Hello, friends! Welcome to the official chapter 7 of Frozen Heart! In this chapter, Noctis, Lydia, and the rest of the group take on the conclusion of Costlemark Tower. It's also the first to take place solely from Noctis's perspective, although Lydia does play a pivotal role and we get to learn a bit more about her here.

Thanks, and happy reading!

Disclaimer: I don't own FFXV.

Chapter 7: The Price of Power

After opening up the pathway by activating the magical stone, Noctis and Lydia found themselves in a large chamber, where dozens of identical stones stood scattered around the room. They did a thorough scan of the area, and finally stopped upon a stone on the floor that was different from all the rest. There was a round, raised platform on top and something carved into the rock, but it was difficult for Noctis to read in these low-light conditions.

"Awaiting the chosen King,

The beast dwells in the tower.

He who would pull fate's strings

Must know the price of power."

Noctis raised his eyebrow and glanced up at Lydia. "The price of power?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. You'd better saddle up though, because it sounds like you'll be fighting a dragon down there."

With a laugh, Noctis pulled himself back to his feet and stepped away from the stone. "Do you think this is it? Should we go?"

Before Lydia had a chance to respond, Noctis lifted his head at the sound of Gladio's voice. "Hey, Noct! Over here!"

A smile appeared on his face as three familiar figures approached. "We're so relieved to see you two are all right," Ignis said as the figures stopped in front of them.

"And I'm relieved to see all of you," Noctis said. "How'd you guys get down here?"

"We just followed the leader!" Prompto said, jabbing Noctis's arm playfully. "Ignis, I mean. Luckily, we hardly ran into any creepy crawlies down here. It's almost eerily empty, to be honest."

"Yeah, we had a little theory about that," Noctis murmured, scratching the back of his head.

"The Prince has to fight a dragon," Lydia said. So we're back to "Prince" again, huh?

Prompto recoiled in surprise. "Come again?"

A sigh escaping his lips, Noctis stepped aside so they could see the large platform on the floor. "I think the Royal Tomb is down there. Not sure about the 'dragon' part, though."

Ignis moved forward and crouched down to read the writing on the stone. "Curious," he murmured.

"Well, what are we waiting for, then?" Gladio asked. "We're all back together. Whatever's down there, we can take it."

"I agree," Lydia cut in. "Let's get this over with so we can hit the road and have a massive breakfast in the morning."

"Works for me," Prompto said.

Noctis took a moment to swallow and close his eyes. Your friends are with you. There's nothing to fear.

Sucking in a big breath, he nodded to his friends. This was his moment—and like it or not, he had to accept it like a leader. Like a King. He thought of his father and pleaded for the strength to make it through this. Whatever he had to face in the chasm below, he had to believe that old man was watching over his from somewhere.

It was a bit of a squeeze, but they all fit on the stone platform. Once they were all settled, they had to steady themselves in response to the floor shifting. They began to descend, and as the room disappearred from Noctis's view, he wondered who he would become when this was all over.

Their descent seemed to go on forever. Eventually, they found themselves traveling down into what seemed like it was, at one point, a large control room. Dim red and blue lights made it easier to see as the platform stopped on the hard metal floor.

"Okay," Lydia whispered from behind him. "When I said 'dragon,' I didn't mean that literally."

Confused, Noctis turned around to ask what she was talking about. But he didn't have to—as soon as he shifted his body toward hers, he saw what she was looking at. A giant, green serpent-like creature lying with its head down on the metal floor, breathing deeply and evenly. Butterflies formed in his stomach as he stared down the sleeping monster, and no one near him made a sound.

Noctis's brain kicked into action as he tried to determine his next plan. He looked around the room, hoping for some sign of the royal tomb he was supposed to find. On the opposite end of where the monster rested, Noctis saw a path leading down to another door. It was worth a shot.

He grabbed everyone's attention and pointed to the door, and they all began gingerly walking across the room, hoping not to awaken the dragon. Each time the creature took a breath, Noctis's heart fluttered with fear and anticipation. He wondered if they would all perish down here at the non-existent mercy of the beast. Would all his father's hopes for him as a protector of Lucis be dashed when it awakened and slaughtered them all?

