Chapter 12: Commander Vandham

Midterms are next week. Wish me luck.

So like I said in the previous chapter, I'm currently putting some outlines together for some new Xenoblade stories. One is up already and I think that one is fine but I'd like some input on another one of those ideas. Basically it takes place in Morytha as if Klaus' experiment never happened. Because of that, I'm going to use regular 2 characters in the story.

The main idea of this story is that Brandon and Nia are going to be on opposite sides of the war but are in a relationship. The idea comes from a Korean movie of a similar concept where the guy is a South Korean agent while the girl is a North Korean spy where neither side knows who the other actually is but are genuinely in love. No honeypot trick there. The question is: should neither person know that the other is on the other side exactly like the movie, or should only one person know and is a spy who infiltrated the ranks of the other?

I'm personally leaning towards the second because I think it could be a more interesting story with better character dynamics as one person tries to keep their identity secret, but the first could work just as well. Let me know what you guys think. Or just what you think of my stuff in general. I haven't gotten any reviews in months so I have no idea if I'm doing good or bad.

…

Brandon was panicking, his chest heaving from hyperventilation as he fell towards the Cloud Sea. He plummeted in and immediately swam down, trying to get as far away from the monstrous orbital weapon that had slaughtered so many of his comrades as he could. He felt a hand on his shoulder and he screamed, precious breath floating away from him in big air bubbles.

Rex spun him around and pressed an emergency air canister to his lips. Brandon gratefully took in a few deep breaths as he tried to calm down. Rex nodded and pointed up, helping Brandon swim up.

Brandon gasped as he surfaced, his head swiveling wildly in search for the Artifice.

"It's gone, it's gone," Rex reassured Brandon, treading water… treading clouds to keep afloat despite his bulky salvaging gear, "it flew off after it hit Gramps."

"Gramps? GRAMPS!" Brandon exclaimed, panic resurfacing.

"Okay, don't panic, but he's fine… mostly."

"What the hell do you mean mostly? He was hit by that weapon. He-"

Rex pointed. Brandon spun himself around in the clouds to see Gramps floating in the Cloud Sea with a shredded wing. It wasn't bleeding, the energy weapon having cauterized the wound instantly even as it tore through Titan flesh. Brandon swam over, navigating around fallen items with Rex right behind him.

"Gramps! Are you okay?" Brandon cursed. What a stupid question, obviously he wasn't okay.

"I'll live," the Titan grimaced, or his best approximation of the human facial expression at any rate, "I'm not going to be so obstinate to say that I am fine, however."

Shit, speaking of, "Rex! What about Pyra, Nia-"

"We're here." Pyra called. Brandon swam to the side a bit to see Pyra on Gramp's back. He couldn't make out Nia or Dromarch but the blue green glow of a healing Blade indicated that they were on board doing their best.

Brandon and Rex swam over and were helped up out of the Clouds by Pyra and Dromarch. Brandon ran over behind to inspect the damage to Gramps' wing up close.

"It's not good," Nia said from her squatted position on the side overlooking Gramps' damaged wing, not looking up from her task. "Gramps may lose functionality in this wing completely. I'm no Titan expert though. We need to get him to a proper doctor."

"He'll…"

"He'll live," Nia nodded, "but."

"But…?"

Nia stood up and turned around, pressing a finger into Brandon's chest. "But what the hell was that? Clearly you know what that thing is or you wouldn't have reacted like that. I don't care about whatever thing you have about not wanting to talk about things, I draw the line when our lives are at stake!"

"I didn't know it would be there otherwise I'd have never gone within a thousand kilometers of the thing," Brandon said as he swatted Nia's hand away, "you want to know why I don't talk about shit? It's because things like that were commonplace during the war. I watched as they disintegrated thousands of people at a time. Excuse me for not wanting to talk about that."

"Warnin' would have been nice. You could have-"

"Why would I have given you warning? I thought they were either all destroyed or inactive. How the fuck would I have known one of these things was guarding the World Tree?"

