The Castle of Conquest
The interior of the infirmary had a tangy, bleak smell of despair as both royal families gazed onto the bed Kamui rested on. He looked rather peaceful with his eyes shut and his hands crossed over his chest.
Caeldori burst through the front door with a panicked look.
"What… Happened…?" She doubled over and panted for breath as she looked to Ryoma, who seemed incredibly troubled.
Ryoma explained everything; how Hisame had tried to take Kamui's life, how Kamui jumped in the way before Ryoma could dispatch the traitorous Hisame, and how Garon was seemingly now in control of Kamui's body. Caeldori felt her gut sink when she realized that she had caused this.
"This is all my fault… If I hadn't told Hisame about my love for Kamui, this wouldn't have occurred." Caeldori's voice grew quiet as she stared at Kamui, who was as inanimate as a rock. Ryoma patted her on the shoulder in a reassuring way.
"There's no way you could've predicted this. Besides, Kamui is still alive." Caeldori's eyes lit up the instant Ryoma stopped talking. "We just need to find out how to save him.
"This is… absolutely bizarre..." Nyx finished her examination of Kamui and stood upright. Her disinterested voice was gone completely, and in its place were actual emotions. "Kamui's fear of Garon is so powerful that it grew a mind of its own..."
"How do you know that?" Leo -who was currently in the midst of inner turmoil- used his snarkily defensive voice when spoke.
"Why else would he be speaking in Garon's voice and attacking his family?" Nyx shot him a glare before flipping through the pages of her dusty tome. "Ryoma, do you know what you just did?"
"N-No, I do not." Ryoma stood up straight and attempted to sound resolute; the crack in his voice said otherwise.
"Your sword shocked Kamui into a catatonic state, and now his sentient fear of Garon has complete control over his body." Nyx gazed out at the families and saw the blank stares; she let out a sigh. "Garon is now in control of Kamui's body."
"Oh." Sakura and Elise responded in low voices.
"Thankfully, Camilla here knocked him unconscious, but we have a limited amount of time before Garon wakes up." Nyx resumed her examination of Kamui's motionless body.
"What happens if fath-. I mean, what happens if Kamui's fear of Garon wakes up?" Camilla leaned over the sleeping prince. She -like her brothers and sister- also sounded very concerned.
"He'll resume doing what he does best; wreaking havoc." Nyx spoke. "However, we still have one hope. If we send someone into Kamui's dreams, they might be able to destroy Kamui's fear and bring him back." Everyone expected Nyx to crack a smile and start laughing, given how ridiculous that sounded. "I only have the ability to send someone in. Do we have any volunteers?"
Caeldori came to the conclusion that this was her mess, and she needed to clean it up.
"I will." Everyone turned to face the red-haired woman with a look of shock. Caeldori stepped up to Kamui's side and looked down to Nyx's eye level. "Send me in there."
Nyx didn't even bother giving Caeldori a shocked look.
"Alright. You know how dangerous the inner recesses of the mind are, right?" Her eyebrow was slightly raised. "Should you meet your demise in there, you'll perish in the living world."
"I have to save him." Caeldori looked incredibly stoic, and her voice perfectly matched her demeanor.
"As you wish." Nyx raised her hand before Caeldori remembered something and backed up.
"Wait! I can use the locket!" Caeldori beamed as she clasped the locket around her neck. She tossed it into the sky, but was surprised to find it fall down back to her hands with no divine flash of light.
"Kamui's fear is too powerful for myself to destroy. I will return your wish so you can use it at a later time." The Temple God spoke inside Caeldori's thoughts as she placed the locket around her neck.
"Okay, looks like I'm going in there." Caeldori didn't notice that everyone in the infirmary was incredibly confused as to why Caeldori threw the locket in the air, then acted as though something was speaking to her.
"Well, that was anticlimactic…" Sakura let out a sigh as she watched Nyx wave her hand in front of Caeldori. A purple haze emanated from her palms, and Caeldori swore that she smelt the fragrance of lilacs before she passed out.
Strong gusts of wind lashed at Caeldori's face while she fell. All around her were vast expanses of the color white, and a strange feeling of uneasiness permeated the air. She would have to examine her surroundings later, as she currently was free-falling towards the bleached ground.
She let out a scream and shut her eyes before she hit the ground, and waited with a pause as the wind felt still. Caeldori opened her eyes and saw that the ground was directly in front of her, but she wasn't falling. She gazed to her feet and saw that she was currently standing on the ceiling of a white room.
