Shadow Slave

Stepping over the corpse laying at the doorstep of their cell, Sunny and Cassie entered the dark, empty corridor and stopped for a few short moments. They listened tensely to the echoing silence that reigned over it, and then cautiously moved forward.

Most humans would have felt lost in the impenetrable darkness, but neither of them found it uncomfortable. Stepping softly, they walked toward the entrance to the closest stairwell, the shadows gliding ahead of them to scout for potential dangers.

Sunny didn't let the shadows go too far, though, knowing that he might need their help at a moment's notice.

In the past weeks, he had learned everything that Cassie knew about the Night Temple, so there was a clear mental picture of its interior in his head — the parts of the great cathedral that the blind girl was familiar with, at least.

Currently, they were at the lowest levels of one of its seven belfries, deep below the outward ring of the main structure. There were two other belfries in the outward ring, and both the ring itself and the three towers descending from it remained uninhabited. They were mostly empty or occupied by storage rooms, workshops, and other facilities the Lost used to maintain the Citadel.

…Still, there was no way of knowing what might have changed inside the temple since their imprisonment, and what danger lay ahead, in the darkness.

They moved from one level to another, not meeting a single living soul. Here and there, signs of battle could be seen — the furniture was smashed to pieces, the walls scraped by sharp blades or cracked, a few of them completely shattered. The floor was stained with blood, but there were no more corpses around.

All they found were a clump of torn, bloodied clothes and several overturned tables, as though someone had desperately tried to build a barricade. Whoever it had been, it didn't seem as though they succeeded — the makeshift barricade was broken, and there was a lot of blood on the floor, the walls, and even the ceiling behind it.

Sunny and Cassie walked past, their expressions turning somber.

After a while, Sunny finally discovered a storage room full of wooden crates behind one of the locked doors, each containing hundreds of tubes of synthpaste. His mouth instantly watered.

'Food…'

No matter how much he hated the muddy sludge, right now, he was ready to kill for a single mouthful.

Sunny and Cassie opened the storage room with one of the keys attached to the keyring they had picked up from the body of the sentinel, entered it, and then locked the door behind them.

Both of them were starving, but before Cassie had a chance to grab a tube, Sunny stopped her.

"Don't eat more than one. And eat it slowly."

She hesitated, then turned to him with a frown.

"Why? I'm so hungry..."

He shook his head and sat down on one of the crates.

"If you eat too much, too quickly after going without food for a long time, you might die."

The blind girl tilted her head.

"What? Why? How do you know?"

Sunny opened a tube and shrugged.

"...Seen it happen."

That was just general knowledge among the street kids in the outskirts. However, Cassie had probably never faced real hunger — even in the Dark City, the inhabitants of the outer settlement had been fed generously by Changing Star and her hunting party during her time there.

Sunny was surprised, actually, that normal children didn't learn about such stuff in school.

The blind girl lingered for a few moments, but listened to his advice in the end.

Each of them slowly ate one tube of synthpaste, and then rested for a while. After that, Sunny summoned the Covetous Coffer, patted it on the lid, and loaded a couple of crates into the small box.

"What a good little box you are! Good job, Coffer!"

Then, feeling refreshed and energized, the strength slowly returning to their starved bodies, they moved the crates around and took turns washing themselves with the help of the Endless Spring.

Sunny went first. Taking off the reeking clothes and scrubbing his skin with cold water felt heavenly. When he was done, he summoned the Undying Chain, and finally felt like himself again.

After that, he sat by the door quietly and, using one of the shadows, kept watch on the corridor outside.

In the dead silence on the stone belfry, Sunny couldn't help but hear every sound around him — the rustle of the crude tunic against Cassie's skin as she took it off and dropped it on the ground, the murmur of the water as it flowed down her petite, supple body, and the small sighs of relief she made as the weight of several weeks of imprisonment was washed away by it.

After a while, she joined him, clad once again in her blue coat and polished armor.

Sunny hesitated for a bit, then said:

"Come closer."

Cassie tilted her head a little, then did as he told. Sunny reached toward one of the extinguished oil lamps, and then proceed to rub her cuirass, pauldron, and other steel elements of the armor with soot.

The blind girl frowned, but didn't stop him.

"...Are you trying to make it non-reflective?"

He nodded.

"Yeah. Just… just in case."

They still didn't know what powers Mordret possessed, but whatever they were, mirrors and reflections obviously had something to do with it. The Undying Chain was forged out of bleak steel, but Cassie's armor was too lustrous for him to feel at ease.

…That was also the reason why he had not summoned the Cruel Sight yet. The silver blade of the enchanted spear was like a clear mirror, and he wasn't sure what might happen if he did.

After Sunny was done covering up the polished steel of Cassie's armor with soot, they rested for a while, ate a little more, and left the storage room behind. It was time to ascend the belfry and return to the outward ring of the Night Temple.

***

As soon as they stepped out of the stairwell and found themselves between the black walls of the main structure of the Night Temple again, a terrible smell assaulted their nostrils. Sunny grimaced, and then covered his nose with a hand.

This was the familiar, vile smell of death.

Just like the belfry, the outward ring was submerged in darkness. No one had bothered to change the oil in the lamps, and there were no windows to let in the light. The corridors here were wider, and their adornments richer. However, just like before, everything was silent, and there was nobody around.

Sunny shivered.

'...Just where is everyone?'

The Night Temple seemed completely deserted. At first, when they had been hungry and weak, he was glad for it. But now, the absence of people was starting to make him nervous.

What the hell had happened here while they were locked up?

Moving slowly, the two of them cautiously headed in the direction of the gates leading to the outside.

…It wasn't long before Sunny noticed a trail of dried blood on the stones beneath his feet, as though someone dead or dying had been dragged across them. Coincidentally, the trail led in the same direction. Soon, the smell of death grew stronger, making it hard to breathe.

Sunny and Cassie entered the hall separating them from the gates, and froze.

His face darkened.

'That… that is not good…'