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

to the roots

If we don't

***

Sanctuary, Sunny had a

which made him feel all sorts of complicated emotions. The manner of their relationship, at least, was set clear — it was

away his resentment for the sake of mutual benefit. After all, Sunny could be a very

ancient ship, this time to do battle with the vine monster that ruled over the island. Sunny knew very well how dangerous that thing was, so he had

the 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

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

to and back from the Desecrated Grove, Sunny approached the Sanctuary of Noctis in the middle of the night.

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

for now. First

high in the sky, which meant that

with it to the Iron Hand Island started this whole ordeal, and now,

was waiting for him up

of moments to

the shade of an ancient tree, and an

'The moment of truth…'

the Covetous Coffer, took out one of the gold coins

reflecting the moonlight,

[Your shadow grows stronger.]

smile appeared on

runes,

Shadow Fragments: [224/2000].

'It works!'

and deliberate manner, throwing a dozen or so on the altar

that the reward was in his sight,