22nd Red Wolf Moon, Imperial Year 1184

Castle Ostia, Lycia. Continent of Elibe.

A lord walks into the castle and kneels at the throne of the Marquess of the Lycian League of Nobles. His hair is a flame of red wrapped in a blue metal headband. It has only been a few months since the end of Bern's invasion of Lycia, but the woman on the throne thought her childhood friend looked more mature than ever.

The young man is Roy, Lord of the Pharae Principality in the stead of his father, Lord Eliwood, who has retired from his position upon the war's end. His armor is a brilliant blue and on his hips is a gilded blade, the Binding Blade, which has freed Bern's greatest weapon from dark magic slavery. That weapon was in the room now, covered in purple robes over light lavender hair and heterochromatic eyes. Idunn, once the demon dragon, now just a regular Manakete, although she was being considered for Bern's hierophant.

On the throne, dressed in red mage robes and with long blue hair was Marquess Lilina. She had only taken the position recently, what with the recent war having slain her father, Hector. Even now his axe hung from the wall behind her. Armads, a cursed axe that spelled his doom even before the created war dragons took his life. Roy and Lilina were childhood friends, their parents having fought in a war of their own against the Black Fang assassins and their twisted, dragon-obsessed leader Nergal. They had to step up themselves when Bern's king, Zephiel, similarly went mad and enslaved poor Idunn. Still, they remained as close as siblings, and respected one another greatly.

Roy spoke up, "My Lady, I have the reports from Bern and Sacae… things do not seem to be improving. The killings continue."

They had been since a month ago. Brutal and sudden strikes from an unknown beast were killing people from northernmost Sacae all the way down to the Southern tip of Lycia. Bloody attacks that left corpses akin to wild animal strikes, if not for the clear markings of weapons upon them. These sudden strikes of killers made them think perhaps the Black Fang had returned… But these attacks were even more brutal than anything the Black Fang had done.

Lilina pondered this and looked to Idunn, no doubt the Manakete was Roy's source. If that were the case, they needed more information, "Lord Roy, I task you with going to Sacae next and seeking out Chieftess Lyn."

Lyn, that was a name not heard recently. She had been abroad during Zephiel's madness, and returned during the war's conclusion. She had taken her place as lead Chieftess of the nomadic Sacaean Tribes, but had not spoken to her friend Lord Eliwood. Roy thought this might have to do with his mother, Ninian. Ninian was the half-dragon child of Nergal, and had played a key role in Hector, Eliwood and Lyn's dethroning of the mad sorcerer. Lyn had not ever seen eye to eye with Ninian, much preferring the company of Hector's wife, her childhood friend Florina. Florina was obviously Lilina's mother but was far too shy to be the head of state with her husband gone.

Roy had always wondered what being a quasi-dragon meant for himself, but he had proven unable to use Dragonstones due to the blood of Roland, his ancestor and one of Elibe's Eight Heroes. Hector had also been a descendant of Roland, which could be why Lilina and Roy never fell in love, knowing they were both related, albeit distantly. Lyn was as well, though was also related to another of Elibe's Eight Heroes.

Roy bowed once more, "I'll be on my way immediately."

Lilina stopped him, "Take some allies with you. Wolt is a given, Clarine would be good as a healer, Lugh can serve as a mage, and Echidna could provide muscle. Also, Idunn and Melady could act as representatives for Bern and Queen Guinivere."

Queen Guinivere, Zephiel's half-sister and a key ally in stopping his psychopathic genocide of the human race. She had sent Melady, a trusted wyvern rider, to aid Roy's investigation. The nearby prince of Etruria, Elffin, had done the same with the sassy pirate Echidna, who had been an Etrurian rebel before the war. Wolt was Roy's friend and guard, an archer and child of Rebecca and Wil, famous archers who had aided his father. Then there was Lugh and Clarine. Lugh was the child of former Black Fang assassins Nino and Jaffar, and had a talent for magic, and Clarine was the child of Louise and Pent, warriors who had also assisted Eliwood and Hector, making her quite adept at healing. Having magic on an investigation like this could prove useful.

Roy nodded, "Very well, I don't see any reason any of them would refuse."

Lilina smiles, "Go now, we need to take this problem out before we can rebuild in earnest."

Roy nods in agreement, as he and Idunn leave. They pass by a young girl with bright blue eyes.

"Aww, is besties Roy and Iduu leaving already..?" The girl pouted.

Idunn smiled and patted the young girl's head, "Sadly yes, Fae, but we'll be back as soon as we can to play with you."

Fae was barely out of her toddler years, but her pointed ears proved that it was a matter of dragon timescales. About a hundred years ago, a draconic sage saw to Fae's safe birth, and recognized that Fae would be the last Divine Dragon to ever be born. The divine dragon clan included Naga, Tiki and even ancient Sothis, Seiros and Mila. But the pure dragon bloodlines had thinned enough that another divine dragon like Fae would be unlikely, if not impossible. Of course, other breeds of Manaketes, such as fire dragons, ice dragons like Ninian and mage dragons like Idunn were unlikely to go extinct any time soon. Still, it was sad to see the end of the golden age of Manaketes come to such a definitive end with Fae.

