~ Chapter 8 ~

The seven companions took their time walking back to the Stormfall. They had spent far more time in the pillar than they had initially thought, and the sun was already rising when they arrived at the schooner. Severa went straight to the lectern to begin their return voyage as the others went below deck to treat their thankfully minor wounds.

As Severa looked out to sea, trusting in the magical winds to do their work, she couldn't help but wonder about her younger sister. She and Lucina, and now Owain, had all been caught up in what seemed like an incredibly volatile situation. In truth, they had allowed themselves to be caught up in it, as they had hoped for it to lead them to the answers they sought. Instead, they had discovered only more questions.

And given Morgan's penchant for finding, or creating, trouble, Severa could only wonder what kind of mess her younger sister was in. Morgan must have stumbled upon strands of the same mysterious and expansive web of schemes by now.

To complicate matters further, no matter how much she missed her home, friends, and family, Severa knew she could not simply abandon her new friends to face their fate. Morgan likely would feel the same way, Severa realized. Finding Morgan wouldn't bring an end to this adventure; sooner or later, they would have to get to the bottom of this mess.

"I'm sure she's fine," Owain said, interrupting Severa's thoughts as he returned from the cabin.

"Who?" Severa asked, feigning ignorance.

"Morgan," Owain said, seeing through his friend's misdirection easily enough. "You were thinking about her, weren't you?" His expression made it quite plain that he knew the answer already.

Severa looked away irritably, annoyed that he had seen through her so easily. "How did you know?"

"You get this strange look in your eyes when you're worrying about her," Owain replied with a shrug, as he leaned back against the pillar. "Are you hurt? Any burns that need to be treated?"

"I'm fine," Severa said tersely.

"I'm sorry," Owain said suddenly.

Severa rounded on him, startled. "Sorry for what?"

"For getting Morgan mixed up in all this. I never thought she would come looking for me. Honestly, I didn't even expect to be gone so long myself," Owain admitted.

"It's not just Morgan, you know," Severa said, looking away again. "Your mom and dad were worried about you, too. So was Lucina. So was I, come to think of it," Severa admitted quietly.

Owain cringed. "Right. Well, I'm sorry for getting you and Lucina mixed up in this, too," Owain added.

"Are you really?" Severa asked, still refusing to meet his gaze. "Why did you do it, Owain? With all your talk of valor and heroism, it's usually Cynthia who makes the hare-brained decisions like this."

Owain frowned. "Severa, were you happy with our life in Ylisse before I left?"

"Pretty much," Severa answered. "Weren't you?" A terrible thought then occurred to her. "Or is that why you left? Were you tired of our life in Ylisstol?"

"Of course not," Owain said, smiling wistfully. "I was happier than ever, as a matter of fact. Hard not to be, considering the world we grew up in. I didn't want anything to change. But then Maelstrom showed up on our doorstep."

"So? We drove it away, and no one ever saw it again," Severa reminded.

"But it was still out there somewhere," Owain argued. "And even after we won, we knew almost nothing more about it than we did when Ferox first called to us for help. I couldn't help but worry that if no one did anything about it, one day, it could come back to haunt us. And on that day, we wouldn't be so lucky."

"We did cut it pretty close a few times that fight," Severa admitted. "But you didn't have to go alone, Owain. You could've told your uncle. Or my dad. I'm sure they would've come up with something."

"Sure," Owain said sarcastically. "Tell Uncle Chrom so that he can leave the throne empty and sail off to the ends of the world. Or better yet, tell your dad, so he can go and risk dying yet again, this time without any chance of coming back." He regretted his harsh words immediately, though, when he saw Severa swallow uncomfortably. "Sorry, Severa, I didn't mean to… sorry."

Severa shook her head. "Owain, how is it any better for you to head off on your own and risk getting yourself killed instead? Do you really think no one would've cared?"

"Would you care?" Owain asked, turning her question around. He smiled faintly. "Never mind, I think I know the answer. I knew you would all worry, but I thought if I just took good care of myself, everything would be fine."

"Yeah. Good job with that," Severa said dryly, and Owain laughed reluctantly.

