Here it is, the next chapter. Unfortunately, I have some rather distressing news that come with this chapter. This will be the last chapter for quite a while. I'll try to update as soon as I can, but unless some fountain, or geyser, of inspiration erupts in my mind, it'll be a while for the next chapter. By Christmas at the latest, though I'll try all that I can to update sooner. Without further ado... oh and I know that there are some things wrong with this, but please bear with me.

Chapter 22: The Prophecy

The three stared at them. They stared back. No one made a move. A tense silence filled the dry desert air. Marius made the first move.

"So, I suppose that Methuselah and his brethrens are no longer with us. Pity."

"Yes, they were rather fun to converse with," Taran said looking slightly downward.

"I dunno. It was confusing for me to talk to them," Tamara said while clutching her head like she had a headache. "The answer's within you, the answer's within you. If I knew the answer I wouldn't have asked YOU!!!" she screamed in the general direction of the fallen pyramid.

"Control yourself," Taran reprimanded.

"Yes," Marius said, taking no notice. "While it is a setback that we have lost them, the plan still remains intact."

"What are you talking about?" Hector asked.

"Did you really think that we just want to fight you for no reason?" Taran scoffed. "Such foolish and naïve children."

"We are acting accordingly with the prophecy," Marius said, still looking at them

Taran turned to face him quickly. "You're telling them?!"

"Yes. If they know, then perhaps they will let us proceed peacefully."

"Don't count on it," Tamara, Taran, and Lyn chorused at once. When they noticed this, they glared at each other. One would think that Lyn would be overcome by their combined glares, but she was holding her own pretty good.

"Moving on," Marius said as he eyes glazed over.

"Wait!" Tamara shouted. Marius snapped out of his daze and looked at her. "I want to tell them." Marius looked at her strangely for a moment before nodding and giving his consent.

Tamara smiled happily and her eyes glazed over. She spoke softly:

He will be born with the scent of Seven Darkness

His birth will mark the beginning of the end

For Rebirth is after Destruction's end

And shall he leave, twice on the same path to the Dark

With Key in hand, he stands affront the Door

With Lock in sight, he pulls his Ring

For then the Door will start to sing

And rise to the world, the Tides of Dark

Fire shall grow upon ice

And the world shall dim its light

The waters shall turn red as if it were blood

But do not lose the scent of the light

Scars unhealed shall open

Helpless, he shall extend a hand for help

Only to cover the lands he loves so much in darkness

But do not lose sight of the light

The door to Heaven will reveal itself

But what awaits is a nightmarish Hell

The doors shall sing a Song of Storm and Fire

But do not drown out the voice of the light

Darkness shall enter every soul

The dark glory shall permeate every cell

The taste of death on every tongue

But do not forget the sweetness of the light

Clutched around his hands

Ice numbs his heart

The dark is cold, oh so cold

But do not shy from the warmth of the light

When his soul is saved, he shall journey to the lands where he's needed

A new age of prosperity shall awaken

From where he left will be him to take up what was left behind

Harmony shall coexist once more with Chaos, before the balance is touched again

"…Wow…" everyone said at once.

"She's always had that good memory and creepy voice," Marius said proudly.

Tamara shook her head slightly and yawned, remembering to cover her mouth and said, "'scuse me."

"That is what we are trying to work towards," Taran stated simply. "A period of darkness preludes to the on coming age of light."

"Do you realize what those changes, no matter how short, will do to the ecosystem?!" Canas shouted suddenly.

"Oh right, you're still here," Marius said, noticing the army for apparently the first time. "We really do need to move on so…" He waved his hand and a transparent barrier separated the three lords from the rest of the army. "Now we will kindly take back what is Mark's."

The lords readied their weapons as their opponents readied themselves. Marius took out his ancient sword as the two girls unfolded two more wings from their backs, giving them a total of four each.

They all judged each other.

Lyn took a step forward. "Redhead's mine," she told her companions, despite the fact that her hair was not that close to red, but then again…anyways. They nodded and she was off.

"His scent comes from the blue haired one," Taran told Marius. They were ignoring Lyn and Tamara. He nodded and faced off against Hector. That left Taran to Eliwood.

"Would you tell me something I've been wondering?" Eliwood asked as they circled each other.

"Maybe," came her curt reply.

"I remember vaguely that one of our opponents, I suppose one of your subordinates, mentioned something about how the waters shall run red."

"It's not exactly rare knowledge. In fact, it's pretty common. I don't know anyone beside infants not knowing it. That line is the most famous though."

