So. My room is still getting gassed at the time of me writing this. Which is Monday. So sorry if this gets out much later then I plan on posting. Which is Wednesday. I wonder why you guys really like this story. It's pretty terrible. Beyond cancer at this point. So I'm just wondering why you guys still show up and read this. But I'll shut up now and let you guys get on with reading this. I'm going to need to find a new thing to call this instead of cancer now. But, enjoy.
Chapter Eleven: Grim Tidings
I've heard a legend about why Plegia is a desert. How it used to be a great jungle that was covered in water during the summer months, every year in the beginning of the world. Then the sun came out and the it's first rays hit Plegia. The sunlight was so hot that it burned down most of the jungle, dried out the soil, and made the rivers turn into gas. Basically a desert. That's legend most Plegian born people say why Plegia is a desert. But some say that a powerful Ylisse mage used an ancient magic to dry out all of Plegia. Either way, it is fucking hot walking in a desert in battle armor.
That's what the Shepherds are doing anyways; marching to the capital of Plegia to save the Exalt. Almost everyone here except the Robins, Vaike, and Frederick is covered in sweat and sand. Which makes me itchy and I hate being itchy. But I can't really complain considering I am part of a group that is going to save what is basically a queen. I never really thought I would be doing something like this two years ago. But I guess it's happening now. Hey; I see some villages up ahead. I wonder why people live in a desert. I guess they get free pet cactuses.
Chrom raises his hand and signals the Shepherds to prepare themselves. I guess some Plegian soldiers found us. Out into the distance, I see what looks like a little girl. She looks- OH MY GOD THAT IS VERY LITTLE CLOTHING! She is basically wearing her smallclothes with a cape and that's it! I feel very uncomfortable because she is really cute. I wonder if she is a Manteke. They are dragons that take the form of little girls. I think. That's what my father told me anyways. Well after I found his porn stash but that is a tale I will never discuss due to it's scarring of a seven year old boy. I should shut up now.
After the little girl came into view, a very large man wearing a green Mercenary outfit, his steel sword in his hand, rushes to the girl. He has a pretty banged up face that just says "child molester" all over it. But then again my Uncle Joe looks like that and he is a priest so… Yeah… I should really stop getting sidetracked so much.
Anyway, when the Mercenary closed in on the girl; the girl screamed and covered her face, saying in such a loud voice we could hear her, "AUGH! GET AWAY! Everyone just leave me ALONE!"
The Mercenary tries to quieten the girl, almost as if someone is trying to find them and kill them, but the girl continues to say, "My throat is dry, my shoes are full of sand, and some big weirdo is trying to KILL ME!" That Mercenary made such a heartbroken puppy eyes that I feel so bad for him right now. I have no idea why though considering he looks like a troll.
Chrom draws Falchion and yells at the man, saying, "You there! Fiend! Keep your hands off that maiden!"
The Mercenary turns to Chrom, confused at first but quickly to worry, and says, "Who is fiend? ...You mean Gregor? No, friend! You have idea wrong!" That Mercenary is starting to look so done right now and I don't blame him.
Lissa chimes in with a disgusted tone, saying "Yeah, right! ...Creep!"
"This day has been nothing but insults and punches to groin. And all for doing good deed! ...Listen, friend! Gregor only want to-" Before the Mercenary, Gregor is his name I believe, could finish; a pool of darkness suddenly formed a few miles away from all of us. A Dark Mage suddenly came out of the pool and cackled so loud that it scared off the vultures.
"Gotcha, you slippery scamp! Prepare for a dose of Grima's wrath." The Dark Mage said, other pools of darkness forming all over; bringing forth more Dark Mages and a few Barbarians. Thankfully these were normal Barbarians, not Plegian soldier Barbarians. But all of them had a very cult atmosphere with them. Don't tell me they are what I think they are! Their the Grimleal!
Chrom cuts back in and says, "Why are you all after the girl?"
Gregor facepalms and points at his face, saying "All? What is this "all"? Gregor is not one of "all"! Look close! Maybe you not see from so far? Gregor have innocent-baby face!"
Chrom and Lissa sorta exchange looks while Jill chuckles and says, "Yeah... Not sure 'innocent baby' is how I'd describe it…"
"Gah! Never be minding! Gregor is not enemy! You must believe!" After saying that, Gregor turns around to face the cultists who are getting closer and closer to the girl and Gregor.