"I didn't say it was a great plan. That's why I'm apologizing, remember?" Owain said.

"Why 'Last Wish'?" Severa asked abruptly. "Your sword's name, I mean. I know things aren't as great as they could be right now, but it still sounds awfully gloomy and pessimistic. Especially for you."

Owain drew his sword and inspected it carefully. Despite being used against eidolons made of flame and obsidian all night long, it looked as pristine as it had when Severa first presented it to him.

For a long moment, he wondered how he could describe his line of thought without sounding incredibly corny. But he gave up with a shrug. "Whatever. I'm used to sounding like a cheesy jester," Owain said with a roguish grin. "I named it Last Wish because on the day you gave it to me, it felt like most of my wishes had come true. I only had one wish left to make, and I hoped it would be the last."

"And what was that?" Severa asked curiously.

"That everything would go back to normal," Owain replied. "Stupid, right?"

Severa smirked. "A little bit. What happens the next time something goes wrong?"

"The point is for things to stop going wrong," Owain retorted, grinning.

"I'm pretty sure you're going to be disappointed, then," Severa said. "Because things do go wrong once in a while. Still, when you put it that way, the name doesn't sound that bad."

"Hang on a minute, did you just approve of one of my weapon's names?" Owain asked, flabbergasted. "Who are you and what have you done with Severa?"

"Oh shut up," Severa said, blushing slightly. "I'm trying to be nice, alright?"

"You know, you two seem to be getting along for once. I used to think it was impossible. Is there anything going on that I should know about?" Lucina asked, announcing her presence and smiling slyly.

Severa and Owain both jumped, but Severa recovered quickly. "You wish," she said, lying down on the deck and closing her eyes.

"If you're tired, you can go get some sleep first," Lucina offered. "I'll watch the lectern."

"Nah. I'm fine," Severa assured. "You go get some rest, Lucy."

"Alright then. Thanks. Oh, by the way, I put the obsidian fragments we salvaged in the storeroom," Lucina said. "Are you planning to explain why you wanted them?" she added curiously.

"Harmony said the Redeemers use it to make warp powder. Their warp powder seems more stable than the type Dad and Morgan made back home. I thought I'd bring it back as a gift for Dad," Severa said casually.

"There's at least two volcanoes that we know of that are closer to home," Lucina reminded. "But I guess there's no harm in it. We have plenty of cargo space, anyways. Good night, Sev."

"Good night," Severa said, waving lazily. "You too, Owain," she added a moment later, after Lucina had left.

Owain nodded. "Alright. Good night, Severa."


"It seems the island is still standing," Harmony said calmly, when Dragonflame Isle came into view.

"I wasn't aware that was something we were worried about," Lucina said, glancing at Harmony and wearing an expression of alarm. After a few hours, Lucina had insisted Severa get some rest as well. She had been joined by Owain about half an hour later, and by Harmony just as Dragonflame Isle could be seen in the distance.

Harmony smiled faintly. "Lucina, we're tampering with ancient spirit charmer magic that none of us know anything about," she reminded gently.

"The seals are just supposed to be concealing the Dominion Scepter, though. What could go wrong?" Owain asked. Even as he said those last four words aloud, he heard the irony in his statement and winced uncomfortably. He was possibly the worst judge of what could and could not go wrong.

Harmony closed her eyes and paused for a moment before answering. "Amongst the Redeemers, most of the experimental magic fell to Tantalus. I have witnessed his extraordinary work on many occasions, but such forays into the unknown carry a price; the consequences of failure, or even merely the side effects, can be spectacularly brutal," she finally said.

"Spectacularly brutal," Lucina echoed weakly. "How?"

"Ignoring the obvious example of Maelstrom, the two instances that come to mind are Relic's halo and the spirit gateways," Harmony listed off. "Tantalus designed a unique weapon specifically for Relic, capable of harnessing natural energy from the immediate area. In Relic's first test of the weapon, he drew too much power into the weapon. We still don't know exactly how it happened, but it brought about a massive quake. We conducted the test somewhere along the quiet countryside, and the nearest village, almost ten miles out, was obliterated."

"An entire village?" Owain asked, horrified.

