Shadow Slave

"Why have you come here, Solvane?"

Sunny turned around, looking at the delicate woman who stood behind him, her dress woven out of simple green fabric, a girdle of tree bark wrapped around her thin waist. Despite looking only slightly older than their guest, with soft skin and sparkling hazel eyes, she had a calm and confident presence about her that brought peace and a feeling of safety to all who surrounded her.

The woman looked beautiful, wise… and young. So, so young. She also resembled Sunny very much.

As always, seeing her brought both warm joy and deep sadness to his heart.

Sunny smiled, hiding his sorrow, then said in a tone most gentle and loving:

"...Hey, mom. We have a guest."

The Lady of the Grove — his mother — looked at him for a short moment, and then answered in a voice that rang with tension and urgency:

"Get away from her, child. Now!"

Sunny frowned, confused, then did as he was told, arduously pushing his old body forward with the help of the cane. His heart was sending pulses of pain radiating through his chest… ah, even walking was hard today…

Behind him, a dark smile appeared on the face of the young beauty whom his mother called Solvane. She slowly rose from the grass and faced the Lady of the Grove, her radiant eyes burning with grim light.

"You must know why I came here. There is no need to pretend, Aidre."

Sunny finally reached his mother and stood beside her, turning around to look at the strange pilgrim.

'Something… something isn't right. How does she know my mother's name?'

Was she, perhaps, a powerful Awakened? Well, whoever she was, the eternal guardian of the Sacred Grove was not going to let things get too out of hand. She was not only his mother, but also Transcendent Aidre, the blessed of Heart God, after all. So, there was no reason to worry.

Nothing terrible ever happened in the Sacred Grove.

His thoughts were interrupted by the fact that, suddenly, another brilliant sphere of light appeared in view… this one inside the body of his own mother. Sunny stared at her back for a few moments, then glanced at Solvane. He even looked at the horse.

'Huh…'

Meanwhile, the smile disappeared from Solvane's beautiful face. Her voice turned cold and sharp as she said:

"I have heard rumors that across all of the Kingdom of Hope, a cult of her followers was slowly spreading like a virulent plague. Imagine my surprise… my indignation, my rage... when I discovered that you were the source of this disease. You!"

Sunny's face darkened.

'Ah… so that's what this is all about…'

He had warned his mother that this might happen. Saying anything good about a daemon was tantamount to offending the gods, these days. Maybe he should have followed his own advice and kept his mouth shut earlier…

'Damnation.'

Solvane, meanwhile, clenched her fists.

"I came here wishing to be proven wrong, but instead, saw that the accusations were true. Your own son is infected by this heresy. How… how could you betray us so? You have created a cult of daemon worshippers. You have nurtured the very thing that we were created to prevent!"

The Lady of the Grove scowled.

"So what if I did? Do you think, perhaps, that I have forgotten the solemn oath we had given? No… no, you are the ones who are blind to the will of the Lord of Light. You are the ones who have failed in your duty."

Solvane stared at the delicate woman in the green dress for a while, her expression grim. Then, she slowly shook her head:

"You are… so broken. How did you allow your soul to get so twisted? You, out of all of us, should have been the last to become lost. Your god should have protected you… he is the God of Souls, is he not?!"

Sunny heard his mother chuckle, her voice devoid of amusement.

"Be done with it, Solvane. Did you not say that there was no need for us to pretend? Just say what you have come to say, and leave this place. War isn't welcomed here."

The young beauty in a red tunic remained silent for a long time, then slowly raised her hand. Sunny frowned, noticing that there was now a strange knife forged out of a single strip of dull metal in it. Where did it come from?

His mother suddenly trembled.

…He had never seen her afraid before.

"You… you wouldn't dare…"

Solvane gritted her teeth.

"You forced my hand, Aidre. None of us wanted this. But in the end, they all agreed."

The Lady of the Grove fell silent, then shook her head.

"...You lie. Noctis would never abandon me."

She took a step forward, and smiled.

"No one agreed. You are here of your own will, with none of the other Chain Lords giving their permission. Do you really think that they would allow something like that to happen? No matter which one of us falls, the one who remains will no longer be fateless. The balance of power between us seven will be no irrevocably broken, obliterated. Are you mad? Can you even imagine what kind of disaster will follow?"

But then, her voice trailed off, and she stumbled. Her beautiful hazel eyes widened.

Sunny shivered, feeling that, just then, something had gone terribly, terribly wrong.

His mother stared at Solvane, her face growing deathly pale.

