Korrina and the Black Eagles
Chapter 8: Paternal Bonds
Although the Battle of the Eagle and Lion was mildly stressful, the assignment Korrina would receive the following month would leave her longing for those low scale days again. The people of Remire Village had been acting in most unnatural ways, and it was up to the Black Eagles to find out what was happening. The knights who were initially dispatched initially dismissed the phenomena as mere disease, but neither Manuela nor Korrina truly believed that hypothesis. The fact that most of the symptoms were violent behavior changes and mood swings, it was easier to assume that someone was trying to put the entirety of Remire Village under some sort of trance. Korrina suspected that the Flame Emperor could be behind the occurrences, but without any proof or way to track the Flame Emperor, all Korrina could do was wait and see if any further developments occurred. In the meantime, Korrina was somewhat grateful to be addressing crises again. She was beginning to tire of Sothis berating everyone for "wasting so many valuable resources on a mock battle when the Death Knight is still out there."
The moment classes started for what we would call November, Petra made a massive breakthrough. Thanks to Ingrid's training, she was finally able to become a full-fledged Pegasus knight. Now Petra could watch for and deter invasions from a place no one from Brigid could ever reach before: the sky. If Petra could just teach this skill to her people, Brigid could be transformed from just a steppingstone between Adestria and Dagda to a respectable military power that could never be conquered or overrun again. Although this path was still a long way away, most of Petra's classmates took her seriously and prayed that Adestria would never have to face the new and improved Brigid that Petra had in mind. Thankfully, Petra's time as a "guest" had at least opened her mind to the outside world and she was accepting of a more peaceful end to the feud between Brigid and Adestria. Elsewhere in the class, Hubert had mastered the dark arts and become a dark mage (much to everyone's anxiety about the future), Dorothea doubled down on healing magic in hopes of attaining greater versatility, Flayn started learning magic so she could defend herself if the need arises, and Bernadetta started learning how to use swords and spears so she wouldn't be helpless if someone decided to engage her up close. Everyone else mostly stuck to what they were already practicing.
The next weekend, Korrina caught Seteth trying to leave the monastery and arguing with Flayn the whole way through. When Korrina asked what was going on, Seteth explained that the Western Church had taken control of the cemetery at a place called Rhodos Coast. "I thought you purged the Western Church months ago!", Korrina exclaimed with confusion. Seteth then explained, "Just because we deposed the Western Church doesn't mean we erased it altogether. A new bishop was supposed to have been instated, but it seems the people behind this attack are reluctant to accept his rule at the very least." Korrina then said, "Sounds like an understatement to me" before entering a state of thought. After a minute of deliberation, Korrina said, "Let my class go with you, Seteth. Even if it's just the Western Church, it's still too dangerous for you to engage them alone." Seteth understood the logic and agreed to take the Black Eagles and Flayn with him.
It was safe to say that none of the Black Eagles expected Seteth to board a dragon and fly to Rhodos. Everyone just thought that Seteth would be a mere bishop, and it kinda annoyed him that people underestimated his capabilities. When it was discovered that the exact monument that Seteth wanted to protect was on an island, a plan was formed. Petra and Seteth would reclaim the monument while everyone else would drive the Western Church from the coast. It was a risky plan, but Seteth and Petra were the only people who could reach that island. Once the mission began, it was made immediately clear that the Black Eagles were used to fighting in the sand. Bernadetta, Silvain and Ferdinand were as good as useless in this fight as neither horses nor heavy armor moved well in the sandy beach. Because Edelgard, Hubert, Dorothea and Linhardt were the only ones who could still fight well in the sand, they were placed on the front lines for the first time. Because the Western Church mostly consisted of mages, this strategy seemed to pay off. However, the Western Church still had a few swordfighters that could have made short work of Dorothea and Linhardt. Fortunately, Caspar and Korrina were close behind to save the day. If the swordfighters proved too tough, Korrina always had access to Divine Pulse. Seteth and Petra had a slightly tougher challenge as it was just the two of them, but their mounts allowed for lifesaving hit and run tactics. The battle eventually devolved into Seteth and Petra picking off a few enemies on the island, flying back to the mainland for Linhardt to heal them, then going back for some more enemies. After hours of repetition, Seteth achieved his goal of driving the Western Church from Rhodos. The Western Church was indeed more competent and powerful than before, but they were still perfectly beatable.
