Chapter Sixteen: History Lesson

(Hershel's POV)

"Hershel…why?" Chrom asked.

"I didn't mean to, I didn't even know that that was her. I just…she attacked me…and I retaliated…I didn't mean to kill her…" I said.

At this point, I was extremely shaken up, and I could feel myself going into shock.

"Lies!" Frederick exclaimed. "Sire, I have been saying that he was a Plegian spy since day one. And now we know that not only is he a spy, he is also an assassin! I say we execute him right here and now!"

"But….but I…." I trailed off, I couldn't move my body anymore and I could hardly think straight. One last thought came into my mind before I went into shock.

What have I done?

(Omofrisit's POV)

HAHAHA! I can't believe he actually killed her! When I told him to circle around and flank her, I had expected a mild injury at best, but he just straight up killed her!

Hmm, this poses two problems; First problem, Hershel is going to have to leave Ylisse, but where are we going to go?...I guess Plegia is our best bet, seeing as this is exactly what they've wanted for several years. The only question now is: how am I going to get Hershel out of this situation? There's no way he can beat all of them by himself….looks like I'll have to intervene.

Second problem, I'm going to have to kidnap Frey as well, I don't really fancy the thought of him telling Chrom what little he knows about me. I'd rather keep my identity a secret for the time being.

As I finished my thoughts, I could see Frederick and Chrom advancing towards Hershel with murder written on their faces.

"Hey, Chrom!" I called with an evil grin on my face. "I do believe there are some friends waiting in the hallway for you."

Chrom, being the poor gullible sap he is, turned to look into the hallway. But fortunately for him, there really was something in the hallway. A couple of Revenants had 'somehow' gotten into the palace.

As soon as Chrom saw the Revenants, he deemed them the more immediate threat; unfortunately, he had Frederick keep an eye on us while he and the others fought the monsters.

Frederick stared us down with his coldest glare. It didn't bother me much, since I felt no remorse for what just happened, but it was affecting Hershel quite a bit. In fact, it seemed that Hershel still hadn't recovered from killing the Exalt. What a sissy, I mean, come on! It was just cold blooded murder, what's the big deal?

Well, whatever, it was time to take a bow and leave the stage.

"Well, Frederick. It's been great, but I'm afraid we have places to be." I said as I shot two orbs of dark energy over Frederick's shoulder.

"Hah, you missed, craven." He responded.

"Those were not meant for you." I told him.

He glanced over his shoulder to find that the Revenants had been dealt with, but now, both Chrom and Lissa were trapped inside the orbs I had shot, and they were slowly becoming smaller.

"At the rate the orbs are shrinking, you'll only be able to save one of them, you'd better choose which one is more valuable, and quickly." I told my audience.

They immediately began hacking and slashing at the orbs in an attempt to break them.

Seeing as they were preoccupied, I took my sweet time getting our escape ready. My powers had not yet fully returned, making it take a lot longer than it should have to open a portal, but I managed to do it before too much time was wasted.

Since Hershel was still in shock, and likely couldn't move by himself. I took the liberty of shoving him into the portal.

"Frey! Get over here quick!" I called to him. "Hershel's waiting, and in the state he's in, he can't take care of himself!"

"Well, excuse me. I need to help save Chrom and Lissa from the trap that you put them in." He said with a glare.

"Don't worry, they'll be fine." I told him.

"They're about to be crushed, and you say that they'll be fine?!" He said. "I don't think that's the case!"

"Gah! Why are you so difficult?" I said, frustrated. "Fine, I'll make sure they get out of there. Now get in the portal!"

Frey looked between me and the two orbs. He ran over to the portal and jumped in with only a hint of hesitation. As soon as he was in, I dispelled the orbs, letting Chrom and Lissa drop to the floor.

Well, no reason to stick around any longer. I jumped into the portal and saw them come to the realization that we were gone before the portal closed and I was left with my thoughts while I traveled to the destination.

(Hershel's POV)

What have I done? I killed the Exalt. What's going to happen now? I can't just apologize, I murdered her. They're probably going to hang me, or torture me until I die, I suppose that's only fair. She was a symbol of peace, and I just killed her.