Fae didn't register any of this, as she was only focused on her friends leaving, "You promise?" She begs.

Roy chuckles and rubs her head, "We promise."

"Yay! Promise!" Fae gives both of them a hug and gets quickly distracted by a butterfly before running off.

Roy and Idunn smile at one another before going to gather their allies. Wolt was on board immediately, so loyal was he to Roy. His seaweed green hair flowed in the wind as he excitedly rushed to grab his things. Melady was tending to her wyvern, a fearsome black beast of a reptile when she agreed to join. Her hair and armor was stained blood red, the colors of Bern, which she had once betrayed in Lady Guinevere's name. Lugh was a bit harder to find. His grass green hair and matching mage robes made locating him when he was busy searching for ingredients to potions near impossible were it not for Idunn's draconic sense of smell. The young boy was quite eager to go on an investigation and joined up readily. He asked if they would take his twin brother Raigh as well, but a dark mage on a murder investigation sounded like trouble to Roy, and Lugh was inclined to agree.

Clarine and Echidna were arguing nearby when found. Clarine had long blonde hair in a ponytail and wore attire of Lycian nobility, frilly and pink but also form-fitting and good for riding on her trusted white horse. Echidna was dressed in leather gear fit for sea travel and had a tousled set of silver-blue hair that flowed over her back, tied in a rather rustic looking piece of green cloth. Both of them were also eager to get out and stretch their legs rather than argue about tea over ale.

With their allies gathered, the group heads off to the Sacaean Plains, alongside a guide Idunn had hired to aid through the rougher parts of the trip. By the time the sun had reached its peak and the group were passing through a forested area, it became abundantly clear that the route they were taking was… Unusually twisted.

Wolt heads up to the guide, "Sir? This path is rather under-developed, are you sure we shouldn't be taking a more common route?"

The man remains silent as the crew walk, making the question linger awkwardly in the air. As Wolt is about to ask again, the man stops and stands in place.

Melady's eyes narrow, "Something's wrong, where have you-?"

Immediately, the hat of the man falls away, revealing blood red eyes on a scarred and pale face, as the guide roars as if he were a beast in a cage. The group then finds themselves surrounded by others with similar features, blood red and glowing eyes, brandishing weapons clearly stained with blood.

Roy shouts, "Ambush! Ready yourselves!"

Wolt leaps back as the guide whips an axe out and tries to gut him. Wolt quickly grabs his bow and tries to gain enough distance to fire, but the guide moves with inhuman speed and single-minded fury.

Lugh casts a flame from his tome, giving Wolt enough distance to fire an arrow off, striking the guide in the chest. However, he doesn't fall. Wolt's eyes widen as the guide continues a relentless charge towards him with rage in his eyes, powering through the magical flames as if they didn't even exist.

Melady and Echidna fend off a pair of other monstrous men trying to kill them. Spears, axes and swords clashed as the two tried to gain the most favorable matchup with their weapons, but the ferocity of these beasts of humans was astonishing. Echidna, despite being the strongest of the group by far, finds herself on the backfoot against a lancer with frankly inhuman strength, and Melady was discovering much the same with a swordsman that strikes so fast and strong that his blade chops through a tree in a single swing, causing it to fall over and crash into the clearing, separating the battleground.

Roy takes a strike from another swordsman, but is quickly healed by Clarine, "They're too strong! And the look in their eyes… Everyone! Don't hold back! These things can't possibly be human!"

Roy was a humanitarian, he detested death and war even moreso, but at this point, there was no point. The madness in these men, they were practically monsters. At this point, it was kill or be killed.

With this shift in their leader, the others realize it was time to stop holding back, and they strike with their full strength and skill. Echidna sidesteps another lunge by the lancer and swipes with her axe, decapitating her adversary. Wolt shoots an arrow directly into the head of the charging guide, and Lugh incinerates two others attempting to flank the archer. Melady manages to position her lance in a way to impale the berserker swordsman coming for her, but somehow, this doesn't kill him.

The swordsman pulls her closer and raises his blade, but Melady's wyvern swoops in and tears the monstrous man in two. Roy also cuts down his adversaries, only to see Idunn, the dragon who should have no trouble with these superhumans, backing away in utter fear and terror.

"Idunn!" Roy quickly rushes over and pulls his magical blade from its sheath, igniting it with sacred flames as he swung the blade from a distance. The monster pauses its swing as it feels a flame at its core, bubbling forth before sacred flames detonate from inside the creature, incinerating it completely, for the Binding Blade need not make direct contact with a foe to burn it to cinders.

With the bandits dead, the group pauses to process what had just occurred.

Wolt speaks first, "Wh-what was that?"

Melady was still looking at the man that had survived full impalement on her lance, "That strength, that durability… It's as if they were already dead."

Clarine was by Idunn and Roy, comforting the dragon, "Lady Idunn, what's wrong? Are you alright?" She asks.

"Their souls… I could feel their souls… They were…" Idunn stutters.

