Sanctuary of Noctis

It was situated on a tiny island of its own. The island was rather anomalous because it never rose nor fell, always remaining at a stable height, away from the torturous pressure of the Crushing.^[2]

There was a grass field, and in its center, massive menhirs stood in a perfect circle, which encompassed another, smaller one. This larger circle formed the outer wall of the citadel, while the smaller one formed the inner.^[2]

Inside the circle, there was a tranquil park with a pool of clear water in its middle. A path of stones led to a small island at the center of the pool, where, in the shade of an ancient tree, an altar cut from a solid piece of white marble stood.^[2]

The altar had three special things about it:^[2]

• First, there was an obsidian knife that lay on its surface. The knife did not seem very special, with the exception of the fact that no one — not even Saints — was able to lift it even by a centimeter from the altar's surface.
• Second, it appeared to be by itself, the Gateway. One simply had to touch it to be transported back to the real world. Once anchored to it, the Awakened would appear near the altar when they fell asleep in reality.
• Third, there was a seemingly endless stream of water flowing from the altar, feeding the pool that surrounded it. No one knew where the water came from or why the altar produced it, just that it was cold, sweet, and safe to drink.

Seven streams flowed out of the pool and eventually fell over the edges of the small island, turning into water dust in the wind. On a bright day, the whole Sanctuary was surrounded by rainbows.^[2]

There are massive stone monoliths lying flat on top of the menhirs, creating an almost uninterrupted surface. There was a whole separate world above the Citadel, grass and moss covered the expansive stone circle, which stretched far into the distance. There are guards standing at the outer edge of it, keeping watch on the neighboring islands. Here and there, siege weapons were placed at irregular intervals, aimed at the sky.^[3]

Currently, there were about two hundred Awakened populating the Sanctuary, which was enough to keep it functioning and safe.^[2] The Sanctuary was a rather tiny Citadel, so each of the Awakened anchored here had to do their share of work to preserve it.^[4]

The fruits were a very rare commodity on the Chained Isles — they could not be made into anything even remotely useful or advantageous, but some bright mind in the Sanctuary had once come up with a method to make them into a very hard-hitting and tasty wine.^[5]

The space between the two rings of menhirs had been made into a place for the Awakened to rest and recuperate between their ventures into the wild expanse of the Chained Isles. The White Feather clan had built walls to close the spaces between the standing stones and recruited several people with useful utility Aspects to make living conditions better for those who chose to come here or were sent to this region by the Spell. After becoming anchored to the Sanctuary, they were assigned their own living quarters.^[2]

Located in the northern part of the Sanctuary's interior, it is occupied by Saint Tyris and her people. Both entrances to their compound were usually guarded.^[6] Right above the White Feather residence, a graceful structure was built on top of the ring of menhirs. With tall windows and beautiful ivy climbing its walls, it resembled a large stone chateau. The walls of the mansion were still wet from rain and shone softly in the light of the rising sun.^[3]

No one really knew who Noctis was, why this place was called in their honor, or if that name even belonged to a living creature. It was what the Spell called this place, so humans followed suit.^[2]

In the early days of the Sanctuary, the wine was all the rage among the local Awakened. Not too long after it had been established, most of the man-eating vines that grew the fruits had been hunted down to extinction on the island surrounding the Citadel. Now, only people who went further and risked their lives more had a chance to find several fruits, so the cost was rather substantial.^[5]

In the second nightmare, the Sanctuary was the beautiful lair of Noctis, which was initially called the Temple of the Moon. It was built as a shrine to his great-grandmother, the Goddess of the Moon. Noctis was perfectly content living alone, but as the Kingdom of Hope went from bad to worse, stragglers started coming to his lands in search of a safe shelter from all the madness. He didn't care to turn them away. So, they started calling it the Sanctuary of Noctis.^[7]

• After Tyris shielded Sunny and Cassie from Valor Clan, the White Feather Clan got implicated and were dismissed from ruling the Chained Island and burdened with another duty.^[8]

• Dark Seed