Deep within the royal palace in Ylisstol, an attendant carrying a sleeping infant walked towards a heavily armored man. The man was gruff and uninviting. He had short curly blue hair and a frazzled blue beard, and his face was permeated with deep wrinkles that made him look much older than he really was. He wore a very serious and concerned expression that his face seemed to be made for. Even without the wrinkles, the man's default expression was cold and intimidating. The Mark of Naga, a birthmark that proved the man's ancestry, was on his right cheek. The man's attire was elaborately decorated gold and blue plate armor, and a stark white cape flowed behind the man. The Falchion was sheathed at his side. The attendant gave the man a small bow when he reached him and presented him with the infant in his hands.

"I have returned from the delivery room, Lord Caracalla. I have excellent news. Your wife has given birth to a healthy baby boy." The attendant carefully handed the newborn to his father. A warm smile appeared on the Exalt's face, yet even then he still looked serious. "There is one other thing, milord. Your wife asked, no she almost pleaded with me, to tell you that she thought of a few names for the child."

Caracalla looked down on his newborn son. He smiled as he noticed the Mark of Naga on his right shoulder. "I do not care what that woman thinks." He responded. "I shall name the child." Caracalla looked contemplatively at the sleeping newborn in his arms. "Chrom. His name will be Chrom. He's beautiful. He's strong and healthy. He's much bigger than Emmeryn was when she was born." Caracalla held his newborn son close to his face and nuzzled him. "I'm your father. I'm going to make a better world for you to grow up in." Caracalla rocked his son back and forth. "There's a monster out there called Grima. It wants to destroy humanity, but I won't let that happen. I'm going to make sure you can grow up in a world without Grima, or Plegia, or the Grimleal. I will make Ylisse a safe place, and I'll do it for you, Chrom. I'm doing it for you and Emmeryn. I'll make sure you have a good future to grow up in." The Exalt glanced down at the Falchion sheathed at his side. "But should I fail, it will be your responsibility to take up my legacy. Someday you will take up the Falchion as your ancestors did. Your older sister in her childish belief that pacifism can fix the world refuses to touch it. You will have to wield it. You, not her, will be the one to carry on my work. The fate of Ylisse rests on your shoulders. You will need to be strong." Caracalla kissed his newborn son on the forehead. "There are people who criticize my war with Plegia. They don't understand how important my crusade is. Someday people will criticize you too. You will need to be strong. If we are weak now, then someday a Plegian king might walk down these halls."

In the present day some fifty years later, an attendant once again made his way down the halls while carrying an infant. The attendant slowly made his way to Gangrel's throne room and gave the emperor a small bow when he reached the throne. Gangrel was once again wearing his "Shepherd Slayer" outfit. He was intently fiddling with the trophies on his head, trying to get Cordelia and Cherche's headbands to fit on his head while also messing with Maribelle's bows. The three pieces of clothing were badly deteriorated from thirty years of wear and tear. Gangrel didn't care. He would wear them until they crumbled into dust. The attendant had to loudly clear his throat to get the emperor's attention.

"Your highness, your wife asked—and when I say asked I mean that she thrusted her into my hands—that your young daughter spend the rest of the day with you. Your wife would like a break."

Gangrel rose from his throne and rolled his eyes. "That woman is three times younger than me and she can't handle a simple infant?! I handle thousands of people in my job! What was the point of marrying such a young woman if she has the stamina of an old wench?"

The attendant rolled his own eyes. "Oh of course, your highness. Your superiority over your very young wife is apparent to all."

"That's all I'm saying!" Gangrel descended from his throne and took his infant daughter from the attendant's arms. "Ah alright. She can spend the day with daddy." Gangrel playfully lifted his daughter into the air. "Yes you can, Emmeryn. Yes you can!"

Of all of Gangrel's eccentricities, his obsession with the late Exalt of Ylisse was easily one of the most disturbing to his attendant. The attendant hadn't known Gangrel before he became emperor, but he had heard that when he was just the King of Plegia he had no obsession with Emmeryn. This strange fascination began only after her death. It was the attendant's personal opinion that this obsession was born from guilt, but he would never tell Gangrel that. The emperor despised any attempt to analyze his actions. Naming his daughter after Emmeryn was only one way in which Gangrel's obsession manifested. The attendant cleared his throat again and regained his professional composure. "There was another matter to attend to, your highness."

"What now?" Gangrel groaned without turning away from his daughter.

