I have some supporters. Joy! Thanks so much AnsemMesna and Para360! You guys rule! Here is the next chapter. Hope folks like and let me know what you think. Enjoy!


Even though they were Prince and Princess of Tenebrae, Ravus and Luna were for all intents and purposes, absentee leaders. Ravus's duties as military liaison and Luna's Oracle training were going to keep them in Gralea for the foreseeable future.

Ravus took to his new duties as a duck takes to water. He was getting combat training, to his delight. Luna looked at him with concern as he seemed to like fighting way too much for her taste. It was as though something dark was driving him to excel.

With those "pesky" duties successfully offloaded, Ardyn gloatingly said he now had "just enough free time" to teach Luna if she still needed it.

"Any training session will be done with me present," Gentiana said firmly.

"Aw. Surely you don't think I'm some kind of creep," Ardyn responded, mockingly aggrieved.

"Let's just say that until the Empire proves themselves, I will be keeping a close eye on you," Gentiana said cooly.

"Very well, suit yourself. Come this way you two."

"Now, what do you know about Oracles," Ardyn asked Luna after he led her and Gentiana to a spacious study.

"They are supposed to be able to use magic, counteract daemon attacks, and bless the havens around the land," Luna repeated by rote.

"And do you know what that really means," he asked her condescendingly.

"I only know what the books told me," Luna said defensively. "And how do you have these powers? I thought only my family had them."

Ardyn brushed it off with a shrug. "You thought wrong I suppose. The keys to the Oracle powers are that you must 'commune' with the daemons. Only through communication can you keep them at bay and save the afflicted."

"But, they are a plague," Luna said in confusion. "It would be like telling a parasite to leave somebody alone."

"Daemons are like a parasite, yes. However, they also have sentience. How else do they know where to appear in the night, conveniently close to a human?"

"Instinct," Luna said tentatively.

Ardyn sighed. "Spoken like a non-Oracle human. Lesson one of being an Oracle: you must understand that daemons are more than just some virus/parasite/plague. They have a consciousness and a will of their own. Oracles have the power to tap into this consciousness and bend them to their will."

"So you mean, I could reason with them to leave a human alone?"

Ardyn looked nonplussed for a moment, as if it was a novel idea to him. "Well, that too. Whatever works," he said prosaically. "All that matters is that you can communicate with them. Just like any feral beast, you can either attack them, or treat them with kindness, and they will react accordingly."

"So, when you healed Ravus, you spoke to the deamon and banished him?"

"Yes," Ardyn lied smoothly, without batting an eye.

Luna looked at him with new respect. "Is this something you can teach me to do?"

"Of course."

Gentiana snorted in contempt.

Ardyn glanced her way. "You saw me heal your Prince, did you not? How else do you think I achieved it?"

Gentiana just shrugged, obviously not trusting him for a moment.

"Everyone's a critic," Ardyn said snidely. Then he turned his attention to Luna and spoke intently. "Tell me, Luna, why do you want to be an Oracle?"

"Because there has always been an Oracle of Tenebrae. Without my mother, the world needs one."

"So 'tradition' then," Ardyn said sarcastically.

"No! I saw what Noctis was when he first came in. And I saw what happened to my brother. I was powerless to do anything about it for either of them. I never want to be that way again! I want the power to defeat daemons and cure the afflicted!"

"And, are you willing to make sacrifices to achieve this power? Even if the price is your life?"

Luna looked away a moment.

Ardyn moved so he was in Luna's line of vision again. "Well, Luna," he said, demanding an answer.

She looked up boldly. "Even if it takes my life, I will still pursue this power."

"Wait, Your Highness," Gentiana exclaimed. "Think about what you are saying!"

Luna turned on her in frustration. "Do you want to watch Ravus waste away again without being able to do anything about it? Do you want to keep hearing the kingdom mutter how without Mother there is nobody to stop the darkness? I don't see you coming up with anything better, so stay out of this!"

Ardyn looked at Luna with a new respect. "Kitten's got claws," he muttered.

"But I…" Gentiana subsided. "Very well. Excuse me for trying to protect you. It's your life in the end, and it is my duty to stand by you no matter what you decide."

Luna didn't know what came over her. How could she have said that to her faithful retainer? Remorse for what she had said was quickly building. She opened her mouth to apologize.

"Good," Ardyn replied brightly. "Now that that's settled, let's begin the lessons."


