As Shannan and Seliph left to sleep and shift turned to Oifey and Diarmuid for guard duty, Julius was outside of Yied, sitting down on the edge of a cliff. He then felt some rocks falling from it and made a loud noise; he heard voices and suddenly saw a man approach him. It was Oifey.
"Why are you here, Julius? It could be dangerous," Oifey said, "You should go back to sleep."
Julius shook his head, "I'll be okay. I've been through sleepless nights for most of my life…"
"I may not know the details, but you seem to have gone through a lot."
"Mm, my memories fail me at this moment, but I remember the night my family fell apart. It was far too much for me to handle…"
"I see. I've been through something similar; it truly does hurt."
Julius couldn't help but ask, "Oh? Similar in what way?"
"The Battle of Belhalla took the closest thing I had to a family from me. Lord Sigurd and his army; all of them were gone after that day."
"O-oh… I'm sorry to hear that."
"Hey, that reminds me, Julius, can I ask you something?" Oifey asked, switching the topic.
"Yes? What is it?" He asked, a hint of panic shown in his voice.
"You remind me of Emperor Arvis."
"Emperor Arvis? Who is he?" He asked. That name was familiar to him, but he could not remember in what way.
"He is the Emperor of Grannvale. He was the one who betrayed and murdered Lord Sigurd and his army," Oifey choked out.
"Oh...I-I didn't know. I'm sorry that happened." Julius sighed.
"It's okay, Julius. I'm not trying to blame you. You just reminded me of him. You should go back to sleep tomorrow; we'll take Melgen."
Julius nodded, then simply said, "I will try."
Julius went back to his tent; the thought of Arvis was so vivid to him, but he could not recall why. All he was able to remember was Julia and the death of his mother, Deirdre.
Why?
The memories of his sister came back to him again. Where did they come from? He had forgotten all about it since he joined Seliph's army, but now, the memory from that night had returned to him.
He missed her, he missed her so much. 'Oh, Julia.' he repeated in his head, the thought of her pained his heart. It had been years since he last saw her, and yet he saw her clearly in his mind. Yet how was it possible to remember his mother and sister but he could not seem to remember his father?
Perhaps it was because of the trauma that seemed to be the most logical answer. Julius remembered that same night where Lewyn took him to a village in Silesse. From that day on, he had forgotten most of the little details from the past.
He focused his mind on the memory, and he remembered someone was with him; in that corner of Silesse, he had a friend. He was his age, and they had some moments together, if only for a few months. Afterward, the friend had left; he had not seen him since. But something about Arthur reminds him of that friend.
After that, he lost his memory; his mind could not take it anymore. He opened his eyes again to the darkness. Sighing, he lay down, and before he drifted off, he whispered something.
'Mother...Julia...I miss you both…"
Morning came, and the first thing Seliph did was plan out a strategy for taking out Melgen. He looked outside, he saw the castle from there. He couldn't see much, but he knew there were ballistae around.
"Arthur! Do you know Ishtore?" Seliph asked once he saw Arthur walk out of Yied.
"No, not really. I know he is from House Friege, so we must be related somehow."
"I see...how do we deal with him, then?"
"I am uncertain myself. However, if Ishtore is from House Friege, he must be skilled in thunder magic. Therefore, he must know how to wield a Bolting tome."
"A Bolting tome? What is that?"
Arthur scoffed, "You don't know? They're like lightning bolts that strike when it rains, only it is from magic and not storms, at least for the most part. I advise you to be careful, though. There's a chance Bolting will strike twice; if that happens, you'll end up getting fatal injuries or even death."
"Alright, got it. But tell me, Arthur, how do you know all this?"
He shrugged, "Eh, I suppose you could consider it common knowledge for most mages,"
"Oh, okay, that makes sense," Seliph bluntly replied.
"Fee, do you think you could go soar about the mountains to see how many people we are going to be fighting?" Seliph asked once everyone gathered around for him to present his plan.
"Sure!" Fee exclaimed, dashing out quickly to grab her pegasus.
"Wait! Let me go with you!" Arthur yelled to make her stop.
"What? Are you still upset that I didn't give you a ride in the desert?" Fee teased him.
"No, no, nothing like that, I just don't want you to get hurt by the ballistae. There is also a chance that my sister could be with Ishtore."