The attendant took a deep breath. He wasn't sure how Gangrel would react to his news. "You know how you took Lucina's Parallel Falchion as a trophy after the Shepherds fell?"

"Of course?"

"Now you can complete the set."

Gangrel's eyes slowly fell on the attendant. "What?"

"The throneless prince still lives. He's been living as a scavenger in western Ylisse for years. Something happened and he single-handedly wiped out the entire Grimleal chapter in the area. There are only two survivors, one of Courtney's lieutenants and Courtney's personal assassin. They both confirm reports. Chrom is still alive."

Gangrel seemed to stare aimlessly into space. "My old friend." He said to no one in particular in a very disturbing tone. "My dear old friend. How long has it been since we've seen each other?" Gangrel held his daughter with one hand and drew the Parallel Falchion with the other. "Don't worry, Lucina." He said to the sword. "You'll be with your father soon."

"So… you want him dead?"

"Well I can't very much have him killing my landlords now can I?"

"It's convenient that you should think that, your highness. Theresa, Courtney's personal assassin, has requested permission to kill him. He wants revenge for Courtney's death."

"Very well. Tell him he can feel free to try."

The attendant seemed momentarily shocked. "Y-you're okay with that? You don't want to send Inquisitors or your personal Enforcers? This is the leader of the Shepherds we're talking about. Are you okay with a lowly assassin killing him?"

Gangrel shrugged. "Who cares. It doesn't matter how he dies. I only ask that his body be kept intact." Gangrel gave an unhinged smile. The attendant knew that he was rapidly reaching the point where Gangrel wouldn't hold a conversation anymore. "As long as I get my trophy!"

"Of course, your highness." The attendant bowed and quickly walked out as Gangrel descended into another laughing fit, holding his daughter the entire time.

Mercer, Ophelia, and Soleil all crammed themselves onto Minerva's back and flew towards Southtown. It was a long and uncomfortably cramped trip, and Mercer had little to do besides look around at the land as they flew. What took nature millions of years to form, Grima had created in thirty years. The plains that had surrounded Southtown, the same plains where Chrom had met Robin so many years ago, were gone. In their place were vast stretches of dry terrain. These were the Ylissean Badlands. Grima's destruction of the soil caused the ground to be eroded away by wind and water. The ground was now covered by nothing but sand, shale, and dust. The land produced a vast color display ranging from dark red to black and blue. Canyons and ravines could be seen in the distance. The sight was beautiful, but it was also very tragic. This land had been fertile once. Now there wasn't a lifeform in sight. Thousands of people had likely been displaced when their farms failed, and the dust of the badlands was all that was left. Now there was no trace of anyone ever having lived in the area. In Mercer's mind it was cruel symbolism. He had first met Robin in the plains, and just as the plains were now gone, so too was Mercer's old life. The land was dying just as he was.

"They say the whole world will look like this soon." Mercer looked up to see Ophelia looking at him. "When Grima decides to wipe out humanity, this is how it will happen. It won't rely on the Grimleal or Risen. Not this time. It will just kill all the soil in the world. Plants will die out, and we'll all starve. It will be slow, painful, and foolproof. We won't be able to fight against it."

Mercer shrugged. "Grima hasn't wiped us out yet."

"It will though! That's why we have to fight now while we still have a chance!"

"Lucina was a teenager when she came back."

"Right?"

"When Lucina went back in time, humanity had been all but wiped out. By this time in her timeline, humanity would be gone. Grima decided to spare us this time. Don't ruin it."

Ophelia gave Mercer a smug smirk. "I see through that grumpy act. I know you too well now. I know you think you've given up on the world, but I know better. You still have your love for people. You're still the hero Tiki talks about at heart. You helped me save Soleil when you didn't know her. You're helping us find Caeldori when you don't know her. You were driven to pick up a sword again when Conrad died, and you barely knew him. You still care about Tiki. You may not want her to see you anymore, but I know you still care about her. Deep down you're still someone who will do anything to help a person in need. I know that you still have love for the world somewhere in there."

Mercer just shook his head. "As I enter the final stretch of my life, I realize that there isn't a man or woman I love beside me. I'm a broken man, and I'm broken because everyone I have ever loved has died young." Mercer stared off into the distance. "My poor wife. My sisters. My children. My friends. My mother and father."

Ophelia looked sympathetically at Mercer. "Are you afraid of going with us because you don't want to get close to anyone again? Are you afraid we'll get hurt, and you'd relive what happened thirty years ago?"