I can't even comprehend what's happening around me, I don't want to see them looking at me with those faces filled with hatred and anger.

Wait, I can feel myself being pushed, and now I'm falling, or maybe I'm floating. It doesn't matter; I'll probably end up dying anyway,

"Well, if you think like that, you're sure to die. You need to be optimistic!"

Who was that? And how are they reading my thoughts?

"As for who I am, you should recognize my voice. And I can read you're thoughts because you don't guard them well enough."

Omofrisit?

"There you go, you got it. Now could you please start moving by yourself?'Cause, I'm not going to carry you all the way to the palace."

I thought we were already in the palace.

"Well, we were in the Ylissean palace, but now we're headed to the Plegian palace."

….Omofrisit, who are you really?

"What? That was a little off topic."

I know, but I'd like to know who you really are. I saw you take out that big guy guarding the door to the room the Exalt was in, and that was no ordinary magic.

*sigh* "I'll tell you a story. Once upon a time, there was a man, but he wasn't just any man, he was the prince of a large empire. But he was weak, so when his father passed on, he didn't think he was strong enough to rule the empire, he vowed to bring his father back to life, through any means necessary. He studied many tomes that detailed the use of dark magic and necromancy, but he was still weak and so, he turned to an artifact that had been safeguarded by his empire for all of recorded history. But this artifact held something evil inside, it held the soul of the Demon King, and when he tried to use the artifact, he succeeded in bringing his father back to life, but with a terrible price. The prince was possessed by the Demon King, who consumed his soul ever so slowly, and it was only too late that the prince realized his father's body had been reanimated, but his father's mind was not there. The body was nothing more than a puppet.

"The prince could do nothing but watch as the Demon King ravaged the entire continent and killed many people. But two heroes rose to combat the Demon King, they were the twin prince and princess of a neighboring kingdom and the unfortunate prince's only friends. His friends gathered together a ragtag band of mercenaries and knights and at the end of it all, they fought the Demon King, destroyed his body, and trapped his soul inside an artifact once again. But the prince could not be saved, his soul had been devoured by the Demon King and nothing his friends did could keep death at bay.

"Time passed, his friends grew old and died, new rulers came and went. But after so long, the prince realized that his soul was gone. His consciousness was still intact, but without a soul, he had no moral compass. He rejoiced at the realization that he was still relatively alive, but quickly became saddened when he noticed that he had no body. He was doomed to sit and watch the world grow old for all eternity. Since that time, he has watched many deities rise and fall by the hands of mortals, and each time, he envied them, knowing that none of the opponents they faced compared to the Demon King, in power or in cunning.

"Those who still know of the Demon King either deny that he ever existed or that he just doesn't exist anymore, but the truth is, he still watches every move humans make, just waiting for one who will release him from his prison so that he may rule over this world with an iron fist and take revenge upon the descendants of the twins who brought about the end of his reign."

So you were the unfortunate prince?

"…."

…..What happened to the kingdoms, and the continent for that matter?

"They were abandoned; a new continent was discovered that was rich in valuable materials, so everyone sailed over to that continent. But eventually, that one was mostly abandoned too, in favor of the one we now stand upon."

Where is the Demon King now?

"There are a few legends alluding to the location of the artifact he was sealed within, but they're all wrong. The artifact still resides upon the old continent, sealed away by those who slew the Demon King. But that's enough history lessons for today. After all, you still need to get back to reality and start walking by yourself. I think Frey is getting tired of carrying you."

What? Oh, right.

I rushed back to reality to find myself being carried by Frey.

"I can walk by myself now, Frey." I told him.

Frey looked relieved as he set me down. I inspected my surroundings a little more closely and saw that we seemed to be in a desert, I panicked at first, but then I noticed a castle surrounded by the bones of some extremely large beast. I suppose that should have panicked me, but for some reason, it didn't.

"Well, I suppose we should be on our way then." I began running towards the castle as fast as I could.

A/N: Well, I am pretty satisfied with how this chapter turned out. I'm not sure what you guys think of it, but let me know through either PM or review.

Thanks for reading!