"I dunno, maybe since-" Nia was cut off by Pyra putting a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry," Pyra said, "I knew that Artifice Ophion was still active. I didn't realize it would be guarding the World Tree nor that it would be so aggressive. It's my fault."

The scowl lines on Nia's face vanished, "no, I- Don't apologize."

"What, so it's fine if it's P-"

"Okay," Rex interjected, jabbing Brandon's side… hard. Brandon bit back his response and moved to the side to nurse the rapidly forming bruise, which Nia pointed looked at then did nothing about.

"We're all angry… or well, two of you are. You should take a moment to calm down while Gramps slowly makes his way to a Titan for a doctor."

"I can still swim just as fast as before," Gramps said gruffly, "a wing does not affect that. I would like to add that I do not blame any of you." He finished, his voice lowering a tad.

"Uh guys-"

"What part of calm down did you not understand?" Rex sighed.

"No… that!" He pointed up.

"Wha-"

A low wale like sound pierced the air, interrupting Rex's question. He turned around to see the massive maw of the Titan of Uraya opening up and surrounding them, swallowing them whole.

Nia winced as pain lanced through her arm as she got up. She quickly lifted a hand to heal the broken appendage, then quickly looked around to see if anyone spotted her doing so. Guilt immediately flooded her as concern for her friends came to the forefront of her mind.

She spotted Rex shaking himself off and helping Pyra to her feet in the distance. Dromarch was conversing with Gramps. Okay, they looked mostly unhurt, wait… where was Brandon?

Shit shit shit. Surely he wasn't…

She looked around, scanning her surroundings and she quickly made out the fallen form of Brandon. She rushed over and as she got a clearer view, she saw his legs crushed under his own escape pod. In a rare moment of abandon, heaved the pod off of his legs. She winced at the mangled state of his legs, which would normally be crushed beyond repair. Honestly, she might have vomited if she wasn't so desensitized to major wounds.

Guiltily, she checked to make sure that Brandon was unconscious before she started to heal him with her own powers, the healing far surpassing what could be achieved even by Dromarch. She covered the light on her chest with a hand, the stupid thing shone out like a beacon when using her powers. She felt lucky that her jumpsuit could at least cover her Ether lines.

Once Brandon's legs were out of the danger zone, she cut her powers off and switched over to Dromarch's to mend the simpler broken bones and bruises.

"Brandon!" Rex skid across the ground, coming to a stop. "Nia, is he alright?"

"Yeah, he took a bad fall but he'll be alright. A few broken bones but that's it."

Rex shook his head, "to hear you say a few broken bones as if it were no big deal is scary."

"Well it isn't. He'll wake up not feeling a thing." Nia dismissed casually, though internally she was calming down the last of her fear. "Don't underestimate the power of a healin' Blade." She gestured over to Dromarch's Core Crystal which was shining with power.

Rex nodded, "noted. What happened to him?"

"The cylinder thing bounced off of his legs. Broke both his legs, as well as a few ribs from the fall as well as a few other fall related injuries. Again though, he'll be fine."

Brandon groaned, his eyes fluttering open to prove her point. "Ugh, what happened?"

"The Urayan Titan's eaten us," Nia said, "we're in its mouth somewhere, seems like there's no one here except for us and a bunch of shipwrecks."

Brandon shivered, "I hope no bodies. Is everyone alright?"

"Yeah, you were the worst out of us bein' the only normal human and all. You'd have spent months recoverin' from that if not for me." Nia said, a little bit of pride shining through, though she refrained from mentioning that he'd have completely lost his legs if it weren't for her. The implied request for a thank you hung in the air.

Brandon mumbled something.

Nia grinned, fully hearing it but wanting to milk it, "what was that? I didn't hear you." She teasingly cupped a hand over her human ear while her cat ears flicked towards Brandon.

"Thank you." He huffed, "you seem to have forgotten your gripes with me fast."