Furniture lined the area, and all of it was upside-down and on the ceiling (the floor) from Caeldori's current perspective. Her focus turned to an exit, and even more white space was beyond that. She stepped past the chandelier and reached the door. She had to pull herself through it, as it wasn't touching the ceiling she stood on.
She tumbled into the next room and stood up. She was now rightside-down on the floor, and a fountain was in the middle of this large interior; it was as motionless as everything else. Caeldori noted that the water pouring out of it was suspended in the air, almost like a painting of sorts.
"Hey, miss, are you here for Kamui?" A child-like voice caught her attention. Caeldori turned her gaze to see an infant with red hair poke her head out from behind the fountain. She had a short-ish ponytail, and Caeldori swore that she recognized her face from somewhere.
"Are you… Me?" Caeldori asked.
"Yep! I'm the subkonschiou-" The girl paused her explanation and pressed a finger to her lips. "I'm Kamui's memory of you as a little girl."
"Ah, I see." Caeldori sat down; the young version of her sat down as well. "Where am I?"
"You're in the place where we keep all of Kamui's memories. We don't care if they're good or bad." The little girl wiggled her feet while smiling. "So, you probably wanna see Kamui, right? 'Cause if you do, he's in that big, spooky castle that showed up an hour ago."
"How do you know he's in there?" Caeldori raised her eyebrow and began to ponder if she really looked this cute when she was six-years-old.
"Kamui and I have a brain connection or something. I think it's cause he likes you so much, but I can tell where he is in this dream place." The little girl gave Caeldori an adorable smile as she pointed to a nearby window. Caeldori walked to the window and peered out of it.
A massive black tower stood against the purple backdrop of the sky, and it went straight down instead of going up. All the clouds in the sky were pitch black, and the sun was now a purple symbol of the Nohrian Kingdom. Orange lights were in the windows of the castle, and a bridge connected Kamui's memory banks to the building. Caeldori was in awe of this magnificent building, so it took her a while to notice that someone was tugging at her feet.
"Miss, do you have to go now?" The little girl asked. She looked rather sad.
Caeldori pulled her head back into the white interior and gave a tender smile to the girl.
"Yes, Caeldori. I have to go into that castle and rescue Kamui." She patted the girl on the head affectionately. "Will you be alright?"
"Yeah, it's just that I don't like being here alone. Kamui always comes here with the memory of you as an adult, and you two play games with me whenever he sleeps in the real world."
Caeldori squatted down next to the little girl and gave her a hug.
"I promise you that I'll bring Kamui back." Caeldori spoke in a tender tone. She stood up, waved to the girl, and exited toward the castle.
The sound of Caeldori's feet pressing against the tiling of the bridge filled the never-ending silence as she as she walked along the walkway. The path twisted and flipped onto its back at the halfway point to the tower, which Caeldori only noticed after she stared down at the ground, which was where the sky should be. She expected her hair to be falling down, given that she was currently upside-down, but her locks remained at her waist.
Caeldori got to the entrance to the tower and stared directly at a pair of massive, onyx-colored doors. She placed both of her hands on the rightmost gate and dug her feet into the stone ground as she pushed. A loud groaning sound ensued as the door slowly opened, and Caeldori stepped in.
The chill from the outside was gone, and in its place was a sense of dread as she looked around the foyer of the castle. The walls were lined with red velvet, and whoever chose the interior decorations must have loved the color black. At first, Caeldori couldn't pinpoint what that fowl stench was, but then she began to realize. This place smelled like it hadn't been touched in years.
A large golden staircase led up to the second floor, and all the other doors on this floor were shut tight. She gazed up and noted that all the other floors consisted of only balconies, and each balcony led to another staircase to an upper level.
The sound of a child giggling broke the silence.
"Kamui, get back here!" A voice called out from above. Caeldori sprinted up the staircase and to the second floor before she noticed two people running around the upper hallway. One of them was a small child that wore blue pajamas. The other looked like a blond sixteen-year-old wearing a black vest.
"You'll never make me go to bed, Xander!" The child called out in delight as Xander grew closer and closer. Caeldori noticed that the blond prince's face was dotted with pimples.
She also noticed that the two brothers were about to run into her. Or, were going to run into her, as they phased right through her body without reacting.
Xander finally caught up to Kamui and lifted him off the ground while he kicked his feet and whined. "I don't wanna go to bed!"