Alas, the dragon didn't awaken or even stir as the group approached the door. After noting that it was locked, Noctis pulled out the key Cor gave him and used it to unseal the entrance. It opened with a creak, causing them all to pause and flinch. But when he looked back, the beast still hadn't made a move.

He sighed in relief and proceeded into the chamber. Inside, thirteen unique tombs of Kings lay, as if they had simply been waiting for his arrival all this time. It was the power of these ancient Kings that Noctis needed to fulfill his calling—to garner the strength he needed to wear the Ring of Lucii and protect his people. He would not turn back, and he would not fail—whatever the price of this power might be.

Silently, Noctis extended his arm, calling to the Kings of old and asking them to lend their strength. A bright light appeared in the center of the room, forcing him to squint his eyes. The light lingered for a few seconds, then shot toward him, filling his chest with warmth.

Power coursed through his veins as the phantoms of ancient weapons circled his body, and he snatched one of them from thin air. He had never seen this long, stylish sword before, but somehow the name, Blade of the Mystic, came to mind as he held it. The oldest of the weapons, and that of the Founder King himself. Noctis could hardly believe he was wielding it in his own hand.

"Okay, that was pretty damn epic," Prompto murmured as Noctis made his new blades disappear.

But before he had a chance to reply with some sort of witty remark, a mighty roar reverberated through the chamber. Shivers ran down Noctis's spine as he cast his gaze toward the open door. He couldn't see the dragon yet, but he knew he must have awoken it when he activated his new powers.

"Sounds like we disturbed the beast," Ignis said over the clanking of massive footsteps on metal.

"Then we'd better get out of here before it closes us in," Gladio added, motioning for them all to hurry back through the door.

As they all filtered through the door, Noctis looked up and gaped at the sight of the monster moving toward them. A snarl rumbled in its throat, and Prompto asked, "Do you think it breathes fire?"

Just as Noctis was thinking he didn't even want to know, he realized everyone was standing in the same place in front of the door to the tomb. The monster lowered its head and let out a growl, then threw its head back up as bright red flames shot up through its throat.

"Move!" Noctis shouted, pushing everyone aside and barely dodging a fiery death. He felt the heat of the flames almost brush up against him when he leapt out of range, and then stopped to glance up at the creature with labored breaths. The flames dissipated as soon as they hit the wall, which made him thankful that the chamber was made of metal.

"Does that answer your question?" he asked Prompto.

"Uh, yeah," he replied as the beast threw back its head again. "Not the answer I was hoping for, though!"
"Everyone scatter!" Ignis called out. "We'll confuse it if we're separated!"

The rest of the group followed Ignis's order without question, running off in different directions to divert the beast's attention. Meanwhile, Noctis tried to think amid the fog of anxiety. He had all this new power—how could he use it to take this monster down?

For whatever reason, the scaly creature's attention seemed fixed heavily on Noctis. Whether it just hated him in particular or it knew Noctis was the one who had just gathered the power from the tomb, he wasn't sure. But after narrowly dodging multiple fire blasts, he found himself warping to escape the creature's powerful jaws. It was surprisingly agile for its size, lunging in and snapping him with enormous teeth as its feet pounded against the metal floor. Noctis barely had the chance to escape each attack, let alone land a blow.

"Little help here!" he shouted after almost getting crushed by the monster's claws.

His friends responded in kind, with Gladio heading after the creature's tail while Prompto pulled out one of his firearms. A gunshot sounded and a bright beam of light appeared over the monster's head. It let out a roar, tossing its head in frustration. The blinding light left the creature dazed and confused for several seconds, which gave Noctis time to plan his next move.

He extended his hand to summon his armiger. As the arms circled around him, it occurred to him that he had no idea how to use any of these. All the weapons were new to him—it would have been nice if he'd had a little time to break them in first.

But unfortunately, he didn't have that luxury. So Noctis made a split-second choice and snatched up the Sword of the Tall, which looked like it could deal extremely heavy blows due to its size and thickness. As soon as he had it in hand, he performed a warp-strike and brought the blade on the dragon's snout. The blow made the creature snarl and rip violently away. Meanwhile, Lydia and Ignis got to work weakening its legs with their elemental magic.

