Chapter Text
From the realm of the Beyond, there was a feeling that came over Bahamut as he looked into the abyss of the world he controlled. Souls of Lucian soldiers entered, waiting for their divine judgment before the Blademaster. Their appearance was merely a flickering wisp of light having left their mortal bodies behind.
One of them looked up to the Astral, confused. “I’m... dead?” he asked.
“Thou has been released from the world of the Star,” Bahamut spoke as the Blademaster’s hand reached towards the soul to calm him. The last flickering images of his life played before the Astral. This man, along with several other Lucian soldiers were escorting the Prince before their motorcade was attacked by daemons. He saw the marilith honing her sights on Noctis and lept into action giving their lives to save the Prince from harm. It was an honorable death to ensure that the King of Light was spared, and so Bahamut passed his judgment on him and the others. “All that have given their lives, rest peacefully in my embrace.” Using his power, he watched as the souls vanished into the veil of darkness to rest in peace. The soul of the Prince was not here, and so the Astral assumed that he had been saved.
Bahamut had let the Lucis Caelum line live and die by the design of fate. Yet for Noctis, a destiny needed to be sowed carefully, and so waited to see if the King of Light could recover from wounds that could be healed by mortal men.
“Noctis,” Ignis’s voice whispered to the Prince, as the young advisor ran a damp rag over the Prince’s face. A day ago, Regis had saved his son, only to realize that the daemon that had attacked him had suffered from more than just a slash of a sword. Only a handful of the people in the motorcade had survived the onslaught and regrouped at Tenebrae. During that time, Noctis hadn’t woken up, even though all of his physical wounds had been addressed. That was what seemed to concern all of the adults as they mulled over what was wrong with Noctis.
Ignis couldn’t offer any explanation either, so he had just committed himself to staying at the Prince’s side, hoping that when Noctis woke up, his constant companion would be the first one to welcome him back. It was slipping into week two of the Prince’s coma, though. And concern throughout the chamber was becoming hard to ignore.
“Do you think he’s infected with the Starscourge?” one of Regis’s attendants asked another as they stood over Noctis, checking over his vitals.
“It’s strange if that is the case… usually the miasma would be noticeable.”
Ignis remained in the corner of the room watching as they poked and prodded at the Prince. He didn’t say a word, though he wondered if what they said had some truth in it. The young advisor had not seen the blackened marks on Noctis’s body either during the attack.
“Perhaps the Starscourge has a different effect on those of the Lucis Caelum line,” the other attendant mused.
“We should have Sylva see if she can do anything for the Prince.” They didn’t want to get Tenebrae involved in this affair, but this was becoming a desperate situation. They could not return to Insomnia with Noctis in this condition. Niflheim would no doubt take advantage of the chaos that would follow if that happened.
By now Bahamut had become increasingly aware of the issues of the Chosen King. Neither dead nor alive, the Blademaster pondered on how to deal with the situation. He could not let the boy be weakened before he gained power of the Kings. His body and mind needed to be strong in order to host the divine power of the crystal. Once again, the Starscourge interfered with his plans. Bahamut could not let Noctis continue to stay in his coma.
“Divine intervention it shall be,” he said to himself, extending his hand out to summon one of the souls from the Beyond. It came to him, the outline of a woman gasping as she took in the sight of the Blademaster’s imposing figure.
“Aulea Lucis Caelum,” Bahamut said to the soul. “I charge thee with a task that requires swift action.”
Hearing her name, the soul started to shift, regaining the shape of the woman she had once been on the moral plane. Straight hair darker than that of a raven flowed down to the middle of her back. Her complexion stood in stark contrast against the black royal dress she wore. Her blue eyes held nothing but confusion as she stared at the Astral. “Am I… dreaming?”
“Nay, Aulea Lucis Caelum,” the Blademaster assured her. “Caught between the edge of life and death, you have been given form again to fulfill a task of the utmost importance.” He could see the signs of weariness in her eyes but continued. “The son you held in your womb, Noctis Lucis Caelum, shall be anointed as the Chosen King in the near future.”
As Aulea listened, she was shocked by the information the Astral was saying. Her son was the legendary king that Regis had spoken of in the prophecy? It seemed like a tall tale when she had first learned of it, and yet a hand went out to touch her stomach recalling the last moments of her life. The childbirth had been painful. Instead of holding Noctis within her arms, her body was unable to handle the agony of it. Her last memories of her life was the sound of her baby crying. The sound of the heart monitor flatlining, and the nurses panicking as they tried to stop the internal bleeding. Being here, it was clear that their efforts were all for naught.
When the realization of what was to become of Noctis hit her, she stared defiantly before the Blademaster. “Why my son? Why would you give him that burden?” Regis had already lost her, but now her lover would have to contend with the death of his only child. The only living legacy that she had left for her beloved Regis, dying before he truly got to live.
“It has been ordained by the Crystal,” Bahamut spoke to her, “and so it shall be.”
So that was it… The Astral refused to offer her any way to subvert the fate of her son or the path that he would have to tread. “Why have you called me here, Blademaster?”
“There is an illness that has infected the Chosen King. He is neither living nor dead,” the Astral explained. “Such an ailment is beyond my ability, and I wish thee to see if thou may cure the Chosen King of his eternal slumber.”
Noctis was in trouble? Even now her heart ached at the thought of her boy suffering. She wondered how old he was, or how Regis was dealing with the situation. There were so many questions running through her mind.
“What say you, Aulea Lucis Caelum?” Bahamut said softly to the woman. “I offer a second chance to see your beloved Regis and son once again.”
“... I accept,” she said. The moment she uttered those words, a bright light blinded her. By Bahamut’s decree, he granted her ‘life’, and sent Aulea away from the Beyond to fulfill her calling.