BOOK 2: THE TALE OF THE CHOSEN KING

CHAPTER 12 – PARTY OF THREE

Several days had gone by since Gladio set off for his personal quest and they could finally gather all the information they needed, from both the Hunters and the Crownsguard, to attempt an approach at the ruins.

The road leading to the Vesperpool area of the Cleigne region was a solitary one. There were no settlements up north in the swamps, only a fishing spot and a small shop near the road, south of the lake. Wild animals were sovereigns there, with rumors of having seen giant serpents of the Midgardsorm species roaming at dusk. It was also home to powerful daemons which, more frequently in later years, ventured beyond the borders and into the lands around Lestallum.

The heavy metal door opened as they approached. No halt, no question, and no soldiers nearby.

"Wait," Prompto stammered. "What happened to under imperial lockdown?"

"They all but turned the key and left the gates open for us… as if awaiting our arrival."

"And it anyone's waiting for us, I bet it's that guy."

"Chancellor Izunia," Ignis mumbled.

"Can't complain as long as he lets us in," Noctis said.

"Who's to say he'll let us out?" his retainer wisely pointed out. "Not to mention we're a man down. Would that the marshal were with us."

"Oh, yeah. Whatever happened to that guy?"

"As I understand it, he's put his tomb raiding on hold to help the Hunters take care of some troublesome beast."

"No rest for the Immortal," Noctis quipped.

Once they crossed the tunnel and passed to the other side, the weather had changed drastically. If the sun shone at one side, fog and insistent rain met them at the Vesperpool. The road wound down from the mountain, but they couldn't see beyond several meters away. It was when they finally reached the basin that they could see at least the outline of the trees over the water. It would have been a beautiful place, if not for the humidity and lack of visibility.

The road crossed the region north to south but kept to the east, leaving the lake west. The ruins they were seeking were not far from the main road, at the north side, leaning and burrowing into the mountain. They walked their way to the entrance, avoiding the local fauna when possible, and trudging slowly through the swampy terrain.

Half waiting for it, Noctis let out an exasperated sigh when he saw in the distance, right at the ruins' door, an imperial assault craft.

Ardyn Izunia was waiting for them, a wide smile plastered all over his face.

"Gentlemen," he greeted them. "What a pleasant surprise."

"Ugh! Told you he'd be waiting," Prompto said, not caring that the other might hear him.

"With my imperial friends, no less," Ardyn pointed to the ship.

"Splendid," Ignis' sarcasm could have cut the dense fog. They all had spotted the armored lady which had attacked them at the base.

"But fear not, I'll put in a good word. Come along, then."

Noctis hated this situation. Ardyn popped up wherever they went and they could do nothing but do as he said.

"Don't stray too far, lest you get left behind," the man said. "And surely you'd rather avoid unnecessary scuffles, seeing as you're now a trio."

Ignis let out a sigh.

"Oh dear. Touchy subject?"

"One we won't discuss with you."

"Then let's discuss why you're here. Hmm… It can't be archeology… Mythril, perhaps?"

"This guy's reading our thoughts!" Prompto hissed to Noctis.

"Mythril… it's a precious resource, you see," the chancellor purred. "We can't just let anyone get their hands on it."

"But you'll help us get ours on it, right?" Noctis ventured. There was also an implicit threat.

"I never said that!" Ardyn gasped dramatically.

"Of course you didn't," Prompto mocked his tone.

"Where is the fun in that? I thought you'd rather dig it up yourselves."

Crossing more swampy terrain and walking through ferns and mossy fallen logs, they reached the entrance. The armored woman was waiting, arms crossed, with two human soldiers at each side.

"Fear not," Ardyn told Noctis as he signaled them to let him walk ahead. "I'll be but a moment."

They saw how Ardyn came close to the woman. They interchanged some words, but no one could say if they were friendly or not. They were sure the woman had recognized them, but she didn't make any sign of it, nor she gave her soldiers any order.

"All clear! Go ahead!" Ardyn yelled merrily from where he stood alongside the woman.

The woman was waiting for them with a coy smile. Night was falling and, now that she didn't wear her helmet, the artificial light from the transport ship played on her silver hair.

"So, you're the new recruits they sent over for special training," she stressed every word, as if she found that whole business most humorous. "Nice cover, runaway prince."

Noctis said nothing.

"At ease, recruits," she sighed, in response to Noctis' sour face. "There's nothing in it for this ex-mercenary to turn you in. Let's get this show on the road."

