Chapter 2
Arrival
Author's Note: Readers of my others story, From the Ashes, will know that I talked about concerns with feeling a lack of inspiration in my writing. Which I am glad to say I am feeling when I write this story. I feel alive for the first time in a long time. So this story is going to be my main focus for awhile. I'll keep working on From the Ashes but I'm putting it on the back burner for now because writing it was turning into a chore for me because of the burnout. Right, onto chapter 2.
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Lucina stirred. She had been sitting in the back of a horse drawn carriage, lightly dozing as she rested her head against the wall. The carriage lurching to a stop jerked her out of it. "Wha?" she said groggily, rubbing her eyes. "We there?" She was wearing her usual dark blue armor and tunic, her hair the same color. Out of instinct, she felt for the golden hilt of Falchion, the unique holy sword that was her family's heirloom.
On the other side of the carriage, her father Chrom frowned. He wore his usual outfit, dark blue armor with a white cape. Although, for reasons she never quite understood, his armor didn't cover his right arm. To be fair, she had seen odder choices in armor. "We can't be," he said, grasping his own sword. Which was also Falchion. Technically the two swords were the same sword.
Five years ago, Lucina had traveled back in time in order to save her father and by extension the entire world from the Shadow Dragon known as Grima. During the trip, she had brought her father's sword, resulting in there being two of them. That wasn't the only thing that there was two of now. With no way back to her time (Though it had been such a miserable, war torn place and everyone she cared about had come back with her, Lucina didn't particularly miss it) she found herself living alongside her past self, who was now four.
Originally she had meant to slip away to let little Lucy (As she was now called) grow up without complication. Her mother, Robin, would hear none of it however. As such, she was introduced to the realm of Ylisse as a distant cousin of the royal family. Her brand of the Exalt, a birthmark unique to the Ylissen royalty, had made it a convincing story. Things had been less complicated for the friends that had accompanied her back, and though it was awkward for them to be around the same age as their parents, all of them had settled into semi-normal living arrangements.
Ever since the fall of Grima, two years after Lucina had arrived in the past, things had been quiet for the most part. There was still the occasional bandit attack, but it was a welcome change from the hordes of undead soldiers that Grima had commanded, or his religious followers. Two days ago however, a message had arrived from Tiki, the Voice of the Divine dragon Naga, Grima's opposite. She had visited the gate to the Outrealms, worlds outside theirs, and had noticed something odd. She said that she had not wanted to say too much in the letter in case it had been intercepted and had asked them to come in person to the gate. So she, her father and her aunt Lissa had set out.
Her aunt sat next to her in her yellow dress, and seemed to have been sleeping as well. "Aw, I was having a nice dream," she complained, stretching her arms above her head. "What's going on?"
"Forgive me M'lord," the driver of the carriage said. "There appears to be a storm of some kind up ahead. But…it's like no storm I've ever seen before." Curious, Lucina got up from her seat and slid the carriage door open, peeking her head out. There was indeed some kind of storm over a nearby village, but the clouds were otherworldly. Black as night, much like the thunderbolts they brought forth. It seemed to be dissipating, but the pitch black thunderbolts continued to strike the village.
"Should we see if everything is all right?" the carriage driver asked.
Chrom frowned, sticking his own head out of the carriage The village couldn't be more than five minutes away. "Yes," he said. "It's a small detour. It shouldn't be much of a problem. Tiki has already had to wait two days for us, I'm sure she won't mind if we have to take a few more hours to get there.
Lucina's hand tensed over the hilt of Falchion as closed the door to the carriage. It began to creek forward, heading to the village. "You don't think this is the work of the Grimleal do you?" Lisa asked, sounding slightly worried. "They're crazy enough to keep going even after they know that Grima is dead. Or maybe they just never realized he was dead in the first place. Hey, they're dumb enough."
Lucina chuckled. Her aunt always had a way of saying what was on her mind without restraint. "I don't think so, this doesn't look like anything they could conjure up," Chrom said cautiously. "That and, to be frank, we'd know if it was them. They're many things but subtle was never one of them. They would've tried to burn the town down before they created whatever those clouds were. No. I think that this is something different. I don't know what it is, but it's threatening the townspeople. So we're going to do what we do best."
Lissa grinned. "Beat the bad guys."
"If there are any," Chrom said. "It'd be nice if this was some magical experiment that just produced very weird looking results. Sadly I don't think we'd ever be that lucky." He let out a sigh. "Either way, we still need to make sure people are safe." Lucina nodded. The soldiers her father led didn't call themselves the Shepherds for nothing.
