Chapter 9: Behind Enemy Lines; To Find a Friend
Dracolius Second World War Arc – Showdown
Disclaimer: I don't own Fire Emblem, this is just a Fanfiction.
Featured Music: "Urgency Drives Us" - Fire Emblem X: Radiant Dawn OST. Chapter Briefing.
"Who Am I" - Final Fantasy VII OST. Scene 2 (Second Half).
"Graceful Assassin" - Kingdom Hearts RE: Chain of Memories OST. Scene 4 (First Half).
In the battle at Odorion Plains, the Allied forces have unfortunately finally hit a brick wall in their incredible progress and momentum. On their strategist's call, single-man units Leo Evans and Selthris Vikeruce both find themselves ambushed in their own attempt to ambush the Sohanthian supply line. Their efforts to cut off their enemy's provisions has ended in abject failure and are now both presumed missing in action.
Meanwhile on the frontlines, Ulric's unit has been bested in single combat with the appearance of a new enemy; a young man with a grudge to bear by the name of Ciaran. Unlike the murky fates of Leo and Selthris, Ulric's Aegir points have been confirmed to have greyed out, signifying his inevitable death.
With the defeat of not one or even two but three of their powerful soldiers and a key member of their alliance, the Allied forces morale has been dealt a devastating blow. Seemingly thinking of everything, the unit responsible for their defeat opt to cut all communication off with the rest of their Sohanthian military and general Nicholas of the interrogation corps does what he does best...
Scene 1
"Wake up Selthris."
"You can't die yet."
"You still have a job to do; wake up."
"Sel..."
He gasped, eyes widening and sweating; they darted around the area he now sat in.
A chair?
Why aren't I dead, he thought.
Whose voices were those?
His eyes scrunched shut and he tried to move, finding his arms and legs bound to the similarly screwed in chair he sat in. With a final grunt he gasped as he stopped, eyes widening when he realised his lack of strength.
"What's... wrong with me?" The Lord thought to himself in widened eyes. As if to respond to his silent questions however a sudden cracking noise made him snap his eyes upward. The door seemingly leading to this one exit room opened up and a familiar and now intimidating presence greeted him. The smirking-faced General he had once fought merely hours past.
General Nicholas.
As he strode into the room and the door opened fully with him, the firm-frowning general Apheia followed him in, her arms contrastingly folded. Selthris' eyes darted between the two as numerous situations and possible ideas floated in and out of his head.
Was he taken captive?
Was he dead?
What happened to Leo?
"Good evening...," Nicholas began lowly as he advanced on the young man, his shoes clicking against the black and white tiles of the room. "Selthris Vikeruce."
The Lord could barely string two words together in response let alone open his mouth to do so; his eyes continued to dart between the pair, as if a scared animal as their shadows began to loom over him.
"I don't know why you do this Nicholas," Apheia murmured out in her folded-armed frown, watching the boy below her as if he were a mere insect. "It's... depraved."
"That 'deprivation' has scored our motherland numerous victories over its pathetic rivals Apheia," Nicholas hissed back as he half-turned an eye on the younger blonde. The Halberdier seemingly opted to listen as she kept her frown upon her face. "I'd keep my nose out of matters that don't concern you..."
Apheia merely stared back at the General for what felt like an awkward couple of seconds before, finally, she nodded in a defeated frown.
"May the strength of Sohantha... suffocate your enemies..." She began in reply as she bowed, her arms still folded before swiftly turning on her heel, presumably to leave. When the door finally shut behind her, Nicholas' grin re-grew on his face and he turned back down to face the wide-eyed Selthris.
"I thought she'd never leave." The General chuckled in his own brand of humour as he reached over to a small table on his right at the end of the room. Selthris' wide-eyed stare followed him and he began to shake, finally adding up what this situation was trying to tell him.
he tools on the table next to him began to clink and clank noisily from his left. Selthris' panic started to grow once more when he saw the General turn back around to face him, a kind of mad grin attached to his expression. The Lord's eyes snapped down to the instrument in his hands and they widened once more.
Very small pins, perhaps of acupressure were dotted around his hands.
Torture devices?
"Your face... contorted in pain...," Nicholas spoke out in an initial low frown, his eyes half-closed as he stared down at him, approaching. His shadow loomed over the sweating and wide-eyed silent form of Selthris before, finally, his low frown gradually upturned into a seemingly unstable grin. "Show it to me."
Sevrenna eyed the jogging and even running soldiers around the main camp suspiciously, eyebrow shot up in half-curiosity. As she opted to finally leave her tent that morning she couldn't help but find the Allied forces in a tizzy over something; what she could not say but it did nothing to ease her concern.
The Aselian Swordmaster kept her frown on her face as she turned her march forward, stepping around the many rushing soldiers. She eyed them as she passed them before finally reaching the usual briefing room. When she deigned to poke her head through the tent flap she couldn't help but wince very lightly when she found the group all huddled together as usual turning to face her, as if suspicious.
"Um... hello...," the Swordmaster managed to greet unsociably. When she received a few nods the youth acted on the small boost of confidence she gained from it by opting to enter. She stepped forward to join them, turning her eyes around the board-room and raised a curious eyebrow. "It's okay if I join today, right?"
"Yes, yes it's fine... um...," Astrid murmured from her map, sighing in what seemed like frustration and impatience. "I have more pressing matters than your punishment."
"I... noticed," Sevrenna responded with a frown as she briefly turned her eyes to watch the tent exit behind her, as if remembering the soldiers' panicked expressions. When she turned her eyes back to the usual group however they widened alongside her rising eyebrows. "W-Where's Selthris and his friend?"
"That's what we've just been discussing," Alaric explained briefly from his position in his seat ahead of her. He turned his head half-way to eye her in his similarly worried frown, his fingers joined together and placed on the table before him. "Lord Selthris and general Leo have both been reported as missing in action."