Chrom rubs his forehead and says, "...This is making my head hurt. We'll sort him out later. Right now, we need to protect the girl."
The girl looks back at Chrom and asks, "Y-you're going to help me?"
"We'll do everything in our power to keep you safe. Just hold on until we can reach you, and we'll drive them off! Shepherds; move out!" After that command, most of the Shepherds waded through the sand to get to the enemy. This is pretty difficult considering that we can't very well move all that good in sand. The only classes that could move good in the sand would be our Mages and the Pegasus Knights. Which explains why Ricken, Miriel, Cordelia, and Sumia. Good thing a pegasus can hold two people up but those people is Chrom with Cordelia and Jack with Sumia. I swear I see Cordelia blushing bright red for some reason. Must be the heat. Afterall, she is in full battle armor in a desert, fighting.
I shuffle through the sand; sand crawling into my boots and making my feet really itchy. Sully is with me, her horse struggling to move forward. I hope we can go home after this because I am tired of sand. We start to head towards this Barbarian, who seems to be having trouble moving around like us, who is trying to attack one of the tiny villages. A few more feet and we can fight him. I hope combat doesn't turn into a clusterfuck because of the sand. Have I told you how much I hate sand? It's really fucking stupid-
"GET AWAY FROM ME!" I turn and see the girl grabbed by one of the Dark Mages, who seem to have the same immunity to sand like our Mages and Pegasus Knights. The Dark Mage is the same one who first arrived on the scene.
The Dark Mage laughs and says, "Ha ha! You dare defy Grima, god of annihilation? I'll make you scream for that!" The Dark Mage start to cast a spell before something I thought was going to happen, happens. The girl pulls something out of a pocket on her cape and she starts to glow. Her form turns into that of a dragons and then the glows fade. She is a motherfucking Manakete. The Manakete turns to the Dark Mage and her mouth starts to glow. She's going to do a fucking breath attack!
"Master Grima...my life force...is yours…" The Dark Mages says before getting disintegrated by the Manakete's breath attack. That looks a bit like blue and green fire. I'm just going to say it's fire attack or something. It will be easier. I think. Anyway that was pretty fucking awesome. And terrifying. Both if you prefer that shit. I don't to be honest. I only prefer the awesome part. I'm pretty sure everyone else here does so as well.
The Manakete let out a roar and flew at the cultists with Gregor following while shouting a strange battle cry. I look over to see what Chrom and the Robins were thinking and I see the Robins freaking out while Chrom is flabbergasted. I have such great leaders. I turn back to the Barbarian and go back to shuffling after him with Sully following close behind. I somehow reach him and deflect his sloppy axe blow. I simply stab him in the leg and push him into the dunes. This… is really easy for some reason. I simmy over to the fallen Barbarian, who is completely red for some reason, and slash downwards. My sword burrows into his face before I rip it out, blood splattering all over the sand with a sizzle.
"Holy shit! This is really fucking easy Aiden," Sully says, her horse curb stomping the Barbarian I just killed.
"You can say that again. Man, I wonder why the Barbarians are letting us walk all over them like this. You know why?" I ask Sully, burrowing my sword so it can clean the blood on it.
"No idea but we gotta keep an eye out for those dumbass Dark Mages. They can kick our asses if we aren't careful enough." Just as Sully said that, the remaining Barbarians got together and did something very strange. They removed their helmets and tied some cloth like a bandana on their head. Then the got out another axe and kicked off their shoes. You know this reminds me of some Class. I wonder why? They then grabbed some blue circle objects out of their pockets. They crushed the circles and was involved in a blue glow. The glow faded and the Barbarians looked a bit more sea going. Anyway, after they did that; the Barbarians started to run through the sand towards us like Pirates… They just class changed into Pirates. God fucking damnit.
I pull my sword out of the dunes and barely manage to block a sudden blow from a Pirate. I push the Pirate back and rush him with a thrust to his throat. The Pirate ducks under the thrust and cleaves my chest. Thankfully, my Mercenary chestguard kept me safe from most of the damage but I'm pretty sure that I'm bleeding. I stumble back and raise my blade to block another attack from the Pirate. However, Sully rides forward and blocks the strike with her spear. She then stabs downward and impales her spear into the Pirates cheek. She lifts the Pirate, I don't fucking know how, and throws down at the hooves of Sully's horse. You can guess what happened next.
