World Of Revelations Part 2
Deciding which nation would have to be liberated first was something that took a long time to be decided.
According to what that samurai named Hinata had explained to her and what the maps of Askr's ancient expeditions to this world told, the capitals of Nohr and Hoshido, Windmire and Shirasagi, were more or less at similar distances from the bottomless canyon.
The fundamental problem that had Robin concerned was that in order to have control on these two nations... Embla's gotta have two armies located in each one (which was quite impressive... the size of Embla's military forces never ceased to remind her of Valm's army, even if according to the information she had received many of them were civilians without much experience who had been recruited a few years ago) so leaving the portal unprotected at this side to go to fight in either Hoshido or Nohr would allow the army controlling the other nation to attack Karl's forces.
Maybe there was a solution though.
Trying to divide the Order of Heroes into two smaller armies did not seem like such a bad idea considering the increase in size thanks to joining the troops of Altea and Ylisse with Askr's ones... but this would imply that she could not be in the two fronts of battle at the same time to supervise that everything went according to her plans...
If only Kiran was here...
That's what Robin thought as she sat in the war tent looking at the map of the Neite continent.
Not that Commander Anna didn't know tactics, she had decent war knowledge based on what Robin had observed but it was pretty obvious that she was more efficient in the aspect of managing the Order's economy.
Her memory also made her remember at that moment another time when she had decided to divide the army in two and it had not turned out as she expected... her friends and Askr's story revered her... and her male counterpart... as legendary strategists capable of achieving the impossible... but Robin knew that sometimes she felt that she had only won by luck...
Sometimes the downfall of the villain comes not only from the efforts of the heroes... but also from the very nature of the villain's way of life...
Grima could have simply taken her... his?... body from the past and start destroying the world as soon as they reached the past instead of expecting her to become Grima as well... but the nonsensical belief in the existence of fate the fallen dragon had was what made them believe that she would become Grima too no matter what and, perhaps, together they would destroy the world... worse, Grima had tried to speed up the process by giving her memories of the future in order to influence her personality... which did not work properly. She received amnesia, but even so, she still could see those memories of the future through dreams which allowed her to figure out how to avoid killing Chrom...
In other words, battles are not always won by the genius of the victorious generals, but also by the mistakes of the defeated.
This was an idea that was further reinforced in Robin's mind after learning the history of the Terran Metal world, in which one man tried to conquer the entire continent called Europa... but a certain battle, probably unnecessary since it was done only in order to conquer a certain city to cause a blow to the morale of the opponents rather than for its tactical utility, which ended in what Kiran described as the bloodiest battle in Terran history (with around 2 million people killed in that SINGLE battle) plus some other factors... it simply sentenced that "empire" to be defeated, stepped on and humiliated... a second time.
The world simply has too many different people for you to subjugate without everyone coming together to destroy you... which Embla would experience in the near future...
At least there was no indication that Embla controlled the northern country called Valla... if dealing with two opponents was complicated, which she understood very well due to her experiences in Valm struggling against Walhart's army and the treacherous resistance of Chon'sin, to have to deal with three was… just terrifying, even if Embla's soldiers were still not as good trained as the conqueror's ones.
Although the fact that it was a nation protected by an incredible number of mountains in addition to the bottomless canyon was perhaps part of the reason why Valla was free according to the information received. Robin doubted she could form an arrangement of good terms with this nation. Although dealing with northern nations generally covered in snow was nothing new to her, it would probably waste a lot of time... and she doubted she had anything that could convince them to help and all that without mentioning the obvious problem that was the language barrier. Maybe she could decide the course of action based on the information she had about the heroes of this world?
On one hand, regarding Nohr, Xander was fighting with Veronica... which meant that, unlike other cases, there was a royal alliance between Embla and Nohr... perhaps it was something purely economic since she had not seen Nohrian troops in the recent battles although that could be explained with the fact that Nohr was a poor nation which had suffered casualties during the war that occurred in this world not a long time ago... that could be beneficial.
Perhaps Nohr was the easiest enemy to defeat in this situation if she could take advantage of their financial condition since their current connection to Embla was blocked...
Commercial blockade...
Maybe with something like that she could defeat Nohr? Could she force Camilla and Leo to mobilize their troops in order to regain stability?
Considering the size of her current army and its overall strength...
At the moment Nohr seemed the weakest rival, but the spies had to arrive with up-to-date information to be sure. It also had to be taken into account that, according to the map, there were many more mountains on the way to Nohr than to Hoshido.
Regarding Hoshido itself, Embla's troops should be more occupying the territory given that it was a country with a lot of progress.