Sevrenna's eyes widened in shocked silence, unable to string together words to respond with.
"With a key member gone, maybe killed, what will become of the alliance?" Salnarra asked from the left side of the table, an arm outstretched to gesture her sentence.
"Nothing, that's what," Ariella answered her from her usual chair next to the Coremondian elder. "That boy was our force's commander; with him absent not only is our reason for fighting gone but the men that follow him shaken."
"Shaken?" Norman murmured next to her, ever the faithful bodyguard.
"Selthris was the only remaining son left of Sathryon Vikeruce," Hawke's voice suddenly and deftly interrupted the group; they swivelled in their chairs to face her. She stood, masked as ever and faced them from her stoic folded armed position. "He commanded a lot of respect among the men here, especially in Aselia."
"So what is our next course of action?" Theffania asked from the same side of the table, her eyes moving from all sides of the room.
"I vote...," Talia began from behind Astrid's side of the table, her usually meek voice surprising the rest of the group; they turned as ever to face her. The young blonde Thunder Mage turned her surprisingly hard-eyed stare to face them as she spoke. "I vote we leave them."
"What?!" Sevrenna suddenly called out angrily as she advanced on the former Sohanthian, her comfortable scowl returning to her face. Fortunately for the wide-eyed and shocked Thunder Mage however, the grunting Gorlin walked into frame from the side, grasping the young Swordmaster by the sides of her arms. "Rgh!" The angry young woman began as she struggled in the Coremondian's grip. Talia watched her with a shocked, wide-eyed frown, gripping her Thunder tome close to her chest as always.
"It's not... worth it!" Gorlin managed out in his low grunt, his teeth similarly grit in effort.
"Would he have left you?!" The ebony-haired young woman declared angrily over at the staring Thunder Mage. "You Sohanthians; you're all the same!"
"Enough!" Astrid suddenly interrupted with in a temporary raise of her voice, briefly half-turning her head to face the trio. "Maybe she's right...," the strategist finally murmured out in response as she re-turned her head back down the map she seemed to be transfixed on. The group, seemingly surprised, swivelled their wide-eyed faces 'round to listen. Astrid grasped the silvery piece on the board that had previously dulled out to a small light and stared sadly at it. "They never responded when I called out to them..."
"Surely that doesn't mean they're dead?" Alaric attempted to reason with the younger resident of his country, raising an eyebrow as he did.
"Well... if they didn't answer...," Salnarra spoke up as she folded her arms and tilted her head lightly in her speech. "I think it's safe to assume they're at least missing."
"Ngh!" Gorlin grunted as he let go of the struggling Swordmaster in his grip before facing the group. "They could just be kidnapped," the Nomad Trooper explained briefly in his frown. Numerous members turned to face him, as if surprised; Sevrenna herself stared up at him behind her with widened eyes. "Those kids are stronger than anything I've seen in years."
"I agree with sir Gorlin," Alaric nodded as he pulled his arms back in his assenting nod to fold them. "I think that just giving up on them both would hurt both our morale and our endgame."
"It can't be easy to even consider that possibility though," Theffania put forward in a light wince. "Think how Astrid feels."
The group soon fell silent; all eyes turned on the sad-eyed Advisor. She stared down at the two fallen chess pieces she was using earlier.
"It's... my fault," the strategist began again, this time in reply as she raised her right arm to grasp at the side of her face and head. Her eyes shut as she did this and she continued on. "I knew something was off about that battle; I just couldn't pin-point it. And now because of me even Ulric has..."
"You did all you could Astrid-sensei," Talia murmured as she paced forward to place a comforting hand on the youth's robed shoulder. A livid look from the listening Sevrenna caused her to flinch but she continued regardless. "So did sir Ulric, sir Leo and Lord Selthris; this isn't your fault."
"I'm in agreement with that as well," Alaric nodded in a light grin of his own. "Do not blame yourself; we have only come as far as we have because of your efforts."
"This is all well and good but...," Salnarra began in an uncomfortable chuckle as she averted her eyes briefly before re-turning them to face the group once more. "We still haven't come to a decision."
Silence once more descended down upon the quiet group and they all exchanged glances before, finally, Astrid turned a new firm-eyed frown to face them.
"Let's put it to a vote," the Advisor began firmly as she wandered her eyes between each listening member of the remaining alliance. "All those in favour of leaving them behind and carrying on with the fight?"
Talia, as she had specified earlier, stuck her robed hand up. Unfortunately for her, however, she was the only member in the room that did so.
"And all those in favour of pooling our resources to go rescue them?"
Sevrenna barely waited for her to finish before shooting her own arm up, urgent and all. The rest of the room, as expected, all followed in a slower fashion. Astrid herself was the only person exempt from participating it seemed and, regaining a small smile on her face, she nodded in acknowledgement.
"W-What, but-?"
"The alliance has spoken," Astrid opted to softly interrupt with in her light smile. She gathered a couple of extra chess pieces and placed them at the drawing of a castle next to Odorion Plains. "We will organise a team to infiltrate and rescue both Leo Evans and Selthris Vikeruce."
–
2
Selthris gasped for what felt like the millionth time, pain filling his insides and outsides. Numerous small pins were stuck into the small bones of his feet, body and all over. Excessive sweat matted his spiky silvery hair to his head and face and he could not stop to catch a breath.
"Stronger 'n I thought," Nicholas grinned from his side, picking up another couple of pins. "Do you know how your black lightning didn't affect me when we fought?"
Selthris' heavy-breathing wide-eyed stare soon snapped over to meet the grinning General's eyes and he continued on, as if urged.
