Cassie/History

Back when she first arrived at Forgotten Shore, she didn't know where she was, and what was hiding in the boundless darkness. She only knew that she was alone and helpless. She had given up. Sitting down on the hard coral, she hugged her knees and tried not to cry. Abandoned and forgotten, she waited for death. But instead of death, a cold and indifferent voice came out of the darkness. That's how she met Nephis, who saved her without asking for anything in return. Just because she wanted to. Nephis brought her out of the darkness and destroyed the bitter, all-encompassing prison of her loneliness. Then she met Sunny, sweet Sunny, who pretended to be callous and cruel but was actually caring and kind.^[1]

Then she had to make a choice and live with that choice. She was the first to understand her vision. She knew that Sunny and Nephis would end up fighting each other and Nephis was going to lose. In hopes of saving Nephis, she gave Sunny's secret to her^[2]. She was able to figure out Sunny's weakness from his True Name due to her deduction as well as her affinity to revelations.^[3]

Cassie was sent into the body of a young priestess whose duty was to tend to the High Priestess of the Night Temple, the One in the North. She was one of the attendants of One in the North and was treated well enough, and learned a lot from her knowledge and wisdom.^[4]

Soon after she entered the Nightmare, there were just strange rumors of a pleasant voice that came from the fog. As time went by, the rumors started to change, telling tales of people who listened to the fog and disappeared without a trace. The Eyeless suspected that a corrupted creature had found its way into their land. So, a priestess was sent to investigate but she and her escort disappeared without a trace.^[5]

Finally, they became alarmed. The army was summoned, and many hunting parties were sent out to find the creature. People continued to disappear and one day they found a whole village that stood empty, everyone there was taken by the fog.^[5]

During their assault on the Ivory City, Cassie was in charge of controlling the ship.^[6] Because she ran out of soul essence, she jumped off the ship a few moments before it hit the Sun Prince.^[7]

Cassie entered the Third Nightmare a year before Sunny and Nephis came to Fallen Grace, taking the place of Dusk, the sybil of Fallen Grace. Dusk must have been at least a Transcendent while Cassie is not. At the start, Dusk is not the last sybil.^[8]

There were three sybils in Fallen Grace, one already Defiled and entombed in her temple. The senior Sybil had hidden the signs of Corruption from everyone until it was too late. Cassie took Dusk's place on the day the defiled Sybil lost control. She managed to preserve the city by rallying the defenders and slaying the Defiled sybil. However, much of the city had already been lost, and the seals containing the other Defiled had been broken. All she could do was abandon the contested island-ships and evacuate the remaining ones as far upstream as she could.^[9]

Cassie is both a ruler of the city and a threat, as the River People think she is Dusk. Initially, she was afraid that her own affinity to revelations would place her in the same danger the sybils had been exposed to, but she is actually immune to it, as she can't see. She had visions of the world before entering the Tomb of Ariel, but since then, she has only seen darkness.^[9]

She together with Sunny and Nephis restored the copy of Chain Breaker and embark on the journey to save Effie and Jet who were trapped in the Wind Flower.^[10][11][12]

During the battle in Twilight, she kept Jet and Effie safe from Soul Stealer inside Effie's locket Memory^[13] and fled toward the breached walls of Twilight^[14]. After the explosion, she lost consciousness.^[15]

Cassie had developed a habit of keeping a diary at some point, a leather-bound journal she brought with her when they departed Fallen Grace. As a blind person, she wrote in braille. She also brought a special slotted slate, possibly made by an artisan in Fallen Grace, which allowed her to place a sheet of paper inside and poke holes in it with a stylus.^[16]

Despite her proficiency in handling her flaw, Cassie was still blind, and her Aspect Abilities didn't negate her condition. She couldn't borrow someone's vision or sense future events in private moments, so she used this method to read and write.^[16]

On the way to Verge, she and Nephis had helped Effie during her labor.^[17][18]

