Book One: The Oracle Of Night

III

Weeks had passed by and in such time, Sera had indeed made friends. She had become close friends with Clara Amacitia, younger daughter of Clarus Amacitia, her father's shield and Prompto Argentum, a young and shy boy from the city, completely outside of the houses serving the crown. With many similarities, the three were practically inseparable. That is, until Clara started mysteriously missing school more often.

Worried, Sera went to check on Clara after school one day, bringing her homework with her. Knocking on the front door, Sera waited for someone to answer the door. The door finally opened, revealing Clara's father, Clarus.

"May I help you, Your Highness?" Clarus asked, looking at his king's daughter, curious to know why the princess was on his front doorstep.

"I'm Clara's friend," Sera said, bowing a bit to her father's shield. "She's been out of school and I came to drop off her homework, as well as her notes."

"Right, come in, Your Highness." With that, Clarus opened the door further to reveal Clara laying on the couch, black patches on her weakened body.

"You can heal her," a mysterious female's voice called out to the young princess. Sera moved closer to her friend, placing her hand on Clara's cheek.

"The Starscourge..." she said before a golden glow surrounded her hands. Before she knew it, the scourge was being drawn into her body. Clara was already gone as Sera screamed a gut-wrenching wail. When it was all said and done, Sera fell unconscious, too weak to move. Worried for the well being of the princess, Clarus began calling for his son's help.

"Gladiolus! Get the princess back to the Citadel! Now!" Clarus shouted, calling his eldest son to the family room. Having heard his father's shouting, Gladiolus rushed in and saw the scene before them. He picked up the young princess and took her to her father, who sat atop his throne.

"What happened to my daughter?" Regis asked, leaning forward in his throne, concerned for his daughter's condition.

"I'm afraid I don't know, Your Majesty," Gladiolus said, his head lowering a bit. "All I know is that Her Highness tried to save my younger sister from the plague."

"Please, take her to the infirmary." With that, Gladiolus took the small girl to the infirmary wing while Regis headed to his study. Upon entering his study, he began to write a letter to his neighboring ruler, the Tenebraen queen. It read:

To Her Majesty, Queen Sylva,

I wish I could have been able to tell you this sooner and converse this with you. I'm afraid that my daughter has become much like the Adagium, in the sense that she too can absorb the Starscourge into her very being. I also fear that her abilities as Oracle have awakened. Weeks prior to today, she explained that she had seen a vision of the Fall, the very same as what I would have to assume you and your sister saw as well. Regarding her resemblance to the Adagium, the gods called out to her to save my shield's daughter from the Starscourge, asking that she draw it into her own body. My only choice to keep her safe from the darkness is to keep her from using this newfound power of hers again. But I know that someday, she will need to undergo the same training you once underwent when you officially became Oracle.

~ Regis Lucis Caelum CXII

A faithful celestial being in the form of a black Shiba Inu waited patiently for the king to finish his letter to his former owner. When Regis finished writing the letter, he put it in an envelope and gave it to the celestial dog.

"Inform Sylva that this letter is of great importance," Regis told the dog as he rubbed its head. "Godspeed, Umbra." With that, the dog was gone, almost in the blink of an eye. Once the dog had left, Regis made his way to the chamber that held the Great Crystal he watched over, standing before it with a grieved look on his face. "Bahamut, I ask for your aid. My daughter will one day become like the Adagium, of that I am certain. But I hope that I can create a way to subside only temporarily, so that the darkness does not consume my only daughter so soon in her youth." Beside him stood the apparition of the rogue princess of Tenebrae, dressed as she did when she first arrived in Lucis.

"Regis, the Draconian has given you permission to take a shard from the crystal," the apparition said as the king looked over at her. "The Light from the Crystal will counter the darkness within her, unless she removes it." With that in mind, Regis thanked the rogue princess, grabbing the shard that had fallen from the Crystal, looking at it with concern and doubt mixed into a single expression.

"How will I know if it works...?" Regis asked, truly worried that the Bladekeeper was merely poisoning his only daughter with the crystal's heavenly light.

"The darkness within her is visible now, appearing on her hands. The miasma emits from her poor fragile fingertips," the rogue princess said. "My love, you need not doubt the Gods. They will keep her safe until such time she is ready to fulfill her duty." He gave a small nod and headed for the infirmary where his daughter laid on a bed, yet to awaken.

~In the infirmary~

Sera had finally regained her strength and had awakened. Having been informed of what had occurred, Noctis opened the door to the infirmary to find his sister sitting up. "Ignis told me what happened, are you alright?!"

"No need to worry, Noct," Sera said calmly, attempting to reassure her brother that she was alright. "I'm alright. Gladiolus brought me here after what happened." She then turned her head to look at Gladio, concerned for her first friend. "How is Clara? Is she alright?" Upon asking him, Gladio lowered his head again, grief on his face.

"Thank you for trying to save my sister, but she didn't survive," Gladio said softly, before looking at the princess.

"I'm sorry... I should've come sooner, if I had known that it was the Starscourge, I could've healed her." Almost as if he had known Sera's grief, Regis entered the room, a small box in his hand. "Dad! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that... I was told to heal her. I didn't know that it would do this to me."

"I'm not here to lecture you. I'm here to give this to you," Regis said as he placed the box in Sera's hand. "With this new power of yours, I ask that you keep in mind that something like this could happen again. This necklace should keep the darkness from taking control over you." Sera nodded and put the necklace on, looking at the Crystal shard.

"Is this an actual shard of the Crystal?" Sera asked, holding the charm in her hand as felt the small amount of power emanating from the small shard.

"It is. As I said before, it's the only way to ensure that the darkness doesn't take over your mind. So I ask that you don't ever take it off for any reason." Sera gave a nod at his request, looking at him.

"I don't know what that power was, but it hurt. It felt like many hives of bees were entering my body and stinging my insides." Regis looked at his daughter before lowering his gaze.

"I fear that this was something that was going to occur from the beginning," Regis began, trying to recall the Tale of the Two Brothers. "As you know, two millennia ago, there were two brothers. The eldest possessed a kind heart and the power to heal the people who were afflicted with the plague. The youngest was wrongfully crowned the True King of Light. The savior of the people had been cursed to eternal life. With that, he became the Adagium."

"You mean, someday I'll become a daemon....?" Regis shook his head and explained that she would be far from the darkness.