"Have I ever met Hope?" The sorcerer shrugged carelessly, his silk sleeves rustling with the movement. "I suppose I have, once upon a time, back when the world was a slightly less crowded place."
Noctis cast a mild, contemplative look at Asteria, his dark eyes brimming with an idle curiosity about where this sudden line of questioning was heading. He harboured no active intention to conceal the truth from her; after all, he had already deemed her highly entertaining, viewing her much like a fascinating new friend one couldn't help but indulge.
"Is it possible to visit the place where she is shackled?" the Daydreamer inquired, her violet eyes locking onto the sorcerer's searching gaze.
The Sorcerer of the East let out a sudden bark of laughter, louder and more boisterous than before, and reached up to wipe an invisible tear from the corner of his eye. "If it is for you, my dearest friend, then of course it is entirely possible! For I am Noctis! The most brilliant, favoured, and exceptional man in the entire Kingdom of–"
Asteria tunes out precisely halfway through his exclamation. She had absolutely no desire to endure another lengthy monologue regarding how his self-proclaimed genius allegedly eclipsed every other living soul in the realm.
"So, how exactly do we get there?" she asked unhurriedly, cutting directly through the sorcerer's theatrical boasting.
"Ah, straight to the point! I like that in a companion," he exclaimed, spinning on his heel to point a slender finger toward the edge of the terrace. "On this noble vessel, of course! We shall travel in proper style, entirely unlike those crude, clunky imitations you are bound to encounter elsewhere."
The ship he was gesturing toward was eerily reminiscent of the vessel Asteria had discovered before plunging headlong into this nightmare. No, scratch that — it was structurally identical. Only, this particular version was far grander, untainted by the decay of centuries.
The vessel was colossal, constructed from rich, polished timbers that gleamed beneath the silver sky. It was magnificent, a masterwork of ancient naval engineering, but describing its physical appearance alone failed to do it proper justice.
The true marvel lay at its centre: a gorgeous, practically divine tree planted directly into the deck, a staggering contrast to the pitiful, withered sapling Asteria had observed previously.
The great tree grew symmetrically around the main mast, its vast, sweeping canopy offering a sanctuary of deep shade across the expansive deck. The bark of the titan was a pristine, ivory white, whilst its leaves shimmered with a brilliant, bioluminescent emerald hue that seemed to pulse in time with the wind.
"She is a beauty, isn't she?" Noctis sighed, his manic energy momentarily softening as his gaze drifted up into the glowing leaves. "A sacred tree taken directly from the Heart God's own grove. It is the very heart of the ship, powering this noble vessel with just a teensy bit of sorcery from the finest mind in the Kingdom of Hope."
'Sorcery...' Asteria noted internally, the word striking a familiar chord. She recalled its paramount importance to Hope's history from the descriptions within her Aspect Legacy, not to mention the grueling, one-sided history lesson Noctis had subjected her to earlier.
"Actually..." Asteria began, turning her head to fix her sharp gaze upon the moonlit man beside her. "Could you explain the fundamentals of Hope's sorcery to me?"
"Of course! It is my absolute specialty, seeing as I am the single greatest sor–"
"Thank you, Noctis. I completely understand that you are the greatest sorcerer in the realm and that commoners would gladly trade their souls for a mere fraction of your time, let alone personal instruction," Asteria grumbled, expertly cutting him off before he could launch into another orbit of self-praise.
***
Asteria managed to absorb an extraordinary amount of knowledge during the brief period they spent soaring through the sky aboard Noctis's splendid sky-ship.
Firstly, she discovered that Hope's sorcery — more accurately defined as Runic Sorcery — operated fundamentally as its own distinct language. It was structurally derived from the far more ancient Sorcery of Names, utilising specific configurations of written runes arranged in precise sequences to form a sentence designed for a singular, targeted outcome.
Under this system, absolutely everything possessed a name. In fact, nothing could tangibly exist within reality without a name and therefore didn't truly exist until they had a name. The exact same principle governed the mechanics of sorcery; there were common Names and deeply guarded True Names for various concepts, ranging drastically in their inherent power and the complexity required to transcribe them without flaw.
Secondly, she learned that the specific amount of essence imbued during the writing process — or more importantly, the raw intent behind the inscription — could fundamentally alter both the potency and the ultimate purpose of the rune.
Finally, and perhaps most critically, came the element of comprehension. If the practitioner lacked understanding of what the rune meant, what it commanded, and exactly how it interacted with the world, the inscription remained entirely inert. It wouldn't — couldn't function.
The Sorcerer of the East had woven a multitude of these very runes into the fabric of the vessel itself, even if such enchantments were entirely unnecessary for a journey as brief as theirs.
