The King of Nothing
Author's note: I recommend listening to the song L'Oscuritá dell'Ignoto from Dream Drop Distance when the Cloaked Woman cracks her neck from side-to-side.
Caeldori's eyes fluttered open as she felt grunge seep between her fingers. She stood up and wiped the dirt off her clothing, then looked to her left, where a crimson sun sat against a mountain range. Directly behind her stood an expanse of wilted trees and bushes.
"Let me go!" A very distinct, almost grating voice rang out. Caeldori's ears perked up, and she hurriedly gazed to her right to see someone who looked startlingly similar to her mother save for her white hair. She was currently tied to a wooden pole and encircled by some sort of group.
As she studied the ensemble closer, she saw that each member of this gang was wearing scarlet robes, and each garment was adorned with the pattern of six eyes.
"Quiet, wench! Our lord will be here soon..." One gruff voice spoke. Caeldori assumed she should wait and watch what occurs, so she dove behind a nearby tree and hid behind its large frame. She poked her head out and watched the events unfold.
"Hey!" A voice called out from the distance. "Leave her alone!" Everyone -including Caeldori- turned their heads to see two figures advancing. One had long, blue hair with an ornate sword, while the other had short, red hair and donned a black cloak with a purple trim.
"Stop the interlopers!" The same low voice called out and revealed itself to be the tallest member of the bunch. Before Caeldori could even blink, the entire circle was running towards the two women and shouting in a foreign tongue as they pulled scrolls from their cloaks.
She leaned back behind the tree and watched as a tumbleweed rolled by. Caeldori wasn't sure whether to blindly charge in there and rescue that captive woman -who she wasn't sure was either her mother or an estranged family member- or wait it out.
Right after she made her decision she noticed the two people from before were now standing atop a mound of motionless cultists. They paused to catch their breaths, then began advancing towards the captive. They both had bright smiles on their faces, which was jarring considering they had just killed an entire group of cultists.
"Severa! Oh, thank the gods you're okay!" The red-haired girl with the cloak had her arms outstretched as she ran to the pole. She hurriedly untied the rope that held the woman and wrapped her hands around her frame in an embrace. "I couldn't bear to leave my sister!"
"Her name is Severa?" Caeldori continued to watch from afar.
"Morgan, I told you not to follow me!" Severa attempted to break free of her sister's grip.
"Mother said her sister's name was Morgan." Caeldori's eyes widened. "So that really is mother. Did that voice in the temple just send me back in time?" Her eyes widened.
"Well, we weren't just going to stand by while you were sacrificed." The blue-haired lady responded while sheathing her sword.
Severa took a long pause, then gazed longingly at the blue-haired woman.
"Thank you, Lucina." She stated in an uncharacteristically tender voice.
Thunder boomed in the distance as the ground began to tremble.
"I don't like the sound of that..." Morgan's voice nosedived into a panic. Her eyes were wide with fear as she watched the sky itself grow dark and twisted; it blocked all rays of light from the crimson sun. "We need to leave, now." Morgan tugged at her sister's arm in a desperate attempt to flee.
Severa remained adamant; her limbs were stiff and refusing to budge.
A puff of purple mist exploded in front of the group and dissipated while everyone coughed.
"Well, look what we have here." A man revealed himself as the smoke dissipated. His hair was as white as Severa's and he wore a cloak identical to Morgan's. He paused, and his eyes shifted over the three trouble-makers as he waited for someone to say something. "Really? This is the greeting I get from my daughters?"Caeldori could tell he put extra emphasis on the words 'daughters'.
"Daughters?! Does that mean... That's my grandfather!?" Caeldori's eyes widened, again, as she leaned from behind the tree.
"My father died when you possessed him, Grima." Severa flared her nostrils as her fists clenched; her tone was practically dripping with contempt.
Grima let out a deep, bellowing laugh while a crazed look flashed in his eyes.
"How rude of you to say something so hurtful. My heart is shattered, honestly." He snapped his fingers as thunder crackled in the skies above. "I'm afraid, however, that I have to cut this family reunion short."