"And I don't want to be a king. Looks like we both are not getting what we want." Xander had a very tired look on his face as he clutched his nine-year-old brother against his chest. He walked back towards Caeldori and again phased through her; he didn't even react and continued along his way until he entered a room to his left.
Another sound broke the silence while Caeldori was processing this new information. Not the sound of joy, but rather the sound of someone crying. She followed the wails up to the third floor and into a room on her left.
Kamui, who looked a few years older, was laying down on his bed and moaning.
"I miss Silas!" He cried. "I want him back!" He sniffled at infrequent intervals.
A figure sat on the bed next to him and patted him on the back in an affectionate manner.
"It's okay, Kamui." Camilla smiled at him; Caeldori swore that she was wearing Beruka's armor. "I promise that you'll see your friend again."
Kamui continued to wail into a pillow, and Camilla shook her head slowly as she left the room. Caeldori followed her and discovered Camilla and Xander talking in the hallway.
"Did you tell him that he has to return to the Northern Fortress tomorrow?" Xander asked; his face was noticeably cleaner than before.
"He's already heartbroken; I don't think telling him that we won't see him for another year will help that." Camilla shot him a glare before walking with him into another room.
Yet another sound broke the silence, again. Caeldori followed it up to the fourth floor and into a room; the area looked identical to the room downstairs.
Kamui sat on his bed with an open book in his hands while a girl and a boy sat on the floor.
" 'The king let out a mighty roar as the false dragon lay defeated at his feet.' " Kamui read aloud. " ' "This will teach you for messing with Nohr!" The king chided the fallen dragon. He loosened his grip on his sword and walked over to his wife. "Oh, Garon! Your chest hair is so magnificent!" His wife swooned as she fell into his arms. ' "
Caeldori noted that the cover of the book was titled 'The Absolutely True Stories of How King Garon Brought Peace to Our World' .
Caeldori's heart skipped a beat as Camilla phased through her and into the room.
"Bedtime, my precious little angels…" She lifted the sleeping blond girl onto her shoulder and held the hand of the blond boy. Caeldori noticed that she was wearing her renowned 'revealing' armor. "Thank you for reading to them, Kamui." She walked over and kissed Kamui on the cheek; his face turned a flush shade of pink.
Caeldori exited the room and looked down the hallway. Across all the floors, there were versions of the Nohrian Royals and Kamui. Some groups were very young, and some groups were almost identical to their counterparts in the real world.
She shifted her eyes up and noticed that the ceiling was directly in front of her, yet a staircase still led up to the next floor.
"Kamui must be around here somewhere…" She thought as she leaned over the balcony.
As she walked up the stairs, she came to a single room with eight sides. All the walls of the room were dark purple, and the only object in the room was a ladder. Caeldori looked up and noticed that the ladder stretched to the top of the room, which she could not see from the floor.
Caeldori began to climb up the cold rungs of the wooden ladder and continued climbing. The only sound in the room was her hands pressing against the climbing device.
She continued to climb until her hands felt like they were actually on fire. Another minute of Caeldori grunting in annoyance passed until she noticed a sign to her left. "What a thrill." She read the sign aloud, then resumed climbing. Another sign caught her attention. "In darkness and sorrow, through the night."
After five minutes of climbing, Caeldori could see the ceiling to the room, and felt a massive wave of relief wash over her as she pulled herself to a ledge. Before her was a short hallway, and to her left was one final sign that had notes etched onto it. " 'Note to self, shorten the height of this room. - Kamui' ." The sign also had the symbol of a snake eating itself underneath the note.
Caeldori let out a sigh as she turned her focus away from the sign and to the staircase before her at the end of the corridor. "Why couldn't that ladder just be a staircase?" She mumbled to herself as she walked through the hallway and up the next flight of stairs.
At the top of the staircase was an open doorframe that led to a pitch-black room. Caeldori entered the vast expanse of darkness and squinted at a light source in the distance. She strode toward the luminescent object until she was right in front of it.
Before her stood a glowing, blue tree that grew multicolored orbs on its branches. The left half of the tree resembled a wilting oak, and the right half looked like a flowering cherry blossom tree.
The sound of someone snoring caught Caeldori's attention. She walked around the tree to discover someone sleeping in a chair against the tree. This slumbering person wore a white dress and had long, brown hair.
"Huh?" The person opened her eyes and smiled at Caeldori. "Oh, hello there. My name is Mikoto."
Caeldori's red eyes widened with respect as she clasped her hands and bowed to the queen.
