Aedan woke to an explosion.
Shit!
The earth rumbled beneath him and he scrambled out of his sleeping roll. Grabbing the sword by his side, he immediately looked for the disturbance. That however, was pretty obvious, as the entire world started quaking. The earth around him cracked and crumbled, and fire shot through the seams of the ground like giant volcanic geysers.
Around him, Robin and Frederick had awoken from their slumber and had immediately climbed out of their sleep mats and onto their feet. Frederick grabbed his lance and swiftly mounted his steed while Robin managed to find her thunder tome from her traveler's pack.
"My lord? My lady?" Frederick cried, realizing that both Chrom and Lissa were not present.
"Damn," Aedan cursed. Of course this would happen the minute I meet up with the fucking prince of Ylisse. This better not turn into a fucking stereotypical adventure story.
"I knew it," Frederick hissed, pointing his lance at Aedan. "Where are they?"
Aedan stared back. He wasn't sure if the knight was serious or not. Frederick didn't seriously believe that he was responsible right? After all he had gotten up at the exact same time that Frederick did. He asked the only question that he could think of. "Are you fucking retarded?"
Frederick's eyes narrowed and Aedan could feel the tip of the spear inch into his chest. It took all of his willpower not to bat the weapon away. If he were to do that, he knew that Frederick would immediately take it as an attempt to run away, and because at this point Aedan was seriously doubting the knight's mental faculties, he decided that he needed to play it safe. Even if there were fucking explosions going off in the background. Unfortunately, Aedan felt the need to curse angrily, and what came out of his mouth was definitely not "playing it safe."
"I don't know where your fucking lord is. I don't know, and if you used your brain, you would reach the same fucking conclusion. I woke up at the same time you did. I was just as surprised as you were when a giant explosion shook me awake and fucking fireballs started raining from the godsdamned sky. Why would you think that I know where the two of them are?"
"Obviously because you are a suspicious character! You could have stolen off into the night and taken both of them away!"
"Or you could stop being a dumb piece of shit and realize that I didn't do that!"
"Enough!" Robin boomed, silencing the two bickering men. "You are acting like children! The earth is literally erupting in fire, and the two of you want to stand here and point fingers like five year olds!"
Aedan needed to make one last asshole remark. "It's not my fault that -"
"Seriously, enough! Or I will make you shut up by firing a lightning bolt through your torso!" Robin yelled. She lifted her hands, her fingers crackling with electricity, as an added threat. "We're in the middle of a burning forest and yet they argue like children!" she scoffed.
"Oh please, wise mistress, Robin. Tell us what to do," Aedan responded, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
Robin narrowed her eyes.
People need to stop glaring at me. Or I need to stop being an ass. One or the other.
"We're moving. We need to find Chrom and Lissa as fast as possible and make sure they're alive. Then, we get out of here and pray to all the gods that the rest of the country isn't spontaneously combusting."
Frederick nodded. "I agree."
"Oh, do you agree? I thought you wanted to make sure that I was dead first," Aedan quipped.
"That's been briefly moved to being second on my list of things to do."
Robin gritted her teeth and just started moving, hoping that the idiots behind her would just follow. "Shut. Up." Aedan could have sworn that she followed that with something that sounded like "they are entirely too calm with this, considering the world is exploding right now."
Aedan put a little pep in his step as he followed the white haired woman. "Do you even know where you're going?" he asked.
"No," came the response.
Fredrick strode aside them. "There is a string of forts alo-"
Aedan heard a distinctive whistle, one that he was all too familiar with. Glancing up at the sky, he saw a massive fireball, easily the size of a small house, descending upon them.
"INCOMING!" Aedan yelled, dropping immediately to the dirt. He prayed that he wouldn't get hit. He had lived through a few catapult strikes before, but they scared the living shit out of him. Nothing was more terrifying than the sky filling up with large, deadly objects.
The massive fireball soared through the sky, and by the magical graces of all the gods, managed to avoid landing directly on top of the trio. Instead, it slammed into a patch of forest ten meters away from them. The impact shook the ground, sending a massive shockwave rippling through the forest and knocking the three of them onto the ground. Aedan felt a massive wave of force slam into him, as if a bear had decided to tackle him. The ground suddenly became far away from him and the next thing he knew, he had slammed into a tree. He felt dizzy and his vision was blurry, but what he did notice was that a tree was falling down, oh so climatically, and was about to cave his skull in if he didn't move.
Aedan summed up the situation quite perfectly.
"Oh shit."
Barely managing to muster the energy to move, he dove to the side, somehow dodging the giant tree that would have made him a red stain on the forest ground. He should have been dead, and by the time he had realized that, a small choked laugh erupted from his throat, sounding more like a man choking on his own vomit than a laugh. Pushing himself off the ground, he checked himself to make sure that he was alright.
His ears were still ringing, that wasn't a good sign. His head was pounding too, as if a symphony of five year olds with cymbals had decided to pay him a visit. He couldn't really see because the world was still spinning. And he had probably broken a rib or two, if the pain he felt with every breath he took was any indication. He probably had a ruptured organ too, but he prayed that he didn't and that the pain coming from his abdomen was just some moderate internal bleeding and not his liver deciding to detonate.
Still, he had had worse. Somehow. Considering the massive shockwave that literally sent him flying, he was surprised that he could still hear, even if the sound he could hear was just the violent crackling of burning forest. He was even more surprised that he was alive. Most shockwaves of that magnitude would have just ripped people into pieces, leaving them as bloody sacs of flesh on the ground.
"Aedan! Are you okay?! Where are you?" he heard from the distance. It was feminine and certainly not chipper enough to be Lissa.
Why couldn't it be Lissa?
"I'm alright… I think. I managed to dodge a tree." A bloody cough erupted from his throat.
