Here is my first one shot in this collection. My rendition of the events at Belhalla. This is a prequel story to my other FE 4 story, Crusaders Reborn, albeit written very differently. I am using this opportunity to experiment, and thus, I wrote this in a much darker fashion than my other story. Don't expect to see my trademark sense of humor in this, or any other story I put under this collective title. While I may use a little bit of humor, this was written with a serious tone in mind, and I'm afraid some of my readers may find the events described to be a bit disturbing. I believe that this story DEFINITELY deserves a T rating, while Crusaders has it just as a precaution. You've been warned.
I will return to Crusaders Reborn for my next posting, and will alert readers of this story's existence there as well. Though let it be known that I have a case of writer's block when it comes to this next arc. Partly because of Thracia 776, and partly because I had forgotten that you only have to conquer two castles in Chapter 8, and a plot point that I've had planned all along sort of depended on their being three. I can work around it, though I'm afraid that it will leave the third arc a bit sloppy. It might not be, and it could be perfectly well written, I'm just telling you guys that you should expect to see some delays in chapter releases due to writer's block. I'm not panicking or seriously considering quitting, because I know that things will go smoother once I get past the upcoming arc. Though I know it will take more than words to prove. Oh well, Just read and enjoy… if you can (maniacal laugh).
"Arvis you dastard!" such ridiculous last words, especially coming from him, Sigurd of Chalphy, a man so noble and so loved by those he met. However, his poor choice in last words could hardly be held against him. He had come to Belhalla thinking that he had won, that everything would finally have a satisfying, if bittersweet, end. Then Arvis declared that Sigurd and his men were still considered traitors and were to be put to death. Then he called out his wife. HIS wife. There was no doubt that it was Deidre but… when Sigurd looked into those beautiful eyes that had once adored him, he could only see confusion and a lack of recognition. They had had a son together for God's sake! How could she not recognize him? Even worse, she had an slightly swollen belly. Sigurd and Deidre had not seen each other in over a year! So his sudden loss of the ability to use current and more fitting terms could be forgiven. Though for years to come the rulers of the empire would use it as a joke about failed ambition, the ridiculousness of the phrase was the last thing on Sigurd's mind as Arvis brought the full power of Valaflame down upon him. All Sigurd could do was shed silent tears which immediately evaporated as his body was disintegrated from the head down in a span of five seconds.
As soon as the first meteors struck, Dew knew that he had to be fast, and he had to put his backup plan into action. Something in his gut had told him that something would go horribly wrong, he wasn't the only one who felt it, yet he still insisted on feigning ignorance over the reasons for everyone's behavior. Yet at the same time, he had prepared for the worst. Return Rings, interesting items those. If activated, they could send you away from danger and back to the last place the ring was connected to. The location could be changed, but it wasn't cost effective to do it at every location visited, so most would connect it to their base of operations before a campaign. Dew had made sure to "acquire" several of these before they set out to face the might of the Grandbell army, so that if things went horribly wrong, he'd have a way to get his comrades and himself away from the danger. Of course, he'd have to survive to do that, but after intense training with his wife, he felt that he could stand up for himself if necessary. Plus he trusted his dodging abilities, something that had come in handy whether as a thief or as a soldier. In the past, he would have abandoned the others to save his own skin, but now he was 16, married to a woman of Amazonian qualities, and had twins to look after. He actually gave a damn about others now, so he was scouring the battlefield for his companions.
He quickly came across Sylvia and Claude. Claude was on the ground bleeding profusely and had a nasty looking head wound. A Swordfighter was stalking them and approaching slowly, and Sylvia had her Defense sword at the ready to protect her new husband, but the man thought nothing of it. Knowing that Sylvia likely didn't stand a chance, Dew used his Wind Sword to knock the blade out of the man's hand. Then Dew rushed forward and decapitated him. "Are you alright Sylvia?" he asked.
"She nodded "Yes, I'm alright, but Claude! and the others!" she said, terror plain to hear in her voice.
"You'd better get him out of here." Dew said, pulling a couple of Return rings out of his bag. "These will teleport you back to Zaxon. You should be able to get medical aid there. You should see some of the others soon, I'm going to hand out as many of these as I can. I wish you luck, and please, wish it for me."
