Book One: The Oracle Of Night

IV

After a few more days of resting, Sera went back to school, receiving many strange glances regarding the young princess's disappearance. The shy shutterbug came up to her, worried about her.

"A-are you alright, Sera?" Prompto asked in a soft tone.

"I'm alright. I was just sick, but I'm healthy now," Sera said as she smiled a reassuring smile. "It's good to know that someone cares enough to worry about me." Prompto laughed shyly, rubbing the back of his neck bashfully.

"So, what's up with Clara?" Sera's cheerful expression shifted to that of a saddened one.

"C-can we talk about that later? Perhaps after school, when fewer people can overhear." Prompto nodded, taking note of Sera's grief. He can only think that it was bad news, and he didn't want to think about it until after they left school. The rest of the day, Sera kept her head down, not wanting to admit that life was still going on around her, the loss of Clara still bearing heavy on her mind and heart.

~After school~

Prompto and Sera decided to walk home after school, taking the long way. Sera kept quiet for most of the way, only speaking when Prompto finally got the courage to speak up.

"What's up with Clara?" Prompto asked, looking at Sera with worry in his eyes. Sera stopped walking when he asked, looking down at the ring her mother left for her.

"She's... gone..." Sera said in a soft tone. "The plague known as the Starscourge killed her..." Prompto stopped walking and just stared at her, unable to believe that it was the truth.

"H-how come she never told us?" Prompto stood there, frozen as he was finally able to process what the ravenette said.

"She didn't know... neither did her family," she explained, looking down. Deep down, she vowed to never tell anyone that she died at the hands of Sera.

In the next few months, Sera had received letters from Princess Lunafreya regarding the ravenette's power to absorb the darkness. Regis, having received a letter from Sylva, sent for his daughter, the letter from Sylva in his hand.

"You sent for me, Dad?" Sera asked as she entered the throne room, taking notice of the letter in his hand.

"It's about your new power, Serafina," Regis responded, motioning for Sera to come closer to him. "With the assistance of Queen Sylva, I had to make a difficult decision. I must ban you from drawing in anymore of the darkness, for fear that you may succumb to it. I'm not doing this to keep you from being good to this ungiving world. I am merely keeping you safe."

"And this was an agreed upon decision by you and Her Majesty?" Sera looked down a bit, unable to believe that she had been stripped of her freedom to save others. "If it is what you and Her Majesty want me to do, then I vow to keep from using my powers."

Days after the letters had been sent to her, King Regis and his heirs left the Crown City of Insomnia for urgent matters. A line of cars traveled through the neighboring lands to reach the outside world. Little did the three know about the daemons that lurked in the darkness.

The first three cars burst into flames as a powerful woman-snake hybrid daemon slashed one of her four swords through the cars, causing the royal family's car to come to a sudden halt. The Crownsguard that traveled with them exited the cars, Regis following suit, to fight off the daemon. Sera looked at her brother, hesitating whether to leave the car or not, soon pulling Noctis along with her just in time for the daemon to attack the car the siblings were in.

Before she knew it, Noctis had let go of her hand, causing the ravenette to look back at him, seeing him being crushed by a Crownsguard's corpse, its blood all over the young prince. Serafina froze for a moment, trying to think of a way to save everyone before they all died to this daemon. With an increasingly loud ringing in her ears, she could hear her brother calling out for his sister's help, weakly reaching out to her.