"Aedan," a steely voice said. "I can see you, but it is impossible for either Robin or me to reach you. You will have to survive on your own. Continue moving east, there are a line of abandoned forts there. Milord is not unintelligent, he will seek shelter there."
"Sure, Fred," he responded, the words barely registering in his mind. Vulnerary, I think. That would help.
He pulled a small brown sac from his pouch, and prayed that the healing liquid inside was still there and not spilled all over the ground. To his surprise and joyful amazement, it was still there, and like a man without water, he guzzled the foul liquid. The taste of bile and fermented herbs assaulted him and he forced the stuff down as fast as possible. He hated the taste, but he had to love the medicine. Imbued with power magics, the healing concoction went to work. He could feel the pain abate from his abdomen and slowly dull into a minor ache. His eyes started to focus and the ringing in his ears started to fade. The headache, too, left, allowing him to finally think straight. It still hurt to move and even function, and he would probably need a good healer to check to see if he was good to go, but at least the vulnerary would keep him moving. Vulneraries could only do so much, after all.
Feeling well enough to continue, he found his weapon discarded near the fallen tree. Surprise after surprise struck him, as his sword was still, somehow, capable of functioning. While it was beaten and battered and now full of cuts and scrapes and dings, it was till straight and it was still sharp enough to kill. I am the luckiest person today. Sort of.
"What did Freddy say? Move east? Like I know which way east is. Was it sun rises in the east? Yeah, okay, follow the direction that the moon is, that'll show me the way," he mumbled to himself, sheathing his beaten and battered sword. He glanced up at the sky, checked the location that he was supposed to go, and then with a grimace, started limping along, praying that Robin and Fredrick would not be assholes and ditch him to die.
The sounds of cackling flames continued to echo through the forest as he limped along. The earth quaked and shook and rumbled and tore at the hills and valleys of Ylisse, crumbling the landscape and turning it into a giant pile of mashed dirt. The occasional tremor would unbalance the already injured man, dropping him to the ground and forcing him to pick himself back up and continue moving. Fireballs illuminated the night sky, turning the dark into what felt like a sunlit day. Explosions rattled off in the distance, loud crashing booms that turned up dirt and unsettled trees. Finally, he reached the string of abandoned forts and immediately paused.
It wasn't the booming of an exploding fireball or the falling of a massive pine tree or a sudden tremor capable of ripping the earth in two that got Aedan's attention. No, he was too busy staring at the thing that was standing in front of him, hefting a battleax in its skeletal claws.
"Angels above, what the hell is that?" he whispered.
It was a hulking monstrosity. Easily a foot taller than Aedan was, with half deteriorated muscles bulging and bloated. A foul smell permeated the air, filling the immolated grove with the scent of rot and death. While the entire thing made Aedan's stomach feel queasy, and he had to swallow to keep the bile from flying across the grove, the most disgusting thing was its flesh. It was rotting and falling apart, and yet somehow still sticking onto the bones, with maggots and worms crawling inside. Glowing red eyes turned toward him and a deathly moan came from its throat, sending a tingle through Aedan's spine.
It shambled toward him with impossible speed, dragging the ax with it. It swung the battleax with one hand, using some sort of unholy strength to swing the steel weapon through the air. Aedan's first reaction was to block, and he hastened to unsheathe his sword from his belt. With a quick slice much like a swordmaster of Chon'sin, he managed to parry the blow, but once his sword met steel, he instantly regretted it. He could barely keep his sword up against the thing's power and it took all his strength just to lift the ax enough for him to slip out to the side. With a spine tingling moan, the monstrosity swiped again, knocking Aedan's blade to the side.
"Shit!"
He scrambled to the side, stumbling and slipping as he moved, barely avoiding another swing that would have easily taken off one of his legs. He managed to grab his sword and with an elegant roll, he sliced upwards, attempting to bisect the beast in two. It didn't work though, as the thing quickly brought its ax horizontal, caught his blade, and flung it to the side. Again.
"What?! How?!" Aedan yelled to no one in particular. He was bewildered. This was an ex-dead thing, and yet, it had the reflexes of an ax master.
The situation wasn't looking good. Here he was, injured and barely conscious enough to maintain the ability to stand versus a monstrosity that apparently had the skills of an ax master.
Another moan erupted from the zombie's throat and it again began to attack. Another slash came, this one from the side, and Aedan jumped backwards to dodge. He tried to retaliate, but his blow was met by the zombie's ax.
An intricate battle occurred between the two. Sword met ax and ax met sword, the two weapons creating a flowing dance of deadly steel. Aedan parried blow after blow, barely meeting the attack before slipping away, knowing that he didn't have the strength to push the monster away. Sweat dripped down his brow and his armed burned from carrying the weapon for so long. Adrenaline coursed through his veins, drowning out the pain from his injuries and forcing him onward.
An attack came from above again, and Aedan raised his sword to block, but the blow came fast and strong. His sword met the axe in midair, but the force of the attack dropped Aedan to his knees and with a tricky twist, the monster hooked Aedan's sword with his axe and flicked it away. A look of, what Aedan thought to be, victory appeared on the creature's face, and a victory moan filled the night. Aedan looked onward as another attack seemed to fly toward his head.
Time seemed to slow down. A thousand different plans ran through his head, but for some odd reason, only one stood out. Aedan got desperate. He punched it. In the face. Twice.
The thing stumbled, barely, but it stumbled, giving Aedan enough time to scoop down, grab his sword and stab it in the stomach. He jerked the blade upwards, ripping into its rotting organs and shredding what little life it possessed. A spine tingling roar filled the air as purple blood and organs spilled onto the forest floor. Stumbling forward, it swung one last desperate time before falling down the ground, dead once again.