Fee nodded. "Then what are you waiting for? Come on!"
As the two left, Seliph continued explaining his plan, "Anyway, we must tread carefully. There are going to be a lot of mages heading our way on our way to Melgen."
"I would be able to withstand the mages quite well. I have withstood a lot of magic users in my past." Julius said.
"Then, I rely on you to be on the frontlines; however, we need someone to go with you in case you end up with fatal injuries."
"I feel more at ease with Larcei around!" Julius exclaimed.
"I will protect you, Julius! I promise you won't get hurt!" Larcei exclaimed.
"You sound really confident, Larcei, but knowing you, you will leave him behind. You need someone else to go take care of you too." Shannan teased.
"Can you stop treating me like a child?!" Larcei nudged Shannan's arm.
"But you need me to protect you. You know I still get worried when you kids head into battle."
"Okay, but don't bother me too much," Larcei grunted.
Seliph then nodded, "Okay, I trust you will be alright; the rest of us will stay back and counterattack when the time is right!"
Julius, Shannan, and Larcei made their way through the rest of the Yied Desert, off to clear a path for the Liberation Army to take Melgen. The path wasn't hard since there weren't any enemies nearby, but they could see a significant force surrounding Melgen Castle.
As they neared Melgen, Julius looked over at the mountain and saw a pegasus approaching them, it was Fee, and Arthur came back from scouting the enemy base. She landed in front of them, "There is a lot of ballistae beside the castle, as we suspected. We must be careful about going in." Fee exclaimed.
"I'll distract the ballistae, Julius and Arthur; you take care of the mages. Larcei and Fee, you take care of the knights, Okay?" Shannan said.
"Got it!" Larcei exclaimed as she ran off onto the battlefield.
"I'll do my best!" Julius held his Nosferatu tome in his arms and went to battle.
Meanwhile, Seliph and the rest of the army went slow through the desert, waiting for the right moment to attack Melgen's army. Oifey and Seliph were leading the way.
"Seliph, you must know that Ishtore is not a bad person. He is against the child hunts; we must try our best not to kill him," Oifey said.
"Then why are we attacking Melgen?" Seliph replied.
"They are allied with the empire; they are probably looking for you."
"Then, why don't we convince him to join us!" Seliph exclaimed, raising his fist.
"It won't be that easy. The Empire would probably hunt them if they found out."
"Maybe we could find a way to defeat him without killing him?"
"There is a way to do that. We could try to capture him; it's not an easy task, but it's effective."
"Maybe we should try that then." As Seliph said that they found themselves near Melgen, most of the enemies were taken down. Just the ballistae and Ishtore remained.
"I see you have successfully defeated the enemy," Oifey said to Shannan.
"Hah! It was effortless. The kids here did most of the job!" Shannan replied.
"Now, will you stop treating me like a child?" Larcei asked him.
"I must admit you have gotten stronger, but the battle isn't over yet:"
"We'll go take care of the ballistae. We should prepare to fight against Ishtore. We must try our best not to kill him," Seliph exclaimed.
After he said that, a strike of lightning fell behind Seliph, panicked, he jumped away just in time, "Watch out! That must be Ishtore's Bolting tome!" Arthur warned everyone.
They took down the ballistae, being extremely careful of the occasional bolting strikes. Before they knew it, they set foot on Melgen Castle. As the army went in, they saw two mages waiting for them at the entrance.
Arthur quickly ran into the castle, "Ishtore! Why are you doing this? Where is Tinni?"
"Wait, you know, Tinni? Who are you?"
"I'm Arthur, son of Tailtiu from House Friege."
"Wait, so that means you're Tinni's brother!" Ishtore cried.
"I am. Now, where is she?!" Arthur then demanded.
"She's in Alster, I tried to take her with me, but my father would not let me. He forced her to defend Alster once Lord Seliph would take control of Melgen." Ishtore replied, "I worry she is not doing well with Blume demanding her to attack the Liberation Army."
"I...Ishtore, take me to Alster. I need to rescue Tinni…" Arthur begged.
"Blume will only attack if you take Melgen, and to do so, you have to defeat me!"
"Then, I'll do what I must do!" Arthur readied Forseti. He blasted the tome to attack Ishtore; Liza went in front of Ishtore and got severely injured.
"Liza! No!" Ishtore screamed.