"We're here M'lord," the driver said. Lucina slid the door to the carriage open again, stepping out and drawing Falchion. Her aunt and father were right behind her, Chrom wielding his own Falchion and Lissa a staff in one hand and tomb in the other. They were just outside the town, which seemed oddly deserted. The clouds above gave one last feeble crack of lightning before disappearing like puffs of smoke.
"At least that's gone," Lucina said gratefully. "But where is everyone? It's the middle of the day, there should be at least a few people outside. As if to answer her question, someone screamed. A scream of terror and pain, coming from the center of the village. The three of them didn't need to look at each other, they all knew they were thinking the same thing. Without a word, they all broke into a run
A rather pleasant smell found its way to Lucina's nostrils, which proved to be a rather disorienting feeling when combined with her heart pounding. Eventually they found themselves in the center of the village. A feast had been laid out, a rather humble affair of soup, bread and a few roasts, but there was enough of it to feed the entire village. Tables and chairs had apparently been brought from all over the village for it. Tables and chairs that now were filled with bodies.
Lucina looked on in horror. At least two dozen people were lying dead at the feast tables. Some of them were still in their chairs, others were sprawled across the table. A few were a couple of feet away from the tables, lying face down in the grass. All of them were soaked in blood, wide open wounds in their bodies. There was another scream.
She snapped her head and saw a man crawling on the ground, an arrow sticking out of the back of his leg. "Please!" he sobbed. "Anyone! Help!" He was being chased. A figure in armor was right behind him, carrying a battered shield and spear. The figure seemed to stumble as it walked forward, moving slowly. It was undoubtly staring directly at the wounded man however, its spear outstreched.
Lucina didn't need to think. She darted forward, swinging Falchion in a single powerful stroke. The figure saw and attempted to react, but its actions were slow and sluggish. In the seconds before the blade connected with its throat, Lucina saw the figures face behind the half helm it wore. It was a man, or at least it had once been. His skin stretched tight over his skull, gaunt and sunken, a sickly shade of red. His expressions were sunken, to the point where his face could be mistaken for a skull at a distance. He looked like a corpse on its feet, the only thing indicating that it was still alive being its eyes. The seemed to glow, like a smoldering fire.
Lucina looked down at the head as it hit the ground. When she thought of walking corpses, Risen were the first thing that came to mind. This thing looked nothing like a Risen, which tended to be very dark and sometimes had a black aura around them. This creature she had slain looked like it had been mummified and moved much slower than any Risen she had known. What was it? Where had it come from?
"T-thank you," the man on the ground spluttered. "T-they came out of nowhere! We were wondering what those clouds were and those things just started killing us!"
"Hold still!" Lissa said, kneeling down next to the man. "I can heal this wound, but the arrow needs to come out first. Otherwise my magic will just close the wound around it."
"W-what about the others?" the man said. "A lot of them got away and ran. They headed for the church. We don't have any weapons though! If they-AGH!" The man screamed in horror. More of the shambling corpses were walking out of the gaps between the buildings. They looked horribly ramshackle. One or two were in full armor, but most only had a few pieces and some didn't even have that, wearing just a few tattered pieces of clothing. Nonetheless, all of them had weapons of some kind. Axes, swords and spears were all bared at them.
"Lucina," Chrom said quickly. "There could still be people alive at the church. Get there as fast as you can and save whoever is left. I'll stay here with your aunt so that she can treat this man. Quick!" Lucina didn't need to be told twice. She dashed forward, swiping at one of the corpses who had tried to lung at her, slicing his gut open. She weaved between the buildings, finding the corpses of a couple more villagers along the way.
Her heart sank as she saw all the dead. They were supposed to be living in peaceful times, yet it looked like the half of the village had been butchered when they had been trying to hold a feast. One of the corpses laid sprawled on the ground here or there, but for the most part the dead she passed were the villagers.
She spotted the church, a good story taller than the other buildings. It wasn't that far away, only a few houses were between her and her destination. Just as she realized this, a noise reached her. Clanging, the sound of metal hitting metal. "Is someone fighting back?" she whispered. That didn't make any sense. The man had said that the village didn't have any weapons. She rounded the last corner. In front of the church, two people in armor stood, both wielding shields and sword.
With a pang, she realized that at least a dozen of the walking corpses were swimming them and they were slowly being pushed back. They were now on the front steps of the church, slowly losing ground. A trio of spears thrust forward, one of the warriors attempted to block it with their shield but one got through. Lucina charged forward as she heard the warrior cry out in pain. Gritting her teeth she swung Falchion with all her might at the exposed backs of the corpses.