Perhaps the most interesting detail was that the castle of the capital was located on top of a mountain. The mountain was not as tall as the one a certain altar was constructed on, but the provisions couldn't last forever. Hoshido was the natural habitat of many Pegasi and a curious variant called Kinshi, so it was expectable to find a big air force as a result, be it local soldiers or some Pegasi recently trained by Emblians.
Princess Hinoka and maybe Sakura would lead those troops... or would they just be the army's fort? who could know if they had or had not already been infected by the new version of Embla's contract spell?
Hoshido's strongest hero, Ryoma, could pose a great threat because his sword apparently had similar properties to her Levin Sword despite being modeled in the shape of a Katana.
Robin already had experience dealing with those kinds of opponents thanks to training with Say'ri and fighting Yen-fey, so she felt that she should be the one to face such an opponent…
And taking into account a certain new trick that she had recently learned...
In the end, Robin determined that it was necessary to go first against Nohr and then against Hoshido.
For an army to cross the mountains... it was very complicated.
There was a path to cross to the other side, that was obvious, but it was not wide enough to allow comfortable progress.
At least it was not something that the King of Valla considered as tiring as that "infinite staircase".
Just thinking of that damn place made him feel a need to remove his shoes and enjoy a little of the air and, if there was a shady place out there, a little the feeling of the earth... but doing that in front of the troops would reduce approval points.
At least he had been able to relax a bit by cutting down trees for his army wood reserves.
He never failed to appreciate his sword Omega Yato had other uses aside from being a weapon of destruction.
The mobile parts of his weapon moved steadily in the sunlight and he could go on at night for quite a while, but eventually, he had to place those purple gems under sunlight for it to regain its full power.
Otherwise, it was much more likely that the… spines?… or whatever those things were, would get stuck inside the skin of an enemy.
"Hais une situesi qui deboit eter atendidu? (Is there something I should take a look at?)" the king of Valla asked.
His childhood friend and, from a certain point of view, unofficial general just shrugged.
"Evout serece eter ein oridas, Reingza Corrin, les soldateus disony un peu le chambio de cliroment, in facho" (Everything seems to be in order, king Corrin, the troops seem to be enjoying the climate change a bit to a more temperate one, in fact) Silas seemed to have a smile that was because of that last detail.
That was good, he supposed. Certainly, the soldiers of his new army, a mix between Hoshido; Nohr; and Valla troops actually, weren't all that used to the cold climates that Azura's country had. Even her beloved wife had ditched her old dancer/singer outfit in favor of something more comfortable.
Unless she was alone with him, of course.
Thinking about his wife, he had long ago resigned himself to the fact that no one other than her would simply call him Corrin, or Kamui, from now on to the rest of his life... the fact he was king was something that simply weighed heavily on the minds of other people, so he had tried to get used to it.
He just had to think that it was something like when he lived in that tower and his title was Lord instead of King.
The problem was when a scout came back pronouncing his title in a ... kind of scared way.
"Reingza Corrin! Reingza Corrin!"
It was only to report the truth that when news regarding the fact that Askr had regained all of its original territories reached the ears of the capital, there were multiple heads full of fury.
Bruno was partially surprised.
He already knew that the strength of the Askarian army was increasing a lot recently, but he did not expect this to happen so soon and without him leaking information.
He had to be thankful that this hidden passage was one that only he and his now-late father knew about. it allowed him to spy on the throne room without having to be totally present there.
Certainly the paranoia his father had now played against his interests in the death.
"If we hadn't wasted precious time doing those art festival celebrations and other things Askr wouldn't have had time to recover!" a general yelled, his hand twisted into a fist as he slammed the desk.
"How dare you suggest not celebrating the holy goddess's art festival ?!" A high-ranking woman screamed indignantly. "If we lose the goddess's favor, that's why we'd be in an even worse situation!"
"We could always have selected another date this year for that event!" exclaimed another general next to the first one who mentioned that having done the celebration had been counterproductive.
Bruno could never say that what he had been listening to for at least one hour so far here would serve as information to send to Askr.
If it weren't for the fact that almost any piece of information could become important, he would have considered retiring a while ago.
He wasn't surprised by the fact that he couldn't hear his sister's voice. Although she was respected for supporting their crazy father's plans, it is not like the generals were willing to let her make many decisions after certain fiascos where she let the Order of Heroes escape in scenarios that could be avoided had she not let her emotions manipulate her.
"Do you think it's time to send the half-blood ones into battle?"
...
...
...
Bruno made sure his ear was able to pick up every word after hearing this. The general who asked that question crossed his arms and continued speaking. "That is their purpose… so I say it is time to finally unleash their full potential."
