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\'...Strong.\'

The mighty beast shone with ethereal light and disintegrated into a rain of sparks, letting the rider land nimbly on the ground. He regained his balance swiftly and straightened, then turned to Sunny.

The man in front of him was tall and had broad, powerful shoulders. He was wearing a light armor crafted from the adamantine scales of an unknown monster, with a blue scarf wrapped carelessly around his neck. His hair was the color of straw, as was his manly beard.

The stranger\'s eyes were bright blue, and dangerously attentive.

Sunny stared at the man for a moment, then bowed respectfully, hiding his face in the process.

"Master Roan."

Indeed, the man in front of him was none other than Ascended Roan of the White Feather clan — one of the only three Masters on the Chained Isles.

Well… there were probably only three.

Unlike the Forgotten Shore, this region of the Dream Realm had several Gateways. Two were found, conquered, and turned into Citadels by humans. Both Sunny and Master Roan — as well as pretty much everyone else on the Chained Isles — belonged to one of them, the Sanctuary of Noctis. That Citadel was ruled by the White Feather clan, which was one of the vassal clans to the great clan Valor.

The second Citadel was rather mysterious. It was situated at the very edge of the region, near the dreaded Hollow Mountains, and belonged to Valor itself. Only those in direct service to the great clan were anchored at its Gateway, so Sunny had no idea what went on there, and how powerful the Awakened stationed at the Citadel were.

He did, however, know a bit about Master Roan.

The man was married to the only Saint on the Chained Isles, after all!

...Roan looked Sunny up and down, then gave him a friendly smile.

"Do we know each other?"

Sunny shook his head.

"No, sir, we haven\'t met before. I have just Awakened a couple of months ago, so… uh... I am new to the Chained Isles."

The strapping Master nodded and then glanced at the carcass of a Fallen wolf that Sunny had failed to throw over the edge of the island in time. When Roan turned to him again, there was a measured look in his piercing blue eyes.

"Did you kill that beast?"

Sunny lingered for a few moments, then nodded.

"Yeah. I… well, I can be very lucky, on occasion."

The tall man shook his head.

"This is a Fallen Beast… ah. You must be Sunless, then. From the Forgotten Shore."

Sunny smiled.

\'Curses. He knows my name...\'

He had nothing against the older man, but preferred to remain unknown and underestimated. Especially when dealing with Legacies.

"Yeah. That\'s me."

Master Roan nodded, as though everything suddenly made sense, and then briefly looked at the sky.

"You should know that it is dangerous to remain on an ascending island, right? Why are you still here?"

Sunny hesitated for a few moments, then shrugged.

"I was just about the leave and escape to the next one over when you appeared… sir."

The tall man sighed.

"Yeah, that\'s what I figured. You\'ve spent all your luck on that beast, though, it seems. All three of the island connected to this one are also ascending. You wouldn\'t have been able to escape even if you left on time."

Sunny stared at him for a while, a sour expression appearing on his face.

\'...Damn it.\'

"Uh… what about that beautiful griffin of yours, sir? Surely, it can bring us both away to safety?\'

Roan grinned.

"He is rather beautiful, ain\'t he? Well, not that it matters. In theory, we can dive below the islands and escape through the Sky Below, but believe me, you wouldn\'t want to meet the things that dwell on the dark side of the Isles. Even I prefer to avoid those things."

Sunny blinked.

"Then what do we do?"

The tall man laughed.

"I guess you\'re about to experience your first Crushing, Sunless. Don\'t worry, though! The chains of this island are on the shorter side, so it won\'t ascend too high… well, most likely. And I\'ll be here to bring you back to the Citadel if you pass out. Provided that we survive, of course."

\'Great…\'

This wasn\'t Sunny\'s first Crushing, actually. And that was exactly why he didn\'t want to experience it again.

But there was no other choice, it seemed.

With a sigh, he dismissed Saint, who had been hiding in the shadows all along, and took off his pack. Then Sunny found a soft-looking patch of grass and placed it on the ground. Behind him, Master Roan dismissed his scale armor and unwrapped his scarf, then tied it around his waist.

The less weight was on the human body during the Crushing, the easier it was to endure, and the more chances of survival there were. However, the Puppeteer\'s Shroud was made mostly out of soft fabric, so Sunny left it on. He also wanted to neither reveal nor dismiss the Soul Serpent.

As the giant chains groaned and rang thunderously, and the island rose higher and higher, the two of them lay on the grass and prepared to be crushed.

Master Roan stared at Sunny\'s slender physique, then at his own mighty muscles, and sighed with envy.

The Chained Isles was one of the very few places in the Dream Realm where being small and light was an advantage.

"...If you feel like passing out, turn your head to the side. Wouldn\'t want to suffocate on your own spit or vomit, right? Uh… sorry for being crass, kid."

Sunny grimaced and thanked the older man in a suppressed voice.

He was already feeling an invisible force pushing him into the ground.

\'This... is going to suck.\'

As if answering his thoughts, the invisible force suddenly grew stronger, crashing into him like a giant hammer.