And here I am again, with the next part of this epic saga here.
Now, there was another Slavic spirit last we were here. That would be a rusalka. A rusalka (in the original Slavic pantheon) is a water spirit that takes on a female form, usually being considered evil by the storytellers.It was considered to be nonviolent for the most part, usually sitting on top of trees and singing away. A rusalka is often said to also be an undead maiden that stays close to whatever body of water she drowned in, and that during a week in early June she can pull swimmers into the bottom of the river and drown them. I reworked a lot of things about rusalkas in the Legend universe, including that they can wander farther from their body of water than just the tree right by the water and that they're appropriately much more aggressive.
And yes, this is taking place in the Sacred Stones world now. Normally, I would go on and on about what Magvel is like, but since most of you have most likely played Sacred Stones already, I'll spare you the details and just get right to the meat of the plot and what happened in the five years between Sacred Stones and Legend. But the main premise is that this is five years after the events of Sacred Stones, and I've taken up some of the A endings as well (Tana/Cormag's A support ending is currently the most obvious since Cormag wouldn't be in the knights of Frelia for any other reason, but there will be more, I'll tell you that much.)
So that's really all I can talk about here. Here's the chapter, and I hope you enjoy!
Since Ike and the group defeated the rusalka that was terrorizing the village, hey have gotten very lucky in knowing where they have washed up on.
It turns out they have washed up on the continent of Magvel, which is divided into five countries and one uninhabited territory. A large war on the continent known as the War of the Stones took place just five years before Ike arrived on the continent, and according to what he has been told he devises what happened between the war and his arrival could be summed up thusly;
Landlocked Renais has prospered ever since its reconstruction ended by the benevolence of the twins of Renais, Ephraim and Eirika. The kingdom was still basking in the glory of the marriage between Ephraim and princess L'arachel of Rausten when the spirits began to invade the continent, but with Ephraim's esteemed military knowledge, he has managed to wage the war against the spirits without very many problems. He is slowly beginning to become overwhelmed, however, and he has asked every country on Magvel to help in whatever way they can.
The desert nation of Jehanna rejoiced in the birth of the son of King Joshua and Queen Natasha shortly before the spirits arrived. Thankfully, Jehanna's sands are deceptively harmful, and thanks to the dangerous environment of the desert, the spirits have not been a problem. Joshua's campaign to help Renais has been met with little success, however
To the north of Jehanna, the nation of Rausten remains boiled in turmoil despite the best efforts of the Divine Emperor Mansel. The naming of a new successor to the throne of Rausten remains a problem the people want resolved quickly, but the thick concentration of spirits is a growing problem within its borders. With all of its internal problems, Rausten remains the only nation that has not done anything to help Renais.
Carcino has prospered as a merchant nation since the years after the war, but as the problems with the spirits grew more and more dire, the nation has suffered a little. It is also encountering many problems with the spirits itself, but this problem is slowly backing away, almost as if Renais was leeching spirits from the mercantile nation.
Frelia has fared the best out of all of the nations with the spirits. However, the rare spirit attacks always happen scattered around the country, supposedly by the same spirit. Ike took this spirit out of commission, however, so Frelia now shifts its attentions to helping its neighbors out of the problem.
The empire of Grado on the south side of the continent was wiped off of the map of Magvel just after the War of the Stones. They were the defeated nation in the War of the Stones, and as the leaders of all of the other nations came together to decide what to do about the empire and how to relegate its leadership, word of a terrible natural disaster that spread the length of the entire empire reached their ears. As a result of the disaster, Grado is now a no-man's-land, and the few people that have entered the nation since the disaster have never been heard from again.
With this knowledge in mind, Ike makes his way towards Renais, very eager to meet the monarchs of Renais and hoping that he gets just as warm a reception as he is sure Cormag will...
Chapter 3: The Twins of Renais
Ike, Cormag, and the rest of the group walked down a rather bumpy dirt road, Ike and Cormag glancing at each other as they walked along the many potholes in the road. Maria and Gaston trailed just behind Ike, with Kuranga, Willie, and Fiordiligi all walking behind the two laguz.
"Have they cared to fix the road?" asked Ike.
"This is strange..." said Cormag as his foot fell into yet another pothole. "I guess Ephraim is so diligent about combating the problem with the spirits that he's hardly had any time for fixing the roads..."
