Chapter 10

As Validar slowly walked in the throne room, using his magical powers to push the doors open for himself, he sneered at Chrom and Nathan, standing together in front of the castle throne. The others stood off to the side near and around them, watching things unfold in a nervous silence.

"AH, my son," Validar mockingly called to Nathan. "What a pleasure it is to see you again."

Nathan scoffed at the man, grinning slightly. "I'd say the same, but I don't feel like lying through my teeth. How are you here? And who are you, really?"

The sorcerer chuckled. "Now for you, I suppose I should explain, shouldn't I…"

"In the world I am from, you did what I am sure you already tried here. You rebelled when it was time for you to accept your true destiny as my own flesh and blood." Validar explained. "And, as you refused to become one with Grima, I did what it appeared the me of this world could not do."

"Oh? And what's that?" Nathan asked.

"I killed you," Validar replied quaintly, with an evil smile on his face. "Your refusal to become one with Grima, and to side with these…insects…was quite disappointing, so you left me with no choice. It gave me great pain to have to commit such an act against my own son, but it was only one of many atrocities committed in the name of the gods. Your friends did there best to stop me, but they were far too weak. After all, it was only your death that I required."

"That's nice and all," Chrom told the man with a glare, "But that doesn't make you any different from the Validar we killed in this timeline. No need to worry, though, we'll make sure your death is quick and painless."

The purple-eyed sorcerer cackled, his eerie laugh echoing throughout the hall. "Please, foolish prince, let me finish my story," He told him with a mocking frown. "You'll find that I am very different from the man you killed."

Nathan felt his hand twitch slightly once more. At this point, the area where the mark of Grima had once been now felt as though it was on fire, and searing itself into his skin. It felt as though something was calling to him from afar, and it was very familiar.

"…So once I had killed Nathan, we no longer had our vessel for Grima," Validar continued. "And thus, I decided to take his place."

"But you said that was impossible!" Chrom argued. "When we fought, you said that only Nathan could accept Grima's power!"

"This is true," Validar replied. "So I took the blood from his veins, the blood of a perfect vessel, and made it one with my own. If he would not join me in life, my son would help me in death!"

"You're sick." Chrom spat. "You would kill your own son just for the power of Grima?"

The sorcerer laughed, a sinister purple aura forming around him once more. The sheer concentration of energy was so powerful that it lifted the man off the ground, and he floated menacingly over the shepherds. "Foolish boy," He snapped. "I am Grimleal! There is nothing I would not do for the Fell Dragon!"

With that, Nathan and Chrom had heard enough. Chrom drew Falchion from its hilt, as Nathan pulled off his tactician's robe, letting it fall to the floor, revealing the jet-black dread fighter garb underneath.

"If you'd be willing to die for Grima, we are more than happy to oblige." Nathan spat, a familiar purple aura forming around him once more.

Validar sneered as his black-and-purple blade materialized in a puff of purple smoke. He pointed it to Nathan while smiling mockingly.

"Come and try, fool. Come and try."

With a fearsome battle cry, Nathan and Chrom dashed at Validar, as the man tried to blast them with shots of purple flame. The battle was on.

Chrom quickly sidestepped a blast from the sorcerer, jumping into the air to try and hit the man. However, he failed to connect, with Validar easily parrying the blow. It was Nathan's try next, but it was proving quite the task to deal with the time-traveller. The two certainly agreed that the man they fought was far stronger than any they had faced before, and was nothing like the version they had fought many years ago.

However, Validar's aura would not be enough to keep him in the air forever. The man finally landed, though the aura that surrounded him refused to fade, only getting fiercer and fiercer. It felt as though the miasma could suffocate one if they stood in it for too long, let alone fought with it surrounding them. Realizing that dragging out the battle was not an option, Nathan turned to Chrom, realizing it was time to strike.

"Like we practiced, okay?" He told the man.

Chrom gave him a surprised look. "Are you certain that's wise?" He retorted.

"Do you have a better idea right now?"

The Exalt sighed, lowering his sword. "Fair enough," He conceded, before turning to look at Validar, who was watching the two intently.

With that, Nathan dashed at Validar, with Chrom circling warily around the two as they clashed. Midway through their one-on-one duel, Chrom pulled back his arm and threw Falchion with all his might, aiming for Validar. Just as the man turned to block the sword, however, Nathan jumped in the way, catching the exalted blade on his backhand. With a spin, he tried to use it to stab Validar while his purple aura swirled around him and the blade. The sorcerer managed to parry the blow just in time, sending Falchion spinning into the air. As he did, Nathan ducked down, with Chrom rushing in and using the tactician's back as a stepping-stone, flying into the air and catching his blade as he did.

"TAKE THIS!" The Exalt roared, raising his blade with two hands as he flew towards Validar. Unfortunately for Nathan and Chrom, the man appeared to have been ready for this as well. He raised his hand as quickly as possible, and sent a shower of spears of black magic towards both Chrom and Nathan, sending them flying backwards and crashing into the walls of the throne room, landing near the other shepherds.

Nathan managed to stand up, his legs shaking. He could taste the blood in his mouth, and the numerous deep wounds now on his body were certainly not helping.

"R-RUN! EVERYONE!" He commanded to them.

"B – but-"

"DID YOU HEAR ME?" He roared. "GET OUT OF HERE! HE'S TOO STRONG!"

Frederick was at least willing to listen, and began pushing the others out of the room and towards the back exit. "We have to leave, now! Make for the dungeons!" He declared, ushering the others out of the room. However, no one was willing to leave Nathan and Chrom behind.

Validar sighed mockingly, forming another jet-black spear in his hand once more. "Such foolishness. It's almost admirable…"

Chrom slowly managed to get up as well, still heavily wounded from Validar's last attack. "We won't give up!" He spat back defiantly. "Not until the last of us is dead!"

The sorcerer laughed. "Very well, then…" He muttered, stretching out his arm, "You shall be the first to go! DIE!"

As Validar released his arrow of black magic towards Chrom, the man was tackled powerfully out of the way at the last second, sending him skidding across the ground and smashing his head on the concrete floor. He could hear muffled yells and screams as his mind slowly blacked out into nothingness.

The Prince awoke from this darkness only a few seconds later. He could hear a loud ringing in his ears, and muffled noises that he couldn't quite make out. One thing he could hear for certain: Validar's chilling laughter from across the room.

He tried to look around, but his vision was extremely blurred and felt immense pain while turning his neck. He could see someone crumpled to the floor nearby, having been smashed up against the wall with a gaping wound on his or her chest.

There was a gleam at Chrom's feet, and as he looked at it, his vision began to slowly return. After seeing it, however, he wished he had gone blind instead.

It was a silver chain bearing the brand of the Exalt on the end, now spattered with blood.

My apologies for the slight cliffhanger. I'll be gone over the weekend, so the next chapter of this story won't go up until late Sunday most likely. Plus I need a bit of time to re-edit the next chapter, to ensure it's just as good as I need it to be. When I started this story, this was a death I had planned from the very beginning - but it was also the hardest one I've ever had to write. Killing characters is never fun, but in case you couldn't tell this is a character who is one of my favourites and sees an awful lot of time in the spotlight in my stories, making it an even harder one to part with. I just felt like Nathan, Chrom and the rest really needed a strong inciting incident to give them motivation - so here we are.

On that somber note, thanks once again for reading and supporting this story. I'll keep on pumping out chapters as long as there is interest.

-Nate