"We knew you were coming," the Sohanthian grinned down at him. Selthris merely continued to stare at him, as if still perplexed. "Your exploits in Naerith's 'Burning War' have certainly gained popularity down in Sohantha my little friend...," the General grinned on as he stuck another couple of pins in the young man's body. "Our doctors have managed to fashion a lovely little pill that combats your very abilities."
Selthris' eyes snapped back to stare at him, widened even further than before to emphasise his shock and surprise. Nicholas' listening chortle merely made him stiffen further.
"Yes, the empire is always one step ahead of your second-rate homeland, oh son of Sathryon." The General smirked in his light laughter.
Seemingly finished with his small pins of torture, he clapped his hands together as if to rid himself of the dust and small bits of blood he had drew. He reached over to the table behind him and grinned as he pulled back a jar. Pulling it further into frame, he smiled down at it and exchanged his eyes with the heavy-breathing Selthris. The young pincushion of a Lord hovered his vision down to the contents of the jar before widening them, seemingly in shock and horror.
A rather large spider lay inside it.
"Do you like it?" Nicholas spoke over softly.
Selthris' hard breathing and wide-eyed stare indicated only one answer and the General, seemingly satisfied with this, opted to suddenly and violently shake the jar with both his hands. Seemingly stirred up from its slumber, the spider inside the jar began to move with its many legs and Selthris' panic began to rose alongside the crippling fear he was feeling.
"You're a tough one boy... you haven't even said a word to me...," the talkative General grinned as he lowered his fingers to the jar's closed lid. Selthris' own silvery eyes darted up to watch him silently, his breathing picking up a small notch. "But with this...," he began, his tiny grin slowly growing in tandem with the sound of the lid turning. "I believe you'll change that."
With that he had already tossed the large spider down to the ground just close to the young man's open feet. Selthris' eyes widened and he began to struggle in his chair, unable to move. His toes instinctively curled up, as if to avoid the frightening creature; unfortunately for him however it seemed to sense his fast-growing fear and began to crawl toward him.
"No...," Selthris finally opened his dry mouth with, his eyes widened down at the large spider. It finally grabbed onto his left foot and started to climb. "N-No!"
Nicholas watched with an entranced and growing silent grin.
The spider began to approach his chest and, with remarkable muscles, managed to scale it expertly. Selthris' horrified stare never left him and his already heightened panic grew to untold levels when the small beast started to crawl over his face. Seemingly broken and unable to respond in any other way, Selthris' wide-eyed stare gave vent to a sudden and elongating laugh. The listening Nicholas' grin grew even wider as he watched hungrily and he began to laugh along in tandem with the mad youth.
"Kill me!" Selthris managed out as light tears began to sting at his widened eyes. His head lowered as the deadly creature crawled across his face and Nicholas' eyes also widened as he listened. "Just kill me...!" The Lord requested, his voice hitting an octave he had not managed before. The listening Nicholas finally burst into hysterics as he watched, turning his head skyward as if enjoying the show. He opened his mouth to speak and words seemed to come out but they were murky and unclear, as if blurry somehow. His vision blurred with it and, before he could finish laughing, another voice interrupted him.
"Wake up Selthris."
The tear-stricken young man gasped and slowly raised his head up, feeling a hand softly graze his chin.
"It's time... to wake up." The voice and hand owner's voice spoke up. Seemingly in the same area, he sat chained to his chair as before. His eyes, now widened in a different kind of shock, took in the full appearance of his new partner.
The wavy silver-haired former princess of Aselia stood over him, her left hand softly caressing his chin.
"Sta... ciel...," Selthris could only stammer out in his tearful eyed, open-mouthed frown. "Is... is that really you?"
She seemed to ignore him and lightly pulled her arm back to fold her arms and stare down at him.
"Why are you sitting here, Selthris?" The former Masked Man of Naerith demanded of him, frowning down at him. "You're the last one of our clan; you can't die out yet."
"I wasn't strong enough Staciel...," Selthris attempted to reason with his older sister. She merely frowned silently back down at him, as if to allow him to continue. "And now I'm only paying what I owe-"
"Just you is it?" The former Field Marshal shot back in reply as she began to pace around the white and black tiled room. He felt her walk past his back and listened. "What about your only friend? What about Leo?"
The young Lord's eyes widened once more when he thought of the Mercenary he kept so close to him. He suddenly remembered the last time he seen him and his panic re-grew. As if sensing his very thoughts, the young woman behind him approached his right side, having seemingly finished a circle. She turned her eyes down to his position as she stopped at his side however, narrowing them.
"I know you hated our father, just like I did...," the older Vikeruce heir began in her reply. "But I think it's time you faced this truth."
"What truth...?" Selthris hissed back as he shut his eyes and lowered his head in his bound position. Staciel's eyes narrowed back down at him as she re-opened her mouth to respond.
"That you're just like he used to be and just like your torturer," she claimed; her words lit up a surprised spark in his eyes and he snapped them to reach her. She didn't even turn her head to face him as she eyed him back. "You're a murderer."
"A mur- no I'm- I didn't-"
"Selthris...," Staciel began once more as she re-closed her eyes briefly to continue. "Do you remember our mother?"
Her abrupt question surprised him entirely.
The young Lord turned his shocked blink up at her but merely nodded urgently, allowing her to press on with her point.
"What do you remember of her?"
Again, he was surprised but this time he was somewhat prepared.
"S-She was...," he began as re-lowered his eyes and they became glassy as he reached into the depths of his memories. "A good person...," the young Lord smiled as he thought of her similarly warm complexion. "She was the only one in the family that loved me, I think."
"Is that so...?" Staciel murmured as she turned her eyes briefly away from him, her arms still folded.
"She did so much in our father's absence that I was worried about her...," the young man began again, this time as a newly sad frown began to envelop his expression. "One day, she..."
