An indeterminate amount of time had elapsed since Prince Noctis had been sealed within the Crystal. Hours had passed, stretching into days…weeks…perhaps years. His perception of the passage of time grew unfocused as the countless moments strung along, until the very concept of time became meaningless. For all he knew, it had been many lifetimes since he had last seen the light. It had been dark inside the Crystal's confines—and cold, like the grave.

Memories washed over him like the inky gloom that had enveloped him. The last thing he recalled was seeing Ardyn, almost close enough to touch but then a million miles away. He had breathed a black liquid ice that poured into his lungs and expanded, filling him with its chilling nothingness. He had tried to call out to his friends—Gladio, Prompto…Ignis—but his voice was soundless, and his silent screams went unanswered.

In the beginning he was afraid and desperate, and all he could think of was escaping. Eventually he had grown weary and weak from fighting the tendrils of desolation coiling around his body and simply let them seep into his mind, dulling his thoughts and numbing his heart.

He had slept the sleep of the dreamless, wandered aimlessly in a sea of emptiness, until he lost all sense of purpose and could not even remember his own name.

Then all at once he was free of it. Freedom, at last! The Crystal had held him prisoner, gripped in its vice, completely immobile. Long had he been trapped inside, with only his thoughts and memories for company.

Or had he? Suddenly it seemed he had been gone but minutes.

How could he have ever felt so tormented by such a soothing sleep? He had been captured and released in the blink of an eye.

…Had it truly been only an instant? Or a decade? A moment, or an eternity?

Dazed, Noctis tried to stand and swayed. His vision was unclear, but he detected a faint glow in the foggy blackness surrounding him. He held his swimming head, certain now he heard the sound of sea waves crashing against an unseen shore. The ocean? But how? Was this even real?

The prince stretched out a hand to steady himself, bracing his palm against a gritty wall of rock. His sight slowly came into focus, and the dim light that shone from the distance revealed a little of his surroundings.

He was in a cell: but this prison, unlike the crystal's endless ether, was concrete, physical. It was cavernous, a hollow carved into rock. And just ahead was a means of escape. If he only had the strength and the willpower to go.

An unexpected voice seemed to rise above the splashes of water that echoed off the walls of the cavern. The prince stood perfectly still, not even daring to breathe as he turned an ear toward the cave entrance and carefully listened.

For long seconds there was nothing more. Then a faint whisper called to him: "Highness!"

Noctis had almost forgotten the sound of that voice, but now he felt his heart pounding at its familiarity.

Ignis!

The prince tried to shout, but only air passed through his lips.

He tried again.

"Ignis!"

This time, a croak.

Noct's throat was dry, as though he had been trekking across the deserts of the Three Valleys.

But somehow, miraculously, it seemed Ignis had heard him. "Noctis!" he called from far away. "Follow the sound of my voice!"

Noct took an unsteady step forward and staggered. He caught himself on the rock wall at his side, but it took all the effort in his shaking limbs to keep from falling. He realized now just how weak he was, how frail he had grown while floating in that bleak cosmos.

"You can do it, Noct!" Ignis encouraged. "One foot in front of the other. You're strong. You're the prince of Lucis!"

Noctis trembled, clutching the wall as the world spun wildly. He closed his eyes, which stung with frustrated tears. "There is no Lucis!" he argued, his throat tight. "I am the prince of nothing." He covered his face with one hand as he wept, and felt the scratch of a beard that had grown over the countless years of his captivity. And then he knew how long he had been gone.

"You're right," Ignis conceded, "you are not the prince of Lucis; you are her King."

"I'm…the King," Noct repeated, grasping the cave wall. "I'm the…King. I'm the King." Every time he said it, his voice gained strength.

"That's it, Noct!" Ignis called to him eagerly. "Now stand up like a man."

Noct braced his hands against the cavern and shoved himself off of it.

"Walk tall!"

He moved slowly, but Noct dug his boots into the sand littering the cave floor and staggered steadily forward—one foot in front of the other, like Ignis had told him.

"Come to me, Noctis."

"I'm comin', Iggy," Noct hissed through his gritted teeth, pushing past the pain and dizziness and confusion as he made his way through the passageway. The light in the distance was still a soft glow, but the air was fresh and salty, and the world was waiting for him.

Noctis stepped out of the cave and into the night. He was outside, standing on a deserted beach, alone. The only light extant was from the stars reflecting on the waves of the ocean as it beat against the coast. There was no one in sight, but Noct plainly heard Ignis's voice on the wind as he said, "Come home, Your Majesty."

Noct's eyes landed on the speedboat waiting to take him to shore. "Hang on, guys," he said with renewed confidence, "Your King is back."