"That’s not so bad now, is it?" Adrian said as he tightly grabbed on to the leash and directed the giant bird towards an unknown direction.

It had taken quite a while, with the damn bird attempting to drown them both multiple times over, but after a pointless struggle and realizing that it would just end up dead, if it went close to the sea again.

It reluctantly accepted its fate and let its supposed prey ride it for now.

And thus, Adrian got himself a way off that rock without having to swim, though for the past hour, there had been no change to the environment even though they had been moving forward.

«I still think it will try to eat you the moment those leashes come off,» Noctis, laying comfortably on the bird’s back.

"I know," Adrian muttered as he continued looking forward.

Soon enough, he noticed a spot in the distance ahead, at first it was just a small dot, but the closer they got, the bigger the spot got.

"Land ho," Adrian suddenly said before chuckling and adding, "I always wondered what it felt like saying that."

«What does it mean?» Noctis asked in confusion.

"It just means there’s land ahead.... I think," he said, recalling whatever pirate media he had consumed back on Earth.

«I see,» the cat answered as it also looked ahead, noticing the quickly growing dot in the distance.

The bird suddenly picked up speed, eager to approach the land and it was almost as if it couldn’t wait to get rid of the pest on its back.

"Yeah, yeah," Adrian tugged lightly on the shadow leash, "you’ve done your job. Don’t start getting emotional now."

The creature didn’t respond kindly.

Instead, the moment they reached what turned out to be a massive island and the beach was covered completely in black sand.

Or that was probably because of the darkness all around.

Anyway, the moment they reached it, the bird began descending quickly.

"Alright," he muttered, loosening his grip on the leash just slightly, "this is where we part ways."

The moment they got low enough, he immediately jumped off its back and the shadow leash unraveled instantly.

The bird didn’t even hesitate.

The second he let go,

SCREEECH!!

It shot back into the sky like it had finally been freed from a curse.

"Ungrateful," Adrian said dryly as he landed on sand.

Though, unlike what he initially expected, the bird didn’t try to turn back for revenge, instead, it quickly disappeared into the distance without looking back.

"I’ll definitely not miss him," he said with a chuckle as he watched the bird go.

«....» Noctis, back on his head, was silent for a while before asking, «are you okay?»

"Yeah," Adrian nodded, "why wouldn’t I be?"

«I sensed this for a while earlier,» it continued, «but it seems the mana we share is quickly getting polluted by something else.»

"Polluted?" He muttered before quickly realizing that something definitely was wrong with him.

He immediately sat on the sand, folded both legs and closed his eyes, sensing his mana flowing within, and that’s when he realized what was wrong.

"Corrupted mana?" Adrian muttered as he opened his eyes, a bit confused.

«Yes,» the cat confirmed before explaining, «but instead of corrupting your mana, it’s only slightly influencing you whilst it’s being extracted out of your mana stream.»

Adrian nodded as he finally understood what was happening to him, "in other words...."

«In other words,» Noctis continued his words, «the corruption is making you intoxicated.»

The corruption here, instead of mutating him, only worked to get him drunk.

"Seems like it," Adrian shrugged before pausing and adding, "actually, that explains a lot."

«Such as?»

"I’m not by my lady’s side, I’ve been in danger since I entered this dungeon," he explained, "and yet, I am still somehow in a good mood."

"Also, there’s this constant urge to do something stupid," he looked towards the black sea as he added, "like jumping back in the water."

«.....» Noctis said nothing to that, instead, it silently tried removing the corruption from his mana as it added, «for now, you’re safe, but that might change if you keeping being exposed to it.»

"Alright then," Adrian said as he stood back up and turned around, "let’s get my lady and get out of here."

Turning away from the sea, he was now faced with what seemed to be a cluster of dark trees.

Normally, it was a route one would reconsider taking, but Adrian didn’t even hesitate for a second.

With a small smile on his face, he walked forward and quickly disappeared into the trees with his cat on his head.

***

A long distance away from the forest Adrian walked into, there was what seemed to be a city, full of houses made of stone.

The houses at the outskirts were completely falling apart and had long been abandoned, but the deeper one went, the more stable the houses looked.

Though, the first thing that would pull the attention of anyone who walked into the city was the large stone castle that sat in the center.

Within said castle, a strange phenomenon was happening.

Snow was constantly drifting from the ceiling down to the floor, gently resting on the bodies of the moaning humans on said floor.

Some had they arms completely froze, others, their feet, while some had a shard of ice stabbed within them.

But despite all that, they were very much alive, just in an unbearable pain, one that wouldn’t go away as long as this monster was standing here.

The one responsible for this phenomena was a woman with a head full of white hair, dressed in a black, high neck bodysuit with matching fingerless gloves.

Above the body suit were silver, worn, metal armor that were placed over her chest, side hips, knees and her arms.

Her blue eyes were eerily glowing as she slowly took a step towards the man sitting on a throne, with a sword made of ice in her hand which she slowly dragged, leaving a trail of ice behind her.

If the current Adrian was here, he’d definitely pass out from nose bleeds, but not after dealing with these pests first.

"I don’t think I heard you correctly," she started, her voice completely devoid of any emotion, "do you mind repeating your words, your majesty?"