Hey dears,
I think, now that I've finished Ardyn's point of view of the events from the first chapter, I know in which direction I want the plot to go, yep. Still not sure of all the details, but I have now more characters and plot twists in place for the next few chapters (yey!).
From all the stories I've written (and I wrote many of which I deleted several last year), I think this second chapter took me the longest to write. The pain was real, lol. I've spent many hours researching Solheims and Ardyn's background and spent even more hours with editing this chapter so my garbled English sentences wouldn't put off your reading experience. I'm holding my fingers crossed that you might enjoy this chapter as much as I did writing it :D.
I'll try to update regularly, every three to five days (depends on my real life circumstances). I'll let you all know beforehand in case I wouldn't be able to update in time.
Thanks for reading!
Let's go!
Kamuel
Chapter Two - The unforeseen mystery
There were a multitude of things in this world Ardyn wished to change. Endless suffering greeted him around every corner these days. So far, his people back home were forced to live under horrendous circumstances. Ever since that dreadful Meteor arrived on Eos and caught their world in a web of chaos and turmoil, he has barely encountered children on the streets smiling in a carefree manner anymore. Over the past thirteen years, during his official sanative pilgrimage, Ardyn has seen unimaginable tragedy and loss ruining the lives of thousands upon thousands of souls. A mysterious, otherworldly plague without remedy became widespread. And for some inexplicable reason, Ardyn had been chosen by the Crystal and given the means of reversing the devastating effects.
The Starscourge – The Six called it. It was the Infernian, who, in the beginning of it all, gave the accursed pandemic that name.
Ardyn despised the name. He loathed the plague and everything that came with it with a passion yet unsurpassed. Fools of the Solheim Empire began tinkering with the Meteor's side effects, spreading the Starscourge further beyond their land by waging a meaningless war of prestige and power. Ardyn abhorred all those ignorant, blind and deaf cowards today more so than ever, for they refused to see and listen to the world's most pressing issues. The adept and the initiated were aware of the unmistakable cry for help by Eos. Their most precious, life-giving Goddess was dying and nobody in the land of the Sun seemed to care. Instead of pledging their trust into The Six to fix their disastrous mistakes, the arrogant leaders of the Sun Empire have turned their back on the Infernian by blaming the only benign Astral for their own, self-induced stupidity.
Thus, Ardyn resolved taking matters into his own hands. He vowed to bring an end to this madness once and for all. Mingling and living among the people of Solheim, and then meeting the Infernian himself, eye to eye, had been an absolute eye-opening experience. A revelation of a special kind. Ifrit, the God of Fire, utterly adored humanity, in the same way as Ardyn himself adored his people back at home in Insomnia. This is how they both found a common ground to place their bargain upon. Ifrit promised to persuade his fellow Astral Gods into guiding humanity back to a state of equilibrium. And in turn, Ardyn promised to assist purifying Eos by imprisoning the Starscourge fully into himself. Soon, after having sealed their soul contract, Ardyn put the human-loving Astral's well laid plans into motion: purging each and every victim afflicted with the scourge whom he would meet during his travels, and additionally, hunting down the fools responsible for the tragic moral and physical decay their world was currently facing.
Then, one day, by a fortunate coincidence, Ardyn stumbled upon one of Solheim's biggest, undisclosed projects: the existence of secret underground magitek research facilities. This well kept secret had opened a can full of worms onto the healer's world. Thousands of questions appeared out of nowhere and preyed upon Ardyn's astute mind for months thereafter without having a gleam of hope of ever getting some satisfying answers. As Ardyn later discovered, the abandoned magitek facility he came upon by chance had been only one project of many. And the information he had gleaned therein had been, mildly put, alarming and so barbaric that afterward he'd been violently sick for days.
The leaders of Solheim have gone and done the unthinkable. Forbidden experimentation on human genome taken to the extreme. Apparently, their dubious machinations no longer were focused on magiteknology only. No, something much more sinister was going on. The content of the documents Ardyn so hastily perused with shaky fingers, spoke of a multitude of ambitious plans, each bidding their time for potential implementation.