"Show?"

"Forgot about your training? Well, I'm being paid to escort you… Just watch yourselves in there."

"I trust you'll be civil," Ardyn told them before saying to the woman: "Commodore Aranea Highwind, I leave them to you."

And with that, Ardyn went away, as per his custom.

The Commodore informed them that the Solheim ruins could only open at dusk and they closed shut at dawn. They devised a plan on which they would take several days to reach to bottom. It would be a longer search, but Ignis refused to take any risk having to make camp inside the ruins. That day, however, they arrived just in time for the door to be operable, although they would have to wait a bit more.

"Illuminate!" Prompto yelled, turning his flashlight on.

"You're such a nerd…" the prince chuckled.

If the ex-mercenary heard them, she made no sign of it. Instead, she walked them to where the entrance would be, only they could only see a solid wall.

"There's a way in," Prompto said. "I can smell it."

"The empire sniffed it out ages ago. Wait 'til nightfall, shortcake."

As if listening to her, the hour came, and strange patters began to shine on the wall with a red luminescence.

The ruins weren't as dark as they had expected. Even so, they kept their flashlights on in case they ran into daemons.

It didn't take long, though. Aranea kept to her word, and fought skillfully at their side. Ardyn surely paid her a good sum of money.

"Daemons," she spat, cleaning her lance from black miasma. "'Til death do us part."

"Practicing your vows?" Ignis jabbed.

"The army swore their oaths a long time ago," she said, paying no attention to Ignis' caustic remark.

"What does the empire seek here?" now Ignis seemed quite intrigued by the woman's words. Might as well learn whatever they could.

"Specimens… and we're stuck harvesting them."

"Specimens?" the gunslinger repeated with a shiver.

"Daemons. Turns out the empire makes weapons out of them."

"Weapons?" now the shiver was replaced by sheer incredulity.

"Yeah. I'm sure you've seen your share by now," Aranea's smug smile vanished and her face became pensive. "Something not quite right with the empire lately."

"It's not just lately," Noctis pointed out.

"True. Maybe it's time I left."

"Really?" Prompto chimed in. "What would you do if you left the army?"

His two friends had to suppress the urge to roll their eyes. They knew Prompto: he was one wink from Aranea's green eyes away from begging her to join their entourage.

"Whatever I want," boasted the ex-mercenary. "I was a mercenary once. Maybe I'll round up my men and hunt daemons for cash?"

"That's a… heck of a plan," said the blond, trying to hide his disappointment.

They kept walking down the ruins. Beyond the corridor, the view opened to a wide space surrounded by balconies, interconnected by stairs. The mythril they were seeking was at the bottom floor. However, it wasn't the vastness of the room what caught their eye. They were under the lake, and it was its waters, instead of rock, what served as a roof, and what made the interior shine with a green-blue light. Noctis had been at the aquarium in Insomnia; there was a tunnel under the giant water tank and visitors could take a stroll while fishes of every size swam over their heads. It was the same feeling, only there was no security glass dividing air and water this time. Whatever achievements the Solheim civilization had reached, they would remain a mystery.

Even so, Prompto' camera began snapping pictures. Noctis could swear he heard him mumbling something about showing them to Cindy.

Monsters appeared ahead. They sought to ambush the humans, but Aranea already knew the terrain and gained the upper hand.

"Mind if I finish this one off?" Aranea yelled at Ignis, who had frozen a gelatinous monster with a magic attack.

"No, but I'm loath to make a lady bloody her own hands."

"Little late for that," she smirked, already shaking the monster's icy remains off her weapon and her armor.

By the time they had reached a deep level, Ignis gave the signal to return: Dawn would be upon them soon, and they were already tired. Aranea might have lasted a bit more, but the three of them had traveled for many hours before reaching the ruins, and pushing themselves too far wouldn't have been a good idea.

It was overcast outside and it was difficult to see whether if the sun was really coming out or not, but the door closed shut once they all stepped outside.

The three friends went to a nearby campsite, not without Ignis inviting their escort to share a meal before resting properly.

While Noctis and Prompto were busy setting up the tents, the prince overheard his retainer having a talk with Aranea.

"Are there any ingredients you'd rather I avoid using?" he asked as he set up the cooking utensils. How courteous of him.

"Awww, well, aren't you considerate?" the woman said playfully. "I'm good with anything. Surprise me, Four-Eyes."

