Chapter XXII:
Spark of Radiance
The soft scent of salt danced across the mountains near the Demon's Ingle. Even in the mountains to the west, the plumes of the volcano that spat and sputtered high up into the air engulfed the sky. Each tremor of the volcano occasionally shook the ground for miles, sending loose rocks down into the myriad of canyons in the mountain range. On one of these mountains', half a day's journey west of the volcano, stood a youthful white-haired woman, her black hood drawn to protect from any soot fallen from the black stream that ominously hung above.
Robin stood on the dry mountain, peering far into the distance. With the sun hanging in the low-west sky she squinted her eyes for anything of note. Nothing caught her attention and she shook her head. All she could see was the rocky plains extending for miles until they hit the ocean. Where the land met the ocean was a dense mist from the crashing of waves.
There was nothing out here, this is a waste of time; she thought to herself.
"Cynthia!" she called out behind her.
Quickly, footsteps and the rustling of armour approached her from behind.
"Ma'am!"
Robin turned to face the blue haired Pegasus knight.
"You have more experience seeing things from this height, do you see anything in the distance? The villagers Say'ri spoke to said that there is an island in the distance, but I don't see it".
Cynthia stood closer to the edge without hesitation.
"Hmmmmmmmm" she said, putting her hand over eyes to shield from the sun.
Robin stood watching her for a few seconds, admiring her energy. It felt like it was just yesterday since she joined up with the Shepards, but she was already as military trained as the veterans. There was also no doubt she was Sumia's and Chrom's. She was the spitting image of Sumia, and that hair was unmistakably from the Exalt.
"Nope, I don't see anything. Sorry, Robin" she said with a tone of genuine disappointment.
"There's nothing to apologize for. Let us get back to camp before the sun sets" Robin declared, ready to get off the mountain.
"That's a shame… I bet the sunset up here looks amazing" Cynthia complained under her breath.
"Hm? Did you say something, Cynthia?" Robin prodded.
"Oh, nothing Robin. I was just- wait, that's it!" Cynthia exclaimed, exuding enthusiasm; "we need to wait till sunset!".
Robin raised an eyebrow, unsure if this was just a childish outbreak or something she hadn't considered. Really, it could be either or.
"I don't really follow. What do you mean?"
Cynthia elaborated more, with a contagious grin spread from cheek to cheek.
"If what we are looking for is an island, when the sun sets behind it, it'll cast a shadow against the mist. It should vary depending on the size of the island, but it should be there!"
Robin looked up towards the sun and then back to the coastline which was barely visible. The waves must be enormous to cast ocean mist that high. It would take a day to reach the coastline so going all the way out there would be a waste. It would be an hour or so before the sun set, and an hour wait certainly beat two days of travel.
Besides, Robin had brought Cynthia along not just for the expediated travel. Cynthia and her child-like wonder often lent her ideas Robin herself had not considered. Her idea sounded promising, so maybe it was worth seeing it through.
"Hm, well we are already out here, so we may as well see if your theory holds water" Robin said with conviction.
She pulled her eyes away, walked closer to the edge of the mountain and looked down. As soon as she peered over her heart involuntarily began to pound. It was at least a two kilometre drop from the mountain into the rough path below. Staring so far down made her spine shudder, but as along as she didn't lean over, she would be fine. Beneath the crown of the mountain, laying in wait was a large battalion of soldiers.
The shadows of the mountain could not dispel the majesty of the Shepards who stood patiently for the next move. Even from up here, she could spot the pockets of blue where bannermen stood amongst the battalion.
Robin waved both her hand to the front of the battalion. She squinted her eyes, she thought she could see Chrom down below, but it could be anyone from this distance. Someone in the front returned her gesture and Robin made a series of pronounced gestures with her arms and hands in return, hoping that whoever was looking at her read it correctly. Seconds passed, and she could see a Wyvern rider move towards the front. The rider took on another passenger and spread it wings, lifting into the air as each flap cast dust, sand, and salt into the air.
The Wyvern circled its way up, carefully climbing through the air. The jagged mountainous environment was dangerous for both Pegasus and Wyvern, but Cynthia had navigated the two of them through the narrow mountain pass expertly minutes before.
"Yeah!" Cynthia cheered out into the sky, "GEROME!" she boomed as the Wyvern approached where they were standing.
The beast flew past the cliffside and Robin caught a glimpse of Gerome's reddish, orange hair. Saddled behind him was no one other than Chrom himself. The Wyvern gave a powerful flap away from them and landed close to Robin and Cynthia. Chrom dismounted the Wyvern, a little shaken up.
