Chris: Well, here's a new chapter for my newest story! Why? Because the idea is still fresh in mind, so there. Anyway, thanks to all that reviewed and I hope you enjoy this new installment!
Chapter 2: Controlled Destiny
The moment Callista entered the Knight's headquarters she knew something was wrong. The whole atmosphere was subdued and many of the knights were gazing distantly out into the bleak wasteland of Ilia. Callista felt a dull fear slip into her as she looked at the disheartened soldiers, hoping to find some reason as to why they were all acting like this. She walked up another one her friends, a young green-haired girl with a face that seemed too young for her eighteen years of age.
"Hey, Jessica. What's going on?"
Jessica turned to Callista, her reddish-brown eyes glistening with unshed tears. "Rachel…We just received a report from Dread Isle. Rachel and her whole division were killed while working on their mission. I know it's not right to cry, but I can't help it. It's not fair, Callista."
Callista's face paled and she had to steady herself briefly. She gulped in a deep breath and felt something explode within her body. She stumbled to one of the ragged, torn couches nearby and let her head sink into her hands. She shuddered, feeling the tears fall out of her eyes. 'Rachel…What am I going to tell your brother? He's only seven…Will he have to go without a family now? What about our plan? Why didn't you live?'
"Callista, compose yourself." Stephanie, the commander of the 10th wing of pegasus knights, said sternly. She walked up to Callista and pulled the crying knight upwards. Callista stared at her commander bleakly, with tracks of tears showing on her pale skin. Stephanie sighed and patted her on the shoulder lightly. "Rachel died doing her duty. Now, we must show the same amount of valor, loyalty, and courage at she had shown. And then there will be time for grief."
Callista nodded shakily, taking in a deep breath. She began to hiccup and she smiled weakly with embarrassment. Rubbing a hand across her eyes, Callista bowed briefly to her commander. "You're right…But may I speak to Rachel's brother? I need to tell him the news. I was Rachel's best friend…"
Stephanie's stern expression melted. "Of course…Go ahead, Callista. We aren't doing anything now."
"Thank you…" Callista ran out of the headquarters and into the frigid cold. She shivered briefly as she ran towards to Rachel's house. 'I've got to keep moving. Perhaps I can forget. But so many people have died…Why do we consign ourselves to such a fate? I can't handle all of this anymore. But I have to…I need to. For Ilia and for everyone who died.'
---
"Uhhhh…" Rachel groaned softly as she awoke from unconsciousness. Her mind was fuzzy and she could barely think of anything, let alone notice that she had been chained against the wall. Her head lolled forward on her shoulders and her wheat-blond hair flowed over her eyes. "Where am I?"
Feeling slowly came back to her and memories of past events started to flood through her mind. The battle was hovering in her mind, but she couldn't recognize anything. She remembered getting attacked and crashing into the ground, but beyond that, she couldn't place faces or a location. Everything was blurry and disjointed. 'That's right…I should be dead. But as I can see, I'm not. Who saved me? My side doesn't hurt anymore. I'm breathing, right? Who healed me? Are my arms in chains? I can't see anything. It's just so dark here. What am I supposed to do? I'm so lost. I can't think of anything. What should I do? Are my legs chained too?'
Rachel lifted her head and shook it slightly to chase away all the hair that had settled over her bleary eyes. She seemed to be in sort of dungeon, hanging on the wall by rusted, cold metal links that kept her from touching the ground. The air was cold, although it wasn't as cold as Ilia – Ilia? Where's that? My home, right? – and the only source of light came through a barred square in the wall. There was some sort of circle carved into the ground in front of her, with criss-crossing lines inside of the circle.
"Ah, so you're awake?" Some man with a turban around half of his face walked towards her and Rachel had to squint to bring the wavering sight to focus.
'Nergal? Is that his name? I can't remember much…but that's his name.' Rachel thought dazedly as she stared at him. She tried to respond to his question, but her mouth felt like it was full of some thick liquid. Her lips opened slightly and she managed to say, "Nergal?"
"You remember me." The druid opened his arms wide and smiled wickedly. "I'm glad to see that. I suppose you don't remember much else about how you were about to die? My form of healing has that unfortunate side effect."
Rachel nodded her head slowly, still confused about her surroundings. "Why…am I here?"
"I saw you at the battlefield and you were still alive, so I tried to help you." Nergal shrugged. "Enough about me. How do you feel?"
Rachel felt a sharp sense of gratitude towards Nergal, but a part of her felt that the only reason he was so nice was so he could manipulate her in some way. "I'm…tired. I failed my mission…I need to return home."