Somewhere near Verge, while the rest of the cohort were scouting, she acted suspicious so that she and Sunny can talk alone. Cassie revealed that she can perceive Sin of Solace's wraith through Sunny and can also perceive through his shadows. She purposefully displayed her secrets for Sunny to see, such as the chamber with the well^[19] and the countless journals stored in a runic chest^[19].^[20]

Cassie met Torment six months after becoming Dusk. It was arranged by the Mad Prince and Torment herself, revealing that they were behind all of the schemes together.^[21] (Refer to the truth of the Third Nightmare)

Cassie revealed that she had planned the events of the cycle from the start, even before the Nightmare. It started when Sunny came to her back on the Chained Isles to recruit her to challenge the Second Nightmare together. She told the vision of them dying in the winter. From there, she had already planned until they arrived in Verge.^[22][23] (Refer to Cassie's Plan)

Cassie revealed that she knew about Sunny's birthday. A note was sent to her asking to find Sunless and wish him a happy birthday on the winter solstice, but the strangest part is that the sender was her.^[24]

Despite being a peculiar name, she found it difficult to locate the individual in government databases, Academy records, or the archives of the Great Clans.^[24]

Cassie was feeling dismissed or branded as a lunatic. She knew she had a problem with her, everyone else, and the world, but couldn't prove it or remember trying to solve it. This maddening situation and the sudden betrayal of her ability to perceive the future left her without one of her senses.^[25]

She used to be able to see the future and that ability has been in disarray since her Third Nightmare. All Awakened with high affinity to fate are suffering a reduction in their ability to discern the future. She has been trying to find the cause for the past four years without success, so the message she seems to have sent herself made her think that he might be of help.^[24]

In Chapter 1765, Cassie realized Sunless was not a carrier of the Nightmare Spell and had spent a year learning how to enter his Soul Sea. He had been forgotten by the Spell. She realized that he was someone who had accompanied her and Nephis from the beginning they stepped foot on Forgotten Shore.

Cassie followed Anvil into a grim room where a captured Legacy Clan elder, accused of spying for the Song Domain, awaited his fate.^[26] She unlocked Orum's deepest secrets by gazing into their eyes, effortlessly uncovering their entire past.^[27] (Refer to Orum's Memories)

Cassie uncovered Anvil's cruel Flaw, realizing he had suppressed his emotions to avoid loss, which ultimately made him a ruthless leader responsible for many sacrifices in pursuit of the greater good.^[28] (Refer to Jest's Memories)

She also discovered a conspiracy shaping the world and Neph's fate but hesitated to act due to the cost of using her powers. Instead of killing Jest, she attempted to alter his memories but lingered too long, allowing him to break free and snap her neck. Believing her dead, Jest also killed Helie and left, unconcerned about Anvil's reaction.^[29]

However, Cassie had implanted false memories in Jest, making him believe he had killed both her and Helie. In reality, they survived, and with Clan Valor believing them dead, they chose to defect to Song.^[29]

Cassie, shackled and parched, faced Seishan in the Song Army's camp.^[30] She was drugged into a disoriented and powerless state, then taken to the Queen, but her true objective was already within reach—she aimed to subtly turn Seishan and her sisters against their mother.^[31] When Cassie met the Raven Queen, she discovered that Ki Song was no longer a singular being, but an omnipresent force inhabiting countless dead.^[32]

Cassie unknowingly consumed a drop of Ki Song's blood, which allowed the Queen to control her like a puppet. It was the wine Seishan gave her mixed with the Ki Song's blood instead of poison. This control extended to both her body and, to some degree, her soul. However, she retained access to her Aspect, suggesting the control was not absolute.^[33]

Cassie arrived in an anxious, uneasy NQSC to attend a secret meeting, left her escort behind, and quietly observed the city and an exclusive Awakened club while waiting. There, she encountered a mysterious Ascended who spoke to her about the Minotaur as a misunderstood outcast.^[34]

