From atop the mountains, Vanessa could see out over the clearing in the darkling woods, including the temple, where she could make out the monstrous form of a dragon, along with the silhouette of Riev, beside it. Everything else seemed to be teeming with dark creatures.

Having seen enough, Vanessa flew down the mountainside to where seventeen of her companions stood.

"I'm sorry Myrrh" she said, "But it's definitely a dragon that they have in there."

The young manakete looked down, tears forming in her eyes. Eirika knelt down and put an arm around her, comforting her.

"We have no choice then but to force our way into the temple." Ephraim said, eyes narrowed, thinking hard. He turned to his fellow warriors.

"Here, at what is surely the final battle, I would like to tell you what an honour it has been for me to fight and grow side by side with such skilled warriors. I thank you the battles that you have won for me, for you co-operation, your love and-"

"Stop it. You're making it sound like your leading us to our doom." Innes called out impatiently.

"Prince Innes is correct my lord" Seth said bowing slightly, "We all know what we are up against and if we did not like it, we would have left your side long ago"

"Very well then" said Ephraim, grinning sheepishly," In that case, let's go!"

He pulled his horse around and marched out from behind the mountains, into the view of the creatures of the dark, Siegmund held ready by his side. Vanessa followed him with the others; mind gloriously clear, nothing was going to distract her this time. As they marched, time seemed to slow, a wight dawdling to Vanessa's side, but as her lance came down, shattering its skull, time jumped, the world jumping with it into a flurry of motion.

Gorgons, wights, maelduins and Deathgoygles fell on either sides of the group, which cut through the monsters like an arrow through the air. Vanessa was fighting her very best, focused solely on what she was doing; her foes were dispatched with speed and skill, Pegasus and rider working as one entity.

At last she saw Riev, Franz and Amelia were nearby, she signalled to them, the two paladins rode up beside him, swords clanging as he tried to parry as many blows as possible. Meanwhile, Vanessa charged at him from behind, her lance catching him at the base of his spine. He gurgled and fell forward, unmoving.

Nearby, Lute, Artur and Joshua had just dealt with the manakete turned dracozombie, Morva, Ivaldi, Excalibur and Audhulma making quick work of it. Cheers were hesitant as Myrrh now sat on Eirika's horse, face in her hands. Ephraim trotted up to her, put his hand on her shoulder and asked whether she would like to return to the wagon with five companions and let the leftover twelve continue on. She shook her head. So Ephraim asked for Franz, Amelia, Marisa, Kyle and Gerik to return to the others. He then trotted up the crumbling stairs, motioning for those leftover to follow.

The battle inside the temple never had a starting point. The moment they entered, the twelve split up and headed towards the end of the hall, where the Prince of Grado could be seen watching the proceedings. There were more dracozombies here. Vanessa made doubly sure that her sub-group had Natasha.

As Vanessa fought, her body working without her thinking, Vanessa remembered what she was here for, what she was fighting for. Vanessa had joined the army for her sister, the same sister that a part of her had hated for almost a month now. She felt ashamed, and in doing so became twice as determined to survive so that she could make it up to Syrene when the war was over, she would tell her everything, about her envy, her fight with Forde-

Forde.

Vanessa realised then that she still hadn't gotten over him. He was the one thing that Vanessa couldn't see being resolved at the end of the war. She had cut him deeply, she deserved his dislike, or even his hate, and she would have to live with it.

Vanessa remembered how she had had a crush on Prince Innes when she had been ordered to accompany Princess Eirika. She laughed to herself, she could see what Forde meant now, Innes did stress a lot.

At that moment, Vanessa felt serene and at one with the entire world, she would survive, life would improve.

As if to confirm her belief, she looked up from the mogall she was slicing to see Tana fly past Lyon, Vidofnir catching the Prince in the chest, he fell, all stopping to watch his body crash to the ground. The thud echoing through the dark temple.

But it wasn't the end.

The ground shook.

A creature unlike anything Vanessa could have imagined rose up above them.

The Demon King.

Vanessa, like the rest of her companions rode, ran or flew as fast as they possibly could to help. When they arrived, they saw a light floating high above the royal twins of Renais. The sacred stone of Rausten.

The demon king was weakened but still powerful. The stone had only imprisoned its soul. Now was the time to strike. Vanessa and those without legendary weapons held back and kept the creatures brought forth by the Demon king in check while those with legendary weapons advanced...

To Vanessa, it was over so quickly; there had been flashes, sounds of metal against armoured plates, then an unearthly roar from the demon king as it literally fell to pieces. There was only silence in the place where it once was.

So here they were, outside the temple, walking back to tell the others. Still unbelieving.

The war was over. Finally over.

Mischief Mage: I'm sorry that I didn't write about how the demon king was killed but it really didn't take very long when I played so I just didn't write about it with the excuse that Vanessa wasn't present at the point of its vanquishing. (is that a word?) Besides, for killing the demon king to be poetic, Ephraim or Eirika would need to kill him (or to be even more poetic, they would strike together) and they just aren't what I wrote this for are they? If you don't like it...well...sorry bt it's too late.