Or at least, that's what Aedan thought. The monster stayed still for a single second before moaning again extending one claw forward and pulling itself towards Aedan.
"Are you fucking serious?"
Grimacing, he stabbed his sword into the monster's back, then once more into its neck and one final time into the back of its head. Purple blood erupted like a fountain, spraying the ground and splattering across Aedan's arm. A final death rattle shook through the creature, and finally, finally, it remained motionless on the ground. Panting, Aedan let his hands sink to his knees and his back slouch over.
"Stay dead."
Zombies. What's next? Giant undead dragons? Next I'll find out that time travel exists.
He shook his head. He still needed to move. The forts were right in front of him, and hopefully, Robin and Fredrick had made it there in one piece. But first, he needed another vulnerary. He could feel the effects of the first wearing away, and as much as he wished that the magic imbued liquid would just heal him permanently, he knew it wouldn't. It was like slapping a bandage on an open wound; it might stop the bleeding but the wound was still there. He grabbed a second vulnerary from his pack and pounded it down, feeling the ache die down once again. Feeling better again, he knew he needed to find Robin and Fredrick.
"Robin!" he yelled. "Where the hell are you?"
Silence.
"Shit."
Moving closer to the forts didn't do anything either. He had no idea where the hell the two of them were. That was until he heard the clashing of steel and the crackling of lightning.
"Double shit."
Robin was here, somewhere, and judging by the sounds of combat, Aedan could only assume that she was in trouble. If he wanted to rendezvous with her, he needed to move quick, unless he wanted to meet up with a dead body.
He followed the sounds, the clashing of steel ringing brightly through the forest. He finally caught sight of her, down a small hill. She was surrounded by the monsters, four in all, and yet she was fighting. No, she wasn't just fighting, she was winning. She was a whirlwind of steel and lightning, parrying blows with her blade and retaliating with precise blasts of lightning. Like the most elegant dancer, she pirouetted and leapt and spun, hewing the monsters with grace. Her blade was like an extension of her own arm, moving seamlessly as it darted back and forth. She parried one ax and then countered, managing to bisect the monster vertically. That particular zombie twitched violently on the ground before it stopped moving.
Holy mother of fuck. How did she manage that?
Aedan shook his head. While it was, for some reason, almost intoxicatingly entertaining to watch Robin murder three more monsters, he figured he should help, at least because it would be easier for two people to survive this shit storm than just one. He crept forward, ducking behind rock after rock, moving from cover to cover. He knew that surprise was anyone's favorite weapon. Even an idiot knew that. Once he was in range he pounced. The unsuspecting bastard didn't even know what hit him.
With a roar, he leapt, dropping onto the monster's back and stabbing it repeatedly in the head. Nineteen vicious stabs later, Aedan was finally content that that particular bastard wasn't going to stand up anytime soon. It certainly got the other monster's attention, and it backed away from fighting Robin to swinging its ax wildly at Aedan.
"So do you know what the fuck these things are?!" Aedan yelled, ducking an ax swing that would have taken off his head. He had been traveling around Ylisse for at least a year now and he hadn't seen these monstrosities before today. He slammed his sword into the thing's arm, hacking it off and leaving it uselessly on the ground, before he swiped at its head. His sword lodged itself into the neck, causing blood to splurt into the air like a small fountain. Aedan pushed further and with a flick of his wrist, decapitated the thing.
"How should I know?!" Robin hissed back, parrying a sword with hers before she launched a bolt of lightning at the thing. The bolt of lightning hissed through the air and stabbed itself through the monstrosity, electrocuting it and turning it into a piece of fried meat. Another quick lightning bolt pierced its head and it fell to the ground, twitching ferociously on the ground. A flick of the wrist cut the monster's head off and it remained still.
"I don't know! I just wanted to ask!" he yelled back. He hacked at the decapitated monster which was still trying to stand up and swing its weapon. He swung his sword chopping off bits of flesh with each swing, leaving the monster bare boned and amputated. Finally, it twitched a single time and stopped moving. "And fucking stay dead!" he managed to yell through exhausted pants. He glanced around, one quick circle to ensure that Robin and he were the only ones alive in the immediate radius.
"Did you meet up with Chrom, by any chance?" Robin said, lowering her blade, relieved that the combat was over.
"No," Aedan responded. "Where's Fredrick?"
Robin shook her head. "No idea, we were separated on the way here. Hopefully he's found the other two." She wiped her blade on the grass, trying to remove the purple blood from her sword. "I thought I saw someone with blue hair run by to the south."
"So, southwards, then?"
She nodded, before pausing. "I'll be honest, I didn't expect you to come."
"It's safer. Especially with these fuckers," Aedan kicked the corpse, "fucking around."
"… Um, you mean, those fuckers?" Robin said, grabbing onto Aedan's sleeve. Aedan turned and looked toward where Robin was pointing.
"Oh godsdammit. How did we miss that?"
Another mass of creatures rose from beyond a hill, blocking out the light created by the fire behind them. Aedan couldn't count how many there were, but judging from the fact that more were still following the crowd that had already started shambling toward the two humans, there were at least a couple hundred more. A single collective yell rose up in the night, masking any other noise with a spine tingling screech. As a unit, the horde advanced, shambling down the hill and speeding toward the two humans.
"We need to leave," Robin said, already starting to back up.
"Soon," Aedan agreed.
Aedan had never run faster in his life.
The duo ducked back into the forest, hoping the trees would conceal them. If they were fighting humans, it would have been a great idea. The tree coverage would, or at least should, block out most pursuers. At least, they hoped it would. Aedan didn't know how the hell these things sensed, considering they were literally brought back from the dead.
