Sunny POV
Hidden in the depths of shadows, Sunny stalked the grounds of the Ivory Island. At the beginning of dawn, rays of light cascaded around the island of paradise, creating plentiful shadows all around. Shadows that become the refuge of the divine slave who had set out on a mission.
'Where is he?!'
Sunny thought with extreme apprehension.
That was the question that was haunting Sunny all night. From the moment they entered the battle till now. His eyes were darting and turning at any sign of that person.
The Prince of Nothing.
Knowing that the evil bastard would never be fine with the status quo and how things were currently set out, he was waiting. Sunny was waiting for those glassy, mirror-like eyes to show themselves.
Because Mordret was like a strange mix of the worst parts of him and the worst parts of Nephis. A person whom he did not like to think about.
The prince weaponised his infinite shrewdness and spite in ways that Nephis would never allow herself, while his ambitions and desires were leagues above Sunny's own. Much more developed than the simple desire to survive.
'Like the scheming bastard he is, I know he will come swooping in at the last moment.'
So without a shadow of a doubt, if Mordret was in this nightmare, he would show himself. With just how much he knew about the Chained Isles, Sunny did not underestimate the prince for even a moment.
But Sunny just had to find him.
'Usually the creepy guy reveals himself to me like a ghost, but he seems a bit shy this time.'
Sunny subtly mocked him in his mind.
Itching in the back of his mind, one thought continued to annoy him the longer he was in this nightmare. Cassie, the one person who knew just how evil Mordret was firsthand. The person that, in her quest for the ivory knife, led to accidentally freeing the man. The usually knowledgeable seer was strangely silent regarding the Prince of Nothing. When Sunny had mentioned it to her at Noctis' home, she was strangely silent. As though she had something to think about.
But his instincts were telling him that she was hiding something. Something that was not for his own benefit.
Silently darting across the field of grass, Sunny had looked everywhere on the island except for one place. The tower. But entering the jail of a Daemon, fewer chains or not, did not seem to be the wisest thing to do. Besides, it's not as though he could enter the tower itself. Sunny knew nothing about the character or condition of Hope. Trusting his safety on the assumption that the divine being would ignore him or perhaps be grateful for freeing her was a fool's gambit.
Hearing a dragon roar at the edge of the island, Sunny could only trust in his cohort. With the strange ease with which they each killed the Chain Lords, considering their rank as transcendent, the final one would not last long.
So now Sunny hid himself in the shadows by the entrance of the tower, waiting for something to change. For someone to approach the entrance to Hope's prison. But as his mind raced, an errant thought was born.
'Just who is his host?'
And the floodgates opened.
'If he hasn't shown himself yet, he must know everything already.'
'But he would have to be close... Too close...'
An image of everyone who entered the nightmare with him flashed in his mind.
'What if... What if it was one of them? What if he took one of them?!'
Feeling a familiar pulse in the air, the penultimate chain had been severed; Sunny stood still in his thoughts. And minutes later, a group of people began approaching the tower from a distance.
Noctis, Aldric, Kai, Effie and Cassie trudged through the perfect grass adorned in horrendous wounds and cuts. None worse than Noctis. But as he watched them approach, a terrific realisation burned in Sunny's mind.
Staring at the hardened doll-like face of Aldric. The childish face of Effie. The wooden mask that covered Kai's face.
With Noctis and Cassie resistant to the prince's powers, Sunny thought.
'One of them.'
--
"Ok everyone! It seems that this battle is nearing its end."
Noctis spoke out from a face littered with blood and injuries. He stood amongst the group, with Sunny having just joined them. Noticing the expression on the shadowspawn's face, Noctis chose to look away and ignore it.
Walking towards Aldric, Noctis smacked his shoulder with a bloody hand.
"To think that you had something like that hidden. Scary stuff that was, seeing all of that death. Taking down the Sun Prince alone as well, I commend you, Singularity."
His gaze shifted to Cassie and Effie.
"You two, battling the armada and leading the charge. Good effort!"
Noctis continued.
"And you, Nightingale! What a shot! I was waiting for somebody to make a move, but I did not expect that."
Realising what this was, Aldric watched Noctis compliment everybody. A weird kind of debrief following the battle. Even though the war would soon restart behind them with the rest of the army incoming, Aldric knew that they had reached the end of the road.
"Sunny, I need the knife."
Noctis said plainly, confirming his intentions to all.
Retorting with emotion and confusion, Sunny spoke out.
"What?! Why?! She can break the final chain herself! Just what are you planning, Noctis?"
The raw emotion poured out from him. Enough that everyone present stayed silent to watch the moment. Everyone knew just how this nightmare would end. The very act of freeing Hope meant that Noctis could not exist.
