Authors Notes

All aspects belong to AE, I just made the MC

First off I want to apologize for the late update, recently my grandfather passed away from cancer and I've been busy getting ready for the funeral in Nova Scotia. because of this I haven't had a lot of time to work on my fanfiction, luckily I managed to finish this latest chapter before heading down. I hope you all enjoy this chapter as much as I did writing it, I'll be asking people's opinions in the End Notes so please read that at the end of the chapter.

Chapter 9:Plans for the Future

Brent felt the wind rush through his hair as Wiatr carried him up to the top of the tree fort, the Wind elf was surprisingly strong and was able to carry him easily. When his boots finally touched down on the wooden platform he immediately started walking, he turned and gave a quick wave and a cry of thanks as he made his way towards the stairs.

Before he could even get to them he saw the familiar and uniquely colored armor of Mritha, her purple Dragonlord armor had recently been cleaned as was evident by the shine coming off of her breastplate.

Her dark eyes stood out like black pits against her pale complexation and the purple streaks in her hair. The slight smile on her face gave her an attractive appearance, not to say she wasn't attractive without one, just that she looked bit to serious.

"Good to see you Brent, I was wondering when you would arrive. Kara's waiting for you upstairs but first I need to talk to you." She then motioned for him to follow behind her, they moved away from the stairs and instead stopped by the edge of the wooden platform. From up here they could see most of the surrounding marshland, as well as the majority of the Resistance base.

Brent could see "soldiers" moving back and forth, some carrying supplies while others trained with weapons, mostly with their natural weapons, though some were using spears and swords. The "soldiers" were mostly Clawkin's that had been forced to flee their homes due to the Rose, though he could see a few sets of green scaly wings that proved some Dravir were still around. Seeing the regulars of the Resistance always filled Brent with mixed feelings, he remembered back before he was frozen, back when he saw the Clawkin almost as animals.

He'd had no idea that they had their own society, no idea that whenever his sword struck down one of them he was killing a father, or a mother, a child to someone else.

It was an eye-opening experience when he first met their leader and learned of their society, it was also one of the reasons why he was willing to fight for the Resistance. He'd spent so long trying to keep humanity safe that he never fully considered the plight that other races faced, this was his chance to make up for that, to protect all magical beings who deserved their freedom.

"They aren't ready for what's to come."

The words broke the silence that had settled over the two of them and Brent had to keep from flinching, instead he turned to see the grim look that now dominated Mritha's face. he wondered what had gone through her head as she looked over the encampment, Mritha was here almost constantly and took a more active role in training the troops then he did. She knew what they were capable of much better then Brent did, and if she said they weren't ready that spoke volumes about how any future battles against the Rose might go.

He may not have been around during the formation of the Resistance, but he knew that the kinds of troops they had weren't professional soldiers. From what he had been able to learn a majority of the great fighters and leaders were either dead or imprisoned at this point in time.

Now they had nothing except civilian volunteers and angry freedom fighters who have grown bitter after years of failure. Both were not the kinds of people Brent wanted to put against a trained army, especially one with lead by Jaania and Akanthus, who had proven over the years to that they could and would win this war.

Unless enough people stood up and fought for what they believed in, and there in lay the problem.

"If things work out then they won't need to be ready, I've successfully attacked more Rose bases in the last month then they have in years. If I can keep this pace up, then maybe the Rose won't be able to mount a significant counter attack."

As he said this he looked at Mritha with the best smile he could, he squared his shoulder and tried to stand as tall as he could. When he looked into his fellow DragonLords eyes he tried to convey as much confidence as possible. This was a skilled he learned a long time ago, it didn't matter so much if you believed you own words, but if your audience did.

From the slight smile she gave back to him it seemed to have worked.

"You can't fight the Rose all on your own Brent, even you need back up."

…or maybe it didn't.

Mritha then pulled some parchment from somewhere on her armor, which she then held out for Brent to take. "Especially for these kinds of jobs, if you go in there without Aegis and Yashta you wont need the Face Nommer to get into Espina Rosa."