An ear-piercing boom from the skies prompted Caeldori to look up; her attention focused on a figure falling from the sky.
The mysterious entity landed on the ground in a crouched position, with their feet wide apart and one hand on the floor while another hand was outstretched away. Cracks seeped through the ground as Severa jumped backward; the very landscape she stood on was disbanding. Caeldori examined the new opponent from afar.
Firstly, she could determine that this figure was female, judging by her stature and demeanor. The only other detail that caught Caeldori's eye was her cloak, which was identical to the one Morgan and Severa's father wore. The hood of said cloak was pulled up and concealing the assailant's face, save for a pair of luminescent, red eyes that pierced through the darkness of her veil.
"Severa, we need to go." Lucina placed her hand on her shoulder. A look of urgency was in her eyes.
Severa responded by backing away from the mysterious figure while nervously glancing left and right. The hooded adversary followed her every step and was completely silent as the sound of her cloth boots stomped against the ravine floor.
Morgan hurriedly grabbed her tome from her pocket and began flipping through the burnt pages.
"Don't come any closer, or I'll… I'll…" Her voice croaked; the Cloaked Woman continued her advance.
Lucina yelled as she threw a medium-sized rock at the figure. The woman caught it mid-throw and shifted her gaze to the stone. She clenched her fingers, and the rock crumbled to dust in her palm.
She was not paying attention to Morgan, however, who set her tome aflame, pulled her arm back, and hurled the flaming book at the figure. The Cloaked Woman was knocked backward by the burning tome and landed on her back with a thud.
The trio took this opportunity to sprint in the opposite direction; their feet kicked up dust clouds behind them while they ran.
"Your challenge is to fight his champion." The Temple God's voice rumbled within her thoughts. "Go, now."
Caeldori stepped out from behind the tree and began to slowly walk towards her supposed grandfather, who leaned over his 'champion' with a look of pure malice.
"Of course, you let those three escape." Grima covered his head with his hand in a contemptuous manner. "For crying out loud, you could've killed them right there, but no~o~o~o. Apparently, you thought it was necessary to intimidate them. I don't even know why I bothered rescuin-"
His sight changed from the Cloaked Woman to the advancing girl, who seemed to have watched the events unfold. "Hm, what do we have here...?" He sheathed his sword while staring at Caeldori. "Today might not be a loss after all."
The Cloaked Woman turned her head to Caeldori before standing up and brushing the dust off her clothing. Her red eyes glared at her through the darkness of her veil. "Kill the girl, and you can continue to serve me." The white-haired man stated before raising into the air. He wasn't floating with the help of wings; he seemed to be supporting himself with the help of a cyan tome in his hands.
The Cloaked Woman cracked her neck from side-to-side; the ground quaked with each motion. She raised her hands to the sky, while a large purple circle containing the symbol of six eyes formed around her arms. She angled her hands forward, and the rings floated a good distance away while enlarging.
Two horses sprinted out of the rings toward Caeldori and the Cloaked Woman. One of them had an orange coloration, while its mane and tail were replaced with a burning fire. The flaming horse galloped to Caeldori's side, while she inspected the other one. It had a purple tint to its body, while its mane and tail were bright lights that rapidly changed color. Caeldori recognized it as the lights that appeared in the sky near the Ice Tribe.
Grima smirked as he watched his champion clamber onto her steed. "Let's have a race, shall we?"
"Why?" Caeldori asked as she climbed into the saddle of her flaming horse. She expected to feel a burning sensation, but instead, it felt rather comfortable. Toasty, even.
Caeldori failed to notice that a name was etched onto the saddle. Belfire. She did, however, notice that the word 'Aurora' was inscribed onto the saddle of her opponent's steed.
"Because if you two are going to fight to the death, let's at least make it entertaining," Grima spoke as he pulled a deep-red tome out of his pocket. "On your mark…"
The Cloaked Woman hunched her back and snarled at Caeldori. "Get set…" Grima was on the metaphorical edge of his metaphorical seat.