After Sully's horse did it's business, we turned back to the battle and headed toward Ricken who was getting knocked around by two Dark Mages. We make it there and see a ball of Flux slam into Ricken, knocking his hat off and sending him into the sand. I grab his flying hat and slash at the Dark Mages so they have to go back.
I sit Ricken up while Sully takes care of the Dark Mages and place his hat on his head, saying, "You dropped this kid."
Ricken readjusts the hat on his head and says, "Thanks Rider. You ok? I saw you take a hit back there." Ah. Sweet that he cares. Still got that innocence about him.
"I'm okay Ricken. I've had much worse before so this is nothing."
"You sure? It's bleeding a bit bad so I was just wondering."
"Yep. Totally fine." I'm starting to think that I may not be alright because it hurts to breath now.
"Ok… If you say so… Do you want a vulnerary?"
"Yes please."
"Ok." Ricken hands my a vulnerary which I hurriedly pour a third all over my chest wound. Ah… The pain is going away. Thank the gods and the sun. Or just the gods. Take your pick. Anyway, I stand Ricken on his feet and I quickly cover his eyes so he doesn't see what Sully's horse is doing to the Dark Mages. Why we still have that thing I have no idea. But as long as it kills the enemy and not us, I'm ok with it.
I look around and notice the remaining cultists teleporting away. Looks like we beat them. But that also means they may alert The Mad King to our position. Fucking fantastic. Those fucking Grimleal scum; worshipping the fell dragon Grima, the same fell dragon that nearly destroyed the entire world before the Hero King defeated it. I hope to the gods that may their dream of the return of Grima ever happen.
Anyway, The Manakete turns back into her little girl form and starts to cry with Gregor comforting her. Chrom, the Robins, Lissa, Frederick, and the East Khan walks over to them and after a few words, they join our group. That also means I'm no longer the only mercenary in the group. Fuck. But still, the Shepherds continue marching towards the Plegian capital. We have to get there by tomorrow or the Exalt will die. We manage to reach the outskirts of the Plegian capital before we camp for the night.
Tomorrow; it's do or die.
My eyes slowly open when the sun starts to shine there my tent's flap. I sit up and rub my face to wake myself up enough to dress myself. I wear my regular Mercenary outfit but with some more armor on. Today is going to be a pretty big battle so it doesn't hurt to have more metal protecting you. I unsheathe my father's sword and fix it up. This blade is going to be one of the few things that will protect me from death today. After I finish getting ready; I walk out of my tent and see that most of the Shepherds and Ferox elite army rushing about. Off to the side, the Robins are drilling in the strategies to win the day with Chrom and the Khans. Did I mention that the West Khan had come and join our little army? Well, he did and he is the perfect example of a barbarian with chest hair and a very loud personality. But he is wise for his years so that's good.
Anyway, I turn and start to walk towards the foot tent for probably my last meal. It's just some army rations of salted jerky and rum. At least it is better than hardtack and water other armies give to their soldiers. After wolfing down my meal, I start to walk around the camp to steel myself for the coming battle. I look around at all of the faces that I may never see again. I never thought I would become so attached to the Shepherds that I am worried for all of them and how they may take me dying. I never really thought that about any other mercenary company. I stop when I notice Donny sitting by some barrels, his knees covering his face with his spear by his side. It also looks like Donny got outfitted with some Soldier armor but his bucket still on his head. I guess this is Donny's first ever big battle. He must be scared from all the possible ways that he might die out there on the field. Better go reassure him as much as I can.
I walk over to Donny and sit down next him. We sit together in silence for a bit until Donny says, "You scared Aiden? 'Cause I'm jumpier then a jack rabbit right now."
I nod and say, "Yep. It's pretty natural. I mean we may die out there and we may see our friends die. Anything can go wrong with the Robins' strategy, and that might lead to us dying."
"Aw shucks Aiden; I didn't know you were scared of dyin' too!"
"A lot of people are scared of dying Donnel. After all, no one knows what happens after death. They are afraid of the unknown world that lurks after death. If there even is a world."
