"No red carpet, but a stone staircase is the next best thing," Gladio commented as they navigated down the flight of stairs.

"The entrance to Costlemark only opens during the night. Seeing as we don't have time to wait, I manipulated the mechanism," (Y/n) said.

"A stimulation of shadows activated the mechanism sealing the entrance," Ignis stated as he pieced the puzzle together in his head. "A splendid display."

"Exactly," the Horseman replied. "Even during the brightest time of the day, shadow spells never fail."

"I'm guessing your speciality is spells. You're too dainty to be a sword wielder," Gladio comments.

"How perceptive of you, Gladio, and a little judgmental. Though, I'll let that last comment slide. I'm an enchantress and specialize in fire, lightning, ice, light, and shadow spells."

"Whoa...That's more than Noct can use!" Prompto chanted.

"I'm also well-versed in the artes of healing. Morosely, my knowledge of herbs won't be helpful in battles."

"So we have a healer now? Yes!" The gunslinger cheered. "Now we won't have to stock up on potions so much!"

Descending the last flight of stairs, Noctis glanced at the girl. "You got a staff or something like that? Y'know, like what healers have in video games?"

"I know not of these "video games" you speak of, but yes. I posses a staff." (Y/n) held out her hand and summoned her staff.

"Ooh, never seen a staff like that," Prompto comments. He eyed the weapon until his eyes stopped at her bare feet. "Um, are your feet gonna be okay, (Y/n)? What if you step on something?"

"I'll be fine, Prompto. Without shoes, I can feel the mana flowing through the network of veins inside Eos. I'm able to tap into their energy and use an unlimited amount of mana," she replies. "With how often I cast spells, a large supply of mana is exactly what I need."

Reaching the first chamber, the group was greeted by several gelatins. As the boys were summoning their weapons, the purple blobs suddenly melted and retreated. Noctis dispelled his sword with a scowl. "What the...?"

"Did they just...run?" Prompto asked in disbelief.

"Apparently so." Ignis glanced toward Pestilence and saw the seemingly innocent smile on her face. "Care to explain, (Y/n)?"

She continued smiling as she answered the tactician. "Daemons tend to flee in my presence. Apologies for not mentioning it earlier."

"Does this mean this is gonna be easy?" Prompto asked with a hopeful gleam in his eyes.

"Guess we'll see," Noctis replied.

Seeing as the daemons had fled, the group decide to make their way down a hallway to their left. Gladio glanced around at the walls and commented on the structure. "Well, this place is seriously ancient."

"Indeed," Ignis agreed with the brute. "These walls have well withstood the test of time. A stark contrast to the ruins that lie above."

Inside the next chamber, more daemons appeared. While the gelatins immediately fled, the galvanades hadn't picked up on Pestilence's scent until they surrounded the group. When one tried to launch itself at the Horseman, it received a whiff of her mock orange fragrance and retreated alongside its fellow daemons.

"It's so nice not having to fight," Prompto sighs contently.

"There are daemons out there more brazen than others. Some may try to attack if they've the courage to," (Y/n) stated. "But I've yet to encounter one with such valor."

"Let's hope none possess the audacity," Ignis stated.

<-------<<<<<<

A couple of hours passed by and the group had yet to find the royal arm. They had encountered hordes of daemons, but not a single one engaged them in combat. Prompto was whistling to himself with his hands on the back of his head as they strolled down a spiraling ramp. "I could totally get use to this. We haven't even lifted a finger down here!"

Before Gladio could even respond, a yojimbo manifested from the ground with its katana resting against its shoulder. When the boys thought it would run like the others, they waited for it to retreat. When (Y/n) saw it didn't fear her, she tried to shout out to the others but she kept her lips sealed knowing her words wouldn't reach them in time.

The daemon lunged toward Ignis, who was unprepared for the sudden attack. Before he could even react, someone pushed him out of the way. He heard a shrill scream and the sound of a blade ripping through flesh. His emerald eyes widen in horror when he spotted (Y/n) pinned to the ground with the yojimbo's sword pierced through her chest all the way to the hilt. The daemon finally picked up on the Horseman's scent, but it was too late. The boys had dealt with it before it could scurry away.