Caeldori gripped the reins of her steed tightly. While she wasn't looking, Grima sent a fireball towards her back. "Go!" He yelled as the fireball landed directly behind Caeldori. He had miscalculated his aim.
The two horses began galloping along the edge of the canyon while Grima floated after them. Wind lashed at Caeldori's face as she locked eyes with the Cloaked Woman. Her red eyes stared back, then settled on the massive boulder that was falling from the sky.
"What the?!" Caeldori took a sharp right and veered away from the massive rock.
"Oops, did I do that?" Grima's tone made Caeldori even more annoyed as he continued to summon more rocks. The sound of hooves pressing against the ground was drowned out by the noise of boulders striking the earth.
Caeldori weaved her way around the falling rocks until the onslaught stopped, and a bright flash of purple appeared before her. "Let's make this even more interesting…" Grima smirked as he floated in front of Caeldori and the Cloaked Woman, who was nipping at Caeldori's heels. He glided into the violet haze, and Caeldori followed him while shutting her eyes.
Her eyes fluttered open, and she found herself in a vast forest. Trees were in every direction, and behind her was a massive red tear in the ground. The fissure stretched out into the distance while molten lava poured out of it.
Now was not the time to stop and smell the burning roses, though, as her opponent emerged from the purple mist. She and Caeldori were neck and neck as they raced along the forest.
Grima drifted back into view and rose his arms while muttering an incantation.
Purple hands burst from the ground and clawed their way to the top. Caeldori swerved her horse away from the shambling people as Grima laughed. "Here come the spectators!"
One of the undead individuals leaped onto Caeldori's steed and began to claw at her feet while gurgling. Caeldori jerked her foot directly into its head and threw the reanimated corpse off her steed.
Her gaze shifted to her opponent, who rode through the sea of corpses effortlessly. None of the undead attacked the Cloaked Woman, and Caeldori swore that she saw some of them get to their knees and bow.
The two racers continued along the forest, tore through a pair of fortresses, and then found themselves charging headlong across a plateau. The crimson sun continued to bear down on them, but Caeldori's attention was drawn to something in the distance.
To her left stood a seemingly endless sea of fire that strained her eyes just by looking at it. Across the ocean of flame was a massive figure that floated above the ground. Caeldori could only see the shadowy outline, but she could discern that it had six wings, horns, and a noticeable lack of legs.
"Ah, yes, seems you've met my Dragon Form." Grima floated down next to Caeldori and spoke in a strangely normal voice. She wasn't sure how Grima was able to keep pace with her galloping horse, but she had a myriad of other questions that she wanted to ask. "I think I should put a sign here that says: 'Me'."
The massive dragon turned its head and locked eyes with Caeldori. She felt incredibly discomforted by its six, beady eyes. Grima's Dragon let out a massive roar that caused the very ground to rumble.
Grima floated ahead into another purple void, and Caeldori shielded her eyes as she entered the rift.
The entire area was pitch-black, save for a luminescent light source at her horse's feet. Caeldori gazed down and noticed that the road was floating high above the ground, and constructed with multicolor tiles that flashed different colors of the rainbow.
"What is this place?" She thought before Grima floated back into view.
"Welcome... to Prism Pathway!" He spoke in an exuberant voice as he raised his arms to the moon above. The road began to shake, then it started to plummet towards the land below. "Oh, looks like the Excalibur spell keeping this place afloat has worn out. Try not to die, alright?"
Belfire's hooves clacked against the metallic texture of the road while Caeldori gripped her reins tightly. The Cloaked Woman was directly behind her; Caeldori assumed as much because there was a blinding light at her back.
The two were approaching a massive hole in the path, due to the plates being wrenched away from each other. Caeldori's steed leaped over the gap, sailed through the air, and landed on the other side without stopping its sprint. Her opponent did the same maneuver and was now at Caeldori's side.
Caeldori glanced to her foe, then back to the road where she noticed that she was approaching a massive hole in the ground, with no other side to jump on. Grima waited at the hole and waved a large checkered flag, while that dung-eating smirk was still plastered on his face.