One among those plans involved the splitting and combining of human DNA with the daemon DNA and then testing the various end results via perpetrated abductions done by the infantry upon innocent people. Ideally, the survivor's DNA would become completely enhanced with specific activated daemon traits for future combat purposes. These altered specimen would join the holy ranks of the Sun Empire as the first daehumans. The advent of the invincible, immortal man, who would be loyal and capable of making his own decisions on the battlefield and therefore, increasing their chances of complete dominion over the will of Goddess Eos and of The Six. Solheim apparently realized that they relied too much on the lifeless troopers powered by magitek cores. Those imperial assets functioned by extracting the miasma of plasmodium parasite from dying daemons and that turned out to be an unstable future investment. Basically, the puppets could potentially turn against their masters at any time.
Solheim's unbelievably astonishing volume of research data on this topic told Ardyn that these people weren't just mere fools. No, they all have gone insane. They knew exactly what they were doing. These power-hungry, idiotic people have done experiments hidden underground like this for ages and no other nation on the surface of Eos ever got wind of it! That was unacceptable!
And that seemed to be only the beginning. There were a few other documents hinting at Solheim's next steps, involving an attempt in revolutionizing the future of humankind. By fusing the powerful daehuman's DNA with the pure genome of otherworldly beings similar to the Astrals in rank and power, Solheim's people would achieve a so called ascension. Ardyn did a bit of research into that term but couldn't find any information about that - another apparent potentially disastrous veil yet to be uncovered. Whatever the term ascension might entail, Ardyn knew he had to stop it from being implemented.
Ardyn hadn't been able to rest well at night ever since he learned about the Empire's mad intentions. One by one, he focused on perusing and destroying the underground facilities, hoping the secrets being unveiled in the process would enable him to fulfill his vow to the Infernian one day. Only death and rotting corpses greeted his sight when he set foot inside the following abandoned underground buildings and Ardyn hastened his research, browsing through every nook and cranny, determined to learn more about the planned daehuman and ascension experiments. But once again, there were no other important documents to be found and therefore no additional information to be gained.
By the time he finalized his calculations in locating the next hidden research facility, it dawned upon him that he couldn't reach his goals all alone. An year had already gone by and he hadn't come even close to the feats he would need to achieve to appease the Infernian's contract. On his own, he would probably need another decade or possibly more if he wanted to find all the answers he so urgently sought after. Something inside told him time was getting short. But in whom to confide his sacred mission? He wouldn't even trust his own, younger brother, Somnus, with such volatile information. The brat has been seething with jealousy ever since the Crystal chose Ardyn to do its bidding. And Sarus, his Shield and only person in this world he could ever trust with his own life, was told to hold his position back home in Insomnia to cover up Ardyn's selfish pursuits in case someone were to question them.
No, Ardyn had to find other ways to fix all his problems... but how?
It so chanced that, by sheer luck, Ardyn would stumble upon another piece of the veil he so desperately tried to uncover: two young men, lying on the ground unconscious and all alone in the middle of the woods of Gralea. They were evidently affected by the scourge in its later stages. Ardyn urged his black Chocobo to get a bit closer toward their bodies and at closer inspection, he recognized the insignia of Solheim's secret pet project embroidered upon their identical looking, thin and filthy clothes - identifying the men as former test subjects. Project daehuman. That could only mean one thing: the research facility he was looking for had to be close by.
"Most curious," Ardyn whispered to himself, jumping down from his loyal Chocobo to give immediate aid in case these men were still alive.
Checking their pulse rate, he noted that the young men were indeed still breathing. Ardyn was beyond himself with excitement. This would be the first time he actually met any of the survivors! The possibility of receiving a few notable answers was within his immediate reach. One question in particular stood out the most from the others: how did they manage to escape?