"I see, so he was reciting something that he believed in for his last breathes instead of trying to scare us spit less."

"Well, he may have. Grepsle always was the odd one."

"You know, if this had been different circumstances, we could have had a very nice conversation."

"Alas, we are needed to be locked in combat. Ready yourself."

"I've been ready. Where were you?"

Meanwhile, Lyn was busy swiping at Tamara with her sword. It was amazing that Tamara was dodging Lyn and retaliating on her own. Her attacks were avoided by Lyn in turn and retaliated, thus going on in a circle.

Both had amazing maneuverability. The sand terrain had a negative impact on Lyn's performance, but she seemed evenly matched with Tamara. Tamara in turn had four wings and couldn't take high into the air, too much turbulence and cold extremities. She stayed low to the ground to fight with physical attacks.

"So after you kill me, what are you going to do?" Tamara asked Lyn mockingly.

"I'll get Mark back. What else did you think?" came her heated reply.

"Oh? And here I was thinking that you actually used your head. Then again, you never did use your head so I guess that it's too much for me to hope for now."

"What are you talking about?"

"A lot of things. Think back for a second. Or two. I'll give you at least that much."

"Gee thanks," Lyn muttered sarcastically.

"Don't mention it. Anyways, we always seemed to be ahead of you guys no matter what. Tricking you into thinking that Mark died. Brainwashing him. Leading you to Arcadia where we got back the ring. Haven't you ever wonder where we got all of that information? Simply, Mark told us. Or rather, he planned everything out for us."

"Do you really expect me to believe that?"

"No. I expect you to get angry and continue fighting me and try to kill me though it won't do you any good."

Lyn rushed at her as she attempted another futile attack. She was so focused that she didn't hear Tamara muttering, "You should have killed me when you had the chance."

Hector looked at the person in front of him. Mark's brother drew his sword. It was still the nicked blade. Hector drew his own ax. It would be slower, so he would need to focus more on overpowering his opponent.

"Can I ask you something?" Hector asked.

"I believe you already have, but go ahead anyway," he said as he twirled his blade expertly.

"What's your name really?" Hector asked, completely serious.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" He nearly dropped his sword in surprise.

"Well, I heard from Violet that you were supposed to be called Martin."

"Martin? Oh right. You can call me whatever you want. It matters not. I wasn't really listening as I was hurrying to find Mark. Why did you want to know anyway?"

"Oh that. I wanted to know what to put on your tombstone. I'll make sure it says Martin now!" Hector charged forward with his ax raised.

Martin's blade locked with Hector's ax. They both stood there, struggling to gain footing in the loose sand. Hector's heavier constitution made him harder to move. However, Martin's lighter frame makes it easier for him to go with quick attacks. So why was he drawing it out instead of moving away?

Hector soon found out as the dagger on his pouch started glowing eerily blue. Martin's eyes narrowed slightly before widening. His smirk was maniacal.

Martin quickly stepped back, causing Hector to nearly lose his footing. The only reason that Hector wasn't on his way to the next world was that he swung his ax around. This caused Martin to step back further, and out of attack range for both of them, as well as using the momentum to carry him back to his feet.

Martin reached into his belt pocket. He pulled out a small ring, decorated with only a small black gem. Hector tensed. Rings can be dangerous and can turn the tide of a battle. He's seen the powers of Mark's and Ninian and Nil's rings more than often.

"I'm using this now," Marin whispered as he put the ring on his index finger. He turned it around his finger three times. The moon was covered in clouds. Darkness surrounded them all. Aside from Hector and Martin, the others didn't care that much. They were much too engrossed in their battles to notice that they can no longer see.

By the time the moon came back out, Martin had taken on a new appearance. His brown cloak was now stained a dark red in areas that complimented the brown. His golden eyes now had slit pupils. His ears were pointed and two fangs protruded down from his mouth.

Hector couldn't see what was happening next. One moment Martin was several feet in front of him, the next moment the cloak around Martin was in his view as he felt Martin gliding over him. His body twisted in impossible curves around his arms, waist, neck, himself.

When Hector could see again, Martin was in front of him in his regular brown cloak and all of the changes had reverted back. Hector's eyes widened. In Martin's hands was Mark's dagger. He was carefully examining it. He pocketed it.

Without even thinking, Hector lunged forward and tackled Martin to the ground. They rolled around a little until Hector was on top in a mount position. Hector was hurriedly trying to find the dagger.

Martin wasn't going to give it up. Not when it was so important. While Hector was trying to search him, he trapped Hector's right leg and arm. He arched his hip and Hector was flung off of him.