Noctis continued his assault using the new sword, eventually drawing thick, dark blood from beneath the dragon's rock-hard scales. But he found that the longer he used the sword, the heavier it became. Not just from the weight of the blade—but from the extreme fatigue that seemed to overtake him gradually. It took him some time to realize that the sword was draining his energy, and the next thing to occur to him was that his father must have mentioned something about this at one point or another.

Despite attempts to perform another warp-strike, Noctis suddenly found himself too exhausted to continue with his attacks. Seconds later, the monster smacked him away with its snout, and he crashed into the wall with a thud.

He heard Ignis call out his name. Somehow, this gave him the strength he needed to rise to his hands and knees. The impact left him dazed and confused, and his breaths came in quick, shallow pants. His team's blows only did minimal damage to the beast thanks to the toughness of its armor. And as soon as it had a chance, the great creature lifted its talons and brought them down hard onto the floor, the shockwave throwing his friends back.

Noctis glared up in defiance, willing his sword back into his hand. He refused to die here, and he refused to drag his friends along with him. When he found out about his father's death and the possibility that Luna had joined him, there was a moment he had wished he'd been there to perish at their sides.

But he knew that was a selfish wish. Noctis was alive—and he wasn't about to let his life be for nothing.

So he held up his sword and braced himself for impact as the beast lunged for him. If he couldn't warp out of the way, he could at least grab onto the monster at the last minute and deliver a solid strike. Or at least, so he hoped.

But before the beast's jaw could connect with Noctis's body, a powerful force intercepted the blow. He stood in place, wide-eyed and caught off-guard as Lydia landed in front of him at the last second. She extended her hand out toward the monster, unleashing a blast of ice that knocked the monster back. It slid into the center of the room, snarling furiously as it shook away ice shards and dust.

During the time it took the beast to recover, Lydia lowered her head and clasped her hands together, as if in prayer. A jagger pillar of ice then shot up beneath her feet, raising her high into the air. He thought he heard her murmuring something, like a kind of chant or spell, but he couldn't make out what it was. The beast lunged for her, preparing to snatch her off her high vantage point. But she held her hands out, seeming to release a low, deep breath from her lungs. The dragon stopped in its tracks, and ice began to crystalize on its body. With one last—almost pitiful—roar, the creature's movements ceased as it became fully encased in a layer of ice.

As Noctis stood there gaping at Lydia's power, he heard her shout something at him. "Hurry up, finish it off!"

He looked down at his sword, a little disoriented from the events that just transpired. But he figured he might have enough strength left to deliver a final blow. Preparing his stance, he set his sights on the beast's chest, where he knew a deep enough strike would like be fatal. A split second passed, and Noctis warped, gripped his predecessor's sword, and drove it into the monster's chest. Lydia's ice magic shattered, and the monster let out a shriek unlike anything he had ever heard. He then tumbled clumsily to the ground as their enemy crumpled, let out a few more low groans, and then crashed to ground in defeat.

Deafening silence rang in Noctis's ears for several long seconds. He pulled himself to his feet and leaned forward in an effort to catch his breath, still a little disoriented when Prompto appeared at his side and patted him on the back. "Hey, that was awesome, man. You okay?"

Noctis took a few more labored breaths and grasped his friend's arm. "Yeah. You guys?"

Not far away, Gladio helped Ignis to his feet and said, "All good, here."

He let out a sigh of relief and then glanced back over at Lydia. Much to his dismay, he saw her sitting on the ground, palms down and looking a little worse for wear. She must have noticed their concerned gazes as they approached and started pulling herself to her feet almost immediately. When she stumbled, Ignis was the first to reach out and steady her by placing his arm under hers. Although she didn't respond or thank him, she didn't reject the gesture either.

"Sorry," she murmured, still sounding out of breath. "I just get a little—winded when I do big attacks like that."

"What the hell are you, anyway?" Gladio asked, clearly not pulling any punches. It's not like they weren't all thinking it, Noctis supposed. "You can't look me in the eye and tell me that's something a normal human could do."

