Shadow Slave: Not a very laid back life.

Chapter 133 133: The Edge of Fate

"...How?" Asher asked softly.

The madness swirling behind his hollow eyes was barely restrained now, pressing against the edges of his composure like something trying to claw its way out.

Cassie maintained her faint smile.

"Ash," she said gently, "I would appreciate a bit of restraint."

She tilted her head slightly.

"You've already made quite a mess."

Asher fingers twitched, "And I urge you to answer my question..."

Glass shards slowly rose up from the ground while Asher remained seated.

Cassie simply shrugged.

"How else?" she asked calmly. "I had a vision."

Asher's gaze drifted briefly toward a fork trembling faintly near the edge of the table.

"A vision…"

For most of his time reading Shadow Slave, Asher had despised Cassie. However, he wasn't blind to her intellect.

Which was exactly why he knew he could never allow her too close to his true goals.

Especially not regarding Dahila.

He wasn't comfortable with revealing her to his friends just yet...

Maybe he would never be.

"Yes, a Vision.

"I saw a stone creature fighting in the depths of a Nightmare."

Asher's eyes narrowed.

"It was captured by a Supreme," Cassie said, "and brought before a nebulous daemon."

A brief pause followed.

"After that… the vision became fragmented."

For the first time since the conversation began, uncertainty flickered faintly across her face.

"I only saw glimpses of the illusions it endured. I don't even know how it escaped them."

Silence settled between them.

Asher stared at her for several long seconds.

"…Do you know anything else?"

Cassie shook her head slowly.

"No."

The hovering fork clattered back onto the table.

Around them, the floating shards of glass lost their suspension and crashed onto the floor all at once.

"Run!"

One of the mundanes finally snapped out of their terror and bolted for the exit. The others quickly followed behind them, desperate to escape the suffocating pressure filling the café.

Neither Asher nor Cassie paid them any attention.

Asher still watched her carefully.

He couldn't be sure if she was telling the truth.

"So why tell me this?" he asked finally. "To provoke me?"

Cassie shook her head, rubbing her forehead. "Honestly, I didn't want to tell you, or anyone for that matter—like most of my visions."

Asher narrowed his eyes.

Asher wasn't sure whether it was because this world had changed him—or because he was slowly becoming the person he used to be—but manipulations like these had become easier for him to notice lately.

By adding the last phrase, she ultimately announced that she hides most of her visions. Leaking this information had been deliberate, making it seem like she only mentioned it because she trusts Asher.

Thus, if not careful, Asher could also subconsciously start to trust her.

"But this was important, Asher."

Cassie continued quietly, her fingers resting atop the table.

"Because only after you entered that Nightmare—no…" she corrected herself softly, "precisely after you did…"

Her sightless eyes settled on him.

"…people began reporting unusual cases."

Asher remained silent.

"Humans conjured by the Spell," Cassie continued, "who somehow knew they were inside a trial."

Asher's fingers twitched slightly.

He already knew about them from jet, but it strange to hear it from Cassie nonetheless.

"Drifters," Cassie said quietly. "That's what we've started calling them."

A faint crease formed between Asher's brows.

Cassie leaned back slightly.

"Even if we assume the timing was a coincidence," she continued, "you were still the only Awakened who managed to kill one."

Her voice lowered slightly.

"The others all died before they could finish speaking in weird ways. Even if the trial taker tried to kill one themselves."

Asher's expression hardened.

Cassie narrowed her eyes faintly.

"Isn't that peculiar?"

She tapped the table.

"Out of thousands of recorded encounters…" Cassie murmured, "…only in your case was a drifter ended by the trial taker's hands."

Asher's eyes widened, "Really? No one killed these Drifters?"

Cassie shook her head, looking at him, "Indeed. That means one of two things." She raised her index, "One, both were mere coincidences and you were the first to kill a drifter quick enough..."

She raised her second finger, frowning, "Two, you simply killed another entity that knew of the spell, maybe belonging to weaver's."

She shook her head lightly.

"But neither explanation satisfies me."

Cassie slowly raised a third finger

A strong gust of wind swept through the café, scattering loose napkins across the floor while Cassie's hair fluttered softly in the breeze.

"Three."

Her voice came out almost as a whisper.

"You are the reason Drifters began to appear."

Asher froze.

The clouds outside swallowed the remaining sunlight, casting the café into a dim gray haze.

Cassie's eyes reflected his pale expression.

"Something you did in your nightmare Asher... it must have paved path to a certain destiny. It's not fate yet.. no no... but it is close."

For the first time, discomfort appeared clearly on Cassie's face.

"I can't see your Attributes," she admitted quietly. "So I need to ask you something."

A faint light from outside illuminated one side of her face.

"Do you possess the [Fated] Attribute?"

Asher didn't answer, choosing to stay silent.

Then, he slowly began to shake his head.

Her figure began to tremble as a deafening sound of thunder sounded outside.

"I see..."

Asher finally spoke, "What does this mean..?"

Cassie looked extremely vulnerable at the moment.

Cassie inhaled deep, exhaling loudly as she began.

"I don't fully know," she admitted.

Her fingers tightened slightly atop the table.

"It's difficult to explain."

She fell silent for several moments before speaking again.

"Your choices…" she said carefully, "…create destinies that favor fate."

A pause.

"But also reject it."

She licked her lips, "And so, you are a being at the very edge of fate... more like an observer, but still part of it. Like fate is trying to expel you away, but can't."

She shook her head once more deciding to wear her blind fold once more.

"There is a part of you that is an outsider to fate, while the other is inherently at the very foundations of it."

She paused, now looking at Asher covering in the familiar blindfold.

"So I need you."

Asher's stomach tightened slightly.

He had only read up until the 5th volume, yet, he always thought that the seer was scheming something behind Sunny.

Something big.

"What do you need me for?" he asked carefully.

Cassie smiled faintly as the rain outside finally began pouring in earnest.

"Asher," she said softly, "do you know the story of Alcibiades?"

Asher frowned.

"Alcibiades?"

Cassie nodded slowly.

"Yes."

She turned her face slightly toward the rain.

"The man who destroyed Athens."

A faint smile curved her lips, then...

She giggled.

"He was an exile."

[End of Volume 3, Part-2: The Exile's descent.]

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[A/N: Here is the extra chapter for 150 PS, also the last chapter of this volume. Hehe, didn't expect that did you?

Holy Cassie. She is such a difficult character to write.

These last two chapters may have been the best ones I wrote in part 2 of Vol 3.

Anyway, how was Volume 3 as a whole? This was mostly an original arc, covering Asher's 2nd NM and the consequences in the waking world.

Anyway, Next volume(Volume 4 dw not part 3) will cover Antarctica so stay hyped.

Also, Do I see 77 reviews? That's a weird number... LETS MAKE IT 80! (holy greed)]