A Summoner's Journey

Voting Gauntlet: War of the Mages

Voting Gauntlet Day 1:

I sighed as I packed my things for the upcoming Voting Gauntlet. Honestly, I disliked going there because it took me away from all my friends in Askr. Sure, I was able to bring one, but conversing with one person for six days straight makes me feel lonely. Oh well, at least I had Saria to look forward to. Since Julia was one of the competitors, I brought Julia with me to the gauntlet to support her. Ever since reading Jugdrali history books, I've been intrigued by the young light mage. I figured the gauntlet was a good way to know about her. I finished stuffing my last item into my travel bag, the same Judgrali history novel and left my quarters.

"Seliph… I'm going to miss you while I'm away at the gauntlet" Julia said as she packed her own travel bag provided by Anna.

"Me too Julia. Promise me that you'll be safe" Seliph replied as he helped his half sister pack, scavenging around for backup Rexcalibur tomes "To be honest, I'm rather uncomfortable being unable to watch over you"

"I'll be safe Seliph. I'll be fine on my own" Julia smiled at the Grannvalean prince "To speak the truth, I don't trust that summoner Lucian very much…"

"Julia, you shouldn't distrust him. He's done a lot and been through a lot for all of Askr" Seliph put his hand under Julia's chin, stroking it gently "Plus, he's an ordinary man from another world. Nothing like us or the other heroes. He can do you no harm"

"I suppose you're right" Julia replied, shifting from foot to foot "I guess I haven't been very trusting since Manfroy abducted me in Miletos"

"You have every reason to have post traumatic stress, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't trust people Julia" Seliph said "Especially not a man like Lucian"

"I know" Julia nodded "Still, I'll miss being with you"

"Ah, so we're back to that huh?" Seliph laughed "Looks like you're done packing. You ready to go?"

"Yes, I think I am" Julia shouldered her bag and gave Seliph a warm smile "What are you going to do while I'm off?"

Seliph shrugged "Perhaps just converse with Lyn and Robin. Both of them remind me so much of Shanan and Oifey"

"I hope Lucian can bring them into Askr someday" Julia replied "Along with Lana, Larcei, Ulster, Diarmuid and Lester"

"Hopefully Lucian can summon all of our companions into Askr" Seliph said wistfully "But that's going to be a long while from now"

"Yes, you're right. I'm just wistfully thinking" Julia shrugged "Anyways, it's time for me to meet Lucian in the lobby. I'll be back soon Seliph"

"And I will await your return. Stay safe"

"You too"

Later...

The matchups in the gauntlet were as followed: Tharja vs Linde, Julia vs Sanaki, Leo vs Henry and Robin vs Merric. I knew for certain that Tharja would win due to well… more than two things.

"There's a lot of people going down Tharja's hallway" Julia noticed, clutching her Naga tome in her arm "Why is that?"

"Well uhm… have a good look at her" I gestured to a summoner's Tharja that was resting in the arena lobby. I stared at Julia, waiting for a reaction. I got nothing.

"I… I don't see anything noteworthy" Julia replied.

"Umm… how do I put this…?" I cupped my hand under my chin "The majority of the summoners here are male and Tharja's… sexy so to say"

Julia gasped, then blushed "Oh… oh yes of course. Let's uhm… let's go into the arena"

"Right" I didn't want to be around a horde of horny summoners either, so I quickly registered myself as part of Team Julia and headed through the hallway into the arena. On our side was a Hana and Cordelia while the enemy team was Jaffar, Lucius and Lyn. I paired up with the Hana user and charged towards Jaffar and Lucius with Hana and Julia. Cordelia took the skies, preparing to strike down Lyn.

"The end is near" Jaffar threw two Deathly Daggers with expert accuracy towards Julia, but Hana jumped in and knocked them aside with her large Armorslayer. Julia advanced on Jaffar and opened her Naga tome. Before Jaffar could pull another knife, Julia erected a bright flash of light, blinding the assassin and Lucius.

"Away with you!" Julia chanted the incantation of Naga and a gigantic ghostly dragon rose out of the ground. The dragon roared, a ball of light forming in its mouth and it blasted the light sphere down onto Jaffar, throwing him to the wall. Lucius rushed over to heal Jaffar with Rehabilitate, but Hana swiftly cut the healer down. Lyn dashed towards the exposed Julia, since Hana left to deal with Lucius. Before Lyn could reach Julia though, Cordelia dived down and stabbed the swordswoman in the back. Twice even because of Cordelia's Brave Lance. With all the enemies down, I deposited 50 battle flags and left.

