Blood, metal, sweat, and tears. All of these things and more litter the battlefield of the once proud nations of Gallia, Crimea, and Daein. At the epicenter of this strife and suffering struggling for every scrap of hope they can grasp is a small mercenary band of rebels fighting every step of the way to reclaim there home. One among there number however fight's for something else. He fights for his own reasons and ambitions or so he thinks. This group is merely a tool for him to use to attain his goal at least that's what he tells himself. His name is Rurick and this is his story.

5, 14,645, Province of Daein

Rurick sat alone in his cell. The outside world held nothing but death and glory. This he had in spades but inside he felt nothing but strife.

"Hey!" The guard called out. Rurick shot him a look of disdain. "It's time." He said unfazed by the champian's scowl as he leapt to his feet.

"So who has the honors this time?" Rurick asked, his deep voice only getting amplified by the dark room he called home.

"The king himself." Rurick was floored for only a second. "What could Ashnard want with me?" He asked. The guard turned around.

"Don't know. Don't give a shit. He asked for you so here I am." He unlocked the cell as Rurick slipped his hand's through the bars. The guard cuffed his hands in irons and swung the cell door open.

"Come on. We're already late as it is."

A few hours later, and with the help of a carriage supplied by the royal house, Rurick found himself in the war room of the castle. He was not alone for other's were already there upon his arrival. In the left corner of the rather spacious room, a woman adorned in black armor was being rather boisterous with a figure clad in from head to toe in black plate mail.

"Can you tell me why I have to babysit this so-called Champion of Daein?" She all but yelled at the black figure. He didn't even bother to flinch at her raised voice. He stood as still as a statue. If Rurick hadn't heard him talk he would have thought him one.

"My dear Petrine it is unbecoming of a lady to raise her voice." He turned his head to Rurick. "Besides it would seem that our guest has arrived." The Black Knight motioned for Rurick to approach them. He obliged albeit begrudgingly. He locked eye's with the women as he got closer, a sly grin crossing his face as a scowl was seen on her's.

"Petrine." He couldn't help but savor her need to hold her tongue. "Rurick." She shot back a venom-laced response. Rurick turned to the Black Knight.

"Want to explain why I was dragged away from the pit?" He asked not too thrilled with where he thought this was going. "This better be important." The Knight as if reading his mind nodded.

"This assignment comes from the king himself." Rurick scoffed. "My apologies if I withhold my excitement but wasn't it he who had me damned to that infernal pit I called home for the past 15 years?" He growled out, a scowl clearly etched on his face. The Knight nodded again.

"Yes it was by his decree that you lived and it is by his decree that you now go to fight for him." He waved a hand over to the council's table in the center of the room. The trio moved to it and Rurick saw that it held a map of Tellius.

"We have a small problem in Gallia." The knight said pointing to the small country. "A small band of mercenaries has taken refuge in the county and it is imperative that we track them down at once." He moved a small chess piece from one side of the map to a small fort on the border of Gallia and Crimea.

"We will lay in wait for them at the border between Gallia and Crimea." He set the small piece down. "There we will make our move." His words resonated with Rurick and he got the sense that the knight was hinting at something else altogether.

5, 20, 645, Fort Meritenne.

Rurick held his sword in one hand and a small sharpening stone in the other. "How long has it been since I fought another well-trained soldier?" He thought about it. "Not since I got dragged away from my home all those years ago." His mind drifted back to his life before, when he lived amongst his little village in the west. "No point in relishing the past." The knight had returned.

"Rurick, Petrine, our guests have arrived." Rurick smiled, his eyes alight with the flame of bloodlust. "Let's see what these mercs have to offer." He hefted his sword over his shoulder, sheathing it and striding to the hallway leading to the inner workings of the fort.

5, 20, 645, The Grail Mercenaries.

Boyd was at a loss for words. "Holy shit that sword is huge!" He was speaking of the berserker that had appeared next to the black-clad women astride a horse.

"Finally we found you." Petrine bellowed as Rurick stood there leaning against a wall. "I do love a good chase but you know what they say about all good thing's." She wore a smirk that reacked of victory.

"Um, Who are you?" Ike asked as he and the rest of the mercenaries stood there ground in the hall. Petrine laughed.

"We are your doom!" She raised her lance, the signal to attack had been given. Rurick stretched his body in satisfaction. "Now I can let loose!" In a blink, his sword was out of its sheath and in his grasp. An impressive feat for a blade as tall as he. Ike looked at the small number of troops left. Then he saw Rurick.

"Yeah, Boyd he's all yours." Slapping his friend in the back. "Wait what!?" Boyd yelled as Rurick advanced on him. Before either of them could get off a swing however a voice boomed out over the small group.

"Mind if we cut in?" Rurick faltered. "No! That can't be?" He spun around, completely disregarding Boyd who let out a sigh of relief. "Thank the goddesses." His hazel eyes were now locked onto the form of the man approaching the group of combatants.

"Well if it isn't the very visage of blind ambition," Greil said as he, Shinon, and Gatrie blocked off the west wing of the fort. Petrine was ecstatic.

"look what we have here?" She eyed Greil. "A nice strong man to take back Daein." She chuckled. "Oh, the emperor will love this." She smiled. "He may just put you in the pit like Rurick over here." She pointed to her companion who had yet to take his eyes off of Grail. Petrine noticed this and was not too thrilled with it. "What has gotten into you?" Rurick finally looked away as the flood of memories came back. Finally, he found his voice again.

"General Grail?" He asked as he took a tentative step forward. Grail took his eyes away from Petrine. When their eyes met Grail was saddened. "Rurick." His voice full of sorrow.

"It has been a long time." Grail thought back some ten year's or so. Back to the day, he saw that small boy tearing through Begnion troop's to avenge the death of his mother. He shook his head to clear the memories. Grail gave Rurick a soft nod of apology. Rurick was furious.

"Where the hell have you been!?" He shouted raising his sword to the old man. Grail just sighed. "Boy now is not the time nor the place to catch up with the past." He tried to say more but he was cut off as Rurick rushed him. "The hell its not!" He said swinging his blade forward in an arc. Grail brought his axe up and intercepted the blow.

"Still as sloppy as ever." He quipped. Rurick just growled and swung again, and again not letting up is assault. Meanwhile, the collective group all looked on as Grail and Rurick fought each other. Neither one of them backed down. Then in a decisive move that proved his vast year's of experience Greil fainted to the left of Rurick's wild downward strike letting his blade sail past him and lodge itself into the stone floor. Rurick grunted as he tried to pry it free but before he could get the chance Greil seized the opportunity to club rurick in the chest with his haft knocking the wind out of him. As Rurick fell to the ground trying to get air into his lungs Greil swooped in and with one blow to the head knocked Rurick out cold.