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The Amalgamate pinned Noctis to the ground, almost snake-like in the way it’s body coiled around him. It giggled with sadistic glee, a broad grin stretching unnaturally wide as it seemingly mocked his struggles, clearly enjoying taunting it’s victim.
Dark sludge oozed from between its teeth, dripping onto Noctis’ face and burning him upon contact. The corrosive saliva caused patches of skin to bubble and peel; his nose had begun to collapse, his cheeks were dissolving in layers. Flesh and muscle melted, eventually showing glimpses of tightly grit teeth. It was similar to the sick special effects you’d see in a high budget horror movie.
Except this was real. Excruciatingly real.
Noctis writhed beneath its grip, throwing his face aside to avoid any more splatters of saliva. He tried to scream, from pain and from fear, but it came out as a choked rasp – his lungs were being crushed under the Amalgamate’s constrictive pressure.
In a final bid of desperation, he pulled it closer, hugging it against his chest. He wrapped his legs around it too, and launched all his weight to the side. They rolled to the end of the platform, teetering dangerously on edge, only a hair’s breadth away from falling into the deep abyss below. The Amalgamate tried to unfurl itself but Noctis grasped it tight, and the added movement gave them the momentum needed to go over.
They fell together, the Amalgamate's ungodly screeches reaching an ear-splitting crescendo, Noctis remaining eerily calm as he waited for the inevitable-
Thrum.
He was jolted back to life.
Having the life suddenly snuffed out of you, only to be jumpstarted back again within a matter of seconds wasn’t a feeling he’d ever get used to. It was nauseating - it left him disorientated, and it took an unpleasant moment of hurting until his internal organs stabilized again. He braced himself against the wall while he waited for the moment to pass.
A quick glance around revealed he was alone; the Amalgamate must have reset elsewhere. If he was left in such a state after a reset, he hoped that it would affect the Amalgamate like this too – maybe even more so, since it was made up of so many different beings.
Using this thought to spur him on, Noctis decided to get a head start. The creature would surely be hot on his trail again, but fingers crossed he could find the exit before that happened.
The next room he found himself in was peculiar. It had several narrow, winding platforms that seemingly floated in the air, each one surrounded by endless darkness. But that was normal in this place, so that wasn’t what made it odd. What was strange was the abrupt way they ended, with no noticeable pathway to each one.
Noctis paced up and down the length of the first platform, wondering if he’d reached a dead end. He hoped not, since backtracking would invalidate the possible distance he’d put between himself and the Amalgamate. Carefully, he peered over the edge in search of another landing point but, unsurprisingly, he saw nothing.
“Maybe it’s some kind of leap of faith?” he mused. If that wasn’t the case he’d only end up back on the platform he jumped from, so he didn’t really have much to lose. But there were still some doubts stopping him; did he want to go through another reset? Would the sound of him resetting alert the Amalgamate? He figured he could deal with the former, but he really didn’t want the monster to find him again.
Still, it was a risk he was willing to take. His options were backtrack or jump, and he was almost certain he didn’t pass any additional routes on the way here. A brief doubt crossed his mind – this is a dead end, there’s nowhere else to go, and he pushed it aside, refusing to think like that. Instead, he took a few steps back, then sprinted to the edge, leaping into the air and falling down, down... Up?
His feet landed on solid ground, and he staggered slightly at the unexpected impact. Bewildered, he looked around. The platform he was standing on was different to the last, it was shorter and far less narrow. He assumed it really was a leap of faith, until he looked upwards and saw the topside of the platform he stood on before.
Looks like fucked-up gravity was another thing he could add to the list of weird stuff in this dungeon.
By this point, he’d just learnt to brush off and accept whatever Pitioss threw at him. So that’s what he did. With a noncommittal shrug, he headed down the pathway and took a leap to the next.
He pressed on, running, jumping, landing in places that should by all means be impossible. With each leap he took, anxiety begun to creep back to him – he hadn’t seen the Amalgamate for ages now. Did it really not know where he was?
There was two possible reasons he came up with for this. The first, and perhaps the most optimistic; the Amalgamate was dead. Unlikely, since the dungeon didn’t seem to allow anything to die. The second, a thought from earlier that he was believing more with each passing moment; his resets were what gave his location away. He hadn’t fallen at all recently, the last time being the incident with the creature, but he made a silent vow to be extra careful lest his theory turned out to be true.
And he was successful, mostly. He received several scrapes and bruises from a few near-misses, but he managed to stay on track. Until he made a particularly bad landing.