"I'd like to ask you something Julia" I said as I turned to the young mage, fiddling with her Naga tome "You seem to only converse with Seliph and not try to get along with the others. Can you tell me why?"

Julia took a deep breath and steadied herself "S-sorry Sir Lucian. I'm afraid I can't tell you now. To be frank, I don't completely trust you yet…"

"That's alright Julia. Trust is earned through time" I expected some of my heroes to not trust me eventually, so I was already mentally prepared "But may I ask, what makes you not trust me?"

"Oh no, it's nothing about you Sir Lucian" Julia stammered "I just… have trouble trusting people in general. I really only talk with Seliph and Sakura in Askr"

"Seliph I can understand since he's your brother, but Sakura?" I asked "Why her over everyone else?"

That came out harsher than I intended.

"It's just that… Sakura reminds me of one of my only friends back in my world. She was a young cleric named Lana. She's the daughter of Seliph's adoptive mother, Edain" Julia replied.

"Oh, I see. I noticed Seliph hanging out with Lyn and Robin regularly. Do you know about that?"

"Seliph is with those two because they remind him of his "adoptive brother and father" so to say, Shanan and Oifey"

I looked at Julia dumbfounded "Lyn's a girl and I'm pretty sure Shanan's a guy. How does Lyn remind Seliph of Shanan?"

"Shanan is the prince of Issach, a country of swordsman" Julia explained, flipping through her Naga tome absently "He had major Odo holy blood, which meant he could arm the legendary Balmung sword. Seliph probably saw Shanan's skill with the blade in Lyn"

"That makes sense" I noticed Julia twitching a little in her shoulder "Why are you twitching though?"

"Hm? Oh, I'm probably just tired" I saw through that lie all too easily, but I decided not to press. It was better that Julia trusts me before I could get her to open up.

"You can take a nap if you'd like" I said, getting up from my chair and leaving my book on a table "I'll be down at the buffet for dinner. I can bring up a meal for you if you wish"

"No no, you don't need to help me Lucian" Julia cracked a small smile "I'll pick up my food after I rest"

"Alright then. See you in a bit"

Later...

"I'm starting to hate the heroes they picked to participate in the gauntlet" I muttered as Saria smirked in front of me "There's always one fanservice character. In this case, Tharja"

"Realistically though, Tharja's attire makes a lot of sense" Saria's companion for this gauntlet, Merric thought aloud "I heard that she's a dark mage from Plegia, a desert-like region. She wears as she does to block the desert heat"

"And last time I recall, you're from the desert region of Khadein" I said, pointing at Merric's robes "Yet you look like you're going to the Ice Dragon Shrine"

Merric looked hurt "The robe is made of thin linen, so it's easy to move around in and doesn't absorb heat as much as regular clothing"

"That's also why your clothes rip so easily" Saria added while she nibbled on a bread roll "I had to mend your robe how many times now?"

"Six. These robes were meant for ease of movement in the desert along with allowing the user's magic to flow as freely as possible" Merric explained "It wasn't made for protection"

"Your clothes got ripped so much that it's basically nothing but stitches of cloth" Saria said, smirking.

"It's fine for me because I'm a man" Merric continued "But you wouldn't believe how many times Lena had to mend Linde's dress. The enemy soldiers umm… had some ideas"

"Ideas you shouldn't tell us" I knew exactly what those men wanted when they cut Linde's clothes "Anyhow, you said that you wore thin linen robes to move easier in the desert, but what did you mean by "allowing the user's magic to flow as much as possible"?"

"It's complex, but I'll try to describe it the best I can" Merric picked at the edges of his robe "Controlling and harnessing magical spirits to your command means you must be one with the natures of anima"

"Which means…?"

"The anima spirits dislike their wielders being tainted with non naturalism" Merric explained "Which means they don't obey those wearing leather, armor or any sort of material farmed from nature"

"That's… odd" I suddenly heard Julia's voice behind me as she sat down beside me with a plate of food "I've seen many armored men wielding magic. There was this baron in the Manster District who could wield the legendary Mjolnir tome"

"Really now? Do you know anyone else like that?" Merric asked, intrigued.