Mercer thought about it, and he slowly nodded his head. "Yeah. Every time I look at you girls, I see the faces of your parents and grandparents staring back at me. I… I couldn't lose you too."

"Well then you'd better have to come along and train us."

Mercer didn't return Ophelia's affections. "If you two really cared about me, you'd give up. You'd be safe that way."

Ophelia kept her smile, but Mercer's words had gotten to her. "I'll shake you out of that attitude one day."

"Yeah." Mercer responded bitterly. "Sure you will."

"Uh, guys?" Soleil said as she steered Minerva. "I hate to break up your heartwarming support conversation, but we have a problem. We should be right over Southtown now, but something's wrong. I can see a town below, but the buildings are really small, and there aren't any people."

"Maybe we're just too high up." Mercer replied. "Land in the town."

When the three dismounted Minerva and walked into the town however, they found it was just as strange as it looked from the air. The entire city had been flattened, but the buildings were intact. They had been pulled into the ground. The rest of the town had disappeared completely. Mercer looked to Soleil and Ophelia for answers, but they were just as surprised as he was. "What happened here?!"

Soleil shrugged at Mercer. "I have no idea."

The three could not stress enough that Southtown hadn't been hit by an earthquake. Buildings would have collapsed in an earthquake, but these buildings were completely intact. The buildings Mercer, Ophelia, and Soleil were looking at had literally sunken into the ground. It was as if the earth had become intangible and pulled the buildings into it. There was no structural damage to any building, but almost all of them were now inaccessible. Only the rooftops still poked out above ground, and they only went up to Soleil's waist. Soleil walked up to one building and sat down on the rooftop as if it were a waist high wall. "What… what could have happened here?! I've never seen anything like this?!"

Mercer glanced around. All of Southtown had been swallowed by the ground. There were no roads visible. All he could see were the rooftops of buildings, all lower than most fences. "So this just happened? Caeldori was here?"

"Yes! Caeldori has been here for weeks! Whatever happened to this place must have happened in the past few days."

Ophelia shook her head. "Oh no. Caeldori. She… she's okay right?!"

Soleil looked fearfully at the rooftops. "Of… of course she's okay! This is Caeldori we're talking about! Miss never makes a mistake! She can't… she can't be gone." Soleil froze up. For the first time since Mercer had met her, Soleil's smile disappeared entirely. "She can't be gone." Mercer put his hand on Soleil's shoulder, and she took it in her own shaky grip.

"Hey, hey come on." Mercer said in a soft tone. "I'm sure she's fine. We just need to look for her."

Soleil didn't look back up. "Yeah." She responded, her voice trembling.

"She was with Tiki right? Tiki went back to see her before we came right? Whatever happened here, it couldn't have hurt her. Tiki would have protected Caeldori."

Soleil perked up. "Y-you're right. We just need to look for her."

Ophelia looked around. "We can see everything that's here! Where could we look?"

Mercer looked around himself and spotted a relatively large tower. It rose about five meters into the sky and was the only building sticking out of the ground that was still building sized. It likely towered over the rest of the town when it was above ground. Mercer walked over to the tower and looked around the sides. A window leading into the building was still located above ground. Mercer climbed up about a meter and forced the window open. The inside of the building wasn't filled with dirt. It could still be explored. "This way! We can investigate this building!" Mercer, Ophelia, and Soleil climbed in through the window and into the tower. Mercer opened up a door on the floor to reveal a ladder leading into the rest of the structure. There was no light inside the building, and immediately the three were hit with a horrible odor. It was the kind of smell that overloaded you and stopped you like a wall. Mercer and Soleil had to fight the urge to vomit. Ophelia didn't quite resist it. "I know that smell!" Mercer said through his arm as he desperately tried to cover his nose. "There are dead bodies down there! Whatever happened to this city, there were definitely fatalities."

"You want to investigate further?" Soleil asked.

"There's no light down there and the stench will only get worse. We'd pass out if we went deeper into the building! We can't go any further."

The three climbed back out of the tower. Ophelia buried her face in her hands. "Oh gods! What happened here?!"

Mercer took her hands and looked her in the eyes. "Hey, it's going to be all right. We'll just go to nearby towns and ask the people there what happened. I'm sure Tiki and Caeldori went to a nearby town. We'll find them." Mercer turned to Soleil. "What's the closest settlement?"

Soleil unfolded her map. "It looks like there's a town called Veslil about fifteen kilometers to the northeast."

"We'll just go there and ask about what happened here."

Ophelia nodded. "I just hope Caeldori is okay."