Emblemtale: The Ancients

by Jackdaw-FanFiction

A young girl with mysterious abilities finds herself in unfamiliar lands after escaping from a group of mercenaries, now, alongside the captain of the Mercenaries, as well as a growing band of Monsters and Humans, she will have to not only survive a war raging between Monsters and Humans, but find a way to defeat an eldritch threat to both sides, lest both kingdoms be lost!

2. Chapter 2

Emblemtale- The Ancients: Chapter 2- Strange Tidings

Papyrus, Llain, and Frisk continued on their path, with Llain silently watching their surroundings, making absolutely sure that they had not been followed, seeing this, Papyrus gave a hearty chuckle "Have no fear, Llain!, Our Kingdom has many means of surveillance, if we had been followed, our adversaries would not be able to hide from our magic!"

Llain sighed and relaxed, letting his shoulders sag "Apologies, Papyrus, being this far in foreign lands has me on edge" he then placed a hand on the sword at his hip "And those mysterious figures haven't added in assuaging my nerves, either..." he glanced down at Frisk, whose gaze had been on the ground for most of the journey "And what of you, little lady, how are you feeling?"

"I'm alright..." Frisk answered, giving Llain a small smile "But...I'm kind of excited...I've never been away from my village before!" Frisk's pace picked up when she thought of the capital ahead of them "It may sound weird to say...but I feel happy to be seeing the world now, even with the fighting..."

"Nyeh heh heh!" Papyrus laughed, joining Frisk at the front of the group "I'm quite excited to show a fellow monster around the capital, as well!" He placed his hand on Frisk's shoulder and gestured for Llain to join them with the other "And I'm sure you'll get quite a tour of the kingdom as well, Llain, after we get through with whatever it is that the King has planned for you!"

Llain couldn't help but laugh at this statement "Thank you, Papyrus, I'll be sure to take you up on that offer once we reach the castle..." the lively conversation continued for a while, until the group at last reached an imposing ivory wall, engraved on the wall was the Delta Rune, the symbol of Zephina and the royal family of the monsters, the Dreemurs.

"Halt!, State your business!" A voice called from high on the wall, Llain and Frisk froze, trying to pinpoint where the voice came from "H-Hey...weren't there three of you just a second ago?, where did the other two go!?"

"Hail!, It is I, The Great Papyrus!" Papyrus shouted back, waving vigorously "I've come with a report from the border!"

"Another 'Human', Is it?" The guard scoffed, he then turned around and called to some unseen person behind him "Alright, Let 'em in!" at that, there was a cacophonous noise as gears grated against each other and the gate slowly opened, as they did, Papyrus dug through his bag and pulled out a length of rope.

"I...apologize, Llain" He began, turning to the mercenary "But I'll need to tie you up again, standard procedure, I hope you understand."

Llain looked at the rope and sighed "I don't suppose this is some sort of jest, is it?" seeing the look on Papyrus' face and as he wasn't making any motions to put the rope away, Llain's shoulders sagged "Alright, just make it quick..."

"I am glad you understand!" Papyrus cheered, starting to tie Llain up, after a couple of minutes, Llain's arms were bound and the group entered the kingdom, as they walked, Frisk noticed groups of monsters watching them, seeing this, she began fidgeting uncomfortably "Is everything alright, Frisk?"

"U-Um...it's just, all of these people watching..." She began, but she trailed off as she kept looking around, something about these crowds made her quite uncomfortable.

Llain laughed, looking around "Don't worry, Little lady, I have a feeling you're not the one their so interested in, I seem to be quite popular."

"They do seem to be watching you quite intently..." Papyrus butted in "I must say, it is making me somewhat jealous!" Papyrus laughed and slapped Llain on the back "But do not worry, The Great Papyrus will not fall pray to these base emotions!" soon, they reached the castle, and Frisk could only stand in awe, the spires on the castle nearly reached the sky, and were such a bright white that it hurt her eyes "Frisk, are you coming?"

"Oh, Sorry!" She apologized, catching up to the other two "This castle is just so beautiful!" as they talked, they were met by to guards clad head-to-toe in black armor.

"Hail, Border Captain Papyrus" One guard quietly spoke, he saw Llain at the back of the group and simply nodded, he turned to his partner and whispered something, they both lowered their weapons and Papyrus turned to Llain and Frisk.

"Please, wait out here, I will explain the situation to the King" He explained "My brother should be in there as well, he seems to know practically everyone in the Kingdom, perhaps he can clear up if you truly are a Monster or not" with that, the great doors swung open and Papyrus entered the hall.