"You don't want to return home to Ilia." Nergal said pleasantly. "Remember? You always dreamed about leaving Ilia behind and starting a new life. Besides, you wouldn't want to return there anyway. They're the reason you were almost killed. They wanted you to die. You would be a martyr for the Ilian people, so that they would continue fighting the hopeless fight."
Nergal's words sounded wrong to Rachel, but her dazed mind couldn't piece it together. Squinting again to focus the shaking image of Nergal, she nodded again. "You're probably right. I've always wanted to leave Ilia. It's a good thing that I'm here."
"Yes…Now, how about you live with me? Valor Isle is an untamed wilderness, truly different from the frozen wasteland of Ilia. I'm certain you will find the wilds of Valor Isle…charming." He smiled again and Rachel noted that it seemed out of place on his cruel face. "I will have my servants prepare lodging for you immediately."
"Why am I chained?" Rachel suddenly remembered the chains around her limbs and shook them weakly to emphasize that fact.
"I'm sorry. During the healing, you were most violent and I had to chain you to make sure that you wouldn't indirectly harm yourself." Nergal shook his head ruefully. "But now that you're awake, I think it will be okay." He walked over to her chains and carefully unlocked Rachel from the bonds. She stepped down on the stone tiles uncertainly, almost stumbling to the floor. Nergal helped her stand and Rachel slowly hobbled forward, her legs feeling unnaturally weak.
"What about my pegasus? And do you have any other clothes?" Rachel asked, the thought suddenly coming to her head.
"Your pegasus is doing just fine and there will be a change of clothes inside of your room. Now…" Nergal snapped his fingers and a bland looking girl appeared next to him. "Take Rachel to her room. Make sure she gets a lot of sleep."
"Yes, Master. Right this way." The girl took Rachel's arm and led her out of the dungeons. Nergal watched Rachel leave for a moment and when she was out of sight, he beckoned to a shadow. The shadow moved, revealing a figure that stepped towards Nergal.
"Master Nergal. Eliwood is approaching the ruins." A tall, handsome man with sparkling golden eyes bowed towards Nergal, his ponytail of night black hair falling over his shoulder. "What do you propose we do?"
"Let them come, Ephidel." Nergal laughed. "They will bring Ninian and thus fall into my trap. I trust that our honored guest is still being treated fairly?"
"Lord Elbert is inside of his cell, master." Ephidel reported.
"Good, good." Nergal laughed again. "You brought back the corpses from the battle, correct? With enough, we can produce morphs of good caliber."
"Yes, of course." Ephidel bowed again. "Just one question, Master. Why did you revive that knight when you could have simply killed her?"
Nergal glared at Ephidel for a second, angry at the morph's intrusion. However, it quickly faded and Nergal's face took on an almost thoughtful expression. "You see, Ephidel, there is one thing that I've learned about fighting. There is almost nothing more psychologically damaging than fighting against a friend, a comrade. Especially when it is clear that neither will back down for the other. You see…" Nergal unwound his turban and revealed the covered eye, one that was damaged beyond repair and constantly moved because of the random nerve impulses that were shot through it. "It's something that I've learned in my travels."
---
"Fiora?"
"Huh, Florina? What are you doing here? You should be sleeping." Fiora turned around and looked concernedly at her younger sister. Florina was dressed in her nightgown, but judging by her eyes and posture, it seemed that Florina was not ready to sleep at all.
'Neither am I, actually.' Fiora thought amusedly. She had tried sleeping a couple times earlier, but she couldn't seem to calm the storm of emotions and thoughts that were running through her mind. It was foolish, but she could never handle fighting her fellow countrymen. She had a sneaking suspicion that Florina was here for the exact same reason. "Is this about meeting Rachel?"
"Y-Yes…" Florina nodded quickly and walked in the tent. She sat down on Fiora's cot and looked at her sister with tearing eyes. "I'm d-doing my duty…But why does my duty consist of k-killing my friends? I don't know w-what to do…."
"Neither do I, Florina. Neither do I…" Fiora shook her head sadly. "I know that it's a certainty that we will fight out countrymen in battle. But you never get used to that fact, do you? Even I, the one who adhered to the rules repeatedly, couldn't help thinking that it would be possible to bend the rules slightly so that Rachel could live. But no…We were trapped. The moment we laid eyes on each other, we were condemned to fight. If only I had been somewhere else…"
"Excuse me. May I come in?" A soft, male voice echoed from outside the tent.
"Oh, certainly." Fiora answered.
The tent flap opened and the tactician walked in, a thoughtful frown on his face. He nodded distractedly at Florina for a while before finding a chair and sitting down on it. Closing his eyes, he sighed deeply and shook his head sadly. "Look…I'm sorry about what happened today."
