Shadow Slave: Possibilities Without Meaning

"You should have told me everything."

Aldric spoke in a sombre voice.

Pupils dilating at the comment, Cassie was ready to respond defensively until she paused. Taking a moment to collect her errant thoughts, she didn't have anything to say to refute the statement. 

She was playing it too safe.

How could she have withheld so much information from someone that she was counting on?

Utilising her now stronger dormant ability after awakening, she viewed the aspect ability and rank of Aldric. 

'Divine.'

A bitter chuckle left her mouth.

'He truly was the only one able to get between those two.'

Having just seen Sunny's aspect rank as well as believing that Nephis could not have one any lower than Sunny, she truly made the wrong call.

Deep down, she knew it. It was because she had doubted everything that [Destined] meant.

Many thoughts came to her mind. The same thoughts that explained her decision to withhold the details from Aldric. 

'If he truly could change fate, shouldn't I have already seen a changed future the first time that night?'

'Why did the vision not change as we met?'

'Why could I not see him in my visions?'

Thoughts were racing through her mind. However, there was a much larger reason as to why she did not tell Aldric exactly what she foresaw. 

'I made a mistake by telling Nephis and Sunny. Perhaps by revealing it, did I speak it into existence.'

She did not want to ruin her second chance by telling him everything. What if he made things worse or ended up setting the scene for it to happen? 

But she was wrong. 

With all these thoughts rushing through her mind, this thought battered her psyche. Like a beam of light, destroying any other thought.

"I was wrong."

The girl whispered in her voice. As if she were confessing a sin. 

She had made the wrong gamble. 

Cassie had assumed that the fact that she did not have visions of a changed future meant that Aldric's attribute did not act in the way that she thought it would have. Causing her to lose the belief that he could really change anything, thus not trusting him with the full picture.

All her prior visions were vague enough to not include the changes that Aldric's presence had caused. During the war over the castle, she foresaw how Gunlaug would be defeated; however, she did not know exactly how many people would have survived without the interference of Aldric. With her vision of the siege being similar in that regard.

Her visions were not detailed enough to see these changes.

But this spoke of her ignorance.

It was the orb of darkness that manifested into a nightmare creature at the entrance of the spire that revealed her mistake. 

While she had seen the Crimson Terror in her initial vision, that nightmare creature was a complete anomaly.

That nightmare creature was the sign of fate intervening in the presence of Aldric. Holding him back long enough to not interfere with what was preordained.

An anomaly made to battle another anomaly.

If she had just told him about the true details surrounding the battle between Nephis and Sunny, the hunter would not have been so eager to hold the creature back alone. With the assistance of everyone, Aldric would have been in the position to interfere and alter the conclusion of the battle between light and shadow. 

'I was arrogant.'

She thought with feelings of self-loathing.

Cassie recognised this as a product of her arrogance. Her arrogance in believing that her powers over fate gave her more knowledge than it did. Causing her to draw conclusions that she shouldn't have.

Believing that she could manipulate her friend into acting in her interest without telling him all the details. 

Upon reaching this epiphany, all the noise had drowned out from her head. Looking at the young man in front of her with a look of regret, obsession, and something else, she collapsed into him. Crying as she uttered words of apology. 

"I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry, Nephis."

"I'm sorry, Sunny."

Enveloping the young woman in his much larger frame, Aldric became the pillar that she could rely on. The warmth of his body welcomed her, and his steady heartbeat calmed her chaotic state. When her friend had deserted her in justified hatred and as the other remained lifeless to the world. Only he was here.

They stood there for a long moment as Cassie let out all her emotions. Her breathing slowly calmed to a slower rate.

Aldric assessed her, finding that he could continue the conversation.

Looking down at the small figure, he asked the exhausted girl a question.

"So what will you do next?"

He spoke. Purposefully shifting the conversation.

The question seemed to jolt the young girl from her current mood. With her eyes gaining some clarity at the question, she answered.

"Nephis..."

The girl spoke as she looked down to the ground. 

It seemed as if she was collecting her resolve after her pitiful display. This was after Aldric successfully steered the conversation away from her negative thoughts towards what she could do in the future. 

With a firm expression of resolve on her face, she spoke.

"I will save her."

"No matter what it takes."

Declaring her intentions to the world. 

With his eyes locked onto her. Aldric spoke out. 

"Keep me in the loop this time. No more omissions."

"Promise?"

Extending his pinky finger into the air in a gesture of promise and trust. 

Surprisingly, the blind girl did not miss the gesture and perfectly replied as if she could truly see what was going on in front of her. 

"I promise."

Cassie's voice spoke out in the room.

In all her analysis and conclusions, her self-doubts and failures, the seer did not once fathom whether the reason that her vision stayed the same was because Aldric simply willed it to be. 

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As Aldric walked through the hallway, it was time to speak to the government surrounding his next move. 

It had been over 15 hours since he had returned from the dream realm. Which was more than enough time for the government to collate and build an account of what had happened.

It seemed that a common consensus among the dreamer army was that Aldric was the strongest sleeper amongst them behind Nephis. Thus, the most valuable awakened to all the factions that wanted to bring in the individuals that made it out of an uninhabited corner of the dream realm. 

Second only to Nephis. The martyr of the dreamer army. The one that, with all their hearts, people believed would have a second coming.

Between the legacy clans, it was like global power houses fighting over a newly discovered resource. It was first come, first serve.

And it seemed that the government had an advantage. 

While they could not offer anything to those that already had an affiliation with a legacy clan, certain people, such as Aldric, had no such relations. Given his profile as an orphan in the care of the state, it was obvious that he had no connections. 

So he was ready for the taking.

Which was why he was on his way to an interview with someone important from the government. Who exactly, he did not know.

Walking through a long corridor, it seemed as if the shadows around him deepened and grew. 

A small figure turned the corner facing him. With onyx black hair and eyes as well as skin so pale that he looked like he was anaemic. A young man came into view. 

While not the most attractive of awakened, his aura and eyes captivated anyone that looked. Not with a look of beauty but with an air of mystery and death. 

The young man spoke. 

"So you made it out."

**********

Thanks for reading. 

Anyone watched Arcane season 2? PEAK. I'm crying fr.

I hope all the ideas that were expressed in the first part of the chapter made sense. It was tough to write without butchering Cassie's character. 

Dao_of_bonks: I enjoyed it. I liked all the new memories that the author wrote in. Would recommend.

Aadi_raj: "similar to how Cassie couldn't see herself more than a helper of nephis."- Well said.

Hope y'all liked it, Till next time.

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