Papyrus looked around the hall, he could never get used to the immaculate size of the hall, he stared down to the end of the hall and saw King Asgore sitting on his throne speaking with his adviser, but couldn't see his brother anywhere in the hall, though he looked at the two in the hall and saw that they seemed to be having quite an intense conversation.

"Lord Asgore, I implore you, you must keep this pressure against the Humans!" The Adviser shouted "If we show any sort of weakness, they will double their efforts and destroy us!"

Asgore simply sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose "My friend, I do believe you, but we are running low on supplies, if we keep these skirmishes going, we won't have enough to keep going!" he then looked down the hall and saw Papyrus "Ah, Border Captain, what brings you here?"

The Adviser seemingly ignored Papyrus and kept talking to Asgore "My lord, you are making a crucial mistake, we have the power to overrun the humans, why do you let these battles drag out?!"

"Please, Councilor, we have guests, we can continue this conversation at a later date" Asgore said "For now, I'd like to here what the Border Captain has to say" The adviser sighed and walked away from the throne, muttering to himself.

Papyrus cleared his throat, nervous to be standing in front of the King "M-My Liege, I come bearing news from the border, I found a human at the bottom of the chasm and he seemed to have a young monster in his care, though he claims she is a human, and they are both witnesses to a strange cult that we discovered outside the kingdom."

"...I see" Asgore replied, carefully considering Papyrus' words "We shall deal with these problems one at a time, now, where are this 'humans'?"

"I left them out in the hall, I could go grab them if you like" Papyrus explained, Asgore nodded and Papyrus turned to leave the hall, before he opened the door, he heard a ruckus in the hall, he opened the door and saw Llain arguing with a fish-like monster clad in black armor.

"I guess the 'Mighty' Humans aren't so tough if one guard could take you out!" the figure boomed, taunting Llain.

"It's quite easy to taunt a man when his hands are bound, isn't it" Llain rebuked, seemingly unfazed by the taunts "But I can assure you, if I were free, I would show you a human's might..."

As the arguments went on, Papyrus could only stare, he looked around to see if anyone was going to stop them, as he looked, he saw his brother watching with Frisk by his side, who had a worried expression on her face, unsure of what to do in this situation, he approached him and tried to get his attention "Sans, what is going on here?!"

"oh, hey paps, undyne's making friends" Sans explained, gesturing towards the two as they continued to argue "i was gonna stop them, but it was pretty funny to watch..."

"Well, can we please stop them before someone gets hurt?" Papyrus asked, he then approached the two and reached out to Undyne "Excuse me, Captain, but could you please not hurt him, he still needs to stand trial."

"Pfft, I wasn't gonna hurt him!" Undyne laughed, grabbing Llain and putting him in a headlock "I was just messin' with him!"

"Be that as it may, we still need him relatively unharmed" Papyrus explained, Undyne let go of Llain and nodded while sighing "Thank you, now, let us get this over with" Papyrus grabbed Llain and opened the door, the group entered the room and approached the throne "Lord Asgore, I have brought the human here for you!" he then pushed Llain forward, taking care to not actually hurt him.

Llain struggled to keep his footing as he stood in front of the king, he had to admit, the king was quite an imposing figure, almost as terrifying as King Valtick himself, nevertheless, he resolved to keep his composure "Hello, Your Highness."

"Human, I promise you that I will grant you leniency if you are truthful" Asgore replied, his face stoic and unchanging "Now, I will ask you for your honesty, were you planning on invading our lands?"

Llain looked back at Asgore, trying to read his face "No wonder he's king, that's quite an aura he exudes..." he the cleared his throat and replied "I was not, your highness, I was tasked by my king to find something in a village bordering our lands, he believed it was something that could put an end to this skirmishes before they escalated into an all out war."

Asgore listened intently and considered what Llain had told him "...Very well, I shall choose to believe you, and did you find this weapon?"

Llain glanced back at Frisk "...Maybe it's best if I keep my theories to myself...No, Your Highness, my company did not find anything in the village...I'm beginning to think that it was nothing more than a wild goose chase, but, while we were looking around, we did find this child, she got scared and ran, before I could help her, the bridge snapped and sent us into the valley below, once I came to, your Border Captain had brought us to his barracks."

Asgore stared into Llain's eyes, trying to determine the validity of his statement "...You did not find this weapon, but you were trespassing on our lands, I am sorry, we will have to detain you until we can confirm what your story."

