It was midday when the Shepherds arrived to Plegia's capital. The capital was like a whole new world for them. The streets' floor was made of bricks, instead of stones like in Ylisstol. The houses also were made from a different material, it was like clay. Not much people could be seen outside, it almost seemed like a ghost town.
"Where are all the people? This is deserted, metaphorical and literally speaking" Inigo spoke as they were walking in the streets.
"You really don't know? Plegia is in a state of emergency. There had been diverse attacks of crazy people trying to kill everyone. Now the people are hiding in their homes, they are afraid that anyone could attack them" Anna answered.
"That's horrible" commented Morgan, worried that one day he could become that.
"It is obvious that the capital would be in crisis, after all, this is the source of the curse" Laurent said.
As they walked, the teenagers saw some Plegians watching them from the windows of their homes. They were dedicating some suspicious glances.
"They know that we are outsiders" Noire muttered with fear. She was feeling uncomfortable with the attention.
"Don't look distressed. Otherwise, they'll think that we are up to something" Kjelle whispered to Noire.
Anna and the Shepherds stopped by an inn. There, they left their carriage and horses and stored their belongs in the rooms that they rented. Anna promised to take care of their things since she was staying there for a while.
After preparing themselves, everyone headed to the library that Henry told Inigo about. All the teenagers brought with them their respective weapons as Inigo ordered. The commander of the Shepherds had a bad feeling about their next stop.
They walked through the empty streets of Plegia. They even crossed the market street, that only had like 6 stalls, and the merchants didn't seem friendly. At the end of the market was located Plegia's palace. It was huge and glorious. The golden domes of the palace shone with the sunlight. Inigo noticed that the palace didn't have any barrier that separated it with the city, unlike his castle.
But the palace wasn't their objective, so the Shepherds surrounded it. A few blocks away, they found the library. It was a big building, half the size of the palace. The library was made of brown blocks and its decoration was mesmerizing.
"Amazing, the details in the craftmanship are exquisite" Laurent mentioned.
"Do you think they'll allow dogs in the library?" a worried Noire asked.
"Imagine how many books are in there, I hope we get some time to read" Cynthia said.
"Guys, remember that we have a job in here" Inigo reminded everyone.
The Shepherds climbed a couple of stairs to get to the main doors. It was a couple of big wooden doors. Inigo approached them to knock, but he realized that the doors were open.
"I guess we can come in" Inigo said.
The teenagers went inside the building. As soon as they entered, they noticed a change in the temperature. The air was cold inside. The environment was ominous. The main corridor was dark, just a few torches were illuminating the place. There could be seen a great number of door frames and stairs.
"Hello" Owain shouted and his voice made echo.
There was no answer.
"I guess nobody is at home" commented Brady.
"Maybe we can return later?" proposed Kjelle.
"No, we have to find answers now" ordered Inigo.
Inigo faced everyone. "Let's make teams and look for the librarian. I'll go with Noire and Morgan. Severa, Cynthia, Brady, and Gerome can be a team. Kjelle, Owain, and Laurent will be the other team" he ordered.
Inigo's team went to the second floor, Severa's team stayed in the main floor, and Kjelle's team went to the basement.
The second floor was the same as the first floor. Inigo's team was walking through the corridor.
"This is scary" Noire said with fear while hugging Jake.
"Don't worry, Noire, everything is going to be okay" Morgan reassured her.
"Let's inspect each room" Inigo ordered.
And so they did. They spend a lot of time searching in each room they passed by. In each room were lots of books and strolls. They even got to inspect some of the books.
Then, they arrived to a larger room.
"If think this is the biggest one of all" Noire exclaimed while putting down Jake, so he could get some walk.
Inigo approached to a bookshelf. He read all the names of the books.
"All this knowledge, we don't have this on Ylisse, and they don't have our knowledge" he commented, then he looked at Morgan. "Could you imagine how our world could be if we shared more instead of fight?" he questioned his tactician.
"I certainly can. Unfortunately, things are not that easy" Morgan answered.
Suddenly, Morgan felt dizzy. And then, he started to hear a voice calling him. The dizziness made him rest on the bookshelf.
