Etanai felt his stiff body loosening up as he conjured enough strength to open his heavy eyelids. A groan escaped his lips as he found he had passed out on the ground.“You’re finally awake.” Etanai jerked up into a sitting position to find it was Gambit, occupying his one-seat sofa. “Get up, boy. You should go freshen up; you look a mess. By the way, weren’t you taught the habit of maintaining your space?”Etanai followed his gaze while getting up on his feet. To the walls, he found the existing proof of what had happened before he passed out. His body shook slightly. “Those shadows! Head Instructor, there were….”Gambit halted his words with a raised palm. “I know, my boy. I saw everything. That’s why I’m here” His hand then gestured to his left. “Go shower first.”Etanai gently nodded before walking away to do as he was told. A quarter of an hour later, he returned much-refreshed in a new outfit. The temple had provided him with a full set during his stay in his cell, courtesy of

“You two did it, right?” Elder Rowan stared at the fifth and eleventh pillars sitting across from her with reserved emotion on her face.There was a smirk on Elder Change’s face. “That was the plan, wasn’t it? We successfully got the priestess looking quite incompetent in that hall.”Elder Kissani chuckled with delight as he took a sip of his wine. “Let’s see if she dares to show off before us ever again. She forgets her status would be nothing in the eyes of the people without us there to lift her up.”“Enough of this for now,” Elder Rowan interjected with a lazy wave of her hand. “Talking about that spoilt brat would only sour my mood.”Elder Change raised an eyebrow. “What’s the matter? Still pissed she spoke to you that way?”Elder Rowan gave no reaction to that. “Let’s talk about something else.”The next hour was spent chatting away at random happenings they had recently encountered. After this, the fifth and eleventh pillars bid their farewells and left the fourth pillar’s qua

“That bitch! She stole my arms. Look at me now! Who does she think she is?!” Meadow floated back and forth in the air as she was fuming. She had two worm-size appendages, wiggling where her arms should have been. The lanky shadow sat on a rock as he stared at his sister with worried eyes. “Meadow, you need to calm down. Fretting won’t solve anything at the moment.” "Shut up, you stupid twig!" Meadow turned her fury on her brother. "You are good for nothing. You just floated there while that little brat did this to me." A sadistic smirk spread across her chubby face. "I should tear you apart right now and keep those arms of yours for myself. It's the least compensation you could give me. You hardly use them anyway. You're a useless waste as a sentient shadow." She lunged forward and quickly wrapped her mouth around one of Shall’s hands and she began munching on it. “Ow! Meadow, stop it! You’re acting crazy!” Shall let out a whine as he backed away to no avail; his sister refused to l

The two holy warriors shared a cushion, their backs initially turned to one another until Bava gently grabbed him by his bare shoulders to turn him around, and the pair of gold-colored eyes met the Alice-colored ones. “Why are you protecting Ricky? I know this has to be more than what you led on.” The amount of openness conveyed in Bava’s words warmed Chad’s heart. “Ricky…was the first person to ever treat me like I mattered. The confidence in me today was first ignited when I met him.” Bava couldn’t help raising an eyebrow to relay his skepticism. “Are we talking about the same Ricky?” "I know it's hard to believe but he saw me for who I was. That bastard saw how broken I was and yet, he chose to have me in his life." Chad's eyes were welling up at this point. "So of course I fell for him, and he…well he tolerated me." “Stop!” There was a trace of defiance on Bava’s face. “See, that’s the problem. You should never give your heart to someone who merely tolerates you.” Chad scoffe