"No luck, the god's will." said Claude, half deliriously. Sylvia nodded and slipped the ring on his finger, and then hers, and they disappeared.
After this, Dew was remarkably successful in saving his comrades. Mostly because he didn't directly involve himself in any of the various skirmishes happening across the battlefield, and although there were many soldiers dying, Dew's friends were the elite. They were not going to go down easily. He found Adean and Midir next, and after showing them the Return rings, she used her last use of her warp staff to save her husband and save his ring for another, and then took a ring for herself and escaped. Though as this happened, Dew wondered why Adean had chosen to stay yet Raquesis had left. He then found Holyn, Jamke, and Briggid, all fighting back to back, and after assisting them, ensured their escape. He then found Azel and Lex in a similar situation. Having sent Tailto back to Zaxon after they took Phinora, and not wanting to devastate her in her already emotional state, Azel quickly accepted the ring and made his escape, but Lex wasn't so ready to leave.
"You'd have me abandon the others? I don't know what goes on in that head of yours or why you think that I'll turn coward and run. That is how you do things, not me. I won't ditch my comrades." he shouted at Dew
"Azel just left without any hesitation or arguments, Lex! Are you calling your best friend a coward for doing that?" Dew shouted
"He had a perfectly good reason to leave like that. I don't think any less of him whatsoever for it. He had every reason to leave now."
"So do you! I'm getting everyone out of here as quickly and safely as possible, direct battle won't help much at this point Lex! Everyone else will be glad just to see that your'e still breathing! Admit it, you really just want to look good in front of MY WIFE!"
"AYRA SHOULDN'T EVEN BE YOUR-" their argument was interrupted by nearby explosion, and by nearby, I mean close enough to knock them off their feat, but not close enough to be lethal.
"Fine! Get yourself killed for all I care. Iv'e got to save my wife and the rest of our friends!" Dew shouted, and he began to sprint. As he moved closer to the castle, he stopped short in horror at what he saw.
Noish had been thrown off of his horse when the the first volley of meteors had been thrown. As he recovered and watched in horrified fascination as his master died, Noish decided that all that he had left to do is gather his fellow knights of Chalphy and avenge their master as best as they could. He'd lost his horse, but wan't otherwise unharmed, so he started rushing through the battlefield. "Alec? Arden?" he called out, running through the battlefield. He found them together. Arden laying on the ground, and Alec standing beside him, clutching a wound in his side. "Alec, I'm glad to see you survived the first onslaught, Arden, you have to get up buddy we-" Noish stopped short and drew back in horror when he saw the state his friend was in. He was staring directly at Arden's chest. He could clearly see the ground.
"We're all that's left buddy. A couple of horseless cavaliers of Chalphy. It's the end, and to think, I never got to know any of the ladies, or get Sylvia to show me that special dance of her's!" Alec bemoaned.
"Don't talk like that Alec, we can still give the enemy hell and avenge our master in the process. Let's find the others, we'll regroup and then-" He was interrupted by another volley that sent him flying through the air. "Alec? Alec where are you" he called as his vision cleared, with the first thing he could make out being the remains of Alec's turban fluttering to the ground, and then he saw the ghastly mess caused by a direct hit from a meteor spell. "No…"
Then he heard a cackling voice from behind him. "Thus is the fate that shall befall all that interfere with the dark lord's return."
Noish turned to the voice. "You… You're a member of the dark sect!"
"Yes. Not just any member, however. I am Archbishop Manfroy, and I am here to ensure that some… particular pests perish on this day." he said with a malevolent grin.
"You shall perish for what you have done here this day!" Noish cried as he charged forward.
"That's an unlikely event, especially at the hands of a mere knight such as yourself." Manfroy said as a dark tendril appeared, grabbed Noish's sword arm, and slammed him to the ground. "You are of no consequence, and are of no threat, yet…" the tendril then wrapped around Noish's throat and pulled him upright, so he was in a kneeling position as he tried to get air "I might as well eliminate you, considering I'm here and all." Manfroy then grabbed Noish's face, and channeled his dark magic directly into Noish's head, making it decay and collapse in on itself, until what remained imploded. Manfroy let the not so fresh corpse fall to the ground, then he turned to the sound of hoofbeats.