Immediately curious about what jobs she was talking about, the Hero accepted the parchment and scanned it with his eyes. He quickly realized that it was a map of Greenguard, one that had 3 symbols drawn on it to look like a rose. The 3 roses created a triangular perimeter around Falconreach, Brent also noticed that one of the roses was directly where Oaklore keep was located.

He couldn't help but give Mritha a raised eyebrow at that, after all Oaklore wasn't just a Rose fortress now, it was still officially under the control of the King of Swordhaven. "You know that if we attack there that many would consider it an act of open war? We might lose some of our supporters because they don't want to become enemies of Alteon."

"Which is why I want you to attack it last, and only after we see how the Rose reacts. If they fall back we'll have more time to prepare less risky operations, as it is we're being surrounded on all sides and can't afford not to retaliate. If we don't take these bases then Sulen'Eska could easily be found and destroyed, which is why we'll need Oaklore in case the Rose tries to escalate after taking the other two bases."

Brent's face contorted into a look of confusion, "You really think that things could get worse then they already are? I mean the Rose already has the support of the King, and they aren't exactly subtle when they attack and enslave magical creatures and mages."

Instead of answering him immediately, Mritha turned and headed back towards the stairs. Brent followed a step or two behind her, "I mean, even if we take Oaklore what does that really accomplish. It seems like to big a risk right now, do we even have the man power to hold it?"

When she still didn't answer him the Hero started to feel annoyed, he kept his tone even however so that Mritha wouldn't notice.

"Does Kara know about these plans?"

The purple clad Dragonlord stopped at that and Brent's suspicions immediately rose, he didn't want to think that Mritha was going behind Kara's back to authorize missions as risky as these would be. His muscles subconsciously tensed like a spring waiting to explode, but loosened slightly as a disarming smile appeared on Mritha's face as she looked over her shoulder at Brent.

"Kara's actually the one who came up with this plan of action, but don't take my word for it, I'll let her explain everything in a moment."

The Hero was surprised by Mritha's words, something that must have been obvious by the amused laughter that came from his fellow Dragonlord. Well, at the very least he was curious to see why Kara would want to go this far. Since he had meet the wind elf he always assumed she was more reserved and cautious, the most excessive thing she had ever suggested was breaking into Espina Rosa.

As Mirtha continued on her way up the steps Brent channeled a bit of magic into his finger tip before tapping a small glass ball that dangled from his belt. A familiar sensation began to spread throughout Brent's head, "Aegis, I'm in Sulen'Eska. I left Falwynn with Aria, can you check on her?"

The Sensation cooled sharply before dissipating, "I'm glad Aegis showed me that little trick, this is so much more efficient then going back to Ravenloss every time I need his help." Thought the Hero as a smile spread across his face, he stuffed his armored hands into the deep pockets of his coat and followed Mritha.

*Meanwhile*

Deep underground in the city of Ravenloss the Spirit of Valor was humming to himself as he cleaned the house, a job that was fairly simple since it was made mostly out of ice. Aegis paused in his cleaning as the clear glass ball hanging from his wrist glowed a light blue, as he hears a whisper enter his mind his pacing slowed until he stopped completely. Once he had heard the whole message Aegis gave a slight nod of his head, even though no one was there to see it. Aegis then gripped the ball in the opposite hand and focused his power through the connection he shared with Brent. Once he knew Brent had received his response Aegis began to channel his magic into the ice around him.

Slowly the ice from the ground spiked up, forming a crude archway that while at first was empty, quickly filled in with a thin layer of ice. Aegis waited another few seconds for the ice to solidify before he placed his hand on the smooth surface, his eyes then closed as the spirit envisioned the town of Falconreach.

With two quick steps forward and the sounds of shattering glass, Aegis opened his eyes to see the familiar doorway into Cysero's workshop. While the streets may have stayed the same many of the buildings were replaced with tents or were in states of half repair. The spirits eyes scanned the ground for a crater that he had helped create, he knew that it had been made somewhere in the middle of town just in front of Lim's tent. When he finally saw it Aegis paused and remembered, some townsfolk walking by stopped to look at the Spirit but if their attention bothered Aegis he never let it show.

Instead he was to focused on memories that flashed through his mind.

A large chunk of ice slamming into the decaying and dead soil.

