So here we go with the first part of this story. I'm still working on Thunderdog, but I ended up having another idea that I had to work on. This one is called "Forgotten Gods" in latin, and once again the main character is Prompto. But the story itself will focus on someone else's point of view for a while, a really important piece to this story. Basically, its Ardyn and he's not crazy or wanting revenge. He's got another point in this story.
This is kind of a "fix it" story where basically Noctis and Luna live, and Ardyn's not evil anymore. In fact he becomes very important in Prompto's life early on in the story, and that will make things even more interesting. So who's the villain? A whole bunch of OC's basically. I'll get around to those eventually but first we've got a whole bunch of explaining to do to actually get this story started at all.
Chapter One: Stand by Me
Ardyn didn't dream. He hadn't dreamed in over two thousand years, not since the scourge had first come. It was here, meditating in his mind, that the daemons in his body could not bother him for a time. Their pain couldn't cause him to flinch or cry out, where their turmoil couldn't make him wish harm on others for even a short period of time. It was a blessed time where there was at least a little peace, which is more than what he could hope for in his waking hours. He had been "captured" for some time by the Niffilheim army, tested on and used for experiments so that they could try and recreate what had happened to him.
Not that this had helped them. No damage they did left lasting marks. The daemons within his very soul had seen to it that he was immortal now. Still even for all this time, even after such a heavy betrayal from his dear friend and his people, he had never given into the daemons within his soul. The Astrals, though they had denied him his entry to the Crystal Space and the destiny he had been born with, did not seem to hate him for his choices to help his people. Disappointed, perhaps, in the change of his fate, but oh did they still love him. He could calm even the rage of Ifrit and Leviathan when he simply spoke.
Here in this place, images flashed past him in the darkness, wisps of shadow forming the silent views of his now tiny world. Sometimes he could sense despair in there, not despair of his own but someone else. As if something were trying to call to him in the darkness. He hadn't heard it speak, not once, but he could tell there was anger in it as it once again tried to reach him despite the legion of daemons that blocked its passage. As always, as the presence pressed towards him, it brought images of a time long ago forgotten. Ardyn turned to survey those thoughts, surprised at the images that appeared. They brought a sad smile to his face.
He could see himself, a younger version of himself there, visible and lit in the colors of the setting sun. Ardyn was less worried in this image, less lined. Though even after so long Ardyn didn't exactly look old, he had visibly seemed to have aged well past his years. It was still completely obvious that it was him though, even if the mirror was a little off. He still was tall, wearing the black of the Royal Family of Lucius, towering over most men. His eyes were amber, glowing in the dying light of the sun like a star all their own, and the wind sent his burgandy hair flying from its usual perch about his shoulders. He was watching something unseen, forgotten long ago.
Into the picture stepped someone else, a shorter figure. He bore much of the same facial features as Ardyn, clearly marking them as related, but that's about where the similarities ended. This male had dark black hair that framed his face in a more eloquent way than his older brother's, and his eyes were a sky blue that seemed to draw you in more than Ardyn's own. As the two began to converse, smiling to one another, the real Ardyn's smile fell bitterly. He almost had the urge to reach out for the phantom mist, but simply curled his fingers into a fist as he watched them walk away into the mist, receding with the other presence.
"Where did we go so wrong Izunia?" he asked quietly.
The name passed his lips unbidden, bringing a bitter smile to his face. That was the nickname he had given to his younger brother, Izuniaris. It was a name from the old language of the kingdom of Lucius, just like the name "Ardyn". Ardyn meant "light bringer" while "Izuniaris" mean "fallen one". Honestly the irony of their shared past made him snort in amusement every time he heard the two names. He had long since taken to calling himself "Ardyn Izunia" instead of his real name "Ardyn Lucius Caelum". Mostly because it wouldn't do to have himself currently tied to the name of the royal family of a kingdom that was very nearly at war with the one who had currently "captured" him. Honestly with the daemons living inside of him at his beck and call, and being completely immortal, he could leave at any time. Only doing so definitely hurt him.
"Ardyn Izunia", the name made him laugh a little. "Fallen bringer of light". It certainly fit him and the life he had lived up until now. His destiny had once been to take all the light of the crystal into himself, to rid the world of the daemons that had existed in this place and to unleash his power of the crystal to banish the daemons of this world. He had no problem with dying to fulfill this prophecy as he knew he would once have to do. He had no problem leaving his older brother behind to rule the country after he died, the supposed first king of Lucius. Only he was far too kind. He could not leave his people to suffer at the hands of the daemons. He felt he needed to protect them now, traveling and curing people infected with the virus by drawing the daemons into himself.
