Ch. 10 The First Mission

Morgan and the others appeared in the middle of the Woods of Forlorn. These woods were even worse than the others the four heroes had traveled through. It was if the entire forest was void of life, with the black, leafless trees reaching to the dark clouds over head, and large skulls littering the ground.

"Is this entire country cursed or something?" Severa asked.

"Not sure." Morgan answered. "Although, while in the capital, I was sensing some tremendous evil. I couldn't quite put my finger on it though. I think they're trying to hide the presence from me."

" I hope Lilith will be O.K. with watching Prince Kamui on her own." Inigo spoke with concern.

"I wouldn't be too worried. She's kept him safe this long." Morgan assured her. "Besides, from what she described, it sounds like he was being well protected."

The four heroes continued to make their way deeper and deeper into the woods. Eventually they found what they were looking for. Sitting on a lone pedestal was a single black jewel that was giving off an ominous aura. Lying in front of the jewel was giant pig like mask, with puffy cheeks, and red and blue striped makeup on it.

As they continued along the path, Severa stopped dead in her tracks. She looked down with a horrid look on her face.

"I think we found those soldiers." Severa announced.

Lying dead all across the ground were countless dark mages and knights.

"What could have done this?" Inigo asked in shock.

Morgan covered his nose and looked away for a moment, as he felt a little nauseous from the sight. Severa, Owain, and Inigo, on the other hand weren't even phased. For them, death and bloodshed were a normal occurrence when growing up. However, for so many to be in one location, whatever these spirits guarding the Lodestone were not nice.

All four warriors stood perfectly alert as they stood back to back. Severa and Inigo both had their weapons drawn.

"They're here!" Morgan shouted.

Dozens of ghostly figures, whose bodies were covered in ragged robes, rose up from the ground and surrounded the four heroes. The creatures faces, if they even had them, were hidden by their hoods. All that could be seen were glowing eyes beneath them. The creatures each carried a swords or scythes in hand, with ghostly lanterns dangling down from the handles of their weapons.

"Poes!" Severa warned.

"My sword hand twitches." Owain shouted. "Let us draw our mystic weapons and strike these wicked spirits down."

Severa, Inigo, and Owain were about to summon their weapons, when Morgan stopped them.

"Wait." Morgan instructed. "Even though I don't think we're being watched, this would probably be a good time to practice fighting as our new aliases."

"That's not going to be easy against this many Poes." Severa warned.

"Aw, we can do it." Morgan assured.

"Well, if you say so. Let's go!" Severa shouted, jumping into the air and landed on one of the top of the trees.

Inigo drew his blade, and lunged forward, blocking one of the ghost's weapons and then retaliating with his own slashes. If Inigo had been fighting any living creature, his attacks would have cut them down within seconds. However, Inigo's blade merely passed through the ghosts.

Severa leapt into the air to avoid a stream of purple flames from one of the ghost's lanterns and landed on another tree branch, while releasing a volley of arrows at some ghosts. However, the arrows had just as much affect as Inigo's blades as they simply passed right through the ghostly enemies.

"Damn it, our attacks are just passing right threw them. What the hell?" Severa swore.

"LIGHTNING!" Owain chanted, as a bolt of lightning shot down from the sky on a couple of Poes, causing them to erupted into specs of light. While physical weapons were doing nothing to these creatures, magic attacks were still extremely effective.

"It's because of all the darkness." Morgan explained. "Poes thrive in dark areas such as shadows, which allows them to keep their transparent form. The only way to hurt them is to use light to make them solid or magic."

"Well that's all handy for Odin, but what about us?" Inigo asked, dodging a ghost's sword as it grazed his leather armor. "They seem to have no problem hurting us."

"Yea, and I don't think we can count on rays of sun to help us out anytime soon." Severa added, jumping from tree branch to tree branch as several Poes were chasing her.

"Don't worry, I've got an idea." Morgan assured. "Odin light up the sky."

"You got it." Odin responded. "ELFIRE!"

Several orbs of fire erupted from Owain's hand and began to float into the sky above the four heroes. The orbs of flame were then positioned evenly across the battle field, as their bright glow illuminated parts of the forest for the four heroes.

"All right, now we're in business." Severa cheered. "Let's get this over with!"

With lightning speed, Severa cut down several Poes that had been solidified by the rays of light. As soon as Severa cut down the creatures, their bodies exploded into specs of light, just as they had done for Odin.

"You're right where I want you!" Inigo declared, cutting down several Poes of his own.