Cassie realized that the man beside her was not Asterion himself but a fully consumed avatar of the Dreamspawn, sent to confront her, and she tried to buy time while assessing the threat and recalling what little was known about Asterion's memetic power to infect minds and create agents and extensions of himself. As their exchange revealed that Asterion could still read her thoughts despite her defenses, Cassie understood that she had been deliberately lured into a trap, and her attempt to stall collapsed when everyone linked to her Aspect simultaneously turned on her, stealing her sight by closing their eyes at once. The lounge erupted into sudden violence as the possessed patrons attacked in unison, but thanks to her foresight, Cassie narrowly avoided being immobilized, countered the initial strikes, and prepared to fight as the ambush fully unfolded.^[35]

Cassie fought using her limited foresight to anticipate the near future, but Asterion countered her advantage by reading her thoughts, turning their clash into a brutal stalemate decided by strength and numbers as the possessed Awakened and Ascended warriors swarmed her in the collapsing lounge. Refusing to kill the victims under Asterion's control, Cassie hesitated, and that moment of doubt allowed her enemies to overwhelm and wound her severely, culminating in Asterion's avatar stabbing her and mocking her as she bled. Forced into desperation, she unleashed her Transcendent Ability and savagely erased the man's memories, severing his connection to Asterion and leaving him confused and helpless, but her expected healing never came. As mocking voices closed in and she realized she was still bleeding, surrounded and outmatched, Cassie lost confidence in her ability to survive the encounter and chose to flee or attempted to escape.^[36]

Cassie found herself trapped inside the collapsing building, unable to flee through the exits or escape into the Dream Realm, as most futures she sensed ended in agony, yet she clung to the faint possibility of survival. Though she possessed a powerful Transcendent earring capable of teleporting her to her childhood home, she hesitated, fearing Asterion's knowledge and possible manipulation of her thoughts. Choosing to fight instead, she tore a dagger from her wounded body, armed herself, and surrendered to the darkness of her foresight, using it to anticipate and counter the attacks of Asterion's thralls with ruthless precision. Despite being injured repeatedly and overwhelmed by enemies, she unleashed her full power as a Saint, cutting down Awakened and Ascended alike, even as guilt weighed on her for killing innocents under compulsion. Fighting her way toward the exit, she realized too late that all futures had closed into inevitable pain, leaving her trapped in a prison of fate. When Asterion's mocking voice greeted her and the doorway erupted in a devastating explosion, Cassie finally crushed the blue gemstone, and the violent chaos was replaced by sudden, absolute silence.^[37]

Cassie arrived grievously wounded in her childhood bedroom and, after realizing Asterion had subtly tampered with her thoughts, purged his influence from her own memories before trying to evacuate her mother to safety. However, she discovered in horror that her mother was already under Asterion's control, and the Dreamspawn soon appeared in her home, revealing his intent to eliminate her as a threat. Powerless to fight a Sovereign and unable to protect her mother, Cassie endured unimaginable pain as Asterion cruelly tore out her eye, destroyed her Echoes, and pursued them into the street. Just as he was about to finish her, a terrifying shift in the world's laws forced him to retreat, leaving behind a newly formed Dream Gate and Cassie collapsing into unconsciousness, broken, bleeding, and barely alive.^[38]