Perhaps that fact that he had blatantly refused to follow his own destiny was what had gained the interest of Ifrit. The astral usually showed no interest in humanity except when he needed his own will fulfilled. However because Ardyn hadn't followed the plans of the astrals to save humanity, he had gained his own guardian deity. After him, it had become apparent that every future king and queen of Lucius had gained one of the six astrals as their guardians, and even Oracles were said sometimes to have been given guidance by an astral themselves. It made sense in a way that Ifrit had been the first guardian to the would be first king. Ardyn had been nothing but rash.
He had no way of knowing that his actions would only complicate matters farther. He had only been thinking of the suffering his people would go through now. That they would suffer for years until he had been prepared to give his own life to take down the darkness that hung over their star, creating the scourge. He had gone from town to town, cleansing others of their daemons. For a while he had been worshiped like a saint, loved by everyone because he could smile and claim to be fine while he drew the daemons into himself.
He was anything but fine, and this was not his destiny. The crystal gifted by the astrals and the gods themselves were forced to denounce him as king, claim him as unclean. However they had never once stopped giving him their aid or offering their council. Only Ifrit would allow him to summon him, but they did not stop loving him. Indeed, sometimes the fire god even appeared without being summoned to help him.
Still, Izuniaris had abandoned him after that, though whether it was out of jealousy for always being outshone by his older brother or because he saw that Ardyn did not, he had left him. He had even taken to the throne without being anointed by the crystal and had demonized his own brother. It was obvious why he had done it. There were rumors from his enemies that he himself was the star scourge, and that he had turned away from his own destiny to selfishly seek demonic power. That wasn't what he had done, but it didn't stop his people from hating him and pushing him away and suddenly treating him like he was evil.
Despite that however he had never hated them for their choice. He had made his own choice after all, and doomed the world to suffer for two thousand years because he thought he knew what was best. If he had his way, no one else would need to suffer, but that wasn't happening. His brother had been anointed king and their line continued. He had been thought dead for many years and took to using a new name. And the daemons remained. Ardyn had long since stopped really caring about much of anything, mostly because he hardly seemed to be making a dent in any of the daemons and the gods hadn't spoken to him in so long. The old him was still in there though, just hidden.
It didn't seem to be destined to remain that way for much longer however as his breath ghosted in front of him suddenly, the first sign that she had appeared. Next the darkness receded suddenly as if flinching away from something, and the air around him began to grow chilled. He could hear her, moving just behind him. Ardyn's smile became much more relaxed, more natural, as he turned to take her in once again. It had been years since he had last seen one of the astrals.
Skin and hair the color of ice, draped in thin clothes encrusted with jewels and with a touch as frigid as death, which he had only felt a few times before, namely at his "execution". Shiva too smiled, the Glaceian's presence chasing the daemons away for a time. As she opened her mouth to speak, her voice sounded ancient, garbled as if from another tongue or even backwards, but he could still easily make out her words.
"Light bringer," she greeted him. "The time has come again for you to take action."
"Ah," he said, sounding mysteriously polite. "so I was right. This is not a visit for pleasure. My dear, you wound me so. After all the years we've known each other..." If she was annoyed by his tone or words she didn't show it.
"The king of stone has been born," she told him, quickly gaining his attention and making him drop his fake tone. "He is quickly reaching the age where he will soon be crowned the true king."
"So you finally have your king," he said, a mirthless smile on his face as he once again realized that this was his destiny, that someone else was going to have to die in his place, a child. "If that is the case, then why come to me at all?"
"Your heart remains pure," the goddess said, surprising him. "and perhaps because of your choice, the destiny of another may have a happier ending."
"So you believe I can change fate?" he asked, almost scoffing at the thought. "If fate could be changed my brother would not have felt the need to execute me."
"You may yet find a way," the goddess assured in a round about way, not at all helping his confusion. "But first, there is a path you must walk. The soul is trapped within these walls. Without it, the mind, the body and the heart are lost. Bring the soul to the place where everything began. Then you may find your path."
With that cryptic message, the astral floated closer and took his face between her hands, kissing his cheek. He shuddered at the cold touch involuntarily, before he was suddenly roused from his brief reprieve by the door to his cell opening. He blinked his amber eyes, looking up to take in the sight of who was before him. There was an older man, with a badly receding hairline of white and steel blue eyes. He wore a white lab coat and a smirk that made Ardyn sick, the kind of man who did whatever he wanted no matter what it took. Several MT units, the kind he had been creating from "studying" Ardyn, were with him, as well as a woman.
