We pulled into the parking lot of a rest stop just outside of Lestallum. "Looks like it's only a short walk from here," Ignis said as he got out of the Regalia. "We should stock up on supplies before we go."
"That's a good idea," Noctis responded before hissing in pain.
"Another headache?" Ignis asked.
"This is not normal," Gladio muttered.
"I take it he gets really bad headaches?" I asked.
Prompto nodded slightly. "They come and go, and they just started recently."
"We don't know what is causing it," Noctis explained as we began walking down the trail toward the waterfall.
"I see," I responded, looking around. Sneaking past some of the wildlife, we made our way to a ledge leading behind the waterfall.
"The legend says to look behind the waterfall," Prompto said as we approached the ledge.
"What does the waterfall say?" Ignis asked.
"I think it says, 'come in!'" Prompto responded as we walked along the ledge. We then came across an opening leading to a cave. "Wouldn't you know it, an entrance!"
"Looks like the legend checks out," Gladio chuckled as we continued. The moment we entered, the temperature seemed to drop. I adjusted my jacket a bit, didn't want to catch a cold or something.
"This place gives me goosebumps," Prompto complained, "Double back for our coats?"
"What's the point? A little chill won't kill ya," Gladio teased, though he was shivering as well.
"Says the guy without a shirt," I laughed.
"Well, looking on the bright side, at least the cold keeps the daemons at bay?" Prompto asked, a shiver in his voice.
Gladio rolled his eyes, quipping, "Yeah, because monsters like warmth."
"Ah. Sarcasm." Prompto hummed in thought for a moment, "But what if they're frozen?"
We continued walking into the dark cave, the only light being the flashlights the four had clipped to their crownsguard jackets. "Encased in ice, waiting for something warm to pass by," Gladio said ominously. He was obviously trying to get a rise out of Prompto.
"And then they jump out!" Prompto yelled before shuddering again.
As if on cue, three gelatinous-looking daemons rose from the ground. Flan. Just great, I thought.
"And there's our warm welcome," Prompto groaned.
Noctis began swinging his sword at one of them, Ignis sliding in and attacking with his daggers as well. I grabbed my axe and rushed over to one of the other flan, slamming the bladed side down on it. "Ugh, this is gross," I groaned, pulling my axe away and swinging again. "Gonna have to clean both my axe and my shoes after this." Gladio and Prompto focused on the third, it quickly melting back into the ground.
"Not a fan of mushy deserts," Noctis responded as he finished off the other one. With one last swing, I finished off the last one.
"You handle that axe really well," Gladio praised.
"Oh, thanks," I responded. "I got some practice with it."
We soon came to an icy slope. I looked at it hesitantly.
"Heading down a slippery slope, in slip-sliding shoes," Prompto sighed, "What could possibly go wrong?"
Noctis was the one to slide down first, startled by just how slick it truly was.
"Down we go," Ignis said, going next. I looked at Gladio and Prompto.
"So, who next?" I asked.
"Ladies first," Prompto laughed, motioning for me to go ahead. I cautiously stepped onto the slope, sliding down and landing amid another battle, this time with imps. Gladio and Prompto followed shortly after.
"So much for a little chill," Prompto said once the battle was finished. "I've got an ice cream headache, without the ice cream!"
"Oh no, not those," I laughed as we continued further into the cave.
"I really hope we didn't come here for nothing," Prompto said with a shiver as we reached a steep incline. We carefully scaled it. I had to make sure my sunglasses were sitting properly afterward.
"I'm sure there's something if we look," Gladio responded.
"Why do you wear those sunglasses even in the dark like this?" Noctis asked me.
I shrugged. "They're just part of my outfit, I don't really like going without them."
"Fair enough. It's like Prompto and that bandana around his arm," Noctis chuckled.
We reached yet another icy slope. "Again, really?" Noctis said to no one in particular as he slid down before landing on a rocky ledge. The rest of us followed shortly after we continued exploring. It wasn't too long before we encountered another daemon. This time it was a spiderlike creature, an Arachne.
"Oh yikes," I took a few steps back. "You guys got her?" I asked, readying my broadsword just in case.
"Why? Don't like spiders?" Prompto asked.
"I can handle spiders, just not giant ones with a woman's torso," I laughed. "That's where I draw the line."
Noctis and Gladio quickly finished her off. "Nothing to it," Noct said proudly as we yet again continued walking. Various rocks containing elemental magic dotted our path.
"Those are cool," I remarked, tapping one of them a couple of times.
"Onward," Ignis stated, walking past me. He was clearly telling me to get a move on.
"Yes sir," I laughed and followed yet again.
"So the glaive is through here?" Gladio asked.
"Most likely," Noct remarked.
Ignis nodded. "Let's see for ourselves."
I tilted my head slightly. "You guys are looking for a sword in here?"
"We were told there was a royal arm hidden in this cave," Prompto explained. "Noct over here is collecting them. So here we are looking for the royal tomb."
More flan appeared in our way, along with another daemon. Unlike the piles of slime, this one was humanoid. A ronin. Noctis quickly chose to take that one on, leaving the rest of us to fight the three flan. I let out an annoyed groan as I blocked an attack from one of them. "Can't you guys just show up somewhere else," I asked as I countered, swinging my sword down on it. We came to an icy ledge, just barely wide enough to cross with our backs to the wall. I waited for the others to cross first.
"I'm freezing, what I wouldn't give for a hot bowl of soup," Prompto whined. "We're almost there. We gotta be, right?"
