BOOK 1: KINGSGLAIVE
CHAPTER 10 – THE FALL
Libertus limped through the Citadel plaza, now devoid of life, looking at the horrid spectacle before him. Of all the places, Insomnia was the last one he thought could look like a war zone. The smell of burnt gunpowder still hung in the air and the sound of screams and gunshots echoed in the distance.
He was so taken he barely noticed the man with the lavender shirt lying on the ground until he nearly stepped on him.
"Hey, come here. Come here," he told him, helping him to sit down. "I got you, I got you. You're all right. You're okay."
"It's fine," the man wheezed, smiling. "We're free. We're free now."
"We're free? What do you mean, we're free?" the man's hands were growing cold in his grasp. He didn't have much to live.
"The Empire… they promised… this district is ours… all the refugees… it's our new home…"
"The empire? You went in with Niflheim?"
But the man wasn't listening anymore. His eyes were already unfocused as life escaped from him.
"Take this," he said in a thin voice, handing Libertus his own radio. "Meet up with the others. You're the hero of our revolution, brother…"
And the man spoke no more.
xxxxXX-0-XXxxxx
Nyx drove as fast as he could through one of the many overpass motorways in the city. He had noticed from afar that many roads were already blocked. He knew where to go, but had no idea if he could find a safe route for them. Had he gone alone things might have been different.
He cursed under his breath just as he noticed the shadow of an assault craft flying to their right, parallel to the road. Bullets hit the car, making him swerve. It wasn't a full attack, but a warning salvo.
The side door opened, and Nyx saw Tredd, Axis and Sonitus standing there. The three wielded imperial assault guns.
"Can you drive?" he asked Luna.
"I can try."
They awkwardly switched places, as Nyx went for the backseat to exit through the back door. He carefully aimed for the place where Tredd stood and threw his kukri. His aiming was true, and the blade sunk in the craft's metal, next to the redhead.
Nothing happened.
"No warping for you this time, hero!" Tredd yelled, and he took Nyx's kukri and kept it.
King Regis was dead, and magic had died with him.
The traitors renewed their shooting, making made Luna skid. She didn't know first thing about driving, and she was only trying to copy what she had seen do so many times when they toured her throughout the villages to alleviate those afflicted of the Starscourge.
Nyx replaced her again at the wheel, to her relief.
"You are making a mess of my city, glaive!" they heard a voice through a megaphone.
A riot police van sped just behind them and, behind the wheel, the captain of the door guards, Petra Fortis.
"I thought I told you not to go playing hero!" he continued. "Leave the ship to me. Looks like you got a royal fare to see to. Move it!"
The captain sped up, blocking the ship with his own vehicle. They heard gunshots, and the ship moved away from the freeway.
It wasn't over, though. They took a detour and two more ships were upon them. This time their main doors opened, and two Magitek Armors landed heavily on the tarmac.
M.A. were, among the magitek technology weapons, one of the most feared construct. Some could be piloted from the inside, but most were autonomous. They were walking tanks, with long, powerful legs, their firepower was that of a small platoon, and the armor was night impenetrable.
The M.A. fired mercilessly against them, and Nyx made the car jump over the railing to the building below.
The car skidded and stopped, dangling dangerously over the edge of one building. Nyx pushed the Princess out of the car, before the vehicle fell with the glaive inside. The space between that building and the next wasn't narrow enough to stop the car from falling, but it still slowed it down so Nyx could get out and crash through a window, before it landed on the narrow street with an explosion of broken crystal.
Atop the building, Luna had to run for her life and use the air conditioning machines as barriers against the M.A. bullets. The imperial troops had detected her and kept their heavy firing. She fell, screaming, when a bullet grazed her on the shoulder.
Nyx looked out of a balcony to see Luna in peril, but he couldn't do anything when an assault craft began firing at him.
There were scaffolds installed all along the façade of the building. He ran, using them as parapet; when he was above one M.A. he planted his feet on one of the metal tubing and pushed with his back against the building's wall, making the scaffold fall on top of the machine. The impact made the M.A. fall down, and the leverage prevented it from moving. That was their weak point, but it was almost impossible to exploit in a normal battlefield.