"Yeah well, seein' someone's lifeless body on the ground can make you forget any grievances real quick."

Brandon looked away, unable to meet her eyes. "I'm sorry. And thank you, really."

The honesty of it made Nia blush a bit, "don't mention it."

Brandon grunted as Rex helped him up. "Is Gramps…?"

"He's no worse off than before. But I'm not so sure he should move right now."

"Then what should we do?"

Rex hummed in thought, "how about this. Someone should stay back and keep an eye on Gramps and someone should go and look for a doctor. I vote that me, Pyra, and Dromarch stay behind, you two go and find a doctor."

"What? Why that combination? If anything, Nia should stay to make sure Gramps' condition doesn't get worse."

"Well, I think Dromarch can handle that if something happens. But we need someone who has a decent understanding of Gramps' condition in order to explain the situation. Plus you two work together well and it would be risky to send someone out alone."

Brandon sighed, "alright. And I suppose you're not going out yourself because you don't want to draw attention with the Aegis."

Rex nodded.

"Ugh, alright. I guess I should get equipped first. Nia, you good with that plan?"

"Yeah."

Brandon felt weighed down despite the fact that it had really only been a few days since he'd worn his full set of gear. It wasn't even that much really: his vambraces, salvager's anchor, a holster with a replacement pistol nestled inside, and his backpack. Well technically he was used to having way more weaponry on him but he was also used to wearing his armor around into battle.

Nia walked beside him, hands behind her head and whistling a tune as they strolled along. Her own weapons consisted of her twin ring Blade Weapons and the line of daggers on her belt. Brandon wondered about that. There were a surprising number of Drivers and Blades who went around wearing extra weapons but almost never used them. They could both generate new Blade weapons even if they're broken by an enemy Driver or Blade so there was really no point in weighing yourself down with extra stuff. Nia, sure, he'd seen her use the knives hunting at least. But Brighid? She wore a short sword on her belt and he had no idea what she would use that for.

Nia glanced over at him and smirked as she traced over where he was looking, "see something you like?"

"Yeah," he said as he made eye contact and didn't break away, not blushing and falling for the bait, "your daggers. They're really high quality stuff huh."

"I… yeah."

"It's fine if you don't want to talk about it."

Nia shook her head, "no. I still owe you an explanation. Would also be a bit hypocritical of me to give nothin' after that entire tirade I threw at you." She fidgeted with her hair for a moment, "my father was a lord of Echell. He… he was one of the best da's I could have asked for. But I… my sister was sickly. He spent his entire fortune, even his status as a lord, tryin' to find a cure for her. These were a gift for a birthday a while ago before all of that."

Brandon nodded. She said earlier that her sister was dead, so it was probably safe to assume that her father was the same. No wonder it was hard for her to bring it up, it sounded like she really loved her family.

"Nia, I-"

"Oi, you there." A loud voice interrupted him. "Do I know you from somewhere?"

Brandon focused up to see a trio of Drivers and Blade pairs. A bulky Urayan man with white hair and an x shaped scar on his face led the group with a bipedal bird-like Blade beside him. He stood at an easy two meters at minimum. The green armor he wore only accentuated the fact. The two following behind were relatively unremarkable in comparison along with their common Blades.

"You," the large man pointed to Nia, "your face is familiar to me."

Nia shared a worried glance with Brandon, "I've never been to Uraya before."

"No, I've definitely… Torna."

Shit. They've been cleared in any Ardanian provinces thanks to Morag, but not in Uraya. If these guys were mercs, which is what they looked like, they'd probably try to bring in Nia for a large reward.

Maybe he could bluff his way out. "If it's about the money-"

"HA! I'd bring you in even without the reward. Torna's a blight on this world. You've killed some of my men. Good people."

Brandon looked at Nia who shook her head. It was enough for him. "Look. I'm not… we're not part of Torna now. We haven't killed any of your people and we're not looking for trouble."

