Hi Everyone! Not sure if anyone liked my first chapter, but in case there wasn't enough material for folks to form an opinion yet, here is the next part. If you like, feel free to follow/fav or review. Thanks again for giving this odd duck of a story a chance, and hope you enjoy!
Gentiana lurched up as soon as the door opened. Her look of relief upon seeing Luna changed to tense wariness when she saw Luna's fedoraed companion. The temperature in the room plummeted, the air sharpened as if in precursor to a blizzard.
"Please, Milady, I am only here to help," Ardyn responded placatingly.
"Why should I trust you, Imperial scum," Gentiana snapped.
Luna looked from one to the other in surprise. Did Gentiana hate the empire that much? She knew she had to defuse the situation somehow or there would be all-out war in here. The cold couldn't be doing Ravus any good. He was shivering in his coma state.
"Gentiana," Luna said firmly. "This man says he can potentially treat Ravus. I am willing to let him try."
"And if he kills him, what then," Gentiana asked sharply.
"Then you can kill me with your own cold hands," Ardyn said with conviction. "As I said, I am only here to help."
Gentiana was not mollified, but since her duty was to Luna, and Luna had allowed this, she had to back off. She didn't trust him though. There was something familiar about him that went beyond him being part of the empire. She couldn't place where she had seen him, but she was sensing something off about him. Her senses were screaming that she had to deal with him, but her hands were tied at the moment.
She watched him intently as he approached the prone Ravus.
Ardyn found Ravus's head wound quickly. It was more than just a simple bludgeoning from the guard. There was a dark aura circulating around it, as though it had become infected by a daemon. He shook his head. Verstael really was not handling his toys very well. It looked like Ardyn may have to do something about it.
"Well," Luna asked hesitantly.
"I very much fear your brother has been attacked by a daemon."
Luna's heart twisted. She had suspected the very same thing but didn't want to believe it. She remembered how Noctis had been when he had first arrived, and seeing it happening to her brother too was too horrible to contemplate. Her mother had been able to cure Noctis. There was nobody to cure Ravus.
"What can I do," she whispered. "I have tried, but I don't have Mother's powers…"
"You are lucky I came along," Ardyn said brightly. "I am one of the few who can do something about this. Stand back."
He put his hands on the wound and shut his senses off to everything around him. He needed all of his wits around him to focus on the daemon's presence. There it was. His hands started glowing as his presence made contact with the daemon's.
"What…you want, foolish mortal" the daemon's voice, struggling to form words, resonated in his mind.
So, he was dealing with a daemon with rudimentary intelligence, but nothing more. Or at the very least, one who could not speak the language of humans well. Typical of the daemons Verstael had been creating recently. He spoke back in his mind: "Mortal, really? Surely you can detect that I am more than that."
The daemon paused for a moment. "Who…are…you," he asked in wary confusion.
"Oh, simply a man of no consequence. One who happens to be immortal though, and one who can choose to end your existence right here if I so chose."
It growled. "What you want?"
"The thing with you daemons is you are very, shortsighted. Here you are infecting a little boy to possess him. How powerful will this really make you? He's too small and weak to be of use to you for very long. He does have potential, I'll grant you that, but not at the present. You should be biding your time. Kids grow up after all, and if you wait within him, he will become a viable vessel for you, and quite powerful…"
"Get to-point, Old Man,"
"I suppose 'Old Man' is better than 'foolish mortal'. You should not show your hand right now. Stay hidden within the child and wait until the time is right. To all outward appearances, he should appear 'cured' and maintain his human self. Once he has gained power, by all means, take him then. Sometimes it's better to wait for the golden egg to come your way than to grab meager crumbs that fall in your lap now."
"Hmm…you do have point. I 'consider' what you say."
And with that the daemon's presence receded, and the dark aura around Ravus's wound disappeared.
Ardyn returned to the "real world" and looked around. Luna was staring at Ravus, her hands clenched, willing him to open his eyes.
"His wound looks, a little better to me," Luna said, cautious optimism in her voice.
"I've done what I can. It's up to your dear brother now. With this, I bid you adieu. Remember what you promised in exchange."
And what that, Ardyn strolled out of the room.
"Noctis, you haven't eaten all day," King Regis scolded his son, who was curled up morosely on a sofa in the library in their castle—the Citadel of Insomnia.
"I'm not hungry," Noctis responded, surly.
King Regis sighed. "Do you need to talk about what happened in Tenebrae," he asked gently. "My sources say Luna is fine and Ravus is on the mend. You don't need to worry about them anymore."
"Why did you ditch them, dad?"
