Noctis felt like his memories were a jumbled mess, but he was able to gain a little bit of clarity and remembered his adoptive father.
One of the most important people, if not the most important person in his entire life because his adoptive father had treated him like he was his own son ever since he was a child.
His adoptive father was named King Reigus Highwind of the remote Highwind Kingdom in the distant southeast.
Noctis greatly respected his adoptive father for his great wisdom and his administration of the kingdom. He was a fair and reliable old man who cared and prioritized the people's happiness within his kingdom, and was also resolute and decisive regarding major matters for the kingdom.
Under his rule, the Highwind Kingdom prospered and had become one of the top-tier kingdoms within the Lanaryu Domain.
His name was known far-wide and it had even extended to the other Domains, as well as to a few other races.
Even though Noctis wasn't blood-related to his adoptive father, he was still bestowed the crown prince title and that he would inherit the throne in the future.
This was mainly due to the fact that when King Highwind had adopted Noctis as a child, he had already discovered that Noctis contained an extremely rare physique.
This physique was known as the 'Grand Celestial Elemental' physique and it appears at least once every thousand years for specific races.
Not much is known about this physique other than the individual who does possess it are able to easily comprehend every elemental energy that the world is comprised of, and use the rune laws to impose this element onto the world as a type of phenomena.
King Highwind had firmly believed that this type of physique marked the true bearing of a ruler and that it had brought great fortune to the kingdom.
Despite his advisors opposing it and that it could bring in an unexpected disaster, King Highwind remained stubborn and had trusted that the heavens would show mercy, so that the kingdom would continue to prosper.
Noctis sorted through his memories regarding his special physique, and discovered that after a few years of being known as the adopted son of King Highwind, he had actually been attacked and had his cultivation base crippled by an unknown group of people outside the palace.
He was able to survive, but his guards that were tasked to protect him had died and his 'Grand Celestial Elemental' physique was lost. After that, his life in the palace became extremely difficult, as he was subject to scrutiny and scorn by the people he once knew.
His adoptive father was one of the very few people who treated him the same as before, but even he knew that his adoptive father was in pain and that his eyes had shown pity and regret.
Noctis furrowed his eyebrows and continued to sort through his memories. A large part of his childhood after the disastrous incident was awful and depressing, and things didn't truly change until he had remembered this one fateful day…
On the day of his 11th birthday, his adoptive father fell under an elaborate scheme by his enemies and had become poisoned. The poison was extremely terrifying and King Highwind knew that he didn't have much time left, so he did one final act that had made Noctis still be confused to this day.
King Highwind gave Noctis a family heirloom, which was a small necklace that had a dark round object tied to it with a strange imprint on it.
Noctis clearly remembered every word spoken by his adoptive father at that moment because he knew that it would be the last time that he would ever see him.
He had worn the necklace and was ordered by his adoptive father to escape and to never return.
His adoptive father told him that the family heirloom should never fall into someone else's hands and that it would be best if Noctis lived a safe life somewhere far away.
Under the guidance and protection of the strongest and most trusted warrior beside King Highwind, Chief Royal Guard Ivan, Noctis recalled that he was able to leave amidst the kingdom falling into complete chaos.
The last few bits of memory that Noctis was able to recall was that after they had shortly left the kingdom, they were ambushed and pursued by a large force of the invading enemies.
Chief Ivan had protected his life and was ordered by him to continue running and to not turn back.
The trustworthy royal guard Chief Ivan had stalled the enemies and Noctis ran as far as he could.
The final piece of memory that he was able to remember was that he had fallen into a river within a ravine and that he had lost consciousness at that point.
...
Noctis opened his eyes and had revealed a sharp glare as a jet-black color suddenly flashed within the center of his deep pupils.
He brought one of his hands towards his neck and realized that the necklace that his adoptive father had given him was gone. He didn't panic, but rather he was strangely calm as he felt that he didn't lose it and that he was connected to it somehow.
Noctis took a closer look at his overall state and focused within his subconscious mind, and soon enough he discovered the necklace.
The 'necklace' rather, had pretty much just become the dark round object with the strange imprint still on it, and it had overall been suspended within his sea of subconscious.
Not only that, but Noctis closely observed the strange imprint on the dark round object and it seemed like it was slightly glowing.
"How did this get inside my head? Did I form a strange link with it and had been recognized as its owner?" Noctis thought to himself and then heard the deep voice again that came from the floating black scales near him.
["Have you remembered your past? Don't dwell on it for too long because there is a more important matter to settle…"]
The dragon-head shaped black scale was the first to dispel the long silence between the both of them, and had arrived directly in front of Noctis while it was still mysteriously floating.
"More or less… you mind telling me who you are and the damn voice within me is? How did I get here and where am I?"
As soon as these words were spoken by Noctis, he had stood up and began to slowly walk around the stone bed in order to get a feel for his legs.
The dragon-head shaped black scale thought for a quick moment and was about to open its 'mouth' to reply, but the loud voice within Noctis had returned,
"Hahaha kid, you can count yourself extremely lucky that you're still alive and still have two walking legs. You could say I was the one responsible who saved you back then… and I guess a part of it was due to the floating black scales over there, but really I did most of the work!" |
The floating black scales ignored the claim made by the voice within Noctis and spoke with its deep and hoarse voice,
["Magi… you can call me Spirit Magi. As for the voice within you, it is named Spirit Ster. Through the efforts of both of us and the advent of fate, we were able to pull you out of the river and had brought you to this shrine that had long since been forgotten by man. We are still in the Lanaryu Domain, but we are in a certain region within Mount Trinity that borders Hayden Kingdom and within the spheres of influence of the Irithye Empire."]
Spirit Magi had answered Noctis's questions in a short and concise way, but did not continue any longer because it was curious what the reaction of Noctis would be like.
Noctis leaned his body against the cold surface of one side of the cave and had brought one of his hands to cover his forehead before saying in a bewildered tone,
"Mount… Mount Trinity? We are in an area near the Hayden Kingdom? I see… the river that I fell into must've been the Senile River, which extends from the far south of the Lanaryu Domain and into some parts of the north… That explains why I'm so far away from the Highwind Kingdom…"
Although Noctis was still in the midst of fully recovering his memories, and had only remembered the important parts of his life, he was still able to recall the knowledge he had gained as a child and was able to deduce a logical conclusion.
"You're indeed extremely far away from home kid, although I doubt you can still call it home since it had probably gone up in flames by now… Oops, I didn't mean to touch on a sensitive matter hahahaha… To be honest, it's probably fine kid, and you can always return to it once you're strong enough!" |
Noctis felt like he had lost his balance and was about to spit a mouthful of blood upon hearing what Spirit Ster had said, but was able to regain composure after hearing the last part, which made it seem like the spirit was trying to console him.
"Spirit Ster, how come you know about that? How do you know about my home, the Highwind Kingdom…? Are you related to the round object that my adoptive father had given me?"
Noctis was more curious about this spirit, and felt like it didn't have any bad intentions. At least, he thought that this spirit was at least hopeful about his future and that it just had a strange temperament.
"Heh, not bad kid… I am indeed related to that round object. Do you know what the Fallen Space-Time Chasm is?" |