"Well, that's a good thing," said Maria as they walked forwards. "I mean, at least he thinks more about the safety of his people than anything else, right?"
"I wouldn't be surprised," said Cormag, pulling his wyvern along the path rather easily. "Renais was the nation hit the hardest by the War of the Stones."
"It does seem like that," said Gaston. "So first a war, and now this?"
"But they did have five years to rebuild," said Ike. "So they must have sorted everything out well."
"They actually did have everything sorted out before these spirits came..." replied the wyvern knight in a disgruntled manner.
"Well, hopefully nothing bad will happen on the way there..." said Fiordiligi from behind them as they walked into a small wood that was in between two mountains.
Suddenly, the group heard a fantastic singing penetrating the woods. It was the most beautiful singing that anybody had heard in their life, and suddenly, the men around Maria and Fiordiligi stopped in their tracks, the song seemingly making them stand fixed in one spot. As Maria bumped into Ike, she rubbed her head, hand running through lavender strands of hair as Fiordiligi held out a hand to her. When they stood up, Maria sent a confused glance at Fiordiligi, the lady frowning as she looked ahead of her.
"That's the song of a vila..." said the lady softly. "It is so beautiful men cannot resist it. And if she wants men, it's men she will recieve at the end of the day."
"Wait, you mean she lures them into the woods and makes them lust--?" asked Maria, before her question was interrupted by Fiordiligi slamming her hand on her mouth.
"Quiet!" snarled the lady softly. "If you bring that up, they'll attack! And when they attack, we are in very bad hands. So I suggest you not mention anything about it until they have what they want."
"Ugh..." said Maria, sticking her tounge out and giving a completely grossed out expression as she slowly noticed some of the men in the army around her suddenly shook their heads as if they had been knocked out of their trance by some strange force.
Willie was the first of the group to be released from this trance, followed by Kuranga, Cormag, and Ike.
"Wet 'appened, mu'um?" asked Willie.
"It's a vila," replied Maria. "Ask Fiordiligi later."
And then, Gaston, who was still entranced by the vila's song, began to walk forward, his back hunched and his black wings poking Maria in the leg as he lurched forward slowly. Maria had to rub her eyes to make sure she was not seeing things. When she saw Gaston walking forwards, she frowned the most genuinely angry frown she could muster.
"Okay, that does it!" exclaimed the cat laguz angrily, amethyst eyes narrowed in rage. "I am not going to let some forest spirit take my friend like that!"
"But Maria, you cannot--!" said Fiordiligi briefly before Maria slapped her hard in the hand.
"I don't care about their nature!" replied Maria with a slight snarl in her voice. "I am not going to let Gaston go in there unless he's safe!"
And with that, the cat laguz marched into the wood after Gaston. Fiordiligi tried to walk up to her, but Willie left a hand on her shoulder that caused the lady to pause and turn to the Cockney boy.
"Let 'er go, mu'um," said Willie insightfully. "I den't dink yeh kin do anyvin' abut dat..."
The lady shook her head as she saw Maria retreat into the woods.
Meanwhile, the cat laguz took to hiding behind trees while Gaston lurched forwards, drool seeming to come out of his mouth as he advanced. Even though she was legitimately angry at whatever forest spirits were in there for charming her friend, she knew caution was the best way to deal with a scenario like this.
And then, she saw a beautiful lady with her back against a tree, staring at Gaston almost seductively as he came forward and stood before her. As she sang her song, the raven stood up straight, admiring the very slim body before him, the amber eyes staring at him with a luscious glow about them and her chocolate hair radiating with the light of a goddess. As soon as the raven was in front of her, she stopped singing and looked at him lustfully
"Hello, handsome," said the lady, grabbing Gaston's chin delicately with her fingers. "What nice wings you've got there..."
"The better to fly with, my goddess..." mumbled Gaston. It barely escaped detection from the vila's ears, but Maria's ears heard it very well.
The vila chuckled almost seductively as she twirled around Gaston, sizing up the man she had siezed with her song.
However, as she circled Gaston, she noticed out of the corner of her eye the figure of Maria standing from behind her cover. The cat laguz' hands were curled into fists, her face absolutely filled with rage and her left eye visibly twitching as she watched the display.