Regis raked his hand through his hair to organize his thoughts. "My son, I didn't want to discuss 'King Stuff' with you until you were older, but you are forcing me. Part of being King, which you will become someday, is that you have to make terrible choices for the greater good. I didn't want to leave them, either, but had we stayed and gotten hurt, Insomnia would be hurt too."
"I don't care! We should have protected them," Noctis said stubbornly.
Regis moved to one of the bookshelves near the desk, pulled out a notebook, and returned to Noctis.
"I corresponded with Queen Sylva a lot using this notebook. Even if we are far apart, we can stay connected to Tenebrae with this. It's yours now. Go ahead and give it a try. I will leave your dinner here. We have Crown City Roast tonight," Regis said cajolingly.
"Yuck city," Noctis responded.
"There is Memory Lane Pastry too," Regis responded coyly.
Noctis's face lit up. Then he remembered he was supposed to be mad and not eat to show how mad he was. The steaming plates were pretty tempting though. Regis ruffled Noctis's hair, then departed, reasonably certain the plates would be empty by the time he got back.
Noctis picked up the notebook reverently, as though he had been given a book of arcane magic spells and untold knowledge. It looked like most of the pages were filled with gibberish. Was it some kind of secret code, Noctis wondered, intrigued. He flipped to a blank page. He wanted to write a note to Luna, to see how she was doing, but how would it get there? Dad hadn't told him that.
His stomach chose that moment to growl. He supposed he wouldn't be able to figure it out on an empty stomach. He made his way over to the steaming plates. Once he was done eating, he should be able to figure it out on his own.
What a Mobius strip his life was turning out to be, Ardyn thought. Here he was, yet again in the imperial throne room, dancing attendance on Aldercapt. Except this time, there was no question of him being sent to the dungeons. Aldercapt actually beamed at him. Ardyn wished he would revert to his sour-faced look and fast.
"My sources tell me that Tenebrae has pledged allegiance to us, and has sent in their first tax payment. Congratulations, Mr. Izunia. I don't know how you did it, but I couldn't have done it better myself."
"You mentioned last time that if I succeeded, there would be a title in it for me," Ardyn coyly reminded.
"Yes. How would you like to become one of our lead generals?"
"And wear those drab uniforms? Surely you jest. I'd prefer a position where I can still wear this," Ardyn responded, gesturing to his suit/fedora/cloak combo.
Aldercapt sniffed disdainfully, but conceded the point. "Very well. Given your success with Tenebrae, maybe the diplomatic sphere is more in your domain. How would you like to be made Chancellor?"
Ardyn smirked. "Chancellor Izunia. I like the sound of that."
Luna slammed her palm against her forehead in frustration, the sound of the smack echoing through the cavernous library. This was yet another spell she couldn't do. As with the others, she had read all about them, memorized the incantations, and tensed her hand until it cramped, and there was still no holy light resonating from it. And now she was weak and exhausted, having drained all of her mana in the attempt. She would have to take another hour break and try again.
Gentiana would try to tell her to get a full night's sleep to fully restore her mana reserves, but Luna didn't have that kind of time. She was the only Oracle left for Gods sake. If she couldn't do it, nobody else could. Except for maybe Ardyn…
What was his deal? How could he have cured Ravus? She thought her bloodline was the only one with the Oracle powers. Who was he? He had dealt with Ravus's daemon infection so effortlessly, and here she was trying to do a rudimentary "heal paper cut" spell, and it was draining her.
She just couldn't grasp any of it no matter how hard she tried. She wished so hard that her mother was here, that it was painful. She couldn't afford to cry. It would avail her nothing. But if her mother were here, she could have taught her, guided her down the path. She wouldn't have needed to read it all in books. Maybe that was it. She needed some kind of field experience. Maybe if she had that, then she could come back to the books and be able to pick them up. But who was able to offer her field experience?
It was like she was trapped in one of those nightmares where you show up for the first day of school, only to find that it's final exam day. She was being thrown to the wolves, the daemons were out there, and there was nothing she could do about it.
After a good meal (mostly dessert) and a good night sleep, Noctis was ready to give the Tenebrae Notebook another go. This time he actually stopped to read the preface. He had skipped it before since it had a lot of "hithers" and "yons" and language that made him drowsy. Now he actually tried to read it, looking for answers. Buried in the text, he found it.
To communicate with Tenebrae, you must revisit it. As you hold the pen to paper, imagine Tenebrae in all its glory, and you will meet it.
"Really," Noctis thought. "I'm supposed to picture it and it will come into being. What kind of hocus pocus is that?" Still, if it would give him the chance to say "Hi" to Luna, he was willing to give it a go.
