Book 1: A dragon flaps its wings
Chapter 4: Meetings
15th day of the Guardian Moon of Imperial Year 1176
xXx
The pair of feet were heard walking through the empty hallways of Garreg Mach while the first rays of the sun started to crawl into the depths of the stone buildings.
"I expect both of you to be at your best behaviour. Not many are granted the privilege of meeting Lady Rhea in person, much less in a private setting such as this." spoke the blonde knight Catherine as she led them to the Archbishop's Room. Her demeanour and character reminded Rean of the head of the Stahlritter, Duvalie the Swift with her almost obsessive level of loyalty.
"We are very thankful for this opportunity." the ashen haired man answered, as the group entered a stairway upwards. It had been less than a day since he had awoken on this day, but from his awakening until now Crow had given him the rundown of the situation they had found themselves in. "We are thankful to you and the Church for coming to aid in our time of need."
"The Church of Seiros teaches its followers the value of life. As long as you are no enemy of the Goddess or the Church, there is no reason to treat you any differently from any other person." The end of the stairway came into view and with it a female figure.
"Oh Shamir?" Rean immediately heard the playful tone in Crow's voice, his friend moved a few paces ahead of him. "Couldn't wait to see me again?"
"You know her?" Rean asked, surprised.
"What can I say?" Crow shrugged "Being a heartbreaker is the fate of any handsome devil like myself." Crow answered in a playful tone. "Isn't that right, Shamir?"
His answer was a throwing knife being thrown near his face, but in a flash Crow caught the blade and started twirling the knife between his fingers in a playful manner.
"Well, it is courageous for a devil to step inside the holy ground of the church, Crow." Shamir answered, with a small smile on her lips. "Wasn't that the first thing you should have learned?"
"Damn, so those were the classes I skipped out on." Crow laughed, twirling the knife faster than before he flipped it and caught it by it's blade between his fingers and thumb. "On the other hand, I know about a female devil that would see that as a challenge." The Azure Awakener walked the last few steps and offered the archer her knife back. "And believe me, she is on a whole other level. It is said that she is capable of charming any female with just one look."
Rean couldn't suppress the chuckle that built up in his throat. Images of the chase in Raquel entered his mind, where he together with his former teacher Sara and Crow's friend Angelica had entered a young couples' home chasing after an informant, if he remembered correctly the two inhabitants had still argued about Angelica the following day.
"Are they ready yet?" Catherine asked, taking back control over the situation.
"Yes." Shamir followed. "Lady Rhea is expecting our guests in the audience chambers." Before either Rean or Crow could make a step, the knight turned around. "One last reminder, Lady Rhea is the Archbishop of the Church of Seiros. Please treat her with the appropriate level of respect." After these words, she stepped towards the giant door and knocked in a strong yet respectful manner. "...You may enter."
xXx
The door opened and the two Erebonian men followed behind Catherine and Shamir into the Audience chamber behind. The last few moments before they crossed over the door step their eyes took in as much of the room as possible, but the moment they had entered the chamber, their eyes rested on the person sitting at a table near the terrace. By Rean's best estimate the woman who stood there appeared to be in her early thirties, maybe even in her late twenties. Her dress, a blue and golden mantle over a white dress. To the Ashen Chevalier her outfit conveyed the look of being humble but still ornate enough to give her a look of importance, staring straight ahead he met her eyes. A series of complex emotions shown in her eyes, many of which he was familiar with.
"I'm happy to see that both of you are well.'' The voice of the archbishop was warm, but not without a certain edge. "I am Rhea, the Archbishop of the Church of Seiros. Let me welcome you to Garreg Mach Monastery."
Both Rean and Crow bowed down. "We thank you and your monastery for everything you have done for us." Rean answered. "My name is Rean Schwarzer. I am a teacher from Thors Military Academy Branch Campus from the Erebonian empire."
"And my name is Crow Armbrust. I'm his assistant, also from Erebonia."
"The Erebonia Empire?" Rhea asked. "I hope you forgive me, but I have never heard of such a place."
Crow laughed, falling back on his natural charm. "Don't sweat it, there is nothing to be ashamed of. The Empire of Erebonia lies far beyond the sea. As such, we also have to apologize, since we haven't heard about Fodlan before either."
Another figure stepped out from the shadows behind the woman. "Then allow me to ask you, what brings you to these lands? Given your words it seems to me that you didn't plan to come here at all."
"Please, Seteth." Rhea spoke towards the man that had just spoken. "Our guests have just recovered. We shouldn't assume that they are enemies."
"Lady Rhea, I insist, that…"
"Your friend is right however, Lady Rhea." The two members of the church turned their attention towards the young man who had spoken. "We are strangers to you, from a foreign land with a different culture and religion it would be strange if he were to accept us so readily without asking any questions. Neither of us will hold his...need for caution against him."
Seteth eyes rested on Rean. "Those are some very dangerous words you just spoke, young man." he replied. "You may speak of understanding and forgiveness, but these words could very easily be turned against you if you aren't careful."
"Then we best not give you a reason too" chimed in Crow.
Before Seteth could respond Rhea interjected. "Seteth, these two are our guests." she admonished him.