Lydia laughed weakly. "I never said I was normal."

"Your abilities," Ignis said with a serious look on his face. "They are reminiscent of what the legends relay of the Glacian, Shiva."

Everyone was silent for a few seconds, and Lydia sighed. "No—I know what you're all thinking, and I'm not the Goddess. Shiva—is my mother."

There was another long pause. Noctis eyed her for a long time in amazement and disbelief, and Prompto's jaw dropped. "Wait. Your mother is the Goddess? But—like, how? Can Gods even have kids?"

"Prompto," Gladio said in a reproachful tone.

"What? It's a legitimate question!"

Noctis noticed Lydia leaning more heavily on Ignis than before—although he wasn't sure if it was from the exhaustion of the attack or if it was simple annoyance. "The Astrals can take material form," she said. "So—yes, to answer your question—they can procreate. I'm living proof of that. I'm half-Astral—half-human. And one of a kind, as far as I know. Most Gods think themselves too high and mighty for humans, so..."

Finally collecting himself, Noctis folded his arms across his chest and said, "Wait. So you said you were looking for your mother before. That's who you meant? Isn't she...?"

"No," Lydia shot back, her voice sounding unexpectedly harsh. "I've heard all the humors. But trust me—it's hard to explain, but... our powers are connected. If she was dead, I would know."

It was a lot to process, admittedly. All this time, Noctis knew there was something off about Lydia. But he never imagined he was traveling with someone so closely connected to the Gods. Had his Dad known the Glacian's actual daughter was in the city all that time?

Finally, Lydia released her hold on Ignis and stood up straight. "Anyway," she said, brushing herself off. "While I'm very powerful, this is just a feeble human form, after all. So using big spells like that wears me out. Nothing to get concerned over."

Noctis looked away and glanced at the fallen beast behind him. He thought back to the fight, when strike after strike of his Royal Arm slowly drained his energy and weakened him. Even now, he still wasn't 100% after all the strength he'd used up during battle.

Feeble human form, he thought, letting his mind drift back to his father, and the way the man's health and youth had rapidly declined in the last ten years before his death.

Was that what the stone leading into this chamber was referring to? The "price of power"? The price of wielding such strength from the Gods and the Kings of the past... was a weakened body and a shortened life span?

If this was to be his fate, he wondered if he was strong enough to face it. Of course, it was a silly question to ask now that he already possessed the Armiger. He was already in too deep.

Suddenly, Ignis broke Noctis out of his inner turmoil with a suggestion. "I think we've been in here too long. Why don't we further our discussion once we've returned above-ground? I'm sure we're all exhausted."

He wasn't wrong there.

"I second that," Gladio said, throwing his sword over his shoulder with some effort. "Let's go—and just hope we don't get lost on the way out."

The sun was rising before Noctis and the rest of the group finally managed to escape the musty darkness of Costlemark Tower. He was thankful that they emerged right at dawn—as he didn't want to think of how much longer they would have been stuck down there if they were an hour later.

The morning light took some getting used to, but Noctis was grateful for it as they made their way back to the Regalia. He hoped and prayed they wouldn't run into any other road blocks and that they could simply cruise their way right to the nearest rest stop and get some sleep.

Fortune turned out to be in their favor. After a tedious but uneventful drive, they found themselves at Taelpar Rest Area in Southern Duscae, where they ate a big breakfast at the nearby diner and checked into a motel, only to sleep away the entire morning and early afternoon.

"Well, it's been fun," Lydia said, leaning on the Regalia next to Noctis a few hours later as he filled up the gas tank. "I'm not sure where you guys are headed next, but I think this is where we should part ways."

Noctis looked down, admittedly a little disappointed that she would be leaving them. Especially when they had finally gotten the chance to connect and become friends—so he thought. "You sure?" he asked. "Maybe there's a way we could help you somehow."

She laughed. "Appreciate the gesture, but I don't need it. You guys have bigger issues to deal with. This is—this is my own journey. It doesn't concern anyone but Shiva and me."

He nodded, supposing there was nothing he could do but respect her decision and move on. "Well, if you ever change your mind—you can call any time."

