Part II – Love of Twilight

It did not take me long to realize that that light was not an ill omen, but instead a blessing from the goddess herself. It must have been years, too, because I was now 25 years old, and King Pelleas had abdicated his throne to Micaiah for some reason. Perhaps he thought that she would make a great queen to my now fully restored Daein.

I knew that the atrocities I have endured were truly nightmares when I saw the one person that I adored more than anyone: the wondrous Leonardo. The silkiness of his hair and the warmth of his skin could not feel any more real. "Leonardo… Oh, thank Ashera, you're alive! I knew that the goddess would answer my prayers."

"And why wouldn't she?" Leonardo reciprocated my embrace as he spoke in a husky voice. "The goddess blesses the best among us."

"Leonardo…"

"Edward." Leonardo gave me a serious look as he drew my face close to his. His body heat became very apparent. "Now that we've seen Daein restored, and there is no war, there's one thing I have to ask you."

"What is it?" I felt my vision blur in the midst of Leonardo's dreamy words.

"Will you… ma-"

Before I could hear another syllable, darkness had already claimed my vision. Yet I still felt heat, just far less pleasant heat – so unpleasant, in fact, that it instilled nausea that brought me back to reality.

"Hey…" a familiar voice uttered. "Edward, are you waking up?"

"Ugh…" I groaned, waking up to what appeared to be an empty, vast desert.

"Thank Ashera you're awake!" Micaiah, who appeared to have carried me, spoke. "You've been out cold since Ashera passed her light of judgment."

"Light of… what…" I didn't really want to speak, but I had to know why Micaiah and I were alone. "Where is everyone?"

"They're on patrol duty, surveying this desert for Disciples of Order."

I had no idea what in Tellius Micaiah could be talking about, and I hardly cared. All I could think about now was how the goddess deceived me with a dream. A very wonderful one, yes, but a complete dream – a falsehood. "Dammit… So, the goddess could not grant my wish after all."

"Edward, I'm so sorry," Micaiah consoled as I cried into her shoulder. "Leonardo was a great person. I'm sure he loved you dearly."

"Meep! You didn't… know that Leonardo and I were lovers this whole time, did you?"

"Yes, I did."

"But how?"

"Micaiah was born with the ability to read minds." Micaiah's voice suddenly took on an eerie tone.

"Who the heck are you? What did you do to Micaiah?"

"I am Yune, goddess of chaos." The strange woman giggled. "Don't worry about Micaiah – she's right here. I can be with her because she's able to hear my voice and sing the galdr of release."

"That's very intense… Anyway, can I ask you something, Yune? Were you the one who gave me that dream, or was it Ashera?"

"I can't tell you, exactly. All I know is that the dream was a product of your dearest wishes." Yune's voice contorted with sorrow. "It pains me that even as a goddess, I can do nothing to help you achieve that dream."

"Don't worry about it, Yune." I gave Yune a pat on the back, holding my Tempest Blade close to me at the same time. "As long as I have this sword… As long as I have my promise to see Daein in its glory again, then I will fight on in Leonardo's memory."

"That's good to hear." Yune started to sound better, much to my relief.

This relief didn't last long, however, due to a sudden and violent cry from afar. "You heathens! You heathens must be servants of the dark god!"

"Let me guess…" I began, "You must be Disciples of Order."

"We certainly are!" The Disciples' leader cackled. "Hear my name and tremble! I am Duke Numida, and I will strike you down in the name of divine Ashera! Death to the false apostle!"

"Oh, yeah?" Sothe, with the other members of our group, approached us and taunted the duke. "Our 'dark god' and 'false apostle' can't be any worse than the disgust that you Begnion filth exhibit."

"You blasphemers! How dare you insult Ashera's chosen?" Numida summoned his legions, which seemed to come out of thin air. "We shall settle this in the ancient way – in a battle to the death. Whoever the goddess sees fit to win the day shall live… That will be us, of course."

