Shadow Slave

The great hall of the Ivory Tower made Sunny shiver, just like the last time he had seen it. It was bathed in bright sunlight that poured through tall and narrow windows. A circle of chains lay in the middle of the hall - that was the Gateway.

There was no one here, but Effie pulled Sunny to a staircase that led to the underground level of the tower. Its roots were deep, seemingly reaching into the very heart of the island. That stairwell spiraled along the outer wall of the pagoda, and there was a tapestry of beautiful carvings on the ivory stone.

The carvings told the stories of the golden age of the Kingdom of Hope, long before it had been destroyed by the Lord of Light.

'Wait... I don't think there was a way down before? Was it hidden?'

Confused, Sunny silently followed Effie.

Eventually, the two of them reached a vast circular chamber at the bottom of the stairwell. Sunny had never been here before, but expected it to be similar to the lowest level of the Ebony Tower... and indeed, it was. However, it was also entirely different.

The duplicate tower created by Nether was full of darkness, and there was a ghastly mountain of discarded mannequins occupying the center of its underground level. This chamber, however, was suffused with light. There was a vast and inconceivably complicated runic circle carved into the floor of the chamber, and within it...

Sunny stared, not even noticing the two people studying the circle. His body shivered slightly.

"...Is that?"

Floating in the air at the center of the chamber was a rough, radiant crystal. It was larger than Sunny, and gave him a feeling of sublime, awesome, indescribable power. The crystal was like a miniature sun, flooding the underground hall with soft light. Reality itself seemed to ripple and shine around it.

It was like nothing Sunny had ever seen.

A familiar voice answered, pulling him out of his astonishment:

"Yes. From what we can tell... this is a divine soul shard."

He slowly turned his head and looked at Cassie, who was sitting in front of the runic circle, surrounded by notebooks, etchings, and writing implements. She was wearing simple jeans and a white t-shirt, her pale gold hair gathered in a messy knot bun.

Sunny lingered for a moment, not knowing what to say.

"A divine..."

At that moment, however, a different voice interrupted him.

"Sunny!"

He looked up, only now noticing Kai, who was hovering high above the runic circle, near the tall ceiling of the chamber. The archer was already descending, and with considerable speed, at that.

'Oh, no...'

Before Sunny could react, he was subjected to another hug.

"Gods, Sunny! You had us all worried!"

He gently struggled out of Kai's embrace and met his friend's blinding smile with a pale one of his own.

"Ah... sorry. I guess I'm just a worrisome person. I only died once in the past couple of months, though, so you needn't have worried..."

Then, Sunny looked past the startled archer, stared at the radiant crystal, and took a deep breath.

"Anyone wants to explain to me what is going on?"

Cassie stood up, sighed, and massaged her knees. Then, she gave him a soft smile.

"I am glad that you are back too, Sunny."

With that she took a few steps back and gestured to the floor of the circular chamber.

"Take a look at that."

He looked down, only now paying attention to the runic circle carved into the white stone. The weave of runes was vast, complicated... and possessed a disturbing familiarity. Sunny frowned.

'What is that sickening feeling?'

Then, he mentally scaled the runes to many times their size and tilted his head a little. The runes... were very similar in style and shape to those of the Red Colosseum. Just looking at them reminded him of the harrowing months he had spent in the cage below the arena.

'Hope's sorcery?'

Cassie nodded.

"Indeed. We continued to explore the Tower after you left, and eventually unlocked the path to this chamber. Our reaction was more or less the same as yours."

She shook her head.

"The Ivory Island holds more secrets than we thought. Well... Nephis will probably be able to explain it better. In any case, we quickly realized that these runes resembled the ones you had encountered in the ancient theater, so the Fire Keepers went on an expedition to the western edges of the Chained Isles. The Red Colosseum has long turned into a ruin, and was teeming with all kinds of dreadful Nightmare Creatures. It took some effort to eradicate them and clear the floor of the arena."

'A ruin? Good...'

Kai nodded.

"Effie and I couldn't participate, because we were tied up settling into our roles in the Second Army. However, since Cassie returned, I've been helping her study the runic circle from time to time... a high vantage point helps see it in its entirety, and so on. We've made a little progress, even! Mostly because Cassie had spent a lot of time with Noctis and learned many things, especially about that flying ship of his."

She nodded.

"Yes. In fact, I suspect that the enchantments of the ship were derived from some of Desire's creations. There are many similarities. So, after months of study and comparisons, we managed to decipher a tiny portion of the circle. It is not much, but it did allow us to access one of the island's hidden functions."

Sunny just stared at her silently for a few moments. Then, he said:

"Is that why the island is moving?"

Cassie nodded with a small smile.

"Indeed. We are now able to move the Ivory Island... albeit very slowly."

He hesitated for a bit, then shook his head.

"Am I the only one who is freaked out by a divine damned soul shard? It's divine! Where did Hope get a divine soul shard?"

Effie glanced at the radiant crystal and shrugged.

"There were only six gods, but there were plenty of creatures of the Divine Rank, the former mistress of this tower included. Sometimes they fought side by side, sometimes they fought against each other... well, of course, they did. Considering how terrifying this Demon of Desire was, is it so surprising that she had a divine soul shard or two? In fact... I am kind of disappointed that we didn't find way more incredible treasures in her basement. Makes sense, though... the damned dragon must have cleaned it all out ages ago..."

She glanced up, in the direction where the bones of Sevirax were wrapped around the great pagoda. Kai's face darkened a little.

He sighed.

"Why are we talking about this stuff, anyway? Sunny is finally back! He has to be sick of military rations... let's go, guys! I bet dinner is almost ready."

Sunny gave him a long look.

"...Mind if I stay and drool at that shard a bit longer? I mean... it's a divine soul shard! Can you imagine how much that thing costs?"

Kai shook his head and said, his voice full of resoluteness:

"No. You can't. I am going to feed you, and don't even think about resisting!"

Sunny looked at the radiant crystal one last time and sighed.

"Well. Alright. I guess I can go for a bite..."