Looking around, he caught sight of Lady Lunafreya, making signs from an access door.
"What the hell did You do to piss these things off?" he asked while they ran deeper into the building.
"It's not me they're after. It's the Ring."
Nyx guided her down a corridor and ushered her into the first room he saw could be safe for them.
It was an office. Even with the streetlights as the only means to see their way around, it was clear the workers had left in a hurry, no doubt after the first explosions went off at the Citadel. Papers were still scattered over the desks, and here and there chairs lain overturned. The two fugitives crouched behind a small shelving where the workers stored the ledgers.
"What's that special about this Ring?" Nyx asked, keeping an eye on the door. "Don't tell me the future's riding on it."
"He who wears the Ring communes with the Lucii and commands great power."
"What kind of power?"
"A forbidden one. Sealed within the Ring, long ago."
"The Old Wall…" he mused. "I thought that was just a bedtime story."
An eerie scream from outside interrupted them. It was a sound Nyx knew all too well. Daemons were prowling the streets already.
"I can assure you it is not," Luna said. "But the Lucii grant their power only to those they deem worthy."
Another scream. This time it was a howling sound which made the ground rumble. Nyx got up and peered through the window in alarm. He had heard that howl before at the last battle.
"So that guy who tried it on back there, I guess he wasn't deemed worthy," he quipped to lighten up the mood.
"That was my brother."
Nyx grimaced. Way to put his foot on his mouth.
"These twelve years have changed Ravus," Luna recalled, completely ignoring his uncalled-for comment. "He is bound by the past, and lost in his lust for power."
Something smashed through the window. Insect-like creatures. Daemons.
"How the hell did they find us?" Nyx grunted, fending the attack from one. He had to wrestle it off himself and toss it aside. Something crackled on the monster's head and then it started attacking its companion until they killed each other. The glaive approached the carcasses with caution; they were daemons, yes, but they also wore electronic implants to subdue them. Something dawned on him.
"Your hairpin! They're tracking it!"
Lunafreya took it off and gave it to him. He quickly sat down and started examining the jewel under the faint light from the streetlights outside.
"I had a little sister once," he said, turning the hairpin on his hands. "She was killed when the empire came. I couldn't save her. I was as helpless then as I am now," he yanked the fake diamond off and crushed it between his fingers. "I couldn't show her the future she wanted."
"True power is not something that is found by those who seek it. It is something that comes to those who deserve it."
Nyx half smiled, snorting humorlessly.
"Your sister wanted you to see a future as well," she said.
Nyx shot a stare at the Lady. Princess or not, his sister had always been a touchy subject, and not even the Oracle herself could dare to guess what Selena might have wanted. But he knew. Selena was just a young girl when she died: she only wanted to keep living a long, quiet, happy life with those she loved. Questions about the future were for the elders, who are the ones to worry about that thing that suddenly becomes scarce for them.
He was about to lash out at her, but Luna's blue eyes were lost in the distance.
"Anyone would wish the same for family they love," she murmured.
Nyx smirked, realizing they were even. He had been an asshole moments before, talking too lightly about a brother who might as well be dead. It was fair that she spoke her mind about whatever she wanted.
"You don't pull any punches, do You?"
A deafening hum grew in intensity; now it was mingled with a chirping sound. Nyx peered again through the window, and saw a swarm of the daemons he had just killed rushing towards them in a black cloud of wings. The hairpin hadn't been deactivated.
"I'm over here!" he held the hairpin over his head, yelling at the swarm of monsters breaking through all the windows.
He ran to the next room, the monsters ignoring the Princess and going after him.
"Do you hear me? Repeat, this is Drautos. Can you hear me? Over."
"Your timing's impeccable, Captain," Nyx screamed over the ruckus of the swarm, as he saw a M.A. peering at him through the windows of the next room and opening fire. It had climbed between that building and the one across the street, and now it perched firmly between them to take aim. "If the Lucii are real, they sure don't seem to mind their city getting torn apart."
"You're to rendezvous and regroup. Understood?"