At this, Frisk ran forward "W-Wait!, You don't have to do that!" the entire court fell silent, shocked that this child spoke up against the king "Llain did nothing wrong!, it was an accident!"

"That may be the case" Asgore responded, bringing everyone back to their senses "But it still remains to be seen if he is completely innocent, he may have some ulterior motives, until we can decide his true nature, he will remain there, Guard Captain, would you please escort the human to the dungeon?"

Undyne approached Llain and grabbed the rope that bound him "So much for all of your bluster, eh?" she started to pull him away, but Frisk stood in front of them, trying to block their path.

"Wait, please!" Frisk pleaded, trying to stop Undyne "I swear, he wasn't trying to do anything bad!"

"Don't worry about me, little lady" Llain said, smiling at her "It'd be better for the both of us if I served my sentence without a fuss" even with that, Frisk would not budge.

"No!, It isn't fair!" She replied, trying to push Undyne back "This isn't right!" Undyne grabbed the collar of her tunic and lifted her up.

"You're starting to piss me off, kid!" Undyne roared, as the ruckus continued, with even Papyrus and Sans joining in, the door to the hall opened and a hooded figure entered.

"My lord...forgive me for intruding, but I believe there was another point to be made before your ruling?" The figure said, he lowered his hood and they revealed he was another goat-like monster "Something about a mysterious cult?"

"You are quite right, Asriel" Asgore replied, leaning back in his throne "But, as it stands, this cult does not seem to be a threat at the moment, right now, we should focus on these battles, we have no reason to believe that this cult even exists."

"Well, my lord, we have three witnesses right here" Asriel pointed out, gesturing towards Papyrus, Frisk, and Llain "And even if the humans were lying, do we have any reason to not believe Border Captain Papyrus, I, for one, believe there may be some merit to this."

"...If you are certain, I will not stop you from investing this on your own time" Asgore conceded, leaning forward "But I cannot assign you any resources, as they must be used for those on the battlefield."

"I understand, my lord" Asriel answered, he then turned to Undyne "Captain Undyne, please release that man, he just became a vital part to my investigation."

"Tch, fine" Undyne scoffed, shoving Llain forward "But I'll be coming along to keep an eye on him" Asriel simply smiled and nodded, before drawing his sword and cutting Llain free of his bindings.

"as expected of the royal tactician" Sans said, joining the group alongside Papyrus "guess i'll be coming along for this ride, too, just give me a minute to saddle up" With that, he left the group to go prepare.

"I apologize for any discomfort you may have felt on the way here" Asriel apologized, bowing to Llain "Please, do not look down on people like Papyrus and Undyne, they may be a bit rough, but they are just passionate about their positions, I'm sure that they meant you no harm."

"There's no need to apologize, I'm sure human soldiers would have reacted the same way" Llain replied, fixing his clothes "Thanks for the save though, I'm Llain."

"I heard, and I am Asriel, Royal Tactician in the army of King Asgore" Asriel introduced "And if it isn't too much trouble, would you be able to lead us to the place where you found these cultists?"

"It wasn't that far from the capital" Llain explained "We should be able to make it back there before sunset, with any luck, those four were the only ones in that area."

With that, the group began to leave, with Sans joining back up with them, now on horseback, as they walked, Frisk struck up a conversation with Asriel "I have to thank you for what you did for Llain back there, it just wasn't fair for him to arrest him for something he didn't mean to do."

"Yes, well, we're in a time of war" Asriel replied, a somber smile on his face "King Asgore was just looking out for the kingdom, he may make some wide leaps in judgment every now and then, but I assure you, he has the kingdoms best interests at heart and he truly means well."

"I think I understand" Frisk answered, nodding in agreement "He was just trying to keep the kingdom safe, but it still felt as if he was treating Llain unfairly."

"War certainly calls for leaders to make tough decisions" Asriel continued, putting a hand under his chin "Even if others may find those decisions unfair."

They were just about to reach the place where they encountered the cult, but Sans called for the group to stop "hold on...i've got a bad feeling about this..." they proceeded slowly and they saw that there were people standing over the bodies of the cultists, seemingly looting them "seems we're not alone..."

Llain looked at the people and his blood ran cold "I think I recognize them, allow me to go first, alright?" he stepped forward, but Undyne grabbed his arm.

"Yeah right, do you think we're that dumb?" She chided, letting go of his arm "How do we know you didn't set this up as some kinda ambush!?"

