Tellius-649

Seven months ago, a great war erupted between the laguz and the Begnion Empire. The fighting was merciless, and as a result, awakened a dark god from its slumber.

The goddess Ashera had risen from her sleep and turned all of Tellius into stone. However, a select few who had resisted her judgment fought her, and brought peace once again to their war-torn continent.

The people of Tellius have fought tirelessly, and should be rejoicing in their hard-earned peace. But that is not the case.

Instead of joy and prosperity, the countries face dire political and economic problems, leaving the people to blame their leaders for all of their woes. What's more, many people have not come to accept the laguz, and continue to harbor hatred of their presence.

The country of Crimea, however, feels the impact much heavier than that of its other countries.

The citizens of Crimea still have not come to accept their ruler, Queen Elincia. They approach the capital's steps, attempting to overthrow and rid her from the world. Their fighting, however, is quelled by the Royal Knights, but that only adds to their hatred.

However, there is a problem much worse than that of the people's rage.

Elincia has received news that Duke Ludveck has escaped from prison.

Before the war, Ludveck, duke of Felirae, had planned a rebellion against Queen Elincia. However, his attempts were quashed by the Royal Knights and the Greil Mercenaries. For his defiance and treason to the country, Ludveck was stripped of his titles and imprisoned. Queen Elincia, however, was lenient, and the former duke was given a sentence for life in prison instead of death.

The news of his escape spreads across Crimea like wildfire. This act sends waves of unease among Crimea's citizenry, but also hope in the eyes of many.

Chapter 5: Flames of Revolt

The man walked along the countryside, looking around the village that he was passing through. He was a bit aged, but still looked young. He wore very light tan pants with brown boots, a yellow-green battle shirt, and spiked shoulder guards. He had shoulder length wavy brown hair, light blue eyes, and a mustached beard.

The man continued to walk through the town, only stopping by to say hello to the people there or to stock up on some supplies. But then there was something else that caught his attention.

Somewhere, in an isolated part of the village, there was what seemed to be a social gathering. Many of the people were men, with a few women thrown into the melting pot. The man went on to investigate and approximated that there were about 35 people.

From the crowd, the man could see someone standing on a higher elevation, as if he were about to give a speech. The person wore a brown robe over his body, covering any other apparel on him. He had short brown hair and light teal eyes. But what struck the man the most was that he held a Dark tome under his right arm. It was very rare to see someone who had mastered the black magic, and assumed that he knew so very well.

The man standing above the crowd began his speech.

"Citizens of Crimea," he started, "I want to address an issue that has been going on for the last three years. It is something that we have been fighting for. We have tried diplomacy, and even brute force. But all of our efforts have been wasted, our voices silenced by the wind.

"Crimean citizens, I am talking about the ruler of this land: Queen Elincia!"

The citizens looked around bewildered at what the man was getting at. They really did not have anything against the Crimean noble. She was kind-hearted and a good leader. Why would someone speak against her?

"Excuse me, but what did the queen do?" asked a citizen to the man.

"Yeah, she's a nice lady," said another. The speaker looked at the crowd, annoyed that he was losing their interest.

'Reza is better suited at this,' he thought. Nonetheless, he continued proceeded to continue speaking.

"Don't be fooled," he started. "The queen you see sitting on the throne is deceiving you all! She might show a pleasant face, but in reality, she's a snake poisoning the very waters we drink."

The crowd's attention now turned from confused and bewildered to a state of interest. Some, however, were skeptical at all of the speaker's accusations and slander, and began to walk away. The speaker, seeing that he was losing his audience, made another announcement.

"If you refuse to believe me, hear this," he said. "Recently, the senators of all the countries held a meeting. It concerns our equality and support we share with the laguz."

The crowd's attention changed once again. Now all of them, even the skeptics, were lending their ears to him. The eavesdropping man stood behind a building and watched what was happening in disgust. However, he knew that the people would make the right decision in the end. At least, he hoped he would. He continued to listen when the sage spoke once again.

"Yes, they talked, and we the people of Crimea want nothing more than to heal the wounds of the laguz," he announced. "We sweated, worked, even died to realize this dream. Our efforts were taken to the nobles for a decision. And do you know what happened?"

He stopped talking and took a brief pause; there was nothing but a short moment of silence until he spoke again.

"They destroyed it!"

The announcement sent the crowd into shock and confusion. Even the eavesdropping man was taken aback at the harsh truth. But there was something odd. Queen Elincia, and the other rulers for that matter, would never strike down something that important. The statement was strange, but he would question that later.