Staciel remained quiet as she listened, eager to hear his next words.
"She left and... she never came back to us," he managed out as a single new tear began to sting at his left eye. "I don't know if she was kidnapped, murdered or reported missing but..."
"Is that what you think happened?"
His silent shock spoke volumes; he turned in his chair to frown back up at her.
"W-What do you-?"
As if to answer his question, the frowning Staciel extended one of her folded arms forward, palm outstretched. Seemingly by magic, the blank space ahead of him opened up from the inky blackness of its origins into a strange scene indeed; Selthris' silvery eyes narrowed as he watched the shadows give form.
A smiling brown haired woman sat next to a young boy with spiky silver hair of his own. They were hunched over a small desk and seemingly enraptured in writing work together. Selthris' eyes widened when he saw their faces and immediately recognised them.
The boy was him.
So then-?
"Mother..." Selthris merely murmured out longingly as he stared forward at the scene sadly.
Staciel remained silent as she also watched before, finally, bringing her open palm back. As if reacting to her control, the scene changed once more and to a contrasting one completely. This time the figures in the memory scene were given voices, even as murky as they were Selthris could still hear them. The woman lay knelt down, staring similarly downward at a curled up form of the young boy from earlier.
Her arm was raised up high into the air as if to indicate her intention to harm the young boy.
Selthris' eyes widened when he caught this before he immediately shut his eyes, as if to protect his vision from watching the scene. Unfortunately however, it did little to shut the noise of their voices out. His eyes scrunched horridly shut as he listened to the woman grunt angrily and the loud smacks and slaps echoed along with her. The boy's crying and frightened voice soon invaded his ears and his mind, forcing him to confront it.
"Mother, please, no... don't..."
"I'm sorry...!"
"I didn't mean it; I swear to you!"
"I love you; please don't!"
"N-No!" Selthris managed out as he began to struggle in his bound chair once more, alas all in vain. "That... that never happened- I-"
He kept his eyes shut but it did little once more to protect his ears from the next scene. While he did not watch it, he could hear his mother's voice giggling and his quiet but audible whining cries of anguish.
"Don't... not there, mother... please..."
"Stop showing this to me!" Selthris suddenly called out in his shut-eyed scowl, tears dripping down his scrunched shut eyes.
"M-Mother please, no; I love you..."
"STACIEL!"
Seemingly not listening to his loud cries of urgency, the young woman next him frowned firmly as she changed the next scene once more. As if to finally draw him to confront her showing, Selthris found his silvery eyes forced open in spite of his own wishes. This time he found himself watching, seemingly through the eyes of his mother; his vision was blurred and he looked down to find himself wounded and very badly at that. Blood covered the area he lay in and he found a sole figure standing above her, looming their shadow threateningly over the chestnut haired woman. Selthris' own eyes widened when he finally realised what this was taken from.
"N-No, Staciel!"
Ignoring his desperate please once more, the figure finally stepped into the light and glared down at her; the young boy from before, seemingly covered in her blood. He carried a knife tightly and held back the way in his right hand, coated in her flesh and blood. The spiky-haired boy glared down at her in a hateful scowl, breathing heavily as he did so. Selthris could only remain wordless as he took the scene in with both of his eyes, unable to find a suitable response to it.
"Don't you see?" Staciel whispered out as she dropped her left arm from its mid-air position, turning her firm-eyed frown on him. "There is no-one else responsible for what happened to you," the former princess claimed as she re-folded her arms. "Our mother took advantage of you... and you killed her for it."
Still seemingly unable to string words together to respond to her he could only stare ahead at the livid scowl on the boy's face.
"Just like I killed our father...," the former Masked Man gave claim to as she re-narrowed her eyes forward. "To live, Selthris, is to consume others; you have never been a good person, no one truly is."
Selthris, again, remained silent.
"And even if there were...," she began to reason with as she re-narrowed her eyes forward in her speech. "Those of us in our clan... are never afforded that luxury."
In his heart of hearts, as he listened, Selthris couldn't help but silently agree with his older sister; her words had been proven time and time again.
First his father, then Staciel, then himself and, now with his new knowledge, even his mother.
Even the early beginnings of the clan were naught but insects; the Sorcerer of the Divine Divide's words rung clearly in his ears.
"The path you walk on has no end..."
"Every inch of ground that you step on shall be claimed with the corpses of those closest to you."
"You shall have no peace..."
He couldn't see it back then; he was far too focused on killing his father's murderer. He didn't want to see it.
The Vikeruce clan were doomed from the very beginning.
"There is only one thing remaining that you can do."
Staciel's sudden interruption caused his eyes to widen and, finally, he opted to turn them to face her. She finally paced around the chair and loomed over him, arms folded.
"Embrace it," the former Field Marshal growled through grit teeth as she scowled on down at his bug-eyed, entranced frown. "Just as I did; just as father did," she attempted to reason with before re-narrowing her eyes and glowering passionately. "Just as our ancestors once did."
There was only one thing remaining left to me, he thought to himself; only one thing that stopped him from giving in completely. As if sensing his silent thoughts, the wavy-haired swords-woman gave a loud tut and turned her disgusted frown down at him.
"Leo cannot save you now little brother," she warned him. Still he watched her silently, opting not to respond vocally. "In fact... you may find your faith... soon will be shaken..."
–
3
"... shaken!"
Selthris' bloodshot silvery eyes shot wide open in silent shock once more; they darted around in mild disorientation. Soon however he realised he was still in his captor's interrogation room; his body still stuck fast to the chair he was bound in. The wide grin on general Nicholas' face widened as he sauntered into the room, seemingly having been gone earlier.
Selthris nearly double-took when he saw the chained up forms he shambled into the room after him, pulling on their bonds.
