It was just a normal day.
It always was when things like this happened, Sonia thought. When her village had been raided it had started as a normal morning. The raids that followed only broke up the monotony.
Sonia had seen blood in the future, but now she realized she shouldn't have made the assumption that it would just be just her enemies'. She hadn't seen the portals coming.
She cursed herself for allowing such an oversight– for failing Griffith. At the moment she was trying to find Griffith, but the chaos was making it difficult. Half of the soldiers were missing and the other half were traitors. More than half of the war demons were gone, obliterated at the same time as the portals opened.
Sonia hadn't seen that either.
The queen was missing as well, but Sonia had foreseen that. She'd told Griffith months ago, but he hadn't done a thing about it. He'd just smiled and said he would handle it.
Was he handling this though? Could he? He wasn't human anymore, but he wasn't immortal. What would happen to Falconia if he died?
As if to wreck to state of mind further, she saw the ones who had opened the portals, Kushans. She worked with Kushans before of course, but this was different, in this setting with the fire and screams– It was just like that raid that had started it all. The raid that she convinced herself she was thankful for because she'd met Griffith because of it and become someone that mattered. Someone powerful. Or so she'd thought.
A war demon flew overhead, bleeding heavily as it ripped arrows from it's skin. More and more arrows embedded themselves in it and Sonia cried out as though she were the one being hit. She ran forward to help the creature only to be ensnared by the tentacles of another. The tentacles started to rip at her clothes and Sonia knew what it would do to her, but couldn't find it in her to fight back.
When suddenly it let her go– no, the tentacles were severed and she was being pulled onto a horse.
"Sonia!" Mule exclaimed, "Are you okay?!"
He was dressed in full armor, complete with a helmet, so she couldn't see his face fully. She could still tell he was crying.
The monster that had nealy molested her was still chasing them, and gaining. They couldn't just keep going like this, it would catch up with them, and then–
BAM! BAM!
The sound echoed through the streets, Sonia glanced back to see two giant bolts embedded in the demon, before a third put the thing down.
She closed her eyes and wished for Griffith to once again save them all from this hell.
EARLIER
The portals opened without a hitch and as promised the human non-combatants were ready to evacuate. The people weren't panicking yet, which was a miracle of itself, and Charlotte would be sure to thank Governor Luca, as it was her planning that had achieved such a feat. As it was, Charlotte was the first to go through the portal to show it was safe.
They had set up portals for entering the Kushan stronghold and for entering Falconia. There were a few with an overlap, but for the most part they'd been able to keep it seperate. They'd had to find a civil engineer for that, but as it turned out more that a few people shared their distrust of the god-king. Infact, many people were growing discontent in how content everything was. The eternal spring was simply too good to be true.
There were those who remained loyal to Griffith of course. As it turned out, most of those weren't soldiers. All of whom had seen the war demons up close in actions and knew what they would do. It was bad enough even with the games held in their arena. Eventually they figured they would grow bored of the games and wreak havoc as they had before. It was their nature after all.
The face that met Charlotte on the other side was a frightening, but familiar one. It was Guts, as grim as ever. Behind him stood someone Charlotte never thought she would see again.
Dressed in full armor stood a woman holding a baby on one hip and a sword on the other. Her dark hair cropped short and her eyes a storm.
"Commander Casca…?" she asked, stumbling closer past the intimidating doorman.
Guts nodded to a redheaded boy who shot into the tunnel to greet the people on the other side. Good choice, the boy was as unthreatening as you could get.
Charlotte tried to get her words out, "You're…" alive? A mother? Going into battle? They were all questions she wanted to ask, but she was cut off by an embrace. The hug was awkward, what with a baby and hard metal armor, but Charlotte returned it, so starved of a kind touch.
"I'm sorry I ever doubted you," Casca said.
She didn't know how to respond. Guts moved to stand beside Casca, and the people began to filter in.
"There's one more thing I must ask of you." Casca held up the baby and placed it into her arms. "Please watch over my son." Guts stayed silent, his sole eye intent on the child. His anxiety was nearly tangible. "His name is Phillip."
"I will protect him like he was my own," she declared. The decision was easy.
Casca kissed the child, but let a mask fall over her face as soon as the face plate fell into place on her helmet. Guts let Phillip grab his fingers and smiled briefly before following Casca.
She wasn't sure what she would do if they failed. Probably die like the rest of humanity. Before her nerves could grip her, the baby began to cry. Casca stopped in her steps, shoulders shaking.
Charlotte had nothing to say. What could she say to alleviate well founded worries? She set to calm the baby, as it wasn't constricted to rules of logic like the rest of them.
