BOOK 2: THE TALE OF THE CHOSEN KING
CHAPTER 18 – THE HYDRAEAN'S WRATH
The day of the rite.
The Secretary's monotone, cold voice felt like darts on her skin. After their first meeting upon Luna's arrival, Mrs. Claustra hadn't deigned herself to see the Oracle again. Not that Luna could blame her, knowing the chaos and destruction the Hydraean could unleash upon Accordo. However, Luna had met people like the Secretary before, and she knew that any gesture of kindness would be met, either with indifference, or taken as a sign of weakness.
The Oracle knew how weak she had grown during the previous weeks, as a result of the covenant with the other gods. She felt it day by day, the strength slowly leaving her hands or how small effort made her feel winded. But she couldn't afford to let others see it, especially Mrs. Claustra, who had taken Luna's strength as guarantee that the rite would go smoothly.
But, even so, the Secretary didn't seem to trust her entirely.
"If worse comes to worst," Mrs. Claustra advised her. "You can threaten to throw the trident into the sea. Then they'll listen."
The Trident of the Oracle was an ancestral weapon under custody at the Cathedral. It was said to have belonged to the first Oracle, the one who held witness to King Somnus' rise to the throne. Luna clenched her fists, neatly arranged over her lap, ever so slightly. What this woman suggested was blasphemy.
However, it might work. Luna remembered how Chief Besithia had suggested tracking the ancient weapons of the Lucis line to discover the source of their power.
"In the meantime, it will be well guarded," the Secretary assured, and then added a sharp, yet subtle remark. "Better than the Oracle herself."
"Understood… I shall reclaim it at the altar."
"Remember: you'll be under imperial watch."
"Right."
"Think of it as a necessary evil in order to forge the covenant."
"I am in your debt," Luna said, bowing her head.
"Once it's over," the Secretary kept talking as if the Oracle hadn't said a thing. "You may go as you please. But you do so without our protection."
"So be it."
"You had better be going," the older woman advised, standing up and walking towards the door. "Your public is waiting for you."
Luna watched in silence as the Secretary closed the door behind her. She prayed that the evacuation was efficient: Leviathan embodied all the viciousness of the wild sea, and she could level the entire city just by waking up.
She sighed, closing her eyes briefly before steeling herself. There was no turning back.
The door opened with a bang, and MTs stormed inside, surrounding her. Such had been her life ever since the empire invaded Tenebrae and burnt its forests, with soldiers surrounding her and guns' muzzles mere inches from her head, whether if she was dining with her brother, or while she trained at the shrine. By the time she ascended to Oracle, it had been a long way since she had lost any fear to firearms.
This would be the last time.
She stood up and walked towards the door, back upright and firm steps, nonchalantly batting away a gun she knew wouldn't fire at her.
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Noctis made his way through the crowd gathered in Yureil Plaza. It seemed the whole city was there. His friends had phoned him: everything was ready.
The prince stopped at some point near the stairs, not too close, but not too far away. Suddenly the crowd erupted in enthusiastic clapping: Lady Lunafreya had appeared at last. He rushed forward, not caring if someone called him out for his rudeness. He just wanted to see Luna.
There she was, clad in white, as every Oracle before her, her golden hair shinning under the morning sun. He felt a shiver down his back when he heard her deep, musical voice reaching out to the public in front of her.
"Dear friends," she started. "I stand before you today with little hope the words I speak… shall reach beyond these walls. For slowly, but surely, the Light fades from our world. And as it does, the shadows shall loom ever longer until all succumbs to the darkness. Darkness that evokes terror, hatred and sorrow in the hearts of men. The ashes of Lucis…" her voice wavered for an instant before recovering. "A dream of peace twisted into a nightmare of death and destruction, claiming innumerable lives and leaving myriad souls to suffer."
He whispered her name, remembering that she had been there amidst the destruction of Insomnia, and he felt a pang in his chest.
"Yet I beg you," Luna continued. "Do not surrender to despair. Have faith, for our gods watch over us. By their blessings, by the Stars that light the heavens above, our world will be delivered from the perils of the dark. I stand before you here, in Altissia, to call upon Leviathan, Goddess of the Seas, spirit of the deep. By the sacred rite, I will commune with the Hydraean. But first, I offer you my solemn vow. On my honor as Oracle, I will not rest until the darkness is banished from our world and the Light is restored."