Caeldori leaped off the edge of the road, and her steed sank towards the ground below. Her opponent followed after her, off the ledge, and was falling through the air.
She let out a scream as the ground grew closer and closer. She closed her eyes and brought her hands to her face as she braced for impact.
After five seconds of waiting, Caeldori slowly opened her eyes and discovered that she had not died. Rather, her horse had sprouted flaming wings and was now slowly descending to the floor. She stepped off her steed and onto the ground, then patted it on the head while it neighed. After she was done petting it, the pegasus flew off into the sun; it was followed by Aurora as well.
Caeldori had failed to notice that Aurora had bucked its passenger off, and the Cloaked Woman had fallen a great distance before hitting the floor. She had lost the race, after all.
When Caeldori noticed the purple pegasus, she quickly turned her head around and saw her opponent, who laid face-down in the dirt while she moaned. Caeldori walked over to her foe and slowly pulled her hood back.
Long, red strands of hair spilled out of the hood as the Cloaked Woman raised her head. She had a dazed look in her eyes, and fragments of a broken mask were attached to her head.
"Wh-... Where am I?" The woman spoke as she slowly got to her feet. Caeldori noticed that the other fragments of a mask were strewn across the ground where the Cloaked Woman was.
"I don't know where we are. Who are you?" Caeldori helped the woman stand up after she doubled over again.
"My name is Cordelia." After the woman spoke, Caeldori's eyes widened. "Judging by our surroundings… I'd say that we are currently at Breakneck Pass." Cordelia gazed out at the vast canyon, then looked down to her clothing. "Wait, this is Robin's cloa-"
Before she could finish speaking, Grima descended from the sky while clapping in a slow manner. "Robin?!" Her heart skipped a beat.
"Congratulations. You beat my champion, and broke the curse I put her in." The sarcasm in his voice was almost palpable. "Now call your temple friend and leave."
"How did you know about the-" Caeldori started to speak, and she noted that her hands were turning translucent.
"He is inhibiting my ability to keep you rooted in this timeline. You must leave, now." The Temple God spoke; Caeldori detected a hint of fear in its voice. Her entire body began to turn more translucent until she was gone.
"Insolent lesser beings, meddling in my affairs…" Grima muttered curses underneath his breath while scowling. "Now… Where were we?" His gaze focused on Cordelia, who was attempting to run in the opposite direction.
"Curse these damn legs!" She panted for breath as she stumbled and fell to the dirt floor.
A firm, cold hand grabbed her by the arm and pulled her to her feet.
"Oh, gods have mercy." Her eyes widened with fear as Grima held her by her back.
"Trying to run away from our date tonight? For shame, Cordelia. For shame." He half smiled/half glared at her as he pressed her into his chest; her hands struggled to push him away. "But first, I found a beautiful piece of apparel for you." He reached into his pocket and pulled out an ornate mask. Cordelia's eyes widened with fear. She had seen that mask before; it was the last thing she had seen after her defeat in that battle.
"No! Don't!" She cried out as Grima began to bring the mask toward her head. Cordelia struggled to break free from his grip. She grabbed the mask and tried to push it away from her face, but Grima was simply too strong. "Robin! I know you're in there somewhere! Snap out of it!" Her voice squeaked. Grima was now grinning from ear to ear.
Grima jerked his head back; Cordelia swore that she saw reflection flash in his eyes.
"C-Cordelia?" The incredibly familiar voice of Robin spoke, and Cordelia felt a warmth spring into his hands. "What... happened…?" He looked around in a confused manner while Cordelia pressed him toward her chest.
"Is it really you?" Tears lined her face and her cloak while she cautiously stayed in his embrace.
"Y-Yes, it's me." He sounded rather shaken, but nonetheless, her husband was back.
"Good…" Cordelia wept into his chest as she hugged him.
A single minute of silent understanding passed before Robin began to speak.
"You know, it really is amazing..." He began fumbling with his cloak pocket. "How gullible you are."