A terrified pair of eyes shifting back and forth between gold and an icy blue.

He'd only been trying to save Brent, Aegis had never expected that he'd have a panic attack afterwards. The only way the aftermath could have been any worse would have been if Brent had blacked out and started attacking everything he'd seen as a threat.

Instead Brent made himself out to be the Rose's number one enemy and negated any chance of peace that Falconreach may have had with Jaania and her forces. A pang of regret traveled through Aegis's core, Brent had only been able to do that because he'd transferred all of his remaining mana to his Soul Ally. After seeing Brent's reaction to being frozen Aegis had been quick to anything in his power to ease his friends pain, if only he'd taken the time to think before he'd acted.

Finally, Aegis tore his eyes away from the crater and began walking to where Aria's pet shop should have been. When he finally entered the tent he was surprised to find it empty aside from a few random animals roaming around the shop. Expecting to find the two girls in the back area behind the tent, Aegis was once more surprised when instead he saw the old blacksmith Yulgar.

"If your looking for Aria and her new friend they left a few hours ago, I was telling them about a harp I made for Aria's mother and how I lost it near Oaklore." The blacksmith said with a thick and heavy voice.

The Spirit made his way over until he stood beside the middle-aged man in front of the large basin of water, noting the grey hair that had spread from his temples and was making its way down into his full beard. "I take it they went looking for this harp?"

Yulgar let out a gruff laugh before turning to Aegis, "Yes yes, those fool girls got it in their heads that they'll succeed where I failed years ago. The green one said something about needing to finish her first quest, and once her goal was set Aria wouldn't let her go alone."

The two men seemed to share a quiet laugh at Falwynn's expense before composing themselves. Aegis turned to leave but was stopped by Yulgar's hand that clamped down around his forearm, when he looked into the smith's eyes they were as hard as the steel he had spent his life shaping.

"I've been hearing some concerning things out in Battleon, things that concern this town and my daughter. You'd do best to eliminate those fears, unless you'd like me to visit Brent with my hammer."

Aegis considered just how funny it was that this man felt he could threaten the Spirit of Valor itself. Normally he would have frozen the mans arm before leaving but considering that Yulgar would just build a new arm, then use it to break his or Brent's legs reminded him of just who he was talking too.

After all, nothing was more serious then a father's love for his daughter.

"what exactly have you heard? I can promise that if it concerns Brent or his new Apprentice then you have nothing to worry about."

Yulgar released Aegis's arm and raised an eyebrow before crossing his massive arms over his chest, "Is that true? Then that messenger must have been confused when he told me that Brent challenged an army of Rose soldiers to a death match in the middle of town? An army that was personally lead by Jaania? One that outnumbered the Heroes of Falconreach 3 to 1?"

Each question came out just a bit louder then the last, until Yulgar was practically yelling. If Aegis had been human he probably would have flinch, luckily for him he had earned his aspect. That didn't stop him from struggling to come up with a way to defend Brent's actions, because to be honest the situation had been as bad as Yulgar described.

*Flashback*

After defeating Al's corrupted body Brent and his allies had fallen from the sky, Aegis had tried to save his partner by encasing him in ice so that it would keep his fall from being fatal. Once it had struck the ground it exploded in a shower of light throwing huge ice shards in every direction, at the center stood Brent clad in his Paladin armor wielding Radiant Providence. He'd been panting from exertion with wide eyes shifting between two colors, gold and icy blue, the bottom blade of his weapon was embedded in the dead earth at his feet as he dropped to one knee.

By the time Aegis reached his side Brent had started mumbling to himself, what little Aegis had been able to recognize was "No ice…not frozen… still here…not again." They're attention had quickly been drawn towards Al as the Doom essence refused to give up his body. Brent had screamed for someone to heal his dragon, to do something that could help him, Aegis had never felt so useless in either of his lives as he listened to Brent's agonized voice.

They'd all gathered around to try and heal Al when Caitiff appeared, still buried in the desecrated corpse of Serenity, it had claimed its victory and the victory of the Darkness. What followed could hardly be called a battle, Brent and his allies fell on Caitiff like rain from a storm. We threw everything we had at it until we'd all fallen from exhaustion rather than injury, Caitiff would have killed us all if it hadn't been for Dove's multicolored shield that he summoned at the last moment. Even then that monster merely threw us all away like trash so that it could fight Brent by itself.