Harmony grimaced. "That's just the tip of the blade. Relic was at Port Toha when Tantalus and Symphony summoned Maelstrom. How much have you heard about Maelstrom's rampage on that day?"

"Only what you told us before," Lucina said, as she glanced at Owain, wondering if he might know more.

"Not much," Owain admitted. "I heard there were huge tidal waves and a severe storm that set wildfires across the region. And that there weren't many survivors."

"Maelstrom doesn't summon storms. Just lighting. The storm and the wildfires were the aftershocks of Relic's attempt to suppress Maelstrom," Harmony explained. "For most people of Tellius, spirits are but a distant thought, and a mere peculiarity of our world that few paid attention to, at least until the recent plague of eidolon activity, courtesy of the Redeemers. But spirits play a part in maintaining the natural order of our world, and their role is not fully understood, even by those who would tamper with true spirit magic."

"What about you?" Lucina asked uneasily. "You carry a tome, too, don't you?"

Harmony shook her head. "Most spirit charmers, such as Medea and myself, use their spirit pact only to lend power to traditional anima, light, and dark magic. As far as we are aware, the impact is negligible, although it does put ourselves at risk – as I warned Symphony, relying too heavily on the spirit pact gives the spirits bound to us more and more power over us. If we exceed our limits, our very souls can fall victim to the spirits."

"Light magic?" Owain echoed curiously. Vaguely, he remembered Morgan mentioning light magic once. The Shepherds' tactician had found an old text in the library detailing a long-lost style of magic. No one aside from Morgan had found it particularly exciting, though.

"You've never heard of light magic?" Harmony asked, surprised.

"We've heard of it, but no one practices light magic anymore in Ylisse," Lucina confessed.

Harmony shrugged. "Light magic is much like anima magic, but draws upon the caster's will and conviction as much as it does magical talent. It is particularly effective against those who wield dark magic, as well as entities touched by otherworldly magic, such as eidolons."

The reference to otherworldly magic inevitably reminded Lucina of the fell dragon and his risen armies. She briefly wondered if light magic would have proven useful against the risen, but since the risen were gone for good, it would be impossible to know for sure. Then she thought of the eidolons, and remembered something else. "Harmony, you mentioned the spirit gateways, too, when you were talking about the ways spirit magic could go wrong," Lucina reminded.

"I did, didn't I?" Harmony said absently. "The concept of opening a path for spirits to materialize physically is a simple one, but fraught with dangers. Do you remember when I told Symphony that he and I were orphaned when our village was destroyed by rogue eidolons?"

Lucina was about to say she did, when the words caught in her throat. She looked at Harmony with pained understanding.

Harmony smiled sadly. "Yes. It was one of Tantalus's early experiments. His gateway went haywire, and instead of bringing over a single eidolon, it allowed dozens of them into our world. He tried to rein them in, but there were too many. Those that he couldn't control descended upon and destroyed our home. I didn't learn the truth until over a decade later."

"And Symphony?" Lucina asked.

"I don't think Symphony ever learned of it. I thought to tell him, but with the way he looked up to Tantalus, I was afraid the truth would've broken him," Harmony admitted.

Owain frowned. "There were spirit gates in Ocean's Abyss, as well as in Infernal Crater."

"The ones in Infernal Crater were more refined than anything Tantalus was capable of assembling when he defected," Harmony noted. "But that just means the spirit charmers who built the pillars were far more familiar with spirit magic than anyone I've ever known. It's not exactly a comforting thought."

"I know what you mean," Lucina agreed. "It's as if events are moving all around us, and we're just here watching them unfold. When I think about it, I just feel so… helpless." She glanced at Owain, who knew immediately what Lucina was talking about.

"We aren't helpless, Lucina," Owain insisted. "You said the same thing during our war against the fell dragon, how you felt like everything was beyond your control, no matter how much you tried to change fate. But in the end, everything turned out differently, remember? Whatever we choose to do will make a difference and change the outcome, even if we don't know precisely how right now."

"I guess," Lucina agreed. "So what do you think we should do next, Owain?"

