Chapter 4
Watch Out for Falling Rocks, Zombies, and Exalts-To-Be
There will be times when you feel hopeless.
I know how hard it will be.
Don't ever give up hope.
The future is savable.
The future will be saved.
Don't ever give up, Lucina
I will always be with you if you need me.
I love you, Lucina.
Don't you ever forget that.
Your Uncle will always be there.
Do your best. Best wishes.
When I wake up this time, my head still hurts a little. Good, I think that means this isn't a vision. I think. At least Chrom isn't the one waking me up. I know it's not his fault, but this cheerful voice is getting under my skin a bit.
Geez. I'm glad that I wasn't able to truly feel the pain when I came crashing down. Terentius's memories inform me that falling from a great height usually doesn't end with this little pain. That one slippering mountain road and the entrance to the third circle together make Terentius very afraid of mountains.
Not heights, just mountains.
Strange. I wonder how that will work since I'm actually a little afraid of falling objects, but not of either mountains or heights. Gotta wait until we climb Mount Prism to find out, I guess.
I yawn a little then frown as I sit up. I should probably get everyone away from this area; the forest ironically looked more stable than this clearing.
Which is really odd. Frederick and Robin in-game had never talked about the campsite being struck by the earthquake…
Wait, does that mean that the Risen are going to drop closer to us? I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing.
On the one hand, those forts will be right in the middle of the risen flock instead of being right on the edge, meaning it's going to be harder to take them out. On the other hand, those forts will be right in the middle of the risen flock, allowing us to attack most of them within a defensive position.
I'll let Robin know this information later. Right now, we need to not die from an earthquake and a lava geyser. I wonder if it's a hot or cold geyser…ugh, I've been playing too much Oxygen Not Included, huh? Geyser has become a trigger word for me…great.
This time around, packing up my sleeping bag is a lot quicker and more practised. I mean, I have already done this once already, so I suppose that's something? Terentius also probably had something to do with it; he's really anxious and ready to pack his tents up knowing what's coming next.
Thankfully, I see Chrom walking up to me, probably to ask for a light for the bathroom.
"Hello Chrom," I call out as I stuff my pillow into a tarp to shove into my backpack. "What are you doing up this late?"
"I could say the same about you," Chrom shrugs. "But I really have to use the bathroom. Do you—"
"Here's a light. I know. Make it quick," I hand him a rock I had enchanted when I woke up. "Restroom, right?"
"Er…yes?" Chrom blinks in surprise. "How…did you know?"
"Vision," I respond bluntly as I put my backpack on.
"Right now?" Chrom stops smiling and stares me in the eyes.
"Right now," I nod my head. "We've got to get moving. I didn't see much because I got thrown into a fissure, but I'm pretty sure the campsite is going to get hit by an earthquake. I'd much prefer it if we moved west, but the direction we evacuate to is up to you and Robin."
"Understood," Chrom nods his head grimly and then widens his eyes. "Before I do anything, do you know how long it will take for the Earthquake to hit?"
"I have no idea. Twenty minutes or so? I tripped over a fig while trying to wake up Robin in the vision, so my sense of time isn't the best," I frown at him. "I think you have enough time to go. Just make it quick. Really quick."
"A fig?" Chrom gives me a confused glance. "Like the fruit?"
"Yes, the fruit," I roll my eyes. "Don't ask me either, I was too busy drying to a geyser to ask how I managed that."
This makes Chrom somewhat concerned. I just ignore his incredibly worried gaze. Too much stuff on my mind to have him break me out of it.
"Why are you still standing here? Don't you need to go to the bathroom?" I raise my eyebrows at Chrom.
"Er—Right. I'm…going to just go behind the bush over there," He points to the edge of the clearing. "If it's starting, tell me."
I nod my head. A good plan.
"Alright," I clap Chrom on the shoulder. "I'm going to wake up Robin and Frederick. When you're finished doing your business, go wake your sister up."
Chrom nods and runs off, the small rock giving out a bright glow that slowly gets further and further away until it is but a small winking star in the distance before it quickly disappears as Chrom slips behind the bush.
Right, that was the easy part. The hard part is to actually wake Robin up. Why? Because last time, I seemed to have my head slam into the ground at a speed that caused me to black out. And if I do the same thing I did previously, I will probably end up on the ground again. Not the best outcome.
Hmmm…let's try going and getting out as fast as possible. That…should work, right?
With that in mind, I walk over to the crimson tent. Opening the tent flap, I stare intently at the bottom of the tent for the purple tear-shaped fruit that caused me to blackout in my vision. I don't see any, but I don't trust my eyes, not with the darkening enchantment that the tent has. So, I stick out my foot carefully and slowly touch the area around where I would be standing. I feel my left foot brush against many objects, some hard, the majority made of fabric, but nothing fig-like.
Good. I can actually step inside without fearing for my life. Can't believe that I have to worry about fruit-induced head trauma.
"Robin! Wake up!" I yell out loudly. Like before, Robin doesn't even twitch in response to my words. I mentally note that Robin is a deep sleeper and shove that into the recesses of my mind before I continue on.
I note that the wards on the tent flash their silver light once again.
Huh.
Latin.
Was I just being delusional before when I thought I saw Greek? Or was that only there because it was a vision?
Not sure. More information is needed to form a conclusion.
This time, I simply grab Robin's shoulders and shake them as hard as I possibly can, instead of gingerly holding her up and then gently rocking her around.
The difference is immediate. Instead of taking a while for her to open her eyes, her amber irises are revealed instantly, the eyelids covering her eyeballs shooting up faster than a rocket.
"AAAAA—"
"Oh, stop yelling!" I command before Robin can get halfway through her scream. "It's me, Terence! I'm just trying to wake you up!"
"AAAAAAAA—Oh! Oh…sorry," Robin blinks in surprise before apologising. "W—What happened? Is something going on?"
"Vision, we need to leave, now," I reply curtly. "Get everything in order and come outside. We need to move to a safer place before it happens. Oh, and make sure you get everything out of the tent; they'll fall out when I collapse it."
With that, I turn to leave, keeping one eye out for any figs on the floor with murderous intent. Robin looks confused, the bewilderment written across her facial expression and her body language. But thankfully, she seems to at least understand everything I just said, and she doesn't ask any questions. Good. The less time I spend in that tent, the less likely it is I am knocked out by a random fig.
I make it outside without incident, which is a miracle. I think I've avoided that specific bad end, but that doesn't mean all bad ends have been avoided. Right, on to Frederick! This is either going to go really poorly or really well, and there is no in-between.
It doesn't take long for me to realise that Frederick isn't in the main area of the camp. Honestly, I don't know why I was searching in the middle of the camp; he's obviously somewhere in the periphery looking for threats to the Exalted Family.
It's not unexpected then, that I find Frederick way off in the distance at the very edge of the clearing.
The Great Knight, as expected, is resting. No, not sleeping, not when Chrom is still awake and currently relieving himself behind a bush. Instead, he's leaning against a tree, half-asleep but with one eye out for anything that happens.