It worked, anyway. Aedan knew they probably could have outran them. The creatures showed some great speed in combat, but they were slower than molasses when moving from one point to the next. At least they had made distance through the forest; the monsters would be slower to maneuver through the forest while Aedan and Robin could still move quickly.
They just had to pray that the creatures would only approach from that one side. From what Aedan could see, the monsters seemed to appear from the ground, popping up from nowhere like some sort of rotting, homicidal flower. If that were the case, the monsters could appear from anywhere.
"Heads up!" Robin barked, and dropped down to the forest floor. Aedan turned, and heard the twang of a bowstring. A brief flicker of panic ran through him and he flopped down on the ground, the arrow barely missing him, whizzing over his head as he fell.
"Godsdamn!" he hissed, picking himself up off the ground.
"Nine of them, in the grove! Advancing on us!" Robin barked again, bringing her sword and tome up into a fighting position. She began chanting mystical words and lightning began to crackle around her fingertips. She lifted her hand, and with a vicious swipe, flung bolts of lightning toward the creatures. Five lightning spears tore through the air, humming with energy. The spears hit their targets, electrocuting the monsters and frying them in their boots. Robin's aim was true, and the lightning managed to down two of the creatures. The other three that were hit, however, continued their slow shamble toward the two humans, barely phased by the lightning.
"We can't just go around?" Aedan complained, leveling his sword into a fighting stance. The sword felt absurdly heavy in his hands, and his shoulders screamed for release. "There's nine of them!"
Too late now.
He felt his feet carry him forward and his arms shot forward, driving his blade into one of the creatures's eye. With a ferocious rip, he slashed his blade to the side, cleaving the creature's head into two pieces. The two chunks fell uselessly to the ground, the reanimated corpse joining them shortly after.
He saw Robin jump in the fray immediately after he did, firing off another bolt of lightning into one of the creatures before stabbing the thing through the eye. Ignoring Robin, Aedan isolated another of the creatures. If he knew anything about them, it was that the creatures were slow to move from one point to another, but had the reflexes and combat ability of masters. How, Aedan had no idea, especially considering there wasn't any possible scientific or medical way that the fucking dead were capable of such reflexes.
But then again, science and medicine couldn't apply here, considering he was fighting the undead.
That left Aedan fighting a single one of the bastards and leaving Robin to fight the other four, but considering how she was basically a combat goddess, Aedan knew that that was totally okay. He darted forward, slipping under the creature's guard and slamming the pommel of his sword against its face. The creature stumbled, just barely, but enough for Aedan to take advantage. He spun away from the zombie, slashing at the calf and leaving a massive gash on the leg. The beast fell, suddenly unbalanced by the inability to use a leg. An angry kick snapped the thing's neck and a quick stab to the back of the head finished it.
He spun, and found Robin stabbing one of the monsters. She turned, her sword still stuck in the monsters and fired a bolt of lightning with her free hand. How she could ever manage to fight against four of the fuckers at one time with almost no effort was still blowing his mind. Still, two against four, or rather three, was better odds than three on one.
He ran forward, leapt and stabbed his blade into the back of one of the creature's head. Robin glanced over, acknowledged Aedan's existence, and then went back to her dance of lightning death. A lightning bolt flew dangerously close to Aedan's ear, singeing bits of his hair. Aedan spun reflexively, following the bolt of lightning as it continued whizzing through the air. It made impact maybe a second later, dropping the monster that had snuck behind Aedan. Whizzing back into the action, Aedan threw a quick nod of thanks in Robin's direction before engaging.
That left one poor, unlucky fucker against two extremely stressed out and extremely violent individuals. Aedan went high, Robin went low, and by the time they were done, the walking corpse was in three pieces.
Finally, peace.
I can't believe we just killed nine of them by ourselves.
Aedan dropped his sword and exhaustedly flopped down on the ground. The whole evening had been filled with fighting and running. Hell, they had just killed nine more monsters after sprinting away from a zombie horde, and that was tacked onto the fact that he was still high on vulneraries after he had been nearly crushed by a tree. He had ran many miles, had a double digit kill count, and the night didn't seem like it was anywhere near ending. It wasn't surprising that the next thing that Aedan did was vomit.
Chunks flew from his mouth at an explosive rate. Bits of partially digested dinner exploded from his face and crashed onto the grass below.
"Fuck," he moaned, wiping the bile from his chin. Another wave of nausea slammed into him and he swallowed hard in order to keep his stomach from expelling again. It didn't work.
He choked as more vomit, watery watery vomit, exploded once more from his mouth. Coughing violently, he rolled to his side and managed to avoid choking on his own vomit and dying pathetically.
Robin walked over and crouched by his side. "You alright?" she asked, her voice quiet. Aedan turned his head and shot her a glare.
"I'm vomiting my organs out," he hissed, "do you think I'm alright?"
Robin took a deep breath and shook her head. "Alright, fine. Bad question."
"You think?" Aedan said, before gagging a little.
"Seriously?" Robin asked, more than a little annoyed. She stood, and crossed her arms. "Lissa was right. You're a little child."
"Says the one not puking his guts out."
"What do you want me to do? Vomit with you? Excuse me while I reach my finger down my throat and start trying to throw up my dinner," Robin retorted. "Grow up. I'm trying to help you."
"Please, try helping me more," Aedan managed, gagging as he felt bile rise into his throat. Robin scowled, but grabbed a vulnerary from her pouch and dropped it next to him. Aedan coughed a bit, and thanking all the gods that he didn't vomit again, spat out the bile that had congregated in his throat.
"Drink that," she said, before dropping down on the grass.
"Yes, mistress, anything for you, mistress."
Robin scowled again. "What's your problem?"