After the battle, Korrina noticed Seteth and Flayn paying their respects in a much more personal manner than appropriate. When Korrina pressed for details, Seteth explained that the monument was also dedicated to Seteth's wife. This made a small bit of sense to Korrina as she figured a pious man like Seteth would want to bury his wife in a place of religious significance, but then Flayn referred to Seteth's wife as her mother. This caused Korrina to put 2 and 2 together and realize that Seteth had been hiding something from everyone. Seteth then confirmed that Flayn was indeed his daughter and the 2 were going under false identities to protect her, but there was more. Seteth and the saint that monument was dedicated to were one and the same, and Flayn was supposedly considered a saint in her own right. That was why Flayn's blood was so important. Korrina swore to keep this a secret, and in time, she would be grateful she did. As they went home, Korrina pulled Edelgard aside for a chat. Korrina first asked her sister if she was serious about deposing the goddess. Edelgard nodded, to which Korrina elaborated, "If your dream comes to fruition, we will eventually have to face Seteth. If we win that battle, Flayn will be left all alone. Are you certain that this is what you want?" This information definitely made Edelgard think about what she was doing for a moment, but she stood firm in her ambition and said that nothing could ever be made better if those with the power to make change are afraid of the consequences. Korrina was disheartened but understood where Edelgard was coming from. Before they rejoined the Black Eagles, Korrina reaffirmed to her sister, "No matter what, I plan to stay by your side. We're sisters, and nothing can change that. I just wanted to make sure you were aware of the consequences of our actions before you start anything." Edelgard appreciated the concern, but this exchange only seemed to heighten Hubert's suspicion about Korrina's worth as an ally (something he would pester her about for the rest of the month).
On the next Garreg Mach Women's Association, Ingrid had come asking about a letter from her father. She was to be married to a new noble that was rapidly climbing the social ladder back in Faerghus, but she didn't know him at all and was somewhat concerned. Ingrid didn't want to defy her father, but she didn't quite trust her new fiancée. This subject, unfortunately, caused Bernadetta to mentally shut down, causing the sisterhood to switch priorities and help her back to her room while Dorothea stayed with Ingrid to get some more information about this mysterious suitor. When the sisterhood returned, they found Dorothea insisting that Ingrid not go through with this marriage. Apparently, the guy that Ingrid was to marry was an unapologetic scoundrel who made his fortune through nefarious means and aggressively hit on Dorothea in the past. Ingrid believed Dorothea, but still felt that going through with the marriage was the right thing to do as her own house (Galatea) was a very small house with poor land that needed a miracle to keep from going bankrupt. However, no one else in the sisterhood agreed, and Dorothea came up with the idea to prove to Lord Galatea that marrying his daughter (Ingrid) to this person is a terrible idea. Everyone agreed, and the Garreg Mach Women's Association + Black Eagles set out for this suitor's home in the Valley of Torment (named so because of its volcanic nature).
Although many on this "field trip" (Linhardt and Hilda in particular) despised having to wade through the Valley of Torment if they didn't have to, the journey was far from fruitless. Thanks to Hubert's distressingly high skill in espionage, they were able to catch Ingrid's fiancée having multiple affairs with women he didn't even treat well and learn that his entire fortune was "earned" through profiting off of minor conflicts and bandit raids. As the Black Eagles and Garreg Mach Women's Association started to leave, however, countless bandits and merchants arrived to kill them. The reason being that their client had seen the Garreg Mach Women's Association waiting outside, figured out their plan, and ordered them all killed (even Ingrid) to ensure the truth about him didn't get out. The enemy was overwhelmingly large in number, and the way out long and full of branching paths. Since Ingrid and Petra could ride Pegasi, they were able to fly above the pools of lava and get a better look at the enemy. From there, it didn't take long for Petra to pinpoint the enemy commanders and relay the information to everyone else. With this information, Korrina sent Edelgard, Hubert, Caspar, Ferdinand, Mercedes and Annette to go right and take out one of the commanders while the rest go south. The hot and uneven terrain made for horrible fighting conditions, and the fact that the bandits and merchants were more familiar with the Valley of Torment only made things worse. Korrina, Hilda, Dorothea, Silvain, and Lysithea fought as hard as they could, but the bandits wouldn't stop coming, and the heat was beginning to take a toll on all of them. Eventually, Hilda finally got sick of the situation and released a power no one knew she had, suddenly one shotting multiple bandits with a single wrathful sweep of her axe. Lysithea used her bottomless pool of magic to finish off the initial pack, allowing Korrina's group to finally head south and take out the first commander. Although Petra tried to get Ingrid to safety, they were eventually stymied by a pack of archers and forced to hide above the lava where their arrows couldn't reach until reinforcements came. Fortunately, Korrina's group was able to blindside and defeat the pack of archers (as well as their commander) with much greater ease. Around this time, Edelgard's team had finished taking out the enemy forces to the right and the teams merged. With the way out in sight, they all made a collective push south. A few bandits tried to lay one final trap, but for the first time that day, they were the outnumbered ones. The Black Eagles and Garreg Mach Women's Association easily dealt with this last batch of bandits, then made their way to House Galatea with the information they found. The good news was that Ingrid's father believed them and called off the marriage. The bad news was that Korrina went beyond what her heart could take this time and needed to be carried back to the monastery while Linhardt, Mercedes, and Flayn did their best to keep Korrina from lapsing into a coma or worse.
