Noctis shut his eyes as the light around him completely flooded his vision, making it too bright to see anything.
A few moments passed, and then Noctis felt like he was floating, still with Prompto clinging to his chest. Slowly, his eyes opened and he looked around, seeing strange colors and magic flowing all around them.
"Prompto, you still with me?" he asked Prompto, finally holding him with both arms.
Prompto nodded. "Y-yeah, just got eaten by a freaking Crystal, no biggie."
"How is it that one, not of royal blood, has entered the Crystal…?" a large booming voice asked.
Noctis looked around to see that they were floating just above a giant armored hand. His eyes widened once he saw who the hand belonged to, seeing that it was an Astral before him. But, it wasn't just any Astral, it was Bahamut; the king of all the Astrals.
Prompto still had his head buried against Noctis's chest, not daring to move it an inch. "Noct, is that…?"
"It's Bahamut; The Draconian."
"That creature should not be allowed in this sacred space. I did not ordain it."
Breathing in deeply, Noctis glared up at Bahamut. He knew he couldn't say whatever he wanted to, knowing how dangerous it was to misspeak in front of an Astral, but he wasn't going to let this slide.
"First, Prompto is not a creature, and second, so what? If he is here, that means the Crystal let him, right? He's with me, and I'm not going to let him be kicked out."
Bahamut was silent for a moment, before humming deeply. "Very well, one chosen by the King of Kings and the Crystal shall be permitted to stay."
"Thank goodness…" Noctis breathed.
"Now, gather strength, O Chosen. The fate of this world falls to the King of Kings, His Providence consecrated in the divine Light of the Crystal. So it is ordained—the revelation of Bahamut," Bahamut then said.
Finally, Prompto stopped clinging to Noctis to look up at Bahamut. "Whoa…This is weird…"
"You're telling me," Noctis replied before some questions started to come to mind. "So, uh, mind explaining what this place is?"
"The heart of the Crystal, wherein lies the soul of the star, and it is in this place that the King will gain the power to fulfill his calling. By the covenants awakened, the Six have seen the coming of the prophesied hour—a time when the Crystal shall have shed the entirety of its Light unto the ring. Only then, once the sacred ring is replete, can the True King complete his ascension. And only by the True King's hand can the immortal Accursed be banished and the Light restored to this world."
"We're actually in the Crystal?" Prompto asked.
"Guess it makes sense. Didn't know this place was actually in the Crystal."
"So, you had to let the Crystal eat you to get you here so you could gain Starscourge killing powers?"
Noctis shrugged. "Can't really question Astral methods or magic, right?"
"Not really planning to, probably would go over my head anyways."
"But if an Astral like Bahamut knows everything… Where are Ignis and Gladio? Are they safe?"
"They stand against the darkness and abide in hope, sustained by faith unfaltering that their King shall arise and bring deliverance."
Noctis sighed with relief. "They're okay… Of course they wouldn't give up hope."
He closed his eyes, thinking for a moment what he would ask next. There was still so much on his mind. "So just who is this Accursed?"
"A man cursed with life eternal, whose immortality stems from the selfsame scourge that wrought the daemons. One so impure of body and soul was deemed unworthy of the Crystal's Light, and forbidden to ascend. His mind twisted by spite and bent on revenge, the Usuper came to bring darkness down upon our world. Only the True King, chosen by the Crystal and guarded by his forebears, can end the Accursed's madness."
"Twisted on revenge… Wait…" The thought came back to him about what Ardyn had been trying to say before. He had talked about redemption once Noctis was the Crystal's Champion.
"Ardyn had said something… He mentioned the name Ardyn Lucis Caelum. If he was telling the truth, are you saying Ardyn is some corrupted, ancient ancestor of mine?"
"He was, but now tainted by the scourge, he is no more man than monster. His madness must be ended as well as his darkness that he brings to this star. With Providence, it can be achieved."
Now they were getting somewhere. Even with the revelation that Ardyn was actually a relative, he had to put that shocking news aside. The fate of his home was more important at the moment, even if something wasn't sitting right about the whole thing.
"What is this 'Providence' anyways?"
"It is the sole means to ending the immortal Accursed. A power greater than even that of the Six, purifying all by the Light of the Crystal and the glaives of rulers past. Only at the throne can the Chosen receive it, and only at the cost of a life: his own. The King of Kings shall be granted the power to banish the darkness, but the blood price must be paid…"
Something in Noctis's heart twisted… he didn't like the sound of where this was going.
"To cast out the Usurper and usher in dawn's light will cost the life of the Chosen. Many sacrificed all for the King; so must the King sacrifice himself for all."
His heart felt like it sunk down into the deepest, unreachable place.
"He has to do what?!"
Noctis turned to his side, seeing Prompto's horrified face. "Prompto, don't."
"It is as it is ordained. The King will give his life, and the star will be ushered into new light once the darkness has been banished."
"B-but you can't! You can't just say that Noctis has to kill himself because you said it has to happen! There has to be some other way! He can't just-"
Noctis grabbed Prompto's arm. "Prom, let it go."
