Shadow Slave

Noctis sighed, then placed his empty cup on the table and stood up. He straightened the folds of his silk garment, then shook his head with a slight smile and headed across the stone plain of the menhirs.

Sunny scrambled to catch up to him, full of apprehension. The first thing he said to the sorcerer, however, had nothing to do with the messenger of the Chain Lords.

"A metaphor is a figure of speech… uh... sort of like an analogy?"

Noctis glanced at him with surprise.

"I must say, your composure is commendable, Sunless. However… do you really think that this is very important right now? Come now, we need to meet our visitor before he reaches the Sanctuary."

The sorcerer gestured at the silhouette of the flying ship that hovered some distance away, almost at the same height as them. Sunny summoned the Dark Wing, and then said:

"Uh... no. I don't. Why can't we meet the herald here, though? No, wait… if he did not even reach the Sanctuary yet, why is the island shaking?"

Noctis shrugged and gracefully rose into the air, flying toward the ship. What means he was using to do so, Sunny did not know. All he could do was jump as high as he could, and then glide forward.

The sorcerer glanced at him, and then said somberly:

"If we were to meet the herald here, my beautiful sanctuary might… well... get damaged. That would not do. As to why the island is shaking, I guess we'll see…"

Soon, they landed on the deck. The Sailor Dolls had already raised the sails and were hurrying around, preparing the ship for departure. Cassie, Kai, and Effie were also there, although they seemed to have arrived only moments before Sunny and Noctis.

a silent question, Effie simply nodded toward Cassie. The

it flew through the air. The ancient vessel had no steering wheel, of course, and instead relied on

inscribed between the oars. Noctis stepped inside, turned, leaned comfortably on the bending inner surface of the tall aplustre, and placed his hands on the oars with a relaxed expression on his face. A moment later,

pathways spanning the whole length of

that produced the tremendous flow of essence required to propel the vessel through the air, and not the kybernetes. Otherwise, Cassie would have never been able to fly it in the future.

…Or a Transcendent.

slowly started to move, gaining speed as the wind filled its sails. Holding the oars with a carefree

how I control this beauty? Here is your chance to see a master at work! Truly, there is no helmsman more

grew silent, glanced at the blind girl with a guilty expression on his face, and then awkwardly cleared

guess "see" was the wrong word to use…

remained silent for a few moments, then

to it. Do

interested in the flying ship and its mysteries, Sunny left the two of them alone and walked

islands were all connected to each other by the heavenly chains, and so, any strong tremor was bound to spread outward like a wave. The question

a giant steel

He gritted his teeth.

joke? Noctis conveniently failed to mention that this herald was going to be one of those Lords

that they had to meet the herald elsewhere, to avoid damaging the Sanctuary? Weren't they simply going to speak? That was what messengers were for, weren't they,

past beneath the speeding ship, he suddenly caught sight of an especially familiar one. Of course, in this era, it

soft grass, but the ancient stone columns that had been broken in the future still

in the center