Owain's eyes widened. "I can't believe you're asking me what we should do next." Owain said, trying not to laugh. "I've been wishing for months that you were here to help me figure that out."

"Coming up with plans is Morgan's job," Lucina said defensively.

"Until she gets carried away," Owain reminded, grinning. His expression turned serious once more. "I think we should try to track down Drake," he finally suggested. "Maybe he will have some more information for us."

"Maybe," Harmony agreed hesitantly. Silently, she couldn't help but wonder what secrets Anna and Owain's former traveling companion was keeping to himself.


It was just a few hours past noon when the Stormfall reached the docks of Dragonflame Isle. The seven companions returned to the inn soon after, and once the innkeeper confirmed that neither Drake nor Agent had been seen since they left, they retreated to their rooms to sleep away the rest of the afternoon.

That evening, one by one, they filtered back into the common room and waited for the others. The last to rejoin them was Anna. "Still no sign of Drake or Agent, then?" Anna asked, sounding disappointed as she seated herself beside her friends at the large, round table in the corner.

"Nothing at all. No one's even seen them," Owain said, sounding worried.

"It's not too surprising," Severa said. "I know it feels like way longer, but we've only been gone for a day."

"Maybe we should try to find the fourth key ourselves," Iris suggested. "If we can find it before Drake and Agent can, they'll have to come back and regroup with us before they can attempt to break the last seal, right?"

"I was in the library, earlier, trying to learn more about the pillars and their keys, but I haven't found anything yet," Harmony said. "If Agent was researching it before, he might have taken any relevant tomes with him."

"Another dead end, then," Symphony said grimly. "Unless we want to go ask the locals to see what they might know. The four pillars are supposed to be an old legend around here."

At the mention of reaching out to the locals, another possibility crossed Owain's mind. "Not all the keys were found in temples," Owain interrupted abruptly. "Agent said he bought the key to Infernal Crater off an old merchant."

Lucina glanced at him quizzically for a moment, then her eyes widened with sudden understanding. "Owain, are you saying you think someone might have already found the last key, too?"

"It's possible," Owain admitted. "I know it's not too likely, but if we have nothing else to follow up on, I could check with the local merchants while the rest of you are combing the library."

"That's a good idea," Harmony said thoughtfully. "You'd better hurry, though. It's getting late, and most of the merchants will probably call it a day pretty soon."

"We'll be in the library, Owain," Lucina said. "Come find us right away if you find anything."


The market was indeed almost empty by the time Owain reached it. Over half of the vendors had already left for the day, and Owain browsed the wares of those who remained quickly. When he reached the very last stall and still saw nothing even remotely resembling the pillar keys, he had to remind himself not to be disappointed, and that the odds weren't particularly favorable to begin with.

"You seem to be looking for something particular, kid," the old merchant said, smiling. Like most of the locals who had spent the bulk of their lives at sea, the old man was missing quite a few teeth, and most of those that remained were crooked.

"I am," Owain admitted. "A friend of mine purchased a key a short while ago. He said he bought it from a treasure hunter, and I was wondering if there were any more like it for sale."

"What kind of key?" the merchant asked curiously.

"A fancy stone key, about six inches long," Owain said, holding up his hands and framing the approximate size of the key.

"With colorful swirls?" the merchant guessed.

Owain froze. "Red swirls, yes," he stammered. "How did you know?"

"Your friend's the one with the dark glasses and the fancy feathered hat, isn't he?" The merchant laughed. "Your friend has one heck of a memory, kid. I sold him those keys nearly a year ago!"

"A year ago?" Owain echoed hollowly. "Wait a moment! Keys? As in, more than one?"

The man shrugged. "There were a pair of them. One red, one green. I found them over a decade ago. I thought they might have something to do with those old pillars that have been around forever, but never could find the time to try it myself. No one believed me or seemed interested when I said I thought they were connected to the pillars until your friend came along."

Owain felt as if his blood had turned to ice. "Thank you," he said numbly. He then sprinted to the library, trying to wrap his mind around the unexpected information, and the terrifying implications.


"Agent has the key!" Owain roared, as soon as he spotted Severa, Symphony, Iris, and Harmony sitting around one of the library's plain wooden reading tables. All three of them looked up at him, startled.

