Hi, Fanfic readers,

Here's the next chapter. I'm trying not to give away the setting in bold letters this time after hearing that it was a bit of a problem to some of the readers, which is fine for me as I'm still just learning. So, half way through, I stopped stating out the setting. I'm need to get this posted before 12:00 tonight. I've got about ten minutes before then. So, I'll just leave things like this! I also got a bit carried away and went past 25 pages this time. I just hope that I've done a good job writing it. Anyway, I'll be posting something a little fun at the end. I hope you enjoy that along with the chapter!


True Identity and Truth

At Mila's tree

Chrom said, "So, you're trying to say that you aren't human? But, you look-"

Ifel held up a hand to stop the Exalt and said, "Let me clarify this with a little more explanation about our world."

They nodded and he continued, "In our world… no, dimension, our life revolves around two worlds that are separated from each other, but are close enough that there was a fear in the past that they would collide. One world is almost exactly like your and your sister's world."

Surprised, Toya looked up and said, "You know where we're from?"

Ifel nodded and said, "Yes. You and the kings of the mystical kingdoms, or so I've heard. However, we're not here to target any of you or your friends."

Ryoma said, "Then, as you've said, you're here after someone else? "

Ifel nodded and said, "Yes. We're here to stop a mad man by the name of Rerian and protect two people from falling into his hands."

Chrom said, "Okay. This man, what is he trying to accomplish by getting them? Just what makes these two people so important?"

Ifel said, "They each hold the time of each world. Each world has a representative that holds the power of their entire world's time, whether they're aware of it or not. In most cases, they don't and nor does the society, which is good."

Kamui asked, "And why's that?"

Raven spoke, "Because, although there are people who would probably worship or protect them, there are still others who will use power or force to steal them or kidnap them if their vessel happens to be a person just to use that large amount of power, which is why it'd be better for them to be unknown or hidden away."

Reflet said, "Then, what if they die? If the vessel was a person or a living being, there'd be a chance that they'd die. We're not immortal beings after all."

"Then, the power will choose another random person or someone with a large amount of power or magic. However, there are instances where a vessel with such condition will take years to appear. If it were like that, the power will remain dormant in the Earth till that vessel appears. Till then, the power can either be discover by the world as it's time becomes unstable without a vessel to contain it, or be taken and have its power abused."

Ifel nodded and said, "Yes. Their existence is mostly unknown to almost all world, while others are known to some people or none at all."

Lucina nodded and said with eyes narrowed, "Then, why tell us this? I'd suspect you'd try to keep this hidden at all cost, unless…"

Ifel nodded and said, "Rerian is after them for their time. He's already taken time from off of the worlds that he came across. All, but your world, kings of another world."

They grimaced upon recalling what they were told. Kamui said, "So, I take it that he hasn't gotten my kingdom yet? What about the people?"

Azura patted his shoulder. He took a deep breath. Ifel nodded and said, "I understand that you're worried about the people and your kingdom, King Kamui. I can promise that they won't be harmed as long as they won't get in his way, which they haven't. However, the astral dragon is having a hard time keeping him back, so we should hurry and stop him, if you want to keep Time running through your land."

Kamui nodded and said, "I suppose you know how to do that?"

His heart sunk as they watched him shook his head. He said, "Our only method as of now is to confront him head on, but we can't do so when he can just open a portal and kidnap the two or have his puppets do it for him."

"Also," said Raven as he cut into the conversation, "We were ordered by a higher up to protect the other person while a person much higher than them gave us another order to protect the second person. So, we can't just leave without finding them or leaving them unprotected."

Leo said, "And, I take it that Yuki was the one you're supposed protect?"

Ifel nodded and said, "Yes. Though her circumstances are little different."

Corrin looked worried and Kamui caught notice of this. He whispered, "Corrin, do you want to go outside for now and take a breather? We'll stay here."

She shook her head and said, "No, I'll stay here. I need to hear this as well as Kaze and I are in charge of her too."

Kamui nodded and said to Ifel, "What do you mean?"

Ifel said, "When she came into our world as its resident, she was already under another person, a magician and a scientist of the two worlds. However, that person was already mad when she was born and, as a result, something horrible happened to her."

The room grew tense as Chrom said with a grimace, "I don't know if I want to know this, but may I ask what that man did?"

The two hesitated, then Raven sighed and said, "She was experimented for a very long time. Ever since she's been alive till the day someone finally noticed her."

The revelation fell upon them heavily upon realizing this. Kamui grimaced and said, "On a child?! Just what kind of experiments did they run on her?!"

Toya's eyes narrowed and said, "But it's considered illegal to experiment of people without their consent and telling them all the detailed procedures. It's known just about everywhere in our world. If you're caught doing so, you'd be taken away to be judged strictly. Isn't it the same in your world?"

Ifel gritted his teeth and said, "Of course, it is. Which is why-"

"Which is why we also had to executed the mad man on the spot when he began experimenting on himself and the people he kidnapped from our kingdom." ,finished Raven, who cooly looked over to his companion with a nod, "It was without a doubt the job of the knights to protect the people, but there's been a lot of hidden places that are doing these things by those who left to do these inhuman experiments. So, we've been trying to sniff out those hidden places while protecting our people and travelers from being kidnapped through the walls. However, as of late, they've been trying to aim for our soldiers as well, which is why the royal family have been deploying me and some soldiers to go in and investigate any possible locations nearby and obliterate it while save any, who can still be saved. However, we never found Yuki. We only learned of her existence from obliterating the mad scientist's hidden hideout. So, someone else found her and got her out of there while escaping that place. We tried to find any files left on her only to discover that the person have taken most of her personal information, while burning the rest. We found some info from tracing some of those files and uncovered her origins."

Chrom said, "So you're saying that she wasn't biologically related to anyone there?"

Raven shook his head and said, "No. She's biologically related to someone alright. Just that, the person escaped from a different hideout years ago without even realizing of her future existence. That man was just a former worker that left from there when it was forced to disband upon its escape."

Kero said, "That person. Where is that person now?"

Raven sighed and said, "They were closer to us than I had initially predicted."

Lucina said, "And that person is?"

"Someone from the royal family. I'm afraid I can't disclose anything else without their permission."

Xander said in surprise, "What?! Then, they know of this?! How did they take care of this problem?"

Raven nodded and said, "Yes, they know of this and tried ways to take care of their hideouts. That person also secretly accompanied us to take out most hideouts. We've always told them to let us do the job, but that person always insisted that they must do their job and came along. they saw that paper and the image of the girl on it. When they did, they went on an extended search and we discovered that the survivor have left with the girl to the world of the humans."

Chrom looked confused and said, "Then, you're telling us that you're from the other one and that there was no humans there? But, you have the form of a human."

Ifel sighed and said, "I'll explain about that. As I've said, dimension we came from consists of two different worlds. There was the human world that's much like this young man and the one flying next to him. It was a world of advance technology and overpopulated in some regions while underpopulated in others. There are those who are overpopulated, but starving. Those, who are underpopluated, but living comfortably with their advanced machines and knowledge in health of the living. Some were so populated that they had to put a law to slow down the population regarding births of children, while others had issues with their government. In short, it was a comfortable place in some regions and a terrible place in others. However, in that world, the magic and monsters existed in the shadows of society and only those who fight them know of its existence. So, even if we wanted help from the government, it'd be impossible as monsters and myths are nothing while the existence of another world are nothing more than stories and a wish. That's the world of the humans."

Toya mumbled, "Somewhat like ours, but without most of the monsters. We had spirits from what I recall."

Ifel nodded and said, "In our world, we were once known by the humans in the far distant past, but were forgotten when discrimination against our kind occurred and many of our kind and their descendent were murdered in these conflicts till very few are left. These conflicts led us to hold the idea of having false identity to hide ourselves when we need to go to their world for the aid of their technology for our world is much like this world only we've known of the existence of the other worlds for the longest time, just not to travel anywhere but the human's world. We have magic, monsters, and soldiers armed with swords and not high technology weapons though there were exceptions to this. Our people were once called to be guardians of the flames. We keep the balance of fire evenly so that it wouldn't go wild and catching everything else ablaze in a few seconds unless it comes in contact. All we needed was our flames that we protect since the day we're born into our world. Unlike their world, ours only have kingdoms much like here and your world, King Kamui. However, very few of us know of how to enter to the human's world to prevent future wars and our world from being found out. We'd like to hold peace between the two world as much as possible without the humans targeting us anymore."

Raven nodded and said, "We discovered that the one she was taken to was in place of average population or so and aided with advanced technology, but, when we got there, we discovered their home trashed and damaged. It was plain to see from the things lying around that she was properly cared for by the survivor and his wife like their own child, but we could also see from those damages done to the home that they were attacked and fled. There we found documents of the information pertaining to the experiments on her before she escaped with him and a diary of what had occurred to him there and at his home before the attack as well as another one of the mad man. We were shocked to learn that the mad man try to inject the power of time he found from a dying man's body into a child. Apparently, that man was from your world , King Kamui. that man had gashes and cuts on him that looked like they came from a sword and, from the other details in the diary, it can be seen now that it was speaking of Anankos, who had just went mad."

Shocked, Kamui said, "I can see why he's after her now, but that incident in our world was years ago!"

Ifel said, "It may have for you and your friends, but, for us where time flows differently than all of yours, it was only a matter of months when the three came to your world for help and a three years when you took down that dragon most likely. Time in our world flows randomly compared to others. it would flow fast at first and change to slow without its residents even knowing."

Raven nodded and said, "So, only that person, I, and the rest of our comrades were sent to go and find Yuki while the royal family and our own families and friends decided to watch over for us in our absence. At first, it was to check and see if she could be saved, but, after seeing from the things lying around and the neighbors, we confirmed that she was indeed not someone we should be after nor her rescuer.

His foreign wife on the other hand was found dead in the house. We used the advanced technology to show us what had occurred there and we discovered that they were attacked by Rerien's puppets and his wife took the blow meant for Yuki. Any images before that was sabotaged. So, we used what clues we can find and went after them. It was weeks before we finally caught up to her. She was in a laboratory of one of the rescuers friends. Upon infiltrating the place, we discovered that he had disguised himself as a scientist and have made other scientist there believe that Yuki was his daughter by blood rather than that he adopted her to protect her. However…"

Reflet said with a grimace, "I'm going to assume that nothing went as planned."