She tore through the torso of one, who quickly fell to the ground. Many of the other corpses turned to look at the noise, which proved to be their undoing. One of them had a sword thrust directly into its throat, where as another was stabbed so forcefully in the gut that the tip of the sword came out of his back.
The next minute was a blur to Lucina as she viciously swung Falchion at the corpses. She found herself constantly moving, trying to desperately stay out of arms reach of the corpses before swinging again. The two warriors had broken through the line of corpses and were doing the same, their swords constantly swinging as they maneuvered and dodged. After what seemed like a very long time, all of the corpses were dead. Lucina panted, looking down at the pile of bodies that she and the other two had managed to create.
"Thank you." Lucina looked at the warriors. Their armor was like nothing she had ever seen before, one having an odd symbol of the sun painted on while the other had blue and gold cloth stretched over the chest plate. "They were slowly overwhelming us," the one with the sun on his chest said. "We might have been able to win, but that's not a chance I would've been happen to take."
"Are there any villagers nearby?" Lucina asked, hastily looking around. She couldn't see any, yet she couldn't see any bodies either.
"They barricaded themselves in there," the other warrior said in a somewhat gruff but noticeably feminine voice. "They were like that when we got here, we got caught up in the fighting before we even knew what was going on." She let out a tired sigh. "No one to act as guards. Looks like these people were never expecting the Hollows to come here."
"Hollows?" Lucina said. "Is that what those things were?"
The woman looked at Lucina, as if she had just asked a very strange question. "Yes. People who have been consumed by the Darksign."
"The what?" Lucina asked. Before she could get an answer however, there was a loud snarling noise. She looked just in time to see a pair of dogs, unhealthy thin and with dirty matted fur, charge out from behind a nearby house. That was not the most pressing concern however. What made Lucina's eyes widen in terror was the massive figure that was right behind them.
The two dogs were on the woman before she could properly react. A jaw closed around each leg and she recoiled backward, off balance. Before she could recover, the large figure was upon her. In each hand it held a sword just as long as Lucina, and it swung both of them in unison. Time seemed to slow down as Lucina watched what happened in utter horror. The force of the two blades ripped through the side of the woman, not slowing down in the slightest as it tore through the armor. A second later, the blade broke free and the woman fell. She had been completely bisected. She was silent as the two halves of her body hit the ground, before, to Lucina's horror and confusion, both parts exploded into a cloud of ash.
She forced herself to focus as the dogs pounced, one of them heading for her. Timing her blow just right, she swung Falchion into the dog's side and sent it flying into a wall, its body limp. She glanced to the side to see the surviving warrior pulling his sword out of the top of the other dog, which wasn't moving.
With both dogs dead, Lucina turned her attention to the figure. It almost looked human in some ways, but its face was anything but. It was twisted and narrow, a sickly yellow color with bright red pinpricks for eyes, and pure black horns on either side. "Capra Demon," she heard the warrior whisper.
The Capra Demon eyed the two of them, hands tightening on both of its blades. Lucina eyed them warily. With a single blow those weapons had managed to cleave straight through full plate armor. "Go to the right, I'll go to the left," she whispered to the other warrior. She saw him nod out of the corner of her eye. The two of them moved in different directions, weapons at the ready as they started to encircle the demon. It must have realized what they were trying to do, as its head jerked back and forth between the two of them before lunging at Lucina.
It brought the first blade down with an overhead strike, one that Lucina barely sidestepped before she lunged forward. She drove Falchion into the Capra Demon's chest, tearing through its bare flesh, but the demon didn't react to the wound at all. Instead roaring or even flinching, its small red eyes looked down, focusing on her. She pulled her sword back out just as the demon swung his second blade, this one horizontally. Lucina swung Falchion around, barely getting it between her and the giant weapon. Falchion was unbreakable, which kept the demon from tearing into her, but the force of the blow still slammed her into the wall of the church.
Lucina grit her teeth and willed herself to fight through the pain throbbing in her body. The Capra Demon held both of its blades together, raising them up and preparing to strike. Lucina was weighing her options of putting some distance between the two of them and attacking when the sun warrior darted at the demon from the side, slashing at its right arm. The demon whirled around, blood spewing from the deep wound on its arm that had been left, swinging both of its blades at its new attacker. The sun warrior raised his wooden shield and took the attack head on, but the sheer force of the blow that impacted him knocked him off of his feet.
