Stone steps revealed themselves from the blinding radiance, with tall pillars framing their flawless surface. They ascended steeply into the silver haze, disappearing into the brilliant light like the pathway to heaven…
There was nothing heavenly about them, though, because not a hundred meters lower down the slope, a horrid mass of vivisected flesh was slithering and straining as it tried to escape the wires that bound it and the spikes that impaled it.
The Lighthouse was obscured by the radiance, but it was near, looming in the haze.
A young man was sitting on the steps, staring at the ground. As Sunny and his companions approached, he slowly raised his head and peered at them with his strange, nebulous silver eyes.
The youth looked barely old enough to be called an adult, with beautiful features and dark, flawless skin. He wore a tunic woven out of flowing, luxurious fabric, and his long hair was tied neatly by a piece of metal wire.