That means when I make a noise (I think it was a small twig that I broke. Not sure) halfway to him, his eyes shoot open and stare at me. Well, it's already going poorly. Might as well make it worse by trying to make it better.
"Ah, good. You're awake, Frederick," I nod as I run the remaining distance to the tree. I reach it much faster than expected, which makes me want to whistle at just how much better in shape Terentius is compared to my old body. And I almost do, but Frederick's stiff glare cuts any emotion other than careful fright away from the front of my consciousness.
"Speak," The brown-haired knight grunts. Alright, man, I know you don't trust me. You need all that venom that you've injected in your voice.
"We need to evacuate,"
"Why?" The amount of nuance in that one word is hard to describe. It's as if Frederick has just condensed around about eight sentences of questions and threats into a single word and shot that incredibly dense bullet straight at my heart. Ow.
"There's going to be an earthquake very soon," I explain.
"And you know this how?"
"Vision," I blink. "How else would I know?"
"Please forgive me, but I do not—" Frederick shakes his head and starts to chuckle, but his laugh is cut off very quickly.
The ground groans in a way not too dissimilar to an unsatisfied cat, its unnatural trembles spreading like a ripple on a pond across the surface of the earth. A tremble that is felt almost immediately by both of us and cuts off Frederick's words. The change in his face is as fast as it is total. One moment he is laughing at my poor attempt to convince him to evacuate the area, the next he has returned to being the Prince and heir presumptive's knight, thinking only of his safety.
"How bad is it?" Frederick stops leaning on the tree immediately and stares me in the eyes intensely.
"We need to get really far away from this place," I stare back with a similar intensity. I am not going to let Frederick of all people get the better of me. "If the eruption starts from here, then I'd say we need to get at least a hundred paces away to make sure we aren't hit with the debris."
"Eruption?" That catches Frederick off guard. Why, I have no idea.
"Well, the earth rises and splits into two pieces. This isn't mons Vesuvius but there's a lot of lava going everywhere," I explain.
"Then we need to move. How long do we have?" Frederick nods his head grimly.
"I'd say around twenty minutes. I died fairly early in the vision, so I don't have much to go off of. I'd say we need to go south-by-southwest, but my knowledge of the local geography isn't very good. The final call is up to you," I supply.
"West. We go west. There are a couple of old forts in that area from the Illuvian Era that we can take shelter," Frederick replies to my question as we start to make our way back into the campsite. "Have you woken anyone else up?"
"Chrom was already awake by the time I woke up," I supply. "And I've woken Robin up already. I…don't dare to wake up Lissa…all things considered."
"So you know," Frederick glares at me.
"She does act like a noble," I raise my hands up into the air in surrender. "I would know, I am from a equites—er, a high noble family. And there are a lot of similarities to proper cultured women that I can see in Lissa. At the very least, she's a noble of some status."
"Well, I do thank you for not violating her sleeping quarters, despite the current circumstances," Frederick sighs. I think I've at least stopped him from looking too far into that line of thought.
As we near the rest of the camp, I manage to see a very annoyed-looking Robin staring at me in front of the crimson tent. She has a slightly flushed face and is boring a hole straight into my soul with that stare.
"Frederick, do you mind if you wake up Lissa? I'll start unpacking the tent," I say quietly to the Great Knight as I brace myself to have a talk with Robin. She looks really, really annoyed.
"Hmmm? Of course. Milord should be back from relieving himself shortly; then we can all get moving," The brown-haired man nods and goes towards the purple tent.
Welp, I'd better get started on unpacking that tent, or else Terentius will start to get uneasy. And when that happens, I get flashbacks. Flashbacks that I really don't want…
As I approach the tent, and by proxy, Robin, a thin trail of cold sweat carves an uncomfortable trail down my neck. She looks really mad.
"Hello, Robin. You got ready quickly. Did you not take off your clothes or something?" I say in a cheerful mood as to try and tone down Robin's anger.
"Wouldn't you like to know," She snorts back. "What did you see?"
"See? Robin, that tent is about as dark as the astral plane," I raise an eyebrow. " I could barely see my nose, never mind anything else."
"Really?"
"I enchanted the damn tent! It's really fucking hard to sleep when you're forced to sleep in the engineer's camp, which had to have all torches and campfires going at all times to prevent the enemy from stealing anything! I had to enchant it to block out light to even get a single wink of sleep," I sigh as I reach under the tent for the string to unpack.
"Truly? I mean, it was very dark inside the tent…that would explain why I couldn't find my…and my…somehow in my…shouldn't have taken…off…" Robin frowns to herself as I pull the string to the tent, causing the enchanted crimson canvas of the tent to return to being a square piece of hardened fabric with a satisfying popping sound. I frown as I stand up, the tent in hand. I couldn't hear what she was saying at the end there due to her mumbling.
"Hmmm?" I blink at the white-haired tactician. "You were saying something?"
"N—Nope!" She shakes her head. "I didn't say anything other than agreeing with you that the tent is dark!"
"Are you sure? If there's anything you need to tell me, you can tell me right now, you know?" I press. Something is wrong, I can feel it.
"Nope! I'm all alright!" Robin shakes her head even harder. "Look! Frederick's gotten Lissa up!"
True to her words, Frederick leaves the princess's tent not a moment later. The second the flap opens, a sharp, high-pitched, loud, and feminine voice can be heard from within the tent. I'm unsure what Lissa screamed, but it sure looks like Frederick wasn't exactly invited to stay in her tent. Man, that is one confused glare coming from Frederick. It's as if he's both shocked at himself and satisfied with a job well done simultaneously.
Huh, strange. Robin said that before Frederick gets out. How did she know? Oh well, I can see Chrom returning with that shining rock swaying in the distance. I'd better worry about that later.
"How was it, Frederick?" I ask the Great Knight as he walks back to join the small little group that we have here. As he gets closer, I'm able to see a hand-shaped mark that's slowly turning red on the right side of his face. Oh man, that looks like it hurt quite a bit. Remind me to never piss Lissa off. I mean, there's a reason that she's able to swing around a massive axe…
"Milady has awoken. She is preparing her personal items at the current moment," Frederick responds stiffly to my question.
"That slap looks like it hurt a lot," I note with a laugh. "Remind me not to get Lissa angry."
Frederick huffs in response but doesn't say anything.
"Hey!" Chrom jogs up to me, causing me to jump a little. Man, he can be quiet if he wants to! I mean, he was able to sneak up on both Lucina and Robin during the former's Judgement Scene, so I guess Chrom isn't just a brute. "I'm back. Did I miss something?"
"You missed Frederick getting slapped by your sister," I shrug. "We're just waiting on her to get up."
Chrom blinks in surprise before staring Frederick in the face. It doesn't take long before he breaks into peals of laughter.
