“Help me.”

I wasn’t sure who said those words, or why I heard them, but my eyes shot open after they were registered. Strangely enough I hadn’t died. I wasn’t sure why I was alive, or why I was laying on my mother’s lap. Before she realized I woke up, I grabbed Oblivion and headed for the direction where the voice had traveled from. I would have to save my reunion with her for later.

I reached a point where I could see what was going on clearly. Lux was there, and she was the one who had called for help. She was being attacked by her own country's knights. The sight before me brought upon a calm wrath that seeked to envelope me. I let it. All I wanted in this moment was for that wrath to engulf everything around me. The voice in my head that usually cried for battle wasn’t there. That was because at this moment I was okay with killing them. Even though I had never killed another human before, these people were less than the daemons I had slain for the past 2 years. The sight of one of them laying their hands on Lux set off a fury inside me.

I covered my body with my magic and a dark aura covered my entire body from head to toe. It didn’t release an overwhelming presence, but rather simply enhanced my body’s movements. Ever since I woke up, I felt an overwhelming change in power and I hadn’t bothered to look into it quite yet. I moved toward them, and then everything unfolded in slow motion. As I walked toward the knight who was holding onto Lux, he didn’t notice me at all. The entire world was frozen as I calmly approached.

I first sent a cut to sever the arm that was hoisting her up, and it didn’t fall off right away. I then slashed 6 more times, cutting his body into pieces. After laying his filthy hands on her, and betraying his own, he didn’t deserve a complete corpse. As for the others I approached them and almost nothing had changed. The one who I had cut up was slowly starting to fall apart and Lux was dropping to the ground.

I killed the rest of them in a similar fashion, I cut from their right shoulder to the left side of their hip, bisecting them. I couldn’t tell if their death was painless or not, but at that moment I didn’t care in the slightest. I walked toward Lux who was in a daze and removed the aura from around my body. I figured out that I could summon and unsummon my word much like my armor, so I put it away and went to pick her up.

It wasn’t the easiest thing I’ve had to do but I got her off the ground with a single arm and thought to myself that this was the first time in a very long time that I had a calm clear mind while killing. The voice and thoughts that usually were there, crying out for blood weren’t there. I began to walk back towards the labyrinth where my mother was and I gazed down at Lux. She was starting to faint I couldn’t help but think she looked beautiful. Her shining red eyes were staring into mine as I felt an overwhelming urge to protect and monopolize her.

“I’ve finally found my real reason for fighting.” I whispered those words to myself in delight. What I was missing the entire time in the labyrinth was the will to fight for someone else. Even though I wanted to deliver the necklace to my mother, I had almost lost that reason, due to the fact that I couldn’t remember what she looked, or even sounded like. I feel bad for saying it but a majority of my life was spent without her. I couldn’t blame her either.

I wanted to change the kingdom, that was my original purpose for fighting. Somewhere along the way in the labyrinth I lost that. I wasn’t sure if it was really Exidium who’s wish was the overturning of the country or my own. I was sure that I wanted to destroy the current regime of the kingdom, but was that reason enough for me to slay each and every daemon who wanted to fight me in the labyrinth? Was that reason enough for me to be able to kill like it was a second nature to me? Those kinds of questions were raised while I was in the labyrinth without anyone to talk to. That daemon blood inside me used that uneasiness and began to cause me to love fighting. In truth, I didn’t like fighting before all this, now it’s a stain on me that will never fade away.

After seeing the kingdom’s knights attacking Lux, a hatred began to burn inside me. I would personally kill all who were involved in this scheme. The daemon inside me was repurposed. I wouldn’t lose my joy in fighting when I did, but the constant thirst for blood wasn’t there anymore. All I wanted was to make sure I would never have to see Lux get hurt again.

When I reached where my mother was, she had a strange look on her face. It looked to be happy, but at the same time there were some tears running down her face. I laid her down onto the ground and the second I did, I was hugged.

