At the conclusion of the moon, You rise and begin to prepare for the day to come. Seraphine speaks to You all the while.
Seraphine: I still can't help thinking about the Relics… It's so strange to me how there were such powerful weapons out there all this time, but we had no way of knowing since Samiya took them before the rest of the world could know.
You nod, saying that You can only hope that You are able to fight against her and learn the truth sooner rather than later.
Seraphine: I don't know if she would be willing to talk to us about something like that though… I mean, she doesn't seem particularly agreeable about anything we've seen up to this point. All she wants is for the world to burn, even if it means allying herself with enemies of the past.
You shake your head, musing on how lonely and isolated her life must have been.
Seraphine: Perhaps, but she chose to walk the path of vengeance. That is a lonely road, and she must have known that going into it. She's trying to destroy everything now, and even if she does want to get back at Aisa for doing bad things in the past… Waging war isn't the way to do it. That won't magically return the world to the way it was when she was the hero of her own story.
You nod at that, wondering if everything would have been the same in some other life.
Seraphine: You mean… If Aisa hadn't taken over the church?
You nod once more, saying that she only did so because of the deaths of the Saints who led the army of good in the War of Heroes.
Seraphine: That's true… If Aisa hadn't been forced to step up, I imagine that we wouldn't be here now. Imagine what that life would be like…
You say that there is little point to thinking about it now as long as this is the path that You have been handed. You intend to stick it out to the end even if Samiya proves herself to be a difficult opponent.
Seraphine: Good… I'm looking forward to seeing what peace can offer us both, and I know that you are too.
You close your eyes in thought, saying that You will see this through no matter what.
Seraphine: Then I suppose that starts with this next battle… Let's go and hear what the others have to say about this.
You leave for the cardinals' room, and You find everyone there chattering quietly. You ask what is happening, and the room falls silent.
Cordelia: We've seen some movement within the Empire not far from the capital.
Herwig: Do you think it could be Samiya?
Roy: There's no way to say for sure if it's Samiya or not quite yet, but it seems likely that she's at least loosely involved. I can't imagine anyone else would be raising hell in that area.
Reese: In that case, we need to march on Enbarr before she can escape. The last thing I want is for us to have to chase her down all over again after all we've already done.
Jill: The troops are already prepared to march.
Nesreen: We can send our spies in that direction so that we converge at the same point to fight her as well.
Niko: Assuming Samiya is even there… I'm afraid that we're going to get there only to find that she was never in the area to begin with.
Jill: We're not going to know until we go, so we might as well try it.
Herwig: This is the best shot we have at the moment, so we have to take advantage of it.
Adrian: This is the only news we've seen since Evenor's death. I'm not going to let this chance slip away now that we have it.
Aisa: Let us depart at once, everyone… I may not know what is waiting for us at the end of this path, but we must be ready.
You leave the cardinals' room with the other members of the group. Seraphine speaks to You along the way.
Seraphine: If Samiya really is there, maybe we won't need to find the Relics at all… We'll simply have to see, I suppose.
You shake your head, saying that You hope Samiya did not find a way to get users for the Relics on her side of the war.
Seraphine: I hope not as well… But I would have thought that we would have heard about something like that before now. If she had people who could use them, then she would have brought soldiers with those weapons on them when she attacked the monastery before. Unless she's found people to wield them in the few moons since then, we should be safe… Or so I'm hoping.
You nod, saying that You hope for much the same.
Seraphine: We'll simply have to see… Let's go find her.
You march out of the monastery alongside the rest of your allies, beginning your travels down toward Enbarr. You can see the outskirts of the capital in the horizon by the time that You have arrived at your destination, and You glance around the area with a small frown on your face. You ask if this is where the shifting forces are meant to be.
Cordelia: Yes, it is… But I somehow doubt they're waiting for us out in the open. Instead, if I had to guess…
You watch as Cordelia crouches down and begins to mess with a specific area of the grass. She brushes her fingers across it before striking a rock that causes the ground to open. She glances over her shoulder as she rises to her feet.
Cordelia: This is what we've been searching for here.
Niko: A few years ago, I never would have thought something like this could be hiding right beneath our feet…
Herwig: But Evenor and her allies are incredibly technologically advanced, and even now that she's gone, we can still see the traces of that.
Reese: Samiya certainly had a reason to ally herself with them even though they've had their conflicts in the past…
Jill: It doesn't matter how much she tries to take advantage of tunnels like these though. She's not going to get away.