Hector wasn't a stranger to ground fighting. He didn't let go of Martin and so dragged him along. Martin was now on top, but Hector quickly put him into a guard. From this position, even if Martin can attack, Hector can defend and still maintain control over Martin's movements.

Unfortunately for him, Martin was ready for this. True that he wasn't the best at ground fighting, mostly because of his small stature like his brother and that he was more attune with quick blitzes, he still studied ground fighting to an extent incase such an event happened. He placed both his palms on Hector's solar plexus with his elbows at Hector's inner thighs. He pushed down and out hard.

The result was Hector gasping out in shock and pain and letting go of the guard. Martin quickly jumped out of range. Why bother continue when the objective of the mission was already complete?

Tamara and Tarin looked to see Martin was just about finished with Hector. This was good. Simultaneously, both of them charged with their respective black and white auras.

"Paradise Lost!" They simultaneously screamed.

They weren't aiming for their respective opponents though. Tamara's blast hit Eliwood and Tarin's Lyn.

Both lords were taken by surprise and succumbed to the blast at once.

At the same time, Hector was getting up from his bout with Martin. Martin quickly stepped before him. He placed one hand on Hector's head, partially covering his eyes.

"Sleep…and forget," was the last thing Hector heard before losing conscious.

…

…

…

"… are you going to wake up now?"

Hector groaned. The light was blinding and giving him a headache. He rolled over and tried to go back to sleep.

"FINE! BE THAT WAY!" the voice screamed. Hector felt a strong kick that knocked him completely off the bed.

He staggered up to see Violet standing there with an impatient look on her face. He looked groggily around to see that he was in a room at the inn. Eliwood was also in there and he pulled his shirt over his heavily bandaged torso.

Hector looked down to see that he had some bandages on him as well, though not as much as Eliwood.

"Lyn is already awake and making plans while you two are here dozing off like coffee deprived rats!"

"You couldn't think of a better analogy?" Eliwood asked as he girded his sword.

"Yeah well I'm coffee deprived at the moment. It wasn't easy treating your wounds."

Hector shook his head. Why couldn't he have normal people around him? He got up and quickly changed, oblivious to the Violet that suddenly screamed and ran downstairs. After they were changed, Eliwood and Hector both headed downstairs.

Lyn was already there and was pouring over slips of paper.

"What are you looking at Lyn?" Eliwood asked as they approached.

"Glad to see you're finally up. I think I have a link on where Mark is," Lyn replied without looking up.

"… And you found this how?"

Lyn smirked. "The stupid prophecy they mentioned. It said something about a door. What's another word for door?"

"Gate?" Hector asked intelligently.

Eliwood was turning the information around in his head. "But what does that- OH! I see. Mark is at the Dragon's Gate."

"Exactly."

"…"

"…"

"Lyn," Eliwood began.

"This is a stupid idea," Hector finished.

Lyn looked up sharply at them.

"Besides that we have no way to get to Valor," Eliwood stated.

"Also, I'm starting to think that this is all a wild goose chase. Everywhere we've been, it's been a trap and they throw it in our face that Mark help set it up."

"But!"

"You have to see the connection between there Lyn. Even you can't close your eyes to this."

"But Mark is our friend."

"We're not saying otherwise. But we really think that we should wait and carefully plan out what we're going to do."

"Wow Hector, that was pretty smart."

"I know! Say what?!"

"Doesn't this mean anything to you?!"

"Doesn't what mean anything to us?"

"He's our friend!"

"You've said that. But that does not change the fact that Mark may indeed be helping them."

"They could be just lying!"

"Lyn! You're acting too rashly!"

"And you two aren't acting at all! This calls for action, not sitting back and think!"

Lyn stood out of her chair and rushed out the door, leaving behind a bewildered Hector and Eliwood.

"You hear that?! We try to talk some sense into her, and she blows up at us!" Hector shouted indignantly.

"She feels that she spent too much time thinking and not enough doing all night," Violet said softly as she came down.

"That still doesn't mean that she should yell at us for trying to help."

"No, you're right. But… isn't it Mark who usually does the thinking. Lyn's been doing so for a while. She's not use to it. The pressure's probably just getting to her."

"But why is she acting like this now? She's taken up Mark's thinking role ever since he disappeared," Eliwood wondered.

"The ring," Hector said quietly.

"Eh?"

"Lyn doesn't have the ring anymore. What if that ring helps in their thinking?"

"I don't think that's it Hector."

"But what if it is?"

