Disclaimer: Have the disclaimers previously not convinced you? I DON'T OWN IT!
Dragon's Gate. A place he wished to never see again. But it was here that it would end. It was here they would vanquish the dark druid.
Here that Cynthar would finally be free.
His hand brushed along his dagger. Today was a day to go down in history. And not be remembered by anyone but the small army.
Dragon's Gate. Here, he would get revenge. For everyone who died for Nergal's goals. For Bartre. For Rath.
For Lynessa.
Corvus' hand clenched on the hilt of the massive broadsword. He was going to cut that black bastard's black heart out for her.
-Does it still count as fighting a war if I didn't plan the tactics or fight? Well, if my daughter could marry a flirty dancer, then we can do this!-
Dragon's Gate. The end of it all. Victory or death. Anything could be ahead. From morphs to dragons.
"Do you really think we stand a chance?" a voice questioned from behind.
Matthew had crept up on Cormag in his usual stealthy manner. He had certainly been making an effort to be more cheerful and to get over Leila's death. One time, Cormag even saw Matthew with a true smile when jesting with Sain.
"What do you mean?" Cormag replied.
"You know what I mean. There could be dragons in there, can we fight a dragon in this pit of hell?" Matthew questioned warily.
"We may be descending into hell, but the demon himself will not stop us with his dark magic. Nor shall the beasts stop us with their fire. We came here so that we could keep Elibe free. The choice is to either flee to live another day on our knees, or to fight for a better tomorrow. And I would rather die on my feet than live on my knees. That better tomorrow is worth fighting for. No more sadness, death and despair from the Black Fang and Nergal. We're the only ones who can do that. I will charge in there myself if everyone one else leaves. If we flee, what do we have to live for?"
Matthew raised his eyebrows, "No need to get epic on me. I can live without the speech. Maybe you should be a lord with speeches like that!"
"Oh, shut it Matthew. It wasn't that good," Cormag replied, though secretly uplifted.
"He's not kidding mate, it wasn't bad. Could use some work, from an expert…like me," said another person from behind Cormag. Corvus emerged from a bush.
"We're you eavesdropping on us?" Cormag said irked.
"No sir! I wasn't droppin' no eaves! But…I was conveniently in the right place at the right time!" Corvus said with a wolfish grin.
"And he wasn't the only one!" Cynthar appeared out of a tree above all of them. Well…fell was more like it.
Cormag raised his eyebrows, "Quite a merry band of mercenaries have we?"
Matthew cockily raised an eyebrow and said, "Expect anything less?"
They all laughed. Just like old times.
Into the Gate. It hadn't been long since they had last been there. It looked identical to the last time. Cynthar had guided them into the main room, where the Gate awaited.
They didn't expect what they found.
Nergal was waiting for them in the middle of the room. No morph guards. No magic barriers.
No dragons.
What was most unnerving was Nergal's sinister grin, "How nice of you all to drop by! It seems I have an audience for when I claim the power of dragons!"
Everyone drew their weapons, steel and magic alike. Nergal's expression didn't change, "No? Too bad for you Eliwood. I don't need your company." He snapped his fingers and teleported away. But eight figures appeared. The group gasped.
All were identical to members of the Black Fang and other opponents they had fought.
Linus, Ursula, Brendan Reed, Lord Darin, Uhai, Kenneth and an assassin unknown to the company.
And finally Lloyd.
Cormag flinched at the sight. Memories came shooting into his mind. The fight. The eye. The blood. The insanity.
-Control Cormag. Keep a level head.-
Cormag took a few deep breaths. Kaitlyn had begun issuing orders. "Erk, Pent and Priscilla, take Ursula. Hector and Hawkeye! You have Darin! For Lloyd, E-"
"No."
The single word echoed across the company. Many eyes turned to look at the speaker.
Cormag.
"He's mine. And no one elses!" Cormag readjusted his grip on his sword and charged for Lloyd. Kaitlyn hurriedly yelled out positions for the rest of the units at her command.
Cormag arrived at his target sword swinging. This Lloyd wasn't as quick as the real one, but deflected the blow with ease. The real Lloyd would have attacked with a counter strike.
The two spun around and sliced like scripted performers. To say they were without emotion was a false statement. Cormag fought with fury and power like never before. He improvised complex combinations of strikes that no normal person could ever perform. He was lost in the battle. Nothing else existed but the fight.
This Lloyd was different. He didn't have quite the same style as the real Lloyd, but it was similar. His sword was different as well. It had a regal look to it. But the morph Lloyd was tiring. His strokes his blade had become slower. His strikes slightly less accurate. So subtle only a master could pick them up.