"Yes… just let me think" Julia took a bite out of a piece of chicken "My father, Arvis of Velthomer was the Emperor of Grannvale. He wore strong, regal armor and wielded the exalted Valflame"

"Arvis of Velthomer… wielder of the Valflame" Merric murmured under his breath "I would love to meet him someday"

"You're going to have to wait for me to summon him then" Saria smiled "But please continue Julia. This is pretty interesting"

"Seliph told me of a faction of Freege's Gelban Ritter" Julia continued "It was a legion of generals wielding lances and thunder magic"

"I see… maybe the magical spirits of your world are different from mine…" Merric said thoughtfully "Thank you for your insight Julia. Do you mind if I ask more questions?"

"Of course. I'd like to help whenever I can" Julia replied and the two mages continued talking while me and Saria finished up. At least here, I could see Saria and talk to heroes I haven't summoned yet.

So Voting Gauntlets weren't all bad.

Voting Gauntlet Day 2:

As far as scoring went, Team Julia held the lead over Sanaki. Tharja was beating Linde (no surprise there), Leo winning over Henry and Robin holding the score advantage over Merric. After a quick arena battle, me and Julia headed back to our stateroom to rest.

"Julia, I want to ask you something and you don't need to answer if you are uncomfortable" I said as Julia turned to face me "You were twitching yesterday when you told me about Lyn's skill in the sword being comparable to Shanan. Can you tell me why?"

Julia sighed "It's not Lyn that made me twitch. It's just… I…"

"Julia, you don't need to do it if you aren't feeling comfortable, but I want to know if you trust me"

"Seliph told me I should"

"I think you should decide for yourself if you can trust me, not just because Seliph told you to"

"Yes, you're right…" Julia relaxed herself "I realized that you've done so much in service to Askr and I have no reason to not trust you. Do you mind if I…"

"Go ahead. I'm curious to know"

"The actual reason why I was twitching yesterday was because talking about Shanan wielding the Balmung reminded me of my brother" Julia explained.

"Seliph?"

"No, no, Seliph's my HALF brother" Julia corrected "My actual brother, Julius was a good, earnest boy, but then… he… he killed…"

"Julia, take a deep breath and relax" I said in a soothing tone.

"Forgive me Lucian. I… I can't…"

"It's okay Julia. Just tell me when you're ready" to be honest, I was anxious to know what Julia's true past was, but I didn't want to pressure the mage to dig up bad memories. I had to consider my own troop's feelings after all.

"Do you mind if I take a nap for a while? The fight in the arena left me a little…" Julia yawned "Tired"

"Go ahead. That Caeda knocked you down hard in the last fight" I pulled out my novel from my bag and opened it up "Don't worry. I won't make a peep"

As Julia slept, I continued reading the Jugdral history book. It was rather generalized and didn't elaborate much on the members of Sigurd and Seliph's armies themselves. There wasn't any inside sort of information with the army's members, so I assumed it was written by a scholar after the war. I flipped the page to the final chapter, where Seliph's army was preparing to battle Julius, the prince of darkness and vessel of the dark god Loptyr.

"Beginning from Chalphy, Seliph's army charged onwards towards their first opponent, the infamous Wall of Edda" I murmured to myself as I read. Julia suddenly started twisting and turning more often. Oblivious to this, I continued reading.

"As Seliph's army defeated Hilda of Freege and her Gelban Ritter, Prince Julius employed the twelve Deadlords to defend Belhalla. He also sent out the Weissen Ritter led by the "Goddess of Thunder" Ishtar to engage Seliph's troops on the road to Belhalla" I continued to myself "As this was happening, Archbishop Manfroy of the Loptyr Church released his weapon from the confines of Velthomer. Having brainwashed the young mage, Manfroy ordered her to attack Seliph. This mage's name was…"

"AAHHHHHHH!" Julia suddenly screamed and jerked up in bed, scattering her blanket. I dropped my book in surprise.

"Julia, are you alright?!" I fretted over the mage, checking to make sure her breathing was right. I read in a book that sudden surprise from a nightmare can stop a person's heart. I wanted to make sure Julia's breathing and pulse was at least normal.

"S-sorry for scaring you Lucian. I… I had a nightmare" Julia quivered and I hugged her gently, whispering comforting words.

"Can you tell me what it was?"