Cassie walked through the corridors of the Ivory Tower, which felt empty now that Nephis and Sunny were away and most of the Fire Keepers had departed to address numerous crises consuming humanity. Although Rain remained on the Ivory Island, she spent most of her time meditating to make her Ascension happen, leaving Cassie often feeling as though she was the only person left on the island. While her body stayed on the flying island, her mind encompassed the world, sharing the senses of countless people across the Human Domain and communicating with dozens of them at once as humanity faced a global crisis. The waking world was being consumed by an ever-increasing number of Nightmare Gates and the abominations they unleashed, while in the Dream Realm hordes of Nightmare Creatures prowled the edges of the Human Domain. At the same time, Asterion's plague spread like wildfire and the King of Nothing invaded from the north, posing a threat even more dire than the Dreamspawn. Acting as the stand-in for the ruler of humanity and representing the throne of the Immortal Flame, Cassie coordinated responses to the chaos by issuing constant orders and decisions—ordering retreats, imposing martial law, rationing food, relocating engineers to build defenses at the Black Mountains, evacuating settlements, and prioritizing the survival of people over territories such as Ravenheart or the Lake of Tears. While Mordret had already taken the Glass Hell and Godgrave was as good as lost, Cassie organized the defense of remaining regions and mobilized forces to stop his advance at the Black Mountains, even as Asterion's plague continued enthralling Saints. Overwhelmed by the countless perspectives and voices in her mind, Cassie struggled under the strain of her Transcendent abilities but continued sending directives and coordinating the defense of humanity, hoping Nephis and Sunny would hurry while she forced herself to endure the burden.^[39]

In a matter of days, Cassie realized the situation had grown far worse than expected as Red Hill, the Sanctuary of Noctis, and the Lake of Tears were lost, the latter erased from the map and forever changing the face of the Weeping Goddess, while many Saints might already have been enthralled by Asterion and their Citadels brought under the Hunger Domain, causing the Longing Domain to crumble and weakening Nephis. Kai's decision during the battle for the Lake of Tears had unintentionally given Asterion a glorious stage, worsening the crisis as Mordret conquered Godgrave, turned the Hollows into his hunting ground, and advanced south through the basin of the River of Tears and the heartland of the Dream Realm, beginning the battle for the Black Mountains while Cassie struggled to send reinforcements. In the south, Asterion's plague entered its final stage and spread among both mundane people and the Awakened, causing violent clashes between the faithful and apostates in some cities while others appeared peaceful only because all citizens had already become thralls, as the waking world itself continued to fall apart. Overwhelmed and paranoid while administering the vast Human Domain, Cassie briefly checked on Rain meditating on the Ivory Island above Bastion, but elsewhere the Human Domain's forces were pushed back in the Black Mountains, a powerful Nightmare Gate opened in a populous city of the Western Quadrant, and a Citadel City along the River of Tears requested supplies after accepting refugees from the Lake of Tears. While communicating with its Saint ruler through a telepathic mark, Cassie realized he had been corrupted when he asked a disturbing question about the Minotaur and Ariadne, prompting her to sever the connection and erase all marks in that city, which turned into another black spot on her mental map of the Dream Realm where darkness seemed to be slowly devouring the world, leaving Cassie wondering what she would do if Nephis and Sunny failed to achieve their mysterious goal in time.^[40]

Cassie's mind was overwhelmed by countless urgent messages from across the Human Domain reporting worsening crises, including the King of Nothing breaking through the fortification line at Whisper Peak, the loss of a supply fleet with heavy casualties, and a contained Nightmare Gate that disrupted a city's electrical grid and left large sections in blackout. The pleading voices of commanders and officials filled her mind as they demanded help and asked about Nephis, the Changing Star, whose absence left humanity desperate for salvation. From the gaps in her own memories, Cassie realized she had erased the knowledge of where Nephis and Sunny had gone in order to protect it from Asterion, leaving her only able to deduce that they were attempting something that could defeat the Dreamspawn while humanity endured alone. Meanwhile, Rain calmly discussed her theory of Ascension while eating the pancakes she had cooked, explaining two approaches: a slow enlightened method where Ascended essence gradually reshapes the soul core over time, and a radical method that would destroy the existing core and build a new one from Ascended essence—though that approach would normally collapse the soul and cause death. Cassie eventually redirected the conversation to the food, but she privately realized that the Ivory Tower was no longer safe, because Asterion had captured the Night Garden and enthralled the Saints aboard it, including Nightwalker, meaning the titanic ship could appear anywhere. As she continued enduring the overwhelming chorus of desperate voices in her mind, Cassie found that what frightened her most was not their cries for help, but the silence of those aboard the Night Garden.^[41]