Nesreen: If she really is waiting for us down here, then we need to be ready for everything she can throw at us.
Adrian: There's no certainty she'll be here, but there's no guarantee that she won't be lying in wait either…
Roy: Now isn't the time for cowardice. We need to investigate, and even if we don't find her, we might strike some important clues that could point us in her direction.
Cordelia: Stay close, everyone. We don't know what she's planning, but we have to be ready for it.
Aisa: I do not know why she would be here of all places, but I suppose we will simply have to ask that ourselves when we confront her… Please tread carefully. I do not want any of you to come to harm while we are beneath the earth.
You nod as You begin walking down to the underground passageway. You glance around cautiously, always waiting for someone to come out of the shadows to strike at You. When no enemies make themselves immediately apparent, You allow yourself to relax ever so slightly, but You can tell that there will be others coming into your line of sight eventually.
Seraphine: You can feel it too, can't you? There are enemy soldiers somewhere down here… Ah! Look out!
You throw your blade up at the last possible moment to defend a strike from an enemy soldier, and a quick stab from Cordelia sends him crumbling to the floor. You stare down at the body as blood seeps into the darkened ground of the tunnels.
Herwig: I suppose that answers our question about if there are soldiers in here… There are bound to be others too.
Nesreen: I can hear something happening elsewhere in the tunnels… They're moving around in the darkness.
Reese: I think there's a door on the far side of the room… Do you all see that strange yellow and red light?
Aisa: That… That is the light of the Relics!
Jill: You can't be serious…!
Aisa: I am. The Relics are here, and they are hiding in that room.
Jill: Gods above… I never would have imagined we would have found them here of all places.
Cordelia: We managed to stumble onto them by pure chance then… We need to seize the Relics as soon as possible.
You see another man move towards the room, but a quick attack from Reese sends the soldier to the ground.
Niko: They're trying to get into the room with the Relics. I imagine they want to fight with them in this battle.
Adrian: I'm glad they understand a fight is coming the same way we do. We'll just have to stop them before they can reach the Relics.
Roy: We should be able to take the Relics back even if they manage to get their hands on them… As long as we kill the one using the Relic at that moment, I mean.
Cordelia: You're right. We need to keep them away from that room, and if they do find a way to get inside, we'll have to destroy them before they can get away.
Aisa: Let us prepare then. The Relics cannot be allowed to remain in Samiya's hands, and we will take them back here today!
You and the rest of your allies prepare for the battle ahead. The light of the underground tunnel is minimal, and it is difficult to see too far ahead. However, You can see a prominent source of light at the other end of the tunnel. The Relics continue to glow gold and scarlet, and their silhouette gives You a path to follow into the darkness. You vow to do everything You can to stop your foes from claiming the Relics as You and your allies cut a path through to the weapons.
You and your comrades push through the enemy forces, striking down each foe as soon as they come into view. A few soldiers try to claim the Relics for themselves, but You retake the Relics before they have the chance to fully utilize the strength of the ancient weapons. Soon enough, your allies have the upper hand, and afterwards, You claim victory. Your comrades search the perimeter of the room to ensure that no foes still linger, but after a thorough check, You find that You truly are alone once more.
Cordelia: Gods above… I can feel the strength of the Relics from here. They're even more powerful than I could have ever imagined.
Herwig: Samiya was certainly hiding them well to ensure that nobody claimed them first… We only found this place through luck.
Reese: If I had to guess, I would say that the soldiers who came here to try and steal the Relics were acting under her orders.
Niko: As for Samiya herself, I don't see her anywhere… She has to be around here somewhere, right?
Nesreen: Maybe she saw the tides of the battle shifting and ran before we could get the upper hand against her.
Aisa: No… If Samiya was here, she would have been leading her forces into combat from the start. I imagine that the soldiers came to claim the Relics, but Samiya herself did not accompany them.
Roy: If she isn't here though, then where could she be? I imagine that she wouldn't stray too far from her forces, especially given how limited they are…
Jill: I have no idea, but that sounds like a question for later on. Right now, we have other priorities to resolve.
Adrian: The Relics… Are we going to take them with us and fight with their strength? Now that we have them, it almost feels like a waste to leave them.
Aisa: At the very least, we cannot leave them here to fall into the wrong hands. Samiya is incredibly powerful, and she would use these weapons to turn the tides in her favor even still. We must take them back to the monastery and either distribute them to the proper wielders or keep them locked away in a secure location.