Raven sighed and said, "Nothing goes as planned when magic starts to get involved in human affairs anyway."

They waited, then Raven finally said, "There was someone else Yuki was related to and there was another inhuman experiment going under their nose, which her relative was related to. However…"

Leo said, "However?"

Ifel sighed and said, "That child, who was the same age as Yuki, lost her sanity and had to be put under medical drugs to be kept asleep and under restraint. Just as she can create deaths, she was also always constantly being pushed to it. Which is why…"

He let out a deep breath and continued, "Which is why Reirian took advantage of this. He snuck in and let her loose. There she turned the whole place into nothing, but a bloody chaos as she went on her insane rampage with nothing, but her bare hands and powers. She wanted revenge and couldn't be satisfied unless every human there died. However, when we thought she was too powerful to be defeated, she was killed by her own insanity. In the end, the victim, who became a murderer, returned to being a victim again, but this time of her own powers. During the time of the attack, we ran after hearing word that the rescuer was oblivious to all this and was bringing Yuki over with his friend as they had no one to watch over her, but, rather than, falling victim to her, Reirien was the one who ended their lives leaving Yuki to fend for herself. By the time we got there, she was about to be taken by the man when a divine being intervened."

Lucina, who's been silently listening to all this with the others, gasped and said with a grimace, "N-no… when Lady Tiki said that,… don't tell me…"

Ifel nodded and said, "In that bloody chaos, where Reirien was about to take her, it was your divine goddess, Naga, who intervened and protected the child. At first, she teleported the child here in this world and was about to face Reirien herself, despite knowing that she won't be able to defeat him."

"Wait, what?!", shouted Chrom with his eyes wide in shock, "You're saying that Naga wasn't able to stop him?! How come?!"

"I don't know. She just told him that she'd intervene despite being weaker than him, but.."

"But?"

"She said that she believes that the hero of her world would be able to pull it off with help of another world. That's where you came in, young man and little beast."

Toya narrowed his eyes and said, "What do you mean by that?…No…You're not saying…"

Upon Toya starting to realize the situation, Ifel nodded and said, "Yes, Reirien was thinking of targeting your world after these two and was preparing a portal there to take out the people with the strongest magic, so they wouldn't become an obstacle to him later. Then, the goddess, Naga, took advantage of this and pulled the would be victims to this world to protect them in hope that they'd survive and aid her warriors in stopping his plans most likely. During her battle against him, another divine being came in as a large dragon and tried to help her saying that he teleported the child to his world to be found by his world's warriors and have teleported them to this one as Reirien have already conquered two-third of his world by stealing time from the land of the two kingdoms. We ran in to help the two dragons, but the best we could do was support them in their attacks as ours did nothing against him. The only one who among our group was that person, but they couldn't do much against him with help of your divine beings and, so, in that short amount of time between the fight, the goddess sent us to this world. However, because she was interrupted, we were sent into different directions. Only Raven and I were lucky enough to stay together. That girl earlier, Melody, met up with Manaf in Chon'sin, apparently. While we were here at Mila's tree found by Lady Tiki. During that time she had already lost her voice due to that man's curse on her."

"What?!", shouted a shocked Lucina, "He was able to place a curse powerful enough that Lady Tiki couldn't overcome?!"

Ifel nodded and said, "Because we heard that, we believed that she have the power of time in this world when that man tried to send his puppets after her and concentrated on her most of the time, so we stayed behind to protect her all this time. We told Manaf to go and meet up with you after hearing of a mysterious storm that's been causing the waves to be rough for the past few years and that you were coming with people of another world."

Robin nodded and said, "Which is why you've sent him to us correct?"

Ifel nodded and said, "Amongst us, Manaf have the ability to absorb any electricity and use it as his own. We sent him there on my pegasus with out permission as my pegasus and I have braved through many storms in the past. We need you all to get here safe, which surprised me to hear that the young child just now was under that strange sleep longer than she should've."

There was silence through out the room as they process all of this information in their heads. It was a ton of information to take in at once, but, as Ifel helped clarify things a bit more with them, it became easier to understand the situation at hand. Chrom nodded and said, "I see. So, that's what's going on… I understand that Naga believes that we can do this, but the question is how are we going to take down that man when even our divine being are having a problem taking it down."

Leo said, "Not only that, but how do we know what you're saying about guarding the flame is actually true? It's still hard to believe in that story."

Raven sighed and walked up. He raised his hand in front of his face. Then, the form of his hand disappeared showing a pitch black flame. they gasped in shock and Kamui said, "Doesn't that hurt?"

Raven shook his head and said, "No, because we are also made up of flames. If I concentrate more, I can turn my entire body into fire."

Leo said, "But, what kind of flame is this? Dark magic?"

Ifel shook his head and said, "No, this is they flame he's able to use, since he's born with it."

They looked to him and Kamui said, "I take it that you can also use this flame at will as well?"

Raven shook his head with a sigh and said, "No. He can't use this cursed flame of mine. As we're from different kingdoms, he uses a different flame, but we all can use it at will, which is why only very few of us know how to go to the human world or else it would be chaotic."

The room became silent again and Corrin said, "Then, Yuki…"

Ifel said with a smile, "I've heard from Manaf that you had the little guardian beast teach her the importance of magic and how to control it. From the looks of it, I'd say that she's off to a good start. She also doesn't seem like someone who would abuse her powers, even before."

Raven growled, "Unless, it becomes different this time."

Ifel shook his head and said, "As I said, Raven, I don't believe that will happen. I don't believe that she's anything like that sad child back in the lab."

Raven grumbled something, but nobody can hear him clearly. Ifel just sighed and said, "I apologize for his behavior. He's usually like this in small groups."

Anxious, Corrin said, "So, what will become of the child when she returns? I don't want to think of something happening to her again."

They recall the strange behavior the child displayed when she was meeting some of the other scholars. Kamui said, "It may be for the best that she stay away from other scholars for a while, other than our family. I do recall that she was acting a little weird when we went to talk with the other scholars with her, but she doesn't recall anything about her past. So, how?"

Kero said, "Remember what I told you? There are three different sources of thinking in a person. Mind, body, and soul. So, even if she didn't remember it in her mind, her body may have remembered the fear. So, it's probably instinctual fear."

Ifel sighed and said, "I don't know what will become of her. Only that person will have to decide."

Corrin said, "Surely, they won't abandon a child will they?"

Raven said, "Don't worry. We've known that person for a few years now. They've changed over the years, but they still haven't lost their kindness."

He sighed and said, "They just need more caution on who to trust though. It brought us quite some trouble in the past. None that we couldn't handle though."

Robin smiled and said, "Now, that reminds us of someone."

Chrom sighed and said with a smile, "Really now."

The mood finally began to lighten up upon their conversation. Takumi sighed and said, "So, now we know why he's after Yuki, who's the other person we have to find? Honestly, why did that person leave when they know they're being hunted?"

Raven looked at Ifel. Both with grim expressions, then turned to them and said, "That would be our other close friend that came with us. She always leave us when things start getting rough or personal to her. She always does it when she felt that we'd be in danger if she stays with us."

Reflex frowned and said, "Oh no. Then, she's going to be in trouble with Reirien coming after her."

Chrom nodded and said, "Yes. Can you tell us her name?"

Raven grimaced and said, "You've all…already met her…"

Chrom looked confused and said, "We did?…"

His eyes widen upon realization and said, "Oh no. You don't mean!"

"Tian…", finished Kamui.

Shock ran through the room and Azura said, "We last saw her back in Regna Ferox!"

Ifel nodded and said, "Yes, which is why we need to get back there fast."

Raven nodded and said, "I agree, but I've heard of a strange rumor going about in Chon'sin."

Xander said, "What is this rumor?"

Raven nodded and said, "I've found out about this yesterday, but there's been sighting of a strange woman with white hair, white dress, and strange eyes playing a white violin in an abandoned home in the mountains. They've said that this woman have taken a few children missing from the kingdom, which is a bit suspicious. It sounds a lot like Tian too, but she's all the way in Regna Ferox."

Chrom nodded and said, "I also don't like the fact that some of the children have gone missing, but, if we're going to have get to Regna Ferox fast, you should check this out as soon as possible. Kamui, Xander, and Ryoma, we're going to have a discussion about the situation at hand. I'd like you two to also join us. You have seen this man before and his abilities. It'd be best if you can tell us more of what we will be facing. Lucina."

Lucina nodded and said, "Have Owain to send a message to Regna Ferox, then come with you to the meeting?"

Chrom smiled and nodded, "Yes."

With that, She left the room and Raven said, "I'll send Manaf and Melody over to the place to check it out."

Kamui raised an eyebrow and said, "Aren't one of you going to check it out instead?"

Ifel said, "Manaf have known her past better than we do and Melody is her young sister by adoption. They'd know if that woman is pretending to be our friend or not. If they aren't, then we've got another mystery on our hands."

Surprised, Chrom said, "That little girl is her sibling?!"

Ifel nodded and said, "Her parents took Tian in when she lost her family as a child, but things happened during the time she was adopted and, as a result, they lost her foster parents not long after Melody was born. Tian was the only one taking care of her from then on with the help of their distant relatives."

Chrom thought for a bit, then said, "I'll ask her about her past, if she's willing to talk about it instead. I don't want to be as nosy as we already kind of are."

Ifel nodded and said with a smile, "I see… alright, then. Raven, can you-"

Raven just turned around and left without hearing what Ifel had to say. Ifel sighed and said, "He got it by the looks of it. He'll come with us in a bit."

Chrom nodded and said, "Alright."

In the outskirts of Chon'sin

From what the scouts they sent out had told them, there was indeed a strange woman with white hair and strange eyes. They said that her eyes had colors that looked like were mashing together. Manaf and Melody had intended to go and check things out for themselves, when Reflet and Kamui had decided to have them take a few soldiers with them to search for those missing children. They agreed as their main goal was to find those children and a side note was to see this woman. In the middle of the night, they left to the abandoned area in the outskirts of Chon'sin with permission from the queen. Among their group was Lucina, Germone, Keaton, and Nyx. As they were on their way to the abandoned building, Lucina noticed that Melody have been looking at Germone through side glances. She walked up to the girl and said, "Is something wrong?"

Having caught, the girl stammered, "N-no. I-it's n-n-nothing."

Keaton said, "You say that, but you were staring at the guy for some reason."