"That might not be so easy, Captain," Nyx laughed. It was partly his natural reaction each time he was in a dangerous situation, and partly sheer relief at hearing a familiar voice. "My wings have been clipped, in case you didn't know."
No matter how powerful the M.A. was, it needed some seconds to reload its guns after each barrage. Nyx was waiting for those precious moments, and when he hear the faint click from the gun, he sprung from his hiding place and jumped through the broken windows on top of the war machine. As expected, the swarm followed him, but the daemons, on their blind flight, bumped on him and made him lose his footing. Sliding down the machine's shell, he lost the hairpin, which fell to the street below. Luna was already there; she took the device and threw it as far as she could, aiming for the engine of the nearby assault craft. The daemons followed it, going to crash on the engine.
The craft exploded, sending debris everywhere, and toppling the M.A. down to the street. Nyx fell with it, miraculously ending up in a hollow under the metallic legs. Nyx held his breath, unable to move, and fully expecting some piece of debris to fall on him, but that never came, and he struggled with a grunt to a sitting position.
"Ulric, are you all right?"
"I'm not dead, if that's what you mean, sir," he said with difficulty as he grimaced. His right knee hurt as if I had been dislocated.
"Head to Sector D as soon as you can. I'll have an evacuation team ready."
"Don't suppose you could meet me at the gate?" he pleaded. "I'd kind of like to get the hell out of this city."
"Imperials hold all the exits. There's no way through. I'll meet you at section D. Cut all radio contact until then. And make sure you get there."
"It's a date, sir," he sighed, limping his way out of the ruined war machine.
xxxxXX-0-XXxxxx
Libertus had seen many battlefields, and he thought his mind was used already to see a carnage, but witnessing it inside the very city he had called home for many years was too much for him. The empire hadn't only attacked the Citadel: the whole city was in ruins. MTs, glaives, members of the Crownsguard and civilians alike lain among the debris, burning cars exploded in the distance, and he could hear the sound of daemons already lurking in the alleyways as the sun set.
"Ain't no turning back now," he murmured as he walked among the chaos.
He heard a radio going off. Two voices were talking about Nyx.
"Status report," one voice demanded.
"Ulric killed some good men," another one answered. Were they really talking about Nyx?
"What about the ring?" the first voice inquired.
"We don't have it yet."
The voices came from the glaives' radio. Had been Nyx killing glaives?
A booming, distorted voice could be heard then through the same radio. It made Libertus stop dead on his tracks.
"This is Glauca. King Regis is dead. The Ring is on its way to section D. We must recover the ring to realize our goal. If Ulric or the Princess get in the way, take them out. Reclaim our hearth and home."
"Hearth and home?" Libertus echoed incredulously. That was the glaives' motto!
"Libertus, come in. Where are you? Are you all right?"
It came from his own radio.
"I'm fine. On the way back to base now," he lied, grabbing a kukri from the ground: it was one of the twin set Nyx always wielded. Looking around him, he saw that the fallen glaives were Tredd, Axis and Sonitus, and that mingled with them there were also the corpses from Crownsguard soldiers. What the hell had happened?
"We need you to head to the junction in section D. We're gonna join up with another unit and make a clean sweep of the place. We're one step away from realizing this revolution. Let's not let our comrades' deaths be in vain. We'll be waiting for you, hero."
That last word felt like a stab in the chest. He was no hero, never been one, and definitely would never be. He had disgraced Crowe's memory and the Kingsglaive, acting as a fool and helping the Empire without even knowing it.
He took two pills and gulped for air as his mind raced. What could he do? What could he possibly do?
xxxxXX-0-XXxxxx
The roundabout at Sector D junction was surrounded by shopping malls and many restaurants and cafes. At its center, a statue seemed to preside over the citizens. Nyx had gone there several times over the years with Crowe and Libertus, until the three of them decided that they felt more at ease at the foreigner's quarter. The bustling sector was now devoid of life, although the neon signs and screens kept advertising the many products manufactured in Insomnia.
The silence was overwhelming, and Nyx noticed Lady Lunafreya holding her breath for fear that they might be discovered. As silently as they could, and despite his injured leg, he led her under one building with an arcade and hid her behind the wide columns while he spied the place. At the opposite side, a flight of stairs formed an almost perfect semicircle around the junction.