She on the other hand didn't look like she was happy to be here. Whether it was because she didn't like what she saw with the units and him (no matter how much he was considered no longer a human being) or because she just didn't like Dr. Besithia as much as Ardyn didn't, there was really no telling. She had dark brown eyes, that did well to hide her emotion, though he could see right through her. That made her nervously look away, and him chuckle despite himself. He had that kind of effect after all. People and animals tended to avoid him. Her hair was longer than he expected in the front, a silver color that shone brightly. She growled lowly at the MT that stepped closer to her, though the creature didn't respond.
"Ah," Ardyn said in a measured and completely unafraid tone. "to what do I owe this pleasure?"
"Mr. Izunia," the Dr. continued. "was it? It has come to my attention that we no longer need your presence here at the facility. We have learned all we could from you, and letting you go free would only add too many questions for us to answer to the public and our neighbors. It is time that we ended your miserable existence here and now. A much easier way to go, do you not agree?" Ardyn's cruel and bitter smile widened, unnerving even the stoic MT's, though Besithia attempted to hide he unease flickering across his face.
"And how do you plan to do that?" Ardyn practically purred back. "Kill me, I mean? You do realize people have tried before? They tried to execute me once. Even went so far as to cut off my head. It grew back."
Whether it was the news or the amused way he had responded that had unnerved them, he still couldn't help but let a cruel smile continue to grace his features. He could feel the daemons under his skin, swirling and begging for release. It was two thousand years of practice that made him so easily able to push them back down without even batting an eyelid. There had been plenty of innocent deaths once because he could no longer control his own nature, not with the true star scourge roaming free, always just out of sight. It was enough to make the MT's raise their guns, and the woman with the group to not even blink at this.
Ardyn raised his head, having been locked into some sort of strange device. It kept his body pinned to a large metal tree with his arms cuffed out beside his head. For a normal person it would have been impossible to escape from. For Ardyn, it was little more than a small hindrance. He had simply not cared enough to break free until now. Mostly because after living thousands of years it was difficult to find ways to keep living when the world was constantly evolving around you and people continue to die and drift away where he couldn't go.
"Do you truly know everything?" he asked with a dark chuckle. "Do you know how many daemons it takes to make someone immortal? Do you know how to control them? Do you know how to force the scourge to stop when it works itself up into a frenzy? Or have you only ever simply learned how to place it within a person? There is so much that you truly do not know. However you are correct. It is time that I leave this place behind."
Ardyn felt the change even as he felt the daemons taking over, as he let his walls fall and embraced their power. He was still far to experienced to allow the daemons to completely take over, but it did have some terrifying after effects. The whites of his eyes turned black, the usually amber parts now glowing a sinister gold. From his eyes and mouth a dark substance, like tar, seemed to leak slowly down his face even as he gave them a would be charming smile. Somehow the darkness pouring from him seemed to scream "I'm going to kill you" more than he ever could attempt with his voice. Did Ardyn want to kill? No, he was a healer at heart. But sometimes he found it was better to indulge the daemon's darker nature than to allow it to fester and become too hard to control. At the very least he didn't kill innocent people.
As the darkness continued to pour off of him in waves, the MT's finally seemed to respond, putting a bullet into his skull. He only stopped for a second, before he laughed humorlessly and pulled at his right wrist, snapping the cuff off where it attached to the metal restraints. The good doctor turned and fled from the room, the MT's evidently torn between shooting him again and following. They quickly chose the smarter choice, turning and running after their master like the well trained dogs they were. That left only the woman, who stared at him for a long moment as he ripped the other arm free, cuff and all. Her eyebrows knit together and she quickly crossed the space between them, releasing the part of the restraint that held his ribs in place. He turned his eyes to her.
"What a strange woman," he said, laughing at her expense, which she didn't seem to take offense at. If anything she looked too professional to. She couldn't be older than a young teen, quickly rising up the ranks, but not old by any means.
"Look," she said, a low growl in her tone. "I don't know who, or what you are, but I don't like what's going on here even more than all of...that. Honestly, I'm kind of impressed. I don't like the MT's, but you make them look like petty little toys."
