Blessed Audience

If Cindy hadn't asked them to make a delivery for her at Longwythe Rest, Ignis might have driven through. However, Noctis could not refuse her request, so they made another stop before Galdin Quay. Longwythe Rest was even smaller than Hammerhead and, apart from a fast food restaurant, had only one motel to offer. While the owner of the motel unloaded Cindy's delivery from the back of the Regalia, Noctis stretched his legs.

Out of nowhere, a black dog came running towards him. Umbra, Luna's faithful messenger found him everywhere and always, in the most unusual places and times. Once even in the bathtub. Behind a locked door. Noctis knelt in front of the quadruped, stroked Umbra's head and pulled the notebook from the strap on its back. "Good boy."

"A message from Luna?" Ignis asked, who was standing some distance away. "The dog certainly nose how to find you."

"What does the future bride write?" Ardyn was walking towards him.

"Some privacy please, ok?"
Noctis made sure Ardyn wasn't looking before opening the book and flicking to the latest entry.

The time has come to leave Tenebrae. Give my regards to the Chancellor of Niflheim when you meet him.

#-#-#

"Dear Lady Lunafreya," Ardyn said as he entered her room. "Correct me if I am wrong, but I think our meeting was long overdue."

Luna got up from her recliner to face him. An uneasy feeling came over her at the sight of the chancellor. The first time she had seen him had been the day Niflheim invaded her home, her mother was killed, and hatred had etched itself deep into her brother's heart. The chancellor had done nothing then. He had just stood there while she and her brother were taken away, and yet she still felt as if a great disaster was imminent whenever he was around.

"What can I do for you, chancellor?" she asked politely, yet kept her distance.

He wandered around her room, restless and curious in equal measure.
"I was hoping you could help me with the prophecy regarding the True King of Lucis," he explained, almost absentmindedly stroking the flowers in the vase by the entrance. "Much is said about the king and the darkness, but what role does the oracle play in it?"

"It is the oracle's calling to help the True King obtain the strength he needs to dispel the darkness," Luna replied with conviction. "In his name, she asks for the support of the gods."

"And what if she had to give her life for that as well?" he asked further.

"Then that is also part of her calling."

The tip of the flower he touched at that moment turned black and withered. He stared at it as if he himself had to understand what had happened before he faced Luna.

Her unease grew, but she was not intimidated.

"What if I told you that none of the sacrifices your so-called calling demands need be made to subdue the Starscourge?"

"I am not sure what you are implying."

"Is it not so that the gods - or rather the overgrown lizard hiding behind the crystal in Lucis - conceived a grand plan for humanity? Bahamut is the playwright and director in this drama. The Starscourge, on the other hand, is no invention of the gods. It is scientifically explainable and, possibly, treatable. If Bahamut would allow it, people could help themselves instead of praying and waiting for the gods to help them."

"How would you know? No one has made contact with Bahamut for ages. Not even the oracles."

"But Bahamut made contact with me."

Through the mirror in the corner of her eye, Luna noticed the messenger of the gods, Gentiana. She had appeared behind her without a sound.

A smirk spread across the chancellor's face.
"Gentiana. How I had hoped to meet you."

"Lady Lunafreya. Great caution is advised," Gentiana warned. "This man is trying to lead you away from your right path."

"Oh, am I?" he retorted sharply. "Who decides what the right path is?" For a moment the chancellor's voice dripped with anger and hatred, but just as quickly his tone returned to normal. He laughed softly, exasperated, and addressed Gentiana again. "Did you even know that a spark still burns in your beloved's heart? But sparks burn out quickly, I am afraid."

"And a flame that has grown cold should never be rekindled," Gentiana completed gloomily.

To Luna's great surprise, the messenger took a step past her. "The Frostbearer wishes you to know that he is the Accursed, source of the Starscourge," she said, addressing Luna.

Luna tried hard not to show her shock. She suddenly realised that she had sensed the Starscourge near Ardyn all along. A massive amount of daemonic energy.

"At last, someone is speaking straight." Paying no attention to Luna and Gentiana, Ardyn walked past them and dropped onto the bench. "And now that that's finally out," he said with a sigh, "let us talk about why the people of Niflheim have grown weary of the gods, and what Bahamut is doing to the bloodlines of oracles and kings. After all, you should know better than anyone that the crystal in Lucis has no will of its own."

On one hand, Lunafreya wanted to throw him out for his blasphemy, but on the other, he offered her a chance, perhaps a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, to see things from the perspective of someone who was even more deeply involved in the prophecy than she was. If nothing else, he spoke of her and Noctis' fate.