He sensed foul play, but he couldn't tell her
"Don't move until I say it's safe, all right?" he murmured.
He strode outside, slowly, so they couldn't notice his limp.
"Ulric, reporting!" he called, his voice echoing through the empty junction. "I have the Princess! She's alive and well-"
A gunshot pierced the tranquil night air, hitting him in the stomach. He looked up: Luche fired a second round as he walked down the stairs. Nyx fell on his knees when the second bullet pierced him, grunting.
Luna screamed and ran for him, but he raised his hand.
"Get out of here!" he yelled.
Luche laughed.
"You've got some fight in you, Nyx, I'll give you that."
"Run!" Nyx screamed to the Princess as he tried to strike at Luche. But he was gravely wounded, and his former companion didn't have any problem kicking the kukri out of his hand.
"I can't believe you're still moving with that hollow-point in you," he said, kicking him hard in the stomach. "All Crowe could do was scream, when one tore her insides apart."
"Why'd you do it?" Nyx roared through the pain.
"Why'd you do it?" Luche repeated as if it was the stupidest question he had ever heard. "Because the Kingsglaive is nothing. An old man's battle fodder sent to die in Insomnia's war while our homes are bound and shackled."
"Niflheim took your home," Nyx said earnestly, but also throwing a meaningful look at Luna. "Took all our homes! Nothing will ever change that!"
"You never were too smart," Luche dismissed him. "You could've had a new future with the empire."
Luna ran away, but Luche had caught sight of her. She found an open door and followed a corridor leading to a balcony on the first floor. At the other side there was a metallic door, but it was locked.
Nyx couldn't move. The pain was unbearable and his sight was blurring, and he had to witness how Luche cornered the Princess, slowly approaching her as he enjoyed every moment of it.
"There's nowhere to run, Princess," Luche spat the last word as he put his gun to her forehead. "The Ring, give it to me."
Luna held his gaze for a moment, and then tried to jump over the railing, but Luche was quicker and stronger. He grabbed her and pushed her violently against the metal door.
The lights of an approaching car blinded Nyx. It was the Prince's, and Drautos stepped out of it, his blue eyes wide in surprise at the scene before him.
Luche wrestled the ring out of Luna's hand and looked at it.
"So many deaths for so simple a thing?" he asked her. "But why? For what?"
"Power," she simply said, reading Luche's eyes and knowing where her escape was. However, she had to make an effort to make the words come out, and prayed the gods forgave her. "Untold power, beyond the control of someone like you."
"Power…" Luche echoed, his eyes gazing at the Ring.
Nyx would have wanted to urge Drautos about rescuing the Princess from Luche, but the pain was too intense and he had to focus on not losing his consciousness. The Captain knelt at his side to inspect his wounds and Nyx saw, maybe for the first time in many years, his scarred face darkening with genuine concern.
The lights from another car made Nyx squint and look towards the edge of the junction, where he thought he could see Libertus behind the wheel, his face twisted with sheer fury.
An agonizing scream echoed throughout the junction. Luche had tried to use the Ring and, unlike Lord Ravus, his entire body burst in flames. Luna watched in horror as the glaive tripped and fell over the railing; she tried to grab his hand, but the only thing her fingers could save was the Ring as the rest of the hand turned to ash.
Libertus stepped on the gas, making the tires screech. Nyx could see him speeding towards him. He felt nothing. He knew he was dying and that the finishing blow would come from his best friend, whom he had failed. He saw the approaching headlights as if it happened in slow-motion, and knew that, if it was Libertus the one to do it, he could die without resentment, although he still regretted not being able to finish his mission.
When the speeding car was a leap away from him, Libertus swerved, going instead for Drautos, who had stepped back from Nyx as soon as he recognized the driver. The car hit him and the Captain held tight onto the car's hood to avoid being run over. Libertus then sped further until the car crashed against a nearby wall, crushing Drautos.