Noctis gestured proudly toward a compact, glowing array carved into the wooden bulkheads of the captain's cabin. "Do you see these, my curious friend? Runes commanding 'Propel', 'Wind', and 'Control'. Incredibly rudimentary work for a mind like mine, naturally. The first suspends the hull in the air, the second summons a localized current to provide a constant source of energy to sustain the first, and the final inscription allows me to seamlessly regulate the output of both. That final rune is exceptionally temperamental in any type of written sorcery if you wish to have control over them."
He paused, finally falling silent as he offered Asteria a long, measuring look before letting out a soft exhale. "In a few hundred years, you might just manage to achieve a sliver of the mastery I possess. You have undeniable potential, my dearest companion. But I am afraid our little lecture must conclude for today. Look ahead — we have arrived."
The Ivory City materialized through the mist exactly as Asteria remembered it from her brief, prophetic vision.
In the far distance, a solitary island hovered precariously, anchored to the surrounding landmasses by five massive, sky-spanning chains. Originally, there had been seven, but two of those cyclopean links had already been shattered, leaving the remaining iron tauts with immense strain.
A vast, terrifying chasm dropped away into nothingness between the outskirts of the Ivory City and the isolated Ivory Island where Hope was kept captive. Fortunately, another seamless application of ancient sorcery existed to bridge the seemingly impassable void.
Leading Asteria toward a grand stone archway resting on the precipice of the city's edge, Noctis gestured grandly toward an intricate cluster of glowing symbols etched into the lintel. "Look at that, we can extend our lesson just a fraction longer! Isn't that marvelous?"
The runes before her were breathtakingly complex, shifting with a faint, iridescent light.
"Observe closely," Noctis murmured, his tone shifting into something genuinely educational. "This is how we cross the uncrossable. The True Name of Fire, paired with the True Name of Divinity, bound together by the True Name of Stepping Across Thresholds."
With a sudden, silent flare of heatless light, the interior of the archway filled with a curtain of shimmering colour. Without a hint of hesitation, Noctis stepped through the veil, and Asteria followed closely behind, landing instantly upon the pale, polished stones of the Ivory Island.
***
The Beast of Twilight and the Queen of Nightmare ascended the steps of the central tower in total silence, their footsteps muffled by the heavy air. There was a profound, respectful quiet to their march, a natural deference to the divine prisoner shackled at the peak.
They eventually reached a grand, sprawling hall, where columns of brilliant, natural light streamed through towering, arched windows. Yet, the air inside was far from pure; it was visibly infused with a strange, undulating darkness that shimmered like oil on water.
Before they could even clear the threshold of the massive doors leading into the sanctum, an ethereal, melodic voice echoed through the space, vibrating directly in their minds.
"My immortal Chain Lord... and... Weaver? No, that is incorrect... my Progenitor? No... you are not them either... What exactly are you?"
Asteria's breath caught in her throat, a cold sweat breaking out across her collarbone. 'I am absolutely terrified. I want to go home right now. What in the name of the Spell is happening here?'
Noctis merely chuckled, placing a hand against the small of her back and nudging her forward through the opening. "My word, you truly are a walking riddle, aren't you, my friend? Come along, let us not keep a lady waiting. Shall we?"
Asteria swallowed hard, her violet eyes wide and trembling slightly as she stabilized her footing. "Let's."
In the dead centre of the vast chamber, seven massive, individual chains sprawled across the floor like a giant spider's web of shimmering metal, each link inscribed with a dizzying, ever-shifting myriad of runic arrays. Only five of those chains remained intact, mirroring the state of the island outside.
The entity bound to the centre of that web was a paradox of staggering, terrifying proportions — just as beautiful and utterly horrifying as Asteria had glimpsed in her dreams.
She radiated an aura of such pristine, celestial beauty and possessed a presence so profoundly warm that it threatened to bring any mortal to their knees in absolute worship. Yet, beneath that suffocating comfort lay an undercurrent of something deeply malevolent — true desperation and spite.
"What brings you to my cage, Beast of Twilight?" the Daemon's ethereal voice drifted across the hall, the sound drilling directly into Asteria's skull. "And what of this stranger... this imposter of my own flame? Have you finally come to end my misery, perhaps?"
Noctis immediately shook his head, a smooth, easy denial rolling off his tongue. "Of course not. Why would I ever dream of killing you? In truth, I harbour far more complicated, conflicting desires regarding your existence." His usual playful grin vanished, replaced by a expression that was entirely serious and dangerously cold.
