Not long after Ced's reunion with Julia, they were called to head further in South Thracia. Arthur was left to defend Meath Castle. Apparently, there was news about wyverns trying to attack the castles in one fell swoop. He knew he was skilled with magic, but he definitely didn't think he would be in charge to defend an entire castle. But with the newly obtained upgrade on his Thoron tome, he was a bit more confident.
As for the others, Tinni had gone to another castle with somebody, he couldn't remember his name, was it Diarmuid? Or Delmud? One of the two, but she went off with that fancy boy. Arthur wasn't sure where Fee was, he only just got a bit of care for that girl, if only because he's his half-sister. But it wasn't enough to care that much as he would with Tinni.
Though, he remembered what Corpul had mentioned when he saw the Forseti tome. Now he wondered, that priest had already given that feeling of a prophet of sorts, and he also seemed to mention the way it felt. In a way, it was like that priest could understand what Arthur had felt when he tried to use Forseti. Arthur wondered about Ced though, he wasn't worried or anything but he felt like the Forseti Book was dangerous for anyone. Or at least to him and Ced specifically. He wasn't sure how it worked for his ancestors.
It was because of the event with the Forseti tome that Arthur kept using thunder magic. He would still use wind, but that magic was admittedly scary for him to use. But it was fine, it wasn't like he was obligated to use wind magic anyway.
Pushing his thoughts out of the way, he looked over to the outside and saw that the wyvern knights had finally made it to the castle. Arthur used his Thoron tome, and as the yellow and blue colors flickered around, he grinned. Nobody could stop him.
Meanwhile, Tinni had thrown her own inner thoughts to the wind and got ready to attack the wyverns that had reached there. She didn't have a super powerful tome, but she was very skilled when it came to casting quick spells. Plus, even if she ended up getting hurt, she could land critical strikes in absolute emergencies. There were healers around too, so there was nothing to worry about.
With her Elwind tome and the effectiveness it had against fliers, she took down many wyverns very easily. However, sometimes she wasn't quick enough and had to rely on dodging the attacks instead. She was lucky to have Diarmuid around though. He had strong physical power, being able to take many hits. Though he wasn't as reliable taking down foes; but Tinni could help with that. She thought they made a very good combat pair.
Then came the commander of the dracoknight army. Who was far more dangerous than the squadron itself, the commander in question had a bright and shiny lance, (A Brave Lance?). It looked not like one Tinni had seen during her time in the army. But even so, she used her Elwind tome to attack them, and it worked. However little did she know that the commander had the ability to attack twice just as she could, but it was almost like it was guaranteed.
She got unlucky and got hit with the second attack of the lance, and just as she was about to attack again, she heard a voice.
"Incoming!" Fee suddenly shouted and flew down, dive-bombing the commander with her own lance. Landing a critical hit on them, dealing the final blow. Fee then landed her pegasus and went down to the ground. "You have to be more careful Tinni! If it weren't for me you would've been dead. You can buy me some sweets as thanks later!"
"But I had it! I just needed to hit them one more time! Just thank you, I guess."
Diarmuid put away his Silver Blade. "Thanks for your help, Fee. I was worried that Tinni would end up dying, and I really do not like when my fellow comrades die."
Tinni pouted. "But I was gonna be fine, ugh! Anyway I think that's everyone."
Fee looked around the area to make sure that everything looked fine. "Yeah, I think that's the last of 'em! Now what?"
Diarmuid shrugged. "I suppose we should just wait for Lord Seliph. It would take a while to even get to where he is, plus, he mentioned it would be a tough battle."
"Yeah, and I don't want to deal with any more wyverns right now. I had to fight some of them over at Luthecia, it was eeeexhausiting." Fee put away her lance and looked over at her pegasus. "Aw Mahnya, you look tired too." The horse whinnied to confirm her assumption.
Tinni nodded. "Then why don't we all rest? And just, I don't know, just relax for a while. But still, be on our guard, we never know if there's going to be an ambush."
"Of course, of course. But let's go!"
All three of them cheered and went inside the castle, they were in a very good mood despite the war still going on. But it was nice to finally get to rest a bit.
Apparently, the Light tome didn't fit for this battle, so Ced's only option was to use Forseti, despite his hesitance on using it. It would be much more effective in this context since they were fighting wyverns. He casted the magic with his hands and launched a few attacks at the wyvern squad. They were strong winds...perhaps too strong because in an instant five different wyverns had died.
No wonder Lord Seliph wanted him to join him in this battle, from the quantity of the dracoknights alone, it would be hard for Ced to take them down by himself. But even so...the power of that holy tome, perhaps he could use it to his advantage.
He practically ran into the squadrons of wyvern knights, perhaps too reckless for somebody like him, but he didn't care. They all dropped dead, one, two, three, four, it went along in some sort of pattern. This tome never seemed to run out of energy, it was just so intense. Soon enough, all of the dracoknights were gone. Leaving only the commander (Arion) standing.
"You might have taken down my squadron, but you cannot stop me, for I have the Gungnir!"
Ced laughed. "You underestimate me, I have a holy weapon too, you know?"
"Do you dare challenge me? The mighty Arion? Do your worst!"
"Oh, you're just asking for it!" Then without another word, Ced began to cast another spell with Forseti. His eyes were glowing the same bright green color again as the winds surrounded him, similar to a tornado. Then he launched the blow at Arion and quickly followed with another blow. Due to the fierce power of two consecutive Forseti attacks, Arion and his wyvern fell to the ground.
"Ugh...gods...I've brought shame upon my family. I'm sorry...Altena." Arion said, his voice sounded very weak.