Lucina spotted white in the open gash and realized that the warrior's blade had hit bone. Not wanted to risk another attack to the torso that the demon might not register, she charged at the arm, bringing Falchion down on the gash. The demon had been moving to attack the sun warrior while he was down, and had its back to her when she attacked. The blow cut deep into the arm, a sickening cracking noise of breaking bone filling Lucina's ears as she raised Falchion and struck again. The blade tore through the bone and the flesh that was left, and she enjoyed a small moment of satisfaction as the demon's right arm fell to the ground.
Unlike the chest wound, however, the demon reacted to this. A roar of rage erupted from its mouth as it spun to face Lucina, wildly swinging its remaining arm and blade. Lucina hastily stepped back, blocking the blows with Falchion as best she could. The strikes were not as powerful as the one that had sent her into a wall, yet they were still strong enough to make her afraid that the next one would send Falchion flying out of her hands. The Capra Demon swung his blade the way most men wielded short swords, yet every time their blades clashed, the force was so strong Lucina felt as if her shoulders would be ripped out of their sockets.
Then, one blow knocked her blow too far to the side for it to get in position for the next one. An overhead strike came down, and Lucina threw herself to the side to get out of the way. She only mostly made it. She had to bite down on her tongue to keep herself from screaming as the demon's sword sliced through the edge of her left leg, causing her to overbalance.
She hit the grass, eyes watering in pain, and saw the demon advancing on her. She tried to pull herself to her feet, but when she tried to put weight on her bad leg, she yelped as she felt a spasm of pain and fell to her knees. The demon was upon her then, swinging its blade down to decapitate her. Lucina did the only thing that she could and rolled towards the demon, the giant sword burying itself in the ground where she had been seconds ago.
With as much force as she could from her position, she hacked into the back of one of the demon's ankles. It stumbled like she had and fell to one knee. Lucina was frantically trying to think how she was going to follow up that move when the sun warrior appeared in her field of vision, charging at the demon. His sword found its mark in the demon's throat, the edge cutting it wide open. The demon growled, or rather gurgled as it tried to stand up and strike back.
Lucina noticed that the demon was trying to put its weight on the leg she hadn't injured. Pushing herself up onto her uninjured knee, she gripped Falchion in both hands and thrust downward. The demon's ankle was torn open, causing it to stumble once again as the sun warrior swung again. With the wound he had already made, the sun warrior's sword dug deeper into the demon's throat until it was stuck halfway through. The demon did not reply to this. It stared directly straight ahead, its beady eyes blank, until it slowly began to tilt forward and fall to the ground. A silver streak flew out of it as it did, fading into the sun warrior's chest.
Lucina gasped in pain, leaning against the wall of the church and looking down at her leg. A good chunk of it was missing, exposing a few tendons and even a bit of bone. She fought back the urge to vomit as she looked at it. She had to act fast. "My aunt is back the direction I came from," the said to the sun warrior hastily. "She's a healer. Please, go get her and bring her back, I need her to take care of my leg."
Instead of doing that, the sun warrior instead sheathed his sword and knelt down in front of Lucina, taking out what looked like a small talisman. She was about to shout at him when a bright golden light emanated from the talisman, engulfing it and her leg. The pain in her leg vanished, and in a few seconds the light faded away. Looking down, she saw that her leg had completely healed. "Thank you," she said in amazement, standing up and testing the leg. It didn't even ache.
"We both helped each other a great deal just now," the sun warrior said warmly, getting to his feet. "Alone, we most likely would've perished against the Capra Demon. I've fought one of their number before, they're dreadfully powerful beasts. Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Solaire of Astora."
Lucina blinked. She had never heard of a land called Astora before. Some distant kingdom maybe? "Lucina," she replied, sheathing Falchion as she did. At Solaire's words about perishing, Lucina felt a twinge of guilt. "I'm sorry about your friend," she said. "I wish I could've done something."
"Oh, it's no worry," Solaire said cheerfully. "I know Fare. She's been through worse. It'll be tough to recover from but she'll do it like she always does."
Lucina wanted to hug Solaire. "The poor man is in denial," she thought. "He thinks that she's just hurt and that she'll spring right back." She didn't have the heart to break it to him that he would never see his friend again. "Are the villagers all right?" she asked. "Nothing happened during the fight?"
"I don't think so," Solaire said. He ascended the handful of steps to the church and rapped on the door. "Hello! All you all right in there? It should be safe to come out now!"
