Emblemtale: The Ancients! Chapter 7: Origin Uncovered?
(So, Really quick, I wanted to apologize for ignoring this story for so long, as cheesy as it sounds, I kinda started posting things that were more popular and began to lose sight of why I wrote in the first place, fun, so, as a New Year's Resolution, I'm bringing it back!)
As the heroes continued their investigation, the cultists were forming plans of their own, the leader of them looking at a small figure shackled in a jail cell "A being with a pure soul...we need those who share your nature in order to complete our plans, you wouldn't happen to know where beings such as these may reside, do you, child?"
The figure remained silent, eliciting a wry laugh from the leader "No, of course not, you're quite drained from today's...activities" he then walked away from the cells and was joined by one of his subordinates, a hunched over figure who was constantly wringing his hands together.
"My lord!, I believe we have a way to combat these thorns in or sides!" He croaked, his voice sounding ragged and strained "It seems that before she left, the traitorous lizard neglected to bring along one of her inventions!"
This seemed to pique the leader's curiosity, following the man as he lead him down the dark and twisting hallways of their base, they finally reached their destination, which appeared to be a secret lab, with something being covered by a sheet in the middle of the room.
"What is this 'invention'?" The leader asked, running his hand along the dust covered table that ran along the wall of the room "And what makes you believe this would help us repel these nuisances?" the lackey began quickly searching through his robes, finally finding what he was looking for, a scrap of paper.
"Here, My lord!, I believe it is a design for a weapon of sorts, an Automaton, even!" he answered, handing his leader the page "It seems to be perfectly designed to fight against not only humans, but monsters as well!"
Intrigued, the leader approached the covered figure in the middle of the room, he carefully placed a hand on the sheet, a brief feeling of apprehension washing over him, before he finally ripped off the sheet and revealed a humanoid figure with skin made of pure-white porcelain, faux hair made of a hard black material, pink and black armor covering his body.
"This is the weapon?" He asked, examining the body, unsure of its use "This doesn't seem like it's capable of combat..." he turned back to his subordinate, who was pouring over more and more of the documents left by Alphys.
He kept looking from the Automaton back to the documents "These documents state that it can utilize the ranged techniques with bows and arrows, as well as close combat techniques with saw blades" he then looked back at the automaton "It also apparently operates through clockwork, much like a mill."
The leader examined the body of the automaton, scouring the chassis for some sort of way to activate it, finally finding a small switch on it's back, once it was flipped, there was a whirring of gears and finally, the eyes lit up and the mouth opened letting out one single phrase "Oh Yes~~~!"
With that, it's right arm opened and a bow unfolded from it, and a panel on the left leg opened and revealed a quiver of arrows, then the left arm opened as well, with a saw blade extending from it, seeing these weapons, the lead cultist was taken a back for a moment, before finally letting out a foreboding laugh...
Meanwhile, back with the heroes and unbeknownst to the others, the battle raged on in the tavern, with Llain dodging blows from monsters of all sizes, some of which weren't even aimed at him, as patrons began fighting each other instead of him "This is bloody chaos! Guess I really stepped in it this time..."
Llain was quickly pulled out of his thoughts as a giant fist wrapped around one of his legs and tossed him through the air, causing him to collide with the bar, silently thanking whoever designed his gambeson for making it thick enough to stop any of the glass shards from piercing his skin.
He tried to shake off his fatigue, but was accosted by the large, Ogre-like monster again "You think you can just slip away, scrawny?!" he grabbed Llain's arm and slammed him against the counter-top, spitting up blood in the process, he then grabbed his leg and held him in front of his face "What happened to all of that talk from earlier?"
Llain let out a heavy and ragged breath, giving the monster a wavering smirk "Mate, I've met tavern girls who hit harder than you..." he then started laughing, but his laughter was soon replaced with coughs as blood flew from his mouth, spattering on the monsters face "Sorry, didn't mean to spill my blood on you."
The monster let out a low growl, his eyes burning into Llain's "I'll break you like a toy..." he then slammed the human into the back of the bar, shattering several more bottles and nearly breaking Llain's spine, the ogre then let out a loud roar as he pulled back his other fist, ready to finish off his opponent...
Earlier, outside the tavern, both Undyne and Frisk had left their respective buildings, with Undyne saying her goodbyes to her old mentor, and Frisk admiring her new outfit, now tailored to accommodate her wings, she spun around and admired how the fabric fluttered around her "Lookin' sharp, kid!" Undyne called, startling Frisk and pulling her out of her thoughts "You hear from Llain at all?"
"No, I was...talking to the tailor" Frisk admitted, feeling guilty for spending most of her time looking at clothes instead of gathering information "But he should still be at the tavern! Let's go check it out!"
"Alright, but I think I should take the lead on this one, we don't know what kinda jerks are gonna be there" Undyne replied, Frisk nodded and the two of them set out to the tavern, when they were close enough, they saw Papyrus standing outside as well, seemingly frightened to go inside "Papyrus? What are you doing here?"
"W-Well, I was told to inform you three that there has been a reported Praetorite sighting..." Papyrus began, looking towards the tavern, which seemed to be shaking quite violently "But I do believe Llain is...preoccupied at the moment, perhaps it's merely some sort of rollicking game?"