Julia quickly caught up to Ced once the Thracian Prince was on the ground, she had a staff on her hands in case Ced needed some healing; but suddenly, as soon as she reached Ced's side, a voice echoed through the void. "I do not think so, Arion!" Then the person in question appeared out of thin air. Julia knew exactly who it was; upon seeing him, she panicked and gasped loudly. It was Prince Julius of Grannvale.
Ced held her closely and covered her mouth. "Don't talk, Julia...who knows what would happen if we get too close…"
Julia nodded, and shook in Ced's embrace.
Ced couldn't hear much of what was happening, he could only see Arion accepting Julius's hand and then they disappeared.
Julia immediately left Ced's side in a wave of fear once they were gone. It was really him, her brother. She had heard that he was heavily involved in the childhunts, but she didn't believe any of it, her brother would never do that. But now that she saw him in person, he looked far different from what she remembered when they were kids. He looked...eerie...
Ced closed the Forseti Book, a tired sigh escaped him as he did so. Then he turned to Julia again, she was still shaking and fear was shown on her face. "I think they're gone now...are you still holding up okay?"
"I-I think so...it was just...scary...I was terrified he would notice me…"
"Yeah...but I'm here. Do not worry. Just...be careful."
"Y-Yeah, thank you Ced…" She paused for a moment, it looked like she was about to say another thing. "C-Ced...that book…"
"Hm?" He was confused for a moment, before looking at the tome in his other hand. "Oh, this?"
"Yes...when I saw you fight...it was...the book was...I can't describe it..."
"It was alright for me...is it bothering you if I use it?"
"Mhm...what if it...no, I can't."
Ced looked down at the book, analyzing the white designs on the center. "You aren't the only one who has been feeling like that...Arthur mentioned it too. But it is fine when I use it. So...is it really something I need to worry about?"
"But Ced! I-I…"
The sage interrupted her, a slight snap in his voice. "I'll be fine, Julia. We're getting closer to the end each passing day. It'll be over soon and then I'll never have to use this book again."
Without another word, Ced left, and Julia was left shaken up. How was she going to convince him? He was acting strange already. She could only hope that book wasn't hurting him in any way, at least all would be over soon...regardless though, she needed to tell Fee; she was the only one who could possibly convince Ced.
She only hoped Fee was near.
The news of the fall of the Thracian army had reached the rest of the army fairly quickly. Now they needed to find a way to get to their final destination, which was Grannvale itself. Seliph was unsure about whether they should go to Grannvale through Miletos or just go there directly, but Fee in particular decided to give an answer instead.
"We should head to Grannvale right then and there!" Fee told him. "If we are so desperate for a victory, we might as well attack directly at their core! We'll catch them by surprise and end this war for good!"
"You have a point, Fee. But we should think more about this. They probably have their main force ready for any attacks at any time, we would end up dead if we went straight into there with no preparations!"
"I'm not saying we should go all in now, I'm just saying we need to stop stalling! We've already gone through the whole Thracia showbiz, we should just go straight to Grannvale."
"Well, that works, but then how are we going to get there?"
"I dunno...hmmmm, I know that there was a way to get there with no worries! Hmm...Tahra, I think they could give us a way to head to Grannvale."
"Tahra...hmmm...that can work, I know Leif has connections to it. So maybe it will all work out in the end."
"Mmmmhm! I'm always right!" Fee chirped and got closer to Seliph, giving him a look that read 'praise me!'
Just then Fee heard the door opening, she turned around to see who had opened it. It was Julia, Ced and the rest of the group assigned to defeat the Thracian army. Julia in particular looked to be a little stressed, constantly looking around the room. That of course made Fee absolutely concerned, she always cared about Julia's wellbeing! Then she looked at Ced, hmmmm he seemed to look fine, but even so, she wanted to ask.
"Julia! You're back! How was it? Are you doing alright? You look scared."
"No, don't worry, please. I'm fine, just a bit tired," Julia said, trying to hide her fear.
"O-Okay, I guess that makes sense. But-"
"Not right now…" She suddenly said, placing a finger on Fee's mouth.
"Wha-" Fee tried to say anyway, only to notice Julia was eyeing Ced. "Ohhhh…"
After staying silent for a few moments, Julia whispered, "Let's go...Out...outside." And Fee nodded, so slowly but surely they made it out of the Thracia castle.
"Now what's wrong? Is something wrong with Cedsy? What did he do this time?" Fee asked as soon as they made it out of the castle.
"It's not that...he's...not himself...at least I don't think so. When we were in battle...he acted strange, I think...that book is changing him..."
"As in...the Forseti? How can you tell it's the book specifically?"
"It...it was...the book was glowing. It normally does that but...it felt different this time. Brighter. After that Ced started acting different...it wasn't like that when he used his Light tome..."
"And I assume you tried to tell him? And he didn't listen?"
Julia nodded.
Fee shook her head, trying to wrap her mind around the whole dilemma. "Naga...I know Cedsy is stubborn but if he's being stubborn around you, then something must be wrong. He needs to get his hands off of that book!"
"That book is powerful...I don't know how we're gonna convince him."
"We'll take it away from him! He's admitted before that he didn't like using it, so obviously he should listen to me!"
"B-But...what if he'll-"
"He won't...I will make sure he doesn't do anything rash. He always listens to me."
"I sure hope so...I really trust you on this Fee…"
"Well, if you do, you don't have anything to worry about! Just leave it all to me!" Fee promised her friend, but deep down, she was scared, angry, confused about her brother. She knew Ced wouldn't simply go out of his way to attack anybody he loves...but she still wanted to keep an eye on Julia.
She needed to confront him about this as soon as she could.