The grunting and seemingly powerless Leo was pushed into the room via a single Sohanthian soldier. Covered in cuts, bruises and bloody-faced and all, he could barely raised up his eyes to lock eyes with his close companion.
"L-Leo...!" Selthris could only gasp out in a mix of light relief and shock, his voice barely audible for the dryness of his throat. As the grinning Nicholas yanked at the chains, pulling the grunting Mercenary in by his knees Selthris' eyes narrowed as he caught sight of the soldier intruding in after him, uncomfortably pulling on a chain of his own.
… Who...?
The Sohanthian soldier pulled in the form of a crying young blonde girl, seemingly also a Sohanthian. Her rough clothing and battered small form indicated her life as a poor orphan of some sort. Though she pulled back at the chain perhaps in an effort to deny her captors it was all in abject vain.
"Didn't you hear me, boy...?" Nicholas called over, still in his seemingly happy grin. Selthris' tired and bloodshot eyes darted over to watch him in response. "You look like you're completely shaken..."
"W-What are you...?" Selthris attempted out in his dry heaving cough. "Doing...?"
"I'm glad you asked," Nicholas shot back in his wide grin before suddenly grunting and pulling on the chain behind him very roughly. Leo, directly behind him, was forced forward in a sudden pained bound. The young Mercenary could only grunt as he fell to the black and white tiled ground beneath him ungracefully. He managed to pull himself back up, the chains clinking lightly though not without some effort on his part. When he managed to exchange his fatigue-eyed stare with his companion's Selthris could only stare back.
"Sel..." The Mercenary managed to murmur out in quiet, pained greeting.
As if to respond to the youth's ragged word, the tiny blonde girl was pushed down on the floor next to him. Leo gasped similarly as he turned briefly to face her, his eyes narrowing. Selthris' own eyes darted between them silently, unable to make sense of the situation. As if sensing his fast-growing unease, the hard-eyed Sohanthian General strode in behind and between the pair, kneeling down to their level. His grin seemed to widen by a few notches, if that were even possible, as he hovered his big and burly arms to rest across at the pair around him.
"W-What are you-?"
"The young man in your unit...," Nicholas began in his grin, briefly eyeing the wincing Mercenary on his left. "Or a blameless little urchin of Sohantha." The General explained similarly promptly as he re-turned his eyes to his other side; the tiny young girl growled back at him hatefully. Selthris' silvery eyes shot wide open once more but this time in hopeless horror.
Oh no, he thought.
"Choose!" The large Sohanthian turned his psychotic-eyed, open-mouthed smirk on the shock-faced Selthris.
"Y-You can't-!" Selthris managed to stammer out, panic quickly grasping his nerves once more as his saliva began to dribble down his chin. Nicholas, opting not to reply in the traditional sense, merely shot his head to the ceiling and burst out with demented laughter. Selthris' eyes twitched as he watched the Sohanthian in rapid terror, unable to string together any more words to respond with.
"Sel..."
The young Vikeruce heir snapped his eyes back down to his best friend and, once before, only companion. A contrast to his earlier pained look, his tired-eyed soft smile seemed to tell a different story. Selthris merely stared down at his kneeling form, awaiting his next words.
"It's okay...," the Mercenary managed to soothe out with his voice in his smile. "You can choose me..."
"B-But I-" Selthris gasped out, his eyes twitching as he listened to the worrying cries of the young Sohanthian girl next to him. As if finally growing impatient with his captive's indecisiveness, Nicholas stepped back up and advanced toward him. Soon he loomed his large body menacingly over the twitchy-eyed Vikeruce, his grin soon gone.
"I said...," he spoke down to him quietly, his voice a mere whisper. His eyes were also widened but in a tremendously different fashion to his poor victim. "Choose."
Selthris could barely stare back at his torturer let alone open his mouth to respond, seemingly completely unprepared for the situation. Nicholas' cruel and firm frown never left him; not even when he finally swivelled it around to face the small group behind him. He gave the frowning and nameless soldier standing at the ready a single look and a single look was all he required. The loyal Sohanthian stepped forward, gripping his iron lance. Selthris' eyes shot wide-open once more when he saw him target the young Sohanthian girl.
The young Vikeruce king was extremely ashamed to realise he was relieved at his interrogator's choice.
The young girl cried out and attempted to leap up to run but her chains stopped her; the similarly bound Leo grunted as he also attempted to raise himself but with a different intention. Seemingly attempting to stop the man he yelped out in pain when he felt the hard-eyed General yank on his bonds, the chains clinking noisily.
Blood flew into the air when the soldier pierced her lower stomach with the iron lance he wielded. She could only gasp in wide-eyed horror and pain before, slowly sinking down into the weapon. The group watched, entranced, before he finally yanked the weapon out of her body, sending her involuntarily dropping to the ground in a bloody, deceased heap. Selthris' lower jaw began to lightly twitch in tandem with his widened eyes and he could barely string words together to form his horror and shock.
"Bastards...," Leo managed to growl out raggedly as he turned his sweaty-eyed scowl up at the soldier wielding the lance. "You're all animals..."
"Are you so sure of that...?" Nicholas murmured over at the brown-haired youth, causing him to gasp in wide-eyed shock. As before, the soldier turned his iron lance down on the defenceless Mercenary, ready to stab his weapon downward. Selthris' eyes widened once more and tears began to stricken his complexion once more.
"NO!"
SQUELCH
Time slowed down for the group in the room; Selthris' horrified stare stayed consistent as he could only watch in complete consternation. He watched the back of his companion sink forward down into the iron lance painfully, as his earlier partner had, before soon coughing out a large intake of blood on the wood of the spear.
