Shadow Slave

Sunny stared at the blind girl with surprise clearly written on his face. Allowing this surprise to seep into his voice, he asked:

"The vine creature? You want to kill that thing?"

Why would she want to attempt to do something that dangerous?

Cassie nodded.

"Yes."

He shook his head.

"That bastard sprawls through the entire island, its vines buried underground. It is Corrupted, which means that our weapons will barely be able to cut it. And, if that was not bad enough, the vines produce clouds of deadly poison. Are you sure that you want to attack it?"

The blind girl lingered for a few moments, then answered calmly:

"It is a Corrupted Monster, indeed. It is terrifying and lethal, yes. But I am sure that we can destroy it, with enough preparation. Everyone has weaknesses, after all. That creature is susceptible to fire, for example. There must be other things we might be able to exploit, too."

Sunny thought for a while, then shrugged.

"Fine. I will help your cohort fight the monstrosity on the Shipwreck Island. I will not promise that we will succeed, though."

Cassie sighed.

"Then we have a deal. My cohort and I will remain in the Desecrated Growth until our business here is done. I expect it to take a month, at least. Maybe more. After, we will return to the Sanctuary, recuperate, and proceed to the Shipwreck Island."

She paused for a moment, and then added:

"And then, I will help you challenge the Second Nightmare."

Sunny smiled.

die before that, you

girl turned back to the roots of the dead

we don't die before

***

his way back to the Sanctuary, Sunny had

have to cooperate with Cassie again, which made him feel all sorts of complicated emotions. The manner

After all, Sunny could be a very pragmatic person when he needed to

Sunny knew very well how dangerous

divine flame augmentation of the Cruel Sight, however, was going to come in very

lastly, there was the ominous prediction that Cassie had made about both of them dying sometime in winter. Or falling into the Sky Below, at least. That… he didn't even know what to think about that. However,

was to keep it in his mind, but continue to act as if nothing had changed. At least he thought that this was the best

mentally exhausted from the long journey to and back from the Desecrated Grove, Sunny approached the Sanctuary of Noctis in the middle of the

and hearing the familiar sound of water falling over the edge

for now. First things

sky, which meant that he

with it to the Iron Hand Island started

waiting for him up

and approached the clear pond in its center. Stopping for a couple of moments to make

an ancient tree, and an obsidian knife lay on

'The moment of truth…'

out one of the gold coins out of it, and placed it on the

shimmered, reflecting the moonlight, and

[Your shadow grows stronger.]

smile appeared on Sunny's

runes, he

Shadow Fragments: [224/2000].

'It works!'

throwing a dozen or so on the altar each time he had to return to the real world — to minimize the chances of being noticed and well as

was in