Cassie was overwhelmed by innumerable voices calling out to her, witnessing violent destruction across both worlds, but with each passing day there were fewer voices as more people placed their faith in Asterion, the Dreamspawn, whose Hunger Domain was growing while the Longing Domain crumbled. As Asterion enthralled more people, they stopped calling out to Cassie and instead prayed to him, spreading darkness and accelerating the downfall of what she and Nephis had built, with Citadels like Red Hill, the Sanctuary, the Weeping Goddess, and the Night Garden falling or disappearing. While Ravenheart was besieged by the King of Nothing and Asterion gathered followers in Bastion, battles raged across the Black Mountains and the River of Tears, where forces initially pushed back by Mordret eventually stabilized—not due to Cassie's efforts, but because Asterion intervened, his growing influence over Masters and Saints allowing him to command thralls to hold the frontlines and deter Mordret. A brief equilibrium between the Longing Domain and Hunger Domain was broken as the latter overtook the former, marking a point of no return, with Asterion's followers fighting alongside remaining warriors to reach a stalemate against the King of Nothing. In the absence of Changing Star, people increasingly turned to Asterion, their loyalty shifting rapidly until their souls were shattered and bodies taken by the King of Nothing. To avoid Asterion's influence, Cassie severed connections to those enthralled, shrinking her awareness as her mental map was consumed by darkness; Citadel Cities, Legacy Clans, and entire regions like the Stormsea and the River of Tears basin fell silent, while cities in the waking world disappeared one by one. Eventually, all voices ceased, leaving Cassie in deafening silence within the Ivory Tower, her once vast perception reduced to only a few remaining presences—Kai, Effie, Rain, and a handful of Fire Keepers—whom she could not fully trust. Remembering Ariadne's abandonment, Cassie resolved to act, warning that the Dreamspawn would soon come for Bastion, Ravenheart, and the Ivory Island, but as she moved, she suddenly sensed something and reacted, calling out to Rain.^[42]

Cassie hurried up the spiraling stairs of the Ivory Tower, sensing a literal storm erupting over the Ivory Island as violent winds, lightning, and rain engulfed the sky, while simultaneously feeling Rain's condition through their connection, her essence surging wildly as cracks spread through her soul core from the agony of forced Ascension. Realizing that Asterion had stopped hiding his thralls because humanity had effectively fallen and he was now moving to eliminate the last resistors, Cassie understood that the remaining Great Citadels would soon be targeted and rushed to retrieve Rain. Meanwhile, the Fire Keepers, likely already enthralled, abandoned their posts, prompting Cassie to erase the marks she had placed on their souls and take control of the Tower of Hope, using its Crushing Component to create a repelling field around the Ivory Island to delay the inevitable assault. Above, Rain deliberately shattered her own soul core while assigning herself Epithets to endure the process and successfully Ascend, completing her transformation just as the storm abruptly vanished to reveal the Night Garden looming overhead, its forces launching attacks against the island. Ignoring the siege for a moment, Cassie confronted Rain, only to realize too late that Rain had already changed, her words invoking Cassie's weakened, distracted, and pained state, overwhelming her mind with unbearable agony, and in that instant, Cassie was struck as a dagger slid between her ribs.^[43]