He knelt next to his first patient and quickly placed his palms over the man's chest, releasing the Crystal's healing ability into the unconscious body below and simultaneously absorbing the scourge into himself. Golden strands of cleansing magic formed themselves into sacred geometric patterns, luminous and vivid as they reached inside the patient's heart to purge. Nothing arduous. A routine, which he knew by heart. As this procedure would take a minute or so to take full effect, he seized the moment and took a closer look at the face of the test subject. At first glance, he seemed to be a few years younger than the other. Blonde, slightly long and curly hair but no facial hair. Handsome, unblemished skin as far as Ardyn could see, which was a rare trait considering the current state of the world. He would need to keep an eye on this one.
Once he separated the scourge from its host, Ardyn shook his head a few times to clear his mind. That got rid of the daemon's screams and then he proceeded to mentally lock them into his subconscious mind. Again, for him this was only a routine. Nothing extraordinary. And yet, lately... he couldn't help but worry. As the amount of scourge inside of him arose, the daemon's voices got louder each night and their anger grew more viscous in his dreams. Maybe the Starscourge got stronger with each passing day? If this were true, then he definitely needed to step up his goals and accomplish his purpose on time. He added another unsolved problem to his never ending list.
Next, Ardyn knelt down to the second patient, ready to repeat the same procedure. But that's when the most remarkable thing happened. The first touch upon the man's chest electrified Ardyn to the core, instantly repelling his healing magic and knocking the breath out of him.
"Interesting..." he murmured, left completely gobsmacked. He looked down at his hands, which, after having touched that man's heart area, were shaking and pleasantly tingling. Something like this never happened to him before.
Anxious of trying again, this time he leaned down and softly touched the man's forehead with his own. Ardyn focused all his will and intent on feelings of compassion and unconditional love and allowed the Crystal's healing power to flow as gently as possible into his patient's heart. Two unusual things happened after that. The first one: Ardyn felt an instant, fierce connection to that stranger and he was astounded to find himself getting sexually aroused. The second one: the feelings of ecstasy and excitement got quickly out of hand and Ardyn knew he had to let go of that man, else the situation would be in danger of escalating, even going as far as embarrassing Ardyn beyond salvation.
Heart diving and gasping for breath, Ardyn slid a few feet away from his patient and could immediately feel how the connection faded. There was a sudden emptiness inside of him, one he never knew existed in the first place.
How unexpected...
With trembling hands, he took his hat off and ruffled his long, curly red-violet hair a few times. He felt his cheeks heating when his amber eyes refused to look away from the lean man in front of him. Dark, longish hair and skin as pale as snow, barely visible underneath all the dirt, and even with the unkempt facial hair Ardyn could tell this man was immensely attractive. Ardyn swallowed wetly, not understanding the connection that occurred between them. He has met and treated thousands of people over the years. Why was his body behaving like that? What was different this time?
Ardyn swallowed again, first rubbing over his red face and then placing his chin on one hand to ponder. He was furious at himself for reacting in such an outrageous manner while working on a patient. For a healer of his caliber unheard of. Completely unethical and indecent. Maybe he only had to allow his body to unwind for a bit. Eos only knew, he hadn't allowed himself the pleasures of sexual intercourse for years - that's how busy and exhausted he's been with his purpose. Certainly, the reaction of his touch starved body was nothing to be ashamed of, but this was neither the time nor the place for thoughts of that particular naughty nature.
Adding yet another unresolved problem to his ongoing, never ending list, Ardyn placed his hat back on his head and took a few relaxing breaths. He had to get his act together. Once he calmed himself, he stood up to collect some wood for a bonfire. His patients needed to be surrounded by warmth for the healing magic to have the best results.
After setting up the campfire, it didn't take that long for his first patient to wake up.
"Where... where am I?" the blonde asked weakly.
Ardyn gave the younger man a soft smile. "Shh, relax, the scourge inside of you is now gone."
The blue-eyed man stared at him and only after a while did he recognize Ardyn. "You are... your Highness! Forgive me! How? When...?"