His lips quirked a little as he forced the daemons down, his appearance returning to something far more normal. She jumped a little, as if this surprised her. Maybe she had expected him to attack her, but he didn't sense any lie from her. She absolutely hated the MT units and what was being done in this facility. She hated the way that Niffleheim was running things, enough to risk his wrath just to free him. She certainly wasn't a normal woman, far better in reign of her emotions than most who saw what he was truly capable of. If anything he wanted to leave her alive just to see what she would end up doing one day. Chuckling a little Ardyn turned, sweeping past her out of the room and making his way down the hallway. It was clean and white, almost surgical in precision with high tech doors that never seemed to lead to anything important. After a while of silence, he heard her turning and running a little to catch up to him.
"Where are you going?" she asked.
"Well now," he said. "There's something I need to attend to. Something that just recently came up, if you will. So I'll be taking my leave, if not causing a little damage while I'm here."
"If you could escape at any time," the woman continued her line of questioning. "then why did you just sit there and let them use you as a lab rat like that?"
"As I said," Ardyn continued, undeterred. "something recently came up. I came here on the..." he paused, thinking of how to phrase the astral's strange request to allow the MT's to be created. "request of someone very special. Now they have simply requested that I find something and deliver it somewhere else."
"Contacting you in a Niff base?" she asked her tone dripping with disbelief. "That's got to be a pretty powerful person." A mischievous smile found its way onto Ardyn's face as he stopped, making her almost run into him. He turned to face her, his eyes twinkling darkly.
"Oh you have no idea," he practically purred to her. That finally seemed to make her more nervous of his presence again, and she stepped back. "I do realize I've never asked your name." For a long while, silence reigned.
"Arenea," she replied. "Arenea Highwind."
"Well," Ardyn said, giving her a quick bow and another dark smile. "ms. Highwind. I would recommend you leave this place now while you can. After all, by the time I leave, there will be nothing left. I intend to watch it all burn."
Something about the way he said it, the way the daemons came through in his voice and made him sound evil, finally seemed to show her how deadly serious he was. Behind the polite banter and jokes, the sarcasm and quips, was nothing but the darkness that had become his waking world. She slowly nodded and turned, leaving the area. He continued to smile after her, even as his eyes flashed a bright pink color instead of their usual amber. Nearly immediately as he did so, he felt another presence come raging into his mind, blazing brightly. It was a familiar presence, of an astral being that had long since given him so much help. He seemed to be uncharacteristically fond of Ardyn despite having a reputation for not being a forgiving god or fond of humanity. Maybe it was just something of his own kindness that had spurred something in the god.
But he felt anger, not that he usually felt anything different from the god. Not really directed at him in particular, but at this whole system that had created these creatures, at the other gods for deciding that this had to happen. Maybe he was just always angry, but as the creature felt Ardyn reaching towards him through the crystal space, he immediately heeded his call. Within moments Ifrit had been summoned within the walls of the facility. It was no where near tall enough in these hallways to allow him to stand, so he was kneeling behind Ardyn, but that didn't stop the creature. Almost looking like a satyr with widely branching horns on his head, the astral bellowed and raised his hands, setting a fire to the walls and unleashing his wrath onto the building.
Ardyn just smiled, chuckling lowly to himself as he began to causally walk through the halls, ignoring the fire as it raced past him and into other rooms. Screams of those caught inside were quickly what greeted him in the silence, and sirens began to blare. People began racing past him, MT's and scientists alike that didn't pay him any heed and didn't seem to notice the Infernian sitting in the middle of the hall. Or maybe they did, and that's why they continued to run and flee from the fires raging. It wasn't until Ardyn passed another door however that he noticed anything strange.
The fires weren't coming close to this door, as if the silent god behind him were beckoning him inside. Humming lowly to himself at the obvious invitation, he turned and walked into the room, noticing various tanks and a smell of smoke that was already prevalent. Another, which made the daemons within raise their hackles, was the scent of blood. The area had been abandoned, but a large machine of some kind sat in the center of the room, with many tiny pods that sat mostly empty. In the center of the now abandoned room was a clipboard with a file on it. Ardyn quickly picked it up, scanning over it in interest.
By order of Dr. Verstael Besithia
All units unable to remain at optimal efficiency are subject to immediate termination. If shown to possess too much freedom of will or to have such hindrances as defects or injuries a Magitek Trooper from any production date is to be destroyed.