"Oh, you mean besides the fact that my dinner is lying in a sopping pile of vomit on the ground there? Probably the fact that I was interrupted in the middle of my sleep by a fucking earthquake, and then almost fucking killed by a giant fireball that came out of the sky and now there are fucking zombies trying to kill everyone. Maybe, just maybe, that's my problem! So how about kindly fucking off and letting me stew in my own misery?!"
Robin's scowl grew deeper, but she let the matter drop. "Whatever."
Thankful that Robin was finally shutting up, Aedan turned his face down toward the ground and retched again. Great start to our professional working relationship. I'm sure Robin loves me now.
Silence reigned in the grove as the two just sat there, both minding their own business. Aedan eventually found the ability to move into a sitting position, feeling slightly less pathetic over the fact that there was still dribbles of water coming down his chin. He wiped his chin for what felt like the ninety fifth time, and grabbed the vulnerary that Robin dropped next to him. Rest and recovery were the most important parts here, and he would take advantage of the brief period of relative peace.
Huh, that's curious. The quaking and fireballs and shit have stopped.
Shaking his head, Aedan palmed the vulnerary and drank, letting the liquids slide into his throat. He wasn't stupid. He wasn't using the vulnerary for its magical healing properties. He didn't drink the thing because he loved the taste. While the vulnerary would help him heal and relieve some of the ache in his shoulders, the most important part was the liquid. After vomiting up all the water he had drank in the last few days, he would need the hydration if he wanted to keep moving. Wiping the last bit of the vulnerary from his lips, he dropped the useless skin to the ground and reached for his discarded sword. Glancing briefly at the dings and dents on his blade, he made a mental note to try his damndest to avoid fighting anyone else. More combat would most likely leave his blade shattered in dozens of pieces.
Then, as if the previous spat had never happened, Robin spoke.
"I need a new sword," Robin said to no one in particular, letting her finger glide along the edges of her battered and dinged blade. "And probably a new tome too."
Aedan resisted the temptation to curse. He was in the same boat, after all. He was actually completely surprised by the fact that his sword wasn't actually completely and totally destroyed by now. The thing had taken a couple hundred hits and a very large tree and still it was going strong. Honestly, Aedan had really wanted to grab one of the dead zombies' ax and use it, but he knew it wouldn't be very useful. He had never handled an ax in combat before. Really, the only thing he had done with one was cutting firewood, and firewood and zombie ax masters didn't translate very well. Besides, he was probably faster without the ax and would probably be able to dodge the blows.
He took a deep breath. Broken equipment, limited resources, dangerous environment, hundreds of bad guys… it felt like he was back home again. He couldn't tell if that were a good thing or a bad one.
Aedan took a deep breath. What could they do? The best plan was to find Fredrick, Chrom, and Lissa. And they needed to find them without being attacked by the monsters which had been hounding them the entire evening. But how? Robin said that she saw Chrom move southwards. If anything, that would be a good place to look. But if they didn't find the man? What then?
"What do you propose?" he asked.
"We need to move," Robin said after a long pause. "We need to find Chrom. If we don't find him, we need to find the nearest town and warn the people that these monsters are running loose."
Aedan just nodded, groaned, and pushed himself off the ground. "Right."
Robin gave out a small moan as she too managed to get off the ground. "Right," she repeated.
Without another word, the two set off. Aedan hated moving. He wanted nothing more than to stop, curl up into a ball, and cry himself to sleep. He was tired, and sore, and he really really wanted to leave the godsforsaken forest that for some odd reason never fucking ended. How many goddamn miles had they moved since they left the camp? Fifty freaking five? It seemed as if the entire night was just running and murdering. Although, Aedan realized, that was exactly what his night had become.
Still, at the very least, they weren't fighting any more zombie things anymore. It was also nice that there weren't explosions or mini volcanoes rocking the forest. Fireballs weren't creating explosions around him. Shrapnel wasn't cutting through the air. Those were pluses.
It would be really nice if Robin would say something.
They had moved for what Aedan could have sworn was an hour already. Apparently, the forest was some sort of massive, unending maze of trees, separated by a few empty groves. All the animals had fled, making the forest almost too eerie. What would usually be a forest filled with the chirps of birds and the scurrying of chipmunks was replaced by the occasional falling of a burnt and dying branch. Aedan was almost amazed at how they couldn't hear the clang of steel against steel. It would certainly have helped pinpoint other people's position.
The setting, however, wasn't what was killing Aedan. It was the silence. The silence was suffocating. Awkward, unapproachable silence. Aedan wanted to say something, anything really, to relieve the tension.
Angels above, if this somehow results in some sort of violent fuck session… Well, actually, I would not be opposed to that. Is this what sexual tension feels like? I need a whore.
Wait, I'm in the middle of a forest, about to be slaughtered by dozens of super zombies, some of whom have the inability to die. And I'm thinking about whores? What?
Aedan shook his head. No whores. Bad Aedan, bad! Kill zombies now, sluts later.
"You know," Aedan tried. He trailed off. Honestly, what was he going to say? Robin was still trucking along, not even bothering to turn around and acknowledge that Aedan had spoken.
"You know," he tried again. And failing. Again. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, still trying to think of something. Seriously, this silence was oppressing.
"You know," he tried once more. Robin interrupted him.
"Are you just going to say 'you know' again? And just leave it there? Because if it is, please just shut up. I don't want to hear your prattling," Robin said, annoyance starting to creep into her voice.
There was a part of Aedan that told him he should probably shut up and focus, and if somehow they had gotten through all of this shit without dying horribly, he should apologize to Robin for acting like a five year old child throwing a temper tantrum, but that part of him died swiftly. It was instead replaced by an unholy desire to bite back with as much sarcasm and venom as possible.
"You know," Aedan said, just to spite her.
"Shut up," Robin groaned.
"I don't think I will."
Robin stopped and spun around. "Are you just doing this to spite me?"