"You're quite lucky I was passing by, otherwise you and your friend here would have perished," Ardyn said, trying not to appear too curious while warming his hands over the fire.
"These woods... I mean, are we in Gralea still? What day is it?"
The healer furrowed his brows in thought. For how long have these poor souls been captive? Months? Years? "It's Sunday, April the seventh, thirteen years after the arrival of the Meteor of Six. And yes, this is the Empire's territory," he replied in a gentle tone.
"Titan's balls... I was longer away than I thought," the young man said, checking on his tattered clothes with a completely devastated look on his handsome face.
Ardyn made his way to his loyal Chocobo, taking two blankets out of the luggage. When he returned, he stood next to the blonde man, holding out one soft blanket and saying, "Take this and cover yourself with it. Your clothes are damp and too thin, the ground freezing at night. You need warmth to fully heal."
"T-thank you, your Highness..."
Ardyn acknowledged the young man with a slight nod of his head and then went to face the other patient, stepping toward the unconscious body timidly. One of his feet froze halfway through the next step in midair and hovered above ground. He hesitated. Ardyn never hesitated. He couldn't remember the last time he felt like this. His emotions ran rampant, his heart madly racing. His body still remembered the brief, intense connection to that man and it tingled pleasurably. Oh for the love of Eos! He should quit being so dramatic and admit to himself that yes, he was indeed feeling a bizarre amount of attraction toward that dark haired man. But where did that leave him? By the Six, he didn't even know the man. He hadn't even seen the color of his eyes yet, for Goddess sake. This evening turned out to be, by far, one of his strangest experiences. Ardyn scoffed at himself. He knew his demeanor was questionable at best and this had to stop. So he braced himself and walked over to the unconscious man. After a bit of effort, he managed to place the soft blanket underneath the sleeping man with gentle movements. As a result, his hands began trembling once again.
Distancing himself from the temptation of caressing the stranger's cheek, Ardyn stood up and walked back to the camp fire, glancing one last time over his shoulder at the object of his affection as he sat down next to the blonde man.
"... and what do you suggest we do now, your Highness?"
Ardyn looked at the young man and patted his back in a friendly gesture. "Oh my, it's evident you two can't spend the night here. Let's see," he said, scratching his chin thoughtfully. "The war is still ongoing and never ending. Solheim's soldiers must have crossed Tenebrae's border as we speak. I fear, they are heading this way to check on their subjects and to see if there are any survivors left. How did you two escape the research facility?"
The handsomely blonde looked uncomfortable, avoiding his eyes.
"You don't want to tell me? No matter, you two are free now. I might know of a place where you can safely hide away for a while. I can bring you there, it's not far from here," Ardyn said soothingly.
And then, the dreaded moment came when the object of his affection woke up. Ardyn saw the dark-haired man struggling to sit up and immediately rushed over to halt his motions.
"Careful there. Stay calm. It takes a few minutes more before your body adjusts to the potency of my healing energy. You're safe, at least for now," Ardyn said, trying to ignore the heavy pounding in his chest. That man's eyes were, just as he had feared and anticipated, ridiculously beautiful.
"Thank you," the younger, dark-haired man breathed out.
Even the tone of his voice sounded like hot, sizzling honey. Ardyn felt absolutely floored by the man's charming presence. To cover up his unusual reaction, he chuckled slightly and placed his palm over the man's forehead. Ardyn was curious if the wondrous, delightful angel before him would feel the same connection as he did half an hour ago. When the man showed no visible reaction to his touch, he retracted his hand and felt slightly disappointed.
"You must not be from around here. Else you would know who I am. Unless, my healing abilities have muddled up your memories. How unfortunate. Such an invaluable treasure like yours, all wasted," Ardyn said, flirting. He decided then and there that something must be terribly wrong with his head.
The instant their eyes were locked, the stranger stared at him with surprise and horror written all over his face.
"You!? That's impossible!"
Suffice to say, Ardyn had been surprised by the amount of rage this gorgeous man in front of him possessed. The object of his affection apparently accused him of some form of treason, as if Ardyn had been the one responsible for this man's previous scourge infection and captivity. Why would he think of Ardyn like that?