"Go away!" a terrified voice shouted back. "If we open the door, they'll get us! They'll get us all!"
"Ah," Solaire said, taking a few steps back and glancing at Lucina. "They seem to be in a state of panic. It might be for the best if we give them time to calm down."
"My father was fighting a few more of those Hollows in the center of the village. They were spread out so I think he could've handled them without too much trouble. Aside from those, are there anymore nearby?" Lucina asked.
Solaire paused for a second before shaking his head. "I'm certain the majority of them were gathered here at the church. They are drawn to humans after all, they wouldn't just wander aimlessly around when there were so many concentrated here."
Lucina nodded. She had to take Solaire's word for it, having no experience of her own with these Hollows. "Still, I would like to head back to make sure my father is safe."
"Allow me to accompany you," Solaire said cheerfully. "In times like these, it is always good to have a friendly sword nearby."
Lucina gave a weak smile. "I can't argue with that." On that note, the two of them began to make their way back to the center of the village. Lucina found herself staring at the bodies of the villagers as she passed them a second time. "Where did those Hollows even come from?" she asked. "Why did they slaughter all these people?"
"I'm afraid I don't know myself," Solaire said. "I'm not even sure how Fare and I came to be here. Nothing was out of the ordinary except for those dark clouds."
"Dark clouds?" Lucina asked. "There were some here, just now! They were over the village before we got here."
"There were?" Solaire said, sounding surprised. "Hm. Very interesting. I cannot say what it could mean just yet, but it gives me ideas." As he spoke, the two of them reached the clearing with the feast tables. Half a dozen Hollows lay dead on the ground and Chrom and Lissa were standing over the wounded villager, whom they had laid out on one of the tables.
"The others!" the man said, snapping into a sitting position as Lucina neared. "Are they all right?"
"There's a large group that's barricaded themselves in the church," Lucina said reassuringly. "They won't come out there."
The man sighed in relief. "Thank Naga."
"Your leg should be fine," Lissa said, looking over the now fully healed leg with a close eye. "Still, after what you've been through you should probably take it easy for different reasons."
"Lucina, who's that?" Chrom asked.
"Solaire," Lucina answered. "He helped me fight off the Hollows in front of the church, that's what these things are called."
"Pleasure to meet you," Solaire said politely. "I-" his attention trailed off as he spotted something. "Ah, perfect. Forgive my rudeness sir, but there is something I must attend to." He strode to the feast table, behind Chrom and Lissa. There, a fair distance away, was a dimly crackling fire with a rusty sword embedded in the middle. Solaire sat down directly in front of it, legs crossed, and took his helmet off.
"Was that always there?" Lissa asked. "Were the townspeople trying to have fried longsword?"
"I've never seen that before," the villager said, looking at it.
"Uh, Solaire, if you don't mind me asking, what is it that you're doing exactly?" Chrom asked, sounding very confused.
"Oh, my good friend Fare should be back soon," Solaire said matter of factly. "I want to greet her, she'll most likely have been through a lot."
Lucina bit her lip. She had to tell him, otherwise he might sit in front of that little fire all day waiting for a dead woman. Slowly approaching Chrom, she whispered "Father. He's lost a friend. Please, just let me talk to him." Her father's eyes widened, but he only nodded. She walked across the clearing to Solaire, wondering how to approach this delicate situation. Reaching him, she hesitated before putting a hand on his shoulder. "Solaire," she said. "I know what it feels like to see someone you care about die." She was about to continue, but the rest of the words died in her mouth.
Something was flickering in front of the tiny fire. It quickly grew until it eclipsed the fire itself within seconds, becoming a shimmering ball of flame. Lucina's first thought was to try and run and find some water before the unthinkable happened. An armored hand reached out. It grabbed a handful of the grass and gave a mighty tug. A person came out of the fire, using the grass as an anchor to pull themselves forward before falling flatly on the grass. The armored person panted heavily and desperately as the inferno disappeared, leaving only the small fire. Lucina's mind went blank. It was the woman she had seen cut in half mere minutes ago.
"Solaire," she croaked, her voice dry and raspy. "Humanity. Please." As she spoke, she desperately fumbled with her helmet and unlatched it. Another shock crashed over Lucina as she saw Fare's face. The same red raw skin, the same sunken facial expressions and the same dimly glowing eyes as the Hollows. Without a helmet obstructing her sight, she also spotted short filthy hair, some of which looked like it had been singed off. Her hand gripped Falchion's hilt, but paused when Solaire reached into a pouch and produced, not a weapon, but a strange speck. It seemed to be entirely black at first, but as she stared she noticed that it had a rather eerie looking white outline around it.