Unlike Aldric, who saw Noctis as a dead man walking, Sunny developed a strange bond with the Child of the Moon. Incomparable to any other relationship that he had, this was the worst way it could end.
"She should not have to do that. Hope is not a wounded dog biting its own tail; I can afford her that much."
Ignoring what the immortal was saying, Sunny truly opened his eyes and looked at the man. A man that seemed too casual at the death facing him.
And looking back at him, all that Noctis had to do was stare. A stare that spoke more words than Sunny could fathom.
With slow, measured steps, Sunny approached the shorter man and placed the obsidian knife on his palm.
"Sunny, remember everything that I told you earlier. Home is where you are."
And that was all he had to say to the shadow slave.
Noctis spoke in a happy and content voice. Yet his eyes were strangely locked onto Aldric's.
"I wish all of you the best. I hope you all live happy and long lives. As for you, Singularity, best of luck with what we spoke on."
And it was here that Noctis shifted. Content turned into zeal and happiness sparked a silent ambition. His eyes glowed, and a strange force began to permeate throughout the air. One unlike anything they had ever experienced before.
"And one last thing, death is simply too boorish for someone like me. So watch me. Rebirth is much more beautiful."
Just as the words began to register in the minds of those present, Noctis acted.
Noctis POV
Twisting the knife backwards and towards himself, the return of his mortality was imminent. While his wounds were egregious, they would not cause immediate death the moment his fate was returned.
In a poetic moment, Noctis turned the tip of the knife towards his forehead. Etching and following the half-crescent shape, mortal blood dripped slowly from the wound.
And so the immortal had now become a mortal once more.
But that was not enough.
The chain holding Hope would not relent until his death. And as such, he had to change that divine decree. No matter what it took, he had to defy it.
'Aidre, Alana. Watch over me.'
With a thud, the obsidian knife fell onto the grass below. Noctis focused.
He focused on the change that just occurred to him. The change that occurred to his soul as his mortality was returned. And he chased it. With his expertise over the domain of souls, Noctis felt where the influence of the Sun god began and ended. Feeling the divine sorcery that welcomed his fate to return.
Feeling the metaphysical will embedded in the divine sorcery, Noctis could only do one thing. Manipulating his own nascent will, developed and cultivated subconsciously over the centuries, Noctis turned it inwards. Inwards to his own soul and began to challenge that divine sorcery.
'The developed domain.'
'The supreme act of defiance.'
'A nascent will.'
'I have it all! Yet my shrewd existence as a chain, it chains me to this level!'
A manic grin formed on the mortal's face as blood dripped down his face.
"I'll change it all."
And Noctis began to change his own memory. Utilising his aspect and will, Noctis planned to subvert the divine sorcery that chained him. Using the same aspect that manipulated the memories of others, allowing him to reap their souls and create the sailor dolls, Noctis turned that process towards himself.
And in manipulating the centuries of memories of his servitude, Noctis now began to manipulate his own soul. Simultaneously, the great-grandson of the Beast God was completing two infinitely complex tasks at once. Separating all memories associated with the Sun God and the chains while manipulating his soul to remove any traces of the divine sorcery. Noctis was physically cleansing both his mind and soul from the effects of the divine sorcery that tied his existence to the chains that held Hope.
Beams of white light exploded from Noctis' mouth and eyes as he began this process. Only by having his fate restored could he even begin to attempt this monumental task.
Seconds seemed to stretch forever as everyone watched with bated breath. Only Aldric had a clue as to what was going on in front of them. But seeing the supreme act was infinitely more powerful than imagining it. And so, he could only hope for the man's success.
A transient shape formed out of Noctis' skin as it overlapped with his form. His very soul was laid bare to the world as he continued to push through the agony of tearing his soul while splicing his own memories, all while weaving his will into his aspect. It was his aim to purge the very concept of the chain that he was outside of his mind. For if he had the slightest thought of embodying the chain that imprisoned Hope, the remnants of the divine sorcery would latch onto that belief as its nexus. For in the realm of the divine, the power of a singular thought could not be underestimated.
It was a battle of a higher dimension. A battle of will, concepts and the vestige of the divine. Feeling the drain on his already depleted essence, Noctis began to draw from his source element. The souls and memories of those within his domain. The thousands of people that he had welcomed into his sanctuary were now a source of energy to the man attempting to defy the gods. And he did the same for all his creations, draining them completely of everything. All except one.
'Come.'
In the midst of this battle, Noctis sent out a command to the last of his creations. The creation that would free him from this curse of servitude.
A lone sailor doll began to emerge from the distance as it walked towards the prone man. As it neared, it held its creator's face and pressed its thumb right on the mark of his forehead. In a transference of essence, memory and soul. Noctis shifted everything that was tied to the divine sorcery towards the lone doll. The virus that propagated within him for centuries was now released.