"Then…," Violet thought long and hard. "You guys are screwed. They have a master tactician and some impending doom machine."

"And we… have an army in disarray," Hector finished lamely as he looked around to see the army.

The army was having the same problem as the lords. Some still have their unyielding faith in Mark. Others are less dedicated; some were just downright disbelieving.

Eventually though, order rose above all of them. The answer was simple and pacified everyone… mostly. Mark still lay at the crux of all the problems. They remove Mark from the equation, and everything should turn back to normal. The question arises as to how to remove him. If they can peacefully persuade him, then they will do so. If it comes to dealing blows, then he leaves them no choice.

Now they just have to find Lyn. The girl can sure make it difficult for someone to find her. Everyone went out to search for her. They searched everywhere. The expression "Leave no leaf or stone unturned" now had a new meaning. Some were actually considering doing just that.

Violet wandered off. She knew she had to find Lyn. How she knew, she'll never know. She just had… a gut feeling that Lyn was out there somewhere. Wherever out there was.

By chance, or by fate, she was led to a serene field. "Okay, that was weird." It was a bright place, though she felt an aura of darkness tainting it. She walked on to find Lyn huddled beneath a tree with her knees to her chest.

"…I'm… sor-ry Mark," Lyn sobbed gently.

"I thought I would find you here," Violet said as she walked up there. 'Okay, so I didn't really know where I was going, but she doesn't have to know that.'

"I've failed everyone… especially Mark."

"Yep! You failed everyone alright. Did I mention that it was a horrible, humiliation, and cruel failure? I mean, come on, it couldn't really be any worse! You are the lowest of the low. Even lower than a tick hugging a gopher's belly."

Lyn visibly tensed. She narrowed her eyes dangerously.

"And what about poor pitiful Mark? He had his hopes set on you, and in the end, he couldn't depend on you after all. Adds to the list of things to not be proud for doesn't it Lyn. Pride and honor of a Sacae indeed. What pride? What honor? They are nothing to you. Poor Lyn. Lived only to be pitied."

Lyn lunged at Violet from her position. Both of them were tackled to the ground and they started wrestling. Lyn finally managed to overpower Violet and pinned her to the ground.

"Never talk about my heritage," Lyn growled menacingly. Her words echoed those of someone she knew. "And another thing. I don't remember choosing my path to be pitied."

The both of them were breathing hard after their short bout. Lyn rolled off of Violet and lay down beside her.

"Feel better?" Violet asked.

Lyn nodded slightly without smiling. "How did you know?"

Violet suddenly stood up, all fatigue forgotten. "Come on! We better head back. The others have a plan to get to Valor."

Lyn stood up as well. "Yeah. I have some apologizing to do as well."

They made their way back to the inn where everyone was waiting. Lyn apologized to Hector and Eliwood for shouting at them and they apologized for not thinking about her feelings. After all was forgiven, they discussed what they were going to do next.

"So you've decided that we will go to find Mark."

"Yes Lyn, we will go and find Mark. It'll depend on the situation to judge what we do next. If he turns out to be our enemy, we'll have no choice but to fight."

"Fine… but only if."

"So how are we going to get there?"

"Just leave that to me!" Violet exclaimed. "Get everything ready and meet me at the statue of the half naked guy. I've got a plan!"

Violet hurriedly left the room and everyone started packing. They spent no more than twenty minutes to pack and left the inn.

Violet was waiting for them at the entrance as promised.

"Got everything? Good. Let's head down to the lowest level. You've all been here before and I'm relying on you to get down to the chamber with the seal in it."

"Why do we need to go there?"

"Just because. Now do you want my help or don't you?"

They all took a deep breath and headed down to the darkness. All of the traps were already set off during their last trip down here.

"I read something interesting while you guys were off on that ship. There was an article about an item that might help us and it was in the museum. So thinking that it could come in handy, I went and got for you."

"You stole it?!" Lyn asked outraged.

"I didn't steal it! Think of it as… borrowing without permission. I was planning to give it back after I was done studying it."

"How did you get it out anyway?" Eliwood asked.

"Oh yeah. I've been meaning to return these." She handed Matthew and Legault's lock picks back. They were gob smacked that she managed to steal those from them.

At the seal chamber, Violet stepped forward.

"Hold on guys, I need to do something here." She took out a strange item that resembled a torch. She opened the door and slid her thumb along the shaft and light came out one end.

"Creepy," she said as she peered into the room. The lords peered in after her. Darkness there and nothing more.