Fare took the speck and crushed it in the palm of her hand. Almost instantaneously, she changed. The telltale signs of a Hallow disappeared as if they had been wiped away by a cloth. Her skin turned from red to a very deep but healthy looking brown, her singed hair became short and black, although rather messy, the sunken features were replaced with rough chiseled ones, and the glowing eyes were replaced by those of dull amber.
Fare panted, pulling herself into a sitting position. "Did you kill it?" she asked. Solaire nodded. "Good, I don't think I could stand another fight with that thing," she said sourly. "That one was pure misery, just like its brother in Undeadburg. It's those dogs they always seem to have around. They get one good bite in and it just finishes you off with one stroke." She ground her teeth. "Little bastards."
Lucina found her voice. "How?" she rasped. "I saw you die. How are you here?"
Fare looked at Lucina, blinking in confusion. "You don't know?" she asked. " I thought you might just have a different word for Hollows around here, but you really don't know about the Undead?" Lucina shook her head. "That can't be," Fare whispered in disbelief. She grabbed the gauntlet on her right hand, pulling it off and showing her bare palm to Lucina. "Does this mean anything to you? You must have seen it, no matter how isolated your kingdom would be, you must know what this is."
Lucina stared at the woman's hand. There was a circle there, which seemed to wave back and forth, as if drawn by someone with a shaky hand. Despite this, the lines that would normally look crooked matched up perfectly, making the circle look perfect in a way. It seemed to be glowing on her skin, a red thin line. "What is that?"
"The Darksign," Fare said. She lowered her palm and looked at it, dumbstruck. "How could anyone not know what the Darksign is?" She shook her head. "Do you have a map? Those clouds brought us here. Solaire and I don't actually know where we are. Could you show us? We must've traveled to the other side of the world if you don't know what the Darksign is."
Lucina looked over her shoulder, but Lissa had already heard. She brought a worn brown map of the world and laid it out in front of Fare. Lucina looked down at it, her eyes flying to Valm. It was possible that something had happened there and word hadn't made its way to Ylisee yet. That would make sense. "We're here," Lucina said, shifting her eyes back to Ylisse, pressing her finger on the southern part of the continent. "Where are you from?"
She looked up. Instead of Fare's eyes moving to Valm like Lucina had expected, her eyes went blank. "What is this?" she mumbled, sounding lost. "I don't recognize anything. Where's the Great Swamp? Where's Lordran? The Asylum?"
"What are you talking about?" Lucina asked. She could feel her mind ache as she tried to understand this situation. Nothing that either of these two had talked about made any sense. They kept bringing up things and places that Lucina had never heard of and couldn't possible exist. "There's no Great Swamp."
"This isn't right," Fare said, sounding as if she was deep in thought. "One moment." She reached onto her back and saw that a moderate sized wooden box was hanging there. Judging by the way that she easily unlatched it and placed it on the ground with one hand, it was very light. Lucina just thinking that the box couldn't hold much when Fare undid the latch and opened it, plunging her hand into the box far deeper than it should realistically have allowed. It couldn't be more than a few inches tall, yet Fare's arm disappeared into it up to her shoulder. "Where did I put it," she muttered. "Ah, here it is." She withdrew her hand, pulling a yellowed, wrinkled and slightly torn piece of paper.
Smoothing it out, Fare placed her map next to Lissa's. Lucina's eyes fell upon it. The words of places she didn't know covered it. Astora, Carim, Vinheim, Lordran, Oolacile. Her gazed lingered on the last one. At first glance it looked like someone had spilled ink all over it, but the entire country had been filled with a solid black mass with no noticeable splotches. It looked to be intentional, as the filling stopped at the borders to the country and not so much as a drop went beyond.
Lucina finally understood why Fare had looked so confused as she examined the map. Her map and Lissa's map were completely different, they didn't have a single thing in common. Lissa gaped at the maps. "Please tell me Chrom packed a fake map as a joke," she said.
Lucina shook her head. "I've seen this map a hundred times, it's the real one." She rubbed the side of her head.
"Then how?" Fare asked, "How is this possible? Where are we?"
"I think I have an idea," Chrom said, approaching the group. "I think you might have stumbled into a different Outrealm." Chrom pressed on, seeing the confused expression on Fare's face. "Outrealms are worlds onto themselves. In a way, they're different possibilities, different paths that the world could've taken. A lot of the Outrealms that we've been to have been similar to our own world, but them being radically different is perfectly possible."
