"It's so cold…" Corrin shivers as he grips the edges of his coat closer together. Nohr was always cold, but it seemed to be even colder tonight. Then again, the Kingdom of Dusk was always dim, so Corrin just assumed it was nighttime. It could also be the middle of the day and it would make no difference.
"Milord, I told you wear something heavier!" Felicia pouts from her location behind Corrin. Despite wearing a restricting and honestly unnecessary maid dress, Felicia is walking on the rocky and bumpy path next to the Bottomless Canyon without much trouble, even managing to traverse the path better than Corrin is. Corrin also hates wearing shoes, so he is suffering through the pain of small rocks and pebbles stabbing into the soles of his feet.
"But cloaks are so heavy," Corrin groans. "And they make my arms stick to the side of my chest."
"Well, you're going to be cold during this trip!" Felicia says with a 'hmph'. "I've told you to wear something heavier on many occasions!"
"She's right, you know?" Azura lets out a light giggle. "The temperature is going to drop even further if we keep going north."
"Yeah, but look at what you're wearing! How are you not cold?"
"I am!" Azura protests. "But someone didn't buy coats at the last shop we stopped in!"
"We don't have any money to buy them with…" Corrin responds, dejected.
"Where is this 'Old Robin', anyway," Felicia frowns. "Are we sure that we're heading in the right direction, milord?"
"Well…" Corrin scratches the back of his head sheepishly. "Mother never…told me where…exactly…"
Felicia blinks a couple of times before slapping her forehead.
"Milord! You are telling me you have no idea where we are going?"
"H—Hey! Mother didn't give me much to go by! Plus, this is why we're following Azura and not me!" Corrin pouts as he wheels around to face Felicia.
Both are interrupted by Azura's loud giggling.
"A—Azura! Why are you laughing?" Corrin frowns as he turns back to face the blue-haired lady in front of him.
"Because it's fun to see the two of you argue," She smiles back at him. "Plus, I have an idea on who Queen Mikoto was talking about when she mentioned the 'Old Robin'. He's not too far ahead."
"He is?" Corrin blinks, excited. "That's great! Hopefully he has a fire going so I can warm up. Why is it so cold?"
"Haven't I already told you, Milord?" Felicia sighs. "Winter is approaching and the weather is becoming colder. You can't wear that in that kind of weather!"
"It's hard to tell when the weather changes when all days are just dark…" Corrin mutters to himself as he tightens his grip on his coat. "How far ahead, Azura?"
"Hmmm…" Azura scratches her chin. "The last time I met him, it was further up this road, and in a small cave at the top of a large hill."
"Where?"
"Over that ridge," Azura points to a hill just barely in sight. At this, Corrin groans loudly.
"Really? That far?" Corrin shudders as he thinks about how long it's going to take to get there. He was already started to feel bits of icy cling to his arms. Sure, it's probably his imagination, but that didn't make it any better! "Are you sure you know this 'Old Robin'? I just hope it's not an actual robin…"
At this, Azura giggles loudly.
"No, silly, he's not an actual bird. He stands on two legs and has two hands, like most of us," Azura smiles.
Though she doesn't explicitly say it, Corrin winces at the use of the word most. He doesn't need more reminders of the mistakes that he made.
"Well, what is he like?" Corrin winces as he steps on a sharp rock. The pain is dulled by the numbness in his foot, but is only dulled, not subdued.
"Hmmm…I didn't get to meet him for long," Azura shrugs. "He showed up at Castle Shirasagi for a couple of days and primarily talked to Queen Mikoto and Yukimura. Other than his name, I didn't get any other pieces of information."
"What's his name?"
"Robin. Robin the Foundling," Azura answers with a shrug.
"Well, that explains the name that Mother gave me…" Corrin frowns. "What did he look like?"
"Well…" Azura tilts her head to the side. "That's where things get weird."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, it's difficult to tell you how he looks, because I don't know…He's around your height, a bit taller, but he wears a black-and-purple cloak constantly. The cloak is definitely magical; it could hit his facial features completely when the hood is up. That's why I could not see his face." Azura explains. "He…that is, I'm assuming Robin is a he, spoke very quietly, and only with Queen Mikoto. I think he responded when I asked him questions, but I could not tell. Even if he did, he did so by nodding slightly or shaking his head a bit."
"Well," Corrin sighs. "That's not a lot to go off of. Let's hope that he's more talkative when we actually meet him, yeah?"
The first thing that Corrin realised as they neared the cave was the smell. It reeked of blood, metal, rust, and burnt flesh. The rancid odour drifting merrily onto the crisp cold wind and down into the trio's midst.