"Lady Lunafreya," Gentiana admonished her again, but Luna signalled her not to intervene and sat down opposite of Ardyn. "Please. I want to hear what he has to say."

"You have nothing to fear from me," Ardyn assured her. "I long only to bring mischief upon the one who has imposed the role of mischief-maker upon me."

Ardyn told her everything he had gathered from Bahamut's words regarding his grand plan to destroy the Starscourge. He spoke of ten years of utter darkness, of daemons and suffering he was to cause. About his death and the end of the Lucis Caelum bloodline, which had originally been promised to him as a liberating act of vengeance. Ardyn laid out for her coherently how any suffering that had befallen the oracles, kings and even the land of Lucis could be traced back to Bahamut's influence. The crystal was the literal offending object in every war. The magic of the Lucii the early death of every king. The sacrifice demanded by the oracles to heal others their every end.

When she asked how he intended to fight the Starscourge without divine assistance, Ardyn revealed that Niflheim's research into the use of daemonic energy had incidentally opened up ways to treat the disease with medicine and science. However, Emperor Aldercapt and Minister Verstael were unwilling to pursue these possibilities because of their own hunger for immortality, and Ardyn himself was no man of science.

Luna had to admit that the chancellor knew how to captivate her with his words. She understood the connections and saw the possibilities for humanity. Gentiana said nothing to this, but never left her side.

Finally, Luna turned to the messenger of the gods. "Do you think it would actually be possible to defy fate?"

"To choose one's own path is to face great uncertainty."

"I know that. I just want to know if it is possible at all."

"Those who defy fate will inevitably incur the wrath of the Draconian. His judgement knows no mercy."

"So there is no way past Bahamut," Luna concluded. "Only through him."

Ardyn clasped his hands behind his head and leaned back. "So it is."

"What about the other Astrals?", she asked Gentiana.

"Some are indifferent to the Bladekeeper's view of mankind, whereas others have opposed it. The aftermath of the great war has left them too exhausted to act, however, and although the path he has chosen for men may be one of suffering, he still aims to protect Eos."

"From men, to be precise", Ardyn added.

"You are not fit to interpret the words of the gods", the messenger admonished him.

"Please, save me your speeches. I have heard them all before."

Luna thought on what Gentiana had said for a moment. The messenger had never spoken so much about the Draconian before, but then again, neither had she asked as much about him, either. Gentiana never lied, and so she concluded that there was at least some truth to Ardyn's words.
"You came to offer me knowledge, but what do you hope to gain from me knowing all this?", she asked him. "Do you expect me not to lend my aid to the True King of Lucis?"

"Not at all" he replied, perfectly calm. "In fact, please do lend him your aid. I was merely hoping you could put in a good word or two for mankind the next time you commune with the gods, so they might offer their strength to the king even when that strength is directed against Bahamut."

"If the prophecy comes to pass, you will perish."

"Not unless Bahamut perishes first, and I would like him to know what it is like to be purged from the annals of history."
She wondered what he meant by that, but before she could ask further, Ardyn rose from the bench and turned to leave. "In the end, however, it is your decision whether to follow your calling or not. I merely offer my advice."

Luna stood up as well. "You mentioned that you believed in the gods a long time ago. What made you lose your faith?"

He stopped in his tracks, but did not turn back. "A little of everything, I suppose", he replied, scratching his head. "Every single time they set me up to suffer or bring suffering."

A bizarre feeling of hope took root in Luna's heart. She had always imagined the coming darkness to be some sort of abstract entity, or worse. To think that it was merely a man made her wish for a different ending to the prophecy. Even though she herself was ready and willing to give her life for others, no one should have to suffer.

"You are not the monster the prophecy speaks of", she said eventually.

"It only goes to show how little you know me," Ardyn replied on his way out.

#-#-#

We have left Insomnia a while ago. I can't wait to see you again. Ardyn is a royal pain in the neck.

Noctis shut the book and tucked it safely away on Umbra's back. He did not give Ardyn the satisfaction of knowing Luna was writing about him, though he wondered why Luna was so well disposed towards a Niflheim politician. He would question her about it when he had the chance.


This chapter exists solely to make it clear that Ardyn and Luna are on the same page regarding Bahamut's plans. In the "Dawn of the future" novel, Gentiana reveals this information to Luna, but I don't see why Ardyn should keep it from her, seeing how "close" the Empire and Tenebrae are.
I also hope I got Gentiana right. I have not actually reviewed the scene in which Ardyn interacts with her, but I remember it being very brief (and thus, probably not helpful). I might edit this chapter, though, if I get a better grasp on her character.