Shadow Slave

The journey back was, sadly, uneventful. Sunny had hoped that they would stumble upon a few Nightmare Creatures, but this close to the Sanctuary, there weren't many — except for those too powerful for the cohort to attack without a serious reason and thorough preparations.

Come to think, these powerful abominations were probably the reason why the weaker ones kept away. Perhaps that was why Noctis had not eradicated them.

Well… that, or he was simply too lazy.

They returned to the sorcerer's stronghold at dawn, and went to find him without wasting any time. However, Noctis was not at his residence, and the wooden door remained shut. Eventually, they located him at the far side of the island, where the immortal was… making a statue.

There were several giant slabs of marble laying on the ground, and a dozen or so chisels hacking at them without anyone's help. The sorcerer stood some distance away, his luscious black hair powdered by marble dust, and watched it all with a satisfied expression on his face while sipping from a glass of wine.

The first of the statues seemed to be close to completion, and resembled… something. It might have been a human, or a horse. Sunny found it hard to tell.

Noticing them, Noctis grinned.

"Oh, you're back!"

Then, he looked at the hideous stone abomination and raised his chin proudly.

"What do you think? Majestic, right?"

Sunny hesitated for a few moments, and then said cautiously:

"Uh… that is one word to describe it, without a doubt. But… what is it?"

The sorcerer frowned with confusion.

that is. I have decided to grace the generations to come with a

the terrifying marble monster, scratched the back of his head,

of nuances of the sculpting art, just yet. This one is really not too bad, but it is just the first attempt. Luckily, I have plenty of

a bit, quite sure that it looked more like a

Meanwhile, we have retrieved the Ruby Knife. So… what comes

silent for a while,

guess it's time to take a break. Come, let's have something to eat… and drink, of course… and discuss the future. Now that the knives

***

ancient tree that grew in the

must be curious about

each other, then nodded. The

I am collecting the knives. The death of the One in the North would have distracted them for a bit, but

a sip

not an easy task. It will take them some time to come together. After that, predictably, they will send a herald to give me some sort of an ultimatum. And only then, after their polite request is

his head, then

the other hand, shivered and asked, his voice

about? How are we going to repel an

silent,

Simple, really.

another sip of wine and looked up, at the flying ship that hovered

attack them first. We will lay siege

their stunned gazes, Noctis laughed

have learned by now that having more power doesn't always mean achieving victory.

then looked at them, his eyes glinting with a hint of