Marth and I stood there, blood flowing out of fresh wounds. We stood overlooking the castle. Castle Altea had fallen.
"Marth...I, I'm sorry," I coughed through my blood.
"How did this happen?" Marth cried burying his face in his hands.
"Well...it goes a little something like this," I said as I began my story.
Time flashes back to July, six months before Altea fell.
I sat on a park bench alone, enjoying the sunshine. A dark figure in a brown robe sat beside me. I gave a nervous glance over toward the man. He had a creepy smile, his face was gray, his eyes were a lifeless brown.
"Now boy. One sound escapes your lips and you will not leave this place alive," The man whispered in my ear.
"What do you want?" I asked masking my fear.
"I want you to promise you'll never come after me. You are fated to kill me, and you see, I really don't want to die. So behave and keep your distance."
I don't know why I would come after you anyway. You are free to do as you please."
"Playing it cool I see. Fair enough. Pray that this is the last time we meet."
He stood up and walked away. I didn't pay attention to where he went. I sat there and thought about that strange guy. I'm not fated to kill anyone. I just couldn't imagine myself doing something like that.
Another man sat next to me in a hurry.
"Hey. You're name is Terrence right?" The man asked.
"Yeah. That's me. Listen…" I trailed off.
"Marth."
"Okay Marth. Listen, I already had some other creepy guy sit next to me already. I'm here to relax. Can it wait?"
I glanced over, surprised by the blue hair and black eyes. His eyes told the story of his urgency.
"Fine," I sighed, "What is it?"
"That man you sat by is named Gharnef. He wants to take over the world. My kingdom is next. I need your help," Marth begged.
"Alright. Since you asked, I'll go with. Do I get any gear?"
Marth held out a gold sword that was filled with cracks.
"What am I supposed to do with this? It'll break when I use it," I said examining it.
"It won't break. The sword's name is Ragnell. It was blessed by the goddess Ashera. The mercenary named Ike used it," Marth explained.
"Alright. So, how do we get to the castle from here?" I asked
Marth reached out and grabbed my wrist. A ring of light suddenly formed around us. I looked down and noticed my feet started to disappear. I watched as more and more of me started to disappear. Everything suddenly went completely white.
When I came back to my senses, I was in the middle of the desert.
"There it is. Castle Altea. What do you think?" Marth asked.
"It's a very nice castle. So, all we have to do is protect it with the aid of some soldiers right?" I asked being cocky.
"All of our men are dead. Well, all except a handful. We have Cain, Abel, Jagen, you, and me."
As we walked toward the castle, I noticed a black blur to Marth's right.
"Get down!" I yelled pushing him. I drew Ragnell and blocked the incoming attack.
"Impressive," The man chuckled.
"What do you want?" I asked, jumping back.
"I need to know why," He asked.
"Why what?" Marth asked as he dusted himself off.
"Why do you fight? I don't want to fight a battle that's meaningless," The man said lowering his head.
"I fight for my kingdom and my honor as its prince," Marth explained.
"And I fight because I can't live with myself knowing that I turned down a chance to help someone," I said as I shifted Ragnell up onto my shoulders.
"Would you guys...would you guys let me fight with you?" The man asked looking up at Marth
"Sure. What's your name?" Marth asked.
"Cloud. Cloud Strife," Cloud extended his hand toward Marth.
"Welcome aboard Cloud," Marth beamed.
"Let's get back to the castle and gather the last of our forces. We'll have everyone meet up in the throne room. If an enemy is going to strike, they'll need to capture the throne," I said, suddenly getting serious.
Marth nodded and ran toward the castle. Cloud smirked and started walking, and after getting my head together, I ran after Marth.
When we arrived at the castle, I looked around the outside. The castle's old stone walls were starting to chip away, and many arrows stuck out of them.
"Marth, this place is starting to fall apart," I gasped.
"Despite how old it looks, I assure you, it's all battle damage," Marth said. He sounded almost sad.
"Wow. How did it get this bad?" I asked, walking to Marth's side.
"Gharnef has armies of undead warriors. He finds the best warriors that have passed and brings them back to do what he wants them to do. He wants the resurrection of the shadow dragon Medeus."
I watched as a tear flowed down his cheek and into the dry sand, only to evaporate seconds later.
"My mother and father...maybe even my sister. He killed them. And now he wants me dead too. He wants the emblem," Marth cried.
I placed my hand on Marth's shoulder. "Hey, I promise, I'm not going to let anything happen to you. Gharnef has another thing coming if he thinks he's going to take anything else from this castle," I comforted.
Marth composed himself. "Alright, once Cloud gets here, we'll enter the castle. I'll take Cloud and round up Cain and Abel in the east. I need you to go west and get Jagen," He commanded.
"I'm here," Cloud announced, "And I heard the plan. Let's go."
Marth opened the doors and ran into the castle. I didn't understand why he was running. We didn't enter enemy territory. I went with the urgency and ran into the west wing of the castle. I felt lost.
"Damn," I muttered under my breath. I had seen this castle before, but only in a video game. And that was from an eagle's view. I felt I had more control there than I did here. I brushed off the feeling and ran into a side door. The room smelt odd, and as I looked around, I realized it was the castle stable. I heard a step behind me and turned around, Ragnell ready to strike. An old man with an axe and sorrowful eyes stood over me, axe held high like an executioner before a kill.
"Who are you boy? Have you come to hurt the master?" He asked in a booming voice.
"Wait a minute, are you Jagen?" I asked, trying to stay calm.
"That's me. How do you know that?"
"My name is Terrence. Listen, Marth sent me to come find you. We're all supposed to meet in the throne room in case of an enemy attack."
"Well met Terrence. Allow me to mount my horse, and then we may go."
I slung Ragnell back onto my shoulders.
"No problem," I shrugged.
Jagen walked into one of the stables and mounted an armored horse.
"I'm going to ride at full speed. If you want a ride, hop on when I get close," Jagen chuckled.
"Wait, are you sure that's…" I trailed off as he charged toward the door. I braced myself, ready to make the jump. As he got close, I jumped toward the horse. Jagen grabbed my hand and threw me onto the back of the horse.
"Surprised at my strength for my age?" He cackled.
"A little, yeah. I thought you were always really serious," I wondered aloud.
"Only around the prince. I am one of his closest advisors. I cannot afford to let my guard down around him."
"Oh. I guess that makes sense."
We were silent the rest of the way. When we entered the throne room, I jumped off the horse and rolled as I hit the ground.
"Looks like we got here first," Marth chuckled.
"Yeah yeah. This castle is confusing," I poked back at him.
"Your highness, perhaps introductions are necessary," Jagen scorned.
"Yes. I suppose you're right as always," Marth smiled, "The guy over here with the red hair is Cain, green hair is Abel, this blonde man is one of our new comrades named Cloud, the old man on the horse is Jagen, and finally, the guy with a sword across his shoulders is Terrence."
I shook hands with everyone, and even got a friendly smirk from Jagen.
Suddenly, we all heard the sound of the main castle doors opening.