Crown King: Return of The Labyrinth | ✓

Chapter 14: Imaginary Space

Noctis thought the eerie sounds crackling beneath the floorboards as he stepped on then wouldn't scare him, but it did scare him. It freaked him out yet he wanted to visit the catacombs. It was a quiet, uneventful night in Insomnia that it somehow made him suspicious.

He felt a moment of relief wash over him as he finally closed the doors shut, the waters unable to reach him at last.

It was raining hard late at night, and although the tower walls were thick and impact, he could still hear the noise of the rain clattering against the walls. More than that, the winds were stronger now than in the last few hours, causing the raindrops to shoot earthward like sharp icicles in a diagonal direction.

Noctis put off his hood, then tossed it somewhere nearby the pillars. Darkness casted all over the tower's main ground, he had to put on some of the torches.

Shadows danced across the floors as he walked while carrying the torch towards the spiral staircase descending to the catacombs. He stopped, turning to another stairway beside the one leading underground. He looked up, imagining what had happened to the trunk that had been hidden there at the upmost room of the tower.

Confusingly, his feet stepped down towards the stairs leading to the catacombs. His brows furrowed at his sudden actions. Maybe I'm just startled by the wind, he thought, moving on from the strange moment.

Down, down, he filled his mind with the word over and over to keep himself from getting distracted. Down he went, running, then slowing his speed. After a few moments he reached a narrow, arched opening that held two torches attached on either side of the wall. Noctis thought the walls were about to close in, but he realized he was just hallucinating.

Without a moment's pause, he entered the catacombs.

The entire cemetery had been filled with skulls and bones, where humans of the past years and centuries have been buried. It was dark and dreary, and the room temperature suddenly dropped from thirty two degrees to nineteen.

Noctis could feel the aura around the catacombs. It had always been unfriendly, specially to the kings ever since, he sighed, walking through the almost narrow passageway.

Through his peripheral, the bones were fidgeting as he passed through. They don't like my presence.

Hushed voices that spoke of eerie and malicious things mutter with each other, coming from the low ceiling above him. But despite of the way the wraiths, specters and phantoms criticized him, he kept his eyes straight ahead, only having his mind filled with one goal: to reach the tomb of his own father.

Schist! Kings are nothing but unfair leaders!

Don't ever think we will agree to your puny monarchial ideals!

These stupid ghosts, Noctis gritted his teeth, fastening his walk. If only I could use a vacuum cleaner to wipe all of you out from this world of living.

After hearing critics from those vengeful spirits, Noctis took a turn and ran as fast as he could to get away from them. Luckily, he caught a glimpse of light coming from the end of the narrow corridor, and besides that, the walls and ceilings no longer contained possessed skeletons.

He headed towards the light. The flames flickered around the area, creating shadows that may scare anyone paranoiac. Below the torch was an old wooden door. His blue orbs stared down at the piece of hole at the corner of the partially broken door.

Dad, I'm back, Noctis' hands reached for the handle but as soon as his fingers touched the wood's surface, the door opened with a soft creak that startled him slightly. The door opened, and a small ray of blue light streaked out; an order that he was allowed to come inside.