"You know well that their training is not entirely complete." Another general, much older one in comparison, commented, crossing his arms as well... although he seemed particularly mad.
"And many of the heroes who now fight for our empire weren't even half as strong as they are now when they began the journeys that turned them into legends." The first general counterargument. "The training they lack is actual combat experience. You can prepare them as much as you want, but it is time for them to have their first contact."
Bruno didn't have to be a genius to deduce that they were referring to those soldiers who had been trained to be his sister's new personal guard...
He still had to investigate well what were the origins of these new warriors... especially since they were all younger than him... and that gave him an absolute bad feeling...
Especially because of that word which the generals had used to describe them...
There was a long silence in the room as the generals considered the option...
It was a misfortune that it had not been possible to continue this project that the former emperor had begun during his glory days to lead Embla to even greater glory.
However, they would certainly be fools not to take advantage of what had been created already... after all, the continuation of the plan had barely started over.
In the end, everybody agreed sending them into battle.
But that was not all they discussed.
"Do you think the girl suspects something?" commented another different general.
By girl, it was obvious who he meant.
"She does not suspect about them or our plans for her, she is so blinded by her desire to imitate the former emperor to notice it." The second general commented smiling.
Bruno's eyes widened… and he began to pay much more attention.
He intended to take her sister away from her to protect her from Askr… but, apparently, he had to protect her from her own kingdom as well unless he was misunderstanding something here...
Robin couldn't believe what they were telling her.
Preparations to begin moving west were almost concluded.
The tents had been dismantled, the provisions fully loaded, and there was enough wood to make bonfires during the journey through the mountains...
Technically they were ready to go into battle in these conditions...
But she hadn't planned any strategy to deal with a surprise attack from the north under these conditions.
Those troops could only be from Valla. The question was… what were their intentions here?
Robin sat rubbing her face while Chrom, Alfonse, and Marth looked at the map. "I suppose we must try diplomatic tactics first." Ylisse's strategist commented. "The scout did not detect any Embla soldiers in that army, but of course, that does not imply that they cannot be hostile for some reason."
"I really doubt it." Alfonse crossed his arms. "In the world of Revelations, Corrin becomes king or queen of Valla. Unless this Corrin has a very different personality, which I doubt since Askr always opens the portals to worlds similar to those already known, it is unlikely that they have hostile intentions against someone unknown. "
"It's good to know that there are more people like that in charge of nations in other worlds." Marth nodded slightly with a smile. Chrom had to scratch the back of his head.
"Do we have someone who understands their language?" Robin demanded.
Alfonse scratched his chin for a few seconds before snapping his fingers. "Oh, sure!... well, sorta." He smiled. "Corrin understands both Hoshidan and Nohrian, although Kagero and the other Corrin left with Kiran, Hinata can be our translator."
"Good idea, I need somebody to bring him here." Robin ordered, to which Chrom agreed to perform that task. Robin also had to thank the knowledge Alfonse had given her regarding the heroes of this world.
In the case of combat, it was necessary to know who could be the most dangerous foe. Corrin was part manakete. Marth, Chrom, and Lucina had 3 copies of the same weapon capable of defeating his kind.
Regarding the other heroes who had been identified, she did not feel so nervous. There were not many... which indicated that the most complex battle would continue to be against Nohr and Hoshido.
If they could form an alliance with Valla though... the strategy of separating the army and thus liberating this world faster would be more feasible.
This didn't have to go wrong at all...
Corrin was surprised when a messenger from that mysterious army settled in the bottomless canyon brought a request from the leader to have a talk with him in order to avoid the conflict...
It was hard for him to remember a time when people had really been willing to listen to him without having to fight first… beyond when he finally got the Yato, Corrin had resigned himself to having to fight almost always for a long time.
Silas and Kaze followed him, each at his side to protect him if the situation justified it.
Corrin noticed a woman wearing a black coat, white hair with ponytails; a warrior wearing golden armor, parts of that color looking like scales, and white. His hair was blue as were his eyes, and he carried a sword...
But perhaps the most surprising thing was seeing a familiar face. "Hinata?" The king asked in a mixture of surprise… and happiness to finally see someone from the other two nations.
However, Hinata proceeded to explain that in this conversation he would be little less than a translator and that he could not give him the answers he was looking for.
At first, Corrin didn't understand why, but his doubts would soon be dispelled.
"If I understood correctly, what you are looking for is answers regarding the fact that your two families have not responded to your messages after a long year?" Robin crossed her arms as she asked the question.
The fact that the communication was not immediate was not a problem at all for Robin, she was already used to this thanks to her many strategy talks, or simply culture chats, with the princess of Chon'sin.
