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.

we don't die

girl turned back to

don't die

***

Sanctuary, Sunny had a lot to

Cassie again, which made him feel all sorts of complicated emotions. The manner of their relationship, at

After

monster that ruled over the island. Sunny knew very well how dangerous that thing was, so he had a lot of preparations to do if he wanted

Cruel Sight,

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, Sunny was not going to let this vision affect his decisions. The last

his mind, but continue to act as if nothing had changed. At least he

Noctis in the middle of the night. His shadow

on the soft grass and hearing the familiar sound of water falling over the edge

for now. First things

meant that he was finally going to get his

the miraculous coins the dead Chain Worm had brought with it to the Iron Hand Island started this whole ordeal,

prize was waiting for

empty garden and approached the clear pond in its center. Stopping for a couple of moments to make sure that no one was watching him, he then crossed the stone path leading to

in the shade of an

'The moment of truth…'

one of the gold coins out of

reflecting the

[Your shadow grows stronger.]

appeared

runes,

Shadow Fragments: [224/2000].

'It works!'

using the coins in a slow and deliberate manner, throwing a dozen or so on the altar each time he had to return to the real world — to minimize

now that the reward was in