"That's rich, you try bribing your way out then claim to not be involved." The man drew twin scythe weapons as his Blade powered up. "Yew, Zuo, take care of that sorry excuse for a man. I'll take the girl."

"Sir?"

"She's the one on the poster. Means she's the one on the front fighting which means she's stronger. He's either a new recruit, a guy in the chair, or some sorry muck she's tricked into helping her."

"Understood boss."

Brandon cursed as the Driver pair expertly moved into position to separate him from Nia. They've done this before which was not good. He wasn't good in a head to head melee, especially not versus Drivers, and especially not outnumbered.

He sighed, lifting his fists and activating his vambraces to unfold gloves onto his hands, making them effectively gauntlets. Brandon stepped back, avoiding the probing thrusts from the lancer.

Potential strategies flashed through his mind. Currently, he was at a disadvantage in most things, he lacked numbers, strength, and range. Theoretically, however, he had mobility over them. If he could get in close, neither would be able to actually get the sharp ends of their weapons near him.

He spared a moment to get a glimpse of Nia's own battle. It was hard to tell what was going on exactly but it was clear that Nia was being pressed to her limits, her chakrams flying around as deadly boomerangs as often as they were in her hands to parry strikes. Compared to the merc, Nia's movements were swift and fluid, making use of her smaller stature to weave between the heavy strikes of her opponent.

Another attack by his own opponents drew Brandon back to himself. Unlike Nia's graceful movements, his clumsy movements barely let him dodge a stab at his sternum. He sidestepped into his opponents guard and grabbed the weapon, making sure to keep this combatant in between himself and the other. He yanked and pulled the Driver forward and held out a fist, letting the momentum drive it home into his opponent's stomach.

He then twisted, and threw the Driver at his friend and backed up to make some space. He shook his head, normally with this kind of advantage he should press it further but he wasn't looking to kill these people.

The Drivers shook themselves off and split up, surrounding him on both sides. He slowly backed up, trying to avoid a full three sixty surround. It still wasn't a good position though, they were making sure he couldn't pull the same trick again and he was being forced towards a wall.

He raised an arm, wincing as the Blade lance pinged off of his gauntlet. He swung his other fist to knock the weapon further away from himself and lashed out further with said arm to fire off the salvager's anchor. The weighted end went past one of the Drivers and Brandon flexed his arm to make it spin around and snag his leg in the rope.

He pulled, knocking the Driver off of his feet as he disengaged the wire to try the avoid the next incoming slash but reacted just slightly too slow and took a slash to the ribs. He gasped in pain and staggered backwards, clutching the wound while retreating.

A chakram flying through the air drew Brandon's attention to Nia, who was also being driven backwards slowly, though she was putting up a hell of a better fight than he was. "Nia!" He cried out in concern, seeing her take a particularly nasty cut to her arm.

She spared him a glance, though she was too far away for him to make out any real facial expressions. She suddenly pushed aggressively, her twin rings lashing out in precision horizontal strikes and forcing the bulky man to take a step back to block her hits. Nia then suddenly jumped back and flung her chakrams at the Drivers attacking Brandon then made some space to heal her bleeding wound.

The Drivers broke off, blocking the chakrams that seemed to fly through the air with a mind of their own. Brandon took that moment to launch a surprise attack, landing blows onto the backs of the Drivers, turning his taser knuckles on to stun them to the ground.

The chakrams returned to Nia's hand just in time to block the next set of attacks by her opponent. Brandon ran forward to try to help her out but was tackled from behind by a Blade and was pinned to the ground. He felt a bead of sweat run down his face as a Blade weapon was placed down next to his neck.

"Give it up girly," the bulky man said, "or your friend gets it."

"Don't hurt him," Nia hissed and immediately depowered her weapons, slinging them on her belt and raising her hands in surrender. They glowed, though the man didn't make a move to stop her, as she healed both herself and Brandon, though the process took much longer thanks to her distance to Dromarch.