Cassie experienced a prophetic vision from her Awakened Ability of a cold blade piercing her heart, initially feeling disbelief that she was dying and that Rain was the one killing her, which made no sense since Rain was incapable of taking a life and had no reason to do so; realizing the sensation was a message from the future and that the fatal wound had not yet been delivered, Cassie deduced that Rain had become a thrall of Asterion, whose influence had compromised her mind, preventing her from connecting Rain's Ascension and the attack on the Ivory Island, as well as isolating her from Effie and Kai. Reacting in time, Cassie shifted her body so the dagger missed her heart, restrained Rain, and removed her blindfold, understanding that Asterion had twisted Rain's perception to bypass her Flaw by making her believe stabbing Cassie would not kill her. Despite her injuries and pain, Cassie overpowered Rain and used her Transcendent Ability to delve into her memories, seeing her peaceful time in the Ivory Tower, her growing insecurity, and how Asterion had exploited it to enthrall her, push her toward a risky Ascension, and command her to kill Song of the Fallen. Meanwhile, the Night Garden launched boarding hooks that bypassed the Crushing due to Nightwalker's manipulation of space, signaling an imminent boarding, and as Cassie endured immense pain, she hurriedly erased the memories of Asterion's influence from Rain's mind before releasing her, planning to leave the Ivory Tower before the boarding party arrived.^[44]

Cassie calmly acknowledged that the Tower of Hope and the entirety of the Human Domain were lost, then pulled her blindfold back up and endured the pain ravaging her mind as she activated the unfinished runic array she and Sunny had been creating to protect the Ivory Island, stalling for time as Nightwalker circumvented the island's defenses by twisting space; although the array drew essence from the Divine core and delayed the boarding party, cannonballs still struck the pagoda, filling it with smoke. Ignoring the damage, Cassie roused the dazed Rain, who was confused due to having lost most of her memories, forced her to release her Epithets to relieve Cassie's pain, and led her through the trembling, smoke-filled corridors, even pulling the dagger from her own chest without hesitation; however, a sudden vision of her own decapitation warned her of an ambush, allowing her to sidestep and incapacitate Sid, a Fire Keeper and former companion, who had attempted to kill her under Asterion's influence. Realizing enemies surrounded her both outside and within, Cassie led Rain to retrieve the remnant of Smile of Heaven, then descended the tower while using precise, nonlethal strikes to subdue the enthralled Fire Keepers pursuing them, though they still suffered injuries; along the way, Nephis's distant flames healed Cassie's wound, briefly comforting her before she continued onward. Reaching the ground floor and escaping outside, Cassie observed that the Crushing and the runic array were still holding back the Night Garden's forces, though not for long due to the array's incomplete state and the presence of powerful enemies like Tyris of White Feather, and as she hurried Rain toward the grove behind the Tower of Hope, the island suddenly shook and the runic array collapsed in a flood of silver light, prompting Cassie to sense the approach of a vast and powerful presence from above and recognize it as Nightwalker.^[45]

The Dreamspawn sensed Cassie's means of escape and sent Nightwalker, who descended upon the Ivory Island as a flood of starlight, destroying its defensive array, while Cassie sent Rain to the portal and was left completely blind. Preparing for death, she summoned her Memories—a pair of golden bracelets, a parrying dagger, and a white triangular Supreme Memory—then waited in darkness as Nightwalker approached in human form and urged her to surrender. Cassie refused, recognizing him as a deadly Saint, and chose not to mark him to avoid risking her mind against Asterion. She tried to provoke him by calling him a thrall under a mental hex, but Nightwalker expressed acceptance and even gratitude toward Asterion. Realizing the futility of words, Cassie declared her intent to crush him and responded to his accusation of stalling by silently unleashing the Crushing.^[46]

