Shadow Slave

Thinking that it was unwise to refuse the immortal sorcerer, Sunny rose from the bed and hesitated for a moment, noticing that he was completely naked. Numerous wounds that he had received in the Red Colosseum and later, in the battle with the black steed, had turned his grey skin into a map of scars, with lean muscles rolling under it like mountain chains.

Noctis gave him a funny look, then cleared his throat and pointed to a chair that had a black kimono hanging on its backrest. The garment was made out of silk, intricately stitched, and fit his towering figure perfectly. It even had four sleeves instead of two, revealing that someone must have sewn the thing specifically for him.

Feeling the cool caress of the soft fabric on his rough skin, Sunny covered his nakedness, fastened the belt around his waist, and then put on a pair of leather sandals.

Feeling somewhat like a proper human again… or rather, a proper demon… he then tied his wild black hair with a black ribbon and followed Noctis out of the room.

As they walked to the upper deck, the sorcerer couldn't help but throw glances at him, mumbling some nonsense in a barely audible voice:

"...wonderful… marvelous! My complexion is, without a doubt, the fairest there is in the Kingdom of Hope, but alas, black doesn't suit me at all. I won't be caught dead wearing black. Or alive, really. But this is just perfect! Finally, someone to do justice to this Night Silk I bought! It must be fate, indeed, no doubt about it…"

Sunny stared at the immortal Transcendent with a concerned scowl on his face.

The man was clearly a raving lunatic. Another one…

'Why the hell is everyone in this damned Nightmare insane?'

They walked onto the upper deck of the flying ship, where Sunny saw a somewhat familiar picture. There was a beautiful tree growing around the main mast, with the middle of the vessel drowning in the cool shade of its wide branches. The bark of the tree was ivory white, and its leaves were vibrant emerald in color.

The difference with how the flying ship had been in the future was that the original tree he was staring at right now was much taller, stronger, more robust… ancient.

Now that he had witnessed the consecrated grove of Heart God, Sunny easily recognized its origin.

...He also shuddered, remembering the nightmare in which he was reborn as an old man. That one… that one was perhaps the most terrible of them all. Mostly because it reminded him of his own past, his own mother. His own loss.

Noticing a subtle shift in the expression of the sullen demon and misunderstanding it, Noctis smiled proudly.

"Ah, yes. She's a real beauty! This noble ship is the last of her kind. An original! All those flying buckets the rest of them use are just crude imitations."

He patted the bark of the sacred tree in passing and continued forward, heading for the bow of the ship.

"You are probably too young to remember, Sunless, but a long time ago, the Sky Below was full of divine flame. Back then, there were fearless daredevils who dove down into the ocean of immolating fire to harvest some of it. This is the last remaining vessel of their fleet."

The sorcerer smiled.

"All the rest were turned to ash, along with their crews. Even the memory of them is long gone. Shame… those guys were really something, the Fire Hunters. A fun crowd. Not very bright, though, which was how I got my hands on this beauty. Won her in a game of cards, and made some improvements."

He laughed.

"I am the best player in all of the Kingdom of Hope, you know! I even won that obsidian knife you carry once, from the One in the North. Oh, you should have seen her face when she had to give me the prize! That was back when she cared about such stuff, of course."

Sunny blinked and stared at the sorcerer, dumbfounded.

'No… no way. He won one of the seven knives playing cards? The seven knives created by Sun God?!'

Noctis glanced at him and winked.

"Ah, yes, the rest of the Lords had the exact same expression you do right now. They were very angry with us two. It was a giant mess. Uh… I sort of lost that knife later on, though, so they mellowed out."

He grew silent for a bit, and then added, his voice a little darker:

"But these knives… they never really stay lost for long, you know. It's really, really hard to get rid of one. Impossible, in fact."

They continued forward in silence. Disturbed, Sunny turned away and looked over the railing of the flying ship.

It seemed that Noctis had not moved the vessel away from the deserted island where the battle between Sunny and the black stallion had ended. It was still below, empty except for a few jagged rocks laying here and there.

The only difference was that, now, there were beautiful white flowers growing from the soil where the drops of the lonesome steed's blood had fallen on it.

'A giant mess…'

Sunny knew that there were seven immortals created by the Lord of Light to guard — or rather, contain — Hope. Their strings were torn out of the tapestry of fate, made to loop endlessly onto themselves, and placed into seven strange knives. And so, the knives were both what made the Chain Lords eternal, and the only thing that could kill them.

Each of Hope's wardens was entrusted with the key to another's death. This was what kept the balance between them… so, of course Noctis had made a huge mess by managing to get his hands on a second one. No wonder the other Lords were angry.

Even though losing one of the knives was something only a complete idiot would do, in this instance, the sorcerer had been lucky to somehow manage such a feat. Otherwise, he might have found himself in hot water… or molten steel…

Sunny shuddered and closed his eyes for a moment.

Finally, they reached the bow of the ship and descended a set of stairs, eventually stopping in front of a heavily reinforced door that looked faintly familiar. Noctis unlocked the door, and invited Sunny inside.

There, Sunny saw armored walls, a high ceiling, and three chests standing in the center of the room.

Staring at one of them in particular, he suddenly paled terribly and took an involuntary step back.

Noctis glanced at him with confusion, then shook his head.

"You are very strange! Don't be afraid, these are just my treasure chests. They won't bite."

He thought for a second, and then gave one of the chests a playful kick.

"Well... except for this one. This one will eat you alive..."