Felicia, her noise tuned to such things, was the first to realise.
"Ugh! What is that smell!" Felicia scrunches up her nose. "It's worse than when Milord forgot to clean out his room that one time!"
"F—Felicia! I thought we agreed to never speak of that again!" Corrin groans as he remembers that incident. He had left a plate of food…somewhere, and it had gone rancid. He never wanted to experience that smell again. "Speaking of, what is the smell that you're talking about?"
"Milord…do you not smell it?" Felicia tilts her head to the side. "It reeks!"
"N—No…I smell it too," Azura frowns. "It's…the smell of a battlefield…"
"There's a distinct smell of a battlefield?" Corrin raises an eyebrow.
"Well, no…" Azura shakes her head. "But Mother always talked about…never mind, let's keep going, I'm sure we'll find out what that smell is coming from…"
It didn't take long to find the jagged hole in the hillside where the smell emanate from. It looked as if a giant had bitten off a chunk of the rock and left the crater there. There was a flickering light, whether it was flame or magical could not be discerned from that distance, causing shadows to dance around the mouth of the cave.
Corrin takes the lead, unsheathing Yato and taking a big gulp of air before entering the mouth of the cave. The light laps at his feet like a stormy sea upon a cliff. The stench is pungent, the air stale and unmoving, despite how much of the odour has made its way down into the road below. The cave is much larger than Corrin first thought, the back of the cave extending into the hillside far enough that Corrin cannot see the back wall of the cavern.
It doesn't take long to see where the smell is coming from. Every few metres lay a dead body in various stages of decomposition. Some are recent, their last expressions still plastered onto their faces, while others are nought but piles of crumbling bones.
A Nohrian woman still gripping her lance with a silent scream etched onto her face has her entire abdomen removed, the edges of the fatal wound scorched with flame and reeking of decaying and burnt flesh. Her eyes, perhaps once beautiful, shiver and squirm with specks of silver and white; maggots consuming what is left to be consumed.
A set of Hoshido armour surrounds a pile of green and grey flesh and fat, the stench that comes off in waves unsettling to all. The armour is old, a couple of years at least, and the wet and damp nature of the cave has caused the once-proud armour to become rusted and crumbling; its state reflecting that of it wearer. The man's head lies some distance away, surrounded by a ring of brown and black. The flesh has been blackened and curled, the ridges of the brow and nose visible through the ruined flesh, the eyes empty sockets of ashen black; telltale signs of a fiery death.
A pile of browning bone sits surrounded by pitch and charcoal, the ivory shining in the light emanating from deeper within the cavern. The smoothness of the bones is unnatural; a scavenger or other animal has picked it clean. Whatever clothing or armour this soldier once wore is long gone; pieces of ferrous rust surround the remains but whether it was plate or blade is uncertain. Time has reaped its toll.
Corrin is especially careful with walking in this vile location. Fluids, the byproduct of the process of decay, slick the floor of the cavern in a smooth, glistening, but no less disgusting glaze. Corrin really regrets not wearing any shoes.
Felicia can be heard retching as they descend deeper into the cavern. The bodies here are more decorated, the weapons and armour once belonging to respected warriors or even champions of the two nations. Even the masks of the Faceless can be found here, the bindings of the infernal creatures rusting along the tools of their summoners. Bones of animals too can be found here, most of them scavengers. Crows, ravens, foxes, and wolf bones decorate the bodies of the slain warriors in a gruesome display.
At the very end of the cavern is a pile of bodies, their armour still shining long after their wearers have left this world. The cave opens up into a large open room where pile of bodies sits at the centre off, the smell long since burned into the minds of the three people that wandered here.
It is in this room where the light emanates from. 44 orbs of magical light spew forth a soft, golden aura, completely at odds with the gruesome environment that they are in. It would not be out of place for these magical devices to be found within a temple or a church, but in this shrine of death, they further cause discomfort to Corrin.
It is Azura who is the first to notice the man, hunched over a sword sticking out of his stomach, sitting propped up behind the pile of bodies. She lets out a slight gasp of surprise, as the body is wearing a black-and-purple cloak, laced with gold details that seem out of place.
"C—Corrin, that's…" Azura grabs Corrin's sleeve armour and tugs. "That's the man we're looking for…"
"G—Gods! T—That's Robin?" Corrin snaps out of his daze as soon as Azura's soft words reach his ears. "W—We should help him! Like, now! Felicia, staff!"
"Er—Right!" Felicia rushes over to the hunched-over man and pulls out her healing staff, the green glow bathing him in an odd light. Still, the man does not stir.