"No, it won't!" Yune shouted. "The Light Priestess is going to sparkle your sparkles off!"

"Silence! Let us speak with our weapons!" Numida, with his Rewarp staff, warped to the other side of the desert. That guy was a blooming hypocrite, running his mouth about "speaking with our weapons" yet fleeing from battle. I decided that not only would I give the dastard a piece of my mind, but I would give it to him handily with my Tempest Blade.

Another person seemed to want Numida's blood more than I did, because not too long after I darted for the senator, I heard a woman shout, "Let me accompany you to battle!"

"Why, thank you very much!" I appreciated the help, especially since I knew too well how powerful a Begnion senator could be. Yet when I noticed who my new ally was, something unnerved me about her – and it didn't take me long to figure it out when I noticed the blue hair and the magic sword she carried.

This woman was, beyond a shadow of doubt, the one who robbed me of Leonardo. Forget Numida – this individual was far more worthy of my attention. I halted my path to the senator and simply gaped at the woman, with the Tempest Blade trembling in my hand.

"What's the matter? Don't you want to kill Numida?"

"Y-You…" I stilled my Tempest Blade and prepared for battle, launching my body at my despicable foe. "You bitch!"

"Hey!" The swordswoman parried my attacks, thankfully with quite a bit of effort. "What's wrong with you? We're supposed to be allies!"

"Nice try!" I drilled the Tempest Blade into the ground, sending forth a shock wave that killed many Disciples but didn't even scratch my foe. "I would rather Ashera take me right here and now than for me to be allies with you! I'm going to have your head for what you've done!"

"How do you mean?"

"Don't play dumb! You killed him! You killed Leonardo!"

"Ah…" The swordswoman slowly came to realize what I meant. "You must be talking about the blonde archer of the Dawn Brigade. He was a dear friend to you, wasn't he?"

"He was far, far more than that! Something you, in your barbarism, can never understand."

"Edward, please… I offer my sincere apologies for robbing you of someone you hold so dear."

"Spare me! This blow shall be your end!" I raised my Tempest Blade, hoping that my next blow would take the swordswoman's life. Considering that there were no enemies within eyeshot, I had high anticipation that my hopes would come true. The swordswoman seemed very eager to take the hit, because all she did was stare behind me – she didn't even bother to raise her sword in defense!

"Oh, gods…" The swordswoman's voice quivered.

"I can see you're terrified of me." I smirked. "That's perfect."

"Edward, watch out!" The swordswoman lunged forward, plunging her sword at me – and missing by a longshot. Little did I know that not only did she strike the enemy behind me, but she also guarded me from a potentially fatal blow.

"Gaaaaaah!" The enemy wailed in pain as he fell to the ground and died.

"Ugh…" The swordswoman keeled over, the huge gash on her sword arm debilitating her. "I can't believe I let some idiot give me a wound this grave."

I gave the goddess a quick prayer for letting me live, thanks to the swordwoman's efforts. Yet why did I suddenly feel sorrow upon seeing my lover's killer so badly wounded? "Hey… You didn't need to do that, you know. You shouldn't take unnecessary risks like that."

"But…" The swordswoman grabbed me by the shoulder, struggling to get up. "You would have died if I didn't kill the enemy."

"Nah, I would have dodged it just fine."

"Also… I hoped that by doing what I did… I wanted to show you how sorry I am for killing Leonardo. If it wasn't for my orders to fight against the Begnion senate, I would have gladly spared Leonardo's life."

When the swordswoman put it that way, it made perfect sense. The senate not only wanted to bring ruin upon Daein, but it also sought the end of all laguz and, ultimately, the world. To that end, the senators would use Daein as a disposable pawn, involving the kingdom in a war in which it shouldn't have had to fight. In short, if it weren't for the Begnion senators, Daein would have begun to rebuild and not engaged in the war – the war that took Leonardo's life. Now I knew where the true blame for Leonardo's death lie: in the Begnion senators.

