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.

at them with a silent question, Effie simply nodded toward Cassie. The mystery of their swift reaction was easily

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

inside, turned, leaned comfortably on the bending inner surface of the tall aplustre, and placed his hands

essence. There were invisible energy pathways spanning the whole length of it, all leading to the roots of the beautiful tree growing around

been able to fly it in the future. However, the pilot still needed to control that flow and serve as its nexus, and so, only an Awakened

…Or a Transcendent.

essence into the runic circle, connecting his soul to the ship, and the ancient vessel slowly started to move, gaining speed as the wind filled its sails.

see a master at work! Truly, there is no helmsman more skilled and distinguished than me in the whole

a guilty expression on his

was the wrong word

remained silent for a few moments, then said

used to it.

been interested in the flying ship and its mysteries, Sunny left the two of them alone and walked to the side, staring into the distance with a

heavenly chains,

a giant steel colossus

He gritted his teeth.

that a joke? Noctis conveniently failed to mention that this herald was going to be one

sorcerer meant, saying that they had to meet the herald elsewhere, to avoid damaging the Sanctuary? Weren't they simply going to speak? That was what messengers

ship, he suddenly caught sight of an especially familiar one. Of course,

stone columns that had been broken in the

course, there was no colossal iron hand laying in the center