Lugh looks at one of the corpses, "Dark magic… I can feel it even now from them. They were infected by some kind of monstrous evil."

Roy places a hand on Idunn's shoulder, "What? What was happening?"

Idunn shudders, "Their very souls were… Burning… Being consumed by unholy flames."

The group looks at the deceased bandits with horror. Idunn had been enslaved by black magic that shrouded her soul during the war, but for all the magic of their world, to hear that the very soul, the very life essence of a person, could burn? It was shocking, and made the situation that much more grim.

With a newfound understanding of why these murders were happening, the group decides to backtrack and report these findings to Marquess Lilina.

Meanwhile in the plains, Chieftess Lyn was discovering much the same as she stood above a group of three corpses. They had been members of the Sacae Tribes… But had turned to madness and violence while also gaining strength and speed unlike any she had seen a human accomplish.

Lyn was a tall woman with long, emerald green hair that flowed behind her. Her outfit was a long blue dress with a furred shoulder pad where rested an ancient bow passed down through her family. In her hands was a golden curved sword now colored bronze with blood, a similarly powerful weapon known as the Sol Katti.

Lyn buries the bodies and offers a prayer on the winds before returning to her traveling village and meeting with Rath, an archer and her cousin, "How's our friend doing?"

Rath turns to her, "He's awake now, ready for you whenever… I-Is that blood on your sword?"

"We lost three more to this dark magic disease…" She says somberly.

Rath goes silent and simply directs Lyn to the tent where rested a man with a streak of white hair in his dark green locks. This was Heath, a soldier of Bern who had once tried to guide young Zephiel, but was exiled for his kindness when Zephiel went mad. Nearby on a rack was his armor, which had baffled the healers, as he seemed to have solid metal slingshot balls in them.

Lyn approaches him without fear, as they had fought together during Nergal's attack, "It's good to see you alive, Heath. It was really touch-and-go there for a moment."

Heath nods, "I thank you for saving my life, Chieftess Lyndis."

Lyn nods and sits nearby, "So, mind explaining what happened to you?"

Heath sighs, "I was told to investigate strange reports of a blinding light on the horizon in the Sea of Ghosts. I took my wyvern and set sail with a few ships towards the direction where the light was spotted. However, just as we saw land in the distance, a deathly cold fog rolled in."

Lyn holds a hand up to interrupt, "Hold on, did you say landmass? There's an island in the Sea of Ghosts?"

Heath shakes his head, "Not an island, a continent, it stretched across the horizon, too far to be anything less. Near as we could tell, the light brought that continent into the ocean, and seemed to vaporize a good chunk of water as well so as not to cause any disastrous floods."

Lyn's eyes widened, "That's… Insane. The magic power required for a feat like that…"

Heath nods, "Would be nothing short of godly in scope. But that's the least of the issues. Not only did we see the continent, we saw people on it. It's already inhabited, and it seems that those people are at war… But as we attempted to land, that fog I mentioned earlier rolled in… And then, we were ambushed."

"Ambushed?" Lyn asks.

Heath looks at the candle near his bed, "I can never forget it. Four ships surrounded us, most in horrible states that shouldn't even be able to sail, and one literally missing the entire front hull. But what was worse was the living corpses that burst from the ships and even from the ocean itself. Pirates began hooking their bare fingers into our hull to pull themselves on as cannons roared from all sides. As they hoisted themselves up they chanted 'good war' and… Revealed themselves to be little more than human-shaped piles of ash and dust. It was like fighting ghosts, and most of my crew… Fell to the monstrous hoard. They held swords and axes, but our armor could handle those. What we couldn't handle was the thundersticks."

"Thundersticks?" Lyn asked, curiously.

"Strange metal and wood rods that could be large enough for two hands or small enough for a single hand like a crossbow. Some kind of powder explodes in them and launches spheres of metal so fast that even the mages could barely tell what they were. Our armor was shredded, and I had to get on my wyvern and fly away as soon as possible. That's when… He cut me off…"

"Who did?"

"The captain… He held two blades in his hands, his skin was ash, but his eyes and veins burned bright orange as if they were the fires of the Inferno… He laughed like a maniac as she shouted orders to the ashen ghosts… 'Steal and then murder' he kept repeating it as if it was some sort of creed, while laughing like a madman… He introduced himself by firing one of his swords, which seemed to be some form of modified thunderstick, into my shoulder… And then prepared to gut me. I only escaped because one of our mages hit him with an Elthunder tome, which let me mount my wyvern and fly away… The captain shouted at me as I flew, telling me that I had… Captain Cervantes's death mark upon me…"

Lyn nodded in understanding, this Captain Cervantes was some form of demonic spirit, and she wasn't going to let it anywhere near her countrymen.

Heath stops her train of thought, "There's more… When me and my wyvern landed on shore… We landed on a beach on Chon'sin… While I was interrogated by Chon'sin soldiers… I overheard them talking about a tactician…"

Lyn's eyes widened, "You don't mean…"

Heath nods, "I came to you first because you needed to know, the tactician from the war with Nergal… Robin, he's alive… And he's in Ylisstol."

To Be Continued…