Donny suddenly lets out a sob and says in a shaky voice, "I wonder how me Ma is goin' take the news of me death. I should've taken her advice and stayed a farmer…"
I put my arm around Donny to comfort him and say, "It's ok Donny. We are going to get through this alive. After all, we are resident badasses of the Shepherds, are we not?"
"Y-yes."
"That's the spirit!" Suddenly, everyone starts to yell and rush towards a growing mass of soldiers. Looks like it's time. I let go of Donny and stand up, saying to Donnel, "Now let's go. It's time for our badassery test." I walk towards the group of soldiers; Donny scrambling up and rushing after me, his armor clanking with every step he takes.
Aiden and Donnel have achieve support level B
The army masses together and we divide into our selected missions. The strategy is this: the Khans are going to take a small force to go free any prisoners that the Plegians may have captured of the Exalt's honor guard. While that is happening, the Robins and Chrom will the lead the army to the execution grounds where most of the Plegian army is currently. We will attack them when Vaike defeats the executioner holding Emmeryn. Once we kill the Plegian high commander, Chrom will signal Ricken and Miriel to cast their magic into the air as a signal. At the signal's notice, the prisoners, equipped with Pegasuses, will fly in and grab the Exalt. If there are no prisoners, then Sumia and Cordelia will substitute. Once the Exalt is in our custody; we will retreat back to Ylisse, leaving the Mad King to rage. A pretty good plan from the Robins. I'm in the main army and I am part of the first line. That means that I can die literally in the first few seconds of the battle. Let's do this.
The main army detaches from the Khan's forces halfway to the execution grounds. We make it to the grounds as planned and take cover underneath a giant dragon skeleton. Apparently this skeleton is the fell dragon's skeleton when the Hero King defeated it. Thankfully, it's big enough to hide the entire army. We watch as Gangrel rallies his army into a frenzy while the Exalt stands on a ledge with an executioner holding arms.
"Good people! Warriors of Plegia! Welcome! Welcome, one and all! Your anticipation electrifies the air! We ALL remember the crimes of Ylisse... Would you have their witch-queen answer for them? Here? Today? NOW? YEEEEEEEEEEEES! Finally, we will have JUSTICE! EXECUTIONER! If you would be so kind…" The Executioner gets out a little dagger and is about to cut the Exalt's throat when Robin shouts, "Now Vaike!" An axe is thrown and hits the executioner in the face; making him let go of Emmeryn and fall of the ledge, dead.
Chrom rushes forward, out of the cover of the dragon skeleton, and says "EVERYONE: NOW! Take out all the soldiers first! We'll deal with the Mad King later!" We charge out of cover and rush towards the enemy. Our boots thudding towards the Plegian army, completely confused at first.
"Oh will you now? Bwa ha! We've been expecting you, Little Prince. Men: Kill him. Kill his sister. Kill his troops and his friends and anyone else you find! KILL THEM AAAAAAAAALL!" says the Mad King. This prompts the entire Plegian army into action, charging at us now. We crash with the enemy head on; Chrom cutting the first enemy in half with Falchion. I slam into a Fighter and quickly slam my blade, hilt deep, through his stomach. I pull it out and start to cut my way through the Plegian lines like everyone else. For every five Plegians we cut down, three of ours is killed. I hope to the gods that no Shepherds are part of the growing death rate.
My blade connects against a Soldier's neck, spraying blood all around us. I push his dying body to the side and take on a Barbarian. He tries to attack me but I manage to block his strike and slash his chest. He takes a step back, clutching his wound, before I cut his stomach open; intestines limply spilling out. I flinch when a Plegian Mercenary's sword clangs against my shoulder guard, leaving a dent in the metal. I swing wildly at the Mercenary, cutting his knees open so he falls to the ground unable to fight anymore. I gasp when a Soldier manages to give me a shallow cut along my side, his spear barely missing my stomach. I stumble back but Donny comes in and stabs the Soldier in the face. I rips his spear out of the dead Soldier's face and goes back to fighting. I don't have anytime to thank him as I am set upon by a Fighter. I duck under the Fighter's swipe and thrust my sword through his heart. I pull my blade out of his chest and block a strike from a Myrmidon. I am about to strike back when something in the air turns musky. Like when lightning is about to strike.