And in that moment, the battle that felt like a decade within his own mind began to give. Within him, the divine sorcery began to simmer down as the core of what it latched onto was no longer present.
So now, without the oppressive influence of a god, Noctis began to change.
With the stage set and the conditions met, the Beast of Twilight began to ascend.
The dull moon that was hidden behind the rays of the morning sun began to glow brightly. Brighter and brighter as though day became night. With a howl of a wolf in the far distance, Noctis' soul began to reform and reshape. Will, presence and intent expanded into the world, no longer held within a transcendent vessel.
In the cycle of life and death, it was reborn.
And so now, finally free from the influence of the Sun God and with his fate returned, Noctis ascended. His soul enveloped the world and exerted itself onto it. As his now fully developed domain fuelled him, Noctis underwent a metamorphosis. One the likes of which the Kingdom of Hope had never seen before.
The full moon beamed directly onto the standing man; the air in the sky vibrated and shifted. Pulsing with unknown powers as the world welcomed a new sovereign.
With errant beams of moonlight surrounding his form, Noctis looked larger than life. With a presence that eclipsed anything the group had ever seen, he began to speak in a voice so eerily deep and powerful.
Around him, a field of white spectres began to form. Souls. An abundance of souls made their presence known, a physical representation of his newly formed supreme ability.
"I'm afraid I won't be needing you anymore."
With blitzing speed that was magnitudes above his previous state, Noctis shattered the transcendent-level doll with a singular punch. Shattering everything that it contained.
A pulse of energy waved through the kingdom as the final chain holding Hope was shattered.
'What is Sunny doing here? He sure has grown.'
Noctis thought as he looked ahead. Just beyond the group, a large tower stood tall. And with it, a certain type of madness permeated from it.
Yet the will of the divine was not so easy to manipulate. For even if the Sun God was dead, for even if centuries had passed, for even if Noctis was only one of seven chains, the divine roamed in a realm that Noctis would never reach, a realm that he could never understand.
A spark formed in the very core of his being. And it grew. From a spark into an ember, from a flame into a fire.
"ARGHGH"
An excruciating pain began to emerge from his mind, soul and body. Everything, all at once. And in the true fashion of the divine, Noctis' memories began to return. With each burst of agony, it was all slowly being restored.
The divine sorcery began to restore him to his previous state. The remnants of the God of creation's sorcery mirrored the domain of its creator and restored Noctis.
The metaphysical fire began to take a real form. Burning the physical body of the newly supreme Noctis as though he were a log of wood. Spreading across his body, Noctis was immolated alive. Divine flame burned and destroyed his very essence.
He tried to once more shift the plague onto the sea of souls that now made up his supreme ability. And for each time that he tried, a soul would burn into nothingness. One, five, a dozen, Noctis decided to quit while he was ahead. Knowing the origin of these souls, it was not worth it at all. A feeling of inevitability entered his mind.
Like a chain reaction, the fire retuned to its origin and began to burn him once more.
His name, his memories, his fate – everything was burned.
A shadow darted across the gap between the group and Noctis, familiar in its presence, Noctis could only smile as he knew what was coming. A look of gratitude forming on his face.
"I'm glad it's you, friend."
A black odachi pierced through the heart of the burning man. Not allowing his final moments to be alone and his death to be at the hands of the gods that subjugated him for centuries.
And in his final moments, he began to speak.
"Sunny! Never trust them. Never trust the Gods!"
'Alana, Aidre. I tried. I tried to be free.'
In the mixture of agony and pain, he thought.
'I tried! I'm glad... I'm glad I tried...'
His skin peeled and scorched as his bones began to show. With the fire continuing to grow stronger, it ate through his chest, collapsing his torso onto the ground.
Everyone present watched with horror as the eccentric man they got to know died right in front of them. A pile of ash being all that remained.
All for having the desire to defy the gods.
In the back of Sunny's collapsing mind, the nightmare spell spoke.
[Your shadow grows stronger.]
[You have received a memory.]
The shadow of his close friend found peace, as it took refuge deep within him.
---
RATTLE
The sound of a chain echoed across the empty tower.
The seven chains holding the Daemon were now untethered. The presence of a divine was unbound as passion and emotion descended upon the kingdom.
The child of the unknown, Hope, was released.
***
Thanks for reading.
I'm crying, RIP Noctis. What did you think? Bro succeeded in becoming a supreme only for the gods to interfere.
With Hope released, what will she do and what will Aldric do?
Just realised I hit 200K words. Crazy stuff.
Apologies karr_knight, had to make a small edit.
Till the next one.