Walking through the beautiful garden, which was illuminated by the pale light of the full moon, Sunny enjoyed the tranquil air of the Sanctuary. At so point, however, a slightly disconcerting thought entered his mind:
’During that whole conversation... I felt the urge to disclose all of my secrets. Is that the effect Hope is having on ?’
Suddenly thoughtful, Sunny approached the door of the sorcerer’s lair, waited patiently for the Sailor Dolls to open it, and walked inside.
’Maybe I was always...’
His eyes suddenly narrowed, and his hand shot to the side, ready to grasp the shaft of the Cruel Sight. Sothing was very wrong inside the dark hall... a thick, nauseating sll of blood invaded his nostrils, sending adrenalin coursing through his own. It surrounded him like a suffocating wave, as though a terrible massacre had just taken place in the immortal sorcerer’s quarters.
...But Sunny did not see any corpses. The central chamber was just as he had left it the last ti — empty of all furniture, with a vast circle of runes drawn on the stone floor. No, not entirely the sa... the floor had cracked in several places, as though sothing was pushing at it from beneath, exerting devastating pressure on the ancient stones.
Noctis was still in the center of the circle. One of his sleeves was rolled up, and there was a deep cut on his left wrist, a stream of blood running down his hand and falling down like a crimson ribbon. In his other hand, he held the diamond sickle. The sorcerer was surrounded by a shallow pool of blood, however, it sohow failed to touch the hems of his garnts.
Sunny stared at him for a few monts, noticing that the stone surface... seed to be slowly absorbing the blood. Then, he gripped the erald amulet and asked evenly:
"...Are you trying to kill yourself?"
Noctis slowly opened his eyes, glanced at Sunny, and smiled brightly. Then, acting as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening, he wiped the diamond sickle, hid it in the folds of his silk garnt, and stoop up:
"What? Of course not! I’m too young to die!"
Sunny gave him a dubious look.
"Young? You are at least a thousand years old."
The sorcerer tilted his head, scratched his cheek with a thoughtful look, and then smiled even brighter:
"...What? Of course not! I’m too beautiful to die!"
Happy with himself, Noctis sohow made the cut on his wrist close, jumped over the pool of blood, and walked toward Sunny with a relaxed expression.
"Co... this place needs to be aired, I think. The garden is nice and chill, though."
Sunny threw one last look at the disappearing pool of blood. Did he imagine it... or had the stone floor of the chamber trembled slightly, just then? Shaking his head, he turned away and followed Noctis outside.
Together, they slowly headed for the Altar Island. Noctis seed to enjoy the silence of the moonlit garden a lot... a minute or two later, though, he broke it with a carefree question:
"So, what did you want to tell ? Have you and your friends co to a decision?"
Sunny hesitated for a mont, then answered:
"We did. We... will help you free Hope."
Noctis grinned.
"Oh, wonderful!"
After that, he didn’t say anything else.
Sunny waited for a while, a little confused. They had already reached the white altar and sat down on a stone bench, enjoying the sight of the pristine lake, with a pale circle of the moon reflecting on its calm surface. In the distance, a scarlet light shone, hinting at the sun that sealed the mysterious Conqueror. And yet, the sorcerer seed to lose his ability to speak.
Slightly irritated, Sunny hesitated for a mont and then asked awkwardly:
"...So? Do you need to give you the knives?"
Noctis looked at him with an easy smile and shrugged.
"Ah, no need. Keep them."
Sunny’s eye twitched.
"What do you an, keep them?! Weren’t the knives what you were after?"
The immortal sorcerer looked at the reflection of the moon, then waved a hand vaguely.
"We can deal with them when the ti cos. Things will sort themselves out, one way or another."
He remained silent for a bit, and then added, his smile slowly disappearing:
"Now that the One in the North is dead, things will start moving faster. The other Chain Lords are probably already in motion."
Noctis sighed, then leaned back and looked up at the sky.
"We won’t have as much ti to prepare as I would have hoped. Two months, perhaps... maybe even less. You and your friends should spend that ti wisely. Once the end starts, we won’t have an opportunity to relax like this until it’s all over."
Sunny grew silent, then looked at the tranquil lake. After a few monts, he said:
"We will help you, but I have so questions."
Amused by that statent, Noctis laughed.
"You even have questions on a night like this? Sunless... you should learn how to enjoy yourself, from ti to ti. Take a mont and appreciate the world. Otherwise, what is the point in living?"
Sunny glanced at him with a deadpan expression.
"Do I look like soone who knows what the point of living is? Thanks for the advice, I’ll take your words to heart. However, I still have questions."
The sorcerer made a dour face and sighed.
"...Alright. One question. I’ll answer one question. So think well before asking it!"
Sunny did not speak for a while, staring at the reflection of the moon. His face grew serious, deep shadows veiling his eyes.
After several minutes spent in silence, he finally frowned, looked at Noctis, and said:
"...Then tell this one thing. Why did Sun God destroy Hope’s Kingdom?"
The immortal raised his eyebrows, then threw his head back and laughed.
"By the Moon... of all the questions in the world, you just had to ask this one, didn’t you!"
He shook his head, and then looked away.
"Well, a deal is a deal. I’ll answer... like many others who tried to answer this question over the centuries. So said that it was because she was a Daemon, others said that it was because she was too powerful. That she had grown too prideful, or that she had grown too radiant, outshining even the Lord of Light. But they were all wrong. In truth... at least what I think is the truth... Hope wasn’t punished because she was too powerful, too prideful, or too radiant."
He remained silent for a few monts, and then sighed.
"...It was because she was worshipped."
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