Shadow Slave

It was only later, when they returned to the flying ship and looked down upon the devastation that the short and furious clash between Noctis and Sun Prince had created, did the understanding of what had happened finally settled in their minds. There was no going back now.

…The war of immortals had finally started.

Soon, the whole of the Kingdom of Hope was going to be turned into a battlefield and drowned in blood by its frenzy. And then, the repercussions of that madness were going to spread outward like a tidal wave, changing the world forever.

Looking down, Sunny couldn't help but shiver. The broken pillars, the severed hand of a giant, the ash swirling in the air… this place, this event, this moment in time…

Was that the spark that would eventually ignite another, much more terrifying war? A war between gods and daemons, one that would destroy them all and bring about the end of the world… the war to end all wars. He still suspected that it was the unchaining of the Demon of Desire that had set it in motion.

Looking down, Sunny silently whispered:

'But then came desire, and with it came direction…'

Turning his head slightly, he looked at Noctis — the person who had started it all. The sorcerer seemed calm and without a worry in the world. His beautiful face was pale with exhaustion, but other than that, he did not look too different from his usual self… not at all like a person who had potentially ushered in the obliterating apocalypse.

Did he not understand the consequences of his actions?

…Or did he understand them far better than Sunny ever could?

With a sigh, Sunny threw one last glance at the Iron Hand island — not truly and once again deserving of its name — and walked to sit beneath the branches of the sacred tree. Despite the fact that he had not done much, he felt exhausted, too. And there was a lot he had to think about…

***

the way back, Sunny remembered the future. He had been to the Iron Hand island many times, had seen the toppled pillars and the severed arm of a giant, and had

the island came to be in

the Nightmare almost to a tee. Sunny had already formed a theory that fate was like a current, always pulling things

transpired on the Iron Hand island only cemented

the flow of history in the Kingdom of Hope. They had accelerated the start of the war, and even slain one of the Chain Lords. If not for them, Noctis would have most likely

perhaps, the countdown to the blossoming of the Nightmare Seed. If no Awakened appeared to challenge the Nightmare by then… the Seed would have bloomed? Was that the logic? Seeds

had thought that the task of the challenger was to resolve a conflict that would have otherwise remained unresolved. But now, knowing what he knew about the Chained Islands and the Kingdom of Hope, he realized that he had been wrong. With or without his help, Noctis was always going to start a war, the Ivory Tower was always going to break free

to be destroyed, and Sun Prince was always

have resolved itself without his intervention, too... one way or another. The nameless temple slave would have probably died,

really make

Spell want from them? Prove that they were equal to the heroes of the past? Do it better than them? Simply

either way — the challenger would ascend to a new Rank. They could receive a True Name, or even, in extremely rare cases, an evolution of their

thing the Spell cared about was that the

deny the survivor their ascension. However, it did care a little… at least enough to appraise the challenger's performance. The appraisal did not really matter outside of the First Nightmare, where it was tied to the boon, but the

Glorious... and so

hint in there,

so… Sunny had apparently pleased the Spell very much

the shade of the sacred tree, he sighed and looked