"Ha! I was expecting more resistance. Perhaps you mucks aren't Torna after all!" He grinned, "name's Vandham by the way."

Brandon narrowed his eyes, watching the man's body language carefully. "Wait, you knew we weren't Torna from the beginning!" He accused as he was let up by the other Drivers and Blade at his back.

"Perceptive, aren't you kid. Maybe not quite from the beginning but yeah. Neither of you were going for fatal attacks. You didn't even draw that gun from your holster. Not to mention the care between you two goes beyond just comrades. Felt like both of you were fighting for something else."

"Then why did you keep attackin' us?" Nia demanded.

"Well I wasn't lying, your face is on a wanted poster and Torna has killed some of my men. I wanted to take a whack at you, admittedly because I wanted to work some of the anger out of my system."

"And these two?" Brandon gestured to the other Drivers.

"Yew and Zuo are a perceptive pair."

"Yeah, we realized a bit after commander Vandham did." Yew, at least Brandon thought it was Yew, said.

"Okay, well that's great. But we need some help. My Gramps was injured on the way here. We need a Titan doctor to look over him. He's got a massive burn across his wing."

"Your Gramps is a Titan?" Vandham laughed, "you're an interesting bunch aren't you. Where is your Gramps at? I'm assuming the Titan's mouth judging by the direction you're coming in from."

"Yeah."

"You go back to your Gramps, we'll go and fetch a doctor for ya and get him sorted out."

"How do we know you're not going to do something else?"

"Like what? Fetch the authorities? Out this far into the sticks, we're the highest authority around, kid. It would take at least a week, if not two, of travel to reach the capital city," he crossed his arms, "but if you're that paranoid, kid, how about this? I'll disarm and go with you." He tossed his scythes over to his Blade who simply dismissed them into thin air. "There, now that the weapon is no longer in my possession, only Roc can summon them again."

Brandon looked at Nia who nodded in confirmation. "Alright then, how long is it to the nearest village?"

"Garfont's about an hour out that way. It was a stroke of luck that we happened to be visiting the mouth to see if the Titan's swallowed anything we could make use of." He gestured forward, "Yew, Zuo, get back to the village and get our best doctors and get to the mouth ASAP."

"On it boss!" They and their Blades saluted before running off. Roc nodded and followed right behind.

"Well then, lead the way."

"Well I'll be. I come out here expecting to see an injured Titan, only to find that, and the Aegis." The new face walking alongside Brandon and Nia laughed. "You're a crazy lot."

"Who's this?" Rex asked, hopping down from Gramps' back, Dromarch right behind him rushing over to his lady's side. Gramps was currently asleep, probably trying to avoid the pain.

"Name's Vandham," he said before either Brandon or Nia could introduce him, "I run a mercenary firm out from a nearby village. I've got my boys fetching a doctor. And you're presumably the Aegis' Driver?"

Rex looked to Brandon who just shrugged.

"Uh, yeah, guess there's no denying that."

"So the rumors were true. The Aegis walks amongst us once again."

"Uh, you're not after her, are you?" Rex asked nervously.

"Hah!" Vandham let out the single syllable, "if someone tries to take the Aegis by force, they're a moron. Sure, even if they're more skilled at the moment and managed to kill you, I find it unlikely that the Aegis would resonate with someone who killed their last Driver."

"Her name's Pyra by the way."

"Pyra then. Am I wrong?"

"No," Pyra responded, finally hopping down from Gramps' back to join Rex, probably deeming that it was safe.

"Then there you have it. Any Driver worth their salt could figure that out."

"How did you know I wouldn't return to my Core even if Rex dies?" Pyra asked.

"I didn't until you told me." Vandham responded, "don't know if that's some big secret but probably safer to not say anything. The legends say that the Aegis only bonds with those she forms a connection with. Thousands tried, in the days of Torna, but only one succeeded."

"You seem oddly knowledgeable about events five hundred years in the past."

