Fabricated Hopes

"This is…" Elijah struggled to find the words as he walked into the room, "Vile."

He gulped, extending his arm over the nearest corpse and lightly touching its forehead. His hand snapped back, almost as if he was burned, "They're still warm…"

"Why would anyone do such a thing?" He asked no one in particular. A moment later Fayden walked into the room with Noctis, and his reaction was similar to Elijah's, only he didn't linger on the wrongness of it for long.

"What…" Elijah breathed out as the deity got closer, "What is this?"

"Every single one of them volunteered for this, Mr. Knight." Noctis said, seemingly unbothered by his reaction.

Fayden wasn't unfazed by the contents of the room, but he didn't show it. Instead, a devious idea struck his mind. "Nico, this is an opportunity!"

The use of his true name made Elijah snap his neck toward him, "What?"

"Don't you see? This is exactly what we need to bring Cecilia back!"

Nico's eyes widened, and he dared to hope. But that hope was soon shattered when Noctis spoke.

"I'm afraid that will not be possible."

Fayden furrowed his brows, but before he could speak, Noctis interrupted.

"As I said before, everyone here volunteered to let us use their bodies to reach a common goal." Noctis said, "Using one of their bodies as a mere host to a foreign soul would be disrespectful to say the least."

"But," He continued, "If it's a body you need, you'd best talk to Xena. Her prowess in Vivum-based Marchosian arts is… rather terrifying to be honest."

"Vivum?" Fayden echoed, that word held no meaning for him.

Noctis sighed, "I forget you've yet to be educated about aether and marchosium."

"You realize I understood literally nothing in that sentence, right?"

He shook his head, "I will explain everything to you later. For now, you need to visit Xena and talk to her about this. It will take her a while to fabricate a functional body for your friend."

On their way out Fayden called out to Ashton, who was busy discussing the details of his gauntlet with Azrul. "We'll meet up in the time chamber later."

Ashton absentmindedly waved him away, unwilling to detach from his conversation with Azrul. Noctis led them to the lowest floor in the building, and out into the courtyard.

"Uh, Noctis? Where exactly are we going?" Fayden asked once they were outside.

"Each one of the nine has a different district they watch over." Noctis explained, "Sierra is training Zeke in her district, Xena is bound to be in her own."

"And whose district is this?" Nico asked.

"Korzag," He said, "It is also our capital, Valencia."

"And what about your district?" Fayden asked.

"My district serves as a massive barracks for our troops. All magical and combat training occurs there, it is where our army resides in." Noctis answered, "Don't worry, you will see it soon enough."

"Why does that sound like a threat?" Fayden deadpanned.

Noctis laughed, "You will understand once you begin your training there."

"You're not helping!"

Still laughing, Noctis grabbed both of their shoulders and Void Stepped away. They reappeared hundreds of miles away, in a city much different from the capital. Unlike the capital, over half the city was filled with wildlife, and a forest occupied a chunk of it. A floating landmass was at the center of the district, much like Valencia, but it wasn't as grand as it. As they walked inside, Fayden could smell the distinct scent of artificial air.

"This entire building is reminiscent of a hospital, so don't be surprised if it reminds you of one." Noctis said as they entered another elevator and headed to the top floor.

Once the elevator door opened, Noctis told them to wait outside as he entered another room. A moment later Xena walked out with him.

"So, I hear you boys need an artificial body to reincarnate someone?" She said, leading them away. Noctis stayed behind, saying he would catch them on their way out.

"We do," Nico said, "Preferably a female one around our age."

Fayden placed an arm on his shoulder, "Nico, I know you're going through puberty, but that is a bit too far man."

Xena raised an eyebrow at them, "If Noctis hadn't informed me of what you plan to do I would have switched your genders just for the insinuation of what you said."

Nico blushed, "Yes, I realize how badly my words could be taken."

She shook her head, leading them through one of the countless doorways on the floor. "Fair warning, this room is not for the light hearted."

Fayden and Nico glanced between each other and shrugged. The inside of the room was filled to the brim with devices reminiscent of 3d printers from their old world, just that instead of using elements of the periodic table to print, they used nacht. Each one of them held a different body part inside. There were more than a couple of hands and legs, a few lungs and hearts, and countless other organs, ranging from intestines to genitals. A few held the ruined remains of what appeared to be disfigured brains. All of these organs seemed to be suspended in a clear viscous liquid.

One of the devices was kept isolated from the rest, connected to what appeared to be a holo-screen. Xena waved her arm and the screen shut down. She turned around to face them.

"Do you boys even know how to pull a soul out of the void? Much less a very particular soul."

"Uh," Fayden began to say, "Not really?"

She sighed, "I cannot help you unless you can bring back her soul. Without her soul, I cannot create a compatible body for her."

"What would happen if the body was incompatible?" Nico asked.