"But Noct, you can't seriously-"
He shook his head, giving a dead serious look. He wasn't about to agree to any of this, but he knew better than to argue with the king of all Astrals.
Prompto looked conflicted. "But I… you… this can't…"
Bahamut pulled his hand away, and the two boys started to float down deeper into the strange ethereal void.
"Now enter into Reflection, that the Light of Providence shine within."
An overwhelming sensation of tirelessness flooded every inch of Noctis's body. Every muscle feeling tired and nearly limp. As his mind was being pulled into a sleepy state, he wrapped his arms around Prompto as tight as he could, practically curling his entire body around him.
"I feel funny… Like really sleepy," Prompto muttered, clinging to Noctis with the same fierceness he had.
"Guess it's some magic…"
"I don't want to be forced to sleep. I'm… it's a little freaky."
Noctis sighed, no longer able to keep his eyes open. "Well, I'm not letting go. I'm… here…"
He couldn't even stay away long enough to hear if Prompto replied, his mind plunging into the deepest and darkest sleep he had ever had.
"The Light waxes full. Go forth to the kingdom, where the Usurper awaits. Reclaim the throne, and fulfill the calling of the True King."
Noctis could hear Bahamut's voice echoing in his mind, but when he slowly opened his eyes, he saw he wasn't in that other realm. Instead, he was someplace that was probably back in Eos.
Taking in his surroundings, he saw that he was in some small stone structure, and that a lot of his hair was now covering half of his face.
He didn't give it much thought as his eyes fell to his right hand, where he saw the light of the Ring of Lucii fading. But that wasn't the only thing there, his hand was wrapped around another hand; Prompto's hand.
Looking properly to his right, he saw Prompto asleep at his side, but for some reason he looked a little different. His hair was longer, no longer styled up in his usual way, and a small beard covered his chin.
"Prompto? Hey, Prompto wake up!" he urged.
Even his own voice sounded a little different… a little deeper.
"Mmm… what?"
Prompto's eyes flickered open before staring right at Noctis. "N-Noct? Is that you?"
"Of course it's me."
Frowning, Prompto reached a hand out, placing it against Noctis's cheek. "But you look so… Your hair is long and you have a beard…"
He could feel the scruff of a beard as Prompto's hand ran over his face. It felt weird and strange; unfamiliar and different.
"You have one too," he replied.
Promtpo reeled his hand back, placing it up to his own face, running it up and down the area of the beard.
"What the hell… Noct, how long were we sleeping in the Crystal?"
Noctis shook his head. "Don't know. But let's figure out where we are. I think I have all of the power. Providence or whatever."
Together they got up from the stone seat, looking around until they found a few steps that lead outside.
It was dark outside. Darker than what felt right to Noctis.
"Hey isn't that…"
Noctis looked down and saw that Umbra sat on the beach that surrounded them, holding something in his mouth.
Noctis bent down and took a small note out of the dog's mouth. He looked over it before reading it aloud. "Be waiting… in Hammerhead."
"Who's it from?" Prompto asked.
Noctis shook his head. "It isn't signed. But I think it's Gladio's handwriting."
"Ah Gladio, always one to forget to sign the card."
"Guess that means we need to head to Hammerhead… Wherever that is compared to here."
Prompto hummed as he looked around the beach, trying to look for something before looking completely behind him. "Hey, wait a minute, I recognize these pointy rocks. I think we're on that island thing that was off the coast of Galdin."
Noctis stood up to look as well, seeing exactly the thing that Prompto was talking about. "You're right. But why would Bahamut leave us here?"
Prompto shrugged. "I dunno, you're asking the wrong guy on that one."
"Yeah…" Noctis sighed as he looked around the shore again.
A few feet off to the side he saw none other than his father's boat. It was a bit more worn down than he remembered, but as he went to inspect it, it seemed like it was still seaworthy.
"So, off to Hammerhead?" Prompto asked before boarding the boat.
"Can't think of any place else to go," Noctis said before they cast off.
Driving the boat wasn't all too hard, but the omnibus dark skies were still bothering Noctis. It wasn't like the nighttime sky. It was dark enough, but something still felt wrong. Part of the reason was that he couldn't see any stars. There was nothing in the sky except darkness.
"Something doesn't feel right…" Prompto said as he looked around.
"Yeah," Noctis agreed. "How long were we out?"
"Long enough to get beards apparently," Prompto muttered, going to scratch his beard.
Noctis hummed in agreement. "Yeah. Pretty weird."
"Totally going to shave this off as soon as possible."
"Why? Can't rock the beard?" Noctis joked, trying to make the situation not feel so foreboding.
"Nah, not that. Just kind of hard accepting it. Going from falling asleep in the Crystal with no beard to suddenly BAM beard!"
Noctis could agree on that. For the most part he was trying to ignore that unsettling feeling, but he knew something just felt different. The beard, the longer hair, his voice sounding deeper. Everything felt different, and it was hard to wrap his head around it without feeling completely off put.