“Noctis. My Noctis.” Her voice was filled with a strange sadness. It was mixed with happiness. She was happy that she could see me again, but she was sad that she missed so many years of my life. I returned the hug and before I knew it, I was crying as well. All the emotions that were welled up inside me for the past 11 years without her were released in a torrent of tears.

“I missed you.” That’s all I said for the longest time. I think that’s all she wanted to hear at that moment. That I hadn’t forgotten that she was my mother the entire time she was gone. That she could still be a part of my life.

After the waterworks finished, I took off the necklace and placed it around her neck. I was unsure of what to say about it though. Your husband isn’t really dead and I got this from him while I was being assaulted by a spirit that he summoned, didn’t really sound like a convincing explanation. Instead I said something that could be easily understood without lying to her.

“I found this while adventuring around. I think it suites you much better than it would me.” As it went around her neck, a lustrous shine was emitted from the black jewel. In the next instant my father appeared.

“Already? Are you that impatient?” I was flabbergasted. I wasn’t expecting that the second I put it around her neck he would appear. Looks like my crappy excuse went to waste.

“Tch. You try spending 11 years away from your wife.” He sounded slightly annoyed that I questioned him. I could see his point, but seriously? After embracing my confused mother, he walked over to me and placed his hand on my shoulder and looked me in the eye.

“Thank you Noctis. You’ve done well.” The words of approval surprised me. I knew and loved my father but I wasn’t expecting him to say something like that all of the sudden. I guess I was distracted by the fact that he’s a Sovereign of Hell, and forgot that first and foremost he was my Dad. “If you ever want a break from this world and all the violence you can spend some time in my realm with your mother and I using this.” He placed a ring in my hand and closed it.

Right. They were leaving. I knew that he had no other choice than to do this to protect her, but at the same time I wanted to lash out like a child having a temper tantrum. For the first time in a very long time my family was reunited and now I was going to be without them again. I was close to 20 years old and I was about to act like a child. I thought about it and then let it go. Even if they were back in my life, I didn’t have the luxury of being protected by them. The time for that has passed and I had to face the world as an adult.

“I see. If I have time and need rest I’ll be sure to do that. I’m going to miss you both.” I said that as I walked to them and they both hugged me. My confused mother got the gist of the situation, but was still confused. I was going to leave it to my father to explain it to her later. I stepped back and they both disappeared without a trace, leaving me alone in the labyrinth with an unconscious princess.

I sat beside her and placed my hand on her neck to make sure that her pulse was steady. As I did I felt traces of my dark magic inside of her. I drew it out and her breathing and pulse became more steady. I wasn’t quite sure how my body was still functioning since I fused two extremely different powers together inside me but before I knew it I fell back into a deep sleep right beside her.

When I woke up she was still beside me, the only difference was that she was now awake and slightly blushing as my arm had found it’s way around her. I got up and apologized to her.

“Where’s Almitas?” I guess she realized that she was missing.

“My father brought her to hell.” I instantly regretted trying to explain it that way and then retold her the events that led up to my mother and father ending up in hell.

“....oh.” She was quiet for a while before muttering in response. It seemed that she was attached to my mother and was sad to see her leave. I guess in a way that was the same as me. We sat there in silence for about 10 minutes. I noticed there were some tears in her eyes but I had no idea how to respond.

“I...think I can fix your arm.” She broke the silence in a rather extreme fashion. My arm that’d been missing for two years could possibly be restored. I was all for it.

She placed her hand on the stump and instructed me to concentrate my magic where she was touching. I followed her orders and then a warm light radiated from her hand and guided the magic out of my body. The magic took a visible form as it flooded out taking the shape of my arm. After about 20 minutes, the magic had stabilized and had a physical form. It was my arm. My arm was restored. Only most of it was pitch black, with strands of light intertwined throughout the entire thing, seemingly holding it together.

“This might hurt a bit.” She infused a bit more magic into me and it jolted my system, shocking me a bit. Then I could move my arm again, fingers and all. “Sorry I had to reconnect your nerves. That why-” Before she could finish I cut her off. I was so happy I kissed her.