"F—Frederick! You a—actually went and…Ha!" Chrom tries to say something, but he's overwhelmed quite quickly by his own laughter and it takes a while before he recovers enough for me to get what he's saying. "I've told you—that Lissa won't even let—me wake her—up!"
"Yes, Milord," Frederick frowns. "But Milady needed to be woken up in a quick and timely manner. I will not let Terentius wake her up."
"Yeah, but you could have asked Robin instead!" Lissa huffs as she joins our conversation with a pout. "I've told you to not come into my room! It's weird to have a guy to see you sleeping, you know?"
"Milady, I have seen you—"
"Yeah, but I was a child back then!" Lissa snorts loudly, throwing her hands up into the air in an exasperated gesture. "I am not a child anymore! I am a lady!"
Ah shit…I just realise that Robin probably didn't like me waking her up. Yeah, I should probably apologize.
"Hey, Robin?"
"Hmmm?"
"Sorry for going into your tent. I won't do it again,"
"No, it's fine," She sighs, closing her eyes a little. It's hard to see in the dark, but I swear she's trying to fight down a blush. Damn, that bad? "It's not like you saw anything, right?"
"Black as ink in there. Didn't see a thing," I reiterate with a shake of my head.
"Anyway…" Chrom's gaze switches between Robin and me before he shrugs and settles on looking at me. "Where do we go?"
"That's really up to you guys. I don't know the geography very well, but all I know is we need to move away from this area," I tell the Future Exalt. "Frederick suggested we go west."
"That sounds like a good idea," Chrom nods his head. "It gets us closer to Ylisstol, and there are some old forts that we can take shelter in."
"Alright then. I'll pack up the tent and then we can get moving," I nod my head.
It doesn't take me long to pop the burgundy tent pack into a small square of fabric no bigger than a handkerchief. By the time I rejoin the group, everyone's ready to move out.
Bad end avoided?
"It is really dark out today…" Robin notes as we move through the forest. "There aren't very many stars out, and the moon feels…subdued, somehow."
Looking at the midnight sky confirms Robin's observations. There are barely any stars, and there seems to be a weird purple film around the crescent moon that is eerily similar to the shade of purple that the Grimleal like. Foreshadowing, perhaps?
"Yeah…" Chrom nods his head. "Thank goodness that Terence can make these light stones. Otherwise, we'd be trying to move through this forest without any light! The last time we did that, Lissa tripped over a tree root and wouldn't stop crying for hours!"
"Hey!" The princess in question responds quickly. "That was nearly two years ago!"
"Alright, alright," I shake my head. "No need to have an argument right now. Let's keep moving."
Chrom blinks at me but doesn't say anything. Lissa just huffs and walks faster. Frederick picks up his pace to match the blonde princess.
This leaves me and Robin in the back while Chrom is in the middle and the Great Knight and his ward are in the front. This makes me…concerned, but Frederick should be able to handle anything that comes his way. Robin and I, however…well, I'm not sure how well Robin can use a sword, but I don't have any melee weapons.
Well, I should have the magical sword Dawnbringer, but I'm not sure how well I can use it. Terentius is technically proficient in longswords, but I am most definitely not. I also have a mace strapped to the side of my backpack, but again, I'm not sure how well I can use that.
"How far do we need to go…" Lissa groans from up ahead. "I'm tired, I wanna sleep…"
"Yeah, how far do we need to go?" Chrom frowns as he looks back to stare at me. "We've been walking for a while now."
"Aren't we going to the forts?" I blink at him.
"Yeah, well…" Chrom sighs. "I'm not sure—"
Suddenly, a massive cracking noise blasts its way across the previously calm and quiet forest from behind us. I turn around fast enough to see a massive pillar of flame and lava shoot out from a point maybe a kilometre or so to the east of us. The sound wakes up the creatures of the forest, and birds and other smaller animals scramble and scream in their tongues as they rush away from the disturbance. This makes the forest a lot louder than it was, even during the eruption.
I also get hit in the face by a small blue songbird. Ow.
"Well," Chrom shudders. "That answers that question."
"Y—Yeah…" Lissa nods her head. "We definitely should not be over there when it happened."
"Terence, yesterday you risked your life to save an innocent village. Today, your insight helped save us from…that," Chrom walks up to me. "I don't think I can ever thank you enough—"
"Guys?" Robin yells suddenly, cutting Chrom off. "What… exactly is that?"
Chrom and I jerk our heads to look at Robin.
"Gyah!" Lissa screeches. "What is that…big eye thing?"
Ah, that'll be the portal.
Sure enough, I look up into the sky and see a massive eye ringed by two concentric circles of white text. The edge of the perfectly circular eye is made up of crystal-like stones, and the eye itself is blue, unlike a normal animal's white. This gives a thoroughly unnatural look, not helped by the snake-like pitch-black pupil that sits in the middle of the system.
Slowly a humanoid shape is seen through the eye, a greyish mass of flesh, limbs, and two shining eyes of crimson-purple. It crawls forward through what appeared to be a thick, viscous liquid. Not too far behind it is another one of its kind, slowly dragging itself through the eye-like portal.
"I…have no idea…" Chrom admits. "It's not anything I've seen in Ylisse before."
"So this isn't normal?" Robin blinks back.
"Of course not!" Lissa responds before her brother can. "This isn't the kind of place where this sort of stuff happens normally!"
I ignore the chatter and instead, unstrap the All-Purpose Tool from the side of my backpack. The Risen are getting ever-so-close to the edge of the portal, and I'd rather be prepared than weigh in on the conversation at hand.
The dual-purpose weapon and tool whirls happily in my hand as I snap my left hand to conjure my Eldritch Cannon—er, Randy—back into reality.
My favourite murderous flame-throwing appears in a flash of bright white-blue sparks and turns to have its crimson optical sensors stare at me in confusion.
"It's the undead this time," I sigh softly, gesturing towards the portal. "Thought we would never see the rotten bastards after everything we've been through but here we are…"
Randy keeps staring at me in confusion. It doesn't seem to know what I'm talking about.
"Right…" I mutter quietly to myself. "I hadn't made you yet when we went down into the circles. I was rocking the protector, not the flamethrower."
This only seems to make Randy more confused.
"Terence?" Chrom must have noticed my sudden silence. "What's wrong? And where did your machine come from?"
"He has a name you know!" Lissa perks up before I can reply to Chrom's question.
"Er—right…Where'd Randy come from?" Chrom corrects himself at Lissa's insistence.
"Well, there seems to be a pair of people coming through the p—eye thing, and considering the 4th person that I met after coming here had the intention of running me through with a sword, I'd rather be prepared," I shrug.
"Yeah, that's fair," Chrom nods his head before I hear the distinct sound of Naga's tooth scraping against metal as Falchion is drawn from its sheath. The sound, well, sounds nothing like normal steel against iron. Instead, it has this really unique metallic, hollow ringing sound that seems to emanate from the air rather than the sword. There's even this aethereal 'szing' that stays in the air to remind anyone nearby that it's a holy sword and not just a random sharp pointy metal stick.