"Are you okay, buddy?" asked a worried Inigo while placing his hand on Morgan's arm.
"I don't know" answered Morgan, still listening the mysterious voice coming from a dark aisle.
"Morgan?" Noire asked him, but the tactician couldn't see where she was.
Morgan was just focused on the dark aisle, and Inigo was watching into that direction too, trying to decipher what was his friend seeing.
"Morgan… Morgan…" each time the voice sounded closer.
From the darkness it seemed like someone was coming out, but Morgan couldn't distinguish who was.
"Brats! What are you doing in my library!" they heard a mature voice screaming at them.
The three teenagers looked at the doorframe of the room and saw an old man. The old man had white hair and a long bear. All the wrinkles indicated that he was in an advanced age. He was using a black tunic and he was holding a candle.
Rapidly, Inigo straightened out and approached the old man.
"You must be Sebastian, right? I swear you sir, we didn't come here to cause trouble" Inigo spoke.
"I don't believe you! You guys came here to fool around!" the old man continued screaming.
"No, we didn't! We came because of this!" Morgan exclaimed. He somehow managed to stand up and walk towards the old man and Inigo. He put off his glove and showed his mark to Sebastian.
Sebastian recognized that mark immediately. As soon as he saw it, he started to laugh like a maniac.
"So you are doomed like me, boy. Like everyone who was destined to resurrect Grima" the old man said between laughs.
"This is no funny, we are looking for a cure!" exclaimed Inigo, at this point he was terrified.
All of sudden, Sebastian stopped laughing and he gave a deadly serious glance at everyone.
"There is no cure for anyone who stands against Grima" he said, his eyes had a purple glow.
Jake started to bark uncontrollably. He was looking at the same aisle that Morgan was looking before. The three teenagers looked at the dog and saw how two figures came out from the aisle.
The two figures seemed to be human, but they were completely dark. No eyes, no mouth, and no nose.
"Jake come here!" Noire shouted at her dog. The dog obeyed her.
"What are those?" asked Inigo, he couldn't believe his eyes.
The two figures abruptly charged against them.
"We can't stay and figure it out, let's go!" Morgan exclaimed.
The three teenagers started to run. They had to pass by Sebastian in order to get to the corridor. The old man didn't do a thing when they passed by him. In the corridor, the Shepherds headed to the stairs, but another two strange figures blocked their path.
"We have to fight" said Inigo while drawing his sword.
Morgan took Noire's talisman from his pocket and threw it at her.
"It is time to get savage" Morgan told Noire. The girl looked confused for a moment, but quickly placed Jake on her bag, and then she focused into her talisman.
Morgan also took his Elthunder tome.
"Inigo, you and I will dispatch the ones that are blocking the stairs. Let's leave Noire with the other two that are following us" Morgan ordered.
"Whatever you say" accepted Inigo.
Inigo and Morgan charged against the two figures in the stairs. Meanwhile, Noire was still focusing on her talisman. She closed her eyes for a moment, then heard the other two figures approaching her and her eyes opened with a diabolic glance.
"YOU BEASTS! YOU'LL PAY FOR YOUR INSOLENCE!" she screamed while drawing her bow and shooting at them. Each time she hit one, the figure would dissolve and then reincorporate again but far from where it was before.
"I'LL END YOU NO MATTER HOW MANY ARROWS I'LL HAVE TO USE!" Noire screamed in rage.
Inigo and Morgan had the same luck. Whenever Inigo hit a figure with his sword, the figure would dissolve and reincorporate farther. The same happened with Morgan and his tome.
"Let's repel them until we can go downstairs" Morgan commanded.
It took some hits more, but they managed to clear the area. The three teenagers found the adequate moment to go downstairs. They rushed towards the stairs and when they were close to their first floor, they could hear more fighting.
When Inigo, Morgan, and Noire arrived to the first floor, they saw all of their friends fighting against a bunch of dark figures.
"You are okay!" exclaimed Severa when she saw their comrades.
"We can't beat them! We have to escape!" Morgan shouted.
"We can't escape! They'll follow us!" Kjelle shouted back.
"Let's continue fighting and escape when they try to reincorporate" Morgan commanded.