Suddenly, a bolt of lightning flies out of the sky and slams midst our ranks; an explosion following the lightning with Ylissean and Ferox soldiers flying from the blast. I turn and see that busty woman from the gorge holding a rather ancient looking tome in her hands. The Plegians have ancient magic on their side. Shit! Lightning strikes continue to slam into our ranks unopposed as we continue to carve through the Plegian lines. I kill the Myrmidon with a blow to the neck. Suddenly Wyvern Riders and Archers start pouring into the battle, fighting our Pegasus Knights and Archers for control of the skies. Things are pretty even right now. If something happens, it will only mean the victory or defeat of our forces now.
While fighting, I see Virion out of the corner of my eye start to climb the fell dragon skeleton. Once he reaches to the top of the skeleton's head, he pulls out a golden globe. He has a Master Seal? Virion crushes the seal and is enveloped in a gold light. When the light fades, Virion has the outfit of a Sniper. Virion then picks up his bow, nocks three arrows at once, and fires them at the Wyvern Riders. The arrows find their mark and kill three riders. Soon enough, all of the Wyvern Riders are dead or retreating. But Virion only has one arrow left through. Virion draws his last arrow and aims at something. He then fires and the arrow flies through the air. It then slams into the tome the bust woman is holding, the arrow going through both the book and her hand. That takes care of our lightning problem.
Thanks to Virion's aid; our forces start to get the upper hand on the Plegians. This battle won't stop until we take out their general though. Chrom and Jill manage to break through the Plegian lines and face off against their general, a General. Chrom and Jill are only able to take down the General because of Jill's magic. Once the General was killed, the Plegian lines utterly broke and the fled in all directions to get away from us. Chrom raises his sword and Miriel casts a fireball into the air. I look over to Ricken and see that a Fighter is beating him down. I charge over and tackle the Fighter so Ricken has room to breath. I kill the Fighter while Ricken casts his wind spell into the air, colliding with Miriel's fireball to make a giant green and red explosion.
After that, Pegasus Knights come flying in; Phila leading them, and near the Exalt. Looks like everything is going to plan- Why are there purple glowing circles on the ground? Suddenly, a group of Risen Archers, lead by a Sniper, appear from the circles and look at the Pegasus Knights.
"...Risen?! Oh gods, no! Chrom! There are Risen everywhere!" Jack shouts, watching in horror as his and his sister's plan crumble in front of their eyes.
"Damn! Not now!" Chrom says, rushing to engage the Risen.
The Mad King cackles and says, "Bwa ha ha! Oh, did an army of living corpses just APPEAR out of the blue?! Truly, the heavens smile upon mighty King Gangrel this day! Bwa ha ha ha!" The Risen Sniper nocks two arrows and aims at Phila. He fires; one arrow hitting Phila's Pegasus and the other hitting Phila. Phila is thrown off her horse, seemingly dead, and falls to the ground. I realize that she is pretty close to me so I sheath my sword and hold my arms out to catch her. She slams into my arms; the weight throwing me on my ass with a thud. I look at Phila and notice she is still breathing, thank the gods. But she has an arrow through the chest and is probably has a hole through a lung. But we'll deal with that later.
"Exeunt one pegasus knight! Bwa ha ha! Watch how they fall, one by one!" The rest of the Risen take aim and fire at the disorganized Pegasus Knights, killing each and every single one. So much for the plan.
"I believe this is what they call a reversal of fortunes. Now...grovel before me. Plead! Beg for your worthless lives!" Gangrel smiles at Chrom in the most arrogant way possible.
"I'd give up my life before I'd beg for it from you." Chrom says to the Mad King, his hand shaking in utter rage.
"Oh, now THAT is a good line. A fitting epitaph for your tombstone, perhaps? But it's not just your life in the balance. The exalt still stands upon the block. And I have a dozen bows trained on her. All it would take is one word from me…" Gangrel holds his hand up and motions the Risen to aim at the Exalt. Surprisingly, they do that. Are the Risen Plegia's fault?
Chrom starts to move forward, saying "Emm! Hold on, I'm-"
"ARCHERS! If this Ylissean pup so much as twitches, let fly your arrows!" This stops Chrom in his tracks. Chrom stares at the Mad King with an expression that just says pure rage.
"I... I'll kill you!"