It's also not abrasive on the ears, unlike the sound of Robin's bronze sword doing the same a few seconds later. Gods, that is a terrible sound. Lubricate your sword, woman! Oil keeps it smooth, sharp, and unrusted!
Now that the Shepherds are all armed and ready, the attention is placed squarely on the two Risen currently crawling their way through Naga's portal and towards us, in the past. Hmmm, I've always wondered if that portal is two-way or not. Should be cool flying a homunculus or a familiar through it and seeing what's on the other side.
Probably Grima and a lot of dead or dying things, but it's the thought that counts, right?
After a few moments, the Risen emerge from the portal. A grey, rotting, stitched-together hand with a pair of slightly rusted iron greeves breaks through the blue-green membrane that separates the portal from the world. Not too long afterwards, an ungodly abomination of a head made from grey, rotting flesh that eerily resembles a dusty-looking Frankenstein's Monster pokes out, screaming an inhuman call that is all too familiar.
My body doesn't really react. In fact, Terentius seems more at home than ever. Considering that zombies and other ghoul and ghoul-adjacent monsters were a common sight in the circles, I'm not too surprised. I wouldn't be surprised if I've gotten an undead expertise feat or something similar at this point; I've killed a lot of the undead and undying.
However, the effect on the Shepherds is much more pronounced. As the two Risen drop onto the ground with loud thumps that seem to shake your very bones, Chrom takes a shaky step back. Lissa is already standing with legs made from well-cooked Capellini behind her brother, and even Robin seems unnerved.
Only Frederick and I have any sense of composure. Man, playing Resident Evil has really numbed me to the sight of the undead. It's either that or Terentius not being afraid of the undead anymore. I really just feel annoyed that I have to fight them again.
Yeah, that's probably Terentius talking.
"What…are those things?" Robin mutters quietly. We're far enough from the landing zone that the Risen aren't on top of us already, and I take that time to prepare a thunderwave spell to dispatch them if they do.
My All-Purpose Tool thrums happily before turning into a small megaphone with rings and rings of yellow-black Latin inscriptions on it.
"They're not from Ylisse, I promise you that," Chrom mutters back in reply. "What do we—"
Chrom is cut off by an infernal cry accompanied by the sound of two zombies rushing towards us with alarming speed.
The Risen make it through the underbrush and to our position in a matter of seconds. Unfortunately for us, I'm the only one ready for their attack. Chrom only has Falchion drawn, but not in any stance. His chest is wide open to being stabbed. Frederick is likewise ready but not in a stance, and Robin doesn't have her tome out.
Fortunately for us, I already have a thunderwave prepped, and even at 1st level, it can do some damage.
Wonder how the Constitution save will work with Risen. What does Constitution scale off of anyhow? Resistance? That's the best fit I can think of, even if it's not quite as good as it should be. If I remember correctly, all the Risen here have a resistance of zero.
This should uh—make for an interesting sight.
The All-Purpose Tool roars to life with an intoxicating blue light, and not too long afterwards, a sound I can only describe as therapeutic rockets forward with a flash of blue-yellow right, and a sickening crack is heard as the surrounding shrubbery and greenery is broken, flattened, or scattered before the power of the spell. What sound does the spell make? Well, search up Seismic Charge and you'll understand why I find the sound to be so nice.
The Risen don't fare much better than the surrounding flora.
One of them is killed outright, the patchwork of rotting, greying skin that served as its outer shell unable to withstand the sheer force of the spell, and it collapses, causing the entire creature to break apart into chunks of magically combined flesh that violently sublimates into a thick purple miasma that takes longer to dissipate.
The other one is hit mid-leap, and the force of the spell slams it back nearly ten feet, its body slamming against a tree hard enough to cause something to snap with a horrifyingly loud sound. Its eyes are still glowing a disgusting shade of crimson, but even that dies down fairly quickly.
All of that is too much to take for Lissa, and she slumps down to her knees behind her brother when the last undead monster disappears into clouds of burgundy mist.
"What…the hell…was that?" The Princess says oh-so eloquently.
"Well, that problem was solved quickly," Chrom blinks in surprise. He'd gotten Falchion up into a defensive stance by the time I cast the spell, which is surprising. He would have been fine even without my pre-prepared cast of thunderwave. "Remind me to never get on your bad side, Terence."
"Odd that you already had a spell ready…" Frederick frowns at me suspiciously.
"Well, Jugen got stabbed by what we had assumed was a friendly Kobold one time, so I prepare a spell every time I see a new person while travelling. It's honestly good practice for us squishy mage types," I shrug. That had been an embarrassing moment for Frederick. Again, my friend Frederick, not this Frederick. I'm going to keep pointing this out because I know one of you is going to get confused.
"Jugen…?"
"An old friend," I reply to Robin's questioning glance. "I'm not where he is now, but I just hope he's doing better than me. I've only gotten stabbed fourteen times, he's gotten stabbed to death on multiple occasions, the idiot…"
Frederick (once again, my friend, not the one who's glaring daggers into my soul) has an inability to not split the party. This caused him to die many times. Well, get knocked down to zero hit points. That man has a talent for rolling well on death saves, unlike poor Albert.
"Fourteen times?" Seriously, that's the part you fixate on, Lissa? Zombies literally fell out of the sky, and I basically hinted at resurrection, but me getting stabbed is the thing you're questioning? "That sounds incredibly painful!"
"That's because it is?" I blink.
"Hey…uh, hate to break up the conversation," Chrom waves his hand to interrupt us. "But what exactly do we do now?"
"Hey, don't look at me," I raise my hands up. "You're the boss, man."
"He has a point, Milord. Usually, it is the leader who commands," Frederick deadpans.
"Har har, Frederick," Chrom rolls his eyes at the Great Knight. "But Terence obviously has more of an idea of what's going to happen than I do, and listening to him has saved our lives once already. Plus, he's just saved our lives again with that spell."
"I'm—sure that—"
"Yeah!" Lissa butts in. "Terence has saved my life too! He took an axe for me, you numbskull! Do you think that he has any ill intent after that?"
"I think that Terence is trustworthy too,"
"And you would say that wouldn't you, Plegian?"
"Oh, come off it!" Chrom growls at his knight. "We don't even know if she's Plegian or not!"
While this rather loud argument devolves into a topic only adjacent to the one we talked about earlier, I'm staring at the Portal still in the sky with some trepidation. Why?
Well, a certain blue-haired swordsman—er, swordswoman—is supposed to be popping out of it in a moment. The fact that she isn't here makes me ever-so anxious.
Actually, why is it taking so long? If I wasn't here and events played out as usual, Lissa would have been turned into a shishkebab already. Unless she managed to kill that Risen with her staff. Not exactly unlikely, considering her strength, but still improbable.
It's making me nervous enough that I slowly walk up into the ruined brush to get a better look at the portal. It's really strange, that. I would have expected Lucina to be here already. What's taking her so long?