"Forgive me, Lady Rhea." With these words he stepped back behind the archbishop. "You already have shown that you hold no ill will towards him, but please, allow me to apologize once more in his name." the green-haired woman turned towards her guests again. After seeing both Crow and Rean nodding, she smiled. "I'm glad that you two are kind individuals. I'm sure the Goddess will smile upon you. But I must admit that I too am curious about the circumstances that lead you here."
Rean sighed. "Unfortunately, we don't understand our situation ourselves." he began, starting to tell the two representatives of the Church of Seiros his and his friend's story.
xXx
The wind roared passed him while he ascended into the sky. Rean's eyes were fixed on the blue above. The last words of his friends rang in his ears, their disbelief, their hopelessness. But he couldn't look back. Looking back down, back at the outlines of his companions, it would cost him the last of his courage.
He heard the screams of his friends and students. Elliot, his first friend at Thors, a boy with a profound love of music. Gaius, his friend from Nord who approached life with a calm and open mind. Jusis & Machias, his friends who were complete opposites and yet almost totally alike, who both grew and learned from each other despite what they would say. Alisa, the first person he met from Class VII and despite the many hiccups at the start they grew to be good friends. Emma and Fie, both were incredibly secretive and in Fie's case closed off at the start but despite that they eventually opened themselves up to him and his classmates. And finally Laura, his girlfriend of 2 years and as of yesterday his fiancé, the girl he had dreamed of starting his own family with... but in the end, he was the Sacrifice. And this role was his to play.
"You can still turn back."
Ishmelga's dark presence still pushed against his thoughts, trying to break through his will.
"With me by your side you can protect them from everything that tries to harm them. Nothing will be able to stand in your way with my power at your command. You've heard their pleas. They want you with them down below, not here, dying alone."
Rean looked sideways and silenced Ishmelga behind a wall of iron will. Silently two other figures flew with him, rising further and further. The Ashen Chevalier was thankful that both Crow and Millium were accompanying him on this last journey. Both victims of Ishmelga's machinations, who had haunted the empire for generations. And a reminder of what would happen if he would give in to Ishmelga's false promises.
"Unknown power source detected." The mechanical voice of Valimar, his Divine Knight, pulled him out of his thoughts. "What the…?" The Ashen Awakener looked around, but he couldn't see anything. Instead, he noticed Ordine pulling out his weapon, an azure-coloured double-saber.
"Rean…" Crow's voice came over the communication system. "I assume that Valimar informed you too. So, here's the plan. Whatever happens, don't stop. Don't even slow down. I will handle everything that comes our way."
"Understood." The younger man replied. Their goal was clear and this was a journey with no return. They both knew that and every other word would have been meaningless. Suddenly, a strange pulse washed over them. It felt strange, like time and space seemed to stop for one moment. Then another one. and another. The ascend of the two Divine Knights slowed down and stopped.
"What's going on?" Millium panicked voice resounded in Valimar's cockpit.
Crow followed shortly: "I don't get it. There is nothing blocking our path and yet, we still can't move. Ordine, any update on that…?"
His question was interrupted by a strong tremor going through the Divine Knight and red lights going off inside of his cockpit. On the edge of his vision, Rean noticed something move and then Valimar started shaking and spiralling as well. "What's going on?" the Awakener called out to his Knight. "Something has grabbed me. It pulls me somewhere." The spiralling increased in intensity forcing Rean to lose his focus. An opportunity that Ishmelga used immediately.
"Seems like your plan failed, human. If you would have listened to me, you could have prevented this fate."
He felt the presence leaving, a dark cloud of malice forming on the chest of the Ashen Knight.
"Valimar!"
"Understood!" The giant robot grabbed the body hidden inside the cloud, while Rean tried his best to reign the malice back inside of him. He couldn't let Ishmelga escape.
"Let go! wretched human. If you don't want my power, then I will simply look for another one of your kind!"
"As if." Rean countered, sweat forming on his forehead. "You will die with me, right here and right now."
"Your fate is sealed. But not mine. I will survive!"
It seemed like the cloud had attached itself to something, but suddenly another robot intervened.
"Not on my watch." Crow used his weapon to sever the hold that the cloud had on the invisible being. Rean noticed how the severed part was thrown around as well before disappearing out of his vision.
"Annoying pests! Get lost!"
Ishmelga sent out a blast of his energy, sending another strong tremor through the two robots and threw them of course. But Valimar was still holding onto him.
"Disappear!"
Something else slammed into Valimar, disorienting Rean for a moment. As his vision swam, he thought he saw a young girl atop a stone throne looking at him. "Hold onto him, Valimar." he managed to say, before he was thrown around like a ragdoll and darkness overtook him...
xXx
"And when we woke up, we found ourselves here." The Erebonian man finished his tale.
For a moment, there was silence in the room, before Seteth started to speak. "This is quite a fantastical tale you've got there. But you can't expect us to believe this, especially since some of your claims can be seen as heretical. For example, your claim that your 'Divine Knights' stem from a gift granted by a goddess called Aidios, that alone would put you at odds against the Church of Seiros." He squinted a little, while putting as much authority as he could into the next question "So, why tell us such a tale?"