Flipping to the first blank page, he held the pen to the page. At first he was distracted at the ink dot spreading on the paper, but then he began to remember what he liked best about Tenebrae. He focused on the fishing pond he had visited. He had felt like such a rebel, sneaking away from his room to go check out the pond. He had felt so independent, sitting alone on the shore, waiting for a fish to bite. No attendants, no pressure, just him and the fish.
Suddenly, he was there. He felt the slosh of water over his feet and smelled the wet earth and the sweet smell of the grass. He looked around. There was no sign of Luna. He figured he would make his way back to the castle from here. There was a large field of blue flowers between the pond and the castle that he would have to slog through. He hoped there were no bees. They scared him.
Midway through the (mercifully beeless) flower field, he spotted the 2 dogs. He had seen them around the castle last time, but Sylva had kept them away from him, in case he was allergic. One was snowy white. It reminded him of a wolf, a white wolf from a fairy tale. The other was gray/white, and beefy. They stared at him balefully. He swallowed, a little nervous, but held his hands out, face up, so they could be sniffed. The dogs availed themselves, shuffling closer to sniff him.
"It's ok guys," he said, voice high-pitched with nervousness. "I'm just here to see if Luna is ok."
The dogs looked at each other, then the white one ran off towards the castle. A quick growl from the beefy one told Noctis to stay put. Maybe this was a bad idea, he thought. A short time later, the white dog returned, followed by Luna.
She approached Noctis, confused and wary.
"How did you get here," she asked.
"Um, my dad gave me this, ah, notebook…"
"Oh, that thing," Luna said, digesting the information. "What are you doing here?"
"I ah, just wanted to see if you were, you know, ok. I was scared that something bad had happened to you."
Luna smiled gently. "I'm fine, as you can see. And Ravus is good, too." Then her face changed becoming sad. "We are, part of the empire now, so I guess that makes us enemies. It isn't safe for you here Noctis. You should go."
Noctis looked confused for a moment. "Enemies? Oh. I didn't want my dad to do it," Noctis said defensively.
"I know you didn't," Luna said gently. "But all the same, you shouldn't be here."
"Um. It's pretty here. Do you think that, maybe, I can come back sometimes? Just for a little while?"
Maybe it was the tentative hope in Noctis's voice. Maybe it was because Luna was lonely, trying and failing to learn powers that she didn't understand. Regardless, she relented.
"This is Pryna," Luna said, gesturing to the majestic white dog. "And this is Umbra," she introduced the bigger dog. "Remember them when you write in the notebook, and they will bring you here so we can chat."
Noctis beamed, an innocent smile that brought Luna back to before her mother had died and things had gone to hell. It was almost painful to see. Then he disappeared, back to his life in Insomnia, leaving Luna alone with her burdens.
"You know how I feel about this, sis," Ravus cautioned his sister.
"I don't like it either, but the way I see it, I can't figure this out on my own. I need his help."
Luna's hands were clenched in her lap. The salon they were waiting in in the imperial palace at Gralea was not as welcoming as the receiving rooms in her own castle. These were big echo chambers designed to make one feel insignificant. And whom she was here to see didn't make her mood any better.
Ardyn sauntered in, dressed the same as always, still looking like he hadn't been to a barber in forever.
"Ah Princess Lunafreya, Prince Ravus, what an honor it is to see you again," he said, flowery as always. "You are looking much better than when I saw you last."
"I hear that is thanks to you," Ravus said warily.
"You shouldn't be thanking me," Ardyn said, with a dark edge of sarcasm that went over their heads. "Now tell me, what brings you here?"
Luna spoke with a rush. "I would like to know how you healed Ravus, and if they are powers I can learn as an Oracle."
Ardyn smirked. "Surely you don't need me to teach you how to be an Oracle? Even if your mother was unable to teach you before her 'unfortunate' demise, you must have endless tomes of books in your library of how to use your powers."
Her face twisted in pain, which told Ardyn all he needed to know.
"Oh, you poor thing. I may be able to help you out. One must have the Oracle from Tenebrae after all. However, unfortunately due to my new position as Chancellor, I fear I don't have enough time to take you under my wing." He pondered a moment. "I think I might have enough time if I could do away with the pesky military liaison tasks I have been given. Really as part of the diplomatic corps I should have nothing to do with anything remotely military…WAIT! Prince Ravus, would you mind if I appointed you as my military liaison? I think you would do splendidly, and I would have time to teach your sister in the bargain. What do you say?"
Ravus replied uncertainly. "Um, well, I don't really know what duties would be required."
"Don't worry," Ardyn brushed off his concerns airily. "It's not really that hard, and someone bred for defending his kingdom like you should do fine. So, do we have a deal?"
The Verstael references are building from what was referenced in Episode Prompto DLC by the way. If you haven't yet, it's worth checking out.