Fare leaned back, looking dazed. "Is any of this even possible?" she asked.
"I think it is," Solaire said. For some reason he didn't sound as overwhelmed by this as Fare did, thought he did sound a little shaken. "Remember what I told you when we first met? Time is convoluted in Lordran. It seems that space is as well now."
"The Abyss," Fare said, understanding dawning on her face. "That's how this happened." She leaned forward. "Did you see anything out of the ordinary around this village?"
"She did," Solaire said. "She saw the same dark clouds that were hovering over Anor Londo. She told me. It seems that you're right, the Abyss is what brought us here. It most likely is what brought the Hollows and the Capra Demon here as well."
Fare grimaced. "That means that those storms of Abyss aren't just in Anor Londo. How fast is it spreading?"
"Hold on, Abyss?" Lucina asked.
"A force of darkness, pure concentrated darkness," Fare said. "It's been threatening our…well our world I suppose for as long as we can remember. Lord Gwyn was the second strongest of the Lords who defeated the Everlasting Dragons long ago, and he was terrified of it. So much that he sacrificed an entire city to stop it." She pressed down on her map, pointing out a city named New Anor Londo. Lucina saw that, like Oolacile, it had been filled with ink. "The rulers of New Anor Londo tried to master the Abyss, and its servants threatened to overwhelm the city. Fearing it couldn't be stopped with soldiers, Lord Gwyn had the city flooded."
"Gods," Chrom swore. "He sacrificed his own people? How could he?"
Solaire shook his head sadly. "The powers of the Abyss are beyond comprehension. I do not agree with what Gwyn did, but I cannot think of any other way that he could've ensured that the Abyss did not spread from New Anor Londo. The sad truth that the New Anor Londo incursion of the Abyss was the first of two incidents, and it was easily the much tamer one."
"You're talking about Oolacile aren't you?" Lucina asked, pointing it out on the map.
"Noticed that I see," Fare said. "Yes. Gwyn was able to contain the spread of the Abyss to New Anor Londo by flooding it, a great tragedy and hardly something to be proud of, but he spared all of Lordran from Oolacile's fate. It consumed the entire land, the entire civilization from being wiped out. Gwyn sent one of his greatest champions, Artorias the Abysswalker, to contain it." She let out a bitter sigh. "Artorias fell in Oolacile. No one really knows what happened to him there, only that he never came back. And he was present at New Anor Londo, he managed to keep the Abyss at bay until it was flooded."
"But then, what stopped the Abyss in Oolacile?" Lissa asked.
"Gwyn claimed that Artorias vanquished it with his dying breath," Solaire said. "But I have a hard time believing that. I cannot say why, it simply doesn't feel right."
"Where did this thing even come from?" Lucina asked, her head straining under the weight of everything that she was absorbing.
"We don't know where, but we do know why," Fare said. She pointed to the crackling fire. "These bonfires aren't ordinary fires. They're linked to the First Flame. The flame where the Lords found our power, and life was birthed from." She swallowed. "The First Flame is dying. The bonfires are dying. When they grew weak is when the Abyss first appeared. Before the fall of the Everlasting Dragons, there wasn't light but there wasn't darkness either. It's possible the Abyss came into existence alongside the First Flame. It's been threatening our world ever since. And now, it seems to be threatening your world." She lowered her head in shame. "I'm so sorry," she said sincerely.
"Wait, why are you apologizing?" Lissa asked. "You didn't exactly set it on us."
"Uh," Fare said. She went slightly red in the face as she spoke. "You see…how do I put this lightly?"
"She was chosen by a prophecy to take the place of Lord Gwyn and bring order back to the world. She's the Chosen Undead," Solaire said simply.
Fare went even redder in the face. "Yes. That," she said. "But you don't know what Undead or Hollows are do you?" Lucina, Chrom and Lissa all shook their heads. "They're people who have been branded with the Darksign, what I showed you on my hand. We don't know where they came from, but the Abyss is the most likely explanation. Those with the Darksign can't die, they're forced to come back when they die."
Lucina didn't say anything. Not being able to die didn't sound like much of a curse, but Fare's body language said otherwise. Her hands were tightening into fists and her facial expressions look strained, as if she wanted to scream in anger and cry at the same time. "It's a horrible experience, to come back," she said. "You have to pull yourself back. Every step of the way feels like your flesh is being torn off, or burned off, I can never remember clearly. And pulling just makes the pain worse. Undead like me have to go through this every time we die, until the pain just becomes too much and we give up."
