Shadow Slave

As the battle between the Ivory Dragon and the Beast of Twilight grew more and more devastating, Sunny raced across the heavenly chain and approached the walls of the Ivory City. Up above, Sevras and Noctis continued to rip each other apart, their fury terrible enough to shatter the sky.

Effie was in no condition to fight, and Cassie had exhausted all of her soul essence. She was had been battered during her escape from the falling ship, as well, so the two of them stayed behind, taking care of each over.

There were only two members of their small cohort still capable of diving into the battle — Sunny and Kai. Each had their own task, and had gone their own way to complete it.

From now on and maybe until the very end of the Nightmare, Sunny would be on his own.

Summoning the Dark Wing, he pushed his way to the top of the city wall and remained there for a moment, hiding in the shadow of a graceful guard tower.

The Ivory City lay beneath him, bathed in sunlight. It was as beautiful as he had remembered… even more so, up close.

The graceful buildings were constructed of pristine white stone, with vibrant green vines crawling up their walls. Here and there, sparkling water murmured as it flowed through carved channels. Incredible aerial bridges and arching aqueducts connected dozens of flying islands together.

Now that the sun had risen, thousands upon thousands of people poured onto the streets. All of them looked healthy and beautiful, their tan, dewy skin covered by white garments. Sunny could imagine Elyas growing up happily in this beautiful place…

In this paradise built on blood.

Right now, every person in the Ivory City was looking up at the sky, fear and awe mixing on their faces. With eyes burning with zeal, all of them were whispering prayers.

"May the Sun shine upon you, Lord Sevirax…"

"Bless us, Ivory Dragon…"

"...Protect us!"

"Protect us!"

and pain as the ruthless light bit into him

Suddenly, Sunny shivered.

Noctis had told him once about the noble, valiant, and wise Sevras, the Ivory Lord. That

her poison. Due to his uncompromising resilience, he had maintained most of his sanity intact, and so, had never had a chance

of control and flooded his mind in an instant. Hundreds of years of harrowing struggle, crashing

loved and hated his people. That they were a burden that weighed heavily on his soul, one which he could not escape due to his sense of duty. That they had bound the dragon to themselves with their faith, their devotion, their

a wide square directly under the section of the wall he was hiding at. It was crowded with thousands of people, all staring at the sky

front of his eyes. The visage of

stone. That stone, however, had looked really strange. It was as if once, a long time ago,

stone, telling the tale of countless humans and beasts who had drowned in that scorching inferno. The sight of them

…He paled.

of the Ivory City

"Protect us!"

"Protect us!"

especially

last crumbs of sense, he twisted in the air to better see his enemy, and breathed out

was too cunning. Noctis had positioned himself between the dragon and the crowded streets, hoping to use the city below as a shield… or maybe hoping to taunt Sevras into

The stream of pale light danced out of the way of the

Sunny staggered back.