"I have a friend up in the capital, name's Cole. He's an old playwright and knows quite a bit about Torna. Wrote a few plays about it as well. I could take you to meet him if you'd like."

Pyra mulled over it for a second, "I would like to meet this Cole."

"Thought you might. Though he's an older fellow. May not be able to talk for very long."

"That's fine. I was just thinking, do you know if he knows a way to the World Tree?"

Vandham blinked, "you lot are just full of surprises huh? Possibly. Ah, that's why your old Gramps here was hurt. That beast guarding the tree." He said, more a statement than a question.

"You know about it?"

"Yeah. Forces all our ships to sail a wide berth around the World Tree if our destination happens to be on the other side. Ship logs say it's been like that for centuries."

"It wasn't there before the Aegis war," Pyra said quietly, "neither was that massive gap in the Cloud Sea."

"Then it's a more recent development," Vandham shrugged, "though recent in terms of centuries is relative."

"Gramps would probably know," Rex mused aloud.

Nia gave Brandon a pointed look.

"What?" Brandon said defensively, "Don't look at me like that. I wouldn't know. I wasn't around during that time period."

Nia sighed, "I know I know. But I can't help where my mind wanders whenever somethin' like that is brought up."

"Your mind jumps to your boyfriend when it comes to ancient knowledge?" Vandham asked.

Nia flushed, more in anger over the assumption than embarrassment, "That's his prerogative to tell. Also not my boyfriend." She grumbled.

"Never thought he was," Vandham laughed, throwing his head back, "you two didn't give off that energy. I guess you're sick of people assuming that eh?"

Nia rolled her eyes, "oh, was it that obvious?" Sarcasm dripped from her voice.

"While I agree with the sentiment," Brandon said, "I can't help but feel slightly offended."

"What? Do you need me to say it's not you it's me? Maybe we need to work on your easily damaged ego."

"Harsh words milady. Whoever your future significant other is, I pity them."

"If I have a significant other in the future, they'd be a damn sight better than you are."

"Are they always like this?" Vandham asked, addressing Rex and Pyra.

"Yeah, you get used to it." Rex shrugged, "just leave them to it. I'm not actually sure how long they can argue for since I don't think I've stuck around to listen to it all."

"You sure it's just arguing? There are a few couples back in Garfont that act like that."

"Those two?" Rex shrugged, sitting down on the ground cross legged, "who knows at this point. I don't know if they even know what they are to each other at the moment. We've only known her for about a week at most so the fact that they get on so great is still a bit weird to me."

"A few days? Could've fooled me. And what about you… Pyra?"

"Same time," she said quietly, "more or less."

"Few days less," Rex corrected, "the ship ride out to sea was a few days and we met her at Argentum."

"She was a member of Torna," Vandham stated.

Rex winced, knowing Torna had caused a fair amount of chaos across all of Alrest, "yeah, but she's a good guy now. We're still trying to fight Torna but they're a lot stronger than us at the moment."

"Then I might be able to help with that."

"How's that?" Rex asked, not entirely sure on what Vandham was suggesting.

"I could have you train with my boys. Have you whipped up into shape in no time."

"And why would you help with that?" Brandon asked, suddenly coming up from behind Vandham, his conversation with Nia evidently over as she walked over beside him.

"Paranoid kid aren't cha. Like I've said, I've got a score to settle myself. Plus us Garfont mercs have a reputation to keep. If we met someone without helping them, we'd be a laughingstock across all of Uraya."

"Really? You're such good people you do that for free?"

"Yeah, ask anyone in Uraya and they'd have heard of us. For the right reasons of course. We rarely take payment as well, we survive off of donations from the people and provisions from the capital."

Nia crossed her arms, "I'll believe it when I see it."

"My lady," Dromarch stepped forward, warning in his voice.

"Cool your jets, tiger. I take no offense," Vandham said, "it's hard to believe, I know. But perhaps you'll change your mind when you do see it for yourself."

"Hm." Nia didn't look convinced.