Roy: We have many powerful Crest-bearers among our forces… I imagine that we would easily be able to find people to wield each of these weapons.
Cordelia: We will no doubt need that advantage when we push back against Samiya. Her personal vanguard was still nowhere to be found during this battle.
Herwig: In other words, she's still planning something else, and even if we have the Relics, we don't know what she's trying to accomplish.
Reese: We need to be careful when we head back to the monastery. There's no way of saying where she's hiding or when she's going to strike next.
Adrian: We can communicate with our scouts and spies once more to try and figure out where she's hiding out now.
Nesreen: Assuming they can even find her… She's mastered the art of masking herself in the last thousand years.
Jill: We don't have a choice but to find her. She's caused more than enough harm, and it's high time we put a stop to it.
Niko: Either way, we can think about what to do next with this information once we return to the monastery. We need to come up with a plan for what to do with the Relics right now.
Roy: Niko is right. For all we know, Samiya could be waiting just outside these tunnels to ambush us, and we can't afford for that to happen.
Cordelia: Then we return to Garreg Mach at once. We can come up with our next step once we have arrived.
Aisa: I agree. Let us depart, everyone.
You and the rest of your allies set a course for the monastery. As You ascend the stairs to return to ground level, Seraphine's voice echoes within You.
Seraphine: The power they hold… In some ways, it reminds me quite a bit of Sirius. Don't you agree?
You nod your agreement, saying that it feels as if You have always understood this strength in some way or another, though You struggle to fully articulate how that could be possible.
Seraphine: We can think about it a bit more later. Perhaps Aisa will have more to share with us about the Relics when we return to the monastery. There's still quite a bit we don't understand, but she has to know what to explain from here.
You nod once more, hoping that the truth finds its way to the light with time, as Seraphine falls silent.
You and your allies return to the monastery, handling the Relics carefully all the while. By the time that You return, You have thought through what feels like dozens upon dozens of theories about the Relics. All of your thoughts fall silent as soon as You arrive in the cathedral though, and You watch as the rest of your allies spread out the Relics across the ground before the crumbled statue of the goddess. You admire each of the weapons carefully, noting how they all look rather similar between the pattern of golden bones that make up their structures and the deep red stones that gleam at the center of the weapons. They are haunting and eerie while still seeming familiar to You in more ways than one.
Roy: They certainly are powerful… I don't know what I was expecting to find when we first heard about the Relics, but this is…
Adrian: It's something else entirely… I can feel their power even without possessing a Crest. It's so strange…
Jill: I suppose we should distribute these to the people who can use them in preparation for the final battle.
Reese: After that, I feel like they should go right back to being locked away. A power like this… It could very easily turn sour.
Niko: I agree. We came so close to being turned against us thanks to Samiya grabbing them before we knew they existed.
Herwig: As long as we tread carefully from here on out, we hopefully won't run into any issues with wielding them… But only time will be able to tell.
Aisa: Only those who possess the corresponding Crest will be able to wield them without suffering any consequences. The Relics are meant to carefully slot in with those who have the respective Crest, and those who dare to step outside of those boundaries… It saps their energy and may eventually take their lives.
Nesreen: Gods above… I think we really should lock these things up and not do anything with them after this war then.
Cordelia: Even using them with the proper Crest bearer seems risky to me, and I think we should proceed with as much caution as possible.
Aisa: I agree. We can pass them out when we get ready for the next fight though. Samiya is still at large, and I would rather not distribute the Relics until we know that we are ready for the upcoming battle and have found out where it is that she is hiding.
Roy: I'll instruct our scouts to survey the area around the tunnels. The fact that we didn't run into any commanders during that last battle has me a bit worried.
Cordelia: I feel the same way. I can't help but wonder if perhaps Samiya was the one who instructed them to acquire the Relics and then return to her side.
Herwig: If there was no commander, that shows how close we are to completely wearing out the Malice forces, but it also means that we need to proceed with as much caution as possible.
Reese: I'm getting really tired of this chasing game she wants us to play… If she wants to do this, then we'll have to show her how fed up we are.
Nesreen: And we will… As soon as we can find her. We have the Relics on our side this time too, and that should give us a bit of an advantage.
Jill: With how powerful these things are, they're going to give us a massive edge. Samiya's personal vanguard might be strong, but the Relics are incredible.
Adrian: We'll need to be careful with how we use them though. If they're really as dangerous as Lady Aisa made it sound, we can't misuse them at all.