"Because we don't think that you are stupid." Crow was the one to respond. "And we have much more knowledge than you might expect, even without stepping outside of the monastery." On his face was his trademark smirk, like he dared the man in front of him to challenge that statement.
Seteth however turned around "Lady Rhea? As the Archbishop of the Church of Seiros it will be your decision on how we will handle these guests."
For a moment Rhea let her gaze rest on both Rean and Crow, before she gave her answer. "You claim that it would be foolish to dismiss your story as nothing but fiction. And you seem quite sure of yourself that we would believe you while also claiming that you may possess more information than we know. Why is that?"
"Because of the connection between an Awakener and a Divine Knight." Crow revealed. "Since I woke up, I've already talked with Ordine a little bit." Seeing the look in the eyes of the soldiers around him, he added "Telepathically."
"We know that you already met another person in our little group, Millium." Rean took over. "And given our sudden appearance, our strange attire and our Divine Knights it is more than likely that you already interrogated her. We may not know how thorough your interrogation with her went, but I think that her story was pretty similar to ours. And since we were treated in a hospital instead of a dungeon, it doesn't seem like you disregarded Millium's story. Adding all these factors together and we decided to put our trust in you and come clean."
"And yet, it seemed like you lied to us at the beginning." Seteth noted. "You claimed to hail from an Empire behind the sea, but from the story you just told us, this isn't true, right?" His eyes rested on the two men before him, looking for any sign of dishonesty."
"Well, we had to be sure that you as the leaders of this Monastery were trustworthy, too." Rean revealed. "Even with all the hints showing that you might believe us, nothing was set in stone. As such, we decided to be careful during our first answers. Only after we were sure that we could put our trust in you, we came clean."
"Damn, and here I thought your good behavior would stop you from lying, Rean? Did Crow corrupt you at last?" The boisterous voice of a girl resounded through the hall. From a hidden corner in the back of the room the ghostly form of a girl wearing a blue and white uniform with a fitting beret. "What's up, you two?" Millium Orion greeted the two men with a smile and a peace sign.
"It seems your description of these two were correct, Miss Orion." Rhea greeted the spirit with a smile on her face, which earned her a big grin from the young girl.
"See, I told you, that you can trust me, granny."
Crow couldn't help but laugh at the shocked faces of everyone in the room. While Rhea seemed surprised by Millium's name for her, Rean hiding his own embarrassment by burying his face in his hand, Seteth trying to admonish her and the knights seemingly ready to pull their weapons for the open show of disrespect it felt like he was back at home.
Thankfully, Rhea recovered really quickly from this and managed to bring order back into the room. "So, you assume that Ishmelga is still alive and hiding somewhere in Fodlan?" she asked to bring the conversation back on track.
"Yes."
"And what would you suggest we should do?" she enquired.
"Prepare for him." Rean silently said. "Ishmelga is powerful as long as he can act from the shadows. But to reach his goal, he and his followers will have to step into the light someday. And once this day comes, you will need everything you have to prevent a war of cataclysmic proportions."
"So, you expect us to raise an army?" Seteth sounded sceptical. "You seem to misunderstand something, Mr. Schwarzer. The Knights of Seiros are a protective force, not soldiers to start a war with."
"A war is coming, if you want it or not." Crow countered. "Ishmelga aspires through conflict. He will use his powers to start those wherever he can, especially since conflict allows him to grow stronger. With his appearance here the time before a great conflict started ticking. And there is nothing you can do about it."
"What if we tell the people about Ishmelga then?" Catherine asked. "Basically, warn them from his dark influence while also getting many more eyes looking out for him."
Rean shook his head. "Ishmelga is a very patient being. He once waited over 200 years just to get one thing that he wanted. And then there is no guarantee that he will be found even if all of Fodlan looks for him. He is a crafty manipulator after all."
"So, your suggestion is to prepare for a war." Rhea muttered. "A war we don't know when or where it will happen no less. And if we make one misstep, then many lives will be lost."
"You have two advantages though." Rean tried to reassure the archbishop. "For one, you already know about Ishmelga and his plan. This gives you time to prepare. And secondly, both Crow and myself will support you to the extent of your abilities."
"And we possess what Ishmelga is after. He will come for us." Crow added.
"This means that you will be a bait." Rhea muttered, seemingly lost in thought.
"Lady Rhea?" Seteth asked, his face showed his concern for the woman.
For a moment, all eyes rested on the archbishop, while she was silent. Finally, she raised her head. "Mister Schwarzer, Mister Armbrust. I have decided to put my faith in you and believe your tale." she declared. "We will prepare for Ishmelga and this war you warned us about. And as a first step, Catherine."
"Yes!" the named knight stepped forward.
"Might I ask for a demonstration of your power, Mister Schwarzer? You fought against Ishmelga once before, so your strength should be a good way to see what kind of power we are up against."
"I understand and I humbly accept." Rean replied, his sight crossing with Catherine. There was a fire in her eyes, a promise that she would give it everything she had. And the Ashen Chevalier knew that he would reply in kind.