Seeing Melody hesitating, Manaf smiled and said, "Melody, everyone have their own reasons. His is definitely not like your sister's I'm sure. We're in a different world after all."

Lucina asked, "There's another reason why the woman needs to have a mask on?"

Manaf nodded with a serious expression and said, "Yeah. For her, it means more than just hiding her identity."

Lucina and Germone was surprised by the sudden serious expression that they've rarely seen on his usual laidback face. They remained quiet feeling like they'e began to trespass of something private. Melody was now walking without a glance at the masked man anymore and they were quiet for the rest of the way there. It was building that was falling apart for sure and it was eerily quiet as well. That was until Keaton's ears perked up and he said, "I hear violin alright. That and…"

"And?", questioned Manaf with rare attentiveness.

"Crying… I think they're children alright."

They nodded and Lucina said, "Alright, we should try and sneak in there."

"Wait!", whispered Melody.

They turned to the child, who was squinting her eyes and looking far up ahead the mountains. Lucina said, "What is it? Do you hear something?"

Keaton shook his head and said, "I don't know about this. There's no way her sense of hearing and smell can bypass mine."

"No.", said Manaf, "Maybe not hearing or smell, but she was taught to hunt for our friends back home by Tian from the moment she was able to hold a bow and fought with us against enemies. Since then, she's gained a strong sense of sight. She can see things far and clear, even in the dark. Melody, what do you see?"

She nodded and said, "There's some of that man's puppets not too far from here. I think their having a hard time getting here, unlike us."

Nyx asked, "Why's that?"

She shook her head and said, "I don't know. It looks like something is blocking them from going any further."

Germone asked, "How do you know that? I'm not sure if you really can see that far at a time like this."

Melody growled, "Then, how about you go and ask around on who was the one that caught those rabbits you and your friends were eating today? Besides, it looks like they're climbing on something in mid air and there's nothing there!"

Germone sighed and said, "Why did those tacticians thought that it would be a good idea to have wyvern rider in this group again?"

His wyvern, Minerva from the future, whined in complaints. Germone patted the wyvern and said, "Yes, Minerva. I know. Let's just do our job on this."

Manaf said, "It would be better if we split up and go in there. How does that sound, Lucina?"

She nodded in agreement and said, "I agree. Let's have Germone, Nyx, and you can go and take care of that woman, while Melody,Keaton, and I will go after the children. Keaton have an strong sense of smell and hearing while Melody have strong sense of sight. Together, they should be able to find the children without much issue."

Manaf nodded and said with a grin, "That makes sense. Alright, lets go with that. Even, if we can't find the woman, the main thing is to get those kids out of here above all else. We should hurry before those Shadows get here."

They nodded and split up into their groups as soon as they got into the abandoned mansion. Lucina and hers went up stairs following the two as they snuck in there. Manaf gave Germone two small orb and told him to put one with his wyvern as a way to let him know if something happened. Germone wasn't too happy with this, but, with enough persuasion, he finally followed his orders. After that, they went in and investigated the place cautiously. Manaf and group saw pictures of members of a family. A pair of couple standing next to each other. The father held two of the youngest daughters in his arms. One of the girls was wearing a white dress and long black hair like her sister and was asleep in his arms while the other smiled happily with a wave. Their mother smiled happily with another purple hair girl in her arms. Standing straight next to them was a black hair boy, who stood with a smile. Sitting in a chair next to them was an old elderly couple smiling with the mother's hand on the grandmother's shoulders. Manaf looked a the picture on the wall again before looking around of the aftermath. He said, "Look like an aftermath of an invasion. There's cuts all over the wall and furnitures. I bet some bandits came in too. I don't see any valuables here."

Germone said, "I'm surprised you'd be able to tell that there was an invasion here. It's easy to tell that there were bandits here though."

Manaf said, "So, I'm right."

He sighed and said, "Man, I didn't want to see something like this again. I'm going to bet that we're also going to find some dead bodies here too."

Nyx frowned and said, "Please, Sir Manaf-"

"Manaf." ,corrected the man.

"Please, Manaf, don't try to say it. We already can think of the worst scenario."

Manaf frowned and said, "I'm not."

"What?!" ,whispered Germone in shock.

They turned to the young man, who pointed to the direction of the large living room. There were traces of long dried up blood on the wooden floor that absorbed it. It trailed into the room. Suddenly, they heard the pitter patter of little children's feet and their laughter. Germone had a worried look on him as Nyx narrowed her eyes and said, "I hope this wasn't what Keaton heard."

"No, it's not~, so relax!"

They turned around to see a teenage woman with short white hair with eyes that matched the rumors and wore a white dress. In her hand was a white violin and a white bow that paired up with it. Germone got into battle stance and Nyx pulled out her book.

"Wait!"

They looked back as the sound of Manaf's voice. Germone said, "Do you know this woman?"

Manaf narrowed his eyes and slowly walked up, then asked, "Who…are you? You look so much like her?"

The woman smiled playfully, then took a step back with her violin and bow behind her back. She said, "You should know who I am, Leader."

Manaf flinched at her words, then examined her face before shaking his head and said, "No. That's just not possible. She'sno… You were killed by them a long time ago and…by me."

The two were shocked and Germone said, "What do you mean?! You know this girl, then…"

The girl smiled and said, "Oh, no~. I'm not her~, but I know all about her~…"

Then, surprisingly, she suddenly appeared next to Manaf and whispered something into his ear. His eyes grew wide and he swung his golden lance, then shouted, "YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT THEM AND YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT ME EITHER!"

His voice echoed through the room. He got into battle stance with sparks of lightning coming from his body and said, "Who are you?!"

The girl floated up into the air as she giggled and said, "Who am I, you say? How disappointing~… Oh well~! Leader, have always been an airhead to begin with!"

She giggled as Manaf opened his mouth only to be held back by Germone, who pulled him back by the shoulders and said, "Get a hold of yourself, Manaf! Don't let her get to you!"

Hearing this, Manaf was brought back to his sense and looked over to Nyx, who looked shock, but brought her attention back to the girl immediately. The little girl giggled and said, "Aww~. There goes my fun~!"

The girl flew out the door with the three chasing her down. Once outside, she flew next to the moon and giggled. Manaf noticed something was of and narrowed his eyes till he noticed that her white hair was starting to turn pink. Seeing this, he shouted, "Let me ask you this then. Did you really kidnap the children here…Demens!"

The girl gasped with an obvious fake surprise and said, "Oh, my~. So, you finally decided to remember me~! Wow, I'm so happy~ and relieved~. Though, not really, but I congratulate you for doing so~!"

With that, she spun in circles in joy as Manaf said, "Answer me, Demens!"

The girl pouted and said with annoyance, "Ow~! You really didn't have to shout so loud~! Geez, you never learn do you!"

Manaf stood straight and folded his arms. She saw this, then giggled and said childishly, "Alright~, Alright~! Geez, Sanus hid some children high up on the top floors since a while back and have been taking care of them. We saw some of that sad man's tiny minions close by and she~ decided to hide them there! Honestly, it was annoying~! But I put up with it anyway…"

She sighed and continued, "Then, she started getting tired at some point and needed to take a break and that was when you guys showed up! Man~, I was starting to get tired of playing hide and seek with them too. If only we can play tag with knives and pitchforks, that would be more fun!"

The two were shocked by her word near the end as it reminded Germone of one other man from this time, who like to talk casually and joke around about blood related things. Manaf said, "I see. So, where is the other one?"

She shrugged and said, "Don't know! She can die for all I care~!"

"You!", shouted Manaf with anger written all over his face.

The girl just flew up and laughed. She shouted, "Oops~! I got him made! Gotta run now~! Bye~!"

With that, the girl disappeared before anyone could stop her. When that was over, Manaf plopped down on the ground with one hand over his eyes. Then, got back up and said, "If what dumb girl said is true, then we should get ready. She was probably the one who put up the barrier that stopped the Shadows Melody saw earlier. With her gone, that means that the barrier is gone too."

"What?!", shouted a shocked wyvern rider.

Right on cue, a large group of Shadows came out of the bushes and charge towards them only to have some of them shocked by Manaf, who looked like his focus was already on the battle ahead.

During Manaf and his group's meeting, in the higher part of the mansion

Lucina and her group was went up the stairs to the higher floors as she followed the two. Keaton led the way till he stopped abruptly. Lucina said to the wolfskin, "What is it, Keaton?"

He growled, "Its really faint, but I smell blood up ahead."

"W-what? R-really?", stammered Melody.

Alert, Lucina said, "Let's hurry! Keep a look out of your surroundings, guys!"

They quickly rushed up the spiral stair and finally came upon a set of doors. Keaton cautiously pressed his ear against the door and nodded to Melody, who took a deep breath and, then, slowly turned the knob. She opened a small crack and cautiously peeked inside. She let out a sigh of relief and nodded to Lucina before quickly opening the door wider. There huddled in a corner next to two large storage chests were five children. Upon seeing the adults, the children huddled closer. Lucina slowly walked up to them and then knelt down and said, "I'm glad to see you're safe. We've come to take you guys back home."

The younger child said timidly with an old doll in her arms, "Is it safe now? Are they gone?"

Lucina raised her eyebrow and asked, "They?"

The eldest of the group said, "A nice lady told us to hide here because some bad guys are outside."

A little girl with brown hair said, "She said that we'll be safe here till someone comes."

They looked shock and Melody asked, "So, you've been here this whole time? Have you eaten anything here though?"

The eldest nodded and said, "She gave us fruits and water."

"Is that so?", said Lucina.

They nodded. Keaton, then, whispered,"Lucina, right? I smell blood coming from those chests."

Lucina nodded and said to the kids, "Alright. We're here now and we'll bring you back home."

Despite what she said, the children were still to scared to come out of their hiding spot. After a short while, Lucina finally sighed and was thinking of other ways when Melody came up. She put a hand of her shoulder and said, "How about let me do this, please?"

Lucina thought for a bit, then nodded and let her take over. She walked over to them, then smiled kindly and said gently, "Hello. My name is Melody. I know you're all scared and worried, but we've come to bring you back home after hearing that you were all missing. You do know that your family and friends are very worried about you guys."

The eldest child said, "Is that true? Are you guys really here to take us back home?"

Melody nodded and said, "Yes, we are. Can you guys please believe in us?"

They thought for a bit before they slowly began to nod their heads and come out of their hiding spot. Melody smiled and said, "Thank you! Now, stay close to me, alright?"

