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.

me! A monument to me, that is. I have decided to grace the generations to come with a vision of my matchless beauty. They deserve the privilege of

marble monster, scratched

art, just yet. This one is really not too bad, but it is just the first attempt. Luckily, I have plenty of these slabs to practice. Hmm… seven should be enough to reach perfection. Well... maybe fourteen…

for a bit, quite sure that it looked

have retrieved the Ruby

remained silent for a while,

discuss the future. Now that the knives are in our possession, the future will surely be

***

were enjoying a light breakfast in the shade of the ancient tree that grew in the heart of the Sanctuary. Noctis poured

curious

each other, then

am collecting the knives. The death of the One in the North would have distracted them for a bit, but at the same time, it would have made my actions look much more suspicious. So, they will hold

took a sip

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

his

other hand, shivered and asked, his

about? How are

sorcerer grew silent, then

Simple,

and looked up, at the flying ship that

We

stunned gazes,

now that having more power doesn't always mean achieving victory. The three

them, his eyes glinting with a hint