"What?" Lucina asked, rushing around the corner, carrying a small stack of books. Across from her, Anna emerged from behind another tall bookcase.

"I found the merchant," Owain said, panting for breath. "He says he sold Agent two keys at the same time, over a year ago! Agent must still have the other key!"

"Over a year ago?" Anna asked, confused. "I thought you said Agent said he only bought it a few days ago!"

"He must have lied," Harmony realized. "He's had the last key all along."

"And if he didn't give it to you guys, he probably meant to use it himself," Lucina guessed. "Which means he's already headed to Heaven's Column."

"But why didn't he just give us the wind key first?" Anna wondered. "He gave us, or led us to the other three in order. Why save the wind key for last?"

"He must know something about the pillars we don't," Symphony said grimly. "Perhaps breaking the seals out of order has consequences we aren't aware of."

"What if it means the scepter is lost for good?" Iris asked uneasily, echoing Owain's doubts from earlier in the adventure.

"Then it wouldn't do Agent any good," Harmony said. Her eyes widened as she considered another possibility. "Unless Agent is working for Tantalus," she added. "If Tantalus wants to summon and use a dire eidolon, weapons capable of defeating dire eidolons are a huge threat to him."

"So then Tantalus could have sent Agent to foul up Relic's search," Symphony concluded.

"That doesn't make any sense," Severa said flatly. "If their goal was to keep the scepter out of reach, wouldn't Tantalus have just hidden one of the keys? It would be much easier than Agent's little game of lies."

"True," Harmony said thoughtfully. "What if the scepter isn't here on Dragonflame Isle, but is in Heaven's Column instead? Maybe Agent was after the scepter all along."

"That's possible," Anna admitted. "The scepter has to be worth a fortune, right? It's one of a kind, and has quite a legend associated with it too. Maybe he thinks it'll be worth more than Drake offered to pay him."

"If that's the case, letting Agent get a hold of the scepter isn't the worst thing that could happen," Symphony pointed out. "We'll just have to make sure we can take it from him before the Redeemers or Tantalus can."

"What about Drake, then?" Lucina asked urgently. "What's his part in all this? And where is he now?"

"Drake left because he said he was worried about Agent," Owain remembered. "What if… what if he suspected that Agent was holding something back?" he invented wildly, wanting desperately to believe that Drake had not been lying to them.

"Or maybe Drake and Agent were working together all along," Anna suggested. As she spoke, her expression twisted into a scowl. "Maybe the two of them are splitting the profits, and never intended to pay me anyways!"

"I don't think that's the case," Harmony said absently. "I doubt Drake would risk making enemies over a bit of gold. More likely, your employer was worried that you or Owain would try to take the scepter from him, or would disagree with how he planned to use it."

"Or maybe he's not working with Agent at all," Iris offered meekly, when she noticed Owain's downcast expression. "Maybe he realized Agent was trying to steal it from him, and decided to secure it first."

Lucina closed her eyes, frustrated. They had found some answers, but with those answers came more questions, and more possibilities. There were far too many moving parts here: the Redeemers, Tantalus, Drake and Agent, who might or might not be associated with the Redeemers and Tantalus, and could possibly be working together in secret. She could still hear the others wondering what to do next, but lost in her own thoughts, their words and suggestions formed an undecipherable blur.

For the first time, she truly understood her father's discomfort with leadership. Thinking about their predicament wouldn't make it go away, and given how little they knew, wouldn't shed any light on the mysteries. They had a multitude of choices, each of which could lead to dire consequences that, from this vantage point, none of them could comprehend. Someone had to make a decision, or else the decision would be made for them, and sitting and waiting was perhaps the worst option of the lot.

Lucina and her companions needed a leader now. And though her friends would gladly follow her without any hesitation, she herself couldn't be certain what the proper course was. If only Robin or Morgan could be here to help her now, as they had always been there by her father's side.

"Lucina?"

Lucina looked up, startled, thinking she had just somehow heard Robin's voice. Instead, she found her six companions looking at her, concerned.

"Lucy, are you alright?" Severa asked.