The man moved a little closer to better hear the crowd, but not so much that he would be caught spying. The speaker began to talk again.

"That's right. The queen, the very epitome of honor and nobility, has ignored the will of the people. She did not give her approval, and worked with all the other beorc nations to stop our advances for equality! Tell me, are we going to stand for this? Are we going to let our voices continue to go unheard?"

"NO!" shouted the crowd, including the skeptics. The speaker's countenance now had large grin. He spoke for the final time.

"Then join me. Help me free our motherland from this monstrosity! We have tried diplomacy. We gave the queen her chance to atone for her unforgiveable acts, but she willingly ignores us! We must take arms, my friends! We must make our voices heard!"

The crowd now began cheering when the sage was finished. The man eavesdropping was in complete disbelief. The people gathering did not have anything against Elincia, but now they wanted her dead. It tore at his heart how easily manipulated they were, and took pity on them for believing such heinous lies.

The man was about to rush into the crowd, but then saw the sage materialize a staff. The magenta gem on the top began to glow, and in an instant, the sage and the crowd were gone.

-.-.-.-.-

The farming hamlet of Ohma was very simple and straightforward. The village consisted of many small houses, but were not complicated or complex. Their farmland was lively and serene, a bright counterpoint to that of many noble areas, which made up for their fairly empty finances.

And old man walked over to one of the houses, where a somewhat portly younger man was working. He had short brown hair and brown eyes, and wore a simple white sleeveless shirt, grey pants, and brown boots.

"Mornin', Brom," said the senior citizen.

"Good mornin', Jacob," Brom greeted back.

"My, it's lookin' like a good harvest this year 'round," said Jacob looking at the crops. "Musta worked real hard for that to happen, eh?"

"It really is a good crop, but I didn't do it alone," said Brom. "I just do the grunt work. The sun 'n soil do the rest."

Brom was enjoying the nice spring sun. There was a time where he fought, and was very good when it came to wielding axes. However, those times were over. The former marshal did not want to fight anymore. The only reason he used his axes was for harvest and firewood. He abhorred fighting, and now was content at the peace that has long eluded Tellius for the past three years.

Brom was just about to further enjoy the rising sun until he saw a woman run over to him. For some reason, she had some battle armor on.

"Nephenee, it's good to see you," he greeted. He had not seen her ever since she decided to move to Melior, where she could further serve the Queen Elincia. "But, why're you wearin' your armor. The war is over."

"I wouldn't say that," said Nephenee. "I reckon you be getting your old armor back."

"But, why?" he asked.

"Another revolution is brewin'," she said.

"What?" Just then, the very peace Brom had known was shattered in an instant. "But how? Why?"

"I'm just as curious as you are, but worry 'bout that later," said Nephenee. "Get suited up. Meg's already at the rallying site."

With that said, Nephenee ran off. Brom was left there, terrified and crushed by the sudden turn of events. Another rebellion was forming, and not even a year passed after the last war. He swore that he would never pick up another weapon again, but that was about to become broken.

Brom came to his senses and walked to his home to prepare for battle.

-.-.-.-.-

Nephenee arrived at a distant part of the village near a stairwell. There was a marshal in wearing orange armor looking up above the stairs. The person saw a small crowd of about 20 people gathering around. In front of the crowd was a man wearing a light blue robe over his body. He had dark black hair, brown eyes, and a shadowed beard. Underneath his arms was tome, giving off that he was a sage.

Both Nephenee and the orange-armored marshal, Meg, listened in as they waited for Brom to arrive.

"Citizens of Crimea, we have a dire situation that must be taken care of," said the sage. "It deals with our ruler, Queen Elincia!

"We fought the war! We won our peace and freedom! And what do we get? We get nothing but a pat on the back! We risked our lives for Tellius, and this is how she repays us?

"Tell me, what did she do to warrant our respect? She hardly fought, but still retains power over us. Not only that, but she is one of Tellius' greatest hypocrites! She says that she wants equality for all nations, but in reality, she only seeks to fill her own pockets.

"If you don't believe me, then hear this. The senators for all the nations recently discussed a treaty, granting that all laguz be given equal rights as us beorc. We have worked hard for that dream, and the senators toiled for hours to make sure that it was passed, no matter what.

