A Heart Of Fire (Final Fantasy XV)

Chapter 17

"Ha...haa..."

Breathing heavily, I sat on my knees as I tried to catch my breath from the exhausting battle with the arachne. Thankfully, we beat it, but not without getting beaten up pretty badly ourselves. Oh, and it didn't help that the damn thing could create waves of electricity to paralyze us. Thank goodness we found those potions wondering around the cave, or else we'd be worse off than we are now.

As I rested and watched the body of the giant spider creature dissipate, I looked up to see Noctis walking up to me with a potion bottle in hand. He holds it out to me and I gratefully accept it with a smile.

"Thanks," I said as I broke the glass bottle in my hands. The contents in the bottle glowed a soft green color and was absorbed into my body, healing any wounds I had and replenishing my strength.

"No problem," he said as I pushed myself to my feet. "Figured you could use it." I smiled as I followed him and the others to a giant chasm in the wall with a small hole.

"You think that'll lead us to another royal tomb?" I asked.

"Only one way to find out," Ignis said.

The hole was small, but not too much so where we all couldn't get through. It might be a tight fit for Gladio though, being the giant that he was. Noctis gently nudged my arm and motioned to the hole.

"Lady's first," he smirked.

"Such a gentleman," I chuckled as I stepped forward and crouched down to the ground. I easily crawled through hole no problem and waited for the rest of the guys after giving them the 'okay.' We were all on the other side of the hole, and it didn't take long for us to find the stone doors to the next royal tomb.

Noct walked up to the doors and pulled out the key that Cor gave him, shoving it into the keyhole. A deep, clicking sound came from the lock, and the doors slowly slid open, debris falling as stone rubbed against rock. Inside was a room identical to the last royal tomb, statue in the middle and all. The only difference was that the statue holding a battle axe.

"Is that another royal arm?" Prompto asks, staring at the weapon in awe.

"Sure looks like it," Gladio says. Noct stood staring at the statue before he stepped closer and held his hand out towards it. Just like before, the weapon floated up from the hands of the statue and illuminated the room with a bright blue glow. It suddenly shot itself towards Noct and shattered into tiny, blue crystal-like lights, and spun around his form before disappearing. The blue glow faded away, and the rest of us stared at Noct. One more piece to add to the arsenal.

"So, Noct borrows the old kings' powers?" Prompto asks.

"More or less," Ignis nods. "At this rate, he'll soon rival his father's legacy."

"The Copycat King," Gladio comments.

"I'm jealous," I sighed. "Must be nice to be able to have all those weapons stored away for convenience."

"Out of line," Noct grumbles.

"Well, what's it like?" Propmto asks in wonder.

"Hmm..." Noct ponders for a moment before answering. "Like I've got some tricks up my sleeve."

"No need to put on a magic show for us," Gladio quips with a grin. Ignis follows up with his own statement.

"But it never hurt to practice," he said.

"Let me know if you ever wanna go a few rounds, yeah?" I said with a goofy grin.

"Why don't we get out of hear first, guys?" Noctis suggests with a frown.