The Far Edge of Fate (Final Fantasy XV)

CHAPTER 27 - IF THESE WALLS COULD TALK

The ride to Gralea was bumpy. The cockpit didn't have enough seats for all of them, so Aaralyn and Noctis were relegated to standing, holding the handles above their heads for stability as Ravus's subordinates flew them into city limits.

Aranea hadn't been exaggerating about the destruction of the city—it was in shambles. Most buildings were crumbling in on themselves. A few of them had been outright obliterated and turned to rubble. The highways were eerily empty, with nothing but thrown and battered shipping containers or abandoned cars littering the streets. It was deathly silent besides that—the only sign that there'd once been thriving life in Gralea were the lights glittering in what few buildings still remained. She tried to see it as karma for Insomnia but thought about all the people potentially still trapped inside and couldn't.

Instead, she ducked her head to see a little better through the windshield and instead caught sight of the enormous triangular airship hovering above the city. A monolith of an elevator stretched from the center of town all the way up to meet it. Lights from the interior glittered gaudily.

"Godsdamn," breathed Aaralyn. "That's Zegnatus?"

"Yes," Ravus said as they flew right for it. "The Empire's pride and joy."

Aaralyn nodded quietly, watching the keep loom closer and closer. Within minutes they were docking the dropship in a landing bay. Dozens of unused imperial ships lay inside, dormant. The entire bay was abnormally empty, with no employees and only abandoned MTs lying on the ground. Aaralyn felt uneasy looking at them as the cockpit bounced with their landing.

Ravus unbuckled himself and stood. "Come," he said. "Quickly now. This area will be entirely under Ardyn's control with the Emperor dead. It's only a matter of time until he notices we're here."

Aaralyn nodded, following him down the ramp of the dropship and into the Keep proper. Almost instantly, a chill ran down her spine from the silence. Zegnatus was silent, aside from the quiet humming of distant machines. Aaralyn could only hope the humans on staff here had managed to escape the daemon containment breach unscathed.

The daemon containment breach...

She turned to look at Ravus, her heart suddenly in her throat. "Will there be daemons around?"

"More than likely," he said. "Be on your guard."

"Got it," she said quietly.

Ravus briskly led the way through the keep, lifting his metallic arm here and there to scan it against consoles that sat before locked doors. The hallways were dull and a gross mix of yellowed white and black that made it far more unsettling than it had any right to be. Aaralyn tried to keep up with Ravus's pace, ducking around abandoned MTs on the ground.

"They must be unprogrammed," she heard Ravus say. "Let out of containment before they were finished."

"I hate that," Cassielle muttered.

Aaralyn nodded in agreement as they turned a corner. She held her breath, waiting for something to jump at them from the long shadows cast by the long, narrow corridors. She reached out to her left to take Noctis's hand in her own and grip it tightly. He gripped it with an equal amount of pressure, as put off as she was. She kept her gaze on the ground, stepping around MTs left to rot on the ground. One of them had a red eye blown out from the strain it had put itself under. Red sparks flew from the junction between its neck and shoulder. Exposed wires all up its forearm were hissing and smoking. Its entire body twisted sideways on the ground, the torso lying one way and the legs another, the metal bent beyond proportion. It was horrifying. Its mottled, green face turned to watch them as they passed. Aaralyn couldn't help but shudder as she lifted her foot to step over it.