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Wild Arms: To the End of the Wilderness
Chapter Thirty One: Courage
Written by Estrelita Farr
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Arctica Castle. Once upon a time it had been a grand stone building overlooking a snow kingdom, surrounded by rows of houses that spread towards the horizon. Once upon a time a young couple had stood atop the castle walls.
The man grinned, his short golden hair and silver armour gleaming in the bright morning sun. He placed an arm around the woman's red armour-clad shoulders, but she flicked his hand away with a scowl that said, "Be more serious!"
Just as he was about to try again, a sharp voice made them jump.
"Garret! Elmina! What are you doing out here?!" An older man in pale purple armour marched towards them, face hardened into a frown. "Slipping out of the honour ceremony, what were you thinking? Should I just punish you or expel you?!"
The young man rubbed the back of his head with a sigh. "Dammit, my nosey uncle found us"–the other man's fist collided with his gut–"guh!"
"I am not your uncle, Garret. Starting today, I am your superior, Commander Coldbird of the Fenril Knights."
The woman stepped towards him. "Sir, I brought Garret here, the punishment should be mine."
A raised eyebrow. "Really, Elmina? But… why during the ceremony? Why here?"
She turned, and the other two followed her gaze.
Before them was an expansive view of snow-covered roofs, a sea of glistening white in the morning sun. Even in the harsh cold Arctica was known for, the streets were filled with people, the stores packed with goods and customers, the workers pushing wheelbarrows along the brick streets as they avoided the horse carriages.
"From here," Elmina said, "We can look at the streets leading to every house. Even before we hone our skills, we must find something we can pledge our lives to protect. I sought to find something for Garret to protect, and we came here after looking all over the castle."
Garret shook his head. "Is it important that I have such a thing? Let me see…" He grinned at Elmina. "For the beautiful women of Arctica, I will pledge my knightly courage! How's that?"
A chuckle. "You still have time to find something. I expect to see it one day soon."
Coldbird nodded. "That's right. The most important thing a knight should know is what he is protecting. That's why we, the seven Fenril Knights, are the symbol of protection. I am the Armour, the pillar of defense."
She saluted. "I am the Sword, though lately everyone calls me the Sword Princess."
Garret's eyes brightened. "What about me? I'm one of the knights – what am I going to be called?"
The commander glanced at him. "Garret, you're the Vambrace."
His shoulders slumped. "I'm the Vambrace? Gee… I wish I were something sharper."
"The Sword is the fang that protects from invasion. You are the Vambrace that protects the arm that wields the Sword, and that means you must protect Elmina. Do you still object to it?"
"I see, so the Vambrace has that kind of meaning. No objections!" He held up a fist. "All right! I'll protect the important things, all of them!"
"That's so nice, new guy," a voice interrupted from the side with a chuckle. "Are you going to protect me too?"
The three of them turned to see four other knights approaching them – the rest of the Fenril Knights.
Coldbird slapped his forehead. "Not you too? What's going on? Have all the knights ditched the ceremony?!"
One of the four knights shrugged. "It just started, it seemed like a good time to slip out."
Another knight chuckled. "You can't really get angry, Commander, you slipped out to look for Garret because it's as good an excuse as any."
Elmina grinned. "Looks like you got caught too, Commander. If this becomes an issue later, please take care of it!"
The commander sighed, and everyone laughed.
One of the knight turned to Garret and shook his hand. "I am the Shield, Ryan. Nice to meet you." He gestured towards the man next to him. "This is Asprill, otherwise known as Helm. He may be a reticent man, but his combat skills are unequaled."
Another knight approached. "I'm Marco, Marco the Greave! Now you're the new guy, but don't worry, I'll make sure to treat you real nice."
Yet another nodded. "Kurt Barouz, the Lance. I'm your biggest competition."
Garret saluted proudly with a wide grin. "I'm Garret Stampede! Today I'm a Fenril Knight!"
Once upon a time, a young man became the Vambrace of the Fenril Knights, filled with hopes and dreams for the future.
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-o-o-o-o-o-
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Jack slowly opened his eyes, golden eyes that stung at the memories forgotten until now. Memories of his comrades, of his hopes when he joined the Fenril Knights… of Elmina's smile. Why did he forget those days…?
Aching all over, a groan escaped him as he slowly sat up. The covers fell, revealing his bandaged arms and torso. For a moment he wondered what had happened… and the memories flashed across his mind.
Elmina. The Darkness Tear.
Sudden movements caught his attention. He looked up to see Rudy and Cecilia scrambling to his side as they cried his name, as Hanpan climbed onto the bed and hopped onto his lap.