The crowd erupted in cheers once again and she bowed before them. Only one man didn't applaud. Noctis was not only moved by her words: he felt over his shoulders the weight of his own guilt at not being at her side when she most needed him. He couldn't help the tear rolling down his cheek, and he sworn she wouldn't suffer anymore, for he would be at her side.
Her blue eyes finally came to rest on him, and she smiled, nodding briefly. He returned the salute, his hope on being reunited with her renewed. How he would have liked to warp at her side and run away then and there! But he could see already the shapes of the warships in the distance, surrounding the city.
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The altar of the Tidemother consisted on a platform carved in white marble overlooking the Celluna Cascades at the other side of the Cathedral. Two columns of the same material flanked it, and a narrow disk, reminiscent of a solar disc during an eclipse, framed the whole structure. Its existence anteceded the formation of Accordo, and it was speculated that it was constructed during the ancient times of the extinct Solheim. Now it was a place of reverence with a restricted access, but historians suggested that it had served for mooring boats, and that the sea level was much higher before the War of the Astrals. The inclemency of the weather had affected it, though, breaking the top of one of the columns and part of the disk, creating the illusion of a waning moon.
Luna stood at the top of the altar, the Trident on her hand. Her clear voice rising as she intoned the incantation which would awake Leviathan. Before the last note died out, she felt a deep, terrible voice hitting her like a wave of icing water.
"What fool mortal dares break the slumber of the Tide!?" the voice boomed.
"It is I, Lunafreya, blood of the Oracle," she declared, bowing in reverence. "Goddess of the Seas, I beseech you: enter into this covenant that the King might reclaim the Stone!"
The waters before her exploded as a giant serpent shoot upwards. The giant serpent, Leviathan, could easily wrap herself around the whole city, making a man a mere speckle in her eye.
"This wretched pile of bone and flesh, ignorant of that which governs All, comes to requisitions the might of a goddess?" The goddess roared.
"I do," said Luna, not stepping back.
Above her head and around her, she could hear the imperial warships gathering around the bay.
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Unable to enter the Cathedral through a direct route, Noctis had to find a vantage point from where to see Leviathan. He ran through the now deserted streets of Altissia, avoiding the MTs when possible, but having to fight most of the time. He received an urgent call from Ignis, informing him that the empire had the Hydraean surrounded.
He hastened through the galleries and terraces. The sky had acquired a strange deep green tint, and, when he finally got to a place overlooking the bay, he saw the gigantic shape of Leviathan, rising majestically as the Queen of the Seas that she was.
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"What does a lowly, ephemeral speck know of All Creation!?" Leviathan roared.
The Hydraean swung her heard towards the Altar, destroying what remained of the upper part. Luna neither flinched nor did she break eye contact with the goddess.
"I know what you must know… that the King of Kings is to drive the darkness from our star."
Two spheres of water formed at each side of the Hydraean, and they shoot high-pressure liquid towards the Oracle. Luna blocked the attack with the Trident, but the momentum almost threw her to the ground. She tried standing upright once more, but her health was failing her, and she could but stagger back to her feet.
"Blasphemous ingrates, all men, quick to forget the ages their goddess stood watch!"
"It is in receiving mercy that men offer praise," Luna insisted, clutching the Trident with all her might. "And in shedding grace that the gods solicit worship."
"Yet this profane speck speaks her King heresies before a goddess! Insufferable sacrilege!"
Leviathan's maw opened and closed around the Altar, and around the Oracle. A ray of golden light erupted from the marble platform, repelling her. Standing atop the Altar, Lunafreya held the Trident, the magic of the sacred spell still surrounding her like a shield.
"I vow the King will prove himself worthy!" she declared.
"If not, then the Feeding shall begin, and it shall not end until every last speck is devoured! So let the covenant be forged. Heaven and Earth, High and Deep, Birth and Return…"
As the goddess' words echoed through the bay, a tidal wave formed a wall high as a mountain range around the city.
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"Noct! Prompto is headed your way!"
"But what about you, guys?" he responded to Ignis, as he looked down at the bay from a balcony.