The vila merely smirked, walking around Gaston while still holding his chin to face the girl.
"Oh, and what are you doing here?" she asked, the deep seductive rumble of her voice irritating Maria to no end.
"I don't like you answering questions like that!" exclaimed Maria angrily. "Now if you don't mind, I'd like to have my friend back from your clutches before you kill him brutally with something you have hidden in that tree over there!"
"Kill?" asked the lady as she circled around Gaston once, her hips seductively swaying as she walked. "I can kill, but at a time like this it is not in the nature of one such as myself to kill. Merely, I ask for favors..."
Since the forest spirit was now in front of Gaston, her hands trailed down to the area of his waist, clutching at the material of his pants and driving it down so that the raven's buttocks were exposed to the cat laguz. Maria nearly exploded with rage at the sight, and she sent a glare at the vila as she stood petrified to the spot in her anger.
"Oh, you wouldn't dare!" said Maria.
"Oh, and who is he to you, your lover?" asked the vila craftily.
Maria's expression suddenly blanched considerably, all of the rage that had been boiling in her head up to that point suddenly leaving her with an embarrased expression on her face.
"W-what?" asked Maria, so flustered she was still petrified to the spot where she stood. "T-that's not true! H-h-he's my f-friend!"
"Then why do you care so much?" asked the vila, once again circling the raven laguz. "Is he a 'special' friend?"
"He's been my best friend for as long as I can remember!" shouted Maria angrily. "Now let him go!"
"But it is a simple favor," replied the vila as she hooked one of her legs with one of Gaston's. "That is all. Now, if you will excuse me, I am busy."
"I'm not leaving until you promise to keep him unharmed!" said Maria as the vila turned so her back was facing her.
There was a tense silence as the cat laguz' anger ever so slowly rose. The vila turned to her slowly, her fingers still grasping Gaston's chin as she edged forwards to Maria.
"I will tell you what..." she said. "If you promise to get out of this immediate area, I will assure you he will leave unharmed and with no memory of this incident whatsoever. If you choose not to leave, I will do what you say I will do, right before your very eyes..."
"But that does not say any--!"
"Do not interrupt a vila when she is talking, my dear..." replied the forest spirit. "Also, if you allow me to do what I want to do with him, whenever I want to, then I will do anything you tell me to do."
"Whenever?" asked Maria, grimacing slightly at the disturbing images that came to her mind shortly afterwards.
"I appear at all sorts of different places," said the vila, edging so close to the cat laguz that their bodies were touching. "So do we have a deal or not?"
Maria was about to brashly open her mouth in her anger when her eyes caught a look at Gaston. As one of the vila's fingernails suddenly shot out of her finger and moved directly to the raven's throat, she suddenly lost all of her temper. She spent a while thinking about the consequences of this decision, knowing that whatever path she chose, she would regret her decision greatly. On the one hand, there would be the knowledge of knowing that she could have saved her friend's life with one word. And on the other hand, there was causing a great rift in their friendship that could never be healed if he found out that she did that.
As she stood there, she came to the realization that Fiordiligi had been right in trying to keep her back there. Maybe then, she would not have been forced to make such a terrible decision.
After a while of thinking, she opened her mouth to say what she knew she would regret for the rest of her life.
"You have a deal..." she said almost reluctantly.
The vila edged away from Maria, the fingernail retracting into her finger as she brought her lips as close to Gaston's as possible without them actually touching.
"I am glad you have accepted my offer," said the vila. "Now, do as you promised."
The cat laguz turned around solemnly, heaving a hefty sigh as she left the vila to her business. She did not dare to look back at what she was sure would be a repulsive act, instead leaving the area with her shoulders drooping slightly.
The group stood along the dirt road, starting up suddenly when Maria came out of the woods, clearly showing signs of agitation.
Ike, Fiordiligi, and Kuranga were the first people by her side, Ike draping an arm around her shoulder.
"Maria, what's the matter?" asked Ike, immediately noticing something was wrong.
"I'm fine," said the cat laguz, returning to staring straight at the floor.
"You're not fine," replied Fiordiligi. "She made you make an impossible decision, didn't she?"
Maria sighed a pretty hefty sigh, turning to face them.
"I had to leave them alone for Gaston to come back here alive," said Maria. "Please promise you won't tell him!"
