Pt. 4
[Noctis & Prompto]
Before the prince could make a witty remark back at the crystal, bright light sprang forth engulfing both teens. Blinding Noctis, and probably Prompto too, the light filled the dark room with a weight in the air. The crystal was still communicating in a happy tone.
SEE THE KNOWLEDGE
ABSORB THE LIGHT
SAVE THE FALLEN
JOIN THE FIGHT
AVOID THE TRAGEDY
REBORN IN IMMORTALITY
When the light stopped burning Noctis' eyes, he lowered his arm that subconsciously covered his face. He was met with the strange sight of the main street of Insomnia in ruin.
Beside Noctis, Prompto had also uncovered his face by lowering his hands. Unlike the prince, no messages were passed along to the blond. He was completely lost.
Looking around, both boys were heavily confused as they looked at the rubble, damaged buildings, and flickering streetlamps.
"Where is this?" Noctis said allowed. "Why is everything destroyed?"
"Dude," Prompto walked to a nearby broken bus stop. "are we in a twilight zone?"
Noctis also started to explore, walking to a nearby light pole. "Clearly you have been watching too much TV. This is strange though."
Touching the faded poster on the side of the bus stop, Prompto also looked around, noticing broken glass and worn metal. "It looks like it has been this way for years." He called to Noctis.
"Oh, Check this out!" Prompto stood by a rusted old car. "This must be a decade old! To rust like this otherwise would not make sense."
Noctis lightly jogged over, ignoring the slight twinge in his back. "Wait…isn't this the new model of that Honta car?"
Prompto paused as he walked around the car. "You're right! Why is it like this? Didn't come out just last year?"
SEE THE KNOWLEDGE
ABSORB THE LIGHT
The crystal voiced again. It was vibrating with anticipation Noctis felt.
"Ugh, what does that mean?" The prince walked over to the next weird thing on the street. There was rotting trashcans with mold on the side. "And what light? It's dark and the streetlights are on."
"Hey, Noct." Prompto looked off into the distance. "Is that the Citadel?"
In the distance, there was a tall building in the direction the Citadel would be. However, this building was dilapidated. Most of the windows were broken and half the building looked like a fire rampaged through, leaving only the shell of support beams. The front steps from this distance also looked to be broken. Missing pieces or huge chunks from the ground left gigantic holes a person could fall into. It looked like a magical bomb, or several, had gone off in close quarters to blow one half the Citadel steps to smithereens.
"What the fuck happened?" Noctis said in horrified awe. Both boys walked up slowly, taking in the damage. "It's like a war happened."
"Oh! Isn't that your dad's car?" Prompto pointed over by some destroyed tanks. The Regalia was parked over to the side; however, she suffered terrible scratches and busted tires.
"Yes, he would freak if that was actually his car." Noctis shook his head. "This has to be some sort of dream." He gripped the side of his head the crystal chimed in.
NOT DREAM
PAST FUTURE
FUTURE PAST?
NOT FUTURE
The crystal sounded confused on the last statements. It was not quite sure what to call the situation. When Etro created it to help the royal family, the goddess gave it sentience enough to communicate their will and magic. It could not help alleviate Noctis' confusion because it could not understand all the human nuance it would take to answer the prince's question.
"What do you mean 'Not Future'?" Noctis asked the crystal. The magic that it had been feeding Noctis bounced around his veins like lightening. He wasn't sure if the crystal was increasing the magic output on purpose.
The crystal's energy turned kind of sad as it communicated.
A FUTURE THAT HAS PASSED
BUT IS NO LONGER FUTURE
THE SACRIFICE FULFILLED
THE STAR WILL LIVE
IT IS HER WILL
The prince was confused all the way around. A future that passed but no longer there? What did that mean? Sometimes Noctis wished the crystal could communicate completely in their language. The riddles were unnecessary in his opinion.
A weariness abruptly took over Noctis' senses. His shoulders felt heavy, his chest short of breath, and eyes tinged with a dryness like he hadn't slept.