When the darkness finally cleared they all saw a huge pillar of light shooting into the sky, everyone else disappeared as we took off to where that light had come from, as far as Aegis was concerned only Brent could have made something as wonderous as that.

If he had known what would later happen then maybe he wouldn't have been so excited to see Brent again.

When we all made it to the clearing Brent stood tall in his dented and batted armour, Al lay at his feet cured of the Doom essence that had previously twisted his appearance. The first sign of trouble came when instead of cheering Brent said, "What are YOU doing here…?"

Everyone's eyes were suddenly on the literal army that stood behind Jaania as she and Brent stared each other down. Finally, Jaania responded to Brent's question "Such a cold reception… I'm here to help."

From there everything went wrong, so wrong that not even Cysero could have made things worse if he appeared with an entire crate of explosions and proceeded to kill everyone.

Ok maybe things hadn't gotten that bad, but they were close.

Brent had started looking around at his allies, probably trying to see if any of us were still in fighting shape. To say that we were all dead on our feet was an understatement, most of the humans were still suffering from the dread effects of Caitiff aura, those who weren't were still in bad shape after several days of fighting none stop.

Even he, the Spirit of Valor, wouldn't amount to much against the army at Jaania's back. Brent must have realized this because his face twisted into a look of contempt and bitterness that he directed towards the Cryomancer.

"Oh, I'm sure you came to help, those weapons your men are carrying look perfect for building walls, and I'm sure your timing was totally coincidental. After all, it's not like we could have used your help 10 minutes ago when the war was still going on."

The sarcasm dripped from his words like blood off a sword. Which clearly didn't impress the leader of the Rose considering her own gaze could have frozen the ocean.

While the two leaders were glaring at each other the citizen of Falconreach had begun to come out of hiding, they quickly moved towards the heroes and soldiers. While several began tending to the more wounded soldiers Brent began to speak again, "We don't need your help Jaania, we the people of Falconreach have stood through worse tragedies than this, and we will continue to survive."

After a moment of silence, a cry of relief finally rang out through the destroyed town, the civilians and some of the Guardians all yelling out in triumph. The call had finally been made, the war was over and the town had once again survived.

It wasn't long however before those cries of triumph became mutters of confusion, we all could hear the townsfolk speaking amongst themselves until finally someone yelled out, "Why didn't she arrive sooner'?! look at all this destruction!"

As more questions were shouted out the Guardians began to look around with worry, probably fearing that a riot would start if no one did anything soon to stop it.

Jaania tried to speak up over the choir of voices but her words were drowned out. More accusations were thrown at the Rose, Brent and Aegis locked eyes and the Spirit moved to stand beside his partner.

"How much mana do you have left?" Said Brent, his voice sounded like a whisper compared to everyone around him.

Aegis could only shrug in response "Maybe half, though I'm afraid I won't be able to do much against this many members of the Rose."

Brent's eyes hardened as he looked at the sea of peasants around him, his eyes then shifting to the Rose soldiers and Jaania specifically.

"Give me what you can, if we can't drive them away with force then maybe I can scare them."

The Spirit gave Brent a nod before transferring what was left of his mana pool towards his partner, he had no idea what Brent could do to scare away an army, but he hoped it would be enough. Immediately Brent seemed to stand up straighter, he then used a simple healing spell to fix some of the wounds he'd earned during his final battle against Caitiff.

When they both finally returned their attention to Jaania she seemed to be floundering against the accusations and shouting from the crowd. Her bodyguards must have been able to tell as well because they raised their hammers in order to protect their leader.

"Are you going to seize Falconreach now!?"