"This is a very grave thing to hide from a man about to be lured into a seduction," said Kuranga thoughtfully. "And I can see no good coming from this decision. But if you say it was to save his life, I shall."
"I won't tell him," said Ike, walking back towards their army with Maria behind him. "That's a promise."
"I will not tell either," added Fiordiligi.
"Thank you, guys," said Maria, an imperceptible smile gracing her lips. "You're the best."
Ike nodded, patting Maria's shoulder with his left hand as Cormag and Willie sent confused glances at each other and shrugged.
Much later in the journey, Gaston had rejoined the group and they were back on their way. Surprisingly, Maria found that he had no real recollection of the events that had happened concerning the vila, and so Maria was greatly relieved to hear of this. With this new development, they continue walking through the woods.
They walked in silence essentially the rest of the way there, the silence being very uncomfortable on Maria's part as she was still just a little bit afraid of anybody bringing up the vila. She sweated a very icy sweat for a fairly long time, Ike being sympathetic and remaining quiet.
Finally, however, Cormag smiled, elbowing Ike in the ribs carefully.
"I can see it up ahead," said the wyvern knight. "There it is. Castle Renais."
And as they slowly made their way out of the wood, they saw before them a magnificent castle, the stone essentially the same gray of the stones of Castle Frelia. However, this castle was considerably larger in size, and it stood in a somewhat more attractive spot for a castle.
"Wow..." said Gaston, eyes wide in wonder. "Look at that thing over there!"
"It be real big, Governor!" exclaimed Willie in wonder.
"Seriously..." added Maria. "So, a lot of people are in here?"
"Quite a few guards and knights, if you must know," said Cormag solemnly as they walked towards the gate. As they came out of the wood, a group of guards suddenly noticed their presence and walked up to them, their aquamarine armor glinting in the sunlight as they came up to Cormag.
"State your business!" one of them said directly. "Now!"
"Tell Eirika and Ephraim that the reinforcements from Frelia have arrived, as promised from king Innes himself," said Cormag, his wyvern snorting amusedly at how uptight the guard seemed to be.
Upon the wyvern knight's sentence, the guard simply nodded.
"Ah, the reinforcements, eh?" asked the guard. "I have been given special instructions to direct you to their majesties themselves. Follow me, please."
The two guards turned around, and then Ike found himself walking after them, Cormag quickly taking a detour to secure his wyvern next to a tree. As soon as he had done this, he ran back to where Ike was.
"So is it always this formal?" asked Ike.
"Not really..." replied Cormag. "You'd be surprised at how quickly you'll warm up to them. I think Ephraim especially would like you guys."
"Relly, governor?" asked Willie. "I den't no 'bout dat. Dere was dis one guy dat said bad things to me, 'e did..."
"But that was Myriel, Willie," replied Fiordiligi, shaking her head visibly. "If what Cormag says is correct, the royalty of Renais is nothing like that."
"You will be right, Fiordiligi," said Kuranga simply. "You will be right."
Maria said nothing, and then the large wooden doors to the palace of Renais creaked open to allow the group entry.
The group travelled down a short hallway before they arrived in Renais' throne room. The throne room itself was rather wide, two flags bearing the emblem of Renais hanging on poles that themselves stood on pillars on opposite ends of the room. At the other end of the room sat three thrones, one right under a fess that hung off of the wall with two thrones beside it. In the center throne sat what was obviously the king of Renais, green eyes seemingly cutting the atmosphere with an air of authority that was not seen in any of his other features. To his right sat what obviously must have been his sister, her eyes gazing at them with a kindness that was found in the rest of her features as well. To the king's left sat what must have been his wife, for she sat almost haughtily on her throne, her face giving off an intense glee that seemed to be without source.
Cormag walked towards the throne, Ike and his group following his every move as they were unsure of how to address royalty in this new land. When the wyvern knight bowed, everybody else bowed as well. And when he stood up, they stood up too.
"A pleasure to see you, Cormag," said the lady to the kings' right. "And you must be sir Ike, I take it?"
"Yes, madam," said Ike, noticing her eyes on his and nodding his head.
"Oh, do away with the formalities at once," replied the king. "Just 'Ephraim, Eirika, and L'arachel' will do. So I take it you are that troupe that Frelia has told us about. I take it you've had quite a bit of battle experience?"