They nodded as Lucina stared in surprise and said, "How…Never mind. Just keep a close eye on them."

Melody nodded as she patted the youngest child, who was crying from the fear and worry of what happened. She led the children away from the chests. Then, the eldest said, "Miss. Melody? There's also two more children with us earlier, but they ran back out with the woman."

Melody had a shocked look on her face as Lucina came over and asked him, "We'll go find them. What do they look like?"

A girl younger than him said, "They're twins sisters. Elizabeth have a yellow dress with white ribbons and black hair with a blue ribbon tied in the back."

Another child said, "And her younger sister, Daisy. She have a similar dress, but it is white with purple ribbons. She looks exactly like her sister, but have a pink ribbon in her hair."

Lucina nodded and said, "Got it. We'll go find them in a bit. Melody, keep watch over them. We'll be right back."

The teenager nodded and began to chat with the children. Lucina said to Keaton, "Is this the chest that you were saying?"

He nodded and said, "Yup. It's that one alright."

Lucina nodded and slowly opened the chest. She gasped upon seeing it's contents as Keaton grimaced at the sight. Inside was miniature white bones and skulls of what seemed to be two children! They could see the torn white and yellow fabric and ripped ribbons. Lucina looked over to the children quickly and sighed in relief to see that they weren't looking over as Melody did. The girl's face was pale and she quickly went back to chatting with the children with a smiling facade understanding the situation. Lucina turned to the wolfskin and said, "We should give them a proper burial later."

He nodded and they went back to the children after closing the lid of the chest. Suddenly, Keaton halted with his ears perked up and said, "Lucina! Shadows!"

Lucina grimaced and said, "What?!"

This caught the children's attention and Melody said, "Whatever you do, remain close to us, kids!"

They nodded and stayed close to the girl. Quickly, the group ran down the stairs as the children remain close between the two and Melody.

Not too far from the two groups

Chrom and his allies were rushing through the forest as fast as they could after unexpectedly encountering a small group of Shadows on the road. Although they've told them that the group would be going there to check it out. The tacticians had a bad feeling after seeing the previous group leave and, with the persuasion of Chrom and Kamui, they brought along Takumi, Marc, Inigo, and Selkie to go after the group. Kamui decided to stay behind as Severa and Leo went along after persuasion from Camilla and her anxious daughter as they needed to stay behind and protect the camp and the two vessels of the worlds' time with Kamui and Corrin. They hurried through the forest as Reflet said with a grimace, "Why didn't I think that that mad man would play a hand in this?!"

Chrom said, "It's alright Reflet. We didn't think about it back then."

Leo said, "What's important now is to go and help them out before it's too late."

They nodded as they hurried following the path around the one Lucina's group took. It wasn't long before they heard a voice.

"Lucina! You got the children?!"

"Yeah!"

Robin immediately said, "Takumi! Selkie! Stay to the side. Leo! go with them and help open us get to the children. Marc! Stay with your uncle! "

Reflet shouted, "Severa! Stay with Robin! Chrom! We're going over to them and help them out. Marc! Stay with me!"

They nodded and got into their position as they ran into the clearing.

The place was full of Shadows though it wasn't as much as their previous encounter in Ylisse. Lucina and Manaf were fighting back to back with Germone and Nyx trying to take out the shadows in the distance. Keaton and Melody was doing their best to keep their enemies away from the children, who stayed inside, from the door. Lucina looked up and saw them. She shouted, "Father?! How-"

Another shadow brought her attention back to the battle at hand as she rushed and cut down the monster before it could strike her. Chrom shouted, "We'll talk of this later. Let's take care of this first."

She nodded and the battle continued. Things started to get under control as Reflet and Marc made their way to where Melody and Keaton were with the children. They were so close to getting there when they were stopped by shadows coming in from behind them. With the other fighters occupied and unable to help, Marc tried to block the strike, but was only able to do so for one of them. The other shadows tried to come in at them as Reflet tried to use an Elthunder spell, but his nephew was pushed in his way causing him to withdraw his spell and leaving them wide for an attack! Alarmed, by this, Chrom and Lucina tried to rush over to help with Manaf, but some shadows blew out fire from their crooked mouth and prevented them from going forward. Robin tried to scream out to them desperately, but was help back by another attack from her enemy. Suddenly, some arrows flew across the clearing and hit those shadows spot on making them fade to ashes. Then, water seeped out from the ground below them and wrapped around their enemies stopping them from moving around. Taking this chance, Chrom and the two cut down their enemies swiftly as they ran to Reflet and Marc. Reflet grimaced as he said, "Looks like, we really should've waited and brought along Lissa or Princess Sakura…"

As the group brought down their restrained enemies, Robin approached to her brother and said with a smile, "You know if we were to do that, we wouldn't have gotten here fast enough."

She, then hugged the two and said, "Be more careful of your surroundings! I really thought I'd lose the two of you in this fight!"

"I know that you want to rejoice in their safety, but please be aware that we're in battle and keep doing your job. You two were doing really well too, just stay focused on your surrounding and you'll be fine."

They turned and saw a woman with light blue hair that reminded them a bit of Azura and amethyst-colored eyes. This woman wore a dark navy blue dress with silver armor and a long silver lance with a glossy white tip and end. On the tip was a multicolored pearly with a strange tear shaped symbol on it. Much to their surprise, she rode a blue horse with scaled from it's belly to it's back legs and a scaly tail that was tipped with a large fin. It have a purple mane and eyes like pearls. Next to her was another woman with long flowing brown hair pulled back with a hair band and green eyes. She wore a shade of green dress with a short skirt that reached to her knees and brown leather armor. In her hand was a long strange shaped white bow. Mysteriously, the female archer didn't have a quiver much like Takumi's. Chrom nodded and said, "I'd like to introduce ourselves, but we're still in the middle of battle. May we do so later?"

The female archer nodded and said, "Of course! We'd like to offer our help too. I, especially, need to teach that female archer over there a few tricks."

Chrom raised an eyebrow and said, "Alright. We appreciate your aid."

They battle continued on and the tide of the battle was quickly changing to their advantage with the help of the two ladies.

With their enemies defeated, the two ladies went up to the Exalt and his tacticians. Chrom smiled to them and said, "Thank you very much for saving my friend and his nephew earlier as well as bringing down those Shadows. My name is Chrom. The current Exalt of Ylisse."

The woman with the blue hair bowed and said, "Good evening! My name is Undain and this here is-"

"Hey, Selphy!", said Manaf with a wave.

Selphy smiled and said, "Hi, Manaf! If you'd like, we can talk of what happened earlier in a bit."

He flinched and scratched the back of his neck as he smiled and said, "O-oh… You saw all that?"

Selphy chuckled and said, "Saw? More like heard. Well, I never liked that girl's personality either, even though she does it out of good intention and fun."

Surprised, Chrom said, "You known them, Manaf?"

Manaf smiled and said, "Yeah. They're friends of ours. In fact, Selphy is one of Melody's mentor in archery-"

"SELPHY!"

Melody ran up to her and threw her arms around the female archer only to earn a scolding by her for her behavior. Chrom chuckled and said, "I see."

Undain said, "So, you call those puppets 'Shadows'?"

Chrom nodded and said, "Yes. We needed to call our enemies something, so that's what we called them."

She nodded and said, "I see. Shadows… A very fitting name, I'd say."

Reflet asked, "And why's that?"

Undain said, "Those 'Shadows' are made from the negativity in the hearts of the dead. Anger, hate, despair, grief. That man use those emotions of the dead and embodied them into bodies made from ashes."

Nyx said, "I see. So, he really did use dark magic to make them."

Undain nodded and Selphy turned to Manaf and asked, "So, I take it that Tian isn't here, then?"

Mana sighed and shook his head, then said, "You heard the girl. Even, she didn't know where she is. The only clue we got was that she was last seen in Regna Ferox."

Undain's eyes widened and said, "Is that true? She actually crossed the body of water to another land?"

Manaf nodded and said, "Yes, milady. In fact, Chrom and his allies told us this himself."

Chrom nodded and said, "Yes. We've even crossed swords there as fellow champion in the tournament for the East and West Khans."

Undain gasped and Selphy narrowed her eyes before saying, "We've heard of that Kingdom before. You came out of that fight unscathed and victorious?"

Chrom nodded and said, "Victorious, yes. But that's only due to her change in her weapons. She used an iron sword."

She sighed, then nodded and said, "I see. Of course, she would."

Robin asked, "What do you mean?"

"They weapons we have on us is very strong and almost indestructible. With their chosen master, they can become a very powerful. In our world, these weapons were only made a few years ago, but have already been rumored to be able to defeat the gods and goddesses if their master are both strong and resolute in heart. Tian's sword is one of those weapons."

Chrom grimaced at the words and said, "So, that sword is that powerful?!"

Selphy nodded and said, "Yes, which is why, to prevent them from falling in the wrong hands, they were made with a soul to choose their own masters with a heart that fits their requirements."

Chrom said, "Really. I'd like to hear the details of all this, but, first, we need to bring the children back home."

Undain nodded and said, "Yes. Of course."

In Mila's tree

After sending the children home, the group returned to Mila's tree. It was already midnight by the time they got back. After the group dispersed to their own tents, Reflet approached Manaf and said, "Manaf, we would like to talk with you about what happened today. Is that alright?"

Manaf sighed and said, "Alright. I got a feeling that something like this would happen anyway."

With that the two went into a tent set up for meetings. There around the round wooden table was Chrom, Kamui, the tacticians, Lucina, the other royal siblings, Toya, and Manaf's friends. Chrom smiled and said, "Thank you coming, Manaf, even though it's in the middle of the night."

Manaf smiled and said, "Nope. It's alright. After all, it looks like I've got some explaining to do as well."

Lucina nodded and said, "I heard from Germone and Nyx today and that acted a bit out of it today when you met that woman today. I take it that you know her."

Manaf sighed and said, "Yeah. We know her alright. It's been a long while since then and she shouldn't even be here in the first place."

Chrom said, "What do you mean?"

Selphy said, "I know that girl, alright."

Melody asked, "Wait, you do? I've never heard of her before. Though, she does seem to be a lot like my sister."

Ifel sighed and said to Chrom, "I'm sorry, Chrom, but can we have Melody out of this? It's best if she doesn't hear about this anyway. It's… something private."