"Rudy… Cecilia…" His hoarse throat made him cough a little. "Hanpan… you all right?"
Hanpan waved his paws. "Are we all right?! What do you think?!" He took a deep breath and shook his head. "I thought you were… after you fell, we had to carry you all the way back here."
That was when Jack realised he was in a carpeted room with rich mahogany furniture. "This is…?"
"Adlehyde Castle," Cecilia said. "There's nothing to worry about."
"…thank you… you must be exhausted, carrying me all the way." He closed his tired eyes. "I… I had some flashbacks… I realised now how much I've been blocking out. I was so caught up with my plan for revenge that it affected my memory… I'm not here for revenge, I'm here to save someone…" He buried his face in his hand. "I had abandoned all of my past to find Absolute Power… who am I to blame Cecilia for not revealing her true identity when we first met? I had no right to do that…" He looked up at his comrades. "I… I have been hiding my real name from everyone too. My real name is… is…"
Even now, he couldn't easily say it.
Cecilia shook her head with a smile. "You are Jack Van Burace. You're on our team – that's who you are."
Rudy nodded with a smile as well.
Hanpan grinned. "Yes, we're a team, isn't that enough? You must have hurt your head when you fell."
Jack's heart grew lighter. "That's right… we're a team. You all saved me. I trust you with my life." A pause. "Rudy, Cecilia, Hanpan… there's something I need to ask you…"
The others nodded.
He pulled the covers off and forced himself to his feet despite the pain, but his knees buckled beneath him. Rudy caught him quickly.
Hanpan shook his head. "You shouldn't get up so soon… Cecilia has been using her healing magic and Rudy brought back some herbs from Mariel, but the burns from the Darkness Tear aren't healing as well as they should…"
"I'm fine," Jack said between clenched teeth. "Please, I have to do this."
The others hesitated, then they parted to allow him through, with Rudy supporting him by the arm. With trembling legs, he limped to the nearby table where his sheathed katana was. As he gripped the blue sheath with his left hand, his right reached for the green ribbon that tied his hair into a ponytail… Elmina's green ribbon.
"In a snowy valley in Arctica," he began, "There's an abandoned castle… Arctica Castle. There's someone waiting for me there. We both abandoned our pasts together… and I cannot let her stain her hands further. I must go." He whirled around to face his companions, golden eyes flaring with determination. "I won't fail this time! No more feeling guilty, no more blood!"
"So you will never again swing your sword in the name of revenge?" Cecilia asked.
"Right, no more." He held the sheathed katana up. "This sword is to protect what we value… it's our sword."
Rudy nodded. "Let's go!"
Hanpan punched the air. "Arctica Castle, here we come!"
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-o-o-o-o-o-
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The Gullwing was ready to depart the moment they boarded. Although tornadoes no longer raged, the winds were still too strong for the device to fly over the mountains, so it had to fly at a lower altitude the way they did before they obtained the Gemini Circuit.
As Jack gazed through the window, he could see the once grassy plains had become nothing but charred ground, with wide cracks that exposed rivers of flowing lava. The coastal villages had turned into nothing but submerged ruins. Many towns they knew had turned into mere rubble, now silent.
Thankfully, Cecilia said, their companions were safe and Adlehyde Castle Town remained one of the few places that was still mostly intact. Under Emma's commands, the soldiers worked ceaselessly to rescue as many survivors they could from the nearby ravaged areas.
The Guardians had been severely weakened after the attack, alive but barely… there was little hope of them recovering even a fraction of their power. But not all was lost yet, as the Guardian Lord of Love Raftina said, there might be hope for a miracle yet if every single Guardian in Filgaia were to gather…
"We have gathered all but a few," Cecilia said. "Let us not give up hope."
Jack nodded without turning his eyes from the window. Then, slowly, quietly, he told them his story.
His real name… was Garret Stampede.
He was once one of the seven Fenril Knights of Arctica, the pillars of protection. On the surface, they were tasked with protecting the royal family and to lead the army against the occasional monster horde, but unbeknown to the people, their true task was beneath the castle.
Deep underground, sealed with chains and wards was the true target of their protection – the Cocoon. An ancient relic that they had safeguarded for the past thousand years, a secret that only members of the royal family and Fenril Knights had known. No one knew what it was for, though there were rumours of it being a sealed demon queen…
Then, that fateful night many years ago.
In the cover of a snowstorm, the demons came for the Cocoon and slaughtered everyone in the castle. One by one the Fenril Knights fell, from Marco, Kurt, Asprill and Ryan to Commander Coldbird… and, with Elmina's sacrifice, Garret was the only one who escaped.