"Wow, for the new tactician of the Shepherds, you're not very bright."
Robin's eyes narrowed.
Aedan continued speaking, clearly not getting the point to shut the hell up. "Yes. It means I'm being a jackass to spite you."
"Why?" she asked, incredulously.
Aedan shrugged. "Because I'm an immature bastard who likes to make you mad?"
Robin took a deep breath. A flicker of anger flashed across her face, and she simply turned around and continued walking.
"Maybe because I'm horribly depressed and this is a call for attention because my parents never treated me right?" he called after her. "This is actually me venting all of my pent up angst through the use of sarcasm and general rudeness because of my incredibly dark and tragic past? I'm socially retarded? I don't pick up on social cues due to my childhood neglect? I have a learning disorder?"
Robin kept walking. Aedan snickered.
There was a thought that flashed through Aedan's head. Holy shit, did I just go through some sort of horrible self-analysis?
He shook his head, snickered some more, and followed Robin. After a few minutes, the duo settled back into the terse silence. As they approached the edge of the forest, they noticed that they were, once again, about to get killed.
Aedan closed his eyes and dropped his head into his hands. "Naga's scaly ass, you have got to be fucking kidding me."
There were nearly twenty of them in the grove. They turned, simultaneously, as if they were all controlled by a single unit. Axes were raised, giving off a deadly glint in the light of the moon.
"Fuck me."
For once, Robin agreed. "Fuck me," she repeated.
Aedan couldn't resist. "Gladly."
"Ass."
It was too easy. "In the ass? Kinky."
"Not the time."
Robin was asking for it. "So there is a time?"
"Shut up."
Perhaps it was the overwhelmingly awful odds, or the fact that he was nearing deliriousness from exhaustion, but he just wanted to keep saying shit. Still, two against twenty. Completely surrounded. As much as he hated to admit it, it looked like Aedan's time on the lovely earth was gone. No amount of thunderbolts and blunt swords to the face could possibly save them, not when they were outnumbered ten to one. Part of Aedan wanted to just walk away from all of this. To just drop his stuff on the ground, turn around, and slowly walk back into the trees where he would just scream in frustration. Honestly, if it weren't for the ax that had been suddenly flung at his face, he might have done that.
Really, what was keeping him with Robin besides his odd desire for human company? Not rotting, undead humans, anyway.
Aedan ducked the throwing ax and exhaled in relief as he saw that the ax had planted itself into a tree, not three inches from taking his scalp off.
"Angels above, I fucking hate this," he groaned, before he steadied his arms, and against his brain telling him that this was an awful idea, charged.
A battlecry left his lips, and he slammed his sword into one of the zombie's shoulders.
Still, he loved that there were small miracles in life. Like the lovely fact that these particular zombies were stupid, slow, and above all, fragile like kitchen china being attacked by a rampaging lunatic on drugs. He felt decayed flesh give way to his blunt as all hell sword and in his mind he shouted in joy.
Still, twenty of them? That was still a stupid amount of guys. Why was he doing this again?
"Gangway!" he heard.
Aedan whipped his head around, looking for the source of the shout. From the hill, he saw a woman, a red headed cavalier wielding a lance. Short red haired covered the top her head like a mop. A fierce scowl adorned her boyish features, giving her an air of fire. She moved through the crowd of monsters with ease, like a knife cutting butter. Her horse bowled over the creatures, trampling them under its hooves, while she stabbed and slashed at those around her with reckless abandon.
"Thank the gods," Aedan yelled, ducking under a sword. He deftly maneuvered behind the monster and stabbed the thing through the back. The creature let out a moan and collapsed to its knees, giving Aedan the time to rip his blade from its back and hack into the creature's neck. The sword only made it about halfway, splurting purple blood into the sky. With a grunt, Aedan yanked the blade out and turned toward the rest of the horde.
Three against twenty. Almost equally as shitty, but at the very least, he wouldn't die alone.
Except that he wouldn't die, not with Robin and the new redheaded knight around. They moved like demons, chopping and hacking, stabbing and killing each and every zombie around them. Like a butcher's knife, they cleaved their way through the monsters' ranks, steel flashing in the moonlight.
But no human was doing the bulk of the killing, no. That honor was left to the knight's steed.
Holy shit. I've never seen a horse do that before.
Perhaps the correct way of describing the horse wasn't with the word "horse". No, instead, it was better described as a demon. It stomped and snorted and charged and with each step it took, another zombie was dead or dying. Aedan could have sworn he saw steam erupt from the damn thing's nostrils as it rampaged through the mob of zombies, even managing to fling one up in the air with one swift thrust of its neck.
Still awestruck, he turned his attention back to the combat. Not many of the monsters were alive now, not with the two (no, three; how could one forget that demon horse?) avatars of war suddenly appearing and deciding to hurl lightning bolts and sharp steel around. What little remained of the monsters were a ragtag group of things, missing legs and arms and looking as shabby as ever. With a few quick strokes, the creatures were dead and the grove was silent once more.
Once the chaos of combat died down, the redhead slowly walked her demon horse over.
"So hey," she asked, "who the hell are you two?"
"Shepherds," Robin answered. "I am called Robin." Motioning toward Aedan, she continued, "This is Aedan."
"Shepherds? Well, looks like we got some new blood!" she said with a grin. "The name's Sully."
"A pleasure," Robin said. Aedan nodded.
"So, ya'll got a plan here?" Sully asked, dismounting her horse. She gave the bastard a light pat along the neck and it snorted, content.
"Look at the tactician," Aedan grumbled. He pointed toward Robin.
"You're a strategist then? Fine by me, I'm no good with that strategy crap. Give me the order and I'll get the damned thing done."