ABSORB THE KNOWLEDGE
ABSORB THE LIGHT
TRUE KING
In Noctis' mind, he felt engulfed in fire. A heat almost boiling took over his body. The light was burned in his veins slowly and took over all senses. His fingertips and feet tingled as he felt himself fall in darkness. He screamed as images of the future past rolled by in a swirl of disjointed images and voices. He watched his kingdom fall, people die over Eos, General Glauca turned out to be Captain Titus, Nyx Ulric fight with the ring of the Lucii on, his father and Clarus die, Luna die by Adryn's hands, Ignis get blinded, Ravus trying his best to protect Luna, the world covered in darkness so deep daemons took over, Prompto tortured, Gladio's gruesome fight with Gilgamesh, and Adryn watch Aera die. More images and sounds came to Noctis in a kaleidoscope of knowledge. He heard a deep gravely voice.
King of Light, your price is paid. Go forth with the Six's blessing.
The prince continued to be bombarded with memories as he tried to parse through the emotions and tears. He didn't understand. He went through the ritual already? He was the Chosen King of Light?
"Hello?" Prompto waved a hand in front of Noctis' face. There was no movement from the prince. He was standing uncannily still.
Noctis had his faraway look while speaking to the crystal. It was normal for the prince, so Prompto didn't worry too much when Noctis' eyes were glazed over with light purple. Prompto turned away from his friend for a moment to take a closer look at the surrounding rubble. The blond was quite interested in the destruction to the Citadel's walls. It all seemed too real for it to be a dream.
Come closer child.
Prompto heard a feminine whisper on the wind. He whipped around from side to side. "Who is that?" The blond called out. His voiced echoed. Now that he was paying attention. The environment was strangely silent. "Who are you?"
Suddenly, the double doors at the front of the Citadel opened. They screeched as if not opened for years, piercing the silence. Prompto paused looking around to stare at the darkness the doors uncovered. "That is a beginning to a horror movie." Prompto said aloud. "Noct." Hitting the Prince's arm, Prompto was looking for his friend to finish communicating. It was taking him unusually long. "Noctis, I could really use your guidance buddy."
The King of Light is absorbing power. Come, heart of the King.
Prompto looked up and around. He thought about the statement. What was a heart of the king? Who, him? "I am not leaving my friend's side in an unknown place." The blond huffed as he went back to gently whacking his friend. "Noctis, this is getting freaky, come on."
Before he could attempt to snap Noctis out of his trance, strange light shot from the darkness of the Citadel's double doors. Tentacle like appendages appeared in a gradient shade of light blue to purple.
Prompto did what anyone normal person would do. He ran and screamed. "NOCTIS! NOCTIIIIIIIISSSSSS!" The blond started to run away as the tentacles floated around his best friend, rushing towards him. He only felt a brief smidgen of guilt that he ran without his best friend before one tentacle caught him around the ankle, making him fall face down into the dirt. The heat of the appendage burned through Prompto's pants leg.
"LET GO OF ME!" Prompto screeched and tried to unwrap the tentacle from his ankle. He started to panic as he saw the other tentacles get closer, crying as he struggled with the one holding him. He cried out as another tentacle grabbed his right wrist, forcing half his body in the air. Before he knew it, the other tentacle appendages were holding his arms behind his back and ankles together, effectively hog tying the blond. Another tentacle formed from one holding his arms and an eerie looking glow hand appeared. It gripped his jaw, forcing his neck up from the ground.
Calm, heart of the King. Absorb my blessing.
Prompto paid no attention to the voice and struggled as the hand squeezed his jaw, prying his mouth opened. "HAAAHHAAH" Another tentacle, colored black, came to the edge of Prompto's lips.
My essence is of life and death itself. It will take time to adjust.
The black tentacle was much slimmer than the ones holding the blond down. It kind of moved like a worm as it crawled into his mouth, leaving a sticky substance as it moved down his throat.
