Shadow Slave

Some time later, Sunny was back in his luxurious cabin, sitting on the soft bed and staring at the wall with a distant look on his bestial face.

After the dinner conversation that was rife with revelations, each more terrible than the other, he had told Noctis that he needed time to think before giving an answer. Despite the fact that Sunny now held the keys to possessing two of Sun God's knives, the sorcerer had not pressed him at all and agreed to wait with his usual carefree attitude.

If there was one redeeming quality about the immortals, it was that they could be very patient.

Now, the flying ship was moving, sailing across the skies on its way back to the Sanctuary of Noctis. They would be arriving in a day or two… by then, Sunny needed to know what he wanted to do, and how.

He had to find the others, and conquer this cursed Nightmare, somehow.

Help Noctis free Hope, or make sure that she stays imprisoned forever?

A pale smile appeared on his face.

Hope… how funny it was, to learn that this whole realm had been driven mad by the subtle, irresistible, inescapable manipulation of the great and terrible Demon of Desire. Everyone here was subjugated by her wondrous, harrowing powers. Including himself.

Back in the Dark City, at his lowest point, Sunny had given all hope of ever returning to the real world. In fact, he had convinced himself that hope was the deadliest, most vile of poisons. It was only after he had clawed his way back from the brink of madness and out of the Forgotten Shore, returning alive to the waking world, that he understood the erroneous and destructive harmfulness of that misguided belief.

cared about himself. That hope was not something to fear, but instead something to draw power from. Something so vital that without it, there was no way to survive, and no real

being poisoned by Hope was full of incredible,

'How fitting…'

then stared at his

wooden knife… and one more, which he knew nothing about. Could they really collect them all? Noctis, Solvane, the Sun Twins, the One in the North… could they really survive

or not, there was only one

was not that far from the Sanctuary. Noctis had said that Sunny's new heart needed a week or two to settle — whatever that meant — so he wouldn't be able to go

to make

where they were, and how they were doing. Were they even alive? Had their journey

his own struggles, he

dissipating until all that was left was one dark, chaotic mess of vague images, pressing weight, and sharp emotions. But some were still clear and vivid in all their terrible splendor, especially

across scorching ash as his whole world burned around him… an immortal warrior being endlessly tortured by his own brother… and a cunning shadow who had grown too

last one was, perhaps, the most damning. Not because it was especially torturous — on the contrary, the Shadow Lord had been content and at peace in his last moments — but because

beloved steed had ended up… lonesome, broken, and consumed

it, they collected strings and tethers that connected them to others. Everyone's fates were intertwined, and everyone was tied down and bound by those numerous connections, some of them fleeting, some deep

connected to him would suffer, too. And that… that, in a way, made him responsible not only for himself, but also for those whose lives he had made different. The weight of that unfamiliar