"But that was over. Their work was for nothing! The empress of Begnion said that it won't become law! Not only that, but the queen of Daein and our ruler didn't even give their approvals for the treaty! All three of them have been scheming, putting on a façade, waiting us to fall into a sense of comfort, and then turning against us, blaming us for the countries failures and miseries! Are we going to take that type of treatment?"

"No!" shouted everyone in the crowd.

"Who's to blame for all this?"

"The queen!"

"That's right! We must fight and carry out the will of the goddess Ashera! It was she who wanted equality, but that "hero" Ike destroyed that as well! But we have another chance. We have another opportunity to fulfill that role. The goddess has given the people one more try to carry out her will. Let us not fail her! To arms, brothers!"

The crowd cheered again and gathered weapons the sage provided for them. Nearby, Nephenee and Meg cringed at the sight of what was happening. They thought that the fighting was over, and no one wanted to fight again at all. Why was it all happening again?

The two of them heard large metal footsteps and turned to see Brom finally approaching, wearing his battle armor like he did in the war.

"Oof! I say, this armor got a lot heavier," said Brom.

"Worry 'bout that later," said Nephenee. "Right now, we gotta stop the people. Did you bring any weapons?"

"Yeah. Got an iron axe here," replied Brom, taking out a small axe and a metal shield off of his back.

"Good. Meg, take this iron sword," said Nephenee.

"Okay," said the young marshal nervously. Meg took the iron sword from the sentinel and removed a shield that was on her back as well. Unlike in the war, this shield was made of metal instead of wood.

The three walked to the gathering crowd, which interrupted the sage from something that seemed important. The crowd turned their attention to the three new arrivals.

"Hey, it's Nephenee, Brom, and Meg!" said one of the people. "You all here to join the revolution?"

"Yeah, join us!" said another person. "Together, we can make a difference!"

There was a short second of silence, until Nephenee snapped.

"Are you all insane?" she yelled. "We just got back from war, now you wanna fight again?"

"She's right," started Brom. "Remember the last rebellion, or better yet, the war on Tellius? A lot of people died in there to bring peace to our land."

"That's right," said Meg. "We shouldn't be fighting. The queen is a good person. We know her personally."

The sage's eyes widened at the female marshal's statement, but were soon narrowed down into a look of rage. His countenance changed to distraught that someone would dare interfere with his plans. But then he thought of something, and his visage's expression turned from enraged to a scheming smile.

"Brothers, do not be fooled by them," said the sage. "They are working for the queen, spying on us so that we don't achieve our goals! We must not let them report this to the queen! Silence them!"

"Wait, that's not-"

"No use, Meg," said Nephenee. "These guys already decided what they wanna do."

"But, we can't," said Meg.

"We ain't got a choice," said Nephenee. "Get ready you three."

"Oh dear," said Brom. "Let's try to keep as many alive, okay?"

"If we're lucky, we won't have to kill any," said Nephenee. "Y'all cover me, got it?"

The crowd began charging at the three. Immediately, Meg and Brom formed a blockade against the stairs to prevent the skirmish from affecting the nearby houses. One of the citizens slashed at Meg, but the young marshal blocked it with her shield and gave the inexperienced soldier a quick hit across his head with the flat of her sword. She did so only to knock out the fighter rather than killing or injuring them badly.

Next to Meg, Brom was defending himself against a fighter and a myrmidon, both very unskilled. He blocked their attacks and swung his axe deep into their shoulders, disarming both but keeping them alive. Nephenee was in the back behind the two, throwing javelins at the incoming soldiers. Like Meg and Brom, she made sure that she did not kill anyone, only slightly wound them.

The sage watched in complete disgust at the battle scene. Twenty people all took arms, yet they were being brought down by only three people. It enraged him to no end at the pathetic display the citizens were showing. He began to look around, hoping to find something to give him the advantage, but found nothing, further adding to his anger. Then he saw someone come out of one of the houses.

"What in blazes is goin' on out here?" said the woman looking around.

Then, a small grin spread across the sage's face. He took out a Fire tome and flipped through the pages. He began chanting, and instantly a small red ball of fire materialized in his hands. He took aim . . . and shot it at the local villager.

The female villager saw the flame approaching her and screamed. She tried to run back inside her house, but tripped. She lied on the ground defenseless and closed her eyes, waiting for the flame to burn her.

But then she felt something push her, and the burning never came. The woman opened her eyes and found that she was even further away from her home. She looked up and saw Nephenee in front of the flame's path. The sentinel tried to block it, but it made contact with her right thigh, causing her to scream.