In a flash, he grabbed the mask and pressed it against Cordelia's face. It fit like a glove and covered her entire visage.
"Your husband's mind belongs to me!" Grima cackled with glee as the shocked look in Cordelia's eyes disappeared, and in its place was an empty stare. "And you shall join him!"
Her body jerked backward and began to convulse rapidly. This continued while Grima watched, and after a short while, Cordelia stopped convulsing and stood upright. She pulled her hood over her head, then walked towards Grima. She wrapped her arms around his chest in an affectionate manner. "Now then, let's go home," Grima spoke as he muttered an incantation.
A large, bleak castle sat in the middle of a ruined town. A sign was positioned at the entrance to the town, and it had a single word etched onto it:
Ylisstol.
The entire town had been burned to a crisp, save for a tree in the central courtyard. Twenty-eight corpses hung from that tree, and all of them looked distinct from one another. One had short, blue hair, another had purple hair and wore a cooking pot for a hat, et cetera.
Inside the dull castle, a single man slumped in his massive throne. Grima let out a sigh as he stood up and inspected his abode. He finally had absolute control over the world, but that was it. Sure, his victory had been hard-fought, but he was puzzled with the problem of finding something to do.
There's no fun to be had in a world where almost everyone was dead.
"Victory is boring." That was a nagging thought that had been circulating his mind for the last month.
While Grima inspected his castle, he looked out a window and to a nearby field of crops that grew nothing. He shifted his focus to another window and was greeted with even more nothing that stretched into the empty sky. He walked to a decayed chest at his feet to discover nothing inside it.
A never-ending amount of nothing began to pour out of the box and fill the throne room. His eyes became clouded just from the abundance of nothing.
"Sire," A purple-skinned man wearing a butler's outfit entered the room. "The queen is ready for you." The man bowed.
"Thank you, Validar." Grima didn't even bother looking at his servant. He was too entranced by the nothing outside.
"Milord, are you well?" Validar asked; his bushy eyebrow was raised.
"Yes. I'm fine." He spoke in a harsh tone without looking back at the nothing that was Validar.
A balcony overlooked a meadow of dead trees while crimson rain pounded the ground. Grima sat at a table on a balcony overlooking nothing. His queen, Cordelia, sat opposite him in an upright manner. Her hood was pulled up and concealed her face. Grima poked at his seasoned fish with a fork before slumping back in his chair. He could tell this meal was about a week-old just from the smell alone.
"Why am I eating? I'm Grima, the destroyer of kingdoms! I should be eating children; not this dead aquatic animal!" He thought to himself before shifting his gaze to Cordelia. "It's quite lovely out here." He spoke in an emotionless tone.
Cordelia didn't respond. Grima sighed. "Almost as lovely as you."
Cordelia was statuesque in her mannerisms. Grima found himself at the same conclusion he came to every night: there was no passion in a relationship with an obedient slave who only understood how to kill and how to cuddle.
Grima stood up and walked over to Cordelia's side. He pulled down the hood that concealed her face and watched as strands of her long, red hair spilled out. Cordelia didn't react. Grima ran his fingers through her hair before letting out another sigh. Her hair felt like an old carpet, which implied that Cordelia was in dire need of a bath. He slowly dragged his finger along the stone texture of her mask.
He was always envious of the marriage between Robin and Cordelia. Given that a mere puppet like Robin was able to experience more emotions than a divine dragon like himself, Grima found it necessary to steal his lifestyle completely. It's not like he cared about Cordelia -truth be told, he debated killing her after she let Severa and her band of merry idiots run away- it's just that he needed something to fill the nothing that he felt in his chest. Although, Grima did feel mildly confident that the only reason he chose Cordelia was because Robin was still trapped inside himself, and he found it hilarious that Robin was now forced to watch Cordelia indiscriminately slaughter all of his friends.
Grima placed his hands on Cordelia's shoulders in a firm manner as he gazed up at the dark sky above. "Is this what you wanted, Naga?" He shouted towards the clouds. "Well, then congratulations! You trapped me in my very own, special, one-of-a-kind, hell!"