"It's an honor to be in your divine presence, Queen Mikoto. I've heard so much about you from my studies in Hoshidan history." Caeldori had a never-ending amount of respect for Queen Mikoto, who had been described as a paragon of justice and peace to all her subjects.
"Oh, please, you can drop the formalities." Mikoto gave Caeldori a rather motherly smile as she stood up from her chair. "You're probably wondering where exactly you are, right?"
"Uh, yes. Where are we?" Caeldori raised her eyebrow as she looked to the tree behind Mikto.
"This," Mikoto turned around and grabbed one of the apple-like fruits off the the left side of the tree and held it in the palm of her hand. "This is where Kamui's most special memories are kept. Here, look in the center of this orb."
Caeldori bent down and gazed into the center of the fruit, then watched as the colors inside swirled around like rushing water. The movements began to slow, and a face with blond hair was revealed.
"Is that Elise?" Caeldori continued to stare at the fruit while Mikoto pulled it back.
"Yes, it is." Mikoto raised the orb to her face and looked into it. "Here, let me summon her." She pressed her finger to the center of the fruit and watched as mist began to emanate out of the orb.
The mist began to coalesce until it resembled a humanoid figure with blond ponytails.
"Hi, lady Mikoto! Do you need anything?" Elise asked with her room-brightening smile.
"Why yes, dear, I do need something." Mikoto bent down and met Elise's eye level. "I'm feeling simply parched, and a spot of tea would do nicely."
"Sure thing, Mikoto." Elise pressed her pointer fingers to her forehead and began to squint her eyes. She let out a long groan -as though she were carrying a massive rock- and suddenly, a glass appeared before her. "Man do I love dream powers!" Elise beamed as she handed the glass to Mikoto.
"Why, thank you dear." Mikoto patted Elise on the head and took a sip of the tea. "Darn that's some good tea." She handed the glass back to Elise, then looked to Caeldori. "Regardless, Kamui should be in the throne room, which is over there." She pointed to a large, open doorway at the other end of the room. "Before you go, I know everything Kamui knows, so feel free to ask any questions you want answered."
"Okay," Caeldori pondered what exactly she should ask. "Why did Kamui reject my romantic advances until two weeks ago?"
"The answer to that…" Mikoto looked to the top of the tree and raised her arm. A single, red fruit stood atop the tree and floated down. "Is because he viewed you as a child." The inside of the red fruit swirled around until the image of six-year-old Caeldori was inside it.
"Because of my deeprealm?" Caeldori asked.
"Yes." Mikoto began to pull a mist-like substance out of the fruit, which formed itself into an exact replica of Caeldori. "However, now he views you as an adult. If I had to guess why he had a change of heart," Mikoto and the Caeldori replica cracked a smile. "I think your repeated attempts finally got to him."
"That's good to hear." Caeldori couldn't help but smile as well, then began walking to the exit. "Thank you for the information." Caeldori turned around and faced Mikoto. She noticed that both of the royal families were now at her side and smiling.
"The pleasure is all mine." Mikoto waved to Caeldori, who exited the room.
Caeldori found herself in a cold, spacious foyer, and before she could even move, a loud, ominous sound broke the silence.
It was the sound of an organ that shook the area like an earthquake.
Caeldori listened closely as the organ played seven notes, then ended with nine tones. The music repeated itself, which only added to her sense of dread as she felt an ominous feeling permeate the air. Her gaze turned to a staircase in the middle of the room, and opposite the staircase was a prison cell.
She cautiously walked to the cell and inspected it. It was rather large, and the gray colors all blended together to make it look very dull. The door to the cell was currently laying on the floor and singing the carpet.
Caeldori turned her focus to a large, golden door that stood at the top of the staircase; the symbol from the sky was etched onto it. The sounds of the organ echoed from beyond the gate, and now a choir was chanting along with it. She slowly walked up to the door, gazed with a worried look at the pair of lit torches, and placed both hands on the barrier. She heaved it open and stepped inside.
The notes from the organ stopped the instant her foot entered the massive throne room, and the choir became silent.
"It's rude to keep a king waiting, you know." A man spoke with a gruff voice as he hunched over a massive wooden organ.
Caeldori's eyes were drawn from the man to a floating, purple crystal that rotated in the sky. Inside the crystal was someone who she was determined to free from their prison.
Kamui.
To be continued in chapter fifteen, because that chapter is really, really long.
(Also, yes, I know that Corrin canonically grew up in the Northern Fortress. I just thought it'd be more thematic if Garon was in Castle Krakenburg rather than some old fortress.)