The future gunner shuddered as the black tentacle felt cold. He started to gag as he felt the tentacle hit the back of his throat and released a hot substance with the texture of honey. It tasted strangely liked peppermint. Prompto's struggles grew weak the more peppermint substance slid down his throat. He was beginning to feel woozy as a fire started to creep over his skin. What the fuck did it just do?
Once the black appendage was done releasing liquid, it slid out of his mouth leaving a trail of spit and fluid. The bruising grip from the tentacle hand left his face as it merged back with the main body. The tentacles that held Prompto down slowly started to unwind from the blond. The appendages then retreated into the darkness beyond the double doors, closing them.
Prompto just lied there as the fire on his skin and now in his gut had him sweating. He weakly tried to get his arms underneath himself but couldn't manage more than an inch. The blond pillowed his head on his arms.
Noctis. It was Prompto's last thought before sleep took over.
[Gladiolus Amicitia]
Gladiolus was furious with himself. When he first heard that Noctis was sick, he thought it was just symptoms from being connected with the crystal. Noctis had always been a sickly child, especially after that daemon nearly tore him in two and killed Nanny Gloria. The prince then developed constant pain as his back never healed quite right even with the healing magic of the Oracle in Tenebrae. Then the Shield heard from Ignis that Madame Solaris had deduced it was bond tearing but was not sure as Noctis had not formerly bonded with anyone (to their knowledge). Bond tearing shared many symptoms with other common illnesses. When he received the call late that night/early in the morning from Ignis, he expected a straightforward explanation. However, Ignis explained that Noctis would tell them all in a private meeting which didn't bode well at all to Gladio's senses.
That explosive meeting with the King, the Prince, his father Head of Crownsguard, Ignis, and the blond kid couldn't have gone worse. Regret, jealousy, and feelings of inadequacy bounced around his mind, and he expressed himself in anger as always. Gladio knew he needed a different way to communicate, as his therapist heavily suggested, but he was more disappointed in himself and Noctis. As he told Ignis, he thought their relationship had come a long way from when they were just children. Back then Gladio thought Noctis was the brattiest kid on Eos until his sister Iris was born. Then the daemon incident happened and Noctis had become such a shell of his former self in the months to follow that Gladio didn't have it in him to be mad for a long time. Their relationship improved after the prince escaped from Tenabrae with King Regis. It was a careful dance of his anger and Noctis' sarcasm, but it had been working.
He stalked down the pathway, causing many of the Crownsguard and Kingsglaive alike to move out of the way. While he loved his Iggy, and the intelligence behind the words he possessed, Gladio just couldn't stop the fury boiling in his gut the situation. Ignis knew Noctis first and Gladio had been training all his life for Noctis. While he admitted to himself, Prompto wasn't a bad guy at all. He would fit into their retinue after some training. Gladio snapped with jealously and said some nasty things to Noctis and Prompto. He needed to let loose some steam and punch something safely. Gladio determined practicing on a dummy in the courtyard would help.
Stomping his way up to the entrance of the training facilities in the west wing of the Citadel, he passed by some of the Kingsglaive coming out. Nyx fell slightly back as Gladio's hulking frame hit his shoulder.
"What's the rush?" Nyx asked as Gladiolus bumped his shoulder.
With only a grunt the shield continued to the courtyard.
"Sheesh," Libertus had sparred with Nyx for exercise. Both had dressed in dark purple and red to reflect their clan colors. "Amicitia has his panties in a twist."
Nyx rolled his shoulder that Gladio had hit and shrugged. He was sweaty and tired. "He's obviously in a mood. Let's go get those curry skewers. I'm starving." With that the pair left the storming Shield to himself.
Luckily, Gladio was in the training courtyard by himself. Libertus and Nyx were the last pair to leave. Others were probably scared off by Gladio's attitude. The Shield took a practice great sword from a nearby rack. Its edges were dull so as not to cause real damage. Until Gladio and Ignis bonded with Noctis, he did not have access to the armiger.
The Shield started with some practice swings before he set to work on a dummy.