"If you think this is some sort of ploy, why don't you come with me and find out for yourself?" Llain rebutted, Undyne gritted her teeth and was about to reply, but she relented and nodded, following Llain out on to the field.

"Hail!, I didn't think I'd see your ugly mugs out here!" Llain called to the men in front of them, then he turned to Undyne and whispered "These men are part of my mercenary company, with luck, I should be able to convince them to leave" he then turned back to the men and began waving "Your captain has returned!"

"Captain Llain, is that you?" One man asked "We were certain that you had perished at the bottom of the ravine, we returned to the king and he instructed us to find proof of your death, he still expects us to find that weapon!"

"Well, I wish you the best of luck in this endeavor" Llain continued, he then gestured to the bodies "As for me, I have to assist with a special investigation around this area, so if you please, could you move on?"

"Wait, Captain, are you helping those monster scum!?" Another man piped up, and Llain heard a snarl escape Undyne' s mouth "How could you betray us like this?!"

"Now, now, Let's not be hasty" Llain replied, trying to diffuse the situation as best he could "I haven't betrayed anyone, this is something of a temporary alliance" Before he could explain the situation further, Undyne pushed him out of the way.

"And this 'scum' doesn't appreciate that language" She said, grabbing the man by his collar, she then reared back her fist and was about to punch the man, but before she could, an arrow flew out from the treeline and nearly hit the human she was holding.

"Captain Undyne has struck the first blow!" A voice roared out from the trees "And we shall have the last!" after that, a wave of Monster soldiers burst out from behind the trees with weapons drawn.

"It was an ambush!" One of the mercenaries cried, drawing his ax "Sound the horn, call for back up!" another mercenary pulled out a horn and blew into it, the blaring of the horn filled the clearing and nearly drowned out all other noise.

"What of Captain Llain!?" Another mercenary questioned, as he fumbled with his sword "What do we do about him?!"

"He's a traitor!" Another cried, knocking an arrow into his bow "Treat him like you would these scum!"

"Damn!, so much for the diplomatic approach!" Llain sword, drawing his sword "Let's fall back to the others!" before they could, they found that the others had already joined them.

"Everyone, fight to incapacitate!" Asriel ordered, immediately falling into his role as Tactician "We need both sides to stand down before anyone gets hurt!" the others agreed and leaped into the fray, with Undyne and Papyrus fighting back-to-back, using the bottoms of their spears to knock out any enemies that came their way, while Sans rode around the battle, using his wind magic to knock enemies around, sending them careening into each other or into the surrounding trees, taking them out of the fight, making wind-related puns as he rode.

As the fighting raged on, Llain found himself surrounded by his former comrades "I don't supposed I could convince you lad to lay down your weapons, could I?"

"Shut your mouth, traitor!" A burly man yelled, swinging his ax at Llain, he tried to block it, but he was knocked to the ground "Get him, boys, maybe King Valtick will give us a reward for his head!" before the men could grab him, Frisk knocked them away with her tail.

"Thanks for the save, little lady!" Llain thanked, picking himself up "Let's clear these guys out before nightfall!" Frisk nodded and stood by his side "No need to keep me company, I'm more than a match for these fools, go see if anyone else needs help!" Frisk agreed and looked around to see if anyone needed help, she saw Asriel was surrounded as well, but before she could get to him, the ground beneath his opponents collapsed and they fell in a pit.

"Please, all of you, this is a misunderstanding!" Asriel called to the men in the pit "We are not your enemies, this violence doesn't need to continue!" the men in the pit seemed to hesitate at Asriel's words "We are simply passing through, this was not a confrontation, please, lay down your weapons!" with that, the men begrudgingly dropped their weapons and fell to one knee.

"How was he able to get them to surrender so easily?!" Frisk thought, seeing Asriel help them out of the pit and letting them escape into the darkness of the forest "I thought he was just a tactician...?"

"Frisk, Watch out!" Llain yelled, breaking her out of her thoughts as a man wielding a sword was about to attack her, but before he could, a fireball hit him and knocked him out, Frisk looked to where it came from and saw that Asriel was now wielding a tome "You okay, Frisk?"

"Yes, I'm fine" Frisk answered, recovering her composure, Llain nodded and went back into the fray "I have to focus!"

As the two sides fought, neither noticed as the ground began to rumble, as though something large and powerful were approaching, in the distance, trees fell and animals scattered, soon, a giant being seemingly made of rock broke into the clearing, knocking monsters over with fallen trees "What is that thing!?" a panicked monster soldier yelled out.