Hinata had to admit that being a translator was fun.
Corrin rubbed his chin. "Corrin wants to know why we are in this place, the bottomless canyon."
Alfonse decided to answer that, since he had been the one who had opened the portal... although it was better not to say that particular detail. "Simply, here is the portal that connects our world with yours." He pointed to the gap between space and time. "I know it's hard to believe, but..." he sighed. "The reason for our presence ... is that there is an army that has invaded this world and we are fighting against them."
Corrin raised his eyebrow once the message got translated.
"He says that while he's been going through a lot of strange things in his life to the point where the idea of an invading army from another world doesn't sound totally crazy... he wants evidence that we are not THAT invading army pretending to be good." Corrin had even placed his hand on the handle of his sword to fight if necessary.
Robin had to admit that this king had a point. "I suppose telling him that Hinata is working with us is not a very strong evidence." Robin scratched her hair.
Corrin already had some experience in situations where someone was forced to work with another person against their will under threats, especially against their loved ones. So he just shook his head.
"Well, Alfonse, could you explain him what the Order Of Heroes consists of while I look for Raigh?" Robin commented, placing a hand on the prince's shoulder. Alfonse wasn't sure what the Ylisse's strategist had in mind, but he proceeded to explain every detail regarding Askr and Embla's roles in the war... and as a sign of good intention, he explained where, as far as he knew, Xander was.
Corrin had to admit that the prince of Askr did not contradict himself at any point during his story, and when he explained that there was a portal or gate which they had used to get there, Corrin asked if it was possible for him to check the portal himself or, at least, send someone to see it.
In the end, the scout who alerted Corrin about the presence of the Order was allowed to approach.
Robin had returned with Raigh following her. "You explained about Breidablik, correct?"
Alfonse nodded. "He also asked permission for an explorer to take a look at the portal and tell him if it actually exists or not." Robin gave him a thumbs up. "Excellent. Well, Your Majesty, as you can see, this is the Breidablik. " Raigh put the gun on perfect display.
King Corrin had to admit that the prince described it well...
"If we summon a hero, then will you be willing to trust us for now?" Robin asked, giving her best smile.
Corrin began to nod, besides... if he thought about it further... he understood very well what it was to know something and that no one wanted to give you a chance... that nobody wanted to believe you, to listen to you.
Raigh approached Alfonse for him to energize a gem. The resulting orb was gray. Raigh tossed it a bit before grabbing it again and loaded it inside Breidablik.
Corrin's eyes showed his surprise when a portal opened.
Many centuries, perhaps even millennia ago in the sea of time, there was a nomad warrior who had fought alongside three nobles to protect the peace of the continent from the dark forces of what was perhaps the most powerful black mage Elibe had ever seen.
His skill with the sword had increased significantly after such arduous training and battles...
But his love for his weapon simply did not compare to the love he had for that lady who stole his heart...
And he had also managed to conquer her feelings...
But…
The world just wouldn't accept it...
"G-Guy?... whonde… whonde vour etas llengo?... (Where… where are you going?...)"
That man narrowed his eyes and clenched his teeth.
He... he hoped he could leave without trouble in the middle of the night... Without her noticing that he would no longer be there the next day...
He did not dare to turn to see her.
"Guy… reswer mi. (answer me…)" The confused tone in her voice hadn't gone away… but now she was clearly upset.
Guy's hand transformed into a fist with which he was not carrying his bag with provisions ... he looked at the Moon ... and answered.
"Tyu et mi ne somre ofde missame muwodl (We are not of the same world…)" he negated with his head. "Tyu erais una noboru… Yto som un nomokumin… (You are a noble… I'm a nomad…)"
His girlfriend's face quickly denoted the horror her heart started feeling as she understood the implication of what he just said.
He was going to abandon her.
"Tyu knabe que yto ne me carta abre theso! (You know I don't care about that!)" She began to tremble as anger started taking over her emotions.
"Thelos me dijold que me retiraw (They told me I should leave)."
Guy swallowed hard, his voice much lower than normal as a clear indication that this was also very painful for him.
"Telis tome que un desrabi basum come mi ne pertlo aqure (They said a miserable scum like me does not belong here)"
She was outraged.
"Theso esi por mi paro decioser! (That's something only I can decide!)"
"Priscilla..." Guy closed his eyes.
He was about to just run away from the place without looking back...
But Guy's face was forced to turn when he heard... sobs...
Priscilla had her hands close to her mouth, trying to cover… her tears.