Ignis, who was sitting in the front seat of the Regalia, chimed in, "You've been a great help to us, Lydia. We are in your debt."

"I admit, I'm not gonna miss having to squeeze three of us into the back anymore," Gladio added as he walked up.

"Imagine being the one stuck in the middle," Lydia said with a sweet smile.

"Aw, come on, you guys are about to make me cry here!" Prompto complained. "I hate goodbyes."

"But alas, they are an inevitable part of life," Ignis murmured.

Noctis sighed as he closed up the gas tank and brushed off his hands. He didn't need his friends making him emotional today. He was still too exhausted after Costlemark Tower despite sleeping like a rock in the motel for 7 hours.

All of the sudden, his phone started to ring. Noctis started and then reached into his pocket, wondering who he knew that might possibly be calling him at this time. He swiped and answered.

"Hello?"

"Noct?" a soft, female voice asked on the other end.

He blinked, recognition slowly settling in. "Iris?"

Her voice rose a full octave, causing him to pull the phone away from his ear briefly. "It's really you! Oh, it's so good to hear your voice." Then, she continued in a quieter tone, "Everything's fine here. We made it to Lestallum in one piece. We just settled into our new digs—so, let me know when you're coming so we can meet up."

Noctis smiled, his mood lifting the longer Iris spoke. Cor had told them she was safe, but he was glad to finally hear it for himself. With a nod, he said, "Yeah. We're sort of headed in that direction now, so we'll be there soon. Okay?" Heading to Lestallum right now hadn't exactly been part of the plan, but he wanted to see Iris—and he could only imagine that Gladio was eager to check on his sister as well. They could afford to make the trip.

"Yay!" Iris said. "Can't wait to see you guys when you get here."

"We won't keep you waiting long," Noctis assured her before bidding her goodbye and hanging up.

After he put the phone back in his pocket, Gladio gave him a smug look. "Was that Iris? What, couldn't even be bothered to call her own brother?"

"In all fairness," Ignis commented, "Yours wasn't the obituary broadcast all over Lucis."

"What about me?" Prompto asked. "She say anything about me?"

Noctis sighed. "Why the hell would she?"

"Aw man, that's cold," Prompto pouted, plopping himself down on the passenger seat of the car.

"Anyway," Noctis continued. "She wants to see us. I figure it couldn't hurt to make a stop there."

"That's a good idea," Gladio said. "Lestallum is only like a day's trip from here, right?"

Ignis nodded. "Indeed. We can set out right away—although we'll need to be wary once the sun starts to go down."

They all started to pile into the car, Lestallum-bound. Noctis prepared to say goodbye to Lydia for the last time, but she surprised him by touching his arm before he sat down on the seat. "Did you guys say you were headed to Lestallum?"

He raised an eyebrow, a little weirded out by her sudden curiosity. "Uh... yeah. Why?"

She folded her arms across her chest and then glanced at the car seat. "Do you mind if I tag along a little bit longer? There's something I'd like to check on there—and it'd be a big help if you guys gave me a lift."

Noctis couldn't imagine what Lydia might need in Lestallum, but he certainly wasn't about to turn her down. He already promised her that he'd be happy to help out with whatever she needed—and if their destinations happened to coincide, well... he was happy to oblige.

"Sure," he said, stepping out of the way so she could slide back into the vehicle between him and Gladio.

"Thanks, I appreciate it," she replied. Then, with a smile at Gladio once she slipped in next to him, she added, "So much for that extra space, eh?"

"Very funny," Gladio said, giving her a dirty look.

Prompto, on the other hand, was also jumping for joy. He did a fake drum riff on the dashboard as they pulled away from the rest area, exclaiming, "Oh yeah, we're sticking together after all!"

Lydia then sank back into her seat, folding her arms lazily into her lap. "For now," she muttered—although Noctis was pretty sure he was the only one who heard her.

And that's that! I wonder what's waiting in Lestallum for Lydia... guess we'll find out next time! Also, Ardyn is coming soon and I admit, I'm very excited to start writing him. He's such an interesting character, and it will be fun to play with him a little bit.