The transition from the world of Eos to the Hub was not a physical movement so much as it was a fundamental shift in the laws of physics.
One moment, the air smelled of Sylleblossoms and the ozone of the regathering atmosphere; the next, it was the sterile, temperature-controlled stillness of the Inter-Dimensional Nexus.
The Road Runner hummed to a stop on the white-glass floor of the docking bay. As the engine died, Theodore felt the familiar, jarring "click" in his mind—the sensation of his Gamer stats being locked away into a vault.
His strength, which had been enough to shatter Magitek steel, withered back to that of an average young man.
The mana that had pulsed like a second heartbeat in his veins cooled and vanished.
In the Hub, Theodore Mayer was just Theodore.
Ardyn Izunia was the last to step out of the vehicle. He moved slowly, his boots clicking on the translucent floor.
He wasn't wearing his flamboyant Chancellor's coat anymore; he wore a simple, dark blazer Theodore had given him back in Insomnia.
He looked around the vast space of the Hub, where floating screens displayed data from a thousand different realities.
"It's... quiet,"
Ardyn whispered. He clutched his chest, his fingers digging into the fabric of his shirt.
"Theodore... the voices. The 2,000 years of screaming... it's gone."
Theodore stepped up beside him, feeling the strange vulnerability of his base human form.
"That's because the Starscourge is a virus of Eos, Ardyn. Here, there is no Eos. No Astrals. No Prophecy. You're in the white space between the pages. You're finally off the hook."
Ardyn took a shaky breath, then another. He looked at his hands, turning them over.
They were the hands of an old man, perhaps, but they were clean. No black veins.
No pulsing darkness. For the first time in two millennia, he was not the "Accursed." He was just a normal human.
"I feel... remarkably light,"
Ardyn said, a wry, genuine smile touching his lips.
"And remarkably hungry. Does this 'Hub' of yours serve anything other than profound existential silence?"
"9S,"
Theodore called out,
"Take him out to our mansion. Give him a room with a window facing the city."
9S, also stripped of his combat sub-routines but still retaining his cheerful personality, nodded.
"Follow me, Mr. Izunia! I'll show you how to use the replicator for the high-end vintages. Theodore managed to save quite a bit from the Niflheim vaults."
As 2B followed them to ensure Ardyn didn't wander into a restricted reality-gate, Theodore sat down on a nearby bench, exhausted.
A massive, semi-transparent screen flickered to life in front of Theodore. This was the moment every Gamer lived for: the tally.
[RUN SUMMARY: EOS (FINAL FANTASY XV)]
Result: SUCCESS (Perfect Ending Achieved)
Total EXP Gained: 42,500
Level Reached: 20
Free Stat Points: 40
"Wow, 40 points. I mean I can get 4 perks for the next game run…"
Theodore spent the next few hours walking through the Hub. Without his Gamer's Mind active, he felt the full weight of the Eos run.
He remembered the heat of the Leide desert, the smell of the Malmalam Thicket, and the look on Noctis's face when he realized he wouldn't have to die.
He eventually found himself in the mansion, standing outside a door labeled Ardyn's room. He knocked.
Ardyn opened the door. He had changed into a soft, grey robe.
The room was filled with the soft, purple light of a nearby nebula visible through the massive bay window.
"Ah, the Architect of my salvation,"
Ardyn said, gesturing for Theodore to enter. On the table was a bottle of wine and two glasses.
"I was just admiring the view. It's much better than the inside of a Crystal, I must say."
Theodore sat down, feeling the mundane ache in his legs.
"How are you holding up, Ardyn? Really?"
Ardyn poured a glass of wine, his movements slow and deliberate.
"It is... strange. For two thousand years, my every thought was dictated by the darkness within me. My rage, my humor, my cruelty... it was all a performance played for an audience of one: the God who spurned me. Now?"
He took a sip of the wine, closing his eyes.
"Now, the audience is gone. And I find that I don't quite know who the actor is."
"You've got time to figure it out,"
Theodore said.
"The Hub world doesn't have a prophecy. You can be a historian, a gardener, or just a guy who drinks too much wine. The System will keep you alive as long as I'm running."
Ardyn looked at Theodore, his eyes sharp.
"And what of you, Theodore? You saved a world, yet you sit here as a common man, weaker than the soldiers you slaughtered. Does it not gall you? To lose that godhood every time you return?"
Theodore looked at his hands.
"It keeps me human, Ardyn. If I stayed at that level forever, I'd eventually stop caring about the people in the next world. I'd see them as NPCs. This reset... it reminds me that I have to earn every life I save."
Ardyn chuckled, a warm, resonant sound.
"A humble God. A dangerous thing to be."
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