Nyx thought he was hallucinating when he saw a red light appearing from underneath the car, where Drautos was supposed to be, then the grunt of a distorted voice he had already heard back at the Palace, the last time he saw the King alive. The car flew over the wall as the armored figure of General Glauca got to his feet.
In an instant, despite the pain numbing his mind, Nyx understood how half the Kingsglaive had gone rogue without none being the wiser and how the empire always got the upper hand in combat, no matter how elaborate their strategies were.
Titus Drautos had been the traitor all along.
He had heard stories about the empire using concealed armors on their soldiers. Spy reports told of experiments on which liquid metal was injected in the blood stream, and the armor could be activated at will. However, the host needed a colossal strength and resilience to prevent the entire body from collapsing on itself. The reports also pointed out that no candidate had ever survived. Was Drautos the only one? But the question which boiled on Nyx' mind was: Why would he serve the empire?
"Captain?" he whispered.
Libertus crawled painfully out of the wrecked car while Luna ran to Nyx. The glaive could barely move with the two gunshots wounds, but he still reached out to the Princess to get her behind him. He could hear Libertus calling for him, but his friend's voice was drowned with the sound of a warship passing overhead. It carried something humongous that he had already seen on the battlefield.
"It's over," came the distorted voice of Drautos through the magitek helmet, its owner strolling towards him with determined steps. "The daemons are unleashed. Lucis is fallen. Surrender the Ring."
Luna released Nyx's hand. He could read on her face, clear as day, her intentions.
"Plan on giving those kings a piece of Your mind, Princess?" he asked, wrestling the Ring from her grasp. "You got a destiny to take care of here, remember? Besides, didn't anyone tell you?" he smirked, finally yanking the jewel off her hand. "I'm the hero around here."
He put the Ring as Drautos lunged at them, his sword already tracing a wide arc, not at him, but at Luna. Time slowed down, and the junction disappeared. He saw himself lying on the ground, darkness enveloping him.
"Show yourselves!" he called. "Kings of Lucis."
Like an enchantment, armored ghostly figures appeared around him. They were gigantic, and each one unique from the rest.
"YOU CALL UPON THE WARDS OF THIS WORLD'S FUTURE, MORTAL," one voice spoke. "AND IF YOU COME LUSTING FOR OUR POWER, YOU MUST FIRST STAND IN OUR JUDGEMENT."
"How long will you do nothing whilst Insomnia burns?" Nyx said. "Old or new, or whatever it is. Summon your Wall!"
"YOU DO NOT COMMAND US," a second voice spoke. "YOURS IS NOT EVEN ROYAL BLOOD!"
"IT DOES NOT FALL TO US TO SAFEGUARD YOUR CITY," a third voice said. It came from a particularly bulky armor.
"MAN IS A FOOL CREATURE," a fourth king said. "CLINGING TO HIS PAST AND COWERING FROM HIS FUTURE. WASTING HIS STRENGTH ON BYGONE DAYS."
"And what future are you wards of?" Nyx asked.
"SO SHORTSIGHTED. AND CURSED TO NEVER RISE ABOVE IT."
It was no use. The fabled Kings of Old were nothing but ghosts who looked down on mortals, despite having been humans once. Nyx lowered his head in frustration and tiredness.
"WAIT," he heard a voice. Distorted as it was, like the rest, he could recognize this one. "I HAVE SEEN WHAT THIS BRAVE SOUL IS PREPARED TO DO. HE, TOO, SEEKS TO SAFEGUARD THE FUTURE."
"Your Majesty…"
"VERY WELL, YOUNG KING," said the armor in the center of his vision. The Founder King? "WE WILL WEIGHT YOUR WARRIOR'S WORTH. BUT OUR BOON DOES NOT COME CHEAP," Nyx noticed the other three people at the plaza appearing to his right. "THE COST OF A LIFE," Libertus, on the floor, called for him; Luna, her arms raised, tried to block the incoming blow from Drautos' sword, and everything was happening in slow motion. "HIS OR HERS."
"No," Nyx murmured, but then he screamed, as the vision dissipated. "To hell with your power! I'm not here for it! I only came to tell you, you are no kings!" he chuckled mirthlessly.