Chrom nodded and said, "Alright. Melody, you can go. I think it may be best for you not to be at this meeting for now. We'll come get you, if we need you later."

The girl pouted, but, after seeing a rare stern look from Manaf and a worried one from her mentor, she nodded and walked out of the tent. Mana nodded and said, "Thanks. This was not meant for her ears to hear anyway. Now, about that girl. Her name is Demens. She's a split personality of her sane self, Sanus."

Robin said, "A split personality? I heard that she was really weird and a bit like our two dark mages."

Manaf nodded and said with a grimace, "Ah. Those two… I've..met them…"

Then, he returned to the subject and said, "Anyway, yes, one of her personality is like that, but, most times, it's darker and she's taken million lives with the past giving them brutal deaths. However, due to an agreement with Sanus, she rarely ever comes out and Sanus usually stays in charge. She's much more sane and less blood thirsty the her split personality with kindness and tries to talk things out more than Demens would by force. But…"

Leo said, "But?"

"But they faded away two years ago, when the agreement finally merged the two together. Those two personality were gone for two years now, which surprised me to actually see Demens again."

Selphy said, "You mean that she nearly made you want to beat her up, even though she's just a spirit out of her body."

Toya raised an eyebrow and said, "So, she's a spirit, but she's alive?"

Selphy said, "Yeah. During the first few months, we were with her. She was able to pull herself away from her body to do some jobs and mischiefs in secret. It's been awhile since we've seen that, though with Sanus being in charge till the end. However…"

Kamui said, "What is it?"

Selphy thought for a bit, then shook her head and said, "Nevermind. Anyway, the only thing keeping Demens power back during the time she was out was her weapon that was much like ours and Tian's."

Chrom raised and eyebrow and said, "You have weapons similar to hers?"

Manaf nodded and said, "Of course. Unlike hers, ours are made from the powers of light and the elements that revolves around the two worlds. Tian's weapon is that of a dark element and power of darkness that grows as we use our weapons, which makes her weapon rival all of ours together as they keep their powers balanced much like Sakura's cards."

Reflet nodded and said, "I see. And, with her skills, she's already a really strong person without that weapon as well. If so, why does she need a weapon like that in the first place?"

Manaf sighed and said, "It was during the time of war against the monsters in the shadows of the human society. We were losing the battle and Tian wasn't as strong as she was now despite becoming our best fighters in just two years of training with us. Without the help of humans and being hunted down since birth, many of us have already either lost our parents from or were rejected by them leaving us to group together in a small village and fend for ourselves. Not…Not many of us survived adulthood for that long. In fact, it was a rare occurrence for any of us to survive to have kids of our own."

Samui grimaced and said, "What?! So, that's why she said all that about surviving back at the tournament. If so, why leave Melody out of this matter?"

Selphy said, "Melody's parents were one of those people that lost their lives in the war shortly after her birth. She was taken in by Tian, who was adopted by her parents during that time and was our only best tactician we have. The war ended a few months after their deaths as Tian and another camp's leader helped ended it in two years after it started. If she hadn't taken over after her sister and put all her efforts in it, we'd still be fighting in vain right now."

Chrom said, "So I take it that you and your friends all survived, then, and that it was a large battle."

Manaf said, "It may not sound like a big one to you all, but the amount of people, who were able to fight between the two villages were between seventy to ninety. We were facing against thousands of monsters, who could regenerate themselves on the battle field. So, it was a relief when we formed a truce with another faction of monsters, who wanted to end the battle and want equality."

Reflet frowned and said, "You were able to form another alliance with a faction like that? That woman actually allowed it too? How?"

Manaf shook his head and said, "It wasn't easy. Even after the alliance was formed, we and those monsters were still tense around each other. The only ones that smoothed things out and made the negotiations possible was Tian's two younger siblings and Melody. They have a knack for being with people that have a good hearts and were friends with that faction's leader. So, when the negotiations between Tian and that leader started, the three was there to help out. It was only after talking with her and the other village's leader did they accepted them. The tense feelings between the two are still there, but it's a bit calmer now ever since the war ended."

Ryoma said, "I see."

Manaf continued, "Anyway, it was long before we've heard of the existence of the faction and a couple of months after Tian lead us when the weapons were created. During that time, the numbers of the monsters have suddenly jumped and it was proving harder for us to defend ourselves. So, to counter this, the leading member from each house came together and decided to have these weapons created. However…"

Selphy quickly took over, "However, the creation of weapons like these require a large amount of magic and time, so many who've attempted it didn't make it out alive and sometimes die during the process failing the creation in the whole process. Those, who did make it out alive wasn't able to actually create the weapons failing the whole process, despite having enough magic to make it. Due to this, the creation of these weapons became nothing more than a legend and those that were made fell apart despite passing the process of its creation."

Robin said, "If it was like that then how were you guys able to pass it? Who created your weapons?"

Manaf sighed and said, "…Tian. She volunteered to do it, despite the dangers and our warnings. She was the only one amongst all of us in the two villages with the largest amount of magic. We tried to hide that since they may use that to their advantage, but she brought it out into the meeting and volunteered to do it all herself. We failed to stop her…"

Selphy said, "We all did. She went off the very next day with a bag of our world's hardest metal and raw magic materials. We went after her after hearing from her older sister that she had vanished that morning in hopes of stopping her, but she disappeared for a whole week leaving the war tactics to her elder siblings temporarily. Then, she appeared again. This time she came back with the weapons that haven't chosen their masters yet. As soon as we found her, she collapsed and didn't wake for three days. During that time, Manaf and I were chosen by our weapons along with a few others. Tian was chosen as well before she fainted."

"So, you're saying that Tian was the only one successful in making these weapons?", said Chrom with a grimace, "And she didn't tell you guys, her friends?"

Manaf shook his head and said, "She's lost many people, even before the war began. During the war when Melody's mother was pregnant with Melody and Tian was adopted by them, she tried her best to protect her family and friends. Incidents after incidents left her traumatized to the point that she stays away from people to protect them rather than staying close by them and risks her own life to keep them from death's grasp."

Corrin nodded and said, "So, that's why she decided to have us continue watching over her, then?"

Undain shook her head and said, "We're not too sure, but, despite us knowing her a couple years after they did, we've come to understand that Tian is really kind and values bonds and relationship above all else. After discovering Yuki, she was desperate to find her and save her from the fate she was in. It relieved her greatly after hearing that a survivor adopted the child and treated her as their own."

Takumi asked, "I've noticed this for a while, but, when you said 'we', you're talking of everyone here, right? Then, shouldn't it be 'us'?"

Ifel said, "That's…"

"Something personal. I'm sorry.", finished Manaf with a grim expression.

With that, Manaf turned around and left the room. Selphy turned to Undain and said, "I'm sorry about this, milady, but can you and the others please take over for us? I'll go and talk to him."

Undain and Ifel nodded, then the lady ran after him. Chrom grimaced and said, "I'm sorry. I take it that we touched something personal."

Ifel shook his head and said, "There's nothing we can do to help him."

Raven sighed and said, "Right, after all losing your own team's lives plus your own despite having those weapons is not a thing to brag about."

"Wait, what?! But, they're right here!", said the king of Valla clearly confused, "How could they've lost their lives, but know all these things and fought with us? It's not making sense."

Leo nodded, then Undain said, "I don't enjoy talking about other people's past either, but Manaf and Selphy were in a team during the war. All of their members were chosen by their weapons coincidentally though not all at once. However, during the heat of the war, Selphy lost her life protecting the village with another comrade of theirs to the very end. Tian's life was played like a puppet by the goddess of death as she continuously lost her life as she risked them to protect her friends after a major incident in her life."

"Hold on! you mean to tell me that a divine being in your world can control life and death and brought her back to life?!", said Takumi shocked upon hearing this.

Undain nodded and said, "Yes, and she did so as she pleased. She was like a tyrant as each resurrection wasn't without a price."

Leo raised an eyebrow and said, "Of course. What was it for her?"

Raven said, "It was her sanity."

"What?", said Chrom.

Raven continued, "As she was constantly being revived, the goddess tore a piece of her sanity as the price and kept doing so till she completely lost it. Tian caught on to this before hand and had told us that her remaining sister will take her place when she finally lost it all. The spirits weren't too happy with this going on and decided to help her. They brought back her sanity, in exchange their life would compensate for her numerous fated deaths. It wasn't easy to do and took a couple weeks to finish, since many of her deaths were fated by that goddess. This all happened when the war was drawing to a close and each revival sparked her anger towards the mad god and goddess for playing with their lives. Though, over time, that anger died as she came to accept that some are like that."

Toya said, "That's good to hear, but how does this apply so deeply to Manaf? Did he die too?"

Undain nodded and said, "Yes, he was fated to die numerous times, but Tian and his younger sister saved him each lost their lives in exchange. Tian was alright as she was revived, but their teammates each lost their lives over time, even after the war ended leaving with only two remaining members still alive today. Manaf met his end when helping Tian escape the human world when the god and goddess came after her upon hearing that her father actually descended from our world and wanted to come to find the truth. They feared her getting stronger than them and end up rebelling against them that they hunted her down, but with two of the previously remaining four, she was able to escape safely to our world. However, at the cost of theirs. As for, their revivals, before or during their deaths, Tian unlocked one of her abilities for the first time when Selphy was died. The Fire of Return. When that fire burns away the body of someone, as long as she wills it, she can bring that person back, but it take years for it to happen and their body becomes that of a bearer of the flame. Also, the user must be alive for them to actually come back as one. Because she was unable to control it, she accidentally incinerated Selphy's body and their comrade's causing her to go into isolation for the first few weeks in fear of her own powers. However, it drove her mad during the time she lost it when her comrades asked her to burn their corpse away with her flames after they discovered the truth of her ability, but not tell her and instead told her that it was to avoid having their bodies used by the enemies as puppets. When the two remained, she left the village on her own on a mission leaving all of us behind without knowing the truth and continuously weighed with guilt and nightmares. We didn't see her again till a few years later. She was really upset after the supposed dead team members came back from the dead, where they watched over her, without telling her the truth of those actions she was forced to do, but was happy all the same."

Toya sighed and said, "I see, but that's not answering my question."

Ifel sighed and said, "I apologize. She gets off track all the time. Manaf was the leader of the team they were in while Tian and one other comrade supported him. He was under that ever since Tian risked her life making those weapons."