The jump itself should have been easy – the platform he had in sight was only a slight leap away. But the warped gravity had its own ideas, and instead pulled Noctis away from his intended destination and sent him falling in a different direction. In a way, he was very lucky; he still landed on solid ground. But it wasn’t a graceful landing in the slightest, and he ended up putting far too much weight on his right leg.
“Shit!” he gasped, clutching his ankle. He’d sprained an ankle before, back when he was still a teenager who was too proud to admit when training was getting too much to keep up with. It had felt exactly like this.
He pushed himself into a sitting position and gently massaged the pained area, hissing as his fingers made contact. At least it wasn’t broken, he told himself. At least he’d still be able to walk. In a second. When the initial pain had died down.
Seconds became minutes and it wasn’t dying down.
He eventually decided to try standing, slowly dragging himself up and putting most of his weight on his good foot. But he was wobbly with nothing to hold onto, and his first attempted step caused a sharp jolt to traverse through his body. He cried out, leg buckling beneath him, instinctively reaching for his injury. With no hands to brace his fall, he went face-first into the cold, hard floor.
Groaning, he rolled onto his back, one hand clutching his lower leg and one resting across the bridge of his nose. Blood trickled from his nostrils, and he felt the dull ache of a broken nose in addition to the pulsating pain from his sprain.
“Great, just great.”
He allowed himself a moment to recover, his deep, steady breaths being the only sound in the silent room. And then he heard something else – a scurrying sound, like dozens of clawed legs pattering on stone floor.
He bolted upright; if the Amalgamate was nearby, he couldn’t afford to stay still. Another attempt to stand would likely be useless, so he chose to crawl along the platform until he reached the end. His next jump was to his side, quite far but nothing he hadn’t managed before.
The many footsteps got louder, louder, spurring Noctis into a renewed sense of urgency. He stood, this time prepared for the pain it would bring, biting down on his lip so he didn’t make a noise. Sure, it hurt, but not anywhere near as much as anything the Amalgamate would inflict upon him. He wasn’t willing to stick around and see what that may be.
The jump was slapdash, uncalculated – it was about all he could muster up with his ankle slowing him down. He landed on his shoulder, grazing it as he slid along the new platform. Another injury, but at least he’d made it. His heartbeat pounded in his ears, but at least it was the only sound he could hear. The footsteps were gone.
He hoped it meant the Amalgamate hadn’t seen him. No further sounds followed, so fingers crossed that meant it had passed. Just as well, since he couldn’t exactly move very far at that moment.
The easiest thing to do would just be to reset; his injuries would heal and he could keep going without hindrance. But that wasn’t an option, especially if the Amalgamate was still in the area.
He decided to lay low for a while. After all, he’d been traveling for days and he felt he’d earned a rest. At least, he thought it had been days; his perception of time was totally off kilter after spending so long in the darkness, but the hunger pangs and exhaustion that clung to him certainly confirmed it had been a long time.
A sudden tiredness washed over him, the adrenaline wearing off combined with the fatigue he was already feeling. In that moment he wanted nothing more than to take a nap, and could feel sleep pulling at him.
‘Stay awake.’ he told himself. The last time he’d fallen asleep, he’d been plagued with nightmares, grotesque visions of his friends dissolving into a pile of blood and entrails. And when he came round, the Amalgamate was right besides him, all faces fixated on his. Their lack of eyes had meant nothing; he could still feel their murderous gaze boring into his soul.
Unwilling to let that happen again, he leant forward and put pressure on his ankle, provoking the injury in attempt to keep himself alert. It didn’t work though; even with the unnatural magic from the dungeon keeping him alive, even with the renewed pain shooting up his leg, he couldn’t fight the overwhelming lull of unconsciousness. Before he slipped away, he prayed that the Amalgamate wouldn’t find him.
It wasn’t a dreamless sleep. He saw vast blue skies, teaming with birds of all different sizes. Their wings glimmered in the midday sun as they soared high, not a care in the world. Noctis watched them from the ground, a heavy sadness filling his heart; he envied their freedom.
When he woke up, he felt strangely refreshed. A little disheartened, sure, but more awake than he’d been in a long time. He had no idea how long he’d been out, but he could tell it has been a while. Thankfully, there was no Amalgamate to be seen. He’d thoroughly expected to wake up with the creature looming over him. That was, if he even woke up at all.
He shuddered, repressing that line of thought before it went any further. Then he recalled the footsteps and couldn’t help but to wonder, had they even happened? It was entirely possible that his mind was playing tricks on him, and thinking back to it, the memory was a little cloudy. It would explain why the Amalgamate wasn’t here for him yet.
