"Please. Help me stop the demons!" Noctis pleaded, reaching out towards the crystal with his right hand. He wasn't quite begging; the prince still had his pride, even here, even after being led around by Ardyn, even after Luna and Ignis and Prompto and his dad and Insomnia and everything else. The tendrils of magic that surrounded the relic began to converge on him. His ring flared sharply and the crystal glowed brighter to match. The power of his bloodline rose to meet it, urging him closer, nearer, and the ring began to vibrate harder as it pulled on his magic. A curl of light touched his hand.
Noctis lurched off balance with a cry as the ring was jerked sharply forward. He tried to pull away, but his hand touched the crystal inside of the enormous geode and the magic flared even brighter. He couldn't move, and his shout of alarm was met with a low chuckle.
"Unharmed by the light. The chosen king indeed," murmured Ardyn, strolling slowly up behind him. Noctis tried to wrench his hand free, tried to turn and defend himself, but to his dismay, it was actually drawing him farther to the center, deeper inside.
"Allow me to regale you with a tale," Ardyn began, ignoring the way the prince grunted and struggled to get free. "In an age long past, an incurable scourge ravaged mankind, a tiny menace that twisted men into monsters, the likes of which you've seen." The light was actually drawing Noctis off his feet, and his cries became more pained. Ardyn came even closer to his victim, and the Prince struck, materializing his father's sword from his armiger to slash the man's neck. Ardyn dodged nimbly, the blade just missing his throat and cutting a slice in his ruffled collar instead. The tip of Noctis' blade struck the side of the crystal and new tendrils of light wrapped around it. Noctis felt the draw on his magic begin from his left arm also and knew that it was trapped as well. "In Lucis lived a savior that could cure the afflicted," continued Ardyn implacably. "His body would come to host myriad daemons that countless lives would be spared. But a jealous king, one not yet chosen by the Crystal, ostracized and demonized this healer of the people, making a true monster of him."
"NOCT!" Noctis looked past his enemy to see his friends sprinting towards him, Gladiolus practically dragging Ignis along behind him with one hand and his giant broadsword in the other. Prompto paused for just a second to fire his pistol. Even after weeks of torture and imprisonment and the adrenaline of fighting his way through multitudes of demons, his aim was as steady as ever. Ardyn collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut, a hole through the center of his forehead.
"Noctis?" said Ignis as they reached him, Prompto making sure to give Ardyn a kick in the head as they passed his body.
"Guys, help!" cried the prince. Noctis was trapped up to his shoulders now, his back uncomfortably arched as the crystal continued to absorb his arms and began to engulf his legs. Gladio dropped his friend and dismissed his sword.
"Come on!" the bodyguard said, glancing at Prompto. They plunged their hands into the light, seizing Noctis around the torso and trying to wrench him free of the magic's grasp. Neither man was able to budge the prince an inch, and in an instant they, too, were seized by coils of power.
"Iggy, stay back!" shouted Gladio.
"I'm stuck!" said Prompto. He struggled, but the light had already begun to draw him and his companion off of their feet. Ignis fumbled with his cane, stepping backwards awkwardly until he felt the railing at his back.
"Iggy, look out!" shouted Noctis. The blind man raised his cane to fend off an unseen threat, but he wasn't quick enough. His walking stick was batted aside and a hand grabbed him by the throat. He drew a dagger from the armiger, but although he struck his attacker, his weapon was easily wrenched from his grasp. The pressure on his neck increased until he was drawn up to his tiptoes. A sharp edge pressed against his face and he raised his hands in surrender.
"Nice to see you again." Ardyn's breath was rancid on his face. Ignis cringed away in surprise and horror. He'd heard the shot, heard the body fall, and yet, there Ardyn was. Perhaps his earlier boast of being immortal was in truth not a boast at all!
"Get your hands off him!" bellowed Gladio, straining fruitlessly. He and Prompto hung suspended in the air now. Noctis was almost completely consumed by the light; he was moaning and gasping for breath.
"If you insist," said Ardyn, his mouth twisting into a devious grin. In a rush of red light, he warped forward and flung Ignis back into the crystal. The blind man struck his head against the rough stone, and the light immediately began to envelop him as well.
"Prompto, I can't move!" yelled Ignis. "Gladio?"
"I gave you my name earlier, but you should know that it was not the name given to me at birth." Ardyn had to raise his voice over the clamor as the men struggled in vain to free themselves. "Ardyn Lucis Caelum is my proper name. You'll never guess whose name Izunia was."
Noctis couldn't feel his body anymore. The numbness was spreading up his neck, and through the light surrounding his head, he could barely make out Ardyn pulling out Prompto's camera. The auburn-haired man took a couple photographs, sighing happily. "Oh, Noct, how I have waited for this. Longer than you could ever know."
Noctis shrieked for one long moment, then went abruptly silent as his face vanished into the light. Gladio roared wordlessly, every muscle and sinew straining to get free.
"Noct?! Noctis, please answer!" Ignis pleaded.
"And so it ends," Ardyn gloated. "Farewell, boys." The crystal absorbed Prompto and Gladio around the same time, and Ignis was left to hang weeping blindly until he, too, was engulfed and vanished and the crystal went dark.
Ardyn rubbed his hands together gleefully. Humming a scrap of something triumphant, he strolled away. He would rest easy for the first time in 2000 years.