Cormag, competent mercenary.
Lloyd then made his ultimate mistake. He left his right side unguarded while he had Cormag's sword pinned to the ground. Cormag deftly unsheathed Matthew's knife and stabbed it into Lloyd's side. The morph Lloyd didn't scream and Cormag used that brief moment of surprise to his advantage as he stabbed his sword into Lloyd's neck.
The morph Lloyd paused before disintegrating into dust. Cormag ventured a look to his comrades.
The rest of the company had nearly finished. Corvus was nearing the end of finishing off Linus with Lyn. Erk was dueling Ursula while Priscilla was tending to Pent. He certainly was talented, he was holding his own pretty well.
Then a look of dread passed onto his face. Every magic user tensed up and Serra cried, "NO!"
She dropped her staff and grabbed he light magic tome and ran over to Ursula. She screamed in between spells, "YOU…STAY…AWAY…FROM MY ERKY!" With that she dealt the final blow to Ursula. She dropped her tome exhausted. She looked over to Erk, who looked faint but was smiling. Serra's usual smile leapt back to her face, "ERKY!" She ran over to him and kissed him on the lips at full force.
The shocking part was that instead of pulling away, Erk pulled her closer.
Hector's jaw dropped. Everyone had looks of surprise.
-I guess you never saw that one coming.-
They must have been good at hiding it.
-Serra, hide something? Admit it, you just didn't want to get near her.-
Shut it.
Hector was the first, surprisingly, to get composed again, "Alright lovebirds, we have a battle to fight."
Serra, if possible had an even bigger smile than ever before. Erk just blushed, but had a slight smile.
They all regrouped and headed into the next chamber to find Nergal.
Angerhateragefurydespairlossjusticedeat-
Cynthar tried to control his emotions. Seeing Nergal for the second time after escaping was worse than the first. But he was here to end it. Both Eliwood's army and Nergal merely stared at each other until Corvus cried with fury and ran at Nergal, sword swinging.
Nergal raised his hand above his head. It swirled with dark energy. The ball of magic exploded causing a shock wave that blasted everyone off their feet and knocked over several pillars. He began shooting blasts of dark energy at anything that moved. Cynthar began deflecting them with his wind, and slowly began to get closer to his target.
Cormag dove behind one of the fallen pillars to avoid Nergal's dark magic. Corvus and Renault joined him. Cormag brought his head above the cover of the pillar just enough to see Cynthar engage Nergal in battle. Nergal still was shooting blasts of magic at everything, but less often than before. He concentrated all his magic power on his nearest target, Cynthar.
Nergal was stronger than Cynthar. It was only a matter of time before Cynthar wore out and Nergal killed him. The swordmaster crouched back behind the fallen pillar and saw Renaults light magic tome.
"Renault!" Cormag shouted over the battle. Cynthar and Nergal had formed miniature tornadoes around themselves.
Renault turned his head to Cormag to show he was listening. "Can you Cloak me to get me up there!?" shouted Cormag once again. Renault had a look of puzzlement for a fraction of a second before he raised his eyebrows.
He picked up his tome and staff. "Can you take the power swordmaster?!" Cormag nodded. Renault made to stand up, "I like your style boy, at your ready!"
Corvus looked bewildered during the whole exchange, "What are you-"
Cormag took a deep breath and vaulted over the cover of the pillar. As promised, Renault played his part.
Cloaking was a term for blinding your opponent. But Renault wasn't casting magic on Nergal, he casted it on Cormag. Cloaking hinders the foe's vision when they look at you, throwing off their aim.
Renault was strong. His blasts of magic on Cormag's skin burned. But Cormag didn't relent.
Nergal had focused his attention on Cormag, but was blinded by the light. It was all Cormag needed.
He plunged the sword into Nergal's back.
Nergal screamed, and then muttered, "What…are you?"
Cormag whispered, weak from the Cloaking, "I am…the Swordmaster!"
Nergal fell over, dead.
Everyone came out from their hiding places. Not very heroic, but not dying was always preferable.
Wil's voice carried over the crowd, "Is it…over?"
Everyone looked around at one another. They had done it.
A rumbling sound came from the back of the room. All eyes looked at the Gate.
From the Gate emerged three fire dragons.
All the blood drained from Cormag's face. Each dragon was nearly as big as the room they were currently in. Cormag thought they had no chance against one dragon, but three!?
Athos cried, "What power! Elibe will turn to ash within a month!
"Not if I have anything to say," a voice spoke from nowhere.
A man appeared before them all. Athos cried, "Bramimond!"