"It's okay Phillip," she soothed, "It's all going to be okay. It's gonna be okay."
While she'd been absorbed with the child, Casca and Guts had left through the portal. Luca joined up with her as the people were settled. It was tight quarters, and even a queen had to share a room.
"Where'd the baby come from?" Luca asked. Charlotte and her had become something of friends in their time spent as co-conspirators. Charlotte had a feeling they weren't true friends, only together because of circumstance, but she valued Luca's counsel above all others.
"His name is Phillip," Charlotte introduced, "Casca asked me to–"
"Casca's alive?!" Luca exclaimed.
With all that was happening, it's slipped her mind that Luca would find that information important. "Yes, I was surprised as well."
"Where is she? Is she okay?"
"She's gone to command the forces."
Luca's eyes racketed back and forth in thought, piecing everything back together. "So she's healed then."
Charlotte smiled. She hadn't known the state Casca had been in after the Hawks had gone rogue. She'd thought her dead like everyone else she knew. To know what a state the proud warrior had been reduced to brought her even more resolve to remove Griffith from the throne. It was one of the few things Charlotte and Luca had in common, their acquaintanceship with Guts and Casca.
"I suppose so."
"And this is her son?" Luca took a better look at the boy. "He looks like her." It was then the mature Luca who was crying. "She better come back." she managed, "She better."
"She will," Charlotte said, "She will."
She looked down at the boy in her arms and knew nothing would keep the mother and son apart. If her child had lived she would've done the same.
…
Farnese still couldn't believe a thing like the world tree existed. She'd seen some big trees in the past year, but this, this was something else. It reached into the clouds, taller than any mountain. It probably reached all the way to heaven.
"You should start, Serpico said.
His voice broke her out of her awe induced trance. Right. They needed to bring it down. She began to doubt their plan. Sure she could certainly do more magic that before, but to destroy something like this? humans could possibly do something like that!
"Don't go doubting yourself," Serpico said as if reading her mind, "You've always been good at destroying things."
She gave him a tired smile and went to assist the other mages. Impossible was just a word after all. She'd seen many 'impossible' things now, and this would just be one more. She started casting the spell and was about to enter the astral state when a loud buzzing met her ears. Someone screamed as thousands upon thousands of wasp-like demons poured from the branches of the tree.
Serpico set to protecting them, slicing through the air like a bird of prey. The protective barriers were still in place. Good.
She went back to working on the spell. She trusted Serpico to protect her. Farnese started to direct the flow of magic. It was after she lost her conscious mind that the real assault started.
…
"You get to your spot, the vanguard will need you," Casca said, her voice strong even as tears fell down her face.
Guts didn't want to leave her in such a state. He didn't even want her there in the first place. But there was no arguing with her once she made her mind up, and they did need every able bodied fighter.
Before he could ask, 'are you sure?' Casca snapped, "Go! They need you!"
He flipped up her face plate and pulled her in for one last kiss. It distracted her long enough for her expression to soften.
"Stay away from high places," he said in parting.
"Remember your promise," she said back.
He turned and, striding forward, let the helmet of the berserker armor engulf his head. He raised his hand in farewell, before charging towards the front lines. Time to raise some hell!
PRESENT
They were backed into a corner, Sonia and Mule. Mule was injured and their horse was dead. Sonia, for it seemed the hundredth time that day, was sure she was dead.
The was until a fireball made its way to help them out.
"Take that frog boy!" The youth shouted, cutting off the monster's limb. It was the monkey boy from all those years ago.
With the stab of his magic knife and another slice of his sword the war demon fell. Isidro turned to them and offered a hand to Mule.
"Can you walk?" he asked him.
Mule lifted up his dented visor. He winced, but took the hand and stood. "I guess I have to."
"There should be a clear path from where I came from leading to a portal. Try to get there." He tried to run off again, but Sonia grabbed his arm.
"The little owl!" she exclaimed, not making any sense to Isidro or Mule. "Where is she?"
"I don't know any owls," Isidro answered.
"Sonia, we need to get going," Mule insisted.
"Schierke! Is she dead?"
Isidro seemed more surprised than before, "No, she's not. She's the one who killed most of the demons." His eyes shone with admiration, "Don't let her know that I said this, but that was probably one of the coolest things I've ever seen."
So it was Schierke's fault for all of this.
"Sonia," Mule said again, grabbing her arm," We need to go."
She let herself be pulled away, and then helped support Mule. They weren't going to any portal though.
They were going to find Griffith.