"We'll wait below… there's only room for two."
He soon saw what Ignis was talking about. Prompto rode atop one of the giant lances the Niffs tried to immobilize Leviathan with, and it headed towards the balcony.
At a signal he jumped, landing next to his friend. The goddess, upon feeling the attacks from the empire, had come out of the water and now circled above the bay as if she was swimming in the sea.
They swung around, holding onto the imperial device while Noctis parried the attacks of the water avatars the Hydraean summoned. One sudden turn from the goddess put the device almost into her opened maw. Prompto steered the vehicle, and they saw themselves atop her head.
Noctis jumped then, and landed under the goddess' eye. Almost blinded by the strong wind and the relentless rain, he pledged to the goddess for her power.
The gigantic head shook him away, and he landed heavily on the pavement among the ruined buildings.
He still saw her facing him. The goddess roared, and the wall of water turned into a whirlpool. She crashed against the buildings, destroying them, and her power made the debris and the ruined structures float in the air.
"So the only way you'll help me is if I take you down?" Noctis murmured through gritted teeth.
Leviathan charged at him, but he warped out of reach. The floating buildings were a vantage for him.
He landed strike after strike, aiming at the head, the fins, whichever place he could reach, and tried not to think about Luna or his friends. But Leviathan was powerful and unyielding. Unlike Titan, who only wanted a show of capacity, or Ramuh, who acknowledged him on Luna's word, Leviathan wanted a battle to the death. And, who could tame the tempest's fury?
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Luna watched Noctis' fighting against Leviathan with growing restlessness. Noctis had acquired the power of other deities and part of the Royal Arminger, but as things stood, the Tidemother would mean too much for him.
She gasped when she saw Leviathan's enormous head swinging and catching Noctis in the air, sending him tumbling to the ground. He barely moved.
Luna scrambled to her feet, searching for a way she could reach him among the debris. Her long skirt had torn up to mid-thigh: that would give her more freedom of movement.
However, her legs didn't respond to her orders and she collapsed on the ground, coughing heavily. She couldn't breathe and her sight blurred, the incessant roar of the sea deafened her and the rain made the floor too slippery for her feet. But she had to reach Noctis, no matter what. He was wounded, and she knew he could see her.
Luna clutched at the Trident and tried catching her breath. Just a little further…
Out of the corner of her eye, a dark form approached.
The first thing she saw was heavy footwear protected by leather gaiters and around it the hem of an unmistakable long, black coat.
"Now, about that ring…" Ardyn said casually as he sauntered around her.
She gasped, looking at him. Not now! Not the chancellor! If she was attacked, she would be powerless to defend Lucis' heirloom.
"On second thought," he smirked, kneeling to face her. "You let him have it."
Steel shone on his hand for a moment, and in the next Luna felt the blade sinking in her side.
"And do remind him about the Crystal," he softly whispered as he twisted the knife ever so slightly.
He suddenly pulled the knife out, and Luna collapsed, clutching at the wound in agony.
"Oh, Prince!" he yelled over the roaring waters. "Your bride awaits!"
She tried crawling back to a sitting position, pressing her hand to her abdomen.
"I will pass the ring," she gasped. "To the rightful King…"
Ardyn slowly turned his face towards her, an amused smile on his lips. Quick as a snake, his right hand shoot forward, catching Luna's chin and forcing her to look at him. She felt the mounting fear overcoming her pain as she was made to gaze at his face yet, as unreadable as those green-amber eyes were, she didn't see any of the loathsome things she remembered from Caligo's: things that had forced her to be swift of feet and quick of mind before that repulsive man could lay a hand on her.
Then Luna sensed something coming from the chancellor, and she understood. She wrapped her hands around his wrist, the golden light of her grace glowing softly, and he let go of her chin. It was a strange instant during which, maybe out of curiosity, he let her cradle his hand.
"When the prophecy is fulfilled," she said, gazing at him as she did to every infirm who reached out to her. "All in thrall to darkness shall know peace."
Ardyn's smile vanished, and Luna saw something passing before his eyes. It was as fleeting as a raindrop in the wind, and it vanished even before appearing. He then snarled and backhanded her so hard he threw her to the ground.