While Morgan's friends had gained a quick upper hand, Poes weren't stupid creatures. The creatures quickly began to adapt to the situation by regrouping in areas the fireballs did not illuminate or behind shadows that trees produced.

"Don't even think about it." Severa used her blades to reflect a ray of light towards one of the ghosts, causing it flail around madly as the light temporarily made it vulnerable.

"Nice moves, Selena" Inigo complimented, as he cut down the ghosts that Severa had just weakened for him.

"You can't hide from me!" Owain warned. "THUNDER!"

Odin cast another bolt of lightning out of his hands towards a group of fleeing ghosts, blowing them to bits.

Seeing that it was hopeless, the Poes began to sink back into the ground, fleeing from the heroes.

"Ha, you better run losers." Severa mocked the fleeing ghosts.

"Yes, for our glory is unyielding." Owain added.

"Shame there weren't some girls watching." Inigo sighed.

"Let's just get the stone now and get out of this dump." Severa declared.

As the four heroes began to approach the glowing crystal, their celebration was cut short. The giant mask in front of it began to hover off the ground with its eye sockets glowing. Dozens of Poes then began to rise up from the ground and gather into the mask, as they infused with it. Eventually, a fat, pig like Poe emerged wearing the mask upon its face. The creature was enormous as it towered over the four heroes. With a deep breath, the creature absorbed Owain's fireballs, but was able to retain its transparent form, destroying what little hope the four heroes had to defeating it.

"Seriously? It's being guarded by this thing?" Severa gasped, looking at the giant boss monster.

"You wouldn't happen to have a plan B would you Anthony?" Owain asked Morgan.

"Run around and try not to get killed?" Morgan recommended.

Back in Nohr, Xander made his way along the halls of capitol's castle. As he passed a group of maids, they immediately ceased whatever gossip they were whispering of and bowed before him as he passed. A pair of guards who were leaning on their weapons also saw the eldest prince approaching, as they immediately straightened themselves up and saluted the prince. As Xander continued to make his way to his chamber, the eldest prince heard a familiar sound of crying, prompting him to turn the other corner and investigate.

The crowned of prince opened the door to a servants quarters to see a woman in her late teens crying hysterically. The young woman had fluffy blue hair with pink tips tied in two braid, looking as if she was born in a cotton candy factory. On her head she sore a silver and gold ribbon, and over her body was a well made suit of armor that was silver, gold, and azure blue in color; a rather strange color coloring scheme compared to the usual suites of armor soldiers wore in Nohr.

"Peri, what's the matter?" Xander asked the blubbering girl.

"Oh, lord Xander." The girl sobbed.

"Calm yourself Peri. Tell me, why are you crying?" Xander instructed in his usual stern voice.

"Because, well Peri, well um, well" The girl continued to sniffle.

"Speak Peri, that's an order."

"Peri gets it. …If it's an order there's no helping it. See, Peri's getting criticized by everyone."

"They're scolding you? whatever for?"

"They say... They say Peri's a bad retainer." Peri continued to blubber. "Niles has been especially mean to Peri."

"What? Nonsense! Besides, I don't think that's for them to decide." Xander barked. "Why would they say that?"

"It's because Peri's not...What was it again? Oh yea, not respectful. They say Peri doesn't respect Xander enough. That Peri talks too casual to you. Like that's a bad thing!"

"Ah, I see." Xander responded.

"Peri really does appreciate all Xander has done for her. But people say I don't. They say if Peri was really grateful Peri would act like it. But this is how Peri has always talked. Peri doesn't even know how to change. Peri doesn't know what to dooooo!"

"So that's what this is about. Thank you for telling me of this, Peri. Please keep your chin held high. I'm certain your sadness will pass."

However, Xander's young body guard merely broke into another fit as she continued to cry. Upon seeing there was little choice left, the crowned prince sighed as he shut the door to the girl's chambers so that they could converse privately.

"Peri, you must stop crying right at this moment and listen." Xander barked.

Surprisingly this worked for the girl as her tears dried and her head perked up to listen to her lord's words.

"First, you know that your manner of speech has never mattered to me. But having said that, I must consider your problem at length. As long as you don't pick up any of Nile's inappropriate habits, I have decided you have free rein to behave however you wish."

"So..Peri can just talk how she wants?"

"That's right. If you want lessons in formal speech, I can give you some advice. But if not, you needn't change a thing, " offered Xander.