The first thing Korrina saw when she came to was her father Jeralt. "You came for me again…", Korrina said weakly. Jeralt responded with "You should thank those brats for taking you all the way back. I don't know how you were able to make them respect you like that, but if it wasn't for them, you'd be dead by now." Korrina understood, yet she was also quite moved that her father was still this invested in her health. Despite her state, Korrina was able to get out a natural smile. It was the first time since coming to Garreg Mach that Korrina looked at Jeralt that way, and it did not go unnoticed by him. Jeralt smiled back and tucked her in to bed like he did when she was a child. Before leaving, Jeralt said, "Get well soon, kid. We got a big week ahead of us."
Once Korrina recovered, she went to check on Bernadetta. Thankfully, Bernadetta was in a much better mood that day. After a bit of small talk, Korrina got to the point and said, "What made you such a recluse in the first place, and why do you always freak out when we start talking about fathers?" Bernadetta finally trusted Korrina enough to tell the truth, but Korrina was not at all prepared for Bernadetta's response. Apparently, Bernadetta's father, Count Varley, was a greedy monster who only ever viewed her as an item to ship to another noble in exchange for more money and power. As far back as Bernadetta could remember, her father was grooming her to be a "good, submissive wife". The worst of her father's training was the multiple times he would tie her to a chair and leave her there all day. If Bernadetta spoke, moved, or even made a single noise, her father's men (if not her father himself) would beat her horribly. Bernadetta was also socially isolated, with any "commoner" friends she made disappearing the next day. Eventually Bernadetta stopped wanting to leave her room at all, but this only caused her father to drag her out literally kicking and screaming. It got so bad that her mother had her kidnapped and brought to Garreg Mach out of fear for her safety. Korrina trembled in horror as Bernadetta described these occurrences, and when Bernadetta finished, she said, "Bernadetta, that man is not a father but a monster. No self-respecting dad would EVER put their child through all of that." Bernadetta could not understand why Korrina was always so nice to her and began to break down again. Korrina waited until Bernadetta was finished, then said, "Bernadetta, I want you to promise me something." Bernadetta nodded through her tears, prompting Korrina to elaborate, "Never go back to House Varley. Never attempt to see that monster again. Stay here at Garreg Mach and forge your own identity." Bernadetta understood what Korrina was saying, but the abuse was so deeply ingrained in her that she didn't really know what to do with her life. Korrina then said, "That I cannot answer. You and only you can decide what you are. You don't even have to make that decision today. For now, I'll leave you be. Farewell, Bernadetta." Korrina then took her leave, leaving Bernadetta relieved yet confused on where to go now.
As the preparations for Remire Village went fully underway, many of the Black Eagles began to take note of the growing number of strange occurrences and people popping up lately. After hearing Hubert's take on everything that happened that year, Korrina started to believe that the events were all connected, but Edelgard disagreed. She thought that all the events going on were part of multiple competing plans and that the land around Garreg Mach was more an unfortunate battleground than an actual stage for something much bigger. Korrina asked how Edelgard was so sure of that, but Edelgard insisted that she, too, was merely hypothesizing. Before the 2 could go into further discussion, however, Jeralt burst into the room claiming that they had an emergency. Apparently, most of the villagers turned immensely violent in a split second and started killing each other. Also, a fire had supposedly broken out. Without asking much questions, the Black Eagles stormed out of the monastery hoping to defuse the situation before it could get any worse.
The situation in Remire Village was far worse than Jeralt described. The air became polluted with smoke and both cries for help and murderous screams long before the Black Eagles and Knights of Seiros even reached Remire Village. The whole time, Sothis was cursing Rhea's name for "allowing this to happen". When they finally reached Remire Village, they found visibly entranced people with no pupils attacking normal villagers and each other. For the first time, Korrina was at a loss for what to do. Killing the berserk villagers could easily be misconstrued as the church killing innocent people, but if they did too little, then everyone would die anyway. There just didn't seem to be a good answer to this situation. Thanks to this indecisiveness, Caspar and Jeralt took matters into their own hands. Caspar just wanted to knock everyone out before they could cause more trouble, and Jeralt elaborated on this, ordering his men to arrest anyone without pupils before they could kill anyone else. This seemed like the most acceptable way out at the time, so Korrina decided to follow Jeralt's lead on this. Petra used her Pegasus to fly above the burning houses and get as many people to safety as possible while the rest spread out to arrest/knock out the more berserk villagers. Flayn, Dorothea, Caspar, Bernadetta and Ferdinand took the right while Korrina, Edelgard, Hubert, Silvain and Linhardt took the left. Although defeating the rampaging villagers was an easy task due to their inferior equipment, most of them wouldn't stop attacking until they died for good. This, combined with the fire raging on all sides, made for a rather traumatizing experience. Some of the villagers could be saved, but the lack of oxygen from the fire made it impossible to conduct a detailed search for normal villagers without risking even more lives.