But then, Ardyn saw a glimpse of something intriguing, drawing his attention away for a moment. Shards of potent magic – floating around this fascinating stranger, of all people. Those shards of funneled life energy were an indicator of abilities only Ardyn's family members possessed.
Ardyn had to know this man's name and origin. Now.
"It's Noctis," the flustered, young man said boldly, clearing his throat. "Noctis Amicitia."
Ardyn scoffed outloud, feeling slightly amused by Noctis' failed attempt at outright lying. "Surely you jest. Sarus Amicitia is my royal Shield. I'm aware of the entire Amicitia blood line and I've never heard of you before, nor are there any similarities in your appearances. Why don't we try again?"
It was obvious the young man kept secrets. Ardyn wasn't fooled. He had his first indication, after all: the young man knew the Amicitia family. Ardyn needed to know more. If, by any chance, this man's identity correlated with Ardyn's suspicion, then Ardyn needed to forge an alliance with him. The stakes were too high already to just let this rare opportunity slip through his fingers. So he asked again, summoning one of his swords as a sign of warning. Of course, he never would hurt his object of affection. He merely seemed in need of a little... persuasion.
"Fine," the stranger finally said, sounding defeated to his ears.
Ardyn held his breath in anticipation.
"I have nothing to lose anyway. My true name is Noctis Scientia," the dark haired beauty said.
Ardyn narrowed his eyes, refusing to openly roll them in exasperation. Again, Noctis wasn't entirely truthful with him. The last name must be a ruse. But no matter, this was all the confirmation Ardyn needed. Noctis' second attempt to hide his true identity could only mean he's of royal ancestry. No doubt about that.
While Ardyn attempted piecing the final puzzles together, he felt the Empire's infantry troopers presence hiding in the dark wilderness not far from their position.
"They are here," Ardyn whispered alarmed, looking behind him and summoning a second sword inside of his free hand. How far had his mind strayed? How could he have been so careless?
Quicksilver - as the handsomely blonde called himself - suggested to run away. Ardyn would have agreed with him if only Solheim's troopers hadn't already ambushed and surrounded them from each side. He tried to make out their numbers. Ardyn stared wide-eyed at the enemy. Of course, they were totally outnumbered. How had it been possible for an entire army to appear out of thin air, completely undetected? Ardyn didn't think he'd been that far out of touch with his empathic abilities tonight. No. There had to be another reason for the sudden stealth arrival.
Hopefully, Noctis' proficiency in combat would be at least decent. Ardyn wasn't sure he could heal, protect and fight – all at the same time.
"Too late for that," said Noctis in response to Quicksilver's remark, which brought Ardyn's attention back to him.
That's when Ardyn felt the entire area around them reverberating with a power beyond the capabilities of his understanding. His sharp eyes followed Noctis' every move. Ardyn's heart rate increased and his hair stood up on his skin, granting him major goose bumps all over his body. A wind came up and Ardyn could almost taste Noctis' magic prowess on his tongue as he watched the object of his affection take his firm position in front of Quicksilver. The air around them pulsed with so much pressure, it almost felt painful to Ardyn's ears. His loyal Chocobo companion had long since disappeared to find a safe hiding spot. Even the camp fire snuffed out, its tender flames defenseless to the full brunt of energy encasing their location. Going by how nature reacted to the beautiful man's presence, Ardyn thought he would faint just by imagining about the sheer frenzied potential Noctis must carry inside. The trees swaying in the far darkness were his only warning before billions of magic shards exploded out of Noctis' lean body, illuminating the entire area with a blinding light before the inevitable occurred: the unleashing of Noctis' own royal artifacts.
Ardyn tried catching his breath with his mouth agape and almost choked in the process. He couldn't believe what he was witnessing. To say he'd been overwhelmed by Noctis' omnipotent existence would be a massive understatement.