Lucina grimaced and said, "So, he's witnessed the death of all his comrades and family while being unable to help, including when Tian went mad? That's…"

"Lucina.", said her father bringing her back to the present, "For now, I'm glad that those days are over for them. Now, let's get to sleep for now. We have to be ready tomorrow to head back to Regna Ferox and search for Tian."

Ifel said, "If possible, can you not tell any of this to Melody, yet? We don't think she's ready to hear any of this yet. She didn't take part in the war nor was she old enough to remember her parents."

Chrom nodded with a reassuring smile and said, "Alright, then."

They nodded and began to leave the room.

In the alternate dimension, Corrin watched from her chair as the child drifted off to sleep. Today, she, Kana, and the little princess were playing with Melody and the other child the other group was looking after. They said that they found her wandering a nearby village in clothing from their world surprisingly and took her in as the people in that village clearly wanted nothing to do with her. Corrin recalled the child being silent and always looking around her, even when playing with the four. She watched the child hoping that she'd have a better dream this time. After hearing of the horrifying truth, she was afraid. Afraid of what may come for this child in the near future. With such a terrifying and sad past, she wanted to help the child anyway she could, but she was unable to take away her nightmares or her instinctual fears of being in a lab or near a scholar. It was a relief that she was fine around Miriel and her future son, but it worried her how she was unable to have a single sleep without nightmares. The last time she tried to have a nap in Reflet's home it was futile as the child still awoken from another nightmare.

"We'll be there when she wakes up from it.", said Kaze standing next to her, "You had a long day today. I'll watch over her."

Corrin nodded with a smile and got ready for bed as well. The truth she had heard had shocked the two of them and began to come to a hypothesis that Yuki's nightmare most likely related to the past that she had forgotten. She gotten into bed next to the child and tried drifting to sleep, though it didn't come for a while.

Kamui was taking a midnight walk outside with Azura. The truth of Yuki's origin have also been troubling the young king and queen. However, they both knew that there was nothing they can do to help her other than to be there for her when she needed. It relieved them when they thought of how she was getting along well with the two children, Kana and Ahna. The two always have a knack for making friends and they were glad the two also became good friends with the child. As they were walking outside in silence, they saw movements in the corner of their eye. Quickly, they grabbed a hold of their weapons as they snuck to see who it was. Today, Hana and Felicia was on guard duty today. It was unlikely for the two to let someone slip inside, unless…

They approached the moving shadow and saw Lucina and Germone. Seeing them, the two put down their weapons and approached the couple. Kamui said, "Lucina, Germone, right? What are the two of you doing here at a time like this?"

Lucina smiled upon seeing them and said, "King Kamui. Queen Azura. We're here with Raven and Ifel. Leo was hoping to see if they know the flower that they've found. Apparently, there was another one found in that old doll, one of the children had given Melody back in the capital."

Surprised, Kamui said, "What? Really?!"

Germone nodded and said, "It really is a bizarre looking flower though…"

Lucina nodded in agreement. Kamui said, "So, they're currently in the study room?"

"Yes, Nyx is with them as well."

Kamui had that study built after the war along with a few other rooms, in case something happens and they had to be away from home for long periods of time. Now, Leo was using it to search up on what he could find with the flowers and the lily that hadn't wilt for a while now. Nyx would come in and help him with it as she was curious about it as well. Kamui sighed and said, "So, what do you think from the conversations today? We all had quite some shock and surprised there, I believe."

Lucina shook her head and said, "We had a talk with Manaf today. It was certainly hard to talk to him of those times. It reminded me of our time back in the future."

Germone said, "Only we were in a really bad position back then. Without our parent and couldn't protect the kingdom in the end. He was basically in the same boat during the war only he still have the people around him to the end, but lost his friends."

Lucina nodded and said, "I guess in a way we were both fortunate and unfortunate."

Germane nodded. Kamui grimaced from hearing this and said, "I apologize for asking you about this. I didn't meant for you two to bring up your past as well."

Lucina smiled and said, "It's fine. We're the ones, who brought it up anyway. Besides, we've certainly made a lot of people bring up their pasts these past few days. Let's hope to avoid such a situation again."

Azura nodded and said, "That's true. We've all been forced to have them reveal their past to us without much thought. In the end, it hurt someone. It would be best to apologize to him."

"Yes.", said Kamui, "It would."

"Well, maybe you can do so tomorrow morning. It's pretty late now."

They turned and saw Xander and Hinoka behind them. Surprised, Kamui said, "Brother? Sister? What are you doing here at a time like this?"

Azura smiled and said, "I'm guessing that the two of you are also out for a midnight walk?"

Hinoka smiled and said, "Yes. It's a surprise to see you guys though."

Lucina nodded and said, "Good evening, King Xander, Queen Hinoka. Though, I suppose it's actually dawn now."

The two nodded and Hinoka asked, "Kamui, Azura, are you two having a hard time going to sleep again?"

Kamui chuckled and said, "Yes. Sorry for making the two of you worry. We couldn't really sleep."

Lucina said, "We're here with Ifel and Raven. They're with Prince Leo and Nyx at the moment."

Xander sighed and said, "At a time like this again? I'll have to tell him to go to sleep soon."

Hinoka smiled and said, "But, then again, he may go off to the library instead like last time. Really, after our younger brother brought out that flower, he's been trying to get to the bottom of it with his wife. I hope they don't get too infatuated with it."

Lucina smiled and said, "That or he could try and study it in his room."

Xander laughed and said, "I recall something like that when he was studying a certain magic spell. I suppose something like that happened with you?"

Lucina chuckled and said, "No. In the past, Inigo would sneak out to practice dancing in the middle of the night when we were children. One time, I caught him practicing in the courtyard and made him go to bed. Next thing I know, I find him accidentally knocking a vase over when he tried to practice dancing in his room. He cried for hours apologizing although our mother and I kept telling him that we forgave him."

Xander said, "That's new. It's pretty hard imagining him like that when he kept causing trouble before."

Lucina frowned and said, "Let me guess. He was asking the woman around to have tea with him again."

Xander frowned and said, "I guess you've gone through that too?"

Lucina smiled and said, "Yes, I'm afraid so. I hope he wasn't too much of a trouble though. Also, I really should thank you and your siblings for watching over my family and friend."

Xander shook his head and said, "No, it was fine. Inigo is a really good fighter and a close friend as well."

Germone said, "Excuse me for interrupting your conversation, but, speaking of him, have you seen Inigo? We saw him coming here with Severa and Keaton not too long ago."

Azura said, "Oh! He's probably going to apologize to Keaton's daughter, Velouria. He didn't get the chance a little while ago."

Lucina sighed and said, "I suppose it would make sense why he'd be so worried with our friend. We were always worried about him when we were younger since he's always so scared, but, since those two are friends of your group, I believe that it should be fine. Our friends tend to worry quite a bit about each other since we were small. I guess that much hasn't changed at all, thankfully."

Suddenly a light flashed from the study room not too far from them.

"What?!", shouted Lucina.

"It's coming from the study room!", said Germone.

"Leo! Nyx!", shouted Kamui.

They opened the door and a thick mist immediately enveloped them.

"What the?!", shouted Xander.

Suddenly, everything turned dark. They, then heard arguing going on through the room. when the light came into view. They were met with Leo, Nyx, and the other two warriors. Azura shouted in relief, "Nyx! Leo! I'm so glad to see that you're alright!"

Kamui said, "What happened? I hear arguing."

Leo looked at them and said, "Sorry about this. We weren't really careful and accidentally set off this flower that they found in Mila's tree."

"Another one?!", said Lucina.

Suddenly, she froze and Germone said with a grimace, "Those voices. It can't be…"

But, much to his disappointment, it was true. This flower ended up showing them the past of themselves when they were in the future. The timeline they were born in and raised to protect, but failed to save. The friends were arguing of whether or not they would go to the past as some accused of the others to have done it to see their families again. It was a heated arguments that brought up divisions among them. Lucina grimaced and said, "I see. So, the news resulted like this…"

Kamui asked, "Why did you guys argue about a decision like this, Germone? Where's Chrom?"

Germone placed a hand on Lucina's shoulder, then answered, "This was the timeline that we came from. The Exalt of our time was killed along with his shepherds by Grima. As we can see, we were all the hope that remained in Ylisse, during that time. This was the night before we made up our decisions to go to a different timeline to stop Grima from resurrecting in this timeline in order to stop ours in our timeline, but half of us didn't want to leave the people there and argued against those who did want to go back. Inigo, Severa, and Owain being among those people. I was against this idea at first till that night."

Kamui asked, "What…happened?"

He grimaced upon remembering what had occurred, then a sudden earthquake caught the group by surprise and they looked back at the scene. The children of the Shepherds have stopped arguing as they were caught surprised by the sudden quake. Xander shouted in surprise, "What?! An earthquake?!"

Lucina grimaced and said, "Not just any earthquake…"

Germone said, "Lucina… This was all in the past."

Lucina nodded and said with a sad frown, "I know, but I didn't think I'd see all this again…"

Suddenly, they heard the priest with a scary face and orange hair, Brady, say, "I-is it over?"

Laurent said with a questioning look, "I wonder why that earthquake happened…"

Yarne held his breath with a horrified look on his face and whispered in shock, "No… That was no ordinary earthquake."

"Yarne?"

"After the shaking settled down, the Risen cried out. … This feeling… there are dozens… no, even more!"

Severa grimaced and shouted in surprise, "What did you say?! You mean, that earthquake was a bunch of Risen coming to life?!"

Kamui grimaced and said, "There was really that many 'Risen' that you guys were forced to face?! What's more, it was just you guys?!"

Lucina nodded and said, "During this time, the Halidom of Ylisse have been reduced to nothing more than a village after the day our parents were murdered by Grima."

Yarne didn't answer Severa, but continued with a grimace of shock, "That sound… it's coming from the direction of the village. It's bad! I can hear human screams! And the enemy's numbers are steadily increasing…"

The timid green female archer with light blue hair, Noire, said with a horrified look, "Oh no…!"

The silver pigtail pegasus rider, Cynthia shouted with a determined look, "Let's head for the village straight away!"

The scenery changed to that of a nearby village set ablaze and a gigantic horned dragon with glowing red eyes above the castle of Ylisse not to far from the village. The size of the dragon was about twenty size as big as Ylisse and was beginning to attack the castle as dark thunder clouds rolled in the sky above the city. Hinoka grimaced in shock and surprise, then said, "Don't tell me that's…"

Lucina grimaced at the sight of her long dead nemesis and whispered, "Grima, the god of Annihilation…"

Kamui grimaced and said, "It's like seeing the Silent Dragon all over again…."