"It's a trap from the humans!" Another monster yelled "Take it down and we can route them!" he rushed at the monster with his spear drawn, he stabbed the rock monster but it seemed to have no effect, the monster then grabbed him and tossed him against a nearby tree.

"It can't be hurt!" A monster cried, he dropped his weapon and ran "Retreat!, we can't defeat a monster like that!" as the monsters began to scatter, the rock man continued to lumber towards the humans, it stopped for a second, seemingly scanning them, before resuming its attack, breaking weapons and knocking humans away with one swing.

"We have to stop that thing before it gets to the border!" Asriel shouted over the chaos "If a being like that makes it to Vauland, they will surely blame it on the monsters!" following Asriel's lead, the group began attacking the rock monster, but it was unscathed no matter what they did.

"I'll stop it!" Frisk yelled, flying towards the being, which in response just hunkered down and stopped her, holding her back with one hand, soon, she found her strength leaving her and she reverted to her human form, the monster picked her up and was attempting to crush her.

"Stop!" Llain yelled, trying to attack the thing, with both Undyne and Papyrus joining him in the assault, but the monster kept squeezing Frisk, with her screaming out in pain "Let her go!" Llain began attacking with all his might, but it seemed to make no difference, the monster used its other hand and knocked the three of them away, it seemed ready to finish Frisk off, but before it could, a bolt of lightning his it and seemingly shorted it out, the group looked to where it came from and saw someone wearing the robes of the cultists "Who are you!?"

"There's no time to explain!" The figure replied "Take these, it's weak to lightning!" they then threw out two lightning-shaped swords.

Llain grabbed on sword and threw the other one to Asriel "Let's take this thing down!" he flourished the blade as energy crackled through it, he and Asriel began assaulting the monster, lightning dancing all over the battlefield, the mysterious cultist also brought a tome of lightning and gave it to Sans, who provided ranged support to the fight, soon, the monster stopped, falling to it's knees.

"Did we stop it?" Asriel asked, cautiously approaching it with his sword drawn, he poked the creature and when it did not react, he concluded that they had won "What is this thing?"

"It is called a Praetorite" The Cultist explained, she removed her hood and the monsters were shocked to find that they recognized her "An ancient being revived by a shadowy order...one I am ashamed to admit, I joined..."

"Alphys...that's where you went!?" Undyne yelled, trying to keep her voice from cracking in grief "We were sure you were kidnapped!"

Alphys found herself unable to look Undyne in the eye "Yeah...I'm not surprised you thought that, with how I left suddenly one night...but I now see that this cult isn't what I thought it was...I want to come back, I want to make things right!"

"Thank you, Alphys, I trust you will redeem yourself in time" Asriel answered, putting his hand on Alphys' shoulder "For now, let us rest up, if I recall, you know some healing magics, right, Alphys?"

Alphys nodded "I'll grab my staff and heal you all, I'll be right back!" with that, she disappeared behind the trees, eventually returning with a healing staff, the group sat and waited their turns as Alphys went down the line, healing each of them...

Meanwhile, back at the Zephina Capital, Asgore was consulting with his adviser once more "These are...troubling reports, my friend, are you certain?"

"Yes, my lord, Monster fighting Monster, strange stone beings of unknown design..." The adviser said "And in the middle of it all, those you assigned to investigate this cult, perhaps the human amongst them has somehow tricked them into participating in his schemes..." Asgore sat back in his throne, heavy thoughts now running through his mind "If the humans were able to convince them so easily, and they have weapons of this kind on their side, perhaps it is time to take the war to them?"

At the Same time in the Vauland capital, King Valtick was in a council with his Adviser as well "And you mean to tell me that these monsters have summoned some sort of otherworldly entity to combat our army?"

"Yes, my lord, Captain Llain's squad has returned and they report a strange stone like beast took to the field and fought against them, it seems as if the monsters have taken to summoning these strange entities to do their fighting for them" The adviser spoke, his raspy voice scratching through the hall "Perhaps it would be in our best interest to redouble our efforts and hit them even harder before they can amass an army of these being?"

"Hmm, you may be right..." Valtick agreed, a look of dire seriousness spread across his face, Both kings knew it could no longer be avoided, war was soon to break out between both races, and this incident had finally broke the dam...

A.N:

Again, sorry I had to post this a day late, I tried to make it longer to make up for that, I hope you enjoy nonetheless!