Hello! I know its been some time, but here is a short-ish chapter that should serve as an interesting preview of sorts of where the future of this project is planning on heading. It'll no doubt be a little confusing, but hopefully the ultimate payoff later on will make this all more interesting. I hope to update more quickly in the future, but I was stuck taking care of a lot of real world responsibilities as well as the greater dedication I have to the original stories I'm also writing.

Thanks for reading!

Chapter Nine

Omen

Noctis was alone as he drove the Regalia along the Lucian highway. He gripped the wheel tightly with both hands, absently staring down the road. The radio was on, a news broadcast playing.

"—which is why we can't afford to hold our forces at bay anymore," the reporter said, voice crackling with static as it came through the speakers. "The longer we stand by and do nothing, the stronger he will become. It has been days since last we saw sight of the prince. All we know is he is traveling alone in a black Audi called the Regalia, a custom-made car commissioned by the late tyrant King Regis. If you are listening to this, Noctis, we will find you. We do not fear your power. We have captured your conspirators and it won't be long before we weed out the rest of the Lucis Loyalists. Were you to possess any honor, you would come straight to us. You know where to find us."

Noctis scoffed and turned off the radio.

The skies were darkened, the horizons brimming with Niflheim airships buzzing around. He pressed the pedal as far as it could go and the Regalia roared, picking up speed. The roof was down and Noctis looked all around as a few airships began to close in. He growled, gripping the steering wheel even tighter. The road winded and Noctis kept the Regalia driving smooth, even as he heard the bullets from the airships impacting against the road behind him. A missile whistled in his direction, which he noticed in the rearview mirror. Noctis swerved the car out of the way and it flew past, exploding ahead of him in a plume of red and black.

As he passed through, he felt the heat of the smoke. As deadly as the airships were, they could not keep up with the speed of his car and he outpaced their guns and missiles. The road entered a tunnel cutting through a tall mountain, and Noctis flashed on the headlights.

As he drove, he began to hear a ringing sound, the familiar ringing of his cell phone. It was mounted to the dash and as he looked at the screen, he saw the name PROMPTO appear. Noctis grunted and answered the call.

"Noctis?" came Prompto's distorted voice.

"What do you want?" Noctis asked.

"To settle things," he replied. "You can't keep running forever, Noctis. The empire can't be stopped. Come back to Gralea and they will spare you."

"The only reason I'd go back there, Prompto," Noctis said, "would be to finish you off once and for all, traitor."

"Oh?" Prompto's distorted voice replied. "I'm the traitor?" Noctis heard a hollow laugh. "You left us all behind, Noctis, just for the promise of power. You threw us aside like we were nothing, and the empire welcomed us in with open arms and the promise of a unified world."

"They sold you a lie and you paid for it," Noctis replied. "I'm going to burn the empire down, and that includes you, Prompto."

"So be it," Prompto said. The call cut off.

Noctis released a breath when the call ended. The only sound that filled the air was the engine of the car reverberating off the walls of the tunnel. Ahead, a light broke through and the car neared the end of the tunnel. Noctis accelerated and the car roared through to the bright outside.

As he broke through the tunnel, Noctis saw his once shining city looming ahead past the flattened terrain of Leide. Through it all, the citadel still loomed on the horizon above the heap of the rest of the city. As he saw the distant ruins of his kingdom, Noctis fought to suppress the surge of emotion threatening to boil over from within. His thoughts returned to his father and, as it had of late, to Lunafreya. The one he told he would protect always. The one he failed to save.

As he thought of her, his head began to hurt. Noctis winced, raising a hand to grip his forehead. The road ahead blacked out and he let out a moan of pain. He saw images flashing in his mind. Images of her, on the ground, fighting for her life against a shadow with eyes of flame. She let out a scream.

"Noctis!"

The prince was startled back to reality as he felt his stomach suddenly churn. The world came back into view and he was dazed, no longer seeing the city ahead, but instead a spinning scenery of road and sky and dirt.

