So, I was invited to co-write a story with my friend, AznGalahad, on his long-forgotten Suikoden 5 story. Now that he got me to play it, i'm just so addicted, urghh I can't even concentrate on my Naruto fanfic until I write a little of this first! There is going to be a total change of plotline, though the premise is the same. Hope you come along for the ride.
Suikoden 5: Tears of Time
Prologue
Nethergate. The mention of it's name was enough to bring a tangible shiver from even the most defiant noble. An infamous police organization that once terrorized and policed the people of Falena in the name of the Queen, their kill list ranged from common citizens to even members of the royal family. Their activities spanned the country, creating strife and confusion to advance their own goals. But when the new Queen took the blood-stained throne, her first task was to dismantle them. Their authority stripped from their leaders and their hideouts exposed to the light, they were cast down and broken apart, a mere remnant of what they once were.
Yet they survived. Clinging to the sheer hate they felt for the Queen, they prospered beneath the shadows. Their ranks swelled every year, and the scope of their influence increased.
And Eight years later, they executed their revenge.
---
The throne of Falena was renowned for its beauty. Gold-threaded carpets the color of spring roses padded the marble floors. From the side of the throne room, water streamed from above, a testament to the awe-inspiring architecture of the greatest carpenters in the Queendom of Falena. Massive oaken doors inlaid with hundreds of protective runes guarded the chamber.
And now, those doors blew apart from the strain of Nethergate's assault.
A stream of assassins flocked into the room, their footsteps a light patter as they flanked the chamber.
On her throne, Arshtat, the Queen of Falena, could only watch as her last defensive line, three of her personal knights, a handful of soldiers, and her King, prepared themselves to shield against the coming tide.
---
Ferid was prepared as he would ever be. When the chamber doors finally gave, he anticipated the move. As an assassin leapt through the entrance, Ferid moved forwards. With a roar, his blade sliced up, and the assassin fell back dead, a mortal wound through it's belly.
He turned back and called out to his knights. "Be not afraid! No matter how powerful Nethergate may be, their troops are just as human as we are!" His voice was a reassuring strength, and the soldiers of the castle rallied to his cry.
"Let the Queen see our courage!"
Ferid tried to keep his optimism high, but it was hard. As Nethergate pushed forwards, the castle soldiers fell against the assassins skill. Miakis and Ghaleon held on as the Queen's knights they were, but the undying numbers of Nethergate were too many. Ghaleon suffered from a dozen cuts and Miakis situation was similar.
Since when did Nethergate have so many assassins? He wondered, as he parried a dual thrust from two assassins. He had personally seen to their dismantling. The only way they could have survive, was if someone else had helped them...he grimaced. Someone like the Godwins. With a warrior's confidence, he stepped inwards just as the assassins rushed in at him. With a simple flash of his sword, he disemboweled the two.
To his side, George looked up and yelled out. "Here they come!"
---
Arshtat look passively as a pair of assassins covered her. She averted her eyes as George cut them both down with fury.
Why? Why did things have to come to this? She had done everything she could to balance the interests of the people, of the Godwins and the Barrows, but it only led to more strife, more hatred. She had underestimated the Godwins, not realizing their strength had grown so much, and her failure had led to this situation.
A mist began to cover her eyes. No, it wasn't a mist. Rather, a burning brightness that blinded her, a light as bright as the sun itself. She steeled herself against the madness that she knew would follow as the Sun rune attempted to control her.
She looked forwards, and her eyes caught Ferids. Those were eyes that had always comforted her, ever since she saw the lonely warrior that had entered the Games. She had fallen in love with those eyes, a hazel-nut brown that shined with humor and wisdom. He smiled to her, a secret promise that he would protect her until the ends of the world.
Looking up, her eyes widened. A Godwin soldier was on the window ledge with a crossbow aimed down at Ferid! And he was occupied fighting another assassin! She rose up from her seat, and her eyes flared with light.
"Take this!" She screamed in hatred.
And everyone in the room fell silent as the soldier was lifted in a glowing translucent orb. The Godwin soldier looked around at his cage in confusion, and cried in horror as his clothes began to dissipate. Searing heat burned his clothes and ignited his crossbow. And the orb imploded, scattering the Godwin soldier into ashes. Nethergate assassin's looked up, and they showed emotions that they thought they had lost long ago. Fear.
The Sun rune glowed, light overflowing from Arshtats crown. Her mind became lost under an intense pressure as the use of the Sun rune gave it unbridled control over her body. Her thoughts turned as a roaring heat beat through her blood.