With Cassie cut off from all but one of her marks, she was left blind, deaf, ignorant, and deprived of all senses in their absence, but her mind was unburdened for the first time in many years, allowing her to experience clarity and focus all her mental capacity on controlling the Crushing. Though the Crushing was a vast and fierce force capable of influencing entire regions of the Dream Realm, she refined it into a devastating pillar using her connection to the Dream Realm and her claim to the Tower of Hope, aiming only to stall Nightwalker long enough for Rain to open the portal, since she did not believe she could defeat him; however, Nightwalker endured the attack with his Awakened Ability, which isolated his body from outside influences, and retaliated with a blow that crushed her ribcage and damaged her internal organs. As he took his turn, Cassie foresaw a brutal death where her limbs were torn apart and her neck snapped by his Aspect, which manipulated space to stretch her body beyond its limits, and since she could not evade such an attack, she countered by reshaping the Crushing to exert an equal and opposite pull on space, restoring it and binding her flesh and bones together, though only partially successfully, as her arm still suffered snapped bones and torn skin; adapting quickly, she caught her dagger and faced further assaults as Nightwalker continued twisting space to destroy her body, prompting her to activate her Supreme charm and apply its enchantment to herself, enhancing her flesh and bones to be more resilient and durable, while repeatedly reshaping the Crushing to keep herself alive despite severe injuries such as a crushed shoulder, which was then mended by a soft white radiance, and as their powers clashed, the world rippled violently, the Ivory Island quaking and cracking as the fabric of existence itself began to come undone.^[47]

Cassie and Nightwalker stood facing each other on the emerald grass of the Ivory Island, the air around them suffused with volatile energy as space itself bent and twisted, and though neither moved, a hidden transcendent battle raged as Nightwalker commanded space to rend her apart while Cassie wielded the Crushing left behind by the Demon of Desire to resist him, her body constantly breaking and being mended by white radiance; in her mind, the future and present fused into a kaleidoscope of torment where all possibilities converged into her defeat, as she could withstand but not overcome him, her mind buckling under the strain of controlling the Crushing while she searched in vain for a way to kill him. She realized she needed to get close, but every attempt to enter melee range was thwarted as Nightwalker expanded the space between them, turning a step into kilometers, while any attempt to retreat left her trapped in place, forcing her to rely on her Supreme charm to survive the relentless destruction of her body; despite recognizing his Aspect as devious and suspecting it consumed great amounts of essence, she knew time was against her with reinforcements coming and Rain preparing to open the pathway, meaning she had to make Nightwalker abandon the fight. Bleeding heavily, Cassie questioned him about his master's intentions, and Nightwalker explained it was a matter of value, that Asterion feared what a cornered Saint controlling a Great Citadel could do, even destroy the Bastion in desperation, making her more dangerous than worth preserving, and urged her to surrender; meanwhile, Rain secretly channeled the Names to summon divine flame, and Cassie, forcing a smile, responded by willing the Ivory Island to move, its seven heavenly chains rattling as it accelerated through the sky, and as her broken wrist healed with white radiance, she reached toward the tether connecting her to the Ivory Tower and cut it.^[48]

The Spell informed Cassie that her Citadel was lost, and when Nightwalker sensed the change and questioned her, she revealed with a pale smile that she had surrendered her claim to the Tower of Hope, leaving it masterless and forcing him to tether himself to its Gateway if he wished to control it, while the Ivory Island continued accelerating; when he suggested she had done so to preserve her life, Cassie dismissed the idea and instead revealed that she had set the island on a collision course with the Night Garden, creating a dilemma where he had to choose between staying to fight her or rushing to stop the impending crash, framing it as a question of value. After a brief silence, Nightwalker suddenly attacked, crushing her head and nearly killing her, but in the futures she foresaw, Cassie activated her bracelets, evaded his blows, and managed to wound him with her dagger, leading to a short but violent clash where she could only inflict minor injuries as he adapted quickly; realizing he could not defeat her swiftly and no longer needing to kill her immediately after she relinquished the Tower of Hope, Nightwalker disengaged and departed to secure the Gateway and stop the island. Exhausted and overwhelmed by pain, Cassie used the opportunity to escape, rushing to the portal where Rain had already summoned divine flame, pushing her through first along with the wheelchair carrying the Hollow remnant of Smile of Heaven before crossing herself as the portal collapsed into darkness. In the Ebony Tower, drained of strength, Cassie fell to her knees as a cold voice greeted her, and through Rain's eyes, Mordret appeared, smiling darkly as he welcomed her and asked what had taken her so long.^[49]