"The soul would be destroyed and the body would instantly die." She answered, "And even if you did bring her soul to me, I wouldn't be able to create a functional body."

She waved at all her attempts to recreate a brain, "As you can see, I cannot yet replicate the most crucial part of a body. But I'm close, very close. Give me a year or two and I should be able to make a body for you, granted you can learn how to traverse to the void and bring her soul back to me."

Nico sighed and his shoulders visibly slackened, and he muttered to himself, "Not yet, huh?"

"What if we leave before then?" Fayden asked.

Xena shook her head, "Your training will take you a while. If I can manage to finish it within the next 2 years it should leave you just enough time to get her soul to me, and for me to fabricate her a body.

She smiled and patted their shoulders, "Cheer up, you'll meet your friend soon. You have waited for so many years, you can wait for two more."

"Thank you." Fayden said and Nico nodded in agreement. Once they left, Xena activated the holo-screen again, and sighed.

"Perhaps with this, we might finally uncover the truth."

.

.

.

Once they were back, Elijah split off saying he would be in Azruls lab, and Noctis returned to his own district. On his way to his room, Fayden ran into a confused Nathan.

"There you are!" He exclaimed, "I've been looking for you guys ever since I woke up, where did you go?"

"Ashton and I had to go visit Xena to make sure there was no permanent damage to our bodies." Fayden said, lying through his teeth, "Ashton and Elijah are with Azrul in his lab right now."

Nathan rubbed his chin in thought, "Makes sense, but why would they be in Azruls lab?"

"About that, I might have damaged the bandages that's keeping Ashton from dying, Azruls working on a replacement for it as we speak." Fayden said, and then shrugged, "And Elijah, well he just likes inventing stuff, so the lab is the perfect place for him."

"Those bandages are the only thing keeping him alive?" He repeated "Why-You know what, I'm not even going to ask."

Fayden smiled in amusement, "For the sake of your own sanity, you're better off not knowing."

"Is that also the case for the new form you pulled out in your fight?"

"Well I barely know anything about that myself, so I'd say yes." he replied, deciding to change the topic, "How did your fight with Elijah go?"

It worked as Nathan's face split into a grin, "I beat him with my beast will, he was so shocked when I manipulated his grey flames back to him."

Fayden raised an eyebrow at that, "You manipulated soulfire?"

He nodded, "Yeah, it was a bit harder than manipulating normal fire, but not too hard."

With a snap of his fingers, an ember of nacht fire burst to life over his fingers, "What about this, can you control it?"

Nathan furrowed his brows and focused on the flame. The pure black flame began flickering and bending, Fayden could feel his control over it growing weaker. But before he could lose control over it, Nathan snapped back and slumped down in exhaustion.

"That was…much harder to manipulate, your control voer it is too strong." He wheezed out.

I was so close to losing control over it, I'll have to see if he can manipulate nox fire as well. With every passing moment, Nathan being a half breed phoenix asura becomes more and more plausible.

"Uh, Fayden? You there?"

He was broken out of his trance when Nathan waved a hand in front of his face. "Huh? I was just thinking about something."

"About what?" Nathan asked, and before Fayden could respond, a wave of weakness passed over him and his knees buckled. The nacht fire over his finger flickered out, and his mana channels were sore with pain.

"Woah," Nathan grabbed his shoulder, stopping him from falling face first into the ground, "You okay there?"

"Yeah," Fayden grimaced, "I still haven't quite recovered from using that new form yet."

"You should rest," Nathan said, "Do you need me to take you to your room?"

Fayden shook his head and stopped leaning on Nathan, "I'll be fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, Nathan. I might be overexerted, but I'm not helpless." He said as he began walking away, "I'll see you tomorrow then."

Bidding their goodbyes, Fayden walked up to his room. He splashed cold water on his face, and sighed as he looked at his own reflection. His head hurt as he tried to remember his fight with Ashton, and he could swear he saw a glimpse of a being made entirely of nacht, reflecting the entire universe.

He opened his eyes and his reflection stared back at him, the same altered version of him that he had seen after his fight with Ashton. His turquoise-red eyes stared into the bluish-silver eyes of his reflection.

His reflection raised a finger to his lips and hushed him, and then the strangest thing ever occurred. It walked out of the mirror, still grinning and collided into Fayden, fusing together into one being.

Fayden fell to his knees, his mouth open in a silent scream, his eyes rolling back so that only the whites of it remained. The memories of hundreds of Marchosias assaulted him as one, and crimson runes spilled out of his sternum and crawled over his body.

His surroundings began blurring and distorted, and when his vision cleared, he was back on the surface world. He was in a battlefield, he could see that much. Two armies met in a collision of nacht and aether, and a shadow fell over Fayden.

Above him a massive winged wolf clashed with a pure white dragon. Zether and nacht were thrown into disarray as the foundations of reality itself shook with each clash, and Fayden was at the epicenter of it all.