Niko: Of course… But we can address that again when we've figured out where Samiya is. With her at large, we shouldn't talk in hypotheticals too much.
Aisa: I would advise that all of you do all that you can to prepare for the upcoming battle. As soon as we find her… The war will end. I will not allow her to run away again after all that she has already done.
Cordelia: We'll prepare every spy we have to set out and find her as soon as possible. We will find her, Lady Aisa. I'm sure of it.
Aisa: Of course. Thank you all.
You watch as everyone else leaves the cathedral behind. You turn to Aisa once You are left alone with her and the Relics, and You remark on how she has grown since the war first began.
Aisa: I have… Grown?
You nod, saying that she is no longer running from Samiya despite their difficult and complex history.
Aisa: The war began because of my mistakes. It would be wrong of me to simply abandon the world once more… I did so when the Battle of Garreg Mach took place, but I refuse to retreat to that version of myself again. If I had acted a bit sooner after recognizing the signs of Fódlan descending into war… Perhaps none of this would have happened.
You shake your head, reminding her that she cannot undo all of that.
Aisa: I know. I will never be able to reverse that harm, but I can still do something to change the future. Samiya has brought much chaos to this realm because of her hatred of me, and I feel as if it is my responsibility to push back against her and show what it is that Fódlan needs right now… Peace and stability.
You question her about what it is that she wants to do after the war ends.
Aisa: I do not know for certain, but I am confident that I will be fighting for the sake of continued peace for Fódlan. I will not abandon the people of this realm once more. Even though I fear the darkness that hides in the corners of this land, I must fight in the name of stability. Too much has happened over the last five years, and I will not let it happen again.
You smile, saying that You are glad she has resolved to do such.
Aisa: Samiya's hatred of me is justified. I can hardly blame her for being upset with me for all that took place years ago. However… I cannot allow her desire for vengeance to drive this land into the ground. The innocent people of Fódlan deserve better than this, and I will fight for them since I declined to do so for the last five years.
You nod and say that You will fight for the future at her side.
Aisa: I am lucky to have someone as kind as you with me… Thank you, Professor. I pray we are met with nothing but peace and security once Samiya falls. Until then… Please, stay alive. This war has seen too many casualties, and I do not want you to be the latest fall in a long line of deaths.
You promise her to remain as safe as possible even though You can make no guarantees in war.
Aisa: I know… And I appreciate your efforts even so. Fódlan needs more people like you, and I am looking forward to seeing what else you can accomplish in this life. We all are.
You thank her for the kind words.
Aisa: Of course. It is only the truth.
You leave the cathedral behind soon afterwards, and Aisa begins to gather the Relics to transport them somewhere safe. On your way back to your room, You hear Seraphine's voice in your mind.
Seraphine: She really has changed for the better… I understand that there's still a lot about her that she struggles to open up about, but she's finally being honest with us. It feels like a weight off my shoulders to hear her speak so earnestly…
You nod, saying that You feel the same way.
Seraphine: Still, we can't let ourselves relax too soon. The war is still raging on, and even with the Relics on our side, we haven't necessarily won yet.
You assure Seraphine that You intend to use their power as much as possible to defeat Samiya.
Seraphine: Good… I really do agree that it's a good idea to seal them away after the fact. The Relics could cause so many problems if they fell into the wrong hands. We came so close to catastrophe during that last fight.
You nod, confirming that the Relics should be hidden from the greater parts of society for the sake of defending people from their power.
Seraphine: For now though, I think the best we can do is just wait and see what we hear from the people who are looking for Samiya. She won't be able to escape us forever, and she's going to realize soon enough that some of her soldiers didn't come back after the most recent battle… I just hope that we're ready to face whatever it is that she's planning.
You declare that You will fight Samiya regardless of what comes next.
Seraphine: I know… And no matter what, I'll be at your side the whole time. I know I won't be the only one. That will be true after the war ends too… I hope you're ready for it.
You smile at her words as You settle down in your room for the night. You can feel the end of the war drawing near, and You smile at the mere thought of it. Even with the uncertainty of not knowing Samiya's location yet, You are ready to press on and find peace once You can locate and defeat her. You hope with everything You are that Samiya does not cause any other issues until she can be found, but there is nothing You can do to change the truth yet. For the time being, You allow sleep to claim You. Throughout the night, dreams of peace and calm rise in your mind, and You pray they become real one day even when the images have faded into the mist of your imagination…
getting closer to the end of this path
-Digital
