Epilogue: What Comes Next
In the depths of the dark crystal, Uzuloth the Usurper waited to receive the reports of his vassals. They were agitated, terrified of his wrath, as well they should be. They thought they had failed, and Uzuloth did not tolerate failure. So here they were, cringing and bowing, begging for their pathetic lives.
True, they had lost the town, but it was little more than a test bed. Uzuloth was really after information, the only consistent source of power in the universe. And he had learned much. The Oracle and the Deceiver had managed to surprise him, but their tricks would only work once. Now he knew what they were truly capable of, and could plan accordingly.
"Silence!" Uzuloth commanded. "Your minds have been contaminated by these mortal creatures, seeing only the narrow band of time they experience in their short lives. We are daemons! We have existed since the beginning of time and we will see the end of the universe. What is a single day on this accursed orb?"
Uzuloth continued, "Events are unfolding as I have foreseen. The Deceiver is a powerful foe, but hubris will undo him now as it did before. Already he has led the Oracle astray from her ordained path. The Astrals stir in uprising. They will not aid their wayward children...but we will."
There was muttering amongst the lesser daemons.
The daemon licked its chops with two of its tongues. One of the traits it absorbed from its human host was a sense of irony. The other daemons did not appreciate it, barely even comprehended it, but they did not need to. They only needed to obey.
#
Lunafreya, Ardyn, Aranea, Biggs, and Wedge stood on the outskirts of Gralea, staring up at the enormous hole in the skyline. The hole where Zegnautus Keep used to be, but wasn't anymore.
"What does it mean?" asked Lunafreya at last.
"Nothing good," said Aranea grimly.
"Let's go back up," said Ardyn abruptly. They all piled back onto Aranea's ship and rose into the sky.
"Take us starboard," Ardyn instructed Biggs. "Slowly now. I'd like to get a look at the ground here."
As Biggs carefully maneuvered the ship, Lunafreya and Aranea joined Ardyn at the window, peering out to see what he was looking at.
Lunafreya stared in horror as a pattern emerged in the snowfield outside Gralea. An enormous footprint, then another, and another, trailed off to the north.
"Shiva," she whispered softly. She knew that the Empire had killed one of Shiva's forms, leaving her colossal body lying in Ghorovas Rift. That was the only thing she knew of large enough to leave footprints like this.
"I'd no idea they would be so aggressive," Ardyn mused. "It's quite unlike them to move so quickly."
"They wouldn't attack Gralea," said Aranea, trying to convince herself.
"It is unlikely," said Ardyn, lighting a cigarette. "Why bother with that, when most of Gralea is infected already?"
"Dammit!" Aranea swore, kicking the side of the ship. "We need that crystal back!"
"We need to find Noctis," said Lunafreya decisively. They all looked at her. "Right now."