Bramimond deftly moved his hands and a bright light appeared. Everyone was temporarily blinded. When the light faded, Ninian had appeared.
What madness is this?
Ninian spoke hushed words and raised her hands. Once again a bright light blinded everyone, but this time, it felt…cold. Like ice. When everyone regained their vision for the second time, two of the dragons roared and collapsed dead. Ninian fell over.
"Ninian!" cried Nils. He ran over to her faster than anyone thought possible. "She fainted…thank goodness."
Athos yelled out, "Chosen ones! You must stop the final dragon! You must save us all!"
For a moment, nobody moved. Then Hector roared, hefted the legendary Armads and ran to the dragon. Corvus followed next and then Eliwood. Everyone acted after that, they all rushed the dragon.
Chaos. The one word to describe it was chaos. Arrows and magic were flying all over. The dragon had scales as hard as steel. Most swords weren't doing a thing to it's tough hide.
Cormag ran at the beast's leg and sliced with his sword. As soon as it made contact, it broke into several pieces. Cormag fell over from the lack of resistance. He clutched the hilt in shock. The sword he had had since the beginning of his memory broke. After several moments, he dropped the hilt he still held, and drew the silver blade. Fate had a strange way of keeping him prepared.
Corvus wasn't having much luck fighting the dragon. His massive sword barely made any marks on the beast. He needed a divine weapon like Durandal. Speaking of which, he spotted Eliwood rushing forward to strike. The dragon noticed too, and blasted a fireball at Eliwood. Eliwood raised Durandal skyward to deflect the blast. It partially worked. The blow was blocked, but Eliwood was sent flying backwards from the force. Durandal spun out of his grasp. It landed near Corvus.
Corvus was faced with a decision. Take up the sword and save humanity, or leave it to save injury from not being Lycian. He grabbed the blade. The top six inches of the blade fell off from the dragon's fireball. Corvus paid it no heed. He was focused on the burn he felt in his right arm. He ran forward and jumped at the dragon using his superior jumping capabilities.
Hector smashed the dragon's underside with Armads several times and Corvus landed on the head of the dragon. He twirled Durandal in a circle and stabbed the dragon between the eyes.
The dragon roared and flung Corvus across the room. But the damage was done. The dragon began to collapse. With one last tremendous roar, it fell over, dead.
Corvus woke up in pain with the bishop Renault standing over him, staff in hand.
"Well…Corvus was it? Before I heal you, I saw the mark on your hand. Destiny can be a burden, and I offer you a choice. Do you wish to turn away from destiny? Know this, should you turn your back on destiny, you will never be able to jump like that again or wield every sword."
Corvus just stared at the bishop, "You can do that?"
Renault nodded. Corvus was about to instantly answer, why wouldn't he want that power? But then he hesitated. Destiny caused him to leave his Nabatan clan early, it caused Lynessa to want to be like him. Destiny was why she was dead. Couldn't he be selfish once in his life? As Cormag put it, since when did The Jackal of the Dunes care for honor? Corvus looked at Renault, "I wish to turn my back on destiny."
Renault nodded, not betraying his own opinions, he held his staff aloft and muttered an incantation. A strange light engulfed Corvus. He felt the pain no longer. He noticed something on his right arm. There was a white bandage covering where his mark was.
"Do not take that bandage off. It is enchanted to not fall off unless you are the one to take it off. Only do that should you change your mind. Farewell, Jackal of the Dunes."
"Wait! Where are you going? I didn't even show my appreciation!"
Renault let a slight smile creep onto his face, "You don't need to. As for why I'm leaving," he held a book. It was titled Struggle of the Halidom, the Tactician's quest for peace. "I seek the answers of a forgotten legend. Good bye again Jackal."
Author Note: And here ends our last chpt before the Epilogue. I hope you all liked it. I certainly enjoyed writing it XD
On a side note, I may get to the epilogue this weekend. We'll see. But then I shall rewrite the first chpt. But CCM, I'm sorry, but I've hit massive writers block for that oneshot I was going to do. I'm putting it off until I can think of an idea. So sorry! :(
Having Colby be in this fic as a cameo gave me an idea. Next chpt(epilogue) will have a trivia question for you to answer. Whoever gets it right will get a cameo in the sequel! Sorry CCM, but since you already had your turn, you can't win :D
Good day to you all. If you've read this and never reviewed, please do so. I would like to thank you in the credits. Or at least fav or follow this fic. So vote on the poll, review, fav/follow, and havd a great day!
-CR, Semi-Competent Author
"You know, I used to be like you, kid. For a long time. You should have known me back then. You would've liked me. We might've been friends.
-Durzo Blint, The Night Angel trilogy