As Petra finished her combing of the perimeter, she sought out Korrina and Jeralt to inform them that a group of mages on the cliff above the village seemed to be behind the chaos. Their leader also appeared to be the old librarian Tomas. Everyone was confused as to what to make of this. They all thought Tomas a tad creepy and suspicious, but they didn't expect him to pull something like this. Yes, Tomas took a leave of absence in the weeks leading up to this, but because he was so old, everyone thought he was merely retiring once and for all. Everyone made a collective push to the back of the village, where they indeed found Tomas controlling the villagers. When questioned why, Tomas didn't even bother making excuses. He openly admitted that his name wasn't even Tomas. The librarian then transformed into a much older and more grotesque man with white hair, bulging veins, and an eye black as night. The "man" then reintroduced himself as Solon and stated that he was merely assuming the disguise of a friendly librarian to get a hold of Flayn's blood. As for the chaos happening in Remire Village, however, Solon merely said that he was conducting an experiment without any further explanation. As the Black Eagles began to climb the cliff and fight off Solon's coworkers, the Death Knight reappeared to protect his client. Seeing the Death Knight caused Korrina to change course and go for him instead, convinced that this time would be different. Fortunately, Korrina was more aware of the Death Knight's capabilities and knew better than to touch the Scythe of Sariel at all. This time, Korrina actively dodged the Death Knight's scythe and aimed her attacks squarely at him. Being on horseback made the Death Knight even faster than before, but there wasn't a ton of changes to his overall fighting style. This game of dodging the Death Knight's charges and parrying him as he got close continued for a few more rounds until Jeralt reached Solon and defeated him with two blows. This action caused the both of them to retreat, and the nightmare finally ended.
With no additional reason to stay in Remire, everyone got far away from the inferno that was once a town before anyone could asphyxiate from the lack of oxygen or moisture. Noone was happy with the outcome, but given the circumstances, there was nothing more anyone could have done. As Korrina and Jeralt assessed the damage, they were greeted by a surprise visitor: the Flame Emperor. Korrina and Jeralt were quick to blame him (?) for this mess, but he(?) claimed innocence. The Flame Emperor then stated, "It is true that Solon and his kind…created me, but that doesn't mean I am their pawn. I have always objected to their deplorable methods. However, my cries have always fallen on deaf ears. That is…until I learned of your existence." Both Korrina and Jeralt were taken aback by this, causing the Flame Emperor to elaborate: "When I learned of a descendant of Nemesis raised by the finest commander in the land, I knew you were my only hope of rebellion. Thus, I started pulling strings of my own. I hired those bandits to attack Remire Village so the Knights of Seiros would find you. After that, I lead the Western Church to the holy mausoleum so you would be united with the Sword of the Creator. Finally, I helped that lost child from House Gautier steal the Lance of Ruin so that you understood the nature of your 'gift'." After this piece of exposition, the Flame Emperor got to the point and offered to help Korrina fight Solon. Korrina thought for a second, turned to her father, then said, "A good offer, but I don't trust you. You still lead multiple people to their deaths after all, so you're not much better." The Flame Emperor was disappointed but not surprised, and teleported away before a fight could break out.
Although Hubert said that Edelgard disappeared some time after Solon and the Death Knight left, Edelgard was truthfully safe and waiting for their return at the monastery. When Hubert asked where she was, Edelgard simply said that she couldn't bear to be in Remire Village any longer than she needed to. However, the fact that Edelgard sounded more like she was being asked about why she wasn't studying than actually traumatized made Korrina doubt whether her "sister" was telling the truth. Even more suspiciously, Edelgard did not seem all that surprised to hear about the Flame Emperor's appearance. After some conversation about what happened with the Flame Emperor, Edelgard stated that maybe one day, the Flame Emperor would unmask himself(?) and let Korrina look in his (?) eyes and truly evaluate him (?). This sounded a ton of alarm bells in Korrina's head, and Edelgard could sense it. Just afterward, Monica appeared to take Edelgard away (again). Korrina was always somewhat distrustful of Monica, but now she was beginning to suspect Edelgard as well. Korrina began to have thoughts about Edelgard and the Flame Emperor being connected, but she wasn't quite ready to accept that idea yet. In that moment, Korrina merely shook her head and said "It couldn't be. Edelgard's too short to be the Flame Emperor" before going back to her room to deliberate with Sothis.