Finally, someone had asked that terrifying question, one that caused Brent to stiffen before he marched to the front of the crowd. "No! the Rose will not be taking Falconreach, this place is a haven for magical beings NOT a town under Rose Influence. They will not be allowed to harm anyone who supports magic, if they try then they'll have to fight me and any other who stands for freedom on Lore"

Some of the townsfolk quieted down at that, though a few could still be heard yelling "Rabble". At Brent's words several Rose soldiers drew their swords and stepped forward, the motion caused some civilians to scream and move back. Before anyone could so much as blink the battle lines had already formed, Brent with the remaining Guardians and Heroes at his back, and Jaania with her army of Rose soldiers.

The two leaders looked at each other, Jaania with a sad expression on her face, Brent with his set-in stone.

Things might have ended peacefully if it wasn't for that rock. It struck Jaania right between the eyes and stunned the woman for a moment, long enough for the soldiers to make their own choices and charge. A blinding glow stopped them in their tracks, when it died down Aegis looked towards Brent and saw him standing with one of his hands held up towards the sky.

About 10 ft in the air there was a magic circle of golden light, dozens of magic swords filled the opening and pulsed with radiant power, Aegis and any other paladins would recognize this as the Swords of Eternity spell. Brent wasn't content with using the spell with its regular limitation however, instead he threw his raised arm out to side, creating even more magic circles until over a dozen hung in the air above them.

Each magic circle began to create even more swords out of light, all of them pointing towards the Rose soldiers who had stopped in their tracks as they stared towards the face of death. We all knew what those swords could do to skeletons and monsters, everyone in Falconreach had seen Brent lay waste to hundreds of them at a time during the Black Winter War. No one moved, not the Rose and not the forces of Falconreach, we all waited to see what the Hero would do now that he'd raised the preverbal stick.

Brent raised an eyebrow and looked across the street towards what he considered to be the enemy.

"If you try to fight me right now I can promise that most of you will die in the next few seconds. Some of you will live but your forces will be decimated, I won't let even half of you live after the first barrage of swords. The only way you get to leave this place alive is if you all turn around and walk back to Swordhaven right now. Otherwise I will kill every single one of you, by myself if I have too."

After his short speech Brent once again locked eyes with Jaania, Aegis looked at her as well, hoping that she wouldn't be stubborn enough to risk Brent's threat. Instead she looked agonized that whatever plan she had when coming here had failed, finally she noticed a small line of blood ran down her forehead from the rock that was thrown earlier. She wiped it away with one of her sleeves, however Aegis could still see the cut above her eyebrow, when she finally met Brent's eyes they were like glaciers.

"If the people of Falconreach are so against receiving aid from the King then we will inform him about this reception. Let it be known that Falconreach will never again be offered aid from the Rose and those allied with us." Said Jaania loud enough for everyone present to hear.

The Rose soldiers muttered amongst themselves before sheathing their weapons and falling back, all except for Jaania's bodyguards and the 20 soldiers standing closest to them.

The magic circle finally began to disappear from the sky, and once the danger had passed Aegis let out a cold breath of relief. For a moment he'd been afraid that they would need to fight again, even after that display of magic on Brent's part he wasn't sure if the Rose would allow themselves to back down in the face of such offensive magic.

People began to go about their business again and return to what homes they had left, the Guardians were already trying to organize a shelter for anyone whose house had been destroyed. The Heroes began to disperse as well, though some of them (Ash, Nythera, Artix and Galanoth) chose to stay and stand with Brent.

They all kept their eyes on the Rose army as it left through the southern gate, and on Jaania as she stood with her guards. Jaania stilled looked at Brent like she wanted to freeze him in ice again, but that was to be expected after what had just happened. She finally took a few steps forward in our direction, we all kept ourselves from drawing our weapons on instinct, but that didn't stop Aegis from tensing his muscles and directing his magic towards his hands.

"Never let it be said that the Rose did not try to help these people, we would have given you supplies and any funding you would have needed to get back to where you were before this war started. I can only hope that your arrogance doesn't lead to the total destruction of this town and the death of its people. So remember this warning "Hero", one day you will ask for my help, and even after you've made offer after offer and begged me for my aid, I will look down at you and say "No"."

After saying that Jaania turned and walked away with her entourage, a small patch of frozen earth was left behind with every step she took.

*Present*

Aegis continued to look at Yulgar's angry face, if he was capable of sweating he would be afraid of leaving a puddle on the ground.