Lucina almost laughed, wondering how she could possibly have mistaken Severa's voice for Robin's. "I'm fine," Lucina said quickly. She took a deep breath before continuing. "I think we should get ready to leave."

"Leave for where?" Anna asked, startled.

"For Heaven's Column," Severa reasoned. "We have all the answers that we're likely to find sitting around here. We might be too late to stop Agent from making the first move, but we might as well try."

Lucina nodded and gave Severa a warm smile, glad that Severa shared her reasoning. "Let's see if we can catch up to Agent and Drake. They're a few days ahead of us, but we might still be able to reach Heaven's Column before them, or at worst, not long after they do."

"We know they've been keeping secrets from us," Severa said. "If they didn't want Anna and Owain to visit Heaven's Column with them, there has to be a reason. We might as well go and see what that reason is."

"I suppose it's as good a plan as any," Harmony said, nodding. "And if the Stormfall can get us there first, maybe we can get our answers before they can put their plans into motion."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Owain demanded, getting to his feet.


Since the library was almost always empty anyways, especially so late in the evening, even Harmony hadn't bothered checking for eavesdroppers. And even if she had, she probably wouldn't have searched atop the roof.

An old Laguz was lying upon the far side of the angled roof patiently with his eyes closed, with his brown feathery wings folded beneath his back. He had chosen his spot carefully, and could not be seen from the road or from anywhere within the building. He was out of sight, but not out of earshot, for the voices within carried easily through one of the first floor windows.

Even most other hawk Laguz wouldn't have been able to make out the entire conversation clearly from such a distance, but Ulki's hearing had always been exceptional, and he could even mark the soft footsteps of companions departing from the library together.

Once he was certain that they were gone, he spread his wings and transformed into a hawk before soaring away, flying low so as to avoid being seen.


They had all the supplies they needed already aboard the Stormfall, and in less than half an hour, the schooner set sail heading due south for the final pillar.

Lucina, Severa, and Owain sat around the lectern, looking to the south anxiously. It seemed each of their friends had their own way of coping with unease – Iris was flying gently above the ship as it sailed south, carefully keeping herself in line with the magical gale so that she wouldn't fall behind. Symphony had retreated to the hull deck with a pouch of rocks, which he was calmly skipping over the ocean's surface behind them. Harmony had gone below deck to indulge in a meditative ritual of some sort, and Anna was simply curled up on her cot with a book.

"How are you two feeling?" Lucina asked quietly, unable to bear the silence any longer. Severa and Owain spoke up at the same time.

"Confused," Severa replied.

"Nervous," Owain said at the same time. They glanced at each other and laughed. "Nervous because I'm confused," Owain clarified.

"And Sev is probably just as nervous as we are, but I doubt she'd admit it," Lucina said, laughing.

"I'm not nervous," Severa insisted petulantly. "Worrying doesn't do us any good, so what's the point?"

Lucina shrugged. "If feelings were only that easy to control," she said with a knowing smile.

Severa sighed. It was true, after all. Pragmatism when it came to feelings sounded nice, and she could pretend otherwise and probably fool those who didn't know her too well. But she couldn't hide her true feelings from her closest friends, let alone herself.

Owain noticed her discomfort, and spoke up, hoping to distract her. "I can't help but wonder about Drake," Owain admitted. "He was cryptic, but he also always seemed to be kindhearted and easygoing, too. He even promised to try to help me find my way home after this was all over."

"But if he was trying to trick you the whole time, that's exactly how he'd do it," Severa reminded. "And you said Agent was always really friendly, too. Right? He's definitely up to something."

"True," Owain said sadly.

"We'll just have to wait and see," Lucina said kindly. "Maybe Drake really is just someone hoping to find a weapon to deal with Maelstrom."

"Look on the bright side," Severa added, when Owain didn't look convinced. "No matter who Drake and Agent really are, you've got Lucy and me with you now, right? And once we sort this mess out, we'll go find Morgan, too."

"You're right," Owain agreed after a moment. And though their situation hadn't become any more manageable, simply remembering that he wasn't alone anymore made the whole world seem just a little bit brighter.