"Yes, actually," said Ike. "I used to run a mercenary company before I started adventuring through the world."
"Ah," said the lady who was apparently Eirika as she nodded quickly.
"I expected something more for some reason..." said L'arachel. "But no matter. I think we'll be able to purge those blasted spirits just fine no matter what!"
"They also told me something... unusual... about some of the people in your troupe," added Ephraim quickly, leaning forward in the throne before he stood up. "What might that be?"
Gaston shook his head and shifted into his raven form. Upon doing that, he promptly flew up to the cieling of the throne room and perched on one of the poles holding up the emblem. He shifted back into his human form, here he sat on the pole as if nothing had happened.
"There's your answer," said Gaston somewhat rudely. "Any other questions you have about us before we brand you bad people for all eternity?"
"Uh, no..." said L'arachel quickly. "But how can ones such as you do that?"
"It's in our blood," replied Maria. "We transform into stuff because that's what we've been doing. Or am I already explaining the obvious?"
"Be careful, Maria," said Kuranga, walking forward and placing a hand on the cat laguz' shoulder. "I can see that there have been no laguz on this continent in all of its history."
L'arachel looked at the dragon laguz with quite a bit of confusion, the glee suddenly vanishing from her golden eyes as it was replaced with a strange fascination.
"Can you read auras?" asked the queen.
"Of course," said Kuranga. "Why do you ask?"
"That's it!" exclaimed the queen, standing up and smiling broadly. "You people must have been sent by saint Latona herself!"
"Latona?" asked Fiordiligi, suddenly quite confounded by the queen's flamboyant behavior. "Who might that be?"
"The great saint Latona, of course!" exclaimed L'arachel quite loudly. "The founder of my home, of course! And one of the people who sealed that cursed Demon King away several hundred years ago!"
"Oh," said Willie, shaking his head at how loud the queen was. "Kin yeh keep it down? Me ears ain't good wit no screamin' or yellin', mu'um."
"What did he say?" said L'arachel in reply.
Fiordiligi cursed to herself before she crossed her arms.
"He says that yelling is not the slightest bit good for his ears," said the lady. "And therefore, he asked you to keep it down.
"Oh," said the queen, sitting back down with all of her enthusiasm quelled. "I'm sorry."
"No, don't worry about it," said Gaston as he flapped his black wings. He got enough lift to get himself off of the pole holding one of the banners up. He eventually floated back down to ground level next to Maria.
"So, is there anything else that is needed here?" asked Ike.
"Oh, yes," said Ephraim quickly. "Your first mission. There is a very dangerous group of spirits south of this castle that are presenting a real danger to those villages in the area. Your assignment is to go down there and purge that village of its spirits. I am sending you on one of the more dangerous assignments."
"Dangerous?" asked Ike. "Sounds like a plan to me. Is anybody else going with us?"
"I will be going with you," said Eirika.
"W-what?" asked Fiordiligi, quite shocked at this. "But it is quite unbecoming for one of your stature!"
"Look who's talking," replied Maria, looking straight at the lady as she said this. "You were running around with us dodging boulders and avoiding demons and all of that stuff. If you can lower yourself to that level, I'm pretty sure she can too."
"Well, somebody has to check your skills," said Ephraim. "And worry not about her, either. Her personal guard will be with her."
"Personal guard?" asked Ike. "That's a little cowardly, isn't it?"
"How dare you suggest such a thing!" replied Eirika indignantly. "I do not let him do as much 'guarding' as many people would like him to. I am perfectly capable of defending myself, sir Ike!"
"Oh," said Ike, nodding quickly. "I'm sorry."
"Don't worry about it," said Ephraim. "Anyways, that is your mission, and you will be leaving for that tomorrow. If you can defeat that faction of spirits, then our problems here can be solved by the knights that linger here."
"And then we can help Rausten, right?" asked L'arachel eagerly.
"Yes, we'll finally be able to help Rausten," replied Ephraim.
"Is that all?" asked Cormag.
"Yes," said Ephraim, standing up from his throne slowly. "Allow us to escort you to your rooms, sirs."
"Sure," said Ike as Eirika and L'arachel both stood up in turn.
Ephraim then stepped away from the throne in a particular direction, Ike and the troupe following along as he escorted them to their quarters.