Beowolf had seen his comrades in arms in distress and rushed towards them, but alas, he had arrived just in time to see Noish die. He tried to spin his horse about, but dark tendrils lashed out, impaled the horse, grabbed Beowolf by the waist, and threw him roughly to the ground, arms forward. "Any last words?" Manfroy asked him.
"Finn you lucky bastard, you'd better take damn good care of Raquesis and Delmund."
"As good a last phrase as any. Certainly better than your leader's." Manfroy said as he made the tendrils lash out again. They entered Beowolf's right thigh and came out of his left shoulder, then they curved around and went down his throat and out the small of his back, then into the back of his neck and then out of the top of his head. Then Manfroy made a pulling motion and that was the gruesome end of Beowolf.
Then Manfroy grinned again when he heard the sound of howling wind behind him. "This wonderful day just doesn't want to end, does it?" he said as he whirled around to face Lewyn. The tendrils shot out, but were blown back by the might of the Forsetti tome. Manfroy grunted a little at this, but was otherwise unharmed. "The mighty king of Silesse, just the pest that I was looking to exterminate." he said as he used the Jormung spell. Lewyn dodged this, but was unable to avoid the Hell spell that followed. Lewyn cried out in pain and then began to vomit black fluids, shaking heavily.
"And so it ends for you." said Manfroy, preparing the finishing blow he was interrupted, however, by Lewyn's wife. Ferry kept trying to strike Manfroy with her slim lance, but he dodged all of her blows. She sent her mount upwards and Lewyn tried using Forsetti again, this time, hitting Manfroy with some debris, knocking him back, but not knocking him out. Ferry used the opening to get her husband onto her mount. As soon as she had secured him, Manfroy lashed out with the tendrils again. They were stopped by Ayra's silver sword.
"Get him out of here!" she called to Ferry, who quickly mounted and shot into the sky.
"Ah, the Isaacian wench that started this all. I'm glad your'e here, you've served your purpose, so now I think that it's high time that you died."
"I guess it's fair for you to attempt to mess with my head now. After all, I'm going to mess up yours!" she responded, and launched into a flurry of blows, all of which Manfroy countered with a tendril or a dodge. Suddenly, he grabbed her upper right arm. She cried out as she felt a terrible burning sensation course through her body.
"Are you sure you want to pay the price for opposing Loptyr? It's more than an arm and a leg." He said, as he tore the arm out of the socket and struck her with it. "But I suppose that they will do for now." he said as a tendril grabbed her by the legs, flipped her over and suspended her seven feet in the air.
Fortunately, anything further was prevented by a hand axe going through the tendril and Manfroy getting a blast of wind magic in the face, momentarily blinding him. Ayra dropped straight on top of her husband."Dew, I-"
"Don't speak, just get medical attention and wait for me." he said, slipping a Return ring onto the index finger of her remaining hand and activating it.
"I'm afraid that you'll be the one that will be waiting for her… IN HELL!" Manfroy shouted, shooting tendrils at Dew and Lex. While Lex cut them down, Dew bobbed and weaved and slashed around them. After about twenty seconds of this, one of them split open his bag as he was leaping, causing the remaining Return rings to spill out onto the ground. "Planning to save all the rest of your friends, are you?" Manfroy asked, casting a spell that made them all melt. "Not going to happen." he said.
While Dew was distracted by the loss, one of the tendrils grabbed him and pulled him to Manfroy. Preparing to kill him in the same fashion as Noish, Manfroy asked "Any last words?" and Dew said "Always be prepared." and then he was gone. He'd been wearing a Return ring all this time, he just hadn't activated it. Manfroy decided to turn his attention towards Lex… who had realized that he wasn't a match for the archbishop and had escaped at the same time as Dew.
Normally, Manfroy would have shouted in rage over his victims escaping, but not this time. He took it with a cool indifference. He knew that he had already won, and that he'd have all the time in the world to hunt them down. Neither they nor their children would be safe from the new age of Loptyr that was fast approaching.