"You . . . filthy . . . coward!" Nephenee spat at the sage. She stumbled, but managed to stand on both legs. The fire did some serious damage, and it was only of the lowest level. She deduced that he was powerful if he could do that much damage from a low-leveled spell.

Nephenee was about to rejoin Meg and Brom, but something disrupted her. She looked up and saw the sage jump over the wall, landing on his feet. He rose up and faced Nephenee.

"Heh, you're more resistant," he said mockingly, eyeing the burn he gave her. "But not as resistant as I thought you were." He took out a tome and began to skim through the pages. Nephenee took a battle stance, her javelin ready to throw.

"Get inside!" she yelled at the villager. The woman did not question the sentinel and ran inside her home. The sage began chanting and fired another shot of fire at Nephenee. This time, however, she was ready and blocked the sage's attack. She countered his attack by throwing a javelin, but the sage jumped out of the way, landing on his feet once again.

"Scratch what I said. You're better than I thought you'd be," said the sage. "But regardless, you won't win."

"That's what you think," growled Nephenee. "This ain't my first fight, and it won't be my last!"

"Is that a challenge? Fine, I accept." The sage switched weapons, trading his Fire tome for an Elwind tome. "If you thought my fire was dangerous, you should see my wind magic."

The sage flipped through the pages and began chanting. Nephenee quickly rushed over to him, trying to get close enough so that he would not have time to attack. She was close to him, but he was faster than she thought. The sage thrust his right hand and out of nowhere, blades of green wind began making their way toward Nephenee. The sentinel successfully blocked the attack, however, and he was left there defenseless.

"Not that good, boy," said Nephenee coyly.

"Don't get too cocky, wench," he spat back. The sage maneuvered his arm, and instantly, the blades that were deflected by Nephenee came towards her again. This time, however, they made contact, and dealt more damage to her than his fire spell. Nephenee gave out a scream and knelt down on one knee, spitting out a small amount of blood.

"Nephenee!" shouted Meg turning to face Nephenee.

"Don't worry about me!" the sentinel shouted.

"And don't avert your attention!"

Nephenee quickly turned to the sage when he spoke, but was immediately pelted by another round of wind blades, cutting her body even further. But she held strong, though; she was not about to give up yet. However, it was getting more difficult to stand. Her vision was blurry, and her legs would not stop wobbling.

"My, you look terrible," said the sage, his Elwind tome still in his hands. He thrust his arm at her once again, sending another three wind blades at the weakened sentinel. Nephenee managed to block the attack, but was knocked down when they came back to her.

The sentinel was sent flying back a few feet, landing on her frontal side as she did. She was about to get back up, but was knocked down by another barrage of wind that sliced her back. The sage walked up to her, a smile on his countenance.

"I'm sorry, what did you say about this not being your last fight?" insulted the sage. "You disappoint me. I know it's not important, but at least you should know my name. It's Reza, and that will be the name you take to your grave!"

The sage formed a ball of fire in his hands, preparing to burn Nephenee where she lied. However, he was distracted, not noticing the other two fighters behind him. Suddenly, he looked back and saw Brom rush over to him with his axe ready.

Reza immediately jumped out of the way, avoiding a blow that would have taken his arm off. He saw Meg joining up with him.

"What is this? How can you two . . ." he said, but quickly silenced himself. "Wait . . . ." He looked over near the stairwell and saw that all twenty soldiers were either knock out or slightly wounded, but none of them were killed. Reza's anger boiled over and faced the three.

"You will die here!" he yelled. The sage shot blasts of wind followed by fire, combining to make flaming wind blades. Brom, however, blocked them with his shield, even when they were sent back to him.

"Meg, get Nephenee out of here and get to the queen," he instructed to his daughter.

"But, what about-"

"Don't worry about me. I'll hold him here. You have to warn Elincia. Now, go!"

Meg did what she was told, but was still worried. However, she did not question him any further. The marshal picked up a severely wounded Nephenee and gently placed her across her shoulders. Then, with all her speed, she sped off toward Melior.

"Oh no, you're not leaving," spat Reza. He shot a blast of fire towards Meg, but Brom got in front and blocked the attack.

"You're not going after them," he said to Reza. The sage was about to attack again, but suddenly stopped.

"My, my, what have we here?" said another voice. Suddenly, an intricate magic circle appeared on the ground. In an instant, another person appeared. He, too, was male. He had teal eyes, short brown hair, and wore a brown robe. Like Reza, the man was a sage, but was seen with a Dark tome instead.