"L-Leo-"
Before Selthris could even finish his sentence however the soldier cruelly ripped his tool out from the young man's body, sending him grunting back down to the ground in a similar bloody heap. Nicholas' laugh was drowned out in the background as Selthris could only stare down at his fallen companion, shock and terror gripping at his system.
"Don't you see yet?"
Staciel's morbid voice filled his mind once more as he stared forward at the bloody scene before him, his eyes becoming glassy.
"Father was correct... but only of one thing."
Selthris' eyes remained widened as he listened to her.
"There is no such thing as luck on the battlefield."
He could almost imagine the man's stony face attached to the very words that she spoke.
"This is no-one's fault but your own... if you had more power... then this would not have happened."
You're right.
"You have that power, Selthris."
I do?
"Kill the rest of me... and take it."
Her voice resounded throughout his ears and, as he shed his last tear, he lowered his head and shut his eyes with it. The laughing Nicholas finally adopted to stop his amusement short and paced forward to grin on down at the bruised and battered youth.
"How entertaining," the Sohanthian general grinned on as he rubbed the low end of his small goatee in a show of his old habit. "It would appear that your foolish comrades of the Allied forces are scurrying about upstairs," the General smirked as he noticed the boy's ears perk up. "I'm surprised they have even remembered you in all honesty...," he chuckled knowingly. When he received no reply however he merely continued. "It is such a shame to pull me away from my fun... but a man's duty's must be seen to."
Selthris merely remained wordless and silent, his head and his posture low; a firm frown upon his shut-eyed expression. Nicholas raised a curious eyebrow up at him before regaining his earlier grin as he reached forward, presumably to finish the youth. Before he could touch his ragged tunic's front however, a strange and unnatural kind of lightning sparked between the two, keeping him back. Nicholas gasped as he pulled his arm back, wincing from the sudden shock, narrowing his eyes forward curiously.
CLICK
The chains' unlocking behind him with a sudden noise caused the Sohanthian interrogator to blink in surprise.
"What the-?"
His words were soon interrupted once more when the chair his captive sat on was suddenly erupted into flame with the similarly abrupt burst of lightning that joined it. Tiles flew up into the air to match the sudden explosion of Aegir and the watching Nicholas had to temporarily raise his arms up to block the unnatural wind from hitting his eyes. When the dust finally settled, the frowning Selthris stood in the epicentre of the small scene of destruction, his body slightly leant to the side.
Angered by the display, Nicholas growled as he suddenly advanced on the young king before grasping his shirt in spite of the lightning coursing around his body. When he did however the youth's eyes snapped open and glared back at him. Bloodshot and tearful eyes of inky blackness stared back at him, seemingly furious in their own right. Taken aback for a second, Nicholas' grip on the young man's tattered tunic lessened; his one mistake.
Selthris' eyes widened and, like magic, the wide-eyed General could only manage a single pained grunt as he was suddenly sent soaring through the air. With a loud and similarly painful crash, the soldier behind him gasped as he watched his commander land before slowly and deliberately turning back to face the scowling youth in front of him.
Though he stood in his earlier leant position on his own, a second over-looming shadow seemed to tower over him, as if controlling him somehow. The soldier found the shadow's eyes deep-purple and rippled; he widened his own eyes in recognition, having seen the same eyes in the storybooks of Sohantha. The eyes of the fabled one.
The Sorcerer of the Divine Divide.
Turning on his heel in his worried gasp, the nameless soldier could barely avoid tripping over himself as he ran for the closed door. Slamming it behind him, the sound echoed loudly within the chamber. Selthris stepped forward, his body enveloped in immense Aegir; with a single scowl he raised up his pulsating left arm and flexed its hand's fingers. Gradually raising it further up to cover his burning and black left eye he affixed his firm-eyed gaze forward through his fingers.
"I am...," he thought to himself as his eyes narrowed hatefully. "A Vikeruce."
"Slow down Sevrenna!" George called ahead for what felt like the umpteenth time in succession, eyes narrowed forward through the light drizzle of rain.
He rode his own horse after hers and as she listened, the young Swordmaster finally opted to do as he asked. The young Cavalier finally managed to catch up with the frowning young woman and frowned next to her when they slowed to a mere jog.
"I know you're passionate about doing this but if we rush in then we'll lose our lives too!" George attempted to reason with in a narrow-eyed hiss as he spoke. The Swordmaster turned her eyes away from his as she listened, as if unwilling to hear it.
"He's fine," Kay's voice called from the pair's left sides; also riding her horse. "They both are."
George frowned over at his older sister briefly, concerned for her well-being.
"What if they're not?"
The pair of Cavaliers, surprised, turned their eyes on the shut-eyed Sevrenna.
"What if they're just as dead as-"
"They're not dead!" Kay suddenly and hotly interrupted the usually forceful Swordmaster; Sevrenna gasped as she turned on her horse to face the firm-frowning expression on the dirty-blonde Cavalier's face, shocked. They seemed to stare at one another for a good few seconds before, finally, Sevrenna opted to smile weakly back in response, nodding before returning her attention to the front.
"We have to make sure that sir Gorlin and lady Hawke are not kept too busy for too long!" George called out in an attempt to raise the trio's morale, eyes narrowing past the drizzle drops of rain lashing his face. "If we can infiltrate the back of their forces then-"
DROOM
As if to go with the sound of the sudden tremor to the ground, a hard rumble of thunder boomed in the background of the night sky. The three found their paths blocked by the sudden earthquake and their horses all reared back with similar concerned neighs of shock. A shadow illuminated by the sudden crackling of the thunder made apparent to be the figure between them and their goal; the wide-grinning form of the amber armoured Half-Moon.
Sevrenna's eyes widened in recognition before anger and hatred soon gripped at her. Seemingly having been given a heaping portion of his favourite meal, Half-Moon stared back at the group of three, his Quintessence billowing out like a cloak from his body, as if a visible torch in the dark area. Another single figure stood behind him, the visibly grinning and folded-armed Halberdier Apheia.
