Shadow Slave

Sunny stood motionless for a while, feeling the ground move beneath him. Now that all seven of the chains were broken and the Ivory Tower became completely untethered from the rest of the Kingdom of Hope, it started to ascend. Slowly at first, and then faster and faster, the island it stood upon soared into the sky, leaving the shattered land behind.

And as it did, Sunny felt the Nightmare coming to the end.

Slowly, he walked to the edge and looked down, at the burning city below.

The beautiful buildings of white stone were melting. The aerial bridges and elegant aqueducts were collapsing, unable to withstand the terrible heat. The streams of clear water were turning into scolding steam. All around, he could see nothing but an ocean of flame.

The wind brought with it the distant sound of human cries, smoke, and the smell of burning flesh.

Thousands of people — those who still lived — were drowning in the fiery ocean, turning into piles of blackened bones and ash.

The Ivory City was dying.

Was this what salvation looked like?

…In the thousands of years to come, the scorched islands were going to crumble into the Sky Below one after another, forming the Tear. The Twisted Rock would eventually be the last one to fall.

As the Ivory Tower rose higher and higher, the sight of the dying city did not encompass all of Sunny's vision anymore. Now, he saw further and wider. The landscape of the Kingdom of Hope was laid bare in front of him.

He saw the shape of a giant steel corpse swinging below a faraway island on a broken chain, and a shape of a shattered ship laying on the ground. Effie and Cassie were somewhere there, as well… but the distance was too great for Sunny to see them.

He saw countless islands, some of them verdant and green, some of them grey and desolate. There were forests and lakes, rivers and hills, human settlements… small and large. He saw people, cattle, beasts, and Nightmare Creatures.

He saw the chains stretching into the distance as they connected the islands together.

Looking up from the ground, Sunny saw numerous flying ships rushing toward the burning city. There were hundreds and hundred of them, some with white sails, some with red. The army of the fallen Chain Lords had arrived.

As the Ivory Island rose even higher, the sky around it started to change.

The change was subtle at the beginning, but as the Ivory Tower continued to ascend, it became more and more pronounced.

The invisible power that held the flying islands above the abyss of the Sky Below was shifting. As its heart climbed higher and higher, it was slowly becoming more and more overbearing. The giant enchantment was losing its balance.

he realized what was

Crushing… the Crushing was coming to

remains of the Kingdom of Hope in all its

an instant, tall hills broke apart,

were cruelly killed, not knowing what

them instantly turning into a cloud of splinters, debris,

scale of the destruction

the Chained Isles, paralyzed by the inconceivable horror of that sight.

his eyes

'Cassie! Effie!'

a moment, he was consumed by fear,

No... they were alright.

been good at predicting when the islands would enter the Crushing, back in the future. She

relief. Now that his paralysis was broken, however, another thought suddenly entered

edge, then turned around and ran to the

the beast's massive head and jumped down,

opened them in a thousand years.

had to see

moved. Torturously slowly, one

any more time, he pushed himself into the narrow

through tall windows. Seven chains sprawled from the pristine white floor, as if growing out

the broken

And between them…

staggered and involuntarily fell

his heart suddenly surged forward and ignited, breaking out of

a swirling hurricane of light and darkness, a vague and graceful silhouette towered above the broken chains. He couldn't quite tell where the light ended, and where her numinous body began… perhaps Hope had no body at all, and was instead made of

as if her nebulous visage was almost human-like, but also inexplicably alien. The shapes and contours were both correct and wrong… both

And beautiful…. so beautiful…

the most beautiful thing he had ever

was the most terrifying thing