"I'm wondering why you're taking so long," said the second person rather calmly. "Don't tell me you've failed. My, how my teacher has fallen."

"I'm sorry, sir," said Reza to the second man. "I was about to come back, but I was stopped by three people. Two managed to escape."

"Well, that's unfortunate," said the arch sage nonchalantly. "I guess we'll be a bit short."

"Hey, who are you?" said Brom. The arch sage turned to face the marshal.

"Is he one of them?" the arch sage asked Reza, to which the former nodded. "Interesting. I'm starting to think that this might not be much of a failure."

"How so?" said Reza a tad confused. The arch sage took out a staff with a green gem on top and began chanting. Brom saw a strange light surround him and saw some small stars of light fall on him.

"Wait, this is-!" But he did not get much further and fell asleep, dropping his axe. The arch sage made his way to the wounded citizens and did the same procedure as he did with Brom. The crow shortly fell asleep as well.

"Take him and everyone else back. I'll worry about their injuries later," said the arch sage.

"Yes, sir," said Reza. He took out a Rewarp staff and dragged Brom over to the crowd with his other hand. He chanted, and instantly, he, the arch sage, and the crowd were gone.

-.-.-.-.-

Elincia and Lucia were quite surprised to see Meg coming close to Melior. The two rushed out to meet the young marshal, but were immediately quieted and mortified to see a wounded Nephenee on her shoulders.

The queen and her loyal friend escorted Meg inside the castle, and placed Nephenee inside one of the emergency rooms. After making sure that the sentinel's serious and life-threatening wounds were healed, they asked Meg what happened, asking her to provide as much detail.

The marshal told the queen and her advisor everything that happened in Ohma. She told them of how Reza tried to start another rebellion, and how Nephenee was injured. This news sent Elincia into a stage of shock and horror. However, she remained calm.

"I see . . ." said Elincia. "And what of Brom?"

"He stayed behind to deal with that sage," answered Meg. "I hope he's all right." The marshal became sad and was about to cry, but Geoffrey, who was also inside the room, comforted her.

"There, there, don't cry," said the king of Crimea. "I'm sure he's doing fine. We'll make sure of it."

"O . . . Okay," said Meg, wiping away a stray tear.

"This is terrible," said Lucia. "That makes two riots today."

"Two?" said Meg confused. "But, where did the other one come from."

"The other one came from the town of Azalea," answered Lucia. "We've received a report about a similar happening as well. However, he said that there was no fighting."

"No, but I did try to stop them. I just wasn't fast enough," said an unknown voice. The four people turned around and saw a tall man standing in front of the door.

"Nolan!" said Meg happily.

"Hello, Meg. It's good to see you again," said Nolan to the girl. However, his look became serious shortly after. "But what I said is true. I was just roaming around the Crimean countryside when I saw a gathering. They said something about planning another rebellion, trying to overthrow the queen. I didn't get involved because I thought that they would disagree with the instigator, but I was wrong. Please, I'm sorry.

"It's all right," said Lucia. "In fact, it was actually a good thing you decided not to get involved. If you did and you ended up getting hurt, we might not have known about any of this. Please, dismiss your guilt from your mind."

"All right, then," said Nolan. "Should I tell Micaiah about this? Maybe she would lend you some soldiers to aid you."

"No, that will not be necessary," said Elincia. "We don't want other countries getting involved with Crimea's affairs. In fact, I think you should go back to Daein."

"She's right," said Geoffrey. "If the rebel army sees a Daein soldier fighting, they might also attack Daein as well. We can't have that happening."

"Very well," said Nolan. "Then I guess I'll be off."

"Actually, why don't we have one of the pegasus knights fly you over there," said Lucia. "It will get you there faster."

"That would be great, thank you," said Nolan. The reaver exited the room and made his way over to the stables for his escort, leaving the remaining four inside to their thoughts.

" . . . So, it's started again," said Elincia. "Why? Why do my people fight against each other?"

"Don't worry, Elincia," said Geoffrey. "We'll do all we can to quell this before it gets out of hand. You're not alone in all of this." Elincia gave a small smile to her husband.

"Thank you," said Elincia.

The queen felt content on the outside, but internally, she was hurting. Civil war had come to Crimea once again, and it would not be as easy to stop this time around. She was lucky last time, but she was beginning to think that her luck was starting to run out.

But she could not think like that. Elincia had to be strong, regardless of the circumstances. But how much she could handle was starting to wear thin. Hopefully, she could end this uprising as quickly as possible.