"Sevrenna... no...," George murmured out lowly next to the glaring young woman. The listening Swordmaster merely grinded on her teeth angrily as she watched the contrastingly smirking Half-Moon. "We will hold our ranks." The Cavalier warned her with a hard-eyed frown. Though she scowled at the object of her hatred she merely nodded in response.
"Not you three again," Kay greeted over as she curled her lip up at the grinning pair and their plus-one; the ever firm-frowning Alder standing next to his general and superior. "Haven't you gotten in our way enough times?"
"Your little friend would beg to differ," Apheia spoke over in her leant-eyed smirk; the rain soon began to pick up, lashing down upon her long pony-tailed blonde hair. "He's been eager to see you again." The Halberdier claimed ominously, grinning over at the scowling Sevrenna.
The Aselian Swordmaster opted not to respond to her vocally and merely drew her steel sword out from the sheath on her hip, twirling it around as she soon dismounted her mount. As if reacting to her movement, Kay and George unsheathed their own weapons as they stood next to her on both sides, watching their opponents.
"This could be very bad," George urged the pair of women next to him as he narrowed his eyes forward. "One enemy each but even still; I do not like these odds."
"I'll take Half-Moon," Sevrenna opted to finally speak up in her low scowl, glaring hatefully at the open-mouthed grinning serial killer. "I still owe him."
"Not by yourself you're not," Kay objected angrily as she stepped lightly next to the young woman, gripping her steel lance with both hands. "You could barely match him last time; what makes you think you'll be able to-"
"We may not have a choice in the matter Kay," George advised very quietly in his hard and desperate-eyed frown forward. "We have no more troops to spare."
"Tch!" His older sibling managed out in a furrowed-brow frown, disappointed and concerned. "So we're stuck then..."
As if listening to them from her side of the battlefield, the amused Apheia smirked as she brought a steel great-lance up, seemingly to fight with; a shield gripped on her left side. The hard-frowning Alder brought his own steel lance up in tandem with his commander, turning his firm-eyed glare on the Aselians.
"Are you ready now?" Apheia called over, ominously quietly as she grinned; she soon lost it in favour of a malicious scowl. "Pathetic Aselians."
–
4
General Nicholas coughed out in sudden surprise and shocking pain as he pulled himself from the wreckage he was earlier forced into. The older man gasped as he stepped out from the rubble, darting his eyes in searching for his former captive, his anger risen to a boiling point to match his earlier bewilderment. Finally however he found the youth and in the most obvious place to look; his anger grew even further when he realised this and he thrust an accusing finger over at the lightning-encased Lord Knight.
"How dare you!" The seemingly simple-minded Sohanthian superior shot over with a hateful hissing howl. "Try to fool me will you?!" He accused angrily; unfortunately for him however, the firm-frowning Selthris merely stared back at him wordlessly. Perhaps growing increasingly in unease, the frowning General soon upturned his scowl into a disgusted glower. "What's wrong, dog?! What happened to all that whimpering earlier?!"
As if to finally respond to him however the young swordsman without a sabre gave off one last crackle of lightning before soon disappearing with it; the watching Nicholas' eyes widened as he darted his eyes in search for him. He gasped as he shifted his body to his right, barely avoiding the leaping Selthris in mid-air. Nicholas' eyes widened as he watched the firm scowling-faced Selthris smash his bolting fist through the wall where he once stood by. Boulders of concrete similarly burst apart, scattering across the air.
He's faster now, Nicholas thought to himself as he slowly landed in a scowling skid. Bereft of his own weapon however, the Sohanthian General grunted as he found the super-fast Selthris sailing straight for him.
BZZT
Nicholas grunted as he shot his right arm skyward to parry the incoming overhead strike; Nicholas gasped when he felt him crash into his defence, eyes widening at the sudden rocket in strength. As time maddeningly drew on, the poor Sohanthian found himself slowly being overpowered, even his very body itself being veered back the way he had evaded in earlier. Nicholas opened his mouth to shout angrily at his opponent, attempting to demand him to speak.
Unfortunately for him however, he found his burly right arm dropping; falling completely unresponsive.
"WHAT?!" The wide-eyed General yelled out, the nerves in his right arm falling suspiciously silent. It dropped down to his right side and he could only stare down at it in disbelief before darting his bewildered eyes back up to his scowling opponent, taken off guard once more.
CRACK
With a single crackling smash, Selthris didn't even utter a single grunt when he smashed his lightning-encased fist into the gasping General's face; the fearsome thunder coating his body caused a brutal burn mark across his right cheek.
CRASH
Selthris recovered from his earlier attack, leaning forward as he pulled his right fist back, glaring on after his missing enemy. A few uneventful seconds passed as Selthris stared straight ahead of his current leaning position. His eyes narrowed provokingly at the sudden explosion of power and Aegir from his similarly bare-handed opponent; as before, boulders and parts of the floor flew up around the roaring General's body. A similar cloak of Quintessence billowed around him as an aura would, intimidating indeed.
Finally the dust settled once more and the blaring brute of Sohantha was displayed in all of his angry glory. With barely a discernible word uttered from his mouth, the large man took off in pursuit. Selthris never moved a muscle in his resolute hateful stare of his enemy until a second after the larger male shot his earth-infused fist down on him; the only arm left that seemingly responded on his body. The young Lord Knight merely swerved his head to the right to avoid the man's primal swing, glaring back.