Aedan snorted. "There is no strategy. Kill the fuckers before they kill you."
Robin just nodded in agreement. "Find Chrom and Lissa. Make sure they're safe. We'll regroup at the west edge of the forest," she told the new cavalier. "Then we kill them all."
"That sounds fine to me," Sully said with a nod, jumping back onto her horse and spurring the beast forward. As the beast trotted along, Sully looked down at the two and spoke.
"Oh yeah, there's another guy behind me, just a few hundred meters ahead. The name's Ruffles. You'll know him from the ruffles and the bunches of dead zombie things around him with arrows sticking out of their heads."
As the cavalier trotted off, Aedan stifled a moan, and instead decided that he needed yet more magical healing elixirs.
Aedan took a deep breath and reached for his last vulnerary. He didn't really need it, at least not now anyway, but it was more of a precautionary measure. If he started to have massive internal bleeding in the middle of a fight, there wasn't anything he could do except lay there and wait for an ax to take his head off. It was better to be safe than sorry, after all. He downed the potion in seconds, feeling the relief once again set into his body.
Maybe if I drink enough of these, I won't need a healer. Nah, I'll probably have liver failure before that point.
"So, how many of those have you drank?" Robin asked, glancing over.
Aedan didn't respond, only throwing the empty medicine skin away.
Robin sighed. "Alright. Now that your medicinal abuse is over, let's keep moving."
Aedan tried to come up with something witty to retort with. He failed.
Grumbling, he followed Robin forward and toward what apparently was "Mr. Ruffles."
Follow the yelling, Aedan told himself. Follow the yelling and you'll find everything.
Or follow the dead bodies. That worked too. Because there were a lot of dead bodies. Sword wounds cut deep into undead flesh. Arrows pierced skin. Horse hooves broke bones and crushed skulls.
"Haha! Take that, you fiends!"
Aedan looked upwards toward the hilltop, and found a single man, armed with a bow and arrow, holding off what looked like a small army of the monsters. There was something about the man that looked familiar. The steel blue hair with the peculiar part, the masterful archery, the fucking ruffles.
Whoever decided that ruffles were a good idea on clothing deserves to be taken into a dark room and beaten mercilessly.
He knew this person. The Duke, or some other form of nobility, of Rosanne, Virion, the so called "Archest of Archers." Funny, he thought, how the world seemed to come full circle. Rosanne was Oslia's eastern neighbor. It was Oslia's most valuable trading partner and most hated arch enemy. The relationship the two countries shared with one another was very strange, as if they were an old married couple that loved and at the same time, hated each other. Aedan could think of at least three different Oslian-Rosanne wars from the last century and yet he could also think of quite a few business mergers between trading companies between the two. It wasn't surprising to say that Aedan had a ton of dirt on Virion, from the color of his ruffled underwear to the affair he was having with one of his retainers.
What was her name? Cherche? Something like that.
But gods above, was he glad that he was on their side. From his vantage point, he rained arrows down on the undead horde. Arrow after arrow flew straight and true, piercing and killing all those who were unlucky enough to be in the way.
Robin leapt into the fray, her hands crackling with electricity. She flicked her wrists toward the sky, and a single massive bolt of lightning shattered the heavens and slammed into the ground below. The sky itself looked as if it rippled as crackling bolts of electricity surged through the air, impaling the creatures in a magnificent fashion. By the time the thunderstorm was over, all the creatures were fried chunks of meat, burning and sizzling on the ground.
Fucking hell, how is she not tired?
Aedan glanced over toward Robin. She did look tired. For once, she actually looked human, capable of taking a beating in combat. Sweat matted her white hair to her forehead and Aedan could see scrapes and bruises mar her face. Blood and grime and dirt stuck onto her like tar. She looked like she was about to collapse.
In fact, that was exactly what she did. Her knees couldn't take the strain of holding up a body, and they buckled sending her toppling to the ground.
Well. I guess she's not invincible after all.
"I should say something snarky here," Aedan said, walking over to Robin. He held out his hand, offering to help her up. "But I'm not going to."
"Thank the gods for small miracles," Robin mumbled. She accepted the hand, and Aedan dragged her up.
As he pulled Robin up, the blue haired archer approached them. He had slung his bow and, somehow, managed to make himself look presentable in the short time that it took Aedan to literally walk five meters and pull a woman up.
"Thank you for your assistance, fair maiden," the archer said. "Might I ask your name?"
"Robin," she answered, brushing herself off. "Can I assume you're, ah, 'Ruffles'?"
"Dear lady, I do prefer my actual name over that of such an uncouth nickname. I am Virion, the Archest of Archers. At your service." He said the last bit with a flourish.
Aedan wanted to vomit. Fucking noblemen.
"Charmed," Robin said with a smile. Virion, ever the gentleman, took her hand and planted a soft kiss on the back of her hand.
"And you good sir? Might I have your name?" Virion asked.
"Aedan," he grunted.
"Mmm… A strong name. After the legend, I assume?"
How the fuck do people know this legend? I've been traveling here for years and I haven't heard this legend.
"Sure."
"In any case, thank you both for the assistance. If I may ask, what are the two of you doing here?"
"We're Shepherds," Robin answered, as if that explained everything.
Virion's face lit up. "Shepherds! Fantastic! Another one of us!" he said, his face exploding with mirth. "It has been too long since we've had new members! Why, I believe that last recruit we had was Sumia, but it has been forever since she has come. It is simply marvelous to have more -"
Aedan interjected. "How about we find the prince and get out of the zombie infested forest before we do anything else?"
"Ah, of course, safety first, after all."
How the hell do we manage to stumble across these fucks now? Why didn't we happen to find them, I don't know, before I almost died a solid hundred times?