"'Game' My ass..." Undyne swore, sneering at the building and cracking her knuckles "Sounds more like a bar-fight, we gotta step in before we get run outta town!" she began walking towards the building with Papyrus at her side and Frisk behind them.
As the doors swung open, they were shocked to see the level of chaos going on inside the bar, monsters were laid out all over the floor, either unconscious from the fighting, or finally succumbing to their drinks, and what they saw at the back of the bar was most shocking, Llain pinned to the wall by the ogre.
"...No" Frisk whispered, seeing what was happening to him, she instinctively grabbed her Dragonstone and began transforming, startling and blinding everyone in the bar as she did, all of them stopped fighting and stared in awe at the Dragon now in the doorway, billowing out it's mist-like breath "Leave him alone!" She roared, shaking the foundation of the bar more than the fighting had.
The former brawlers were simply staring at Frisk in amazement, soon, one voice spoke "...Is she?...Lady Naga!?" after this, many of the others in the crowd began repeating the name "Naga" and one-by-one, the patrons began kneeling in front of Frisk, even the ogre dropped Llain to the ground and turned his attention to the dragon, who was now both embarrassed and confused.
"Naga? That old legend?" Undyne muttered, looking at the congregation growing in front of them, she then tapped Papyrus' arm "Go grab him, I'm gonna stay with Frisk, in case someone tries something..."
Papyrus saluted and ran over to Llain, helping him off the ground and slowly making their way back to Frisk and Undyne "Are you alright, Llain?" Papyrus asked, helping the human lean against a wall, as Frisk slowly reverted back to her human form and ran over to check on him as well.
"I'm quite alright...though, I must admit, it's embarrassing you had to see me in this sorry state" Llain responded, attempting to defuse the situation with a joke, but the worried expression in Frisks eyes made him change his tone "Don't worry, it's nothing I haven't been through before."
As they spoke, they soon realized that they were still being watched, and some of the patrons were even chanting prayers at them, seeing this, Undyne scoffed and crossed her arms "They really think this kid is Lady Naga? Don't be ridiculous."
"Mind filling me in on who this 'Lady Naga' is supposed to be?" Llain questioned, adjusting himself against the wall "And why do these fools think she's related to Frisk?" Papyrus was the one to answer his question.
"My apologies, I had forgotten that humans have adopted a new pantheon" he began, placing a hand under his chin as he watched the crowd of people, still praying "Naga is the name of the Matriarch of the Divine Dragons, she was responsible for one of the first Monster/Human peace treaties; this act marked her as a Deity, and many in the Zephina still worship her to this day" he then gestured towards the group in front of them "There are still debates to this day whether Naga was a Monster, or a Human, a division that caused the humans to denounce her status as a deity and they have sought new deities since that day..."
"So...these sods believe that Frisk is some sort of...reincarnated Goddess?" Llain questioned, glancing down at the young girl, who was staring bewildered at the mass "I'm not one for Gods...this all sounds far-fetched..."
The two were brought out of their discussion as the ogre trundled over to them, a look of anger on his face, Llain braced himself and attempted to draw his sword, but they were stunned when the ogre knelt in front of them once more "Please...I ask for your forgiveness...had I known you were traveling with the Voice of Naga, I would not have assaulted you."
Llain was about to reply, but Frisk beat him to it, approaching the ogre and placing a hand on his shoulder "I'm sorry, but I don't think I'm who you think I am..." she gently said, she then turned to the other Monsters, who were still praying "Please, all of you, I think there's been a mistake..."
Before any of the monsters could protest, the tavern violently shook once more, and screams could be heard outside "Oh my! What is happening out there!?" Papyrus shouted, running for the door "Everyone who is able to fight, follow me!" members of the crowd shouted in agreement and followed Papyrus out of the bar, leaving behind those unable to fight.
"Damn! Those rumors about the Praetorites must've been true!" Undyne grumbled, taking a pouch off of her belt and tossing it to Llain "Use this Vulnerary, we're gonna need every hand for this one!"
"Right, you get out there, I'll be out in a moment" Llain replied, taking a drink from the pouch and feeling his wounds start to close, Undyne nodded and ran out of the bar, once she was gone, Llain turned his attention to Frisk "You'll stay here, right?"
"No! I'm not gonna abandon you guys! Not now!" She protested, grabbing Llain's arm as he tried to stand "I don't want to be protected all the time! I want to help out!" Seeing she was serious, Llain smiled as he tousled her hair.
"I'm not telling you to stay here for your safety" He clarified, pointing at the bar patrons who had stayed behind, young barmaids and elders "I want you to protect them, do you think you can handle that?"
Frisk was taken aback for a second, but when she saw the scared faces of the people in the bar, something within her burned, as if she wanted to protect them, she turned back to Llain, with a look of renewed confidence "Of course! Just leave it to me!"
"Then it's settled!" Llain replied, heading towards the door "Don't let a single one in, alright?" Frisk nodded as Llain placed a hand on the door, mentally preparing himself for what lay beyond...
THE END!
A.N: Again, I truly have to apologize for ignoring this story for so long, but it feels good to get back into it, and I think from now on, I'll be posting this on Tuesdays, to fit with my new release schedule, anyway, one more apology and I hope you all still enjoy this!