His anger seemingly growing at his Aselian enemy, Nicholas let out another livid wail as he pressed forward once more but this time for an optimised but wild horizontal hay-maker with the same arm, his other still limp. Pulling his silvery-haired head back however, Selthris' scowl remained constant on his face as he once again evaded the wide-eyed General's attack. This time however the young Lord Knight reached forward not with his full arm but with a single outstretched left index finger. General Nicholas' eyes widened once more and his scowl was briefly lost to him as he regarded his opponent's actions with oblivious carelessness.
BZZT
The wide-eyed Sohanthian suddenly gasped when he felt his whiffed left arm blend with the lightning on Selthris' own left arm. Just as before the poor General found his left arm immediately dropping to his other side, falling just as silent as his last.
"H-How?!" Nicholas gasped out as his widened eyes twitched from the growing horror as he regarded his two fallen arms. "I-I t-took those pills and-"
Opting not to respond vocally, Selthris suddenly pressed forward; body bent back low for seemingly speed increasing. His brow furrowed and he glared on up at the gasping General above him before spinning once as he approached, smacking his lightning-encased left back-fist against the grunting older man. Nicholas' eyes shut briefly from the blinding pain as he was sent stumbling back the way he came; he could barely open his eyes in time fast enough to find his younger opponent spinning in a direct forward assault.
Selthris' scowl never left him as he sent his sinking elbow into older man's clothed chest . Nicholas could only widen his eyes in a terror-filled gasp as he regarded his opponent behind him; his defence finally cracked. Selthris' silvery and black lightning crackled to a heightened snap as the Aegir around his elbow grew in tandem with it. Eventually however, the young man's built up of Quintessence finally exploded in a hard-eyed detonation. Pain suddenly and blazingly filled every ounce of the wide-eyed and speechless Sohanthian General as he was soon sent off his feet from the ferocity of the attack. Time soon regained its normal flow and general Nicholas was sent careering into the wall behind him once more.
CRASH
As the rest of the already dilapidated wall of the inner dungeon dropped on the now missing form of his enemy, Selthris relaxed his position as he leant his hatred-filled gaze after the General. When the smoke finally cleared and the fallen body of the unmoving Nicholas was revealed Selthris' brow furrowed just a little more as he stared over at him. Seemingly satisfied with his bloody and open-mouthed sprawl, the newly strengthened Lord Knight about-turned on his heel and marched forward for the closed door to the exit.
His ears perked up to the sounds of battle far above him.
Didn't Nicholas say something about intruders?
His curiosity piqued, Selthris continued his march before opening the door with a single creak. Opting to hesitate only very briefly to turn and stare sadly down at the fallen body of his only companion, Leo, he finally walked through and slammed shut the door behind him.
"DEVOUR!"
Sevrenna yelped in pain as she was sent sprawling across the lashing ground, dirt and mud kicking up into her indigo shaded robes. Her long ebony hair matted itself to her face as she could only cough out blood from her earlier engagement with the laughing Half-Moon looming over her.
"Is... is this it...?" The Swordmaster could barely think to herself as she attempted to raise herself up, her left arm becoming limp from the ongoing fight. Blood dripped down it and many wounds across her body. She scrunched her eyes shut as she listened to the sounds of the desperate Kay and George fighting with Sohantha's general Apheia and her aide Alder. "Am I to die here after all this preparation...?" She could barely manage out as she took ragged breaths in pain, her lungs on fire. The grinning Half-Moon chuckled maliciously to match the sudden burst of thunder that lit up his already Aegir aura covered face.
With a surprising burst of her own Aegir however, the grunting Swordmaster shot to her side in an impressive feat of speed, disappearing from common view. Easily following his opponent however, Half-Moon laughed anticlimactically as he shot his wide-grinning face to his left, palms outstretched to his two sides. Sevrenna zipped to his earlier side in a clear attempt to hit at him with her steel sword, grunting vainly as it bounced off the intense Quintessence cloak he seemed to wear so well. The Sohanthian serial killer let loose an abrupt roar at her and she widened her eyes as she was sent careering back through the air, rolling and all.
SMASH
Before she even hit the mountain wall behind her she found the mad-faced Half-Moon suddenly reappeared just shy of her front, his left open palm forced through her lower stomach. Pinned to the wall, the Swordmaster could barely cough once more, draining her of of any leftover strength she may have possessed. Time seemed to slow down to a gradual stop as she stared ahead of her. Tears began to sting at her eyes as she thought of the years she spent trying to pursue her enemy and the efforts involved to do so.
She thought of her murdered family among the many others he had taken on as his many 'meals'.
The thought of her smiling older brother was the last thing that went through her mind.
"D-Don't-" Sevrenna managed out in a sudden higher octane voice than she usually spoke, her voice breaking as she cried. "Don't ever l-leave me al-alone..."
BZZT
Like an animal, Half-Moon yelped from the sudden contact of strange electricity in the air. His eyes darted around for the cause but, unable to find one, he was soon forced away from his victim, skidding across the muddy plains. He narrowed one of his eyes suspiciously forward as he suddenly witnessed an incredibly fast shadow dart in and out of the area he was previously in. Like magic, the near corpse form of Sevrenna had vanished with the shadow and Half-Moon could only blink in shock.
Suddenly surprising him once more however, the shadow re-appeared safely to his left side a few yards away, skidding across the ground. A young man stood covered in an aggressively high Aegir aura of his own, a veritable torchlight. He was dressed in mere silvery and ebony rags as if to contrast with his frightening appearance; the scowl on his face matched it however, alongside the matted and greyed silvery-spiky hair.
The cause of the interruption forced the similarly wide-eyed Kay, George, Alder and Apheia to stop their fighting and turn their heads to overlook. Also shocked, they could barely believe the form before them.
Selthris Vikeruce stood holding the silent, wide-eyed Sevrenna in his arms.
"I won't." He merely uttered out in his low scowl, as if in response to the tearful-faced Sevrenna's words.