"Guess we better put razors on the list."
"Noted!"
Soon Galdin Quay's docks were coming into view, but just like the skies, they too felt wrong. Everything was dark there too… and with high signs of abandonment. It almost looked like a scene out of an apocalyptic horror film, the ones he used to love watching with Prompto.
"Shit," Prompto cursed as they docked. "Think all of this happened while we were doing stuff in Gralea?"
"Don't know, but I'm not liking it. There's no one… not one sign of anyone."
Prompto frowned. "We didn't come back to a zombie apocalypse, did we?"
It seemed Prompto was having the same exact thoughts as him.
"Gods, I hope not."
After disembarking, daemons started to show up all around them. Noctis summoned a sword while Prompto had his guns, and the two went right into striking down the daemons.
"Daemons everywhere. The hell happened?"
"Wish I had an answer, but it's really starting to feel apocalyptic."
"We'll find people, and then we'll see what happened."
Eventually, they gave up trying to fight off every little daemon that came at them. There were just far too many, and no signs of them stopping. So, they went onward, making their way through the ruins of Galdin Quay as quickly as they could. What was once a beautiful resort, a place he would have loved to vacation too, now a desolate wasteland.
It really wasn't sitting well with Noctis.
Even when trying to avoid the daemons, there were just some larger ones that they had to stop and fight off. After warping into one, he was ready to strike it again when out of nowhere Prompto appeared in a sparkle of blue and shot at the daemon, effectively killing it.
Noctis looked at him, his brows furrowing. "Prom… did you just warp at the daemon?"
Prompto looked dumbfounded, staring down at his own hands. "I think I did? I saw the daemon and after you warped, I felt magic in me, telling me to jump forward. Then I did."
Noctis hadn't really noticed it before, but he could almost sense the magic coming off of Prompto. It was still the magic that he had granted him, but now it felt stronger, like how a Kingsglaive could learn to strengthen the magic they were bestowed.
"Noct? What is it? You're staring weirdly."
"I think you, being in the Crystal with me, must have done something."
"Like what?" Prompto asked.
"I don't know. Maybe when I was gaining all my power from the Ring and Crystal, it kind of rubbed off on you?"
Prompto looked at his hands again before staring at Noctis. "You're saying I got like, second hand super King of Light magic?"
"Maybe, only one way to find out," Noctis said before turning his attention to more approaching daemons.
He watched Prompto carefully as he fought, seeing as he tried warping again. It seemed to come so easily for him, as if he had known how to do it all his life. He even accidentally summoned a magic shield around him before a daemon could get the jump on him.
"That felt so cool!" Prompto said, running back up to Noctis's side.
After taking out more daemons, they finally had arrived at the edge of Galdin Quay, getting far away from the ominous abandoned resort.
"Yeah? I'm glad. You're a natural magic user."
"Oh dude, wait does that mean I could actually use elemental magic? Like your dad could?"
Noctis shrugged. "Maybe. Only reason I could never do that was due to my childhood injury, but that shouldn't stop you."
"I'll try it on the next daemon I see!"
"I'd like to see you try it."
"Heh, thanks. Also hey, isn't this the main road?"
Despite how dark it was, Noctis could see the change from grass to pavement. This was the road they had all driven down so long ago when they first set out on this journey.
Before Noctis could ponder about anything else, Umbra, who had stayed alongside them the entire time, started barking.
"What is it, boy?" he asked before looking in the direction Umbra was looking. "Something's coming."
"People? More daemons?" Prompto asked.
A few seconds passed and a truck came around the far bend in the road.
"It's a truck," Noctis stated.
"Thank goodness! I was not in the mood to have us walk all the way to Hammerhead!"
The truck pulled over once it spotted the two, coming to a stop just a couple feet ahead of them. Noctis and Prompto walked up to the front, watching as a young man peered out of the window.
"Uh…" he started to say, looking a little caught off guard.
"Yeah? Uh, hi?" Noctis tried.
"It's me, Talcott," the young man said suddenly. "My grandpa served the Amicitia family?"
Noctis's jaw dropped. "Talcott?!"
He nodded. "Yeah."
"No way," Noctis gawked.
"Double no way from me too," Prompto added.
Talcott smiled. "Yes way. Welcome back, Prompto and Your Majesty."
"Dude, you're really little Talcott?!" Prompto exclaimed.
"I really am him. Come on in you two, and I can explain everything."
Feeling a small bit of nervousness to learn what happened, Noctis reached over to hold Prompto's hand. Even if they didn't get a lot of time to express their feelings to one another, ever since revealing it, he didn't worry about trying to hold Prompto's hand. It brought a sense of comfort and ease to him anyway, and he knew Prompto appreciated it too from the way he gently squeezed his hand.
Together, they got into Talcott's truck, with Noctis sitting closest to him and Prompto at the window. Now all together in the truck, with Umbra sitting in the back, they were on their way to Hammerhead, ready to learn just what happened to their beloved Eos.