His memory of that time was hazy. Somehow, he survived and reached Adlehyde Castle. After delivering the news of the demons' return to the king, he declined to become part of Adlehyde's knights and disappeared among the crowd. He then threw away his past and became a wanderer in search of Absolute Power…
Jack gave a sad chuckle. "Jack Van Burace, named after the Vambrace… I guess I never really threw it all away, after all."
Silence. All that could be heard was the low hum of the Gullwing's engine, until the snowy valley around Arctica Castle came into view a few hours later.
From afar, Arctica Castle looked the same as it did many years ago – tall, imposing, the symbol of protection overlooking a sea of glistening white roofs. But, as the Gullwing circled overhead, they could see part of the castle had collapsed, with cracks snaking along the streets of crumbled buildings. A feeling of deja vu washed over Rudy, Cecilia and Hanpan, coupled with memories of Adlehyde Castle Town and Saint Centaur after the demons attacked.
An eerily silent wind blew, as though to tell them no one was there. But Jack knew someone was.
The Gullwing landed outside the front gates of the castle, the same front gates where Garret had been forced to part with Elmina years ago. It was now open, as though to invite them in, through which they stepped inside.
As the large statue of a knight towered overhead, they stopped as their gaze focused on the person at the other end of the entrance hall.
Lady Harken. The red armour glimmering in the light of the lanterns on the wall, the long brown hair and knee-length skirt dancing as she turned to face them, cold eyes narrowed as she gripped the handle of her large scythe.
Rudy and Cecilia sprang into a battle stance, but Jack stepped forward and said, "Everyone… let me handle this."
From his shoulder, Hanpan nodded. "I leave it up to you."
The boy relaxed and held up an arm for the Wind Mouse to hop over.
Cecilia began preparing the enhancing spell, but stopped when the swordsman shook his head at her. She hesitated, then whispered, "Jack… be careful."
Jack gave a nod, then stepped towards the centre of the entrance hall. Gaze focused on the young woman that stood before him, the woman who was once his comrade… her body now gripped by the experiments of a foul demon.
He stopped a distance from her. "We took too long to get here. Let there be no more hesitation."
Lady Harken shook her head. "My body is stained with blood. I cannot go back."
"It's the same for me, but we have important work to do. We cannot be stopped here. Besides, if I fail here… I could never show my face to her again. That I'd regret." He closed his eyes. "I have Elmina in my heart. For her… Harken, I…" He snapped his eyes open and moved into a battle stance, hands on the sheathed katana. "I must kill you!"
"My life started and ends here… my fighting meant nothing, even if things turned out differently. I degraded myself to evil…" She, too, entered a battle stance and held her scythe high. "Come, Jack, bring the power you have held since that day!"
They charged forward, their blades clashed. A burst of white exploded throughout the hall as they skidded backwards. Jack clenched his teeth from the pain in his wounds, but he found Lady Harken doing the same with the dark purple glow of the Darkness Tear around her. With a body ravaged by the Darkness Tear, she had to be in more pain than he was.
Pain… he didn't want to cause her any more pain.
"Hesitate not!" she shouted. "Please, no longer… your sword, I want you to deliver it to me… with feeling!"
Jack tried to shake the doubt away. He gave a cry as he sped forward, disappearing into a blur of gold and brown, and she met him in a blur of brown and red.
A flurry of slashes, perfectly countering each other. Once, twice. Thrice. They leapt back and exchanged Speed Fang arcs in a flash of white. A rush of wind, and a powerful horizontal slash met with an equally strong vertical one.
Just like the times they had fought before, as Jack and Lady Harken. Just like the countless times they had sparred before, under Commander Coldbird's watchful eye, as Garret and Elmina.
Elmina.
Jack felt regret creeping into his heart, then gritted his teeth and shoved it down. There was no point feeling regretful now. If only he was stronger… if only he realised who Lady Harken was before… none of that would help them now.
Blade clashed against blade. White sparks flew and tore new cracks in the stone floor. Shining arcs exploded in the walls and created new black marks.
Clang! Their blades locked, golden eyes focused on blue eyes as their hands trembled from the effort, then Jack sidestepped and pulled his katana into a wide horizontal slash that Lady Harken negated with one of her own.
They whirled in opposite directions, shoulders heaving, blood dripping from the numerous cuts all over.
"Why do you fight, Jack?"
Jack looked up sharply at Lady Harken, who held her head high despite her ragged breathing. The way she stood and asked brought a sudden flashback to his mind.