"You know, I never asked," I began, "How do you guys summon your weapons like that? It's really cool! Probably makes your lives so much easier."
"Oh, it's just something we can do, thanks to being in the Crownsguard. Something to do with the armiger and the crystal," Prompto responded.
"It comes in handy," Noct laughed.
We finally seemed to reach the deepest part of the cave. "Hey, knock knock," Gladio remarked.
"We're there, finally," Ignis said with a chuckle. Sure enough, there was a clearly manmade structure built into one of the cave walls. This must be the royal tomb Prompto mentioned earlier, I thought.
More daemons appeared in our way. "Can't it ever be easy," Gladio huffed.
"Never," Noctis responded.
"Where's the fun in that?" Ignis asked, just as annoyed as the rest of us.
I brought my axe down on one of the several imps, before turning to attack the flan that was dangerously close. Two new daemons stood in our way as well. They looked very squidlike, but also humanoid. Mindflayers. We quickly attacked them and took them out before approaching the tomb.
After Noctis unlocked the door, he stepped inside and reached a hand out to the weapon. I could only assume what the weapon was resting on was a statue representing the king it used to belong to. The weapon seemed to light up and become semi-transparent before plunging itself into Noctis's chest. Rather than hurting him, however, it just appeared next to other weapons circling him for a moment.
"What was that?" I asked, shocked and confused.
"It's just something that happens when I get one of the royal arms. The armiger thing Prompto mentioned earlier," Noctis explained.
"Doesn't that hurt?"
"Nah, it really doesn't."
I nodded slightly. "I see..."
"Does this mean we can go back outside?" Prompto asked.
"It sure does," Noctis responded.
"You handled yourself pretty well back there," Noctis said as we walked back to where we parked.
"Thank you, Prince Noctis," I smiled and nodded.
"I'd say you could join us if you'd like. Being in the Crownsguard is no joke though, so it's fair if you don't want to," He continued.
"You're serious?" I asked. "I didn't hear you wrong?"
"I'm serious. I can contact Cor and he can probably get you in. I mean, I said you could."
"Thank you, Prince Noctis!" I smiled. "It is such an honor for you to consider me to be one of your group."
Noctis opened his mouth to say something before seeming to be overtaken by another headache.
"Noct, you okay?" Prompto ran to Noct's side.
"Where was that?" Noctis asked.
Gladio, Ignis, and I approached him as well. "What is it?" Gladio asked.
"A hole in the ground... something burning. The meteor?" Noctis continued. I couldn't tell if he was asking us or just thinking out loud.
"You saw the Disc of Cauthess," Ignis responded.
"Let's make our way back to Lestallum," Gladio suggested.
"Yeah, gotta report back to Talcott," Prompto responded.
"Talcott?" I asked.
"He's the kid who told us about the tomb supposedly being hidden behind this waterfall."
The sun was beginning to set as we continued back to the Regalia.
"The roads are perilous at night, we should probably rest up and wait until morning," Ignis suggested.
"I can keep watch if you guys want to sleep," I responded. "I'm not tired."
"You sure?" Prompto asked.
"Yeah, it's fine. Thanks for the concern, though," I smiled. "You guys get some rest."
"I'll call Cor to get you all set up to be part of the Crownsguard in the morning," Noctis said as he walked into the trailer that it appeared we would be resting at.
I summoned my broadsword a couple of times. "Whoa, this is sweet!"
"Welcome to the Crownsguard, Gaia," Prompto laughed. "We should probably get heading back to Lestallum now. We need to figure out what we're gonna do about your headaches, Noct."
"Yeah," Noctis said as he walked over to the car, rubbing his eyes.
"You still seem pretty tired," I responded, walking alongside him.
"He always is," Gladio chuckled as he got in the backseat. Once we were all situated in the Regalia again, we made our way back to Lestallum and the Leville.
"Prince Noctis! Welcome back!" A young boy exclaimed with a wave. I could only assume he was Talcott. I stayed near the entrance, listening to the group talk.
"Your story came to a happy end," Ignis responded.
"We owe you, Talcott. Oh hey, Gaia, get over here," Noctis responded, motioning for me to come over. I nodded slightly and walked over. "This is Gaia Machina, we met her along the way to the royal tomb. She's going to be joining us from here. Gaia, this is Talcott, Jared, and Iris."
I waved slightly, a small smile on my face. "It's nice to meet you all."
"Iris is Gladio's little sister," Noctis continued. "I feel like you two would get along quite well."
We walked to the entrance to the hotel before Noctis seemed to get yet another headache. "Not again," he whispered, staring at his hand.
"What's the matter? Are you alright?" Iris ran over to his side.
"He'll be fine, don't worry," Gladio said reassuringly. "We oughta take a closer look at this so-called 'Disc'."
"Then look no closer than the outlook," Prompto nodded, "We can use the viewer things!"
"No substitute for being on-site, but it would be a start," Ignis responded as he put a hand to his chin. "Let's see what we can glean of Noct's condition."
I nodded. "Yeah, maybe we can get a trail of clues from there. Like how a character would in a mystery novel!"
Noctis led the way as we walked to the outlook. I looked around, taking in more of Lestallum that I didn't see before. "I can't get over how impressive Lestallum can be," I said. "This place looks like it has everything!"
It wasn't long before we reached the outlook, but there was a mysterious figure who seemed to be waiting for us...