Ravus was alarmed after what Gentiana had told him about Luna. That fact that his sweet, gentle sister wanted to become stronger disturbed him. He had to talk to her, to pull her from this path before it was too late.

He walked into the imperial library, expecting to find Luna there. Instead he found Ardyn, reading a book at one of the desks. Ravus did not want to speak to him right now, but it was already too late. Ardyn looked up and rose, an oily smirk of welcome on his face.

"Ah, Prince Ravus. How nice it is to see you. I have heard great things of you from Colonel Ulldor. It's difficult getting praise from him, so he must be very impressed with your work. I have such an eye for talent," Ardyn finished smugly.

"I don't want you to train Luna," Ravus said intently. "I will continue serving as military liaison, but otherwise the deal is off."

Ardyn was unfazed. "Surely it's up to your sister whether or not she continues with the training or not? She will not thank you for trying to run her life. Ask the lovely Gentiana if you don't believe me."

"I don't care if she ends up hating me. From what I've heard, true Oracles don't last long, and I don't want her to be one of them."

"How does that explain me, then? I'm no spring chicken, but was able to cure you," Ardyn responded condescendingly.

"I don't think you are a true Oracle," Ravus replied.

Ardyn smirked coldly. "If you want to blame somebody for the danger your sister is in, you should be blaming yourself. If you had been stronger, you could have saved your poor mother. And then you had to go get yourself attacked by a daemon as well—"

"Shut up," Ravus snapped back.

Ardyn spoke with mock sorrow. "Your poor sister didn't know what to do about you. She was worried sick, even turning to her former enemies to help her. While you lounged in bed doing nothing—"

Ravus lunged forward, sword drawn, to stab Ardyn. Ardyn twisted aside before it made contact.

"Dear me, such anger," Ardyn drawled. "You should save some of that for Insomnia. After all, they left you to your fate. If they had protected you like a proper ally, none of this would have happened. If you really want to stab someone, it should be Prince Regis."

Ravus flinched—Ardyn could see that what he said had resonated with the blonde young man.

"If you want revenge on Insomnia, I can help you," Ardyn said smoothly. "Permit Luna to continue training with me, and continue in your present role. In the end, you will both be given the power to conquer your enemies."

Ravus stormed out, without a reply. Ardyn could read his puppets quite well though, and he was reasonably sure that Ravus would do as he said.


"Welcome to your first day of school, Miss Luna," Ardyn greeted sarcastically as Luna returned to his library the next day, ready to start her training.

"I'm eager to learn, Chancellor Izunia," Luna responded eagerly. "Where do I start?"

"Try using a magic spell," he instructed her.

Her face fell. "I can't."

"Still? I would have thought after all of the reading you have professed to have done you could at least do something. Are you sure you are Sylva's daughter?"

Luna bit her lip to keep herself from snapping back at her new mentor. She couldn't antagonize him or else he may decide to abandon her. She needed him right now—that was the cold reality.

"Very well," he continued. "If you are having so much trouble with magic spells, I'm guessing the main reason is that you aren't focused enough. Children have such a hard time paying attention," he added snidely.

"I was focused enough to read every book I could get my hands on about magic," Luna responded defensively.

"Reading and meditating are two different things. You know the words to cast the spells, but you are not actually thinking about what the words mean. You need to do both, if you want to cast it. For example, the 'Sleep' spell…" Ardyn paused for a moment, then a light flashed from his fingers towards Luna.

Wait! He was casting a spell on her? Luna could not move fast enough. The light hit her with a jolt. She had no resistance against it and slumped over, blonde head on the desk, sound asleep.

Gentiana came running over. "What did you do to her, you bastard," she spat at Ardyn, clearly ready to attack him if necessary.

"At ease, Madam. I was merely proving a point. Your fair princess will awake in a moment. Ah, see," he responded smugly as Luna groggily lifted her head, shaking it to clear it.

"Are you ok, your majesty," Gentiana asked her, sharply.

"I—I'm fine," Luna responded, then turned to Ardyn, voice hard. "What did you do that for? How long was I out?"

"A moment, no longer. I just wanted to show you, firsthand, how a magic spell works," he responded, as though the answer should have been painfully obvious to her.

"You put me to sleep," Luna exclaimed, accusingly.

"Well, if you don't like it, learn magic so that it doesn't happen again," Ardyn responded snidely.

"That's enough," Gentiana snapped. "Luna, surely you can see that none of this is helpful. Your mother wouldn't want this for you. You'd be better off at home. Call this off right now!"