"YOUR WORTH HAS BEEN WEIGHED AND FOUND WANTING," the bulky armor said. "NOW BURN."
Nyx screamed as his hand burst in flames, but his scream turned into laugher.
"You're going to lose your precious Ring!" he said. "But it's not too late to save it."
"YOU MEAN TO BARTER FOR YOUR LIFE?" said a new voice. Could this be from a woman? Nyx vaguely remembered that there had been a Queen on the Lucis' line.
"No, no. My life is nothing," Nyx said. "Giving a future to those who want to see it… Is everything."
The bulky armor snorted.
"YOU DO NOT FEAR," it said. "EVEN IF THAT FUTURE IS DOOMED."
"IF THAT SENTIMENT IS NOT FALSE, PERHAPS YOU ARE WORTHY," said a different armor.
"WE WILL GRANT YOU OUR LIGHT," said Regis' voice. "BUT KNOW IT WILL SET WHEN THE SUN RISES."
"AND THE PRICE FOR IT WILL BE YOUR LIFE," said the first armor. Nyx's memory was hazy, but it might have been the Founder King himself.
Nyx chuckled again.
"You guys drive a hard bargain," he whispered, but aloud he said: "Where do I sign?"
Drautos' sword bounced with a loud clang. Luna saw the magic shield suddenly raised before her and Nyx. The armored man tried hacking his way through it, but Nyx dispelled the barrier and threw a potent lightning bolt, powerful enough to launch his enemy across the junction, leaving him unconscious on the ground.
"I could get used to this," Nyx said, getting on his feet, his wounds healed, and spitting on the ground.
Libertus approached them.
"Nyx, I'm sorry," he panted.
"Don't be. You saved me," Nyx replied, looking at the prone figure of Drautos. "Now I owe you one."
"For a change."
"I'm gonna need another favor. Meet Lunafreya Nox Fleuret, our prince's beloved bride-to-be. She has the future of the world in her hands. Keep her safe, get her out of Insomnia."
She was about to object, but he shushed her.
"Oh, I almost forgot," he said, removing the Ring from his finger. "You'll need this. Give Prince Noctis my regards. Libertus will take care of you from here. Have a safe journey, Your Highness."
"What will come of you?"
"What the hell are you doing?" Libertus said.
But Nyx only smiled at them.
"Following the Kings' orders."
"I will see the Ring to Noctis," Luna said, reading Nyx's eyes. "The future will be safe, I swear."
They heard the scrape of metal against the ground: Glauca was slowly getting on his feet. As Nyx turned from them, Libertus gave him the kukri he had retrieved from the fallen comrades.
"Planning on punching your way out of the city?" Nyx smirked. "Keep it. Now we're even."
"No. We'll settle up once you're back in Galahd. Me and everyone else will be waiting for you."
"I'm counting on you," said Nyx. "Hero."
And for the first time, that word sounded right.
Libertus and Luna ran for the Prince's car as Drautos lunged at them, but Nyx tackled him and threw him to the ground again.
As the car sped away, Nyx kept fighting against Drautos, preventing him from reaching the vehicle. Unlike back at the palace, now he could keep up with him; the Kings not only had bestowed him with magic, they had also enhanced his fighting abilities.
Drautos slashed at him vertically, but Nyx evaded the sword and jumped on top of the blade, using it to prop himself for a somersault. In midair, he warped just behind Drautos, trying to catch him off-balanced. However, the Captain was quick enough to retaliate with a horizontal cut as he spun around, which Nyx dodged. Another vertical slash and they locked weapons.
Nyx was facing a very dangerous enemy. Having trained for years with Drautos, he thought he already knew every trick the Captain might have under his sleeve. Now he realized that the man had two identities on the battlefield too: If as Drautos he had been a paragon of carefulness and strategy, as Glauca he was a whirlwind of chaos and destruction, and Nyx starting to suspect that the latter had been his true nature all along.
"So," Drautos said. "The power of the Lucii returns. No matter. You are out of time."
"For you," Nyx smirked, parrying his sword to the side. "I'll make some."
At some distance, a discarded, half-filled bottle of pills lain on the ground, after having being thrown away from a car's window.
