It was strange, though. Nowhere in the notebook had Lunafreya clearly spelled out what her new calling was, and she made no mention of going after Ardyn’s life. If anything, she seemed to be suggesting the opposite, writing that she hoped to speak with Ardyn. Her message on the final page also told of the encounter with the soul of the first Oracle at Ralmuell, and of her plea to deliver Ardyn from his suffering.
He recalled the entry’s words:
I imagine how painful it must be for you to think back on what Ardyn has done, but I beg for your understanding. I would attempt to speak with him. I think that perhaps . . . No, now is not the time. I shall explain in detail when we are reunited. Waiting for you at the Citadel.
And there was the question of why Lunafreya was approaching Ardyn at all. This was the man who had stabbed her at the altar in Altissia. Though the covenants she’d forged had already worn her life down to a thin edge, Ardyn had delivered the killing blow. Yet her words seemed to indicate an honest desire to communicate with him, rather than to seek revenge. Something pivotal must have happened for her feel that way.
If Sol’s claim was correct and Lunafreya had indeed been called to kill Ardyn, the notebook’s message was all the more troubling. It suggested that Lunafreya had turned her back on the gods’ will. For one who had always lived a life of prayer and dedication to the gods, such a decision would not have been made lightly.
In the Crystal, Noctis had learned that the Ring of the Lucii provided the sole means to destroy the Immortal Accursed. Lunafreya wasn’t in possession of the ring and neither was she a descendant of the Lucis Caelum line, able to wield it. He could see no logic in sending her to confront Ardyn. Why would the Six call on her to do so? Why send two people for a job that required one?
He then remembered another passage from the notebook, where Luna had mentioned the new, inhuman power she found herself possessing, as well as the disquiet it invited.
“Tell me,” he asked Sol, “did Luna mention any sort of . . . new power she was able to use?”
He intentionally omitted the word “inhuman.” Whatever this power was, he was reluctant to describe it the way Lunafreya had.
Sol stared straight ahead and answered stiffly. “Yeah. She can absorb the scourge.”
The breath caught in Noctis’s throat. There was only one other person who possessed power like that. And the Crystal had revealed the tragedy it had drawn down on him two thousand years ago.
“She claimed one of the gods gave it to her so she’d be able to face Ardyn.”
“Do you know which god? Was it the Draconian?”
“I dunno. She never said.”
Regardless of the source, Noctis wanted to know why Lunafreya had been given the power to draw the Starscourge. And why had she been commanded to kill the Accursed with the very same capability he possessed?
There was also the fact that Lunafreya was worried about using this ability. As Noctis understood it, the power would allow her to absorb the scourge but not to purge it. Each time she did so, the menace to which she was host would surge in strength. The Crystal’s memories had made Ardyn’s agony clear. To think of Lunafreya having to endure the same was intolerable. How could the gods do such a thing? Responsibility for killing Ardyn fell on the shoulders of the True King. Why drag Lunafreya into the equation?
“How much do you know about it?” Sol asked.
“About Luna’s power? I guess I’ve got a pretty solid understanding.”
As solid an understanding as anyone could have. He’d witnessed every detail of Ardyn’s suffering two thousand years ago. Perhaps Noctis had already seen more of what would happen to Lunafreya than she had yet discovered for herself.
Another thought occurred to him. In the notebook, Lunafreya had mentioned an encounter with the soul of the first Oracle at Ralmuell. Did Aera reveal to her the truth of what had transpired in their time? If so, that would explain Lunafreya’s desire to speak with the Accursed. Ardyn was the only other person on the Star who knew firsthand what she was going through. Maybe now that she was privy to Ardyn’s past, she no longer felt hatred toward the man at whose hands she had perished.
Or maybe Noctis was just grasping at straws.
The car came to a sudden stop, and Sol spoke again. “Listen, Your Majesty.” She wore a grave expression. “You say you’ve got a pretty good grasp of what Luna’s capable of. But there’s something else you need to know. About the state she’s in.”
Noctis nodded for Sol to continue, but he could already imagine what she was going to say. The way she hesitated as she spoke. The fact that this detail was of such import that she felt she had to stop the car.
When Sol continued to fumble for words, Noctis ventured, “I take it . . . she’s become a daemon?”
Sol’s chest heaved with a barely contained sob, and she nodded.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “It’s all my fault. She was doing it for me, to save my mom’s life, and . . . all she ever wanted was to see you again. To live by your side. She helped me even though she knew what it would do to her. I’m . . . I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault,” Noctis said. “If someone is in need and it’s within Luna’s power to help . . . Well, we both know what kind of person she is. She doesn’t hesitate. She just does it, no matter the consequences.”