Either way, he deemed it safe to continue. Footsteps or not, it must have been a long time since it happened, so he hauled himself to his feet.
Pain crashed down on him, hard. His ankle, he’d forgotten about that – it was the last thing on his mind when he’d woken up. His leg gave way and he fell forward, and he realised with icy fear that there was nothing for him to land on. Head first, he went over the ledge.
Thrum.
Death's coldness washed over him, replaced instantaneously with the warmth of life. He had no time to dwell on that though, because now the Amalgamate was sure to know where he was. With his injuries now healed and only his hunger ailing him, he sprinted to the next platform before the creature came back.
Noctis had definitely been here before. After hours of exploring, everything was starting to look the same. That ledge on the ceiling bore a striking resemblance to the one he saw earlier, that stomach-lurching jump was almost identical to the one he recently made. Backtracking now would be impossible; the direction gravity sent him in may have seemed like it had no rhyme or reason, but it certainly wouldn’t let him jump upwards to the places he’d just been. It was almost as though the place didn’t want him to turn back.
He’d fallen several more times too, and found himself no longer worrying about the attention it would bring. Heck, he almost wished the Amalgamate would turn up, at least then he might have some idea of the direction he’s supposed to be going in.
He shook his head. What was he on about, of course he didn’t want that!
“You’re losing it, Noct...” he laughed uneasily, because there was some truth in the words. Spending so much time in the deep underground was definitely taking a toll. Every noise made him flinch, every shadow made him double take. He was filthy, covered in dust and grime and blood. His determination to escape was slowly being diminished, and he wondered if he’d ever see sunlight again.
How ironic, that being by himself would be more stressful than being pursued by a creature of nightmares. Having the Amalgamate on his trail gave him something to focus on, a reason to continue moving. Now it was just him, alone with his thoughts, alone in an inescapable prison.
He missed his friends, he missed Ignis' cooking and Prompto’s laughter. He even missed Gladio's 6am training routines, and the way he’d playfully insult Noctis at every given opportunity. Happy thoughts like those once had once kept him going, but now they were nothing more than a fleeting dream.
Were they even still waiting for him, back on the surface? He’d been there for so long, maybe they’d just given up on him. The thought of them camping out each night, ever hopeful that he’d return, loyally waiting for their prince...
Noctis slapped himself. The idea that they’d be suffering alongside of him just made everything so much worse. He hoped they had given up, just as he had. There was no escape, he was certain. His only way out would be death, and Pitioss wouldn’t even allow him to do that.
Would he be here forever, forced to walk these empty chambers with no-one for company and nothing to live for? The darkness, the emptiness, the loneliness - it scared him, it was more than he could cope with.
Something within him finally snapped; the thin thread that was holding him together had reached its breaking point, and his sanity unravelled there and then.
“Kill me!” Noctis screamed, voice hysterical as he pleaded for someone, anyone, to listen. He crumpled to the ground, gripping his hair and pulling out large locks in frustration and anguish.
What did he do to deserve this? Sure, he’d skipped a few meetings and neglected a few duties, but there were far worse people out there. Why was he going through such hell?
“Kill me!”
A loud crack reached his ears as he punched the concrete flooring, and it barely registered that he’d broken some fingers. He didn’t care. He didn’t care about the pain or the damage he was doing to himself, it would only get fixed again and again and again and again and again and again.
“Kill me!”
He repeatedly slammed his head into the wall, feeling more and more nauseous with each hit. Dizziness threatened to overcome him, but he didn’t fight it.
“Kill me, kill me, kill me kill me kill me kill me!”
As he lay on the floor, bruised and bloody and thoroughly broken, he was hit with an overwhelming feeling of despair. The hopelessness of his situation was unbearable, and he sobbed in utter defeat.
And then he saw it, through bleary eyes; his twisted saviour, here to relieve him from an eternity of solitude in exchange for collective damnation. The Amalgamate, still very much alive, scuttled slowly towards him with a confident air of victory. Noctis hazily wondered if it had been watching him all this time, waiting quietly in the shadows until he willingly gave himself up. That seemed most likely, he figured. Either that, or he was hallucinating. He didn’t think he was - the malodorous smell of rot and blood and starscourge proved that.
“Please,”
His torment wouldn’t be over in death, he was sure of it. But he was done fighting a fruitless battle, done with the crippling loneliness and the constant exhaustion. Sorrowful eyes met the predatory gaze of the Amalgamate, only briefly, before he closed them and took in his final breath.
“Please, just let me die.”
[Game Over]