen siege capital… it must be Falcon Scott, the fallen bastion of the Antarctic Center. He had returned there as a former member of the First Evacuation Army.»

«That winged beast he used as a mount was unmistakably a Spire Messenger. I was right, after all… he was with us on the Forgotten Shore.»

was never one of us. What relationship did we have? This strength… was he one of

was exceedingly unlikely. There had been only three people who reached the Dark City

someone else? Her

train of thought broke apart and faded, even the memory of having such thoughts disappearing

vaguely sensed what had happened and tried to retrace the steps of her logic, but

find more pleces

—— —— ——

few minutes. He guessed that it was

Turning to face him once again,

are the

and smiled

«What if I am?»

hesitated for

enjoying a tasteless theater play that we sponsored, while the third one is somewhere in

Cassie frowned.

maybe it's the

his head a

play

She shrugged.

things have their

«How Machiavellian of her.»

silent for a few

any case, I would prefer it if you didn't share the fact that the Lord of Shadows and me are the same person.

Cassie's frown deepened.

to deceive Nephis?

no particular emotion

the three of us share a connection. All she would remember is that there is a person pretending to be a Master here in Bastion, who is actually a powerful and not entirely friendly Saint residing in a Death Zone. Our relationship would become strained in that case, and

Sunny smiled.

to be spoiled. Who knows what will happen to my mental state if my only source

his gaze with her unseeing eyes, then

secret. As long as you don't scheme to harm

in the stone chamber suddenly seemed terribly

dimmed a

the cornerstone of my survival,

blind seer raised an