"Oh there's more alright," she muttered as she took something from her pocket. "Creeping me out is one thing, keeping me from getting to Martin is another!"

"Oh yeah, he said that he wasn't really listening when you were giving his name," Hector said helpfully.

With a battle cry, Violet flicked open the shiny object and a flame leapt out of it. She held it up to the strange shaft she was carrying and lit the top on fire, making it resemble a torch even more so.

"Why did she feel the need to do that?" Eliwood asked his friends. They simply shrugged.

Violet led them inside. She went to the walls and carefully lit some small torches found there.

The room, they saw, was very big. It could hold all of them easy. There was a large and intricate seal on the ground with an alter on the far end of the room. Violet walked forward all the way to the end. She pulled another item out of her bag.

The object looked half frozen. Icicles hung from some of its edges. The item vaguely resembled a bird. Vaguely being the key word. She sat it down on the alter and the seal started glowing.

"Everybody, get on the seal!"

Everybody did so. They waited. And waited. And waited.

"Is this supposed to happen?" Hector asked skeptically.

"No!" Violet whined. "What went wrong? I did everything I was supposed too!"

She took out her book and flipped through it. Her face fell as she read and reread a paragraph.

"Oops! Looks like I messed up!"

The entire army face faulted.

"That wasn't helpful!" Lyn shouted.

"Don't worry, I can fix this."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"Only fools are positive," Hector said.

"Are you sure?" she asked back.

"I'm positive…" Hector answered stupidly.

Everyone got a chuckle out of that.

"Arrg! I should have known!"

Violet lined everyone up around the rim of the seal. She had Hector and several other guys push the stone alter to the exact center. She then explained what she was going to do.

"Okay guys, I'm going to perform a ritual. Don't worry, it's perfectly safe. Just don't try this at home kids."

"Just what are you going to do?" Lyn asked warily.

"From what I can tell, the legend stated that the ice around the bird isn't supposed to be there. The ice is from the lower levels of Niflheim. It can only be burned by something called a Soulfire."

"I don't like the sound of that," Eliwood said cautiously.

Violet nodded. "Indeed. If too much of it is lost, you will die. But that's not the issue here. Calling on Soulfire is relatively easy. I just hope that we have enough to get you to where you need to go."

"I'll give it my all then," Lyn said confidently.

"I'm glad you feel this way, but I'll make sure to leave you enough to live and make more. You can't comfort, or confront, Mark if you aren't alive."

Like Violet said, the extraction process was quite easy. They felt really warm and tingly as they saw a flame float out of them. Some were bigger, some were brighter, but there was little consistent pattern to them.

The fires converged above the bird statue. It writhed and began to take form. Before long, a beautiful fiery bird was hovering before them.

It looked at all of them and shook its head.

"Uh-oh…" Violet muttered.

"What? I don't like uh-ohs!" Hector said worriedly.

"We don't have enough to transport all of you to Valor."

The group looked downcast.

Violet looked back up to the bird. "I don't really have a reason to go with them. If you don't have to take me, will you have enough to take them?"

The bird looked over them again. It shook its head.

"Still not enough…"

"We don't really need to head to Valor guys," Hector said suddenly.

Everyone turned to face him.

"We just need to get somewhere where we can get to Valor."

"Of course! The Captain told me that they were planning to stay in Tortuga for a while during this time," Dart said.

"Well, do you have enough to take them to Tortuga?"

The bird nodded. It descended into the statue and the ice started to burn away. It didn't melt like ice would normally. The ice furled and unfurled as the flames licked them off.

The seal glowed menacingly before all vision was blinded by a white light.

Only Violet was left there. She smiled softly. "I hope you all achieve your goals," she whispered. "And I hope you get your punishment Martin!" With that, she left the chamber and headed for her familiar inn.

In Tortuga

Everyone looked around them. Tortuga looked… somewhat the same. The air was heavier though. Like the sign that a big storm was coming. There was little sound outside the pirates that were still talking. Even worse, the sky was darkening by clouds quickly. The calm before a storm...

And there it is. I know it seems rushed and that was because it was. I'm not getting any inspiration here. Oh well, too much school work I guess. Anyway, if you noticed anything (plotlines, plot holes, grammatical errors) please direct them to me so that I can fix this later. Like I said above, the latest that the next chapter will be updated will be Christmas, no later.

Also, this is against my policy, as I don't like to start on another story while there's already one in progress, but I'll be puting up another one. I'm just really bored that I don't have time to write but time to update and I wrote some chapters over the summer. Don't worry. This story will take priority in writing simply because I started this one first.