"I-I think I prefer to ride with Sumia, that was a little too much excitement for me" he said, just as Gerome was dismounting.
"Noted, sir. Hopefully, next time we will not be flying in such a narrow canyon" Gerome responded, his voice low and serious.
The two approached and Cynthia burst into applause.
"Don't worry, Father. You can ride with me on the way down!" she gleefully expressed.
"Thanks Cynthia, no offense Gerome" he said with relief followed by an air of awkwardness.
Chrom approached Robin to converse and the two-winged cavalry riders stood by.
"That was awesome Gerome! You looked so cool!"
Gerome looked completely unfazed by the compliment. Cynthia ran towards him to chat about something, but he seemed completely disinterested. Whether it was just the mask or not, Robin could not tell if he was happy to see her.
"Alright, give me good news Robin. Did I make a mistake leading the army to chase a rumor?"
Robin gave him a friendly smirk.
"Come on, Chrom. If this is all for nothing, I get to tell you I was right all along, don't try to dampen the blow by questioning yourself now".
Chrom gave a hearty chuckle before staring into the distance.
"From up here it looks like there's nothing but ocean ahead. Did you call me up here just to tell me so?"
Robin relayed what Cynthia had told her earlier and he listened quietly.
"Ah, I see now. Well, now all we have to do is wait".
"Are you sure, Chrom? Even if the island is there, our ships are on the other side of the continent" Robin questioned.
"Then we had better hope that if the villagers were telling the truth about the island, they were telling the truth about the ocean tide and the crossing to the island".
The four of them waited on the cliffside and watched as the sun slowly crested the ocean. The sky tuned a vibrant purple and the mountains around darkened. Stars began to blink in the night sky just as the sun danced above the endless ocean. The mist dampened the sunlight and cast god rays of amber and yellow onto the mountains, dazzling the empty canvas of dirt, sand, and rock.
"Wow…" Cynthia said dreamily, watching the light show.
"You don't see that everyday in Ylisse, at least the view was worth it" Chrom said cheerfully, standing proudly next to his daughter.
Slowly, the sun dipped out of view. But with the last few minutes of light piercing the horizon, Robin caught the glimpse of a small black land mass through the colossal mist. Cynthia's gambit was right, just as the sun set, the island cast a raised shadow against the ocean mist.
"Well I'll be damned" Robin said aloud.
Chrom motioned towards the flying cavalry.
"Come on! Let us go see if the rest of the rumors are true!"
Robin followed suit, accompanying Gerome as he mounted his Wyvern. Robin took one last glance at the night sky and couldn't help but feel like whatever lay ahead was something they weren't supposed to find. Was it too late to dissuade Chrom from this path? Were these second guessing thoughts unreasonable? She mounted the Wyvern and held onto the grooves in the back of Gerome's amour.
The brand on her hand stared back at her, their eyes menacing.
"Something wrong, Ma'am?" Gerome calmly asked.
"No... I don't think so" she responded, just before they took flight.
Lucina, Owain and the Unkindled sat in the recessed mudroom gathering around the bonfire's heat. The three sat close, watching three pillories that had been set up to against the Elder's house. The three creatures from before stood motionless with their bodies in captivity as the other three patiently waited for any signs.
Signs that perhaps by association with the creatures and the people of the city, they might have been afflicted with the same burden as the undead.
"I'm surprised you decided to sit out the night with me. If I were human, I don't think I would pass the opportunity to sleep under a roof after so many days on the road" The Ashen One uttered as he comfortably sat against a slab of rubble.
"And miss out on seeing the undead coming back to life? I think not, my outworld friend. This is something I need to see for myself" Owain boomed as he sat with his longsword at the ready.
Ansem shifted uncomfortably in his seat.
"It's nothing special, and for all we know it's not going to happen. Even Robin was content to sleep indoors and find out in the morning, and that's even if something happens or not- "
"You should stop right there, Ansem. My cousin isn't going to be satisfied till he sees this through" Lucina replied with a half chuckle.
"That's right! My blood boils with excitement! I have not been this exhilarated since the war!"
He clenched his fist and held it skyward, invigorated with a well of unlimited energy.
"My sword hand can't wait to fight these creatures once more!"
Ansem could not help but smile. Despite all the crazy happenings as of late, Owain was not deterred in the slightest. In fact, he seemed even more energetic since arriving in Renault. Ansem could not claim the right to crush the optimism, more so, it was lifting his own mood.
Ansem turned towards the blue knight.
"What about you? What are you staying up for?"
Lucina reached around her belt and produced Anri's old bottomless box. She gave it a soft jiggle as she held it out in an outstretched hand.