And then, she whispered:

"Unless… unless you do, better than any of us. Oh... oh, Solvane! How ruthless you are!"

Sunny felt his heartache growing stronger. There was a cold sensation grasping his chest, making him clutch at it with a pained grimace.

'Argh.... what are they even talking about? I don't understand... what is going on?'

Aidre of the Sacred Grove looked down for a long time, then spoke.

Her voice was quiet and full of sorrow:

"I see… I see now. I understand. I should have known… that out of all of us, you are the bravest. This sacrifice, Solvane... even in the Realm of Shadows, I won't forget it."

With that, she turned to Sunny, who was really confused by what was happening, and smiled sadly.

"And you… I'm sorry, child. Please forgive me, if you can."

With that, his mother faced the beauty in the red tunic and raised her delicate hand, a knife carved out of a single piece of wood suddenly appearing in it, as though out of nowhere.

Her voice grew firm and determined:

"However, Solvane… you should not have never challenged me on this hallowed ground. I won't give up without a fight, and neither will my Grove."

The young woman facing her smiled, her radiant eyes shining with a furious light.

"...Prove it!"

***

"Mom… mom…"

Sunny crawled through the ash, suffocating on bitter smoke. Tears streamed down his wrinkled cheeks, evaporating because of the terrible heat. His heart ached… oh, it ached so horribly!

All of him was in pain. And all around him, the Sacred Grove burned, enveloped by incinerating, raging fire. He could hear the screams of its inhabitants echoing in the dim darkness, humans and beasts alike, burning alive as their whole world was being slowly turned into ash.

'How can this be… how, how?!'

Pushing himself forward with the week hands of a useless old man, he crawled toward the delicate figure lying on the ground a few meters… so, so far… away.

He refused to die before he reached it.

The ground was scorching his palms, which were now covered in terrible blisters, but he persisted, unwilling to give up.

'Mom...'

And then, finally, he reached her.

The Lady of the Grove lay dead amidst the fire, shards of a strange iron dagger sizzling in the bloodsoaked mud around her. Swallowing tears, Sunny awkwardly hugged her body and let out a stifled howl.

Why… why did it feel so familiar? As though he had felt this pain once, a long time ago, already… in another world...

"Why are you dead? Weren't you supposed to be immortal? How can this be? No, no… this is just a bad dream, a nightmare. I need to wake up! Wake up, you old fool! Wake… wake up!"

But no matter what he did, he couldn't. Even if it was just a nightmare, he was trapped in it, unable to escape.

'Trapped… in a nightmare?'

As this strange thought rang in his mind, a trunk of an ancient tree suddenly fell nearby, a whirlwind of fiery sparks and burning debris raising into the air. Sunny stared at it, feeling his vision darken and his thoughts disappear one after another.

He was coughing, unable to stop… he couldn't breathe… he was suffocating…

'How did this happen?'

The old man stared at the burning forest, his eyes aflame with grief and mad disbelief.

How could the Sacred Grove be destroyed?

Wasn't it supposed to stand tall, beautiful and tranquil, long after he was dead?

Wasn't it supposed to outlive him?

A sense of utter, lightless sorrow and despair drowned his mind, just like smoke was drowning his lungs and pain was drowning his body.

'This is a nightmare… just a nightmare… it can't be real… no, no, no!'

That bitter thought was the last one that appeared in Sunny's mind before he fell into the searing darkness.

And in that darkness, alone and hurting, he died.

***

Pain, pain, pain…

Terrible, torturous pain.

His heart was in pain, but so was the rest of him.

Sunny couldn't open his eyes, because they were glued together with dried blood. But if he did, all he would see would be the dark walls of a dungeon cell, where he was strapped to a rusty torture device, red-hot metal spikes thrust into his body.

Lost and forgotten, far away from the light of the blessed sun…

A familiar voice invaded his ears, making him shudder.

"...Ah, you're awake. Good. You've been out of it for so long this time, my friend. Shall we continue?"

'More torture…'

Sunny sighed, knowing what awaited him all too well.

He could barely remember who he was before ending up in this cold dungeon, or why he was being tormented by the owner of the cursed voice. All he knew was pain, darkness, and despair.

However, this time, all of it didn't seem so terrible. What could have been worst than the harrowing nightmare he had just seen?

Solvane, Aidre, Noctis… the names sounded familiar. Had he known these people once, perhaps? Before this hell... if anything even existed outside of it, of course.

In any case, that didn't matter.

All that mattered was pain, torment, and hopelessness.

He gritted his teeth.

It was time to face a new day…