Termination of the following units for:
Insubordination, incorrect configuration, defects,
02547896 03654789 047851236 021458746
Termination of the following units for:
Failure to follow procedure, rejection of demonic genes, inability to adapt,
07854126 03698754 08974652 098512364
Termination of the following units for:
Failure to respond to administration of demonic genes and continuing to develop a dangerous sense of self despite attempts at correction,
05953254
All Magitek Troopers are to possess nothing less than exemplary form and characteristics to remain in active duty. Those that cannot are to be incinerated to create a more powerful army for the glory of the empire.
"For the glory of the empire indeed," Ardyn said bitterly.
He scanned the page again, hoping to find some insight as to why he was supposed to be in this room. Why did the Infernian basically leave the door unlocked and ready for him to enter, if not for a reason? Ardyn knew he wasn't the kindest god and didn't often like to play by the rules, but he had never once done something without some kind of reason. Such was the way of gods. He scanned over the page again, his frown deepening. So basically if these children that were cloned from Besithia weren't perfect then they would be put into this machine and burned alive? What a terrible way to die. And here he thought that the world had moved past such barbaric means.
Yet his eyes were continually drawn to the final note on the page, a single serial number that caught his interest. Failure to respond to administration of demonic genes and continuing to develop a dangerous sense of self despite attempts at correction. Something about the wording just nagged at the back of his mind. Then it clicked, and he couldn't help but chuckle a little in spite of himself. How very clever. Why send someone like him to find this missing "soul"? Why not someone more qualified or not currently under lock and key? Because Ardyn was the only one who would have any clue where this person was. Because he was the only person in the correct place right then.
Ardyn turned on his heel, ripping the page from the clipboard and shoving it into his pocket. If anything he needed to see what other files he could find about this mysterious unit before he could leave this place, if only because people deserved to know what had really been going on here. He quickly located a scared looking child in one of the pods, watching him with wide eyes as he drew close. He was tiny, maybe seven years old at most. He had bright blonde hair and striking blue eyes that seemed to glow against his pale complexion. A constellation of freckles dotted his face across his nose, and sure enough there was a bar-code on his right wrist matching the listed number.
Ardyn's appearance shifted again as he called upon the daemon's strength. To his credit, the boy didn't really flinch as he saw it, probably used to seeing something extremely similar on a daily basis here where he was raised. Ardyn reached forward and pulled the sealed door to the capsule off with little effort, tossing it to the side and allowing his features to return to normal. He then smiled, attempting to win the boy's trust. He didn't really seem to respond either way to what he was doing, but he seemed only slightly wary. Maybe that was to be expected. He knew what this meant. He knew that he was supposed to die and he had been abandoned here when Ifrit had gone to work. After all, what was the point of removing a boy from a capsule where he was meant to burn when an all consuming inferno had taken over the base?
"Unit 05953254, correct?" Ardyn asked. The boy nodded. "Now that just won't do. We'll have to come up with a new name for you, unless you've got one. But introductions can wait for now. Why don't you come with me, boy? There's somewhere that you need to be."
He offered his hand to the boy, hoping he didn't come across as absolutely terrifying to this tiny creature. After a moment's hesitation, the boy reached forward and took Ardyn's hand. Whether it was simply because he was used to the scourge from being basically born to hold it, or that he was still too confused about his rescue to put up much of a fight, he was still touched that the boy seemed unable to hate him. Perhaps it was this "sense of self" he had developed. Ardyn scooped the child up onto his hip, turning and striding out of the room despite the boy's quiet noise of protests.
Ardyn turned to discover more rooms and find out where any other files about the boy could be hidden, not at all afraid of the fire or the god lurking within the flames, though the child continued to watch it with wide eyes. Another humorless smile quirked up onto his lips as he continued to make his way through the halls.
For the glory of the empire indeed.
So that was chapter one. Not much in the way of story development, except we meet this kind of nice Ardyn. And he's found a unit, I wonder which one? I bet you guys can probably guess the "mind, body, heart and soul" that makes up the group, but if you can't don't worry. I'm coming up with a prophecy that should make it much more apparent. The first few chapters will be basically a few time skips and such as Ardyn tries to be trash dad to Prompto for a while and the next chapter will be Prompto's point of view.
After that we'll eventually head into the main story, where things are going to be a lot different. There's also going to be a new main villain and a whole bunch of changed shenanigans because this is going to cause one heck of a butterfly effect. I hope you guys are ready to see young Prompto in action too when we get to the Crown city. We'll probably gloss over a lot of that stuff, but I will be setting up his friendship tot he guys. Things will change, but there will be quite a lot of things involved and some things will stay the same.
Don't worry though. There will still be plenty of Ardyn being an asshole just because he can, just in a slightly nicer way.