The ruined brush is a lot harder to move through than I expected. Not just because of the things you're thinking of either. The amount of splinters is higher than the ant population, and there's always a mountain of ants just around the corner no matter where you look. Thankfully, I have enough clothing to cover my entire body, and I luckily don't get any on my hands. Once again, gauntlets and greeves. Very important. Need to get those.
"Hey, Terence? Whatcha doing over there?" Lissa suddenly asks me.
"Hmmm? I could have sworn I saw someone else fall out of the portal in my vision…" I mutter a reply. "But they don't seem to be showing up."
"Someone else?" Chrom is suddenly a lot more interesting in my words than the argument between Frederick and Robin. "Are they an enemy?"
"Do your enemies usually try to protect your sister?" I respond.
"So that's a no…"
"Well, what do they look like?" Lissa asks, brimming with curiosity. Ah…how do I describe Lucina without making her sound too suspicious?
"Well, they have the same hair colour as your brother," I tap my chin. "And they're wearing a mask, so I couldn't get a good look at their mask. It's also hard to tell what gender they are. I wouldn't be surprised if they were a particularly skinny man or woman. Though they look young. Really young. Probably aren't older than 18. Fairly good with a sword too."
"Hmmm…sounds like a strange person," Chrom shrugs. "I would like to meet them—"
Oh, you will. You very much will.
"—but is it really important to wait around for them?" Chrom finishes.
"I'd rather do so. If my other visions are correct, they're quite important in the days to come. At the very least, it'll be less embarrassing when they kick your ass later," I shrug. I know Lucina doesn't beat Chrom, but I want to light a fire under Chrom's ass so he gets to be the sledgehammer that he usually is.
Chrom opens his mouth to respond as Lissa breaks into peals of laughter. I almost laugh too, but a sudden spike of pain in my shoulder followed quickly by a sharp smack to my head makes me lose consciousness all too quickly.
Gods damn it, not again!
(Lucina)
I hate it. I hate this. I hate all of it! Why is this world so unfair?
Uncle Terence forces me to keep quiet during the entirety of the Awakening if it can even be called that anymore. It's agonising. All I want to do is plead with him, beg him, do anything if it would make him stay.
And yet…I can't. I stand there, silently watching the remaining energy that should have been provided with Sable be instead sucked from a small pile of rods that Uncle provided from one of his bottomless bags. As the magical items that Uncle probably spent months, if not years, making crumble to dust as the energy stored within them is transferred into the Emblem, a wispy form emerges.
"Hear me, Naga! I bear proof of our sacred covenant! In the name of the exalted blood, I ask for the divine dragon's power! Baptize me in fire, that I may become your true daughter!" I say the words drilled into me through dozens of hours of careful memorisation. I was never the best at that, so it took me a while before I was able to recite the Awakening without messing up.
What surprised me, however, is Uncle's light chuckling.
"Really, I never asked Chrom why that was even needed," He smiles at me. "Calling Naga isn't that hard, Lucina. Plus, I don't have nearly enough energy to replace Sable, especially not with the magical power stored in it from Marth shoving Garnef in it. Here, let me get Naga's attention."
He steps in front of me and touches the Emblem.
"Hey, Naga! Get your overgrown lizard ass down here and come show your descendent more love than you showed your daughter, or so Neptune help me!" Uncle's voice is loud and fills the entire chamber with ease.
"U—Uncle!" Cynthia calls out. "Y—You—can't just…do that!"
"I can't do what, now?" Uncle Terence raises an eyebrow at the blonde pegasus knight. "Naga isn't a goddess, you know? She's just a really powerful dragon. And I'm just dealing with her the same way I deal with really big dragons."
Ignoring the sacrilegious nature of what my Uncle just did, the wispy air around the Emblem does slowly coalesce into a humanoid shape at his words. I…suppose Uncle Terence's words have worked then. It still feels wrong to call Naga names like 'overgrown lizard', though.
"Greetings, Sons and Daughters of Man," A light, nearly aethereal voice emanates from the green mist in the shape of a human.
"Lady N—Naga?" I blink in surprise. I haven't read much scripture, but I am fairly certain that this was the same greeting that she used when addressing the Hero-King Marth.
"Hello to you too, you less-infuriating dragon," Uncle Terence smiles. "Got everything ready?"
"W—Wait!" Inigo calls out. "Ready for what?"
"I do not have enough power to Awaken Falchion," Naga explains sullenly. "Without Awakened Falchion, you have no hope of defeating Grima."
"Not without…" Uncle Terence angrily grumbles something under his breath. I'm unable to hear what he said, and Naga's next words get my full attention anyway.
"Precisely. I can, however, send you all back in time. With the knowledge that you have now and the abilities of the Honoured Farseer, I have no doubts that you will be able to win," The Divine Dragon supplies.
Right as Uncle predicted. It's scary, sometimes, how good he is at seeing the future. And despite seeing it, he still wears that bright smile every day. I'm surprised how he can. He smiles more than Morgan and Marc combined!
"So you're telling us that this world is doomed," Gerome spits bitterly.
"Has been for some time, Jeremy," Uncle sighs and leans against a marble pillar. "This timeline's gone to hell the moment that dear Exalt Chrom died. Everything after was damage control."
"W—Wait! S—So everything t—that w—we've done—e was for nothing?" Noire cries out.
"Not for nothing. I did say damage control, not last stand," Uncle Terence shakes his head. "For one, we are way ahead of schedule, aren't we, Naga? Lucina, you turn sixteen…in a month, right?"
I blink in surprise.
"Today is the 2nd of Illimus," Laurent provides. "Your birthday is only thirty-six days away."
Thirty-six days away. A little bit more than the average month, and I'll be considered an adult. It's…painful to know that I've run out of adult family members to serve as Ylisse's regents before I can legally marry. I'll be the first Exalt in history to be Exalt before their sixteen birthday. That…puts things into perspective.
"Wait, when were we supposed to get here?" Severa asks.
"In most timelines? Next year," Uncle shrugs. "Not to mention Inigo and Owain would gain a rather embarrassing fear of bridges."
That sends a shudder down my spine. That…really doesn't sound good.
"Why are we still discussing meaningless things? Are we going or are we not?" Nah pipes up.
"Hey Naga, how long will it take for you to open the portal?" Uncle asks the divine dragon, still in a wispy and formless avatar.
"About sixty minutes or so,"
"Crud…" Uncle sighs. "Sons of bitches…Laurent, assume k is 4, how long until the Risen get to us?"
The mage blinks in surprise at the sudden question but quickly provides an answer.
"Around two thousand six hundred and forty seconds, with a margin of error of a hundred seconds above and below,"
"Again, not unexpected…" Uncle sighs in response. "But not desired. Well Naga, looks like you were right. Time does favour its original course, but I'll be damned if I don't go down fighting."
"Wait, what!" Is the general consensus among my friends at that revelation.