"I… I dreamt that I was back in Chalphy facing my father. He had such a pained and sad expression on his face as Manfroy took me away. I cried to him, yelling his name, but he couldn't do anything. Then…" Julia sniffled, then began to cry in my chest "Manfroy… he… he told me he's going to do what he did to my mother. He brainwashed me and commanded me to attack Seliph. I… I couldn't control my body. I screamed inside myself to try and break it, but nothing worked. I never felt so… hopeless…"

Julia continued to cry on my white robe, staining it with tears. I didn't mind though.

"Before Manfroy brainwashed me, he restored my memories too" Julia said "I… I saw my brother Julius grasping the tome of Loptyr from Manfroy and turning into a devil of a man. I saw him murder my mother. When he turned to me with his dark purple eyes, I knew I was done for. I would die at the hand of my brother. But with the last of her strength, mother warped me out of the castle, where a green haired man found me"

"So that's why…" I patted Julia's back "You didn't want to share this with me because you didn't trust me. You disclosed it because you were afraid of digging back bad memories"

"Y-yes and I'm so sorry!" Julia sobbed "Now you know! I'm the sister of the dark god Loptyr! You know the truth now, so just hate me!"

"Julia, Julia, just relax" I said soothingly, letting the mage sob into my chest "It's never right to hate someone just because someone related to them did something bad. You are your own person and you aren't ensnared by your relative's sins"

Julia stayed quiet, so I continued.

"I read a book from a ex-Loptyr mage named Salem" I began "He said that the children of Loptyr followers were burned at the stake like all other Loptyrians simply because of their ancestors"

"That… that's horrible…" Julia murmured.

"I can understand why Manfroy wanted to do all of this. He wanted a world where everyone can live freely without persecution or prejudice. Most of all, Manfroy wanted his fellow Loptyrians to be able to live freely and be able to see the sun and feel the wind" I continued "To that end, Manfroy would do anything to ensure a future like that"

"My father also wanted that" Julia replied weakly "He told me once that he desired a world free from racism and conflict. He too was disgusted by children being burnt at the stake simply for being Loptyrian"

"The main point here Julia is that you don't need to be afraid to trust anyone in Askr" I said, cracking a smile "Nobody's going to care how shady your past is or what heritage you have. We are all equals fighting for the same cause and that means we shouldn't distrust each other"

"Yes… you're right Lucian. You're right" Julia let go of me and wiped her eyes "Both me and Julius's fate were made off of just lineage. I'm scared if whatever took hold of Julius takes hold of me again but…"

I let Julia continue after she relaxed.

"I can take heart in one thing now" Julia looked at me in the eye and smiled "You comforted me when I needed it and you gave me good advice. I can now fully believe that, should something possess me, one word from you can bring me back to my senses. I trust you Lucian"

"That's good to hear" I smiled back at her and got up from my chair "Are you feeling better now?"

"Yes… is it time for another arena battle?"

"Yep it is. Are you sure you're okay?"

"You're starting to sound like Seliph now" Julia giggled "I'm fine Lucian. You don't need to worry about me now"

"Very well. Let's go then"

Voting Gauntlet Day 6:

After my heart-to-heart with Julia, nothing else interesting happened in the gauntlet. After the first round ended, it was Tharja vs Julia and Robin vs Leo. Naturally, Julia lost and Robin defeated Leo. I joined Robin out of revenge against Team Tharja while Saria joined Tharja after Merric was defeated. Just before midnight when the gauntlet would end, I entered into the arena one last time, despite having zero flags.

"I want to fight against Saria at least once" I murmured as I entered the arena alongside my teammates with a Spring Lucina and Hector. Coming in from Team Tharja was a Merric, Tharja and Azura. I glanced at the summoner with the Merric and recognized her immediately.

"Well, colour me surprised" I smirked as I quickly assessed the matchup. Spring Lucina can easily take down Tharja while Julia and Hector can handle Merric and Azura. I inherited Green Tomebreaker from Henry to Julia, so Julia could shred Merric's Excalibur. We didn't take a long time to size each other up and just charged in.

"Lucina, cover Julia in the center and protect her from Tharja!" luckily, the girl with Spring Lucian was smart, sending Lucina to protect Julia as she advanced towards Merric.

"Merric, aim Excalibur at Lucina!" Saria called and Merric opened his Excalibur tome, conjuring a ball of razor sharp gales in his palm.