Xander frowned and said, "No wonder Inigo wasn't as intimidated by him when we face against it. He already faced another dragon like ours."

Leo nodded and said, "Yes, that would make sense. Still, how do we get this to close?"

he and Nyx have been desperately looking for a way to shut the magic released by the flower with the of Ifel and Raven after noticing the looks on the Ylissean couple, but it was futile as Ifel and Raven have never seen the flower before either and they still weren't able to find much besides the energy of magic emitting from it, despite Miriel's and Laurent's help. They were forced to watch as the group put aside their differences in idea and split up to save the Lucina from then and the village. The scenery changed to that of the throne room where they saw Lucina fight of what seemed to be like zombies or the faceless that the former king of Nohr had his retainer deploy during the war. There were many of them that seemed to turn into dust upon defeat. They could see that among the rest of the soldiers Lucina was indeed the better fighter as she cut down the Risens as fast as she could. It wasn't long before Grima crashed into the ceiling and wall while killing everyone with his minions as he did so. The Lucina stared in horror and the not awakened Falchion in her hands as they trembled and sweat dripped off her face while she faced the dragon on her own. Then, something flew by her fast as it snatched her from being crushed by the attack of the dragon. It was Cynthia on her pegasus with Germone and Noire on Minerva. They watched as Lucina gave another shot at attacking the dragon on top of his head with the sword. It cried in pain and shook the woman off his head with the sword still in her hand. After realizing that their was nothing they could do they left the castle in defeat. Lucina said with a frown, "Because the Falchion that I have wasn't awakened and the Fire Emblem, I couldn't even seal Grima away. The most I could do with make some damage on him, but not enough to kill him."

The scenery returned to the burning village with Brady, Laurent and the manakete with long orange braided pigtails and a brown cape, Nah. Among them was Owain, who still wore clothing that was similar to his present self. They were running through the burning village looking for survivors and the clinic where Brady was taking care the patients. They ran as Brady continue to worry about the patients who were all unable to escape due to injuries that prevented them from doing so. However, when they arrived, the clinic was collapsed and burning leaving Brady in distraught and crying upon the scene. Owain shouted, "It's too soon to give up! some of them might've survived! C'mon, let's move this rubble aside!"

Laurent said, "Meanwhile, we shall engage the Risen in the area."

Nah stood up straight and nodded before saying, "Yes, sir!"

She quickly used her dragonstone and morphed into a dragon saying, "I won't let you… GET IN THE WAY!"

The scene changed to that of another part of the village where Yarne, Kjelle, Severa and Inigo were fighting against the Risen to get to the villagers, but it was futile as they couldn't get anywhere without fighting the endless numbers of Risens that approached them. After Severa saved Kjelle from an incoming Risen and returned to the fight, Kjelle gasped in horror upon realizing that the Risen that they were fighting were the fallen soldiers of the troop that she was training. Kamui grimaced and said, "So, you guys were all forced to fight against your own kind?!"

The faceless that they faced during the war were that made up of the dead bodies, so they weren't able to recognize the people that they were fighting unless they were soldiers. However, it was plain to see that the Risen that they were fighting were the dead Ylissean soldiers making it clearly harder for them to but them down. Lucina could only give a curt nod and said, "Yes…"

The small group became distraught and angry upon realizing that Grima would do this to them in the scenery. Suddenly, Yarne returned to humanoid form despite the battle still raging on. They discovered that not only were they brought back as Risen, but retained any knowledge they have retained before their death. They were taught that the only way that Yarne and Nah uses the Beaststone and Dragonstone to turn themselves into creatures that can do harm. Not too long afterwards, the scenery returned to the collapsed clinic. Brady and Owain were moving apart the rubble in hopes to find survivors among the rubble and dead bodies of patients. It pained them when the patients they've uncovered were already dead till the found a little girl barely alive. While Brady done whatever he could to keep her alive, the child talked about the stories that Brady had told her and the other children to keep up their hope during the hopeless times. It was inspired by Owain's theatrics surprisingly and the little girl liked it and thought that Owain was really that warrior in those stories, but, part way through, the child's consciousness slowly began to fade away and, despite Brady's plea, the child passed away in Brady's arms. Not too long after, Nah had her dragonstone destroyed by the Risens. With Laurent exhausted from use of magic constantly and injuries and Brady also trying heal him and Nah, Inigo came up with a collapsed Yarne and told them that they were unable to save the villagers as well. With everyone exhausted, Owain volunteered to go and keep the Risen at bay while everyone gets healed. Inigo decided to join group were distraught and scared upon hearing what the two attempted to do against the ridiculous number of enemy, but were stopped by Lucina, who came down with Germone and his group, and told them, "Listen, all of you. Ylisse… has fallen. It's time for us to stop fighting, and flee from here."

Brady shouted back, "You're telling us to run away?! But the people here…"

Gerome shouted back, "There's no one left alive! Not in the castle, not here! We're the only ones left! We're the only ones left alive."

Cynthia added quietly, "We've lost. We couldn't protect… anything."

Kjelle started crying and apologizing as Gerome and Lucina had them escape the burning village to the forest at the outskirts of the village, where they saw the burnt village and the castle of Ylisse collapsed as Grima roared in triumph.

The scene faded away and the study room came back into view. They were silent from seeing what the flower had to show them. Kamui broke the silence and said, "That was…"

Lucina said, "What had happened before we left our timeline to this one. Everyone, but us, were killed… We were unable to protect them in the end and decided to do as the Naga in our world said and went back in time to prevent Grima's resurrection. However, in exchange, we can never go back to our own timeline."

Kamui said, "I see… so that's why…"

He turned to Ifel and Raven and said, "Have you two seen anything like this flower before, then?"

Ifel shook his head, but Raven thought for a bit and said, "I recall a flower similar to this back in our world, but I never asked what it was not what it was capable of."

Ifel turned to him shocked and said, "When was this?"

Raven said, "When we went to see Tian again not long after her reappearance. When we went to find her, I saw her folding a similar flower in her hands. Unlike us though, the flower didn't activate to her touch."

Leo nodded and said, "That's unusual. So at least, now we know that this flower only activate to those from your world, like Yuki. That would basically mean that in order to avoid seeing another persons's past again, we need to simply keep it away from the reach from the people of your world."

They nodded and Samui turned to Lucina and Gerome and asked, "Maybe we should have Flora prepare some tea for the two of you?"

Lucina shook her head, though understanding his thoughtfulness, and said, "No. It's alright. I think we will go back to our tent for tonight."

The two took Ifel and Raven after agreeing that the flower should stay with Leo and Nyx. After they left, Leo grimaced as he thought back to the scene of the ruined village and the collapsed castle, then recalled when they saw the bustling capitol of the Halidom of Ylisse. He thought that he had known just about everything of his former retainer, but he and his brother soon realized that things were only made simpler through words than the actual experience. It was already shocking to see the place of where the three retainers actually came from. A small capitol the size of a village and the young Exalt and Shepherds struggling all they could to protect what's left and bring down the dragon that took the lives of their parents from them at such a young age. They wished that they've known about this sooner, but, with the curse, it was probably impossible for them to do so anyway. They've probably also missed their families while being in their world fighting to help their people as well. Despite all that, they still came to their world to risk their lives protecting their people all over again.

For what reason would they do all this again?

It was hard to imagine that the three would go through that place that could only be described as hell, yet come out without losing who they were. Owain still had his theatrics during his time as Odin Dark, his retainer. Inigo was still the same person, who would ask woman out for tea and was laid back. Severa had the same personality, but only Camilla would be able to confirm that as Severa was her retainer. It surprised Xander as well.

Yet, he's still the same person. So, that's why he was able to think carefully despite facing such dangers.

Azura said with a worried look, "I think it's time we all return to our beds, especially Leo and Nyx. You two took part in a battle not too long before all this. You two surely must be tired after all this."

Leo nodded and said, "Yeah. We'll be leaving then."

After putting away the flower with the others they found, the two left the room. Kamui sighed and said, "First, Miss. Kinomoto, then Lucina and her friends. I hope the other flower doesn't bear a certain past as well."

Azura said, "I know that you're worried. However, it's best if you didn't mention it."

Kamui nodded and Xander said, "I guess, we will have to return as well then."

Kamui nodded and said, "Yes. I think we will as well."

The two left the room to their own respective ones.

"Don't come any closer! I'll let you know that I can fight too!"

A little girl had a silver sword in her hand and pointed it at a man with black hair and oval glasses. He had the same robes as the others before him. The man chuckled with a grin and said, "Really now? Ain't that brave of you. Well, times up. I'm sorry, but I gotta do what we have to do. Orders are orders!"

The boy shivered behind the girl as she stood in front of him with shaking hands. They didn't know how the man came in without any of the servants alerting them. Before the man could attack, a large rabbit bursts in through the double door. Without a doubt, being the only Taguel left in Ylisse, it was Panne. She tried to tackle the man aside, but the man simply pushed her to the side instead and she slammed hard against the stone wall, then she returned to her humanoid form as she remained unconscious. The children grew frightened and shook in fear upon seeing Yarne's mother unconscious on the floor. Libra ran through the door with his axe in hand and rushed at the man ready to swing his axe, but the man simply jumped aside and kicked him. Libra landed next to Panne. The man turned his attention to the children trying to escape the room. He smiled and threw a dagger that barely missed the older girl before her. She fell back to the floor with the little boy standing next to her. A little girl with silver hair in pigtails came running in and grabbed the two by the hand and ran out the door. They ran as fast as they could. The older girl was shocked to see that there was nobody here. No servants or gaurds. Nobody. Their surrounding became nothing but black and white. The flags that moved against the wind froze. It just froze in mid air. They ran none the less. The man had left the two unconscious people and ran after them. They ran as fast as they could, but it was clear to see that the man was catching up fast. The boy was sniffling with tears running down his face as they ran. It wasn't long before the man caught up to them. He raised one of his daggers and closed in on them.