And so Ignis cooked a delicious meal. Not that his cooking had ever been below superb, but Noctis noticed something different. Perhaps it was the fact that Ignis usually didn't cook for anyone besides the prince and his friends, and now that they had a "guest" he put an extra effort.

The Commodore downed the food while she had a long chat with them. She was an experienced soldier, and she had many anecdotes to tell. Soon Noctis saw Ignis strategy, in that he tried to coax a bit more of information out of that woman during the meal. Aranea was anything but stupid, though, and she skillfully dodged any question that could compromise the imperial army. As she told Ignis once between laughs: "Ask me when I'm out of the army, Four-Eyes."

Overall, the prince had to concede that she was a quite agreeable, and that she could have been a valuable ally, had she been associated with Lucis instead of Niflheim.

The following afternoon, when they joined her at the ruins' door, she still hadn't forgotten about that morning's meal.

"Hey, Four-Eyes," she greeted them. "You're a pretty good cook."

"I take you enjoyed your meal, then?"

"I did," she said, crossing her arms and taking a more professional tone. "Whaddya say to cooking for us? My men and I could use a personal chef."

"Get our own," Noctis jumped. "This one's mine. I've got him on royal retainer."

"And yet I haven't seen a gil," Ignis lamented, adjusting his glasses.

Aranea chuckled lightly. She was more than used to bantering and taking jabs from men, and few things fazed her.

They continued their travel inside the ruins. That day Aranea was more prone to talking and joking with them. Ignis was more talkative too, and Prompto… was Prompto.

Perhaps knowing that she wasn't at ease with either the empire or the Chancellor had warmed them up to her. The best thing she had to say about Izunia was that the man gave her the creeps, and that she wanted him as far as possible from her.

There was also the fact that Ignis had the spear as his second weapon of choice, which he used quite skillfully. Finding a fellow lancer was a rare occurrence, since most people in Lucis either favored firearms or swords.

Either way, Noctis wasn't surprised when Aranea offered Ignis to swap contact info with them, in case they needed her services once she was out of the army.

After some more fighting, they reached the bottom of the gigantic room.

A roar and a crackling sound shook the ground as a giant winged beast landed in front of them. A Quetzalcoatl, as Ignis informed him: a giant lizard which used lightning as his main means of attack.

Noctis had to put all his skills to good use. His warping ability was vital to their victory, as well as Aranea's aerial skills. In the end it was a joint attack between the two of them what finished off the beast.

"Woohoo, we're alive!" Prompto cheered. "Let's celebrate by eating something dead!"

The mythril was at the back of the room. Several pieces of metal glinted, scattered, in a corner. Noctis feared they would need something to haul them all to the surface, but the ore was surprisingly light.

"Say, Commodore," Prompto began saying on their way up.

"Aranea."

"You said the empire uses daemons to make weapons?"

"Listen… you've seen magitek troopers, right?"

"MTs," Noctis pointed out.

"They're born from daemons, in a lab."

"Born from daemons…" Prompto echoed. Suddenly he had become very pale.

"Darkness is coming," she predicted. "If I were you, I'd watch my princely ass. Uh… kingly ass."

"Will do," Noctis simply said.

The sky had cleared when they came out. Biggs and Wedge, Aranea's men, were making all the preparations for their trip back to Niflheim.

"Congrats," she told the three friends. "That concludes your training. You still got a hard path ahead, but don't let anyone tell you how to walk it."

"You might have been hired under false pretenses," said Ignis. "But your assistance was invaluable all the same."

"Hmph," she smiled. "Tell me something I don't know. You can spare the pleasantries."

"Take care walking your path, Aranea," he insisted.

"Oh, right. Thanks… I will," Noctis could have sworn he heard her dropping her cool act entirely for just a second and that he saw her cheeks reddening slightly. However, he couldn't be sure with the visor of her helmet down. "And I'll train you some more if our paths cross again. Oh, and before I forget… His Excellency instructed me to give you boys a ride back," she pointed at the transport ship. "If you need a lift, feel free to hop on."

They decided to rest that day and choose a destination in the afternoon. Nevertheless, a phone call from Cindy helped them make their minds: She had a friend working at Lestallum's power plant, an engineer who could take care of the mythril.

It was decided, then. The empire had withdrawn from all Lucis, strangely enough, and it was said that they were regrouping at the borders. They would only have to deal with small detachments until they could set sail.