Uncle Terence, by virtue of being the only remaining member of the old guard, had practically raised all of us, especially those who were younger, and so everyone had an extremely strong bond with him. Especially Nah and Inigo, who are the youngest of the group. Inigo can't remember what his father looks like, and Nah can't remember either of her parents. To them, Uncle Terry is their parents.
During the argument that ensues, I stay quiet. I know when Uncle Terry's mind is made up, and I…really can't do anything to change.
It takes a while, but my friends realise this too and stop trying to convince Uncle Terry to come with us.
"Please! W—Why can you not go?" Nah tries one last time. "A—Are you going to abandon us too?"
"Abandon?" That seems to hit Uncle a little close to home. He's been dealing with many of us calling our parents' deaths being abandoned. He really dislikes it. "Do you think your parents abandoned you, Nah? That they're running around in this hellhole after ditching you? I saw them die with my own eyes, Nah! They were my friends, my family! Do you know how hard I tried to keep them alive? Do you think I want to be here alone? Do you think I want to be the only one left to care for you all? To see all of my friends and family in each and every one of you and be reminded every single day of my failings? All of my selfless friends who would lay their lives down if it meant giving you all another day to live? Do you call that abandoning? I do not care if you slander me; I am used to it. But do not talk ill of your parents, Nah!"
Uncle Terry takes a big breath and sighs deeply, the fight and anger leaving him. He looks so vulnerable now…it hurts to see.
Nah looks like she's been slapped. To be put down so thoroughly is one thing, but it was a rarity for Uncle Terry to get angry. To get him so mad right before he's going out to die probably put a very bad taste in Nah's mouth.
"I—I'm sorry! I'm sorry, Uncle! I—hic—didn't mean it like that!" Nah wails as she rushes forward, enveloping Uncle Terry in a big, smothering hug.
"Y—Yeah…I know…" Uncle sighs as he returns the hug with a slight smile. "I…overreacted a bit too. I shouldn't get too angry at you all. I know you're all as if not more, stressed than I am. But I know this seems like I'm abandoning you all, so I did prepare some presents for you all to take before you go in."
"Y—You did?"
"Of course! What kind of Uncle would I be if I didn't?" Uncle Terry grins wildly.
"And there we go!" Uncle smiles proudly as everyone wears all the items that have been gifted to us. "Everyone's got their equipment! You guys look stronger already! And you all are!"
Kjelle is brandishing a new lance that shins and hums with an aethereal power not too dissimilar to Falchion's own aura, just a lot dimmer. Her armour also has similar power radiating from it, and it has probably gotten a lot tougher. Hidden beneath all that armour is also a bracelet. Uncle neglected to tell us what it did, but all things considered, it probably also does something to protect Kjelle. I think the lance's name is Courage, and it was originally wielded by a person named Jugen. I'm not sure though, Cynthia is a lot better at remembering these things than I am. It is a powerful weapon, unable to be broken, and its tip is harder than diamond yet more durable than steel. A heavy weapon, requiring immense strength to wield, and yet a precision weapon, needing the utmost concentration.
Owain has received multiple bracelets protecting him from all sorts of ailments and afflictions, from the cold to drowning. It also makes him look a lot fancier, which he appreciates. He's also been given a glowing silver band inset with a shimmering blue sapphire. Carved into the untarnished platinum-white band of metal that rests on his head are a set of twelve symbols, each humming with power. A bolt of lightning falling from the sky, a regal peacock, a three-pronged trident, a wide-eyed owl, a circle with an arrow pointing out from it, a circle with a plus sign underneath, a laurel wreath crossed with arrows, a crescent moon crossed with a bow, a hammer and flame, a lit hearth, a staff with two snakes intertwined, and a torch crossed by twin sickles are the twelve symbols that each glow softly with a warm and colourful light. The Helm of the Gods, Uncle called it.
Brady, on the other hand, gets a massive staff that's nearly one and a half times his height. I believe the staff's name is Caduceus Magnificonto, though again, I'm unsure about that. Uncle says that the staff will help with healing by providing extra power to the casts and never breaking, only needing to be left in nature for a night to recharge their energy. Brady also looks a lot less threatening when he's carrying around a massive marble-white staff with a golden top with a wing with a single snake coiled around it. Just being near it gives me a sense of safety, though I know that is just my mind being tricked into believing that.
Cynthia received an artefact from Uncle Terry's old friends, a seemingly unassuming leather greave. But, at a moment's notice, a kite shield as light as the air springs into existence. It's translucent, shading everything behind it in a crimson light, but it is strong. Strong enough that Falchion cannot even come close to denting it. And it doesn't hinder Cynthia's movement at all. Every time a part of her body touches the shield accidentally, the shield wraps around her body, allowing her free movement despite the large shield strapped to her left arm. Guardián, Uncle called it. It had once belonged to a man named Rufus. The sad, longing look on his face almost made me question what exactly that man had meant to Uncle, but I pulled back. He doesn't need more stress on his mind than what he already has. It's more than enough to break the average human, after all.
For Severa Uncle gave two things. The first is a small statuette around fifteen centimetres in height made from ivory and bronze. It's wonderfully carved, and shimmers with a magical weave that unsettles Nah slightly. It depicts a dragon grabbing onto a stone pillar. Uncle Terry never specified what exactly it does, but Fabius fills Severa in later. It's a Figurine of Wondrous Power and a custom one at that. At Severa's command, the statuette should turn into a small dragon for two hours before reverting back into a statue. Whether or not the dragon will listen to Severa is another question entirely, but that's what it does. The second item that Uncle Terry gives Severa is a shortsword, glowing with magical power. Like all of the weapons he makes, this one is a quality unseen since the days of the Hero-King, despite him being able to make one in days.
Instead of anything for Gerome, Uncle Terry gives Minerva a set of very tough-looking armour. He does give Gerome a pointed glare afterwards, and Gerome shrinks a little from his gaze. Of all of my friends, Uncle Terry has a grudge against Gerome for some reason. I don't remember Uncle being on bad terms with his father or Lady Cherche, but for some reason, Gerome always seems to be treated worse than everyone else. Not by much, and certainly not to the point where one should call him out, but enough to be noticeable. I do see Uncle Terry slip something into Gerome's bag when Gerome isn't looking, however.
For Yarne he gives another headband of metal, this time bronze. Uncle Terry says something unintelligible for most of us, but Yarne seems to understand. The Taguel nods his head vigorously and replies in the same language. Even weirder, Uncle Terry turns to Minerva and makes this weird gurgling noise in his throat. We all stare at him until Minerva responds by nodding her head multiple times and gurgling happily in response. Even Gerome is shocked, and he doesn't seem to be shocked by much these days.
For Laurent, he gives two tomes. Every single spell and piece of alchemical and arcane knowledge that Uncle Terry is able to give him is in there, he says. They are Arcane Compendiums, and Laurent stares at Uncle Terry with a sparkle in his eyes before embracing him in a massive hug that takes Uncle completely by surprise, though he takes it in stride and returns it fairly quickly. He also whispers something into Laurent's ear, to which the young mage's face hardens considerably.