Once it was eliminated, the four rushed over to (Y/n) and saw the pain written all over her face. She tried to smile through the excruciating pain, but she could only muster a tormented frown. "C-Could one of you gentlemen p-provide a helping hand?"

Gladio was shocked to see she wasn't dead while Noctis supported Prompto when he felt faint from seeing the immense amount of blood pooling underneath the girl's body. Ignis stepped forward and met her (e/c) gaze as he wrapped his hands around the hilt of the blade. "Th-The slower you are, the m-more painful it will b-be, Ignis. Just...rip it out."

"(Y/n), I-"

"I'll be f-fine. Please, hurry."

Ignis nodded and used all his strength to yank the sword out of the stone floor and the Horseman's body. She yelled in pain as the sword exited her body. The tactician was about to grab a potion when he witnessed the skin stitch back together and mend perfectly.

(Y/n) sighed in relief, placing a hand over where the wound once was. "Immortality is a blessing and a curse. A shame the pain is not annulled." She pushed her upper body off the ground and thanked Ignis. The strategist took one of her hands and carefully helped her back onto her feet.

"B-Blood..." Prompto whimpered with a pale face.

Pestilence glanced down and realized the blood that still remained on her body. She gazed apologetically at the blonde. "Apologies, Prompto. I fear I lack the proper equipment to purge the blood from my clothes at the moment."

"A-Are you okay?" The gunslinger managed to ask, trying not to look at the blood.

She nodded with a smile, trying to hide the crimson liquid with her arms. "Yes. All has mended."

"Damn..." Gladio cursed, still in shock from seeing the young girl stabbed. "Iggy would be dead right now if you hadn't been here."

"If I weren't here, you four would be somewhere much safer," the Horseman rebuttals.

"Nonsense, (Y/n). Gladio is correct," Ignis said. "I'm indebted to you."

"I simply did what was right. You are not indebted to me in any way, shape, or form, Ignis." The royal advisor was speechless and had no clue how to respond to her. The snowy-haired girl noticed this and decided to change the subject. "Let's continue forth. That royal arm is not going to magically appear in front of us."

"Dude, if they could, this would be a thousand times easier!" Prompto chanted. "Noct would have all thirteen royal arms by now!"

"If things were really that easy, we'd be in Altissia already," Noctis said.

Pestilence knew of the prince's engagement to the Oracle. Ignis had informed her of their journey and their struggle to reach the city upon the water during their lengthy chat this morning. She was glad he filled her in on the details so she could understand their predicament better.

They continued deeper into Costlemark with no repeated incidents like the one with the yojimbo. The five came across a lengthy pathway with darkness enshrouding everything. Prompto glanced around them and into the darkness. "And what have we here?"

"Dunno, but it's huge," Gladio answered.

The sharpshooter groaned when he noticed how long the path was. "I'm too tired to walk all the way across."

"We'll call it a night here, then."

"Actually not too tired!"

"I'm not so sure about that, Prompto," (Y/n) said. "You have been yawning the most out of all the others."

"Think you, uh, could send some of that immortality my way so I wouldn't need to sleep?" The blonde boy questioned with a gulp.

"I'm afraid not. You will have to stave off the weariness yourself."

"Ugh..."

<-------<<<<<<

Inside a large chamber, the group was bewildered when they found no way to proceed forward. The boys thought about backtracking to see if they had missed anything, but they abandoned the idea when they saw (Y/n) sauntering over to one of the strange platforms. They followed after her as she stood in the middle of the platform and used the sharp tip of her staff to trigger it.

"The floor!" Prompto gasped, bracing himself as the panel descended into the floor.

"It's moving," Gladio gaped in shock.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa-?!"

Noctis glances toward (Y/n). "How did you...?"

"A lucky guess," she smiled. "I've wandered ruins like these before and they contain the same mechanism. Though, if I'm honest, I did not expect it to work." She pressed the hidden mechanism once more and the platform retreated into the side of the wall, forcing them to jump down.

A few daemons manifested in the narrow space, but they disappeared in a heartbeat. The Horseman proceeded forward and pressed another switch.