He stomped past her towards a landing assault craft, and Luna could never see the moment when he gazed at the hand she had touched. Which thoughts or memories passed through his mind as he balled it into a fist, closing his eyes with a grimace, none alive could know. The moment was gone as quickly as it had come, and he was again Ardyn Izunia, Chancellor of Niflheim.
"How sweet…" he jeered at her. "But, please, Lady Lunafreya, you first."
Ardyn made a mocking reverence when she turned her head to look at him, and swaggered his way to the opening doors of the craft.
Leviathan's deafening roar brought her back to reality. She felt her life force slipping away, but Noctis needed her help. Without the Chosen One, the world would plunge into darkness to never see the dawn again.
Luna grabbed the Trident and held it upright; the pain at her side blurred her sight and rendered her unable to stand. She closed her eyes and prayed to the Kings of Yore, that they might lend their power to the Chosen by the Crystal for this trial.
Golden light shoot upwards from where she knelt and, all around Eos, the same golden light was born from the Kings' tombs. Luna felt the Trident pulling away from her grasp and she let it go. Wielding it was the Chosen's birthright. She looked up, and she saw Noctis shinning with the power of his ancestors, the ancient weapons orbiting around him as a shield.
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The power of the Kings of Yore now pulsated in his body. It was a similar sensation as when he claimed the weapons of his ancestors, but this time it was like opening a door to a new world. The weapons obeyed his every command, and it seemed like there was no limit to what he could do. If the Tidemother would listen to neither mercy nor reason, she would have to listen to violence.
Noctis worn her out first, and then he attacked with each weapon in turn, cutting, bashing, piercing, until he left her bereft of one of her fins. Then he unleashed the whole arsenal in a myriad of explosions time and time again, flying around her, dodging her jaws, warp-striking her when she staggered after a strong attack, and little by little he brought down the mighty Leviathan, cutting her other fins and her horns.
The ancient weapons had to be used with restrain, for they drained the vitality of the wielder. However, Noctis willfully ignored that rule Cor and Ignis had warned him about, and unleashed their power without caring for his own life. He had been powerless to defend those he loved, and this time he would make sure it didn't happen again. Luna had been wounded, his friends were still unaccounted for and that stupid goddess was only thinking about killing all humans just because she felt like it, forget the upcoming darkness and the threat it meant to all Creation.
The Tidemother roared in rage and pain as Noctis renewed his assaults, the weapons flying around him like blue comets. Leviathan had become desperate, summoning towers of water and avatars of herself, but none of those tricks could dent Noctis' own wrath. She thrashed around her tail, submerged to emerge again, trying to catch him with his guard down. Nothing worked.
On her death throes, she lunged forwards, trying to swallow him. He used the weapons as a shield and repelled her attack, to then launch the whole arsenal towards her face in a huge explosion. Before the smoke cleared, Noctis charged with all his might, the Trident on his hand, and stuck it into the serpent's throat. With a last effort, he drove the weapon all the way down to the sea level, opening the giant body in half. Leviathan let go a last howl, this time of pain, as water poured out from her insides.
"It's done…" Noctis whispered, as he felt himself falling down.
His vision darkened and his hearing failed. Coldness came over him from within and he felt his heart slowing down, and he knew no more.
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Luna saw him falling down, the power of the Kings still within him. His body came to rest on the Altar, at her side. She had seen what he had done, and she knew he was dying.
Gritting her teeth, she crawled towards him and, as quickly as she could, she grabbed his face and put her forehead against his.
"Blessed Stars of life and light…" she started intoning a reviving enchantment.
A roar interrupted the spell. Leviathan was still alive, and she seemed ready to finish what she had started.
Luna cradled Noctis' body, shielding him from the water. The ground shook and a blinding light shone before the altar. Titan rose from the waters and faced the Tidemother, but she stood still. With a last howl, Leviathan bestowed her blessing upon Noctis. Titan drove his mighty fist onto the ocean and stone and rock walls rose at his command. It was time for Leviathan to retire. She merged with the wall of water she had created, and upon being dispelled, it formed a tsunami barely stopped by Titan's wall. Even in defeat, the Queen of the Oceans knew nothing but destruction.
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When he opened his eyes, he found himself on a prairie full of sylleblossoms.