Noire gets a rather flimsy-looking bow made from twisted branches and flowering plants and a pair of metal bracers. To me, that bow looks like a lame gift, but Noire is elated to get something. The bracers, however, are of extremely high quality, and they glimmer brilliantly in the light emitted by Naga's most holy of sites. Still, Noire is ecstatic to be getting anything at all. The bow, however, I am less sure about. It is most unusual for Uncle to give something that wasn't immediately useful, but I cannot see a good use case for such a weak bow.
For Nah, he gives a small orb. I'm unsure what it is, and what it does, and Fabius doesn't know either, but considering how happy it makes Nah, who was crying moments earlier, I don't question it. The orb is translucently clear, with a hint of a blue undertone. It sparkles whenever it meets the light bouncing from the light of the temple, but other than that, it looks like a normal crystalline orb.
For Morgan and Marc, Uncle Terry gave each got one of Uncle's smaller machines. A salamander-like creature the size of a housecat crawls onto Morgan's shoulder, two brass orifices in the front of its face snorting out small licks of flames in annoyance. Meanwhile, a floating bronze orb that shudders with aethereal blue energy that crackles and hisses in the air flies behind Marc. Like always, Uncle Terry has a small conversation with his machines, though this time in a language that neither I nor Fabius can comprehend. The machines shudder and snort their disapproval at what Uncle has said, but Uncle doubles down, which finally shuts the conversation down.
As for his own son…I am unsure of what Uncle Terry gave Fabius. It…didn't look like much, but looks can be unassuming. A small glass jar that looks completely normal. Even Laurent agreed with me that the glass jar is completely mundane. Perhaps Uncle Terry had already given Fabius the items that he had wanted to give?
At long last, Uncle gets to me.
"And finally, last but certainly not least, we have you, Lucina!" He grins as he pulls out a rather large bag. "You probably have the hardest journey ahead of you, and as such, I have prepared the most helpful items I could make or had on me."
From the bag, he produced a pair of boots that are made from a sort of bluish-pink leather that reflects the light in an uncomfortable way. There are small little metal pins on the ankles of these boots that have a golden eagle carrying a bundle of sticks with an axe in them, with a red star overlaid on top of a laurel wreath.
"These are Boots of the Winding Path. A bit of a pain to make, especially trying to turn an infusion into an actual item that will survive after my death, but I've done that and gotten rid of the main drawback of it!" Uncle Terry grins proudly. "They'll allow you to teleport into a nearby space within four metres or so instantly! Perfect for a quick getaway or a sudden attack!"
I blink in surprise. Magical pieces of clothing were the best; they didn't wear out at all, barely got dirty, and usually did something good. I did complain about my boots being a bit too small a couple of weeks ago, and having this ability is going to help a lot!
"T—Thank you, Uncle!" I rush to enwrap him in a tight embrace. "I won't ever forget this! This…This is…the best!"
"Now now…" Uncle chuckles, causing me to back off a little and tilt my head in surprise. What? I can't help it! A lot of Uncle's more subtle habits have rubbed off on me! "I know your 16th birthday is coming up in a bit over a month. Unfortunately, I will not be there to witness it. Fortunately, I will not need to, since I will have already given you your present. And that present is—"
Uncle unstraps something from his belt and hands it to me—
No! He can't have!
"—Dawnbringer," He smiles as he puts the immaculate gold handle of the magical sword that can match Falchion currently strapped to my side into my hesitant and shaking palm. I look down at the versatile two-handed longsword handle that looks plain at first glance. It has no embezzlement nor special decorations to mark its status as a powerful weapon that can cast off the darkest of nights other than a small red gem on its pommel. But even now, I can feel its warm hum that pierces through my leather gloves and the sheer holy power that comes off in waves from the weapon.
"It used to be my weapon, but I won't be needing it where I'm going," Uncle Terry shoots me a toothy grin as he closes my palm and leaves me standing in shock. "Treat her well, alright? I know this is sudden, but please…just…"
I don't catch whatever Uncle says afterwards, but I'm still standing there dumbfounded with my mouth open like an idiot. I try to make a sound, but nothing wants to come out. I can't even turn down the gift! It's not even a gift at this point!
It takes a long time, long enough for Uncle Terry to pack up the remanding things in his backpack and give that to Fabius, but I do find my voice.
"W—Wait! Uncle! I—I can't! T—T—This is your sword! I—I—I can't take it!" I yell out, causing Uncle to slowly turn back and let out a long sigh.
"Lucina. I can't…no, I won't! I can't let him—pardon, I didn't mean to do that," He sighs again. "What I'm trying to say is that I cannot let Grima get a hold of Dawnbringer. When I do die out there, he will have free reign of my body and anything that is on it. I am…unsure if or even if he wants to, but there is always the possibility that Grima may try to corrupt Dawnbringer, just like how Nepenthe was corrupted. That…I cannot let happen. You don't want that to happen, do you?"
"I do—"
"Exactly my point," Uncle rolls his eyes before I even get to respond. "And Lucina, you're the only person I feel comfortable giving Dawnbringer to. You're the only one that Dawnbringer can get used to in any amount of time. And as for why I'm not giving to Fabius, it's because I no longer trust him to use any kind of magical sword."
I shudder a little. The incident that caused Uncle to lose trust in his son's ability to use a sword was…interesting, to say the very least.
"Alright, everyone! Naga's going to have the portal ready in a bit, I'll be outside. I'll join you guys if possible, but don't expect it!" With a toothy grin, Uncle vanishes.
"Alright, everyone…" I sigh to break the silence that descended like an invisible cloth over us after Uncle left to face his fate. "We…need to decide what we do now…"
"And who put you in charge?" Lady Say'ri's son stares at me judgingly with his auburn eyes, burning a hole into the side of my head. "You might be the liege of most of us, but that doesn't mean we're obligated to follow you!"
The children of the two Khans nod their heads in agreement.
"Er…I—I think that…" Noire speaks up, but her quiet voice is quickly cut off by the rather loud and abrasive voice of Lady Sully's daughter.
"She's the leader because Uncle Terry said so, damn it!" Kjelle crosses her hands across her chest. "And why do we need to decide? Uncle Terry's already told us what to do! When Naga opens the portal to the past, we go in! We're all ready for it, we have our instructions, our goals, and our equipment. Why do we need to discuss this?"
"Because we're leaving someone to die!" Cynthia cries out. "A real hero doesn't leave anyone behind! Is that not what Uncle told us? That nobody is to be left behind? And yet what are we doing now? We're leaving him behind! The one that we all owe our lives to!"
"That's right!" Owain backs her up. "Although the sky is dark, and the path forward is a poor, unpaved, dirt road surrounded by thickets, we must strive to reach the pinnacle that our Fathers have taught us to achieve!"
"B—But we'll face extinction if we go out there!" Yarne hops nervously. "H—He wanted us to survive! We must live! That's what Uncle would want!"