After what felt like hours of traveling through a network of passageways, the five were dumped into a large room and ambushed by gelatins and a red giant. Unlike the other daemons they encountered, these were willing to stand against the group with such a large ally on their side.

"Guess these guys aren't running for the hills," Gladio said, summoning his greatsword.

"This was supposed to be easy!" Prompto whimpered as he conjured his handgun.

"Stop bitchin', start killing."

(Y/n) kept a safe distance away from the daemons alongside Prompto. She targeted the larger assailant while the boys dealt with the gelatins. Using a powerful ice spell, she was able to shatter the giant's swordarm. It roared in pain, collapsing on its back. Gladio and Ignis saw the opening and took out the large daemon. Noctis and Prompto took out the last gelatin and turned just as the red giant's body decomposed.

"Talk about a surprise party," Prompto huffed, dismissing his pistol.

"Yeah," Noctis sighed. "Could've done without it."

Suddenly, a viridescent light enshrouded the four boys. The warm radiance expelled their exhaustion and healed their wounds. Noctis, Prompto, Gladio, and Ignis gazed at (Y/n) as her staff vanished.

"That was..." Ignis started.

"Refreshing!" Prompto finished the advisor's sentence.

Pestilence smirked at the boys. "Glad to be of assistance. Now, let's see where this leads." She gestured to a platform in the middle of the large vacant room. They stepped onto the panel and rode it up to the room they had been in thirty minutes ago.

"Great..." The raven-haired boy sighed heavily. "We're back at square one."

"Not necessarily," (Y/n) said. She checked the other panels and found another one had a switch. "Over here!"

The boys rushed over just as she activated the panel. "Ugh..." Prompto groaned. "Here we go again..."

Following the path, they reached a crossroad when two panels had switches. Noctis went to activate one, but the Horseman stopped him. "I suggest the other switch, Noctis."

"Why's that?" The prince questioned.

(Y/n) gestured to the symbol on the floor. "A symbol commonly used to guide those who've lost their way."

"Uh, okay." Noctis pressed the switch and the other passage was sealed. They followed the path all the way to the end, where they discovered an elevator. Stepping aboard, the lift carried them deeper underground into a lab.

"Wonder how deep we are," Prompto wondered. "And we just keep goin' deeper and deeper."

"No idea," Noctis stated. "Who would build a lab all the way down here?"

"The people who once lived here. You'd be baffled at how all this ancient machinery still works as if new," Pestilence said. "It's rather fascinating."

"You're quite knowledgeable of ancient ruins, (Y/n)," Ignis pointed out.

The white-haired girl glanced at the advisor for a brief second before looking away. She clenched her hands together, refusing to meet any of their gazes. "I've told you of how I became a Horseman, but not who I was before this life." She inhaled deeply before continuing. "I was an archeologist from Galahd. My work took me all over Lucis and certain parts of Accordo."

"Quite an accomplishment at such a young age," the tactician compliments.

"It was all thanks to my father I was able to accomplish so much before my life was taken from me." (Y/n)'s voice was low and brimming with melancholy.

"How did you-?" Prompto started to ask, but didn't get to finish as Ignis had picked up on what he was going to ask.

"Prompto," the bespectacled man scolded.

The blonde hadn't realize what he was about to ask until it had almost left his mouth. "S-Sorry..."

"A tale for another time, perhaps," (Y/n) said, offering the blonde boy a kind and gentle smile to ease his guilt.

"What's it like-y'know, being resurrected 'n stuff?" Noctis asked.

"Mostly strange. Eos has changed immensely since my departure. I'm also aware that my home is...gone. I did plan to see it once I arrived, but I learnt of its downfall."

"Must've been difficult to learn the truth," Gladio comments.

"It was, but I've come to terms with it."

Everyone fell silent as the elevator reached its destination. As they stepped off, they could feel heavy footfalls and glanced behind them. A giant beast stomped towards them with a mighty roar.

"What the hell is that?" Gladio scowled.

(Y/n) conjured her staff, staring into the beast's eyes. "A jabberwock."