"Arthur! What did you do!? You weren't supposed to kill them!" Seliph shouted at him angrily.
Julius quickly ran to Liza, "She appears to be still breathing. I can save her with my Mend staff! Lana, can you help me!?"
"I promised my mother that I would not let anyone die!" Lana exclaimed as she went to Liza and patched her up with Julius.
"I-I why are you doing this? We are enemies; why are you helping someone you were supposed to kill?!" Ishtore cried.
"We never intended to kill you," Seliph replied.
"T-thank you! Now I want to stop fighting and just leave with Liza."
Liza, now partly recovered, stood up and hugged Ishtore. "Let's leave this place and stay away from this pointless war!"
"Yes, let's!" Ishtore then turned to Seliph, "You should be careful about father's Mjolnir. You'll have a difficult time if you are not prepared!"
Arthur interrupted Seliph's response, "Hey, can you take us inside Alster? I need to make sure Tinni is safe."
"You saved my beloved Liza; that's the least I can do for all of you! Tinni is very precious to me. I'm certain she will be happy to meet her brother finally!"
Suddenly, Diarmuid opened the castle's door, "Several cavalry soldiers are approaching us!"
Seliph turned to Diarmuid, panicked, "Oh no! Where is everyone else!?"
"They are outside the castle. Quick Seliph, we must fend them off!"
Seliph went outside the castle; he noticed a lone cavalier being pursued by the rest of the group, "Diarmuid, Oifey, Larcei, Lana, Lester come with me to take down the enemy forces. Julius and the others make your way to Alster with Ishtore. We'll meet you there when we finish."
"Seliph, wait. I think the man who's being pursued is wielding a different looking blade. It looks like it is the Demon Blade Mystletainn, Lord Eldigan's weapon." Oifey said.
"Lord Eldigan...I've heard of him before. He and my father were excellent friends, or so I've been told."
"We can try to talk to him. The other cavalry is pursuing him."
"Yes, I believe that is the best solution."
Seliph went to the alleged son of Eldigan; he seemed to react when he saw Seliph, he came up to him, "You. You are Seliph, the son of Lord Sigurd of Chalphy, aren't you?" he sounded annoyed.
"Hm? Do you know me? And who would you be?" Seliph replied, confused.
"They call me the Black Knight, Ares... Perhaps you would recognize me better, however, as the son of Eldigan."
"Oh! Oifey was right! You are indeed the son of the legendary Lord Eldigan of Nordion."
"The very same! I am the son of Eldigan the Lionheart, the man whom your father killed in coldest blood! My noble mother, the Lady Grahnye, died wracked with grief and rage at Sigurd! It is high time you knew my family's pain!"
"That's... I don't understand, Ares. As I understood it, your father and mine were the closest of friends. As tragic as their end was, I don't believe our fathers could ever have envied each other."
"That's impossible... Sigurd was my father's mortal foe! This... This is all I've to know my entire life…"
"I met Lord Eldigan personally; he and Lord Sigurd were the best of friends with Sir Quan." Oifey chimed in.
"Who are you?" Ares asked.
"I am Oifey, I was Lord Sigurd's advisor."
"Please listen, Ares. Won't you consider joining my army? I know we can both resolve this misunderstanding if we just give it some time. I hold the late Lord Eldigan in the utmost respect, just as my father did. Please, Ares. Please understand this." Seliph continued.
"Hm…" Ares paused for a moment before replying, "Very well. I suppose I can stay my hand for now. However, be warned. Should I learn that even a single word of your claims is false, your life is forfeit in your father's place. Do I make myself clear, Seliph?"
"If that happens, then do as you must. Ares... I wish you could know just how ecstatic our fathers would be to know we have met at last! If only we'd met under better circumstances..."
"I'll trust you- for now. I would like to ask for your help. Bramsel has Lene imprisoned in Darna. I must rescue her."
"I will gladly help you, Ares."
A/N: This is it! All chapters from here on out will be updated at least once per month, if I'm feeling motivated I'll release 2 or 3 chapters. Currently expect the next chapter to be up around next week or sometime in November. And expect me to release more chapters in End of December/Beginning of January due to my current projects (gift exchanges and such). But I hope you are enjoying this story so far! Feel free to leave comments/criticisms! I always want to improve my writing!