Everyone agreed and continued fighting with all their strength. Inigo ran towards Severa and Owain who were surrounded by four figures. Noire kept her distance with everyone and shot any figure who snuck behind her friends. Gerome was using his axe. Cynthia and Kjelle were using lances. Laurent and Brady were using fire magic to repel the strange creatures.
It took some minutes to dispatch each enemy, and when they were recovering, the Shepherds didn't hesitate and ran away.
Everyone damned that the corridor was so long. They wanted to get out of that nightmare as soon as possible.
"Morgan…" the young tactician heard his name.
Morgan stopped immediately because he recognized the voice…
He was afraid to turn around and face her, but he had to…
So, he did, he turned and saw her there…
His mother standing at the end of the corridor.
"Mother?" he muttered; his eyes watered.
She was looking directly at him, her eyes calling for him. But Morgan couldn't move, and he could see all the black figures passing by his mother, coming for him.
Morgan felt a hand on his shoulder, he was abruptly turned around and saw Inigo.
"What are you doing? We have to escaped!" Inigo screamed at him.
But Morgan didn't react, so Inigo didn't have another option but pull him towards the exit. As they were running, Morgan started to run by himself.
They were almost in the exit when the doors opened.
"Get down!" a woman screamed.
The teenagers didn't know why, but they followed the order. They didn't saw who ordered that, but they saw dark magic pass over them and hit the dark figures. All the figures disappeared and didn't come back again.
Then, some sorcerers passed by them. All the sorcerers were eliminating the strange figures.
"Eliminate all the shadow people! And apprehend Sebastian! Make sure that he can't use his magic!" the same woman was giving orders to the sorcerers.
All the Shepherds got up, impressed by the sorcerers that were easily eliminating the menace.
"Look what we got here" they heard the same woman again, behind them.
The teenagers turned around and saw a beautiful woman. She had a long white hair, her face had some purple marks and, in her head rested a black spiked crown. She was wearing a revealing black dress that highlighted her great shape, and also, she had a long black cape with white details. In her hand she was holding a purple tome.
"You are Aversa, the queen" Inigo muttered.
"Yes, and you are Inigo, the prince of Ylisse" she answered back.
All the Shepherds felt busted with that statement.
Then, Aversa looked at Morgan.
"And you are Robin's son. Looks like it is my lucky day" she said with a fool smile.
"How do you know who we are?" Inigo asked in a demanding tone.
"It is easy. I can smell Naga's stink from fifty miles away" Aversa mocked Inigo.
"What are you going to do with us?" this time, it was Kjelle who asked in a hostile way.
"Wow, so much fierce in a girl, how cute. I'm planning to take you to my palace and offer you a nice meal and a good bed to rest" Aversa answered.
"Are we now your prisoners?" Cynthia asked, fearing the worst.
Aversa's playful semblance changed for one offended.
"I can't with this Ylisseans making of themselves the victims" she muttered to herself while placing her hand on her forehead.
When Aversa faced again the teenagers, she said in an irritated tone "No, I don't have any interest in making you my hostages, torturing you, or killing you. But if you can't trust me, you can go now. It doesn't matter at all."
The guys kept quiet for some moments. Looking to any part with an uncomfortable gaze. It was Inigo the first to talk again.
"I am sorry, queen Aversa. I hope you can excuse our behavior. We will gladly accompany you to your palace" he accepted Aversa's offer.
"Great. Then, shall we go?" Aversa said with a smile.
Thanks for reading!
Special thanks to:
YellowHello1: Thanks! I'm glad to see your comments as well. Now that Aversa is the queen, is up to her if Morgan can be a heritor or not.
Mysterious guest: It is so good to see your comments too, and I'm glad that you enjoyed the past chapter. Severa's subplot will be resolved in the next chapter. Walhart was also defeated by Chrom's army. And don't worry, you can keep your soul, I'm not planning something tragic for the dog. Thank you very much!
Vic: Yes, Morgan and Lucina have different mothers. Lucina and Inigo are Chrom and Olivia's children. And Morgan is Chrom and Robin's son. I hope you liked this chapter, thanks!