"Sorry for what?" Fiora asked.
"Hmph…" The tactician cracked a sarcastic smile. "You should know. I'm not deaf, nor am I blind. I wasn't thinking too much about it that day. I didn't think your friend would be chasing after us. I should have realized that her target was Eliwood."
"I-It's not your f-fault…" Florina whispered, but he held up a hand to stall her.
"I've told myself that millions of times, but that doesn't keep me from feeling guilty. But…now I'm worried for other reasons. From what I could tell, Rachel was leading a pitiful regiment of knights. Surely Nergal would have asked for a whole wing if he was determined to stop us. But he asked for a fragment of one. He must have known that Rachel and the others would die at the fight. But why would he hire them if he knew they were going to die?" He looked thoughtful for a moment. "He knew of our skill. Either he honestly expected us to lose or he hired them all as bait of some kind. I don't know why though. I'm going to go back to the battlefield tomorrow to see if there's anything unusual I can find. I'm sure Eliwood and Hector wouldn't mind a couple of days to psyche themselves up for the battle ahead."
"May we accompany you?" Fiora asked. "Even though I don't like looking at the ruins of battle, I can't help but feel curious about your words. Do you truly think Nergal hired mercenaries so they will die?"
"If there's a man who would do such a thing, he would be it." The tactician shook his head sadly. "Anyway, thank you for offering to come. It might be dangerous and having you by my side makes me feel safer. What about you, Florina? Are you coming?"
"O-Okay…" Florina nodded timidly, her hands clasped over her lap.
"Okay, good. Let me explain this to Eliwood to see if he'll allow an expedition like this. I think he'll let us go while the main army marches on Dragon's Gate. He's really worried about his father." He stood up and bowed briefly to the two pegasus knights, his blue eyes shining with curiosity. "Thanks for your help and once again, I'm sorry."
---
Rachel nervously stepped into her room, looking around for anything suspicious or dangerous. She didn't know why she was doing so, but it seemed to be some instinctive reaction that occurred every time she went someplace new. The servant had already left a long time ago and Rachel felt kind of lost in the large ruins. A small, relieved smile flitted on her face as she saw that the room was quite elegant in a wild sort of way. It certainly looked cozy, with a soft, feather bed that she had always dreamed of sleeping in. There was also a wooden dresser against one of the stone walls and windows cut into the rock allowed the bright sunlight to filter through. She walked up to the mirror and noticed that her hair had fallen out of its customary braids. She unconsciously began styling her hair back into braids when her eyes fell upon the gown that had been set aside for her.
Her hands fell away from her hair and she slowly walked towards it, slightly stunned. Her hands reached out slowly and grasped the fabric, marveling at the utter softness of the dress. 'Silk…Pure silk…This must have cost a fortune. Silk can't be grown here…It has to be imported from other countries. How can Nergal afford such extravagance in a place like this?' Her fingers caressed the silk as she examined the gown.
It was cut in a style similar to what the Knights of Ilia wore, except that the dress was slightly longer and ended at the knees. The whole gown was a nice color, a mix of navy blue and black that enticed Rachel. Along with the dress were elbow-length gloves, a lovely crimson-red color that just seemed to call out to her. The only thing that disturbed her was the fact that the dress was such a dark color. She dimly remembered that in Ilia, the knights were given white dresses to show that they were pure. Anyone with a black or dark-colored uniform was often known to have some stains on their soul. However, Rachel quickly dismissed the whole notion as folly and continued to admire the clothing.
Rachel gulped and put the dress back on the bed where she found it. "No…I can't wear this…It's too valuable. This dress alone could buy enough food for all of Ilia."
"Surely that's an exaggeration."
"Huh?" Rachel spun at the noise and saw a charming, young man with a cunning smile. His golden eyes sparkled mischievously as he walked up to Rachel and gently took her hand, kissing it softly. Rachel blushed red and quickly withdrew her hand, uncertain of what she should say.
The man straightened and smiled at Rachel. "Do not worry about the cost of these garments. My master only desires that you remain happy while you are living here."
"But…" Rachel looked longingly back at the dress. "I really can't. It doesn't seem right…"
"Nonsense!" The man laughed. "I'm sure you will look beautiful in it. Give it a try! That dress was made for you. It belongs to you, Rachel. It's a gift from my master."
"O-Okay." Rachel nodded timidly, overcome by the generosity. "If it's okay…Can you please leave while I change?"
"Oh, certainly! I'm sorry. I'll leave you alone while you are getting undressed." He bowed briefly before leaving and closing the door behind him.