He accidentally put too much weight on Cordelia's shoulders and pushed her down onto the table. "Oh, for crying out loud!" He sighed as Cordelia's face slammed into the wooden table. The desk was broken into two halves that snapped upright, and in the space between those two laid Cordelia. Remnants of the meal they had now lined the back of her robe.
"H-Huh? Wha-" Grima felt his metaphorical heart skip a beat when Cordelia sat upright and clutched her head. Her broken mask laid on the floor, and she turned her head around to see someone who she presumed was her husband. "Robin? Is that you?"
"Yeah, uh, it's me, Robin!" Grima laughed nervously as he placed his hands on Cordelia's shoulders. Warmth flowed through his fingers, and he quite enjoyed the feeling of someone who wasn't mentally unconscious. If only there was a way to get Cordelia to cooperate without temporarily turning her mind to mush.
Grima let out another sigh as he clapped his hands together. "Validar, I need another one of those masks!" He shouted to the doorway behind him.
"Sire, that's the fifth one you've broken this week!" Grima swore that he heard Validar sigh from the interior of the castle.
"V-Validar? Why is Validar here?" Grima could feel her shoulders tense as her body stiffened.
"Oh, uh, well you see…" Grima avoided making eye-contact with her as he stalled for time. "Validar here realized the error of his ways and is now serving me as a butler." He breathed a sigh of relief when Validar stepped onto the balcony.
"Sire, what exactly are you saying?" Validar had a rather bored look on his face as he held an ornate mask.
"Shut up, idiot. She's conscious." Grima whispered to the side, and Cordelia didn't hear a single word.
"Regardless, here is the mask. Try not to break this one, alright?" Validar handed the mask to Grima.
"You're a real comedian, you know that?" Grima's voice was oozing sarcasm as he tightly gripped the mask. "Okay, Cordelia, I need you to put this mask on." He waved the mask in front of Cordelia's face.
The very instant Cordelia saw that mask, she remembered when she had fallen in that battle. She remembered how her body refused to move as she laid on the dirt.
She remembered how a god using Robin's body approached her with a mask in his hand.
"H-Hang on." Cordelia pushed the mask away, which caused Grima to let out a mild 'tsk' noise.
"And this is why I like you more when you're under my control." Grima gave a bored sigh as he hurriedly placed the mask on Cordelia's face. She jerked upright and began to convulse rapidly for thirty seconds until she resumed stillness. "Well, that was a waste of time." Grima rolled his eyes and clapped his hands.
Cordelia's ears perked up as she heard the clap and she silently clambered into Grima's arms. Her head was nestled into his purple-clad shoulder. Grima closely held her like a bride while he felt the coldness of her body.
He walked back down the stairs and to the throne room, where he placed Cordelia on her feet. Grima seated himself on his throne, and Cordelia sat on his lap. She rested her head on his freezing chest. Grima shut his eyes and began to stroke the side of her head like he would a pet.
She essentially had the emotional range of a pet, given the mask that controlled her thoughts. Some days, he would take the mask off for a brief moment while they slept together, then laugh at her confusion before forcing it back on.
But that wasn't important; what was important was the nothingness on the back of Grima's eyelids.
I don't really mind that Grima didn't act like how he does ingame, because he had such little personality and motivation for what he did in Awakening that one can't really do anything with him.
"Hurr durr, I'm evul. I'm gonna tak over tah world!"
There, I just summed up all the character Grima had in Awakening. Wait, no, it's more like:
"FoOlIsH mOrTaLs, DoN't YoU kNoW tHe OnLy WaY tO sOuNd SeRiOuS iS tO tAlK lIkE tHiS?"
It's not like the other villains in Awakening are better; it's just that Grima is the most noticeable example considering he's the main villain.
But I'm curious as to the opinions of the people who read this. Did you like the characterization of Grima in this chapter, or was it too different from the source material to be good? Please leave a review if you feel like sharing your opinions.