Yuki screamed in horror. It was close to morning and some of the warriors were already awake only to be startled by the scream of a young girl. They rushed to Corrin's and Kaze's door. Kate opened the door. He and his wife was already awake and was about to wake up the child after having already changed into their clothes and armor. They too were startle when the girl suddenly woke up screaming right before they could wake her up. Seeing that the child only had a nightmare some of the people left in relief leaving only Orochi, Takumi, and Mozu. They've already known about the child's constant nightmares and were worried. Orochi asked, "Have this always been going on?"

Kate sighed and nodded. He said, "It been going on every night. Tonight, it didn't happen till this morning."

"Kaze!", shouted Corrin.

He walked in with the three close behind and asked, "What is it?"

She looked up and said, "She remembers what she was dreaming about."

Kaze looked up and said to the child softly, "Yuki, what happened?"

Yuki sniffled with puffy red eyes and tears streaming down her cheeks. She said, "I-I dr-dreamt of a man with oval glasses and black hair. He looked a lot like the man who grabbed me a-and h-h-he was trying to get a girl and a boy with a kn-knife."

The couple looked at each other. It wasn't like what they thought she was dreaming of, but at the same it was not one that they hoped that child would ever go through. Kaze asked, "Then, what happened?"

Yuki continued, "Then I saw that large bunny lady and the nice man with the axe come in. They were thrown to the wall and didn't get up. Then, a girl, who looked like Mrs. Severa, ran in and grabbed the other kids and ran out the door with the man chasing after them with a knife in hand. H-He was about to get them."

Corrin said, "It's just a nightmare, Yuki. It'll be fine."

She hugged the crying girl in her arms and did her best to calm her down as Orochi tapped Kaze's shoulder and motioned the three to follow her out the door leaving Corrin with the child. Once outside, he grimaced knowning that something might not be right. He asked the woman, "I take it that it wasn't just any dream then, Orochi?"

Orochi nodded and said, "I had the same dream as well. We can talk about why she dreamt it later, but right now we got to find Lord Chrom and Sir Reflet."

Takumi grimaced and said, "Then, you mean to tell me that those children…"

Orochi nodded and said, "I saw the place. It was in the throne room of Ylisstol's castle."

Mozu frowned and said, "What the?! Are you sure about that?!"

The woman nodded and Kaze said, "Alright, then. You go ahead and I'll get King Ryoma and King Kamui. I'll also let Peri know of this."

They nodded and the four left to their said locations.

Chrom and Reflet were unsettled by what they've heard from Tharja. The dark mage, who specialized in curses and hexes, had told them of what she had just seen through one of her hexes that morning. She usually had no problem with any of her experiments till that night when one of her hexes reflected onto her. It was a hex to predict the next tragedy that she decided to create out of curiosity after seeing the flowers. Robin was clearly shocked by the news. She turned to her brother and their best friend. Before they could say anything, a voice called from outside behind the tent.

"Chrom, we need to have a talk. It's urgent."

Chrom sighed and said, "Alright. Come in, Kamui."

The kings, their retainers, Orochi, and Nyx came in. Chrom said with a forced smile, "What's wrong, Kamui, Xander, Ryoma?"

Kamui hesitated then looked up and said, "Our diviner and soothsayer have predicted something that may occur back in Ylisse."

Robin frowned and said, "I take it that it have something to do with the princess and prince of Ylisse and my niece?"

Surprised, Kamui said, "How-"

"I already predicted that. Though it wasn't on purpose.", said Tharja with a scary grin.

Kamui looked surprise at first, but realized that this wasn't Hayato's daughter, Rhajat. They met before their expedition to Regna Ferox and were shocked by the identical appearance she have with the young daughter of the future chief. It sort of freaked him out how she was always thinking of trying to use some experiments on him and his twin sister, but were relieved to hear that she hasn't done anything serious with the shepherds and their allies though she have been talking about it and done little bit of hexes and curses involving with habits and feelings rather than things that involve sacrifices and major death like most dark magic experiments are involved in. Kamui asked, "You saw that man too?"

The dark mage nodded as they they looked over to the Exalt who frowned and said to Reflet, "I think we should have someone go back and check on those kids-"

Chrom stopped upon noticing that one of Kamui's retainers, Kaze was staring out the tent silently. Kamui caught on to this and asked his retainer, "Kaze? What is it?"

Kaze thought for a bit before saying, "I think I heard a howl. It's sounds pretty close."

Kamui said, "Maybe it's Keaton or Velouria."

Xander shook his head and said, "But, he's still asleep at the moment and Velouria is playing with Selkie, Kjelle, and Yarne."

Upon hearing Yarne's name, Chrom frowned imagining how the young tagged got involved in the group, but said, "Maybe there's wolves in the area?"

Reflet shook his head and said, "I don't think wolves would come to this area. Why would they come to this place where they can't hunt for food or shelter."

"Then…"

Suddenly, Yarne came rushing in with the three and shouted, "Sir Chrom, I hear Shadows near this area!"

Chrom was alert and asked, "How many?!"

"A-about probably forty, sir!"

They quickly got ready as Chrom began to ask the taguel more questions about their enemies.

They could see from Mila's tree the large group of Shadows running forward and up the tree with ease. With Reflet's and Robin's tactics, they did their best to keep the enemy at bay. They originally thought of using their surroundings to their advantage, but, seeing how the shadows were coming up with ease, most of what they thought of using against them was useless. Never the less, they still went on with it. The battle dragged on for a few hours before a man in black clothes and daggers in hand came up and attacked Chrom, who only pushed the man aside. The two fought as Chrom shouted, "Who are you?! Are you working with that man?!"

The man only smiled and said, "Who I am is of little importance. We only work for our father."

The man rushed forward with his dagger only for the Exalt to dodge it and attack the man with Falchion in hand. Chrom asked, "Your father? You're that man's son?"

The man's lips curl into a scary grin as he said, "You sure you want to ask that? Have you ever thought about That kingdom of yours that you worked so hard to protect?"

Chrom gasped in shock and said, "You… So, it was you. What are you going to do to the kids?!"

The man smiled and said, "You mean what did I do to your kids?"

They clashed and, when the man was close enough to the Exalt, he whispered, "Simple… I killed them."

Chrom immediately pushed him back and was about to dash at him with his sword with clear anger in his eyes. Robin and Reflet could tell what the man said, even if they couldn't tell what it was. The anger in their friend's eyes were the same as when the former Exalt, Emmeryn, Chrom's older sister, tried to kill herself by jumping off the cliff. It only took over a year or two before they found her again, but, without her memories. They were relieved to see her alive even without her memories, especially Chrom and Lissa. They could see that same look on Chrom as back then, but, before they could stop him from his blind attacks, the man was closing in on his opponents, who could clearly see this smile and ran to him with dagger in hand. Although they tried, they couldn't get near him to stop him. They couldn't grab Chrom from running nor could they help him with any spells without the fear of hitting their close friends in the process. They wanted to call out to Gaius or the ninja and assassins from the other world, but couldn't as they had their own stationed place and roles to do to help them win this battle, which was far from where Chrom was. Suddenly, a red streak shot down from the sky and crashed on the man and dust flew into the air. When the dust settled down, they see a man with red hair and light blue leather armor. The black robed man was pinned down on the ground with his daggers knocked out of his hands. With Chrom caught of guard, Corrin came down from the sky in her dragon form and scooped up the exalt before he does anything rash again. He was back to his senses again after being put back down a distance away from the scene. The enemy kicked the man off of him and ran to the Exalt with another dagger out of nowhere, despite the man's warning. Kamui came in between the enemy and Chrom, when at the last minute, Kamui was caught of guard when the enemy disappeared from his view and was suddenly behind him heading to Chrom. The man dashed to the enemy as fast as he could before he can reach Chrom. Chrom got his Falchion out and was ready to deflect the attack only to be pushed back with a large amount of force as he barely stopped the dagger from reaching him. Chrom had to use all the force he could to stop the attack. Lucina came dashing in, but the man stepped back and kicked her out of the way. Gerome and Inigo caught her before she could crash down on the ground. Seeing this, Chrom recalled what happened and what he was trying to do. He calmed himself down and focused on the black robed man with Falchion in hand, but, before the enemy charged at him again, the man cut off the hand that held the dagger. The enemy was shocked and threw a dagger with his other hand at the man. It hit the man in the chest before the enemy was shot an arrow through the head. The man collapsed and turned to sand upon touching the ground. Chrom and Kamui ran over to the man and checked out his wound. Chrom shouted, "Can someone get a healer?!"

A noble woman with long curly blond hair, Maribelle and Robin ran over and checked on the man's wound. He was not in good shape and it looked like he was in another battle before he came here. They took him to one of the tent clinics.

It was in the afternoon before Maribelle came out with her son, Brady. After getting a report of the man's injuries. They decided that it would be best to see him afterwards as he was asleep and his injuries were from fatal to life threatening. They, then decide, after hearing of the dreams that they'd go back to Ylisse to check on the kingdom and their kids. After telling Ifel and Raven this, the two nodded and said, "We'll stay here and watch over Lady Tiki. Also, Exalt Chrom, Royal family of the three kingdoms…"

Raven said, "We've decided that after seeing how you protect the people regardless of who the person is…"

Ifel continued, "and after seeing how you regard family more than blood. You've earned our trust and as proof of our trust we'll tell you our true identity."


YueTian: "Well, that's that for now, readers! And since nobody agreed or disagreed with what I was talking about during the last update, I've just went ahead and asked the character to come up any way!"

Ifel: "Really… They didn't give any consent to go for this idea either."

YueTian: "Well, it's not like I get a lot of reviews either, so, oh well!"

Ifel: *Sigh* "Raven, help me out here, would you?"

Raven:"…"

Ifel: *Fingers pinching the bridge of his nose* "Chrom? Kamui? What do you guys think?"

Chrom: "Well, I don't see what's wrong with it. I pretty much agreed to go along when she asked."

Kamui: *nods* "I don't see what the problem is either. They don't seem to dislike the idea either."

YueTian: "Exactly! There were no complaints about it either! So, it's fine!"

Ifel: *let's go and sighs* "Fine… So, what going on next? One thing I know for sure, I'm staying with Lady Tiki. I will keep her safe at the very least!"

Raven: "You're just depressed that you couldn't protect Tian in the first place. Don't project on someone else, please."

Ifel: *Frowning* "I am not!"

YueTian: "A-anyway! Here's the hint for this upload with the warning sign as usual! (Tian, where are you… *sweat drops*)"

*BEWARE*

HINT:

Four-legged Miracle

*BEWARE*