"Mmm. I can feel them," Hope murmured, her voice like velvet. "You desire nothing more than to abandon your sacred duty, yet your pride compels you to see it through to the bitter end."
Asteria could feel the Daemon's invisible gaze boring directly into her soul, peeling back her defenses to inspect her deepest desires and darkest secrets. This was no mere illusion or phantom memory; this was the living, breathing Daemon of Desire. A genuine Divine entity.
'Terrifying. Truly, absolutely terrifying...' Asteria shuddered, her knees threatening to buckle under the weight of that lingering attention.
"And what is it that you seek, imposter?" Hope's peaceful, measured tone suddenly turned freezing cold, carrying a sharp, scolding edge that made the air freeze.
Asteria's mind raced in panic. 'I have no idea what to do here. Just let me leave, let me go back to the waking world...'
As if responding to her internal terror, the familiar, mechanical script of the Spell flickered into the corner of her vision.
[You can exit: Second Trial: Desire's Shackles. Would you like to exit?]
'No... but I appreciate the offer, Spell,' she thought frantically, forcing her panic down.
[...]
"Can you not already perceive what it is I desire most, Lady Hope?" Asteria spoke softly, keeping her voice low and respectful to avoid provoking a reaction she would swiftly regret.
The shackled deity let out a soft, melodic chuckle that echoed off the high ceiling. "No, curiously enough, I cannot. That is precisely why I ask. You are fundamentally different from anything in this world, yet you carry something that is entirely familiar. So tell me, imposter, what is your desire?"
"Only one thing, really. A single question, provided you are merciful enough to grant an answer," Asteria said. She cast a brief glance toward Noctis, who had seemingly drifted off into his own thoughts again, staring out a window as though this were just any other ordinary afternoon.
"I shall allow it," Hope replied, her tone tinged with an analytical curiosity, though the sensation of her gaze inspecting Asteria's soul did not diminish. "What is it you wish to ask me?"
"Why did the Lord of Light — the Sun God — feel compelled to utterly destroy your civilization and bind you within these seven chains, guarded by seven immortal Transcendents?" she inquired cautiously, mentally calculating her escape routes in the very likely event of a sudden, violent demise.
'Focus on the Aspect Legacy, Asteria... you can do this!' she encouraged herself internally.
It appeared that Hope detected the rapid shift from dread to resolve within Asteria's posture, because another soft laugh escaped her lips.
"Do you truly believe that a mere handful of Transcendent warriors, no matter how gifted, possess the power to keep me imprisoned? Me, the Daemon of Desire?"
"No," Asteria answered honestly, her entire physical vessel tensing. "I don't. That is exactly where my confusion lies. How can they possibly bind divinity? And furthermore, why choose to shackle you for eternity instead of simply ending your existence?"
"Because they Desire to keep me bound."
The blunt, cyclical truth of the statement hit Asteria like a bullet.
'It takes desire to chain desire...' A fresh cascade of unanswered questions flooded her mind, trying to comprehend the metaphysical logic. 'How does a concept like that even function in practice?'
"And the second part of my query?" Asteria pressed hastily, her voice rising slightly in her eagerness to understand. "Why keep you alive at all, if you don't mind me asking?"
Hope's gaze shifted deliberately toward the unassuming sorcerer standing by the window. "Leave us, Beast of Twilight."
Noctis snapped out of his trance instantly, his dark eyes refocusing on the room. "Your will is my command, my Lady." Without a single trace of hesitation or argument, he turned on his heel and exited the grand hall, leaving Asteria entirely alone with the terrifying entity.
"They would stand to lose far too much if I were to be destroyed," Hope answered flatly, her voice echoing in the newly emptied room. "It is infinitely safer for them to keep me breathing."
"And why is that safer?" Asteria pushed, desperate for the final piece of the puzzle.
"Because we, the Daemons, are the flaws of the Gods."
"...What?" was all Asteria could manage to gasp in response, the sheer weight of the revelation stalling her thought process entirely.
Before she could process the information, the cold, majestic chime of the Spell shattered the silence of the room, ringing out with the same intimately familiar voice.
[Your Aspect Legacy: Seeker of Truths has been updated.]
[The Second Truth: Hope, Daemon of Desire has been realised.]
[Queen of Nightmare! Claim your boon!]
***
Author's Note
Whoops, inkstone won't let me use the normal author's note function so I guess it'll be done here today :]
I liked writing this chapter, kinda hazy how to write Hope though...
All in all I'm quite happy with this chapter, even if the pacing of this mini Kingdom of Hope arc is quite fast!
So, given this chapter, what do you think Asteria's Aspect Legacy reward will be for Hope, The Daemon of Desire?
I'll see you later, folks <3