"A knight must know what it is that he protects," Elmina had once said. "What do you protect, Garret?"
He didn't know the answer then, but he knew now.
Regret, revenge, the past… none of that mattered. What mattered was the purpose he wielded his blade now.
His lips curled into a smile. His heart settled, filled with a sudden calm and confidence he didn't know he had, that filled him with strength as he straightened.
"I fight"–he raised his voice–"FOR ELMINA!"
Shine.
A golden light. Not only from his katana, but from his entire body. Behind him, the Teardrop at Cecilia's collar responded with a bright white light. In front of him, he could just barely see the idol in the shape of a lion hovering in midair.
It shattered.
Brilliant golden light poured out and formed a sphere, within which a great lion materialised. Golden armour gleaming as it stood upright, the heroic red cape flowing, it growled as it raised the great sword in its hands.
With a cry Jack sped forward, and the lion followed suit with a roar.
Lady Harken's eyes widened, then narrowed as she charged to meet his blade.
A blur of gold and a blur of red met in the middle… then the golden light swallowed the hall.
"Jack!" Cecilia cried.
A moment passed as the light faded. Jack and Lady Harken stood some distance apart, backs towards each other.
A smile formed on her face. "You are worthy to be in my heart…"
Blood splattered from the diagonal gash on her torso. She collapsed limply onto the floor, red helmet fallen, as her face blurred into that of Elmina's.
"Elmina!" Jack held her tightly to his chest. "Elmina! ELMI–"
A golden light glowed from his chest. Gentle yet strong, like a flower blooming in the wilderness.
His eyes widened. "W-what?"
Elmina looked up slowly, a gentle smile on her lips. "You still haven't realised, Garret? This light your heart sends out… it makes the impossible possible. Your own Absolute Power… to protect something important, the power exceeds even yourself… this light of courage your heart sends out…" A flash of pain across her face. "Ugh…"
He shook his head. "Don't talk! Please, don't talk anymore!"
Clenching her teeth, she struggled to rise as her eyes focused on his. "From your hand… lots of important things… have slipped through… you have the light of courage stronger… than anyone's… believe that… that any power…" Her eyes closed as she slumped against his shoulder.
He gasped. "Open your eyes! Hang on, Elmina!"
"From the knight who perished, I must tell you something…" Her voice dropped to a whisper. "Would you listen…?"
A tearful nod.
"Even if this is a dull, boring world, this is where you and I met…" She held up a shaky hand. "So, please… protect… it…"
Her hand fell limply to her side. Then her body began to shine a strong red light that blinded him, and when he opened his eyes… she had faded away with the light.
Again… he had lost her again. This time there was no doubt.
He shut his eyes tightly, feeling warm tears sliding down his cheeks. He clenched his hands.
"Elmina… I… no more, not the past… I won't be possessed with revenge… the sword I wield will protect…"
The golden glow grew brighter. Once more Cecilia's Teardrop responded with a white glow and the armoured lion from before materialised, the red cape billowing.
"I am the light that humans have lost," a strong, growling voice spoke from it. "I am the Guardian Lord of Courage. What awoke me were the feelings of a human knight and the fall of an evil one. Do not be a slave of the past. If you wish to exceed yourself, call out my name." It swung an arm, the cape spreading. "My name is Justine. I am the Sword of Courage."
Then the Guardian Lord turned into wisps of light that disappeared into Jack. Cecilia clasped her hands together and whispered, "Thank you, Justine…"
Silence.
Jack slowly straightened, wiping his face with one hand. Rudy held out an arm and the Wind Mouse used it as a bridge to hop back onto the swordsman's shoulder.
Hanpan's ears drooped. "Jack…"
"I'm fine…" He looked up slowly and tried to smile. "Really. I still have something to protect… she showed me. That's why I can wield the sword, to protect what's important. I can still be myself…"
The others gazed at him in concern, but nodded.
As they all stepped through the castle gates, Jack lagged behind for a moment to cast one final gaze at the hall.
"I finally get what you mean, Elmina…" His voice was soft. "What you meant by courage. Thank you. And I never did get to tell you this, but…" He smiled a little. "I loved you, Elmina… and goodbye."
With that, he turned and rejoined his comrades… comrades he would protect with his life.
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End of Chapter Thirty One: Courage.
Author's Note:
I didn't mention this before, but I really like the second half of the soundtrack that plays during Garret's prologue before the game starts, especially the WAACF version "Remorse and Promise"! I feel it's also appropriate for this chapter as a closure to Jack and Lady Harken's arc. So sad though. :(