Somehow, after what felt like a few minutes of walking, they stumbled across Chrom and Lissa and Fredrick. They looked as if they had been through hell and back. Considering the situation, it was almost literal. Chrom was blood stained, blood of all colors staining his once majestic armor. Falchion itself was still dripping with purple gore. Dirt and mud and grime covered his face, and his usually combed hair looked as if it had been used as a mop. Fredrick didn't look any better, and his mount certainly wasn't doing so hot either. Like Chrom, his polished armor was covered with blood and dirt. His prized lance was gone, most likely broken in the melee. Instead, he carried a steel sword, nicked and dented and bloodied. Lissa looked the best out of the three, but even she looked worn and dirty. Her dress was ripped apart, and she carried herself with her shoulders slumped over.
Chrom smiled as he saw the trio approach. "Took you guys long enough to find us."
Robin managed a weak chuckle. "Who goes off wandering around in the forest in the middle of the night? Especially with, you know, zombie demons walking around?"
"Me apparently," Chrom said, tiredly.
"Aye, milord. Now you see what happens you do not inform anyone of where you are going before you leave," Fredrick added.
Chrom shook his head in exasperation, but he laughed anyway. "Sure Fredrick. I'll remember next time."
Robin looked at the other members of the party.
"Hey, Lissa. How're you holding up?"
"Blergh," was the only response Robin got.
Pointing at Fredrick, Lissa complained, "I told you we should have stayed in Southtown. Could have had hot food, a bath, the feeling of being clean…"
"Had hot food," Aedan interjected. "Was a shoe, but was hot, either way."
Lissa made a face. "I should rephrase myself. Have actual food and not bear…"
Aedan wanted to chuckle, but the second he even tried to force air out of his body, he felt a wave of pain ripple through his body.
Aedan winced, and dropped to a knee. The vulneraries had faded, and what little adrenaline was keeping him moving was already phased out. He felt stabbing pain throughout his torso, radiating from his chest and stomach. It felt as if he were being stabbed. He dropped down, and flopped onto his back, gripping his side as more pain exploded.
"Aedan?" Lissa asked, jumping immediately into action. "Holy gods!"
Lissa hovered over Aedan, waving her staff back and forth, channeling her magic to diagnose what was wrong. Her face progressively contorted as she went across his abdomen, going from a face that looked as if she were thinking "this isn't good" to "sweet gods, how did this even happen?"
"Well, it's not great," she managed. She started at his chest, pointing her staff at him and poking him delicately in the ribs. The cold ruby orb of the staff jabbed at him, and Aedan couldn't help but wince.
"You've got a few broken ribs, nothing that a healing staff can't fix. You'll feel a little sore, but you'll be okay." Blue light shone from the orb, magically fixing Aedan's wounds. He groaned a little, feeling the odd tingling sensation of his body reknit itself. It made him shudder involuntarily.
"Next, you've got some horrible internal bleeding. You actually ruptured your liver, and there's definitely a kidney contusion," she continued. Aedan could only think that those words sounded awful. Again, she moved her staff, this time toward his stomach. The staff glowed again and Aedan felt relief come from his lower body.
"I don't know how you were managing this, but you've got a tear in one of the muscles in your arm. I can't believe you were swinging a sword like this. This isn't human," Lissa said frowning. She shook her head, and concentrated on healing again. Aedan just nodded. He was just relieved that Lissa was such a good healer.
"Well, that should fix you up," she said after a short time. "For the most part, anyway. How many vulneraries did you drink?"
"A lot," Aedan croaked.
"Well, it's a good thing you did. Those vulneraries stemmed most of the blood flow from your internal ruptures and kept your shattered bones mostly intact, or at the very least, aligned correctly. If you didn't drink those, you would probably be dead by now."
Aedan just felt weird listening to a pig haired blonde girl tell him of his horrible injuries.
"How did this even happen?" she continued.
"A giant tree."
"What?"
"You think I'm kidding."
"I don't…"
"There may have been a fireball involved."
"I… Okay?"
"Okay," Aedan finished. Then quietly he added, "thank you." Without another word, he pushed himself off of the ground and toward the rest of the group.
The rest of them had circled up, enjoying the relative peace. They were talking in hushed tones, most likely discussing what they were going to do next. As Aedan approached, Chrom looked up and waved him over.
"When you were getting healed, we discussed our plan of action," Chrom said, as Aedan took a knee next to him.
Aedan winced. "I'm going to assume we're going to go kill the rest of them?"
Chrom nodded. "I've already sent Sully toward the nearest city with a message to mobilize whatever militia they have. Hopefully, this is just an isolated occurrence and there are no more of these things around. Still, if we can't stop them here, they'll continue terrorizing the countryside. Now, we at least have something to fall back to."
Aedan snorted. "Or we'll all be dead, and it won't really matter."
"Or we'll be dead," Chrom agreed. "But at least there'll be less of these… things around."
Aedan resisted the urge to groan. "So it's just us?" he asked, gesturing toward the group. He received a few grim nods.
Chrom paused. "There was someone else, but I guess he's elsewhere."
"Someone else?" Aedan said, raising an eyebrow.
Chrom shrugged. "I guess it's not important."
Aedan sighed and shook his head. Steeling his nerves, he stretched, twisting his torso back and forth to make sure he was okay. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go kill these fuckers."
Author's Note:
Did I make a chapter that took about five minutes in game and change it into something that was nearly ten thousand words? Yep. Am I even done with the chapter yet?
Marth, or I guess Lucina, doesn't make an appearance in this chapter. After all, it is Aedan's story.
Too be completely honest, I'm not entirely satisfied with this chapter. I wanted to make Aedan and Robin not exactly like each other, but I think all I ended up doing was making Aedan a pervert. Anyway, back to trying to prove that math works.
Read, review, enjoy!