"So you see, he was making the best out of a bad situation – "

One of Yulgar's heavy hands slammed into the basin causing water to splash against the side "That's not good enough! If his actions are going to bring the wrath of the Rose down on this town and my daughters head then I will not stand by!"

Aegis held up his hands in surrender, "Calm down Yulgar, you've known Brent longer then I have. In all those years has he ever purposely harmed you or your daughter? All he's ever tried to do was protect this town and the people in it."

Before the old blacksmith could respond the tent flaps leading to the shop were opened by a large bear paw. The two men tensed and prepared for a fight when the bear moved all the way through the opening, on its back sat Aria with her legs around a hump on its back. Beside the bear was a slightly nervous Falwynn who was clutching an old dirty harp to her chest.

When she saw Aegis her expression changed to one of surprise before focusing on Yulgar. Her face changed to one of happiness as she thrust out the harp towards Aria's father, "We found your harp for you Mr. Yulgar! Aria's Pridemasters were able to move through the underbrush better then either of us could. All it needs is a good wash and a tune up to make sure it still works."

Yulgar looked at the harp in shock his eyes stuck on the name Lark etched into the metal near the base. He finally looked at Falwynn as tears began to form in the corner of his eyes, "Thank you, I never thought that I'd ever see this again. You should be proud of yourself young lady, if you ever need a favor simple ask and I will see what I can do."

The green hair girl's cheeks flushed red with embarrassment at the praise, she was clearly excited that she'd completed what could be considered her first quest. Even if it wasn't something crazy like stopping a horde of elementals or defeating an evil necromancer, every Heroes story starts somewhere.

Everyone's attention turned to Aria as she directed the bear towards a clearing off to the side, the Beast Master jumped off its back as it laid down to rest. The happy red head came running over and cheerfully explained, "We found this guy on the road to Oaklore, I decided to name him Edward!"

Falwynn looked at Aegis with a resigned expression that screamed "Yes this did happen, don't question it just go with it." The Spirit just laughed to himself, it seemed like she was finally getting used to the crazy that was their lives.

Yulgar looked at the bear bewilderedly before setting his eyes on his daughter, no words passed between the two and before long he lowered his head and shrugged his shoulders. Aria let out a little cheer and hoped up on the rim of the basin beside her father, Aegis grinned when he noticed the twitch that had developed under Falwynn's eye.

Deciding to spare the Apprentice anymore headache he said to her, "Brent asked me to check up on you, he'll be back from his meeting soon and then we'll be heading out to a job. I look forward to fighting with you Falwynn." The smile he gave her was hopefully encouraging, he couldn't help but be curious after all. Aegis had never expected Brent to get an Apprentice and his arrival in Ravenloss with her had been a pleasant surprise, he wanted to know how good she would be in a fight.

End Notes

So here's one of the big changes in my story from canon, instead of being worn out and allowing the towns people to vote for themselves my MC decided they didn't want anything the Rose had to offer. Because of that there were some repercussions, such as increased activity around Falconreach. The next chapter will deal with this issue and hopefully answer some questions you might have.

Now, I have some questions for all of you. I've had several ideas for the next couple fic's that I want to write, since I cant decide on my own I want to know what you all think. Here are your options:

- Naruto: The Legendary Saboteur of Konoha - Naruto decides to give up on becoming the strongest ninja in the village and instead decides to master the things he's already good at. Those things being: pranks, sneaking, transformation, and the shadow clone jutsu. Watch as Naruto puts his terrifying pranking skills to good use and shows the entire ninja world what the Prank Masker King of Konoha is capable of.

- Destiny: a Tale of Fallen Guardians - A series of one shots detailing the death of multiple Guardians who did not survive the attack on the tower at the beginning of the second game.

- Destiny/Mass Effect crossover: Guardians from another world - While exploring the Infinite Forest a Guardian gets trapped in a glitch that sends him to a parallel reality. One where humanity never received the light of the Traveler, but instead found a new way to expand. Now this Guardian along with Commander Shepard must fight back the Reaper and stop the Vex at the same time from destroying all life across the multiverse.

I have a few other ideas but these are the three that I want to work on the most, please let me know what you guys think in the comments.