"You said you'd show me how you use it. I'm holding you to that" she said.
"That's fair. Here, it's barely even a trick" he uttered softly back.
He took out his own box and reached into it. He drew out a broken straight sword and handed it over to Lucina. She took it gracefully, her eyes scanning over the hilt.
"Alright, now I cannot promise this will work, but it is worth a try. Open the box up in one hand and hold the broken sword as if you're going to put it into the box".
Lucina gave him a sideways glance of doubt but complied. She firmly gripped the box and held the jagged blade as if she were about to stab it.
"So, what next?" she asked.
"Just place it into the box" the Unkindled commanded without a hint of humour.
"Er, what? Just that? No magical words or incantations?"
"Yup".
Lucina's skeptical look was piercing, but she did as she was instructed. Ansem watched from the side and witnessed the hilt slowly descend into the box. As soon as the blade would have hit the bottom of the box, Lucina's hand continued to travel downwards until it looked like her hand had disappeared completely. Her eyes widened and she quickly pulled her hand out of the box.
"That! That was wholly uncomfortable!" she exclaimed as she rubbed together the fingertips of the hand that placed the blade into the box.
Owain stood up with raised eyebrows and stood behind Lucina. He stuck his hand into the box and pulled the cut blade out.
"Huh, so did the box grow on the inside? What kind sorcery is this?" he demanded to know.
"Go ahead and close the lid" Ansem finally instructed.
Owain placed the blade back into the box and Lucina did as she was told.
The lid closed with a satisfying click.
She reopened the box and her eyebrows furrowed and her mouth twisted into a frown. She casually tipped the box on its side and nothing fell out. Once again, the box was seemingly empty.
"Alright- that was, unsettling. It felt like the sword was inside but the moment I closed the lid it felt light again. Well, how do I get it back? At this point it is nothing more than a convenient trash bin" she said uncomfortably.
"As soon as you open the box, picture the item you want that is stored in it and it will be there, ready to be used. It doesn't matter the size of the weapon or clothing, as long as you can get a portion of it in, the box will accommodate the rest" Ansem stated directly.
Lucina closed it, paused, and then opened it up. Her eyes lit up as she pulled out the broken weapon and held it in her hand. She gracefully tossed it at the ground near the Unkindled.
"Thank you, Ansem. I can certainly think of a few uses for this box. But how exactly does it work?"
The Ashen One gave an honest shrug.
"To be honest, I am not sure. I asked one of the Lords of Cinder and he said there were many theories. The one he believed to be the case was that a greedy businessman a long time ago chartered a painter to create these boxes to carry his wealth. But how a painter factors into its creation… is beyond me".
"How fascinating! Do you happen to have another one, you know, as a gift for me?" Owain said with a mischievous smile.
"Ha! No, sorry Owain. These are the only two I've every come across and that one belonged to the priestess; but I suppose there is plenty of room in it to share, right?"
Owain let out a playful scoff.
"It still beats the old weapon wagon. I remember what a pain that was the manage".
The Unkindled decided to pursue that conversation.
"That was during the war wasn't it? I hope you don't mind me asking, but what was it like? Lucina told me the gist of it, but what was it like to be a part of it?"
Owain put his hands behind his head and laid down, staring into the cloudy night sky through the composition of the rooftops. Lucina averted her eyes away and peered into the cracking fire.
"Honestly, I really miss it" Owain admitted to the open air, "Sure, it was full of tough fights and battles were happening back to back; but... there was a lot of down time as well".
"Down time?"
"Well, yeah? Even a sword hand as starving and vicious as mine needs to recover occasionally!" Owain exclaimed in a cool voice.
"Ah, right. I suppose that makes sense".
Owain continued, reminiscing about the past with an extreme fondness that Lucina did not seem to share.
"Most of us, and by most of us I mean the time travelers, lost our parents pretty young; so this was the first time we got to see them in their prime. It was cool. My father died protecting me in the future and coming to the past felt like a second chance to be a family".
Ansem recalled how Lucina mentioned that Chrom was killed when she was incredibly young. Perhaps she felt similarly as Owain did, after all, both of her parents are still alive back in Ylisse.
"For much of the war, Chrom and Robin ensured very few casualties- it was pretty unheard of as far as wars go" Owain continued on.
"Huh, from everyone I've spoken to, the war was horrible and claimed so many lives. I saw the wall in Ylisstol, it certainly was not a small memorial" Ansem pensively questioned.
"Well… that's true, the war did become costly towards the end, but for the majority part the casualties were almost non-existent till the end. Chrom and Robin were unstoppable when they were together." he said just as cool as before.