"I hate to say it but I'm on milady's side on this one," Brandon said.

"Not the trusting type, are we? Burned early on?"

Rex glanced at Brandon, curious as to what he would say. Somehow, it had only been Nia who had managed to pierce his iron defense over his past so far.

"You could say that."

Rex nearly groaned. Though he shouldn't have been too surprised at that. At least it seemed like he wasn't continuing to claim he didn't remember his past. Rex didn't blame him for lying. From what little he could gleam, it seemed like he had a traumatic life and didn't like talking about it. Probably easier to just claim you didn't remember it.

"Well then, I hope I can restore some of that faith in humanity, yeah?"

"You'll forgive me if I say it'll take more than words to do that."

"A man of action huh?" Vandham crossed his arms, "then I suppose I'll have to live up to that."

"I guess we'll see."

It was only Roc who came to them later with a doctor in tow. Apparently Yew and Zuo stayed behind to have rooms and food prepared for them. Vandham, in the meantime, had regaled them with stories of adventures during his youth around a campfire, something which Rex absolutely ate up.

Rex had always had a soft spot for stories of heroics, and Vandham must have seemed a larger than life character with what stories he told. Courageous Drivers and Blades fighting for the common folk. It didn't help when Roc, with a surprisingly high pitched, bird-like voice, joined in and added on more details where his Driver forgot.

Pah. Brandon would believe it if he saw it. Tales of selfless heroes who sacrificed only themselves to help regular people for no personal gain? Nothing but fairy tales. This world or his own, people only fought for themselves. Sometimes fighting for their own selfish interest benefited the world. Other times it brought it to ruin. He had believed himself a hero at some point, fighting to liberate the world from the iron fist of the Coalition.

That fantasy was quickly destroyed when he watched as cities were bombarded with orbital weapons to try to flush out his rebel cell. They were only further dispersed when the rebellion had retaliated by using his own research on gravity to yank the old remnants of the International Space Station out of orbit and onto a military research and development installation.

There hadn't even been any soldiers on site. It was all scientists and engineers. If events had turned out even slightly differently, it might have been him working there when it, and the miles of land surrounding it, was turned into a crater.

He shuddered, still hearing the high pitched whining of the Artifice's orbital weapon ringing in his ears. He nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt Nia lean on his side. He looked over his shoulder to see that Nia had quietly fallen asleep.

He smiled despite himself and put an arm over her shoulder. She had dragged him over to sit by her earlier, back on Dromarch like some kind of giant pillow. It felt nice admittedly, he could see why it was so easy to fall asleep like this.

Sometimes it felt like she could see right through him. Then again, he wasn't exactly trying to hide the fact that he didn't really like Vandham's stories.

He felt her shift in her sleep, changing to a slightly more comfortable position. He had to resist the urge to pat her ears like he would a cat. She had hissed at him that she'd claw out his throat like a cat if he attempted it so that was off the table. Apparently Dromarch was fine with it though, the big cat purred in his sleep as Brandon ran a hand through his fur.

It was relaxing, and even through his murky thoughts, he could feel his own eyes slowly drooping down. With the gentle crackling of the warm fire at his front and sinking into Dromarch's soft pelt at his back, Brandon found himself swiftly falling asleep.

…

So some more Brandon backstory. Knowing what I know now about the Artifice technology I'm not going to change the fact that they were made by the Trinity Processor. However, I'm going to make it so that they were more active weapons of war than what was implied in the game.

I'm still going to aim for an Oppenheimer kind of scenario for Brandon though since I like the concept of someone who not only creates means of mass destruction but is forced to witness them first hand on the front lines.

Also hey, it's Vandham. I've tried to keep his intro similar to the last time where he tests the party before almost immediately falling into a mentor role. I do really like Vandham, he's surprisingly insightful and notices the party member's issues pretty early on but lets them approach him for help when they're ready and teaches some genuinely valuable lessons. It's just a shame that the mentor character always dies in the hero's journey storyline.