Chapter 1
Dreams
It was always the same dream, one that the gods had blessed him with since as long as he could remember.
The pale angel with wings of alabaster and long golden hair caught in braids who stared at him with a pitiable and sorrowful look that marred her otherwise perfect face. She would reach out to him with a thin slight hand pulsing with light.
"Moon and stars..." she would breathe in a voice so familiar that his knees would quake and his heart soared as though he'd never experienced love before. Then he would awaken with a feeling of profound loss that matched in scale the love he'd known when she'd spoken to him with such soft words.
Ignis Scientia was not a man given to overly displaying emotion but when he dreamed of that moment he wished more than anything to see it through to its conclusion.
At one time when much younger he had thought perhaps that Bahamut or another of astrals were showing him the Oracle herself as some test or warning but that idea was soon dispelled upon seeing the Lady Lunafreya's image. She was beautiful to be sure, and now, thanks to the machinations of Niflheim, would be an exceedingly fair Queen of Insomnia and bride to Noctis. But she wasn't the angel he dreamed of with eyes of such a pained blue.
He often wondered what made her so sad, why she reached out to him... why the dream would never let him finally reach that hand and try to take that pain from her. It was only a dream he would often remind himself. A symptom of an active and under utilized mind. He would merely have to devote himself more to his duty as advisor.
On this particular morning, Ignis lay back on the bed and stared at the ceiling while he waited for that sense of loss to dissipate. Today was the day. Prince Noctis would be leaving Insomnia and his father behind. Altissia awaited and so did his marriage.
Ignis glanced at his watch. It was time he arose. The sun was not even hinted at yet in the sky but he in particular needed to be moving. So much had to be organized. Breakfast for his still sleeping companions, finances for the journey ahead and of course finalizing their route.
As much as Ignis had tried, Noctis was just not interested in the finer details of being a monarch. That was Ignis's duty. He'd known ever since his uncle had passed him to King Regis that he was now bound to keep Insomnia foremost in his thoughts.
Even though he had initial doubts about his ability to guide the young Prince on his path, Noctis by his very nature had assuaged them. He would be a fine king one day and Ignis would see to it that under Noctis's rule there would never be a crisis unprepared for or unstoppable.
"Can't believe it's really here..." Prompto sighed as Ignis drove the Regalia through the final checkpoint before they left Insomnia proper.
"Yeah," Noctis mumbled in reply with his attention more focused on the landscape that was finally starting to emerge as the last gate passed by. The conversation he had with his father on the steps of the Citadel weighed heavily on him.
"Bachelor days are nearly over," Gladio chuckled before finding his latest book and starting to read from where he'd left off. "All I can say is poor Lady Lunafreya. She's got her work cut out for herself with you."
"What the hell does that mean?!"
"You heard me. But I guess being the Oracle will have prepared her for dealing with all kinds of people, especially stubborn, demanding, and childish princes."
Ignis glanced in the rear-view mirror and spotted Noctis about to open his mouth to retort to the smirking Gladio when the prince clearly thought better of it. The scowl on his face spoke volumes but he remained silent.
Ignis pondered for the briefest of moments what he could say to give ease to Noctis while allowing Gladio his fun when his vision contorted.
He could distantly hear the shouts of his friends as the Regalia dangerously swerved. Ignis hit the brakes hard while his eyes burned and brain screamed.
He stumbled free from the car and blindly rushed a short distance off the road and into dirt.
A cacophony of sound enveloped him, cancelling his friends anxious voices calling out in concern and fear.
"Aesir of old, though thou must learn the path anew; aid shall be yours while my covenant remains true. Thou hast done this before. Thou would follow the cycle again. Nothing would change. Such I have seen through both Thought and Memory."
The voice boomed so loud that his eardrums screamed in pain.
"The old king will die. The young king will die. The world will rot. The world will be saved."
Ignis really thought he was going die himself at this stage. The pain was so intense that he was doubled over on his knees and screaming while he felt blood pouring from his nose.
"The first sin would go unpunished and the star will scream because of its scourge. Mere children left, bringing ruin and damnation. Hear me, Moon and stars! Return to the Father. Return and tarry no longer on this fool's errand for the city is where the heart and the path least trodden lies. Such is the will of Atrith and Vofuth, of Fjolnir and Fjolsvith... the will of Odin, the All-Father."
When Ignis could finally and blearily open his eyes, they immediately focused on a distant pair of... dogs? He vaguely remembered seeing at least the black one in the palace visiting Noctis. The white version he had never laid eyes on before. They stared at him intently as though they knew the voice that had spoken to Ignis before both turned and headed towards Insomnia.
He finally became aware of his friends around him.
"Ignis?!" Noctis sounded desperate as he shook his friend by the shoulder.
"We need to go back."
"What?"
Ignis sat up and wipe away with a handkerchief the blood that stained his face. "We have to go back. To Insomnia. Something's coming."
"We need to go back to get you checked out at the nearest hospital is what you mean," was Gladio's reply.
Ignis had no strength left to argue. They were going the way that the voice demanded. The way that... Odin had commanded.
"The All-father?" he mumbled to himself as Noct and Prompto helped him to the car.
"What did he say?" Gladio barked as he took control of the Regalia.
Prompto gushed, "Something about the All-Father. Guys, there's something really not right here!"
"And that's why we're turning back," Noctis replied dryly as he sat in the back seat with the now unconscious Ignis. The Regalia was rapidly spun around and Gladio gunned it back down the road they'd came only minutes before.
Their patient didn't regain consciousness as they passed back into the city and to the nearest clinic. A light rain started to fall as they carried him inside, none noticing the two dogs who sat and patiently watched.
A crack of thunder echoed across the sky, a command given to the dogs by a master unseen. Pryna and Umbra glanced at each other before they parted ways.
Pryna stood, shook her coat free of as much water as possible before starting off through the city with sights set on the Citadel. Umbra sat and waited.