Owain sat up.
"I just really miss the times we felt like we were needed. Things were so much simpler back then".
"So, what changed?"
"Well… things went to hell after we defeated Walhart in Valm. After that, the good times pretty much ended. Have you spoken to Robin about it?"
Ansem's silence marked him guilty beyond a doubt. As he finished, they heard struggling sounds coming from the pillories. The three of them stood up, weapons drawn as one of the two darkwraiths from before was now awake and present. It was violently trying to pull its arms through its respective pillory, but their attempts were fruitless.
"What the heck!? We missed it!" Owain complained aloud.
"Like I said, it's nothing special- stand back!" Ansem said as he held out Onikiri in front of him, "I have to be the one to finish it off".
Lucina stood on the other side of the fire, poised and at the ready.
"Do it quickly, Ansem!" she commanded.
Ansem retrieved a carthus rouge packet and dashed it against his blade. The red coating menacingly dripped down, and he approached the first one. The dark wraith made no audible sound, only continued to struggle relentlessly. The Ashen One stood right next to it, peering at the monster with intensity. Ansem raised the katana in the air-
"Please let this work" he muttered.
-and came down with a quick swing. The darkwraith's hooded head immediately came off and the bleeding effect made a horrid spectacle of it. In an instant, the darkwraith's body was lifeless and Ansem felt a glow of fire within him.
It was faint- barely noticeable, but it was there. That was further proof of what Solaire told him.
He turned towards the other darkwraith, who was still motionlessly in the pillory.
"That was the you defeated back in the square. Maybe that's why he hasn't revived?" Lucina predicted, still at the ready.
The Unkindled ash nodded his head. He gave the body a prod with his foot just to check it wasn't somehow feigning death before sheathing his sword. Lucina sheathed her exquisite blade before she covered her nose. Once again, the air felt very still and the three motioned to return to the fire.
"Ansem, look at yourself! You look like a mad-man" Owain suddenly exclaimed as he took a seat.
Taken aback, the Unkindled looked down at his armour. Dark red blood and pus covered the plates and he immediately groaned aloud. He had grown so accustomed to not being a mess from using the twinswords.
"This is why I didn't like using katanas" he muttered as he sat down into the dry dirt near the fire.
In an instant, the bonfire worked it's magic and the blood and unpleasantries were lifted off his person. He cast his gaze up towards the pillory that held the new undead. Now all they had to do was wait for this one to make a move. Would it wake up and and affirm the curse in this world? Ansem desperately wished this wasn't the case.
The way the creature reminded him of his home world was off putting. Maybe it was using a katana, or rush of the blood splattering on his armour, or the way the undead was held captive; it all reminded him of unpleasant memories, involuntarily flooding his mind. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, trying hard not to remember when he betrayed the one he cared for the most.
A/N:
Quick turn around on this chapter. I had to make some edits, but overall, I'm happy with this chapter. It's shorter than the last one but the next chapter is on the longer side and I didn't want to hit that word limit I set up last time. I am really looking forward to the next chapter and I hope y'all are looking forward to it as well!
Quick summary; we see a flashback of when Robin was tactician during the war in Valm. Cynthia was referenced in an earlier chapter but now we get to see her in her prime along with Gerome. This occurs sequence recently after chapter 18, which is hinted at by the Demon's Ingle. I'm playing around with the sequence of some events, but don't worry, it's nothing story shattering. Normally, you cannot access the Garden of Giants till after chapter 25, but its so close to the end of the game and I wanted to flesh out a character that the game itself did not take much time to flesh out (since he's optional and whatnot). It is also pretty out of character to travel back to Valm after chapter 25, with the sense of immediate urgency to fight Grima.
This section of the overall story will be a major shift in flashbacks. While the first 20 chapters mainly had Dark Souls flash backs, the mystery behind Ansem and his adventures in Lordran are nearly complete. From here on out, there will be much more dedication to the events of Awakening- which has me pumped!
Back in the present, Ansem teaches Lucina how to use the bottomless box and Owain reminisces on being a soldier, the pros and negatives. There is some foreshadowing for the end of Awakening, but before Ansem can dig further, Owain tells him he should ask Robin about it. Somewhere along the line of being a nearly flawless tag team, something terrible happens to Chrom and Robin. As they converse, the darkwraith Lucina defeated two chapters ago wakes up, and Ansem finishes it off for good. The jury is still out on the bare undead from the last chapter, and if it happens to wake up the four swordsmen might have to make difficult decision.
Hopefully the next chapter will be out soon! I hope y'all are continuing the enjoy it!