The Mad King laughs at this threat from Chrom and says smugly "Go ahead! I welcome it. Just know you were responsible for Big Sister's bloody demise! ...And what of the rest of you? Eh? Who wants the honor of killing the exalt? ...No one? Bah! Your merry band isn't quite so headstrong anymore, is it? Pathetic!"
"Damn you!"
"Now, now, my boy—no one needs die today. Not you. Not the exalt. Not your friends. Just lay down your sword, and give me the Fire Emblem."
Chrom opens his mouth but no words come out of it. He looks so conflicted right now.
"Chrom! You can't trust him!" The Robins say together, looks of fear on their faces.
"Of COURSE I can't trust him! I'm not an idiot! But if I just say no, he'll kill her! The gods are cruel, damn them! My sister or my duty... A problem with no right answer, yet I must choose-"
"No, wait!" echos around the grounds. The Exalt stands resolute and looks at Gangrel before saying, "King Gangrel, is there no hope you will listen to reason?"
The Mad King sighs and says, "You mean listen to more of your sanctimonious babble?! I think not. No, all I want to hear now is the THUNK of arrows, and a SPLAT as you hit the ground. Take one, long, last look from your perch. You do so enjoy looking down on people... Then prepare to meet the ground, and your maker! That is, unless someone were to give me the Emblem... NOW!" The Exalt simply stares at Gangrel before turning her attention to a fresh Plegian army arriving. The army simply stares at her in silence.
"ALL RIGHT! All right... Emm, I know you won't approve, but this is my final decision. MAYBE someday we'll face a crisis where MAYBE the Emblem would've helped... But I know for a fact that Ylisse needs you, today! The people need their exalt... And we need our sister. If those dark days should come, we'll face them together." Chrom says, sheathing Falchion and bringing out the Fire Emblem. Chrom starts to walk toward Gangrel before stopping when Emmeryn says, "Chrom... Th-thank you. I know now what I must do…"
Chrom looks at Emmeryn and asks, "Emm, what are you-"
"Plegians! I ask that you hear the truth of my words! War will win you nothing but sadness and pain, both inside your borders and out. Free yourselves from this hatred! From this cycle of pain and vengeance. Do what you must... As I will do. See now that one selfless act has the power to change the world!" When the Exalt said this, Chrom drops the Fire Emblem (It being quickly picked up by Frederick) and rushes toward Emmeryn. But before Chrom could reach the Exalt, his sister:
She jumps.
"Oh gods…" Is the first thing spoken when the Exalt finished her jump. Her sacrificial jump.
"DAMN YOU, GANGREL!" Is what Chrom says after seeing his sister's body.
"NOOOOOO!" was the only thing Lissa could say before collapsing in Jack's arms.
"Bwa ha ha haa! Well now! ...How disgustingly noble. And so lovely a fall! Here I thought death to be an ugly thing. I've never seen one fall so gracefully, in fact. ...And I've seen many fall. Ah... So ends Emmeryn, Ylisse's most exalted! But how can we ensure everyone remembers this beautiful moment of her sacrifice? Perhaps we should gather up her body and put it on display! Bwa ha ha…" The Mad King says, stroking his chin like a person examining an art piece does. That motherfucking piece of shit! I want Chrom to rip his throat out with his fucking teeth and shove his fist up Gangrel's ass! But before Chrom could even get to Gangrel, the Khans come rushing in.
"No, boy! I secured and escape route! We have to flee!" says the West Khan, Basilio is his name.
"B-but...her body... I have to…" Chrom stutters out.
"You have to RUN! Now do it! Robins! Don't let him do anything stupid!" The Robins grab Chrom and drag him to our retreating army. Suddenly, an entire army of Risen appears, blocking off our escape route. We prepare ourselves for one desperate charge until something strange happens.
The reinforcing Plegian army charges and attacks the Risen. The only thing said between the two armies was "Go! We give our lives for the sacrifice!" It was only thanks to them that we escaped.
But nothing can change the fact that she jumped.
So. I finally got my dorm room gassed so I am now able to finish this chapter. A chapter of a seven review, lame fanfiction story. But hey; you guys still read this so I better keep posting stuff. I hope to get back into the speed of things now. Now I am going to go play some retro Fire Emblem and then write the next chapter. So go have fun reading something better. Bye.