"Noctis," called a sweet voice he could recognize.
He looked around through his slowly clearing sight.
Luna stood in front of him. The Luna he remembered from when he was a young boy. She was smiling, as she always did when they were together.
"Luna?" his own voice was again that of a child.
"So, you found your way here."
Here was the problem. He did remember the sylleblossom meadows, but it was never as hazy as it looked that time. And as silent. Where were the birds and the insects? When the sylleblossoms flowered it was time for the cicadas to sing and for the sun to shine in the sky.
"And you found me," he said.
He saw in the distance some ruins. This was the place Luna loved taking him on strolls, and the place her mom would always chose to have a picnic with Noctis and his dad.
"A chance to see you once more," she said, strolling around. "Who would have thought?"
He dusted himself from the dirt and stood up.
"What do you mean? Why wouldn't you see me?"
"Because my prayers have been answered. My calling fulfilled."
"But… that doesn't have to come between us."
She came closer and leaned forward to look at him in the eye.
"You are the One, Noctis. The Stars shine for you now. That which is your by right shall be restored to you."
He didn't understand. What had it to do with being together? And why was she acting so strange? But before he could speak she had turned her back to him.
"Do you remember the flowers of Tenebrae?" She mused as she strode away. "It seems so long ago. You'll find they await you still, blooming from hill to vale."
"Will you be there?" he asked, fearing to hear the answer.
She turned around to face him, and shook her head with sadness, even though her lips didn't stop smiling.
The breeze picked up, shaking the flowers. It grew until it was a cold wind, like in a midwinter night, and it made Noctis shield his eyes, shards of ice biting at his skin. Luna's white dress fluttered until suddenly it seemed to stop, as if frozen in time. When he opened his eyes again she was an adult, her dress floating around her as if…
As if they were underwater.
"Would that I could join you," she grieved with a trembling voice, her golden hair around her head like a halo. The flowers dissolved in the wind, their dark blue color spreading in the air like ink in water, until all around them was of a blue color. "But this moment will have to be enough."
Crystal fragments appeared around them, twinkling like jewels, though Noctis had no eyes for them.
"It's not right," he protested, but his voice faltered as tears began rolling down his cheeks. "All I… All I wanted… was to save you."
One sylleblossom remained at Luna's feet. Her graceful, pale hand picked it.
"When the world falls down around you," she said, holding the flower. "And hope is lost. When you find yourself alone, amid a lightless place, look to the distance. Know that I am there, and that I watch over you always."
Noctis' raised his eyes to her, this time in fear. The current threatened to carry him away. He flailed with his arms and legs in desperation, trying to swim towards her. Her hand let go of the sylleblossom, which floated slowly towards him as darkness engulfed her.
"Farewell, dear Noctis," she said with a smile.
He tried grasping at her dress, but the undercurrent was too strong, and he could only grab the flower, which transformed into the Ring in his now adult hands.
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The soft, pale gold light of early morning filtered through the thin curtains. He stayed some moments there, laying in the bed, his mind a whirlwind. Breathing was harder than he thought, and his extremities flared in pain as he sat down on the bed. He gazed through the window: They were still in Altissia. However, Ignis, sitting on a nearby chair further away from the bed, centered his attention. His retainer sat giving his back to him, but turned his head upon hearing him moving.
"Back with us?" Ignis asked. Without waiting for an answer, he got up and turned to the prince. Why was he wearing dark glasses? "I'll tell the others… though it may take a bit."
Noctis' eyes widened: Ignis' left face was covered in ashen scars, and what he could see through the tinted glasses was that his eyes were closed.
"You're hurt…"
"A small sacrifice in the greater battle," he waved it away.
"And Luna?" Noctis asked in a small voice, terrified of the answer.
Ignis turned to the door. Not even bereft of his sight, his retainer dared to face him.
"She has passed," Ignis simply said.
Noctis opened his trembling left hand. The Ring was there.
"Umbra left that for you," Ignis pointed to the bed before feeling for the doorknob and leaving Noctis alone.
It was the notebook. The Prince flipped the pages anxiously until he reached the last one.
A pressed sylleblossom. No text.
His sight blurred with tears and he wept bitterly, cradling the Ring.
He was the King now.