Gentiana's well-meaning advice put Luna's teeth on edge. Did she think she wanted to be here, dealing with this—this freak? She had zero choice, and had to play the hand she was dealt.

"How did you do that," she asked Ardyn.

"I recited the spell in my head, and focused on what I wanted to have happen to my foe, you, in this case. I figured you would slump over the desk, drooling over all the books there I might add," he said mockingly, "envisioned it, recited the spell in my head, and voila." He gestured to her with a flourish.

"Drool," Luna responded, shocked.

"Everyone drools when they nap," Ardyn responded, as though providing a great life lesson.

"I didn't drool on the books," Luna said defensively.

Ardyn shrugged. "It doesn't matter, does it?"

"So, you're saying if I recite the fire spell words in my head and imagine the person I'm casting on is on fire, I should be able to successfully cast it?"

"Yes, but please don't use a fire spell here," he begged. "Think of fair Gentiana."

"Fine," Luna said. She thought of the ice spell words in her head, and envisioned her foe/mentor frozen in place, shivering in the cold. Ice blasted from her fingers, hitting the target dead on. He dusted off the ice shards, unscathed.

Ardyn laughed. "You're learning fast! Only, it goes without saying that if the person you use it on has magic powers too, they may be able to resist it. Just a minor detail," he said smugly. "And, I'm sure you read it in the books, but if you choose to fight daemons with magic, you will find that some are immune to certain spells and hyper sensitive to others. Especially those pesky elemental things. So strong against fire, but so frail against a tiny bit of ice or vice versa. Unless you count lightning into the equation too…"

"I know that part," Luna said, as though he had just said the most obvious thing in the world.

"Now that you know this part, you should have no problem picking up how to do the rest of the spells yourself. I'd recommend going outside for this activity though. There should be a vacant car park around here you can use, but ask around. Now, as fun as this has been, I do have other duties to attend to. Be a dear and run along now."

Luna gaped at him. She was being dismissed, just like that? Fine. She had plenty to practice with on her own now. Once she was done casting every single magic spell she could learn, she'd be back for more. She strode out, without even saying a word.


"Children are such a trial," Ardyn thought, shortly after she departed. He was glad he never bothered with the things. But then again, humans of all ages were a trial, especially the Lucis royal family. He didn't want to think about those fools right now. His time would come.

His reverie was interrupted when the door of the library slammed open. He looked up, curiously, to see lead scientist Verstael Besithia storming in, glaring daggers at him.

"What the hell are you thinking, training that kid in how to defeat daemons," he hissed. "Do you want to give her the means to destroy my army?"

"At the moment, a child could destroy them anyway, with or without magic," Ardyn responded unfazed.

"Well, who's fault is that?"

"Surely not mine," Ardyn responded condescendingly. "I gave you the daemon formula to be sure, but it's up to you how you use it. You will just have to make daemons that are a bit stronger, won't you?"

"I've already experimented on so many of my infant clones, I have long since lost count," Verstael responded defensively. "Humans just don't have the strength to be anything special, even with daemonification. Unless…I've been so focused on the human/daemon blend being 50/50. Maybe if I up that so that the proportion is mostly daemon, I will have more luck. Like an 80/20 or…THAT'S IT! Yes! That's what I will do. Just imagine how strong they will be. Weapons as strong as a diamond." Verstael wandered away, muttering about how perfect his "Diamond Weapon" would be.

Ardyn just shook his head. As with any of Verstael's ideas, it would take years to come to fruition. He'd given him the daemon/human formula how long ago now and he was still only here? At this rate, Noctis would grow old enough to have heirs himself before the empire could deal with him. The royal family was at record low numbers right now—he would have to move fast to make sure they didn't increase. Snuffing out 2 lives and ending the line once and for all shouldn't be this difficult.

The empire was pissing him off, plain and simple. That was why he decided to take Luna up on her request for training. The empire had failed with killing Regis and Noctis, and were now dawdling with their daemons. If they couldn't be bothered to control daemons effectively, he would just have to show them that there were threats out there against their precious daemons and force them to up their game. Maybe this "Diamond Weapon" thing would do the trick?

Barring that, his hopes were resting on Ravus. It was plain to see that Ravus's frustration and powerlessness could be turned into a drive to excel, and his fury at Insomnia would ensure that any powers he accrued would be turned against Insomnia one day. And if that daemon within him chose to emerge, then he would truly be a force to be reckoned with. Who knows, maybe Ardyn's turning Ravus into a daemon weapon would create more results than Verstael's experiments ever had? He chuckled at the thought.

