Chapter 9.3
1291 Words
Chapter 9.3 - The King Without a Crown
Part III – The Door That Should Never Open
The roar did not end.
It rolled through the ancient halls beneath Academia like thunder trapped beneath the earth.
The walls groaned.
Stone dust drifted from the ceiling.
The silver blossoms lining the corridor folded their petals shut, as though they, too, were afraid.
Everyone instinctively looked toward the Star Vault.
BOOM.
A second impact struck the doors.
The massive iron slabs bent inward.
Ancient runes that had glowed for centuries flickered violently before shattering one by one into silver fragments.
Headmaster Caelum had once described the Star Vault as unbreakable.
Now...
It was breaking.
Orion's breathing grew uneven.
Blood still stained the corner of his mouth.
Selene rushed to his side.
"Father."
"I'm fine."
"No, you're not."
She grabbed his arm, her crimson eyes fixed on the black veins creeping farther across his skin.
"They've spread."
"I noticed."
"You absorbed too much."
"I absorbed enough."
Selene lowered her voice.
"If Mother were here..."
A faint smile crossed Orion's lips.
"...She'd scold me first."
"...Then heal me."
For a brief second...
The feared Shadow King wasn't a conqueror.
He was simply a husband remembering someone he loved.
Fin couldn't stop staring at him.
Nothing made sense anymore.
The man who had invaded the academy...
Had just risked his life to save Priston.
The monster she'd imagined...
Looked exhausted.
Heartbroken.
Human.
Her thoughts were interrupted as Priston groaned.
"...Ow..."
His eyes fluttered open.
Everything hurt.
His shoulder burned.
His head felt like someone had driven nails into his skull.
The first thing he saw was Fin kneeling beside him.
"...You're crying."
Fin immediately wiped her face.
"I am not."
"You are."
"I said I'm not."
Priston managed a weak grin.
"...Good."
She frowned.
"Good?"
"If you're yelling..."
He coughed.
"...you're not giving up."
Without thinking, she punched his arm.
"Agh!"
"What was that for?"
"You scared me!"
"I just got possessed by ancient darkness."
"And now you punched me."
"I think I'm the victim here."
Despite everything...
Zanne laughed.
It wasn't loud.
But it was real.
Even Selene couldn't hide a tiny smile.
Then—
The laughter died.
The Star Vault doors split apart.
Not completely.
Just enough for darkness to pour through the widening crack.
It wasn't smoke.
It wasn't shadow.
It looked like liquid night.
The corridor instantly became freezing cold.
Their breaths turned white.
The silver flowers wilted.
One by one.
Something stepped forward.
Not fully.
Only a hand.
Long.
Pale.
Its fingers ended in black crystal-like claws.
The skin wasn't human.
It looked like cracked porcelain held together by darkness.
Each movement was unnaturally slow.
Deliberate.
As though it had all the time in existence.
Then...
An eye opened inside the darkness.
Just one.
Golden.
Ancient.
It didn't look angry.
It looked...
Curious.
The creature wasn't looking at Orion.
Or Selene.
Or Priston.
It was looking only at Fin.
A voice echoed inside every mind simultaneously.
Not spoken.
Felt.
"Little Star..."
Fin's body froze.
The voice was beautiful.
Gentle.
Almost comforting.
Which somehow made it even more terrifying.
"Come home."
The Crownblade vibrated violently in her hand.
Silver light exploded from the blade, forcing the darkness backward.
The golden eye narrowed.
Then...
It smiled.
A smile with no warmth.
"You remember us..."
"What is that?"
Priston whispered.
Even Orion hesitated before answering.
"...Its name..."
His voice carried genuine fear.
"...is Noctis."
"The First Hollow."
"The first what?" Fin asked.
"Long before kingdoms existed..."
Orion never took his eyes off the opening.
"There were two primordial forces."
"Aether..."
He gestured toward the glowing Crownblade.
"...and Void."
"They existed together."
"In balance."
"But one desired more."
"It wanted every star."
"Every world."
"Every living soul."
"It became..."
"...the Void King."
Silence settled over the corridor.
"The first Hollow."
Zanne finished quietly.
Orion nodded.