"Huh Peri wants to try learning. I'm sick of getting nagged about it! If this keeps up, anyone who talks to me about etiquette will need a tourniquet!

"Understood. Then allow me to bestow a few pointers." Xander began.

"That sounds great, thank you!" Peri thanked her lord excitedly.

"I shall start by letting you in on a secret. When nobles speak, we typically consider our words with great care. We take time to build up a large vocabulary so we may properly convey our thoughts."

"You mean, you use fancy words?" Peri tried to summarize.

"That's one way to look at it." Xander chuckled lightly. "Once you build up a proper vocabulary, it's easier to speak formally. I swear, it's not as hard as it first seems."

"That's all it takes? OK! I'll give it a shot!" Peri then cleared her throat as she began to attempt to speak formally. "Thou Lord Xander! Would thine desirest to ride to the batt—um, the kerfuffle with us?"

Xander was silent for a moment as he wasn't sure what to say. Peri had just used nearly every word in her last sentence incorrectly. He then began to correct his vassal on her way of speaking.

"Thou" is a pronoun. You don't use it with a name. Also, it is an informal pronoun. As for kerfuffle...well...perhaps giving you an example how to speak more appropriately would be best. 'Lord Xander! Is it your will to ride into battle with us this day?' That would be how it's said with the proper formalities. Now you try."

"What, that was wrong? Peri doesn't get it. You lied, Lord Xander! This is WAY too hard to keep straight."

"Don't get discouraged. It takes practice." Xander tried to encourage. " Here's how you could have said that; Repeat after me. 'This is far too burdensome to put into practice!' That's how a refined lady might say it. Now you try.

"This is far too...burdensome...to put into practice." Peri stuttered with her words.

"Excellent! Very good, Peri." Xander congratulated his retainer

"I hate this! Peri decided, Peri's just gonna talk like normal!"

"Are you certain that's your response?" Xander questioned.

"Yes. Peri is really thankful for Lord Xander. If Peri's got those feelings, she thinks it doesn't matter what words she uses! What does Lord Xander think?"

"I accept that as your decision. I admit to feeling uncomfortable hearing you attempt to speak formally. You're a valuable asset to us. I don't want your morale lowered over such matters. You have my blessing to proceed as before."

"So it's OK?" Peri asked still a little unsure.

"Yes." Xander assured. "And if anyone tries to lecture you on the way you speak, you can tell them that they should bring that complaint to me."

"Yea, Thanks! You're the best, Lord Xander!" Peri cheered as she surprised the stern lord with a hug before running out of her room. The eldest prince of Nohr couldn't help but briefly smile as he watched the young girl happily skip down the halls.

"My lord." A guard in dark armor approached.

"Speak." Xander instructed.

"Four travelers have returned from the Woods of Forlorn." The soldier spoke. "They say they have come to report the results of their mission."

Xander was shocked those four had returned this quickly, even with the use of teleportation.

"Very well, I will alert my father of their arrival." Xander spoke.

During this time, Morgan, Severa, Owain, and Inigo were already being led through the castle. The four warrior's clothes were completely battered and torn, with bruises and dirt covering their bodies. The four stood in front of a set of large navy blue doors with gold embroidery. As the doors opened, the four walked into the throne.

The throne room of Nohr was much different than the one of Ylisse. It was large and empty with sets of stone pillars along the sides of the room supporting the ceiling. Dark green vines grew all along the grey cement walls of the room leading to the ceiling where a large black dragon was carved. On the floor was a long red carpet that lead to a set of stairs, and on those stairs was a large black throne where the King of Nohr sat.

Just looking at Nohr's king, it was clear where Xander got his intimidating appearance. However, while Xander was still a young man who's handsome could at least make him look approachable, the King of Nohr's face could only fill one with weary. His skinned was grayed and wrinkled, his eyes had bags under them, and his long white hair and beard flowed freely. He was dressed in black armor with gold embroidery, similar to what Xander wore, but without the purple tunic. On his back he had a thick black and white cape made of fine fur and on his head was a black crown. The King stared at the four heroes.

"So these are the four that I've heard about." The Nohrian King spoke in a judgmental voice.

Standing to the King's right side was Xander, and to his left were Leo and Camilla. The three royals looked on with concern at the four who had returned so soon and in such terrible shape.

Morgan and his friends approached the King with nervous looks on their face and bowed before him to show their respect. Severa then dropped the mask of the large Poe leader with the crystal still embedded in it.

"I believe you were looking for this?" Severa smirked.