"Tyu valles simparent irta?! (You're just… gonna leave?!)" Priscilla's crying started to get louder. "Lueter todino lo que hevos vivlid?! (After everything we've been through?!)"
...
...
...
He certainly couldn't bear it...
Seeing her this way...
Would have she cried this way for multiple days if he had managed to leave without being noticed?
...
...
...
...
Guy then knew that he was an idiot...
He would not be able to forgive himself if he hurt Priscilla more.
Priscilla felt a gentle left hand removing hers right one from her face, wiping the tears for her...
And then crossing fingers with her right hand.
Guy tried to give his best smile, despite how unlikely it was for him to do that at the time.
His next words would change the course of their lives forever...
"¿quoule escgo awos avcon mi? (Then… wanna elope with me?)"
Priscilla remained without saying a word, her sobs decreasing in quantity with each second, her eyes blinking a lot.
"Vayllermos lear, junter. (Let's go away, together)"
Guy tried to sound as confident as possible...
...
Guy's eyes went wide when Priscilla's lips met his... but he quickly closed his eyes, let his provisions on the floor, and kissed her back. With his two hands free, he proceeded to hug her as he caressed her hair.
Tyu et mi… (You and me…)" Priscilla said, still hugging him
"Par tourev. (Forever)" he nodded.
The bright smile Priscilla had when both joined their fingers once more would remain in Guy's memory forever.
After several days of traveling together, Guy and Priscilla hadn't had much trouble.
They were trying to reach the border and leave the country before Priscilla's current family tried to bring her back.
Guy had to be thankful that Priscilla had decided to bring some money, besides her medical tools, before escaping.
It was thanks to this that both were riding on a horse that they had bought.
Priscilla rested her face happily on the shoulder of her lover.
She, however, was confused when the horse suddenly stopped after perhaps several hours.
She asked what was going on, but Guy simply told her to stay behind as the got off from the animal.
Guy was confused… to see an extreme glow in front of him… not enough to blind him… but it seemed to be the product of magic.
However, this did not last long… the glow revealed itself as… a gray spherical gem.
Despite what he said to his girlfriend, and now future wife as that ring on her hand could demonstrate, she decided to get closer.
When Guy knelt to grab the orb... It started to glow again.
"UUURGH!" Guy had to cover his eyes.
"Guy!" Priscilla approached to try to save her fiancé when that orb rose again, transformed into a kind of... void... and it seemed that it would take him away
"Well... I think this is the first time that two have been summoned at the same time." A somewhat young male voice stated.
"I didn't know that was possible ..." a female voice, clearly surprised, commented.
Guy had to rub his face as the vision of him adjusted again to allow him to see.
He then felt arms hugging him. Guy had to sigh when he saw that it was Priscilla.
"Where are we?..." The red-haired girl was blinking a lot as she also had problems with her eyes.
"I think I can explain." The couple noticed the presence of a young man of probably 15 years old with clothes that denoted that he was a mage.
He was holding a strange artifact in his hand... but what really surprised them was how similar this boy was to that girl… Nino.
As Raigh spoke to the couple, the King of Valla nodded several times while rubbing his chin. "King Corrin says this will suffice for now." Hinata confirmed.
"Nice, happy to be working with you then." Robin held out her hand.
This facilitated her plans significantly.
Interestingly, although Priscilla is known for not being able to marry any of her possible supports... apparently her ending with Guy was altered or mistranslated.
In Japanese Guy does not abandon her, but offers her to escape together and it is her smile when she decides to accept the one that remains in his mind.
Given this... I have only one opinion...
THANK YOU, DAMN TRANSLATORS!
YOU DESTROYED MY HEART WHEN THERE WAS NO REALLY NEED FOR IT!
Ahem... sorry...
Since we are only told that they escaped, but nothing more... I decided that the reason why nothing more is known about them afterward is that they were summoned.
I'll probably repeat the same concept with Knoll.
By the way, do not try to find coherence between the "Elibian" and "Vallita" languages of this chapter with the previous ones, when I create these false languages I simply choose words in English, Spanish, French, and sometimes Japanese, I combine them at random and that's it.
Embla considered using those elite soldiers… what results will this have? Who knows, the most I will say is that my inspiration for creating them was in part a group whose title begins with P.
Speaking of Embla, I suppose it makes sense that the dragon "god" of that nation is a woman considering Norse mythology.
It feels great to be able to write a lot of text with Robin's mind as a central part of the narrative. That always goes a long way for making callbacks.
Since Fates world doesn't have a name for its continent, I named it: Neite continent.
By the way, I wanted to release this the previous Saturday... but I had to prepare a lot for a certain test I had to pass this week and the next one I have another so... that.