"Excalibur!" Merric blasted a wave of blue wind towards Lucina, but Julia leaped in and absorbed the attack nicely. Tharja flanked from the right and called down Rauðrblade+, sending a cluster of red swords onto Julia. However, Lucina fired a strong bolt of lightning from her Blue Egg+, disrupting Tharja's spell. Merric fired another Excalibur wave at Lucina, but Julia held her ground and opened Naga, readying an attack. But before Julia could fire, I saw Azura singing for Tharja out of the corner of my eye.

"Julia! Pull back!" but it was too late. Tharja dashed with re-invigorated energy and fired down Vengeance-powered Rauðrblade+, burying Julia in a storm of magic. When the dust settled, Julia fell her her knees and faded away. With Julia gone, Merric shot Excalibur at Lucina with nothing to stop him. Lucina managed to dart away thanks to Swift Sparrow, but all her dodging couldn't give her the time to attack Tharja. Thankfully, Hector came to the rescue.

"Enough chit chat!" Hector absorbed a Excalibur from Merric and threw his Armads in response. The legendary axe tore through Merric's body, leaving him on the ground with a giant cut across his chest. The Armads returned to Hector's hand and it's Quick Riposte effect activated, allowing Hector to throw it again, cleaning taking Merric's head off and defeating him. Sadly, Tharja snuck up from the side and ended Hector in a single blow. This gave Lucina the time to activate her special, Moonbow.

"I say when winter ends!" she called and shot a strong bolt of lightning towards Tharja, melting her magical defenses because of Moonbow. The Plegian dark mage fell to the ground and faded away too. Dancers/singers weren't fit to fight, so Lucina easily cleaned up Azura too. With all my flags gone, I left the arena and went back to the hotel to retrieve Julia.

"That was quite an interesting match between us" Saria commented as Team Tharja cheered when the announcer announced their victory "I didn't think Julia had that much magical resistance"

"She's practically immune to magic, but falls if anything resembling a weapon hits her" I said, smiling "Everyone has to have weaknesses after all"

"True. And even that resistance couldn't save Julia against Tharja" Saria added "I got some urgent business to handle in my Askr, so I gotta go!"

"Alright, see you next time" I said as she ran off with Merric "Write me soon!"

I decided to take my leave too, since they was no point staying after Tharja won. I packed my things and left through the dimensional tunnel with Julia. When we arrived back in Askr, Seliph literally crashed Julia in a hug. I smiled at the two and decided to leave them alone. I needed rest anyways. I set down my pack, climbed into bed and fell asleep.

Later into the night…

"Julia! I'm glad you came back safe!" Seliph said as he hugged Julia tightly.

"Me too Seliph. I missed you" Julia replied, trying to remember Seliph's scent and warmth before he let go.

"Ah, you must be tired now" Seliph took Julia's bag and looped his arm around her "I'll take you to our room for you to get some rest"

"Yes… sleep. That sounds…" Julia yawned "... good"

Seliph led Julia to their room, which they shared because they were siblings. Seliph watched over Julia as she slept, since he wasn't very sleepy himself.

"Hey Julia" Seliph leaned in and whispered to the sleeping mage "Do you trust Lucian now?"

"... Yes" Julia murmured in her slumber "He… doesn't care that I'm Loptyr's sister. He said that he… doesn't care how shady someone's… past is and what heritage they… have. He's a good person"

"Askr's lucky to have him" Seliph replied "I think his outlook is what Emperor Arvis strove for back in our world"

"I'm worried that Lucian will… suffer the same fate as father" Julia mumbled "But for now… we should enjoy his… peaceful order for as long as we can…"

"A world where all can live freely" Seliph said "That's a good and noble goal"

"Yes… it's what father and Manfroy strove to create"

"Manfroy? What do you mean by-"

"Seliph, I want to sleep. Stop talking to me"

"Ah, sorry about that. I was about to go to sleep as well"

"Goodnight then Seliph"

So this VG chapter is focused on Julia and Seliph, mostly Julia though. I'll probably create a expanded late-night-conversation between Julia and Seliph in the future, as this one was rather short. Next up is Chapter 11 of the main story: Rite of Shadows featuring Celica, Boey, Mae and Genny from Shadows of Valentia. After that is everyone's favorite Heroes art screw up: Lloyd. As always, thank for you all the favorites, follows and reviews. Until next time summoners!