She turned toward the chamber and looked down. She laughed pitilessly and in her voice was the cruelty of a millenia. "You fools. Threatening me, the sun's vice-jerent, the executioner of justice, is a grave offense worthy of death! Insects like you aren't even good enough to be tortured! I'll crush you myself right now!"
---
Ferid shook his head, and realized he had to stop things before it was too late. "Arshtat, no!"
He dropped his sword and ran towards his love. Grasping her shoulders, he shook her shoulders and pleaded, hoping to shake some sense into her. "Arshtat, snap out of it!"
---
The brightness dimmed a bit, and Arshtat hung her head as her will battle against the that of the Sun runes. She felt hands grip her shoulders and words fly through her ears. Who was this? The grasp was so familiar, the voice so soothing.
And before she could react, the light blanketed out all reasoning once again.
Arshtat pushed Ferid away. "Backoff, mortal!"
And a fatal orb of light encapsulated Ferid.
His loving brown eyes caught hers, and all the blindness parted before her eyes. The curtain of light was thrust open, and as she saw what she had done, she let out a little moan.
What have I done!? Her mind screamed. She willed the orb to dissipate, but it would not. Ferid looked to her, and smiled back, even trying to comfort her at the end. His mouth moved and he whispered the same words that he whispered to her every day and night. Her arms reached out, hoping to touch him one final time and he reached out to her. The tips of her finger grazed the light, but were unable to pierce through the spell of the Sun rune.
"No...no..." She weakly gasped out. But it was too late.
The orb shattered, wiping away Ferid's existence from the world.
Arshtat fell to her knees and cried. She let out a keening wail, the sound that one emits when they've lost the most important piece of their lives. She was defeated, her world ruined by everything. Ruined!
Her head raised reflexively as the assassins saw an opening. The pair of assassins that rushed towards her dissipated in golden light.
The curtain of brightness crowded out her vision once again, and she lost all reasoning.
Ferid was gone, and she had killed him herself. Her castle was being overtaken by the forces she had tried to appease. And for what reason?! The peace of Falena!? Falena had cost her everything! Everything! Her country was lost, her love gone! He would no longer hold her in his arms, he would no longer whisper words into her ears. She would never see his smile, see his eyes.
The vicious Godwin traitors had probably taken her children too. There was no longer any reason to hold on to this wretched world.
No. There was no longer any reason at all.
She would crush this land and raise a new paradise from it's ashes! A world without suffering, without plotting, without hate or malice. She would create this world even if it meant the destruction of Falena!
She laughed, but it wasn't that of a madwoman. It was the of a broken woman who had lost everything, and had deemed the world to be insane. She looked at the chamber, and Nethergate assassins cowered as their brethen began to die one by one under her smoldering gaze. She faced the throne room with the aura of the Sun rune breaking across her body and looked down upon everyone there.
"That's it. I've had enough with such worthles subjects. People who don't even know right from wrong! I will bring Lordlake's fate to the entire country!"
A blinding light filled the room, and a sphere of solid energy began to grow in the hanging air. Heat filled the room, suffocating everyone inside.
"Worthless subjects that dare defy me. Face the divine vengeance of the sun!" She laughed more as her attackers turned to ash before her.
And then she gasped, as a blade tore through her body.
---
George retracted the blade as painlessly as he could, and threw away the damned sword. He held the Queen as she feel onto the floor. The rune on her forehead faded, sensing her imminent death. It left her mind as swiftly as it came, and her thoughts were hers once again.
He had done it. He had executed the plan that he and Ferid and Arshtat had planned on long ago. To slay her if she was to fargone by the Sun rune.
"I don't...expect you to forgive me." He whispered to her. "You can even hate me if you want. I can take it."
Arshtat winced against the pain, as spasms racked her body. The backlash of the spell had hit her as Georges blade pierced her, ruining her as much as any weapon could. She would die soon, and she felt life ebb from her.
She struggled to voice her last words. "N-no...n-no...George...you did the right thing. You saved...me...and more importantly...you saved Falena...Thank you..." She moaned a little more as shots of pain pierced her body once more. She would have given in at that moment, but there was one last thing she had to say. One, no...two, last things she could protect.
"George...please...for m-me...take...c-care of...my c-children." She mouthed out. Her words were a ghost of a breath, but George knew them for what they were, because he understood her kindness and her resolve.
"I will."
---
---
A cloaked figure stood in a stone room covered by mossy overgrowth. The figure lifted a hand that was drenched with sweat and waved to the flat pedestal in front of him.
"A success." The figure whispered with smug satisfaction.
And Arshtat, once known as the Queen of Falena, opened her eyes to darkness.