Then there was the (not so holy) grail. If he could somehow turn Luna against Insomnia too, then it was truly game over for them. His victory here was not as assured, and he wasn't banking on it, per say, but the possibilities were too glorious to ignore. She was similar to her brother in that her powerlessness was driving her to succeed no matter the cost. If he could turn that to his advantage, for the first time in history, Insomnia would not have their precious Oracle protecting them, and they would be "royally" screwed.

It was clear to him that she could be an Oracle. The fact that she had been able to launch an ice spell at him so quickly earlier told him that she had innate magic powers. Those pesky Lucians had to rely on the crystal for theirs, and had to put their elemental magic into a magic vial to be of use. She had the powers, and could be a force to be reckoned with. And if she were strong enough to use the crystal to bend the astrals to her will too…

That gave him pause. Even he was only ever able to do it with one. That turncoat Ifrit. Leave it to the crystal to have given him that, Ardyn thought bitterly. If Luna was able to get the power from the crystal and ally with the other 5 astrals, she could become a threat to him. Well, that was a big if after all, and just because she could do one spell didn't mean she could become an Oracle of Legend and commune with them. And besides, it's not like she would last long even if she did. She was only a human. That level of power would kill her. He could handle Ifrit's power, but again, he was immortal. Thanks to the crystal and Those Who Had Slighted Him. He wondered idly if she could become powerful enough to destroy him. It would be amusing if she could.

He was putting the cart way before the horse. She was too much of a goody-two-shoes to give him much confidence that she would "level up" and turn on Insomina, but it was worth a try. And he prided himself on his ability to take any setbacks in stride. He had had centuries of practice. If he failed in this, he still had plenty of other options to try…


Gralea really wasn't an attractive city, Luna mused as she stood alone in an abandoned parking lot a few blocks away from the Imperial Stronghold. It was not like Tenebrae or Insomnia. It looked more like a gigantic industrial complex than a city. All the buildings looked the same, metal, utilitarian. There were abandoned bombed-out buildings distressingly near the Imperial Stronghold. She had heard whispers that the Empire was dabbling in all sorts of "mad science." Maybe the bombed out buildings came from experiments gone wrong.

However, Ardyn was right. The abandoned buildings also provided plenty of empty car parks that would provide her relatively low environmental risks if a spell went wrong. So here Luna stood, as she had been for the past couple of weeks, in an abandoned paved lot, dressed in a faded pair of sweatpants and a hoodie to keep the Gralea cold and damp away. They were her go to "comfort clothes" when she was alone and not receiving anyone. It was understood that she would never wear them in public. Gentiana would have a fit if she knew Luna had been spending her time alone in a slum, dressed like a bum. She had been able to keep Gentiana in the dark so far, but she knew she would eventually find out. For now Luna needed to capitalize on what she had learned from Ardyn so far. It was admittedly not much, but it gave her a place to start.

She found the elemental spells to be easy. She had enough descriptions of snowstorms, wildfires, floods, and thunderstorms to be able to easily visualize what they looked like. She found that she didn't actually need a target to cast them. Just focusing on a spot in front of her, visualizing the effect, and casting was enough. It was requiring less and less detailed visualization now to use them, and the longer she spent imagining a scene of elemental destruction, the more powerful the spell.

She knew there were "status" spells too, like sleep, toad, haste, slow, poison, and death. Sleep would be easy enough to cast, but this one needed some kind of living target to imagine sleeping (she couldn't do it by focusing on a random piece of pavement) and she wasn't ready to practice on anything live just yet. The other ones she couldn't even visualize. They seemed too horrific to even contemplate. She couldn't mess with these.

Then there was the "healing" spells cure, esuna, and raise. She didn't care about these too much since you could buy potions in stores that did the same thing. Still, in theory she should be able to practice them as well, but again they would require live targets.

She needed to learn how to heal daemon attacks, which couldn't come from a bottle. In fact, now that she thought of it, she didn't know how magic correlated with this at all. Why had Ardyn even bothered to teach her this? She got the sneaking suspicion that he was stringing her along, but why would he waste his time?

She had capped out on Ardyn's first round of teaching. She would need to go to him again to learn more, even if her gut clenched in revulsion at the thought. He was a necessary evil she told herself. The sooner she learned all he could teach her, the sooner she could be free of him.