The Regalia tumbled through the air before crashing into a heap off the side of the road. A tire flew off, bouncing down the road. Noctis himself tumbled in the air, having been thrown from the car. With a yelp, he called his sword and tossed it, warping away. His warp ended with him rolling on the hardened dirt ground and he grunted as he rolled for several feet before coming to a stop on his stomach.

He groaned as he returned to his feet. Several yards ahead, he lamented to see the smoking heap of the Regalia.

"Shit," Noctis muttered, gripping his head as he felt it sting yet again.

No Prompto, no Gladiolus, no Ignis. And now, no Regalia.

He was truly alone, against the thrall of the empire.

Daemons fell. Soldiers were torn to pieces. Noctis Lucis Caelum staggered into the city of Insomnia; his boots were nearly worn to their soles. For hours had he walked, slaying all who stood in his way. Now, blanketed by night, he witnessed the ruin of his home for the first time since that moment at the overpass, where he had sworn to take his revenge on the empire.

He produced a potion. His last one. The blue energy washed over him, revitalizing his strength. The rattling of armor previewed the arrival of a storm of imperial soldiers. As Noctis moved, they mountain ahead of him and atop the rooftops of the buildings surrounding the street. Noctis summoned the Royal Arms, having painstakingly gathered the thirteen known arms together. As he walked, he did not even look at the soldiers as his swords flew free of his body, slashing them apart.

He was a one-man army.

Before long, he was at the base of the citadel. The building remained mostly standing and he prepared to climb the stairs before he heard a voice.

"Stop," it said.

Noctis turned around and saw a figure approaching him several meters away. It was covered in darkness, so Noctis could not make out any features, save a humanoid appearance. Yet, even as it came closer, the features did not come to light. It was a walking shadow, and it stared at him with eyes ablaze. He recognized the silhouette. The messy outline of hair. It was himself. A Shadow Noctis.

"We both know what this is," the Shadow Noctis said.

"And what's that?" Noctis replied.

"An omen," the shadow replied. "There will come a choice in your future. A chance at striking against your true enemy."

"That's what I'm here to do," Noctis growled.

"No. Only what you think is your true enemy. Your real foe is beyond all this. Follow that voice, Noctis, or else you will end up like me."

"And what exactly are you?" Noctis asked.

"A pale reflection, blanketed in darkness," Shadow Noctis replied. "A failure. An echo from the future come to warn you. You think this is the first time you've gone through this? No, Noctis. The cycle still exists and you must break it and free us, and Eos, at last. Only then will the reign of terror end and the Fabula Nova Crystallis be born. Find your true enemy."

"And how do I do that?" Noctis asked, but as soon as he did, the world darkened, as though someone was slowly turning off the lights. Sections of the world disappeared into darkness until Noctis was standing alone in pure dark.

He heard a voice then, deeper than any he had ever heard before.

"I have seen many deaths, but now I am only looking forward to one. And then I can rest."

Noctis reeled back, returning to the darkness of the royal tomb. The phantasmal Royal Arm, the Axe of the Conqueror, disappeared somewhere inside. Noctis removed the hand he had rested on the tomb of its former owner, Fortis Lucis Caelum.

Gladiolus, Ignis, and Prompto stared inquisitively at him.

"Well?" Prompto asked. "How do you feel?"

"I feel... good," Noctis said.

In his mind, the images still flashed in his head. The war-torn landscape. The isolation. The death. The words of his shadow. What did it all mean?

"Well then, we can get out of here, right?" Prompto eagerly asked. "I don't know about you, but I've had enough of creepy trenches for one lifetime."

"Yeah," Noctis said. "Let's go find Cor and see about those Niffs."

Fabula Nova Crystallis, Noctis thought. Where have I heard that before? Whatever. I'll figure that out later. Now is the time to gather my strength. I can't stop the empire without it. No need to worry about things I can't understand yet.

It was as Somnus had said in the vision. When the time was right, all would be revealed.

As he left the tomb with his friends, he felt that familiar light within his mind. The voice he could not understand that had tried to communicate with him since the night of the attack on Insomnia. He shook his head, and the four left the mines.