"Ye gods…" I wanted to sink into the Grann Desert's sands to hide the shame I felt. "I'm so sorry for not realizing your apology sooner… Forgive me, I beg of you."

"That's okay. I took the life of your beloved, so it's only natural you'd feel aversion to me. Why don't we focus on defeating Numida in Leonardo's memory?"

"But… Are you really okay with that? You should have Micaiah heal you; you don't look like you're going to last long."

"Don't worry about me. I'll just use some vulneraries when I get the chance, and I'll be just fine."

"All right…" I let the swordswoman walk on her own. "If you need extra vulneraries, I'll give you some."

"Thanks. Before I forget to tell you, my name is Mia."

"Well met, Mia! Now, let's go kill Numida!"

Though I normally wouldn't care anyway, I did not hear Nolan chide me for doing something so reckless. Instead, he seemed to give me his blessing, saying, "Well, at least he has a support partner. So, he should be fine this time."

"Luckily, our enemies seem to be thinning out," I remarked. "I noticed the Black Knight warped here a few minutes ago using that wonderful Floo Powder. In the short time he's been here, he's routed almost the entire Disciple army."

"That's good to hear. The only problem is that the duke still lives."

"I'll tell you what's not a problem…" I began as I stared at the menace before me. "Finding the duke."

"I'm about to make it a problem!" Numida exclaimed, shooting Shine at me. "The power of the goddess Ashera compel thee!"

"And may the power of Daein send you to the goddess!" I roared, sending a shock wave in Numida's direction. To my dismay, that chicken used the Rewarp staff yet again, so often that we could not locate him properly. If this was a strategy to help confound the enemy, then it proved to be a successful one; if this was a strategy mean to annoy me further, then it succeeded there, too. I dodged Numida's attacks fairly well, but…

Mia particularly did not enjoy Numida's antics, as she began to stagger in dizziness. "Ugh…"

"Hahaha!" Numida laughed evilly. "Yes! Feel the power of Ashera's faithful!"

"Ack!" Mia suddenly found herself on the ground, nearly sunken into the sand.

"This is going to feel great," Numida declared as he readied a light magic attack from a distance. Though Mia knew that the Purge attack would finish her off, I could tell that she was too incapacitated to move an inch.

Despite the fact that she killed the man I loved, she was willing to risk her life to save mine. In the thick of battle, it would seem understandable to fight for one's life and no other. Yet this swordswoman, who before today didn't even know my name, had saved the life of a complete stranger – an action considered altruistic by some. Ergo, there was only one course of action for me to take.

I took that altruistic route, taking the Purge attack in Mia's stead. In a flash, a beam of light pierced my heart, sending through my body a wave of searing pain.

"Edward!" Micaiah, who had killed one of the last enemies, called.

"You're going to pay for that, you dastard!" Sothe screamed, chucking a throwing knife at Numida that hit him square in the chest.

"Ugh… What… What's happening? Vice-Minister, I lost the battle…"

"Good riddance…" After Numida's death, Micaiah stooped down to me, pressing her hand against the bloody hole in my chest. "Oh, gods… Edward!"

"Forgive me for being foolish, Micaiah… I went and got myself killed by the biggest buffoon in all of Tellius."

"Edward, don't talk like that. You're not going to die."

"You're right, in a fashion…" I gasped for what little air I could get. "The goddess is going to send me to a much better place, I know it."

"Edward…"

"Micaiah…" I turned my head to Mia, who seemed to be doing better after using a couple of vulneraries. "Mia, thank you for nearly sacrificing your life for me. I fully forgive you for Leonardo's death, because I know it was not your fault."

"Thank you… Edward…"

"Ah…" My vision began to fade into darkness. "I will meet Ashera soon… Hopefully, I can convince her to stop this judgment, so that none of you have to suffer as I did…"

It was with these words that I took my final breath, and I could see nothing but a sea of pitch black. More than the lack of pain and the inability to see war any longer, I knew that in my death the goddess would give me a gift that would bring to me great jubilation.