Shadow Slave

By the time Sunny woke up, the ship was already approaching the Sanctuary. Looking out of the window, he saw a familiar island below them… in his time, it was occupied by a fearsome Corrupted abomination. He wondered if it was still — or rather, already — nesting there.

In any case, from here, the Sanctuary was just a couple of chains away.

With a sign, Sunny dressed himself and left the cabin, heading for the upper deck. Once outside, he saw Sailor Dolls moving around with graceful precision, hoisting sails and performing other tasks. Noctis was standing at the helm, wearing a completely new extravagant robe and whistling a light-hearted melody. Noticing Sunny, the sorcerer smiled.

"Ah, Sunless! How fortunate it is that you are awake. We are almost home."

He glanced forward and waved a hand, accidentally sending the ship into a lateral spin. The wooden mannequins somehow remained attached to the deck, but Sunny had to grab a handrail to not be thrown overboard. He gave the immortal Transcendent a resentful look.

Noctis smiled sheepishly.

"Oh… uh… sorry about that."

Shaking his head, Sunny ascended the stairs and joined the sorcerer at the bridge, which was situated at the stern of the enchanted vessel. From there, he observed the landscape of the Kingdom of Hope in silence, until a familiar silhouette of a vast ring of menhirs standing atop a small island appeared in sight, surrounded by a white cloud of water vapor that came from several beautiful waterfalls.

The Sanctuary… it was nice to see it again. In this harrowing Nightmare, it almost felt like home.

Noctis grinned.

"That is it! The Sanctuary of Noctis, my beautiful lair. Isn't it pretty?"

Sunny hesitated, then took the emerald amulet out of the folds of his black garment and thought:

"...I guess. But isn't it a bit presumptuous, to call it after yourself?"

The sorcerer laughed.

no! You misunderstood. Initially, it was called the Temple of the Moon. I built it as a shrine to my great-grandmother. I was perfectly content living there alone, but as the Kingdom of Hope went from bad to worse, stragglers started coming to my lands in search of a safe shelter from all the madness. I didn't have the heart… or rather, didn't care that much… to turn them away. So, they started calling it the Sanctuary of Noctis. Why, it's a

at him for a few moments,

"...Who is your great-grandmother?"

turned to him and blinked a couple of times, an expression

Goddess of

Sunny paled.

does this even make

and decided not to think about it too much. Noticing this reaction, Noctis shrugged with a confused

unparalleled looks from? People as gorgeous as I don't grow on trees, you know! Well… usually. Unless it is a

teeth and tried very hard not to

small island surrounded by the pool of clear water, an altar of pure white stone drowning in the shade of its wide branches. Sunny saw dozens of people staring up with awed expressions, and involuntary searched for

others were somehow here, they were going to look different from their

Noctis grinned.

it here, for sure. Everyone here is very reasonable and

statement, Sunny

***

the White Feather clan had established their stronghold in the future. Noctis built his home inside the ring of menhirs itself, however,

studied the inhabitants of the Sanctuary of the past… most of them seemed like normal people. Some of them were mundane, and some were Awakened. They didn't seem to

to

a young child by the hand seemed harmless, but why was the child so frightened? That man with a neatly trimmed beard seemed gentle and kind, but why was the hilt of his sword so polished and worn? That beggar who sat lonesomely by himself, his body and face disfigured

of fruit in

head, then looked