Once she was certain that she was not going to be disturbed, Rachel went back to the dress and admired it for a couple of more moments. Holding it to her chest, Rachel marveled at the fact that the man had been correct. It did seem as if the dress was made exactly for her. She couldn't help feeling slightly creeped out by the fact though, but she quickly shrugged that aside. Rachel gently placed the dress back on the bed and began undressing. It was only a few moments before the silk dress was on her body and Rachel felt like she was in the blessed realm of St. Elimine. It felt like she was being caressed by the air, a lovely, chilling sensation that sent excited shivers down your spine. The dress fit her perfectly and she did an experimental spin, laughing softly to herself as the dress twirled around her legs. She slid on the gloves as well and realized that they were also made of silk. Rachel stepped in front of a mirror and examined herself.
'Wow…I can't believe this is me…This is amazing.' Rachel heard a knock behind her and she opened it, revealing the smiling face of the man from earlier. "You have to thank your master for me. This dress is amazing. I can't believe he's just giving it away!"
"Heh heh…My master said you would like his gift. Now, he just wants you to rest for a while." He bowed. "I'm glad everything is to your liking. If you would like to explore the island for a while, you are certainly able to. Farewell." He departed once again, leaving Rachel alone.
'Explore…' Rachel thought. 'Yeah, that would be nice.'
She quickly donned her armor and tugged on her thigh-high boots. Her lance was lying against one of the walls and she grabbed it, not questioning why it was in her room. She caressed her dress one last time before departing, intent on going back to where she was supposed to have died. There was something, something important, tugging at the back of her head and she knew it had to have something to do with the battle. She would find out herself and then she could return to Nergal and offer him her services in gratitude for his generosity.
Unbeknownst to her, Nergal was watching her as she left her room. A wicked grin graced his face as he saw that she was wearing the dress and gloves he had designed specifically for her. He chuckled to himself knowingly, happy that all his plans were going as scheduled. Eliwood would bring Ninian to him, the dragons would be unleashed, and Rachel would be bound to his service forever. Her sense of honor prevented her from doing anything else and her confused mind wouldn't be able to piece out what was going on until long after the effects of his magic had completely reworked her mind. These were his ruins and all would soon be in his control.
---
"…" Fiora gazed at the bleak landscape, signs of their recent battle still in sight. Broken swords and spears littered the blood-soaked ground and scraps of armor were tossed on the ground in a haphazard arrangement. Something seemed off though, but Fiora couldn't exactly place it.
"There are no bodies."
"Huh?" Fiora turned to the tactician, who was frowning. "What?"
"There are no bodies. Even if the vultures were to feed on the corpses, we would still see bones around. But there are no bodies around. Somebody was here before us and took all the dead away."
Fiora looked around and realized that he was right. Besides the armor and weapons, there was nothing to show that a major fight had taken place. It was uncanny and a feeling of dread slowly spread through her body. She swallowed and tightened her grip on her lance. "Florina! Stay together. There's something wrong here."
"R-Right!" Her timid sister quickly reached her side, holding her thin lance in front of her nervously. "Do you t-think we'll be a-attacked?"
"No…The bodies were taken a relatively long time from now. At least this confirms my suspicions. Nergal hired those mercenaries to die. I doubt he had any intention of actually winning. He hired the knights to die and carted their bodies off somewhere." The tactician closed his eyes in sorrow and placed a hand over his eyes. "What can I do against an enemy as ruthless as this? Any tactic I can create is hampered by my conscience. I cannot and will not foolishly risk lives. But Nergal…Apparently, he can risk as many lives as he wishes…"
"My friends were killed for absolutely no reason?" Fiora asked softly, calmly. The tactician looked at her in alarm for a second before nodding slowly. Fiora's grip tightened on her lance and she began to shake from barely constrained rage. She let out a scream and slammed the head of her lance into the hard earth, snapping the iron tip from the wooden haft. "Nergal! I swear on the lives of my comrades, I will kill you for your injustice to Ilia!"
Fiora took in a couple of deep breaths, shuddering with anger. She looked up slowly and saw that someone new had appeared. She looked distantly familiar, but seemed a little strange with a dark-blue and black dress and long, crimson gloves. Her hair was like the color of wheat and while she didn't look dangerous, her posture suggested that she was always ready for battle, albeit reluctantly.
Fiora's eyes widened and the broken lance slid out of her nerveless hands. "Rachel?"
Chris: Ooooh…Confrontation! What will happen next? Will Rachel finally remember what happened? Or will she continue to be bound to Nergal? Find out next time when I update, which could be anytime!
Review please and leave any suggestions or comments you might have! Until next time! (What am I talking about?)