"D—Do we need to remove the sword?" Corrin's hand shakes violently as he tries to get Yato back into its sheath. He eventually gives up and tosses to the ground. He feels the man's neck, desperately trying to get a pulse.
A massive sigh of relief accompanies the soft thumping of a heart under the cold skin of the man.
"H—He's still alive!" Corrin gasps as if he had held his breath for a long time. "He's still alive! Azura, we should get the sword out of him!"
Azura nods and reaches for the sword made from black ivory—
"I…would not do that if I were you,"
And is lazily slapped away by the man's hand suddenly extending to stop her.
Corrin's body freezes up as the man's eyes light up with a amber glint, his face hidden by magics unknown to him yet his piercing gaze boring into his very soul, stripping him of every defence that he tried to throw up.
"H—How are you still…!" Azura's eyes widen as the man sits up straight, hands griping the hilt of the sword and yanking it out. Corrin winces as the sound of steel upon bone causes his slight discomfort.
"How am I still alive?" The man's voice is low and raspy, dry and crackling. Still, it carries a weight that seems to swallow Corrin whole. "That…is a very good question. A question I will answer as soon as you answer one of mine."
Corrin nods in response, half out of fear, half out of curiosity.
"M—My name is Corrin der'Nohr—Er, Corrin Yamasugi— Er…Corrin. My name is Corrin," The prince's voice trembles as he tries to find a good answer.
"Corrin…" The man tests the word on his tongue before turning to Azura. "And you? You seem…more familiar…"
"Azura…Azura der'Nohr…" She answers, hands still trembling in the position that the man left them in after he batted them away.
"Ah…Ah, I see…" The man nods to himself as he puts the sword that was just in his chest into a sheath. "Well, I suppose I should answer some of your questions now…"
With a gaunt and blood-stained hand, the man pulls back his cloak. A head of white hair, stained with flecks of crimson, and a tired, muddy, bloodied and scarred, face stares back at Corrin's scarlet eyes. The man looks tired, old, and hungry, his eyes more in common with a dead fish than a living, breathing human's. The skin stretches to hold his facial features together, the edges of his skull causing his face to look sharp.
Even still, the man looks dangerous. His eyes scan the trio slowly and deliberately, taking each of them apart and appraising their abilities, looking for weaknesses, and coming up with plans to kill each of them.
"My name…is Robin…Robin the…foundling. Lord Corrin, Princess Azura…" Robin stands to his full height, the previous wound apparently not hurting him in any way. "I suppose…you have decided to walk neither the path of the dawn nor the path of the dusk?"
"Er…yes? I…just want everyone to stop fighting…" Corrin nods. "Wait, you still haven't answered why you are still alive?"
"That's easy to answer," Robin turns away from the shell-shocked trio and walks, slowly and shakily, to a section of the stone wall that looks…off. "My body is part natural, part grimleal experimentation. Attacks that would usually completely pulverize a normal human will barely considered fatal for me. Even Mystletainn up my stomach did not kill me…I am not sure if I can even die anymore…"
Corrin stares, dumbfounded.
"W—Wait, Mother—Er, Queen Mikoto said that you will help us—"
"Did she now?" Robin chuckles darkly. "I never agreed to help her…but she is right. I will help you. Child of the first, you wish to reclaim what has been lost and what has fallen to madness, and to do that, you must have a firm hand to guide you."
The oddly shaped part of wall disappears and reveals a veritable armoury of swords, lances, axes, daggers, bows, and tomes. Corrin is sure that if his jaw wasn't connected to his skull, it would join the many jaws on the floor.
"While I might not be the firmest of hands," Robin's voice rasps out. "I will be of some use…"
Before anyone can do anything, Robin plunges one of the iron swords in this new armoury into his stomach.
"No!"
"W—Wait!"
"Sir—"
All three cry out in disbelief when Robin does so, but all three are equally stunned when Robin pulls out the scarlet-stained blade with an annoyed clicking of his tongue.
"Maybe I'll try that again but with a wyrmslayer…something's got to work one of these days…"
Azura decides to take away the sword, and all the other weapons for that matter. This stockpile will be extremely beneficial to their cause, and according to Queen Mikoto's words to her…this man knew everything and was incredibly strong; a capable warrior and a tactician able to compete against the gods themselves.
How such a man could devolve into such a…beast…is beyond her comprehension.
AN: Hello There! Acardia here!
Double Release? Sort of. Not really, though.
Remember me talking about that extra a couple chapters ago? Well, here it is! A bit more of an explanation of what happened in Fates.
Acardia out!