No matter how hard he tried, Ardyn was not able to look away. The way Noctis fought in battle was just as formidable as it was exhilarating to watch. Noctis warped around the area as if it were as easy as breathing, knocking the MTs heads off without batting an eye, ripping their magitek limbs off like these were mere toys and managed to avoid the built-in firearms and self-destruct mechanisms, in turn using their artillery against them with skill and ease. The man's agility, speed and strength spoke of many battles fought - and won. It became abundantly clear to Ardyn that this wasn't the first time Noctis fought against the Empire's magitek infantry. Noctis was simply too perceptive of the MTs weaknesses, many of which even Ardyn had not been aware. Today, Solheim's superior magitek troopers had no realistic prospect of winning this battle and Ardyn felt terrified with awe. He would never understand how that fascinating man could hold that much control over his staggering Armiger abilities without tiring out too fast.
Ardyn was on the brink of hyperventilating. Noctis' royal arsenal had, by far, a much wider roster and range than Ardyn's own Armiger. Compared to the feats he was honored of witnessing, his own abilities seemed dismal, irrelevant even. How was something like this even possible? Who was that miraculous man really?
"Ardyn! Get your head out of the clouds and protect Quicksilver!" shouted Noctis, snapping Ardyn's attention back to the matter at hand.
"Understood!" Ardyn replied, quickly closing the distance between the frightened blonde and himself. He was right in time, too, because a magitek armor, whose design Ardyn didn't recognize, jumped straight at them and fired several deadly missiles in their direction.
Ardyn swore, swiftly summoning a protective shield of magic around them and braced himself for the impact. Which never came, because Noctis has already warped himself in front of them and savaged the seemingly impenetrable magitek armament right on his weaknesses with ongoing fierce, deadly strikes of his heavy sword. Alternating between the weapons, Noctis strategically severed first the MAs arms and then warped in for its flamethrowers next. Ardyn shuddered with reverence at how fast that fabulous young man dealt the final blows with the royal daggers from afar. The speed and precision with which the daggers hit the MAs mechanic legs were nothing short of mind-boggling. Ardyn watched how the clumsy MA toppled over as his leg got destroyed by a particular vicious attack, spilling oil to the ground of which Noctis took immediate advantage and ignited the ground with fire Elemancy, thus ending the enemy's wrath.
Noctis was instantly by his side, pushing Ardyn and Quicksilver out of the way and shouted, "Ardyn, shield! Now!"
With quick reflexes, Ardyn summoned his strongest protective barrier around everyone, just in time before the MA self-destructed on the spot in a sea of flames.
Noctis swiftly extinguished the overcoming flames with ice Elemancy afterward and then collapsed on his knees, with his hands down on the ground, inhaling and exhaling the fresh air as if his life depended on it.
Quicksilver slowly came out from his hiding spot behind Ardyn, shaking, breathing heavily from adrenaline and staring with an expression of incredulity at the devastated area around them. Ardyn understood his feelings, he was unable to comprehend how they were still alive as well.
"Noctis..." Ardyn said softly, patting in passing Quicksilver's shoulder as a sign of celebration and then hastened his strides toward the exhausted man before him. The sheer awe and gratefulness he felt at that moment for Noctis overwhelmed Ardyn. This stranger right here saved all of their lives today. Single-handedly.
He knelt beside that wondrous young man, gently placing an arm around Noctis' back for support, if needed. "Let me assist you. You'll get your energy back in no time."
"Will... will he be all right?" asked Quicksilver worried, sitting down on Noctis' other side and rubbed his comrade's shaking back soothingly back and forth.
Ardyn smiled, confident in his healing arts. "What do you think?" he retorted teasingly.
The blonde young man smiled sheepishly back, avoiding Ardyn's eyes shyly. Quicksilver looked immensely relieved.
A sudden blanket of warmth and light engulfed Noctis' drained body, and right after, the dark-haired man, who understandably became too weak to support his arms and legs on his own any longer, fell gently sideways. And Ardyn, of course, was there to catch him.
To be continued.