A look of fear slid across her face. "An Undead who gives up, who doesn't pull when they die, becomes a Hollow. Their sanity is destroyed, who they were is gone, they just exist as a walking corpse. They attack everyone they see, searching for Humanity on instinct, even though it doesn't do them any good. Oh right, you wouldn't know. Humanity is what Solaire gave me, it allows Undead to become human again until they die. It makes the pull easier."
Lucina sat there, shocked by what she had just heard. "How do you stand it?" she asked.
"I don't know," Fare answered honestly. "I just tell myself that I need to keep going, that I have a mission." She swallowed. "Every time I'm afraid. Afraid that I'll slip, that I'll just get tired of the pain. But I need to keep going. I just have to."
Solaire put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. The five of them were silent. "Now what?" Lissa asked.
"I think I have a hunch about what Tiki wanted to talk to us about," Chrom said. "It's probably to do with this Abyss." He looked at Solaire and Fare. "We've dealt with threats that could've destroyed the entire world before and one of our friends might already know something about the Abyss. Maybe we could work together to stop this."
"Ah! An excellent idea!" Solaire said brightly. "We need as many allies as we can get. Thank you very much for the kind offer."
Fare interjected. "I don't know if that's a good idea," she said hesitantly. "I mean, I don't want to sound ungrateful for the offer, but I'm not sure it'd be safe for any of you. I've died dozens if not hundreds of times on my journeys to fulfill the prophecy. And while the Darksign makes coming back a miserably painful experience, I CAN come back. None of you have it. One slip and you're gone for good. And Lordran is like something out of a nightmare. There are barely any sane people left. It's overrun with Hollows, demons and other monsters that lurk around every corner."
Lucina couldn't help but feel that this sounded eerily familiar. It sounded a little too much like the future that she had come from. "I'm sorry, but it'd be selfish of me to ask you to risk your lives in our fight," Fare said.
"It's not exactly just your fight anymore," Lucina said. "Those things attacked and killed our people too, we're involved in it now."
"Which is why it'd be for the best if you stayed here where you have numbers and familiarity," Fare argued. "You need to defend your home."
"Fare," Solaire said. "We need all the help we can get. You should at least consider it."
"And if you fail, there's no one left at all to stop this," Chrom said. "Helping you will be protecting our home."
"It's still risky," Fare said, sounding uncertain. "There's so much you don't know about Lordran."
"Well, you can tell us," Lissa said.
"At the very least come with us to see our friend," Lucina said. "She's the voice of Naga, the goddess of this world.
Fare paused. "Voice of the Goddess," she said. "Well, there's no excuse for not listening to her."
"So, you're going to let us help you?" Lissa asked eagerly.
"I'll…think about it," Fare said. "Solaire, where did we hide the Lordvessel again?"
"I remember where," he said. "Do you mind if we take a little bit of cargo along for the trip?"
"We have some room in the carriage," Lucina said. There was still so much that she didn't understand. She didn't know what they were talking about when they brought up Lords and souls and Everlasting Dragons among other things, but there was one thing she did understand. Their world was in danger, and the danger was starting to threaten the world her family and friends lived in. Both reasons were reason enough to want to help, both made it a necessity. There would be time later to understand the finer details.
"If we go back to Lordran, we're going to have to come back here," Fare said. "Solaire and I can travel from bonfire to bonfire. This one must've been brought here along with us. Might be a whole bonfire or could just be part of one. I'm not sure." She got to her feet. "We'll be right back, we need to get something important we brought with us." The two of them began to head off. Just before the two of them were out of earshot, Lucina heard them talk.
"You said Gwyn was the second most powerful Lord, that's not how I heard the legend," Solaire said.
"Well the way I always heard it, the Mother of Fire, the Witch of Izalith was the strongest Lord," Fare said.
Solaire chuckled. "I suppose people have biases when it comes to the Lord they favor the most."
Lucina glanced at her father, smiling weakly. "Never a dull day in our lives."
XXXXX
Author's Note: It was never established in detail how going Hollow works or how Humanity stops it. I think the idea of coming back to life being horribly physically painful and having to fight through it was a good way to represent the "Can never give up" concept behind avoiding going Hollow. Humanity making it easier I find works as well. I also think Lord Gwyn would want to keep Artorias falling to the Abyss quiet to avoid panic and I doubt there would be too many eye witnesses to the fact who wouldn't report directly to him.
If I missed anything that needs explanation, please let me know.