"And the first enemy."
Noctis chuckled.
The sound was strangely melodic.
"Still telling stories..."
Its voice echoed through the stone.
"Little Prince."
Orion's jaw tightened.
"I stopped being a prince long ago."
"No..."
The creature's laughter deepened.
"You merely traded your crown..."
Its golden eye shifted toward the black veins spreading across Orion's neck.
"...for ours."
Fin looked at Orion.
"What does it mean?"
Orion didn't answer.
Selene did.
"...Father made a bargain."
His eyes closed briefly.
"...Selene."
"No."
Her voice trembled.
"I'm tired of pretending."
She looked directly at Fin.
"Twenty years ago..."
"When the first crack appeared in the seal..."
"My father entered the Vault."
"Alone."
"He fought Noctis."
"He couldn't destroy it."
"So..."
Tears filled her crimson eyes.
"...he imprisoned part of it inside himself."
The corridor fell silent.
Fin stared at Orion in disbelief.
"The corruption..."
She whispered.
"...was never from a battle."
Orion gave a tired nod.
"I became the prison."
Priston slowly sat upright.
"...You've carried that thing..."
"For twenty years?"
"Twenty-one."
Orion corrected.
"It grows stronger every year."
"Then why invade Academia?"
"Because..."
He looked toward the cracking seal.
"...I'm dying."
The words landed harder than any explosion.
Selene looked away.
Unable to hide her tears.
"When Father dies..."
She continued.
"...the part of Noctis sealed inside him..."
"...returns to the original."
"And then..."
Zanne finished.
"...the seal breaks forever."
Fin felt her entire world shift.
"So..."
She looked between the king and the Vault.
"This war..."
"It was never about a throne."
"No."
Orion answered.
"It was about time."
"I needed to awaken the Starborn heir..."
"...before I ran out of it."
The corridor trembled again.
A section of the ceiling collapsed behind them, sealing off the passage back to the academy.
Dust filled the air.
They were trapped.
No way forward.
No way back.
Only the Vault.
Noctis watched them with quiet amusement.
"How delightful..."
Black vines emerged from the crack, crawling across the floor.
Unlike before...
These moved with purpose.
They raced toward the group.
"Move!"
Priston shouted.
Everyone scattered.
The vines slammed into the stone where they'd been standing, tearing through solid marble as though it were paper.
Priston slashed one in half.
The severed piece immediately regrew.
"It regenerates!"
Zanne created a glowing barrier.
The black vines struck it.
Cracks spread instantly through the shield.
"I can't hold them!"
Selene hurled one of her crimson daggers.
The enchanted blade pierced a vine, pinning it to the wall.
For one heartbeat...
It stopped.
Then the dagger blackened.
Rust spread across its surface.
The metal crumbled into dust.
"My dagger..."
She whispered.
"It erased the enchantment."
Orion stepped forward despite his weakened state.
"Only Aether can wound it."
His eyes found Fin.
"The Crownblade."
She looked at the glowing sword.
"I don't know how to use it."
"You don't."
He admitted.
"But the sword knows how to use you."
Another vine lunged.
This time toward Zanne.
Fin reacted on instinct.
She swung the Crownblade.
The silver blade never touched the vine.
It didn't need to.
A crescent of pure starlight burst from the sword.
It sliced through the darkness.
The vine disintegrated instantly into glowing ash.
Silence.
Everyone stared.
Even Fin.
"I..."
Priston blinked.
"...You just cut the air."
"And somehow won."
"I don't think that's how swords work."
Orion smiled faintly.
"They do."
"When wielded by a Starborn."
For the first time since awakening...
Fin wasn't afraid of the sword.
She raised the Crownblade again.
Its silver glow reflected in her determined blue eyes.
She looked toward the darkness inside the Vault.
"No more running."
Noctis laughed.
A laugh that echoed like a thousand voices.
"Good..."
"Become stronger..."
"When you shine your brightest..."
The golden eye widened.
Its smile became impossibly large.
"...your light will be even sweeter to consume."
The Star Vault doors exploded outward.
The shockwave sent everyone flying across the corridor.
The seal...
Had finally broken.
- Writer