"That is correct," Laurent nods his head. "We all carry a mission that we must accomplish at any expenditure. It is our duty and obligation to achieve Libertas a Timor, and this is the best opportunity for us to get there. We must go."
"Still…" Inigo sighs. "It feels…wrong to leave Uncle out there alone. He's out there fighting for us, and we're just running away."
"That's exactly what Father wants, you dolt!" Fabius snaps. "Are we all throwing away Father's sacrifice? He's doing this for us! So that we have a chance to fix things! Can't you see that?"
"And how many people must we sacrifice to get there?" Yen'Suei replies quietly. "I…can't even remember Dad's face…I'm forgetting what Mother looked like. Do…Do we have to sacrifice so many people? And is Libertas a Timor so important that we must bury everyone we know under the dirt for it?"
"What are you saying, Yen'Suei?" Fabius wheels on the taller boy. It's slightly funny seeing the short Fabius yelling upwards at a taller yet frightened Yen'Suei. "If we stopped now, then what did everyone die for? And you can't remember your dad's face, so what? I can't remember my mom's name, never mind her face! Nah can't remember either of her parents, and Inigo's mother died when he was two! You got to spend time with your mother, and that's already a luxury not many of us have!"
"Fabius! Don't say that!" Morgan admonishes the young golden-haired boy. "We're all in the same boat, so stop saying that! It'll make him sad!"
Fabius sighs and sits down, his head in his hands. The boy is silent for a while before he speaks up again.
"I'm…sorry, Yen'Suei…I know, I know…" He whimpers in a quiet voice. "It's just…I don't…want to leave Father alone…but…but…I have to…"
"But why? Cynthia asks with a frown on her face. "Didn't Uncle always tell us to follow our heart? If you want to stay, then stay and help him!"
"But if he does, then he'll die," Marc points out quietly. "We…can't win. No matter how hard we try, we will lose if we try to fight Grima right now. There is no strategy to win. We need the Awakening for us to even stand a chance, and that chance has been taken from us. The only way forward is to go through the portal when it appears…"
That put a damper on everyone's mood. Excluding Uncle Terence, Marc was the smartest one of us. And if even the optimistic Marc says that we have no more options, we probably don't have any options. Not any that have a high chance of survival.
This causes the room to go quiet, with no voices daring to break the silent veil that Marc's observation had created. The only sound that remains in the hall is the sound of Naga's magic creating a path to the past behind us.
This silence lasts for a while, before Inigo, of all people, stands up.
"Well…if that's the case…we might as well go, right?" He sighs. "I…I don't want to die. I…want to see my mother's face again. I want to see Father's face again. Isn't this what we all wanted?"
"But we'll be leaving Uncle behind! We shouldn't do that!" Cynthia presses with a face that seems to be on the verge of tears. "We can't do that! Not after everything that he's done for us!"
"Augh! I can never understand you Ylisseans and your inability to agree on anything! If you want to wag your tongues in circles, do it when we're not under a time constraint! Uncle Terry's out there fighting the good fight, and we're here fucking yelling at each other!" The blonde son of the Khans stands up with an irritated look on his face.
"Antonii! Language!" His sister hisses from beside him.
"Sorry Julia…right, where was I?" Antonii apologizes to his black-haired sister before continuing. "Right! If we want to do this fairly, let's put it to a vote. I think it's called that, right? Yeah, a vote. Everyone who wants to go through that portal raise your hands!"
Inigo, Marc, Morgan, Fabius, Brady, Gerome, Yarne, Laurent, and Alann raise their hands. Weirdly enough, Kjelle doesn't raise hers. I don't raise mine either. I feel like my vote will impact the votes of others, and honestly, I don't even know what to do anymore. I've always followed Uncle's instructions, but right now, his instructions feel so wrong to act out.
"You're not raisin' yah hand, Kjelle?" Brady blinks in surprise. "I thought that ya' wanted to go?"
"I must go," The knight corrects. "No matter the consequence of the vote, I will go."
"Right, right. I'll mark you down for abstaining," Antonii sighs. "All against?"
This time, Owain, Cynthia, Severa, Noire, Yen'Suei, and Julia raise their hands. A much smaller number than the group who want to go.
"Well, I guess that settles it," Antonii sighs. "We're going, everyone."
"Wait, what? All because of some dumb vote?" Severa suddenly speaks up. "We're going to leave Uncle behind because of that?"
"No, we are utilizing Uncle Terence as a rearguard because he volunteered for it," Laurent shakes his head. "We are not leaving him behind."
"W—Wait! If that's the case, then I volunteer to go with him!" Cynthia speaks up hurriedly.
"No can do, I'm afraid. Father said no one should go with him, remember?" Fabius sighs.
"B—B—But!"
"Is there any reason to bicker anymore?" Kjelle scowls. "We're going. End of discussion."
"Oh, just because you said so? Why don't you—" Severa starts to yell but is cut off by the usually shy Nah.
"Severa, please! J—Just this once! U—Uncle would want us to live! S—So, let's all go and live!" She raises her voice just a little, but it has a profound impact. Being the youngest child, Nah usually doesn't speak up or raise her voice.
"F—Fine…but not because you said anything!" Severa turns around with a huff and stares off into the distance.
"Well, since that's all decided…are we going to read the stuff that Uncle gave us?" I ask the gather people.
"Er—Lucina? Aren't we…um…supposed to read them after we get there?" Inigo blinks at me.
"W—Well…mine has a very big 'READ AS SOON AS POSSIBLE' on it…"
"Well, why didn't you read it EARLIER!" Severa yells indignantly. "Read it already!"
"Y—Yes, right!"
Lucina,
Be brave, be smart, and be quick. The past is the only chance we have to save the world. But you already know that, so me repeating that is probably very annoying, yeah? Let's get into some of the more useful insights I have for you.
You will have the hardest job out of everyone.
Why?
Because you'll land in Southtown mere hours after Chrom and Robin first meet. And you'll be the only one of our little group with any extended contact with the Shepherds before the Valm War. Unless, that is, Laurent can get out of the desert and Minerva understands what I told her before. Expect Laurent and Gerome to be in Ylisstol, but don't be surprised if they're not.
And this gives you the important task of not just making sure that the Western Khan loses the 1275th Khan Selection, but also the prevention of Emmeryn's assassination. All of this while not blowing either Chrom or Robin's brains with time travel, and avoiding getting stabbed by Frederick the Wary for being a spy.
Make sure that you contact me as soon as possible. I will know who you are, even back then. And plus, even if I didn't, I would have major suspicions over who you were. Believe me when I say that I will be able to see through your disguise. It's not even that good, to be honest. Just find a time when I'm alone. There are some…More difficult topics that I will talk about. Topics that I would rather not put in this letter. They are wholly inappropriate for this communique. Also, make sure that you give me my letter to myself as soon as possible. I've written them in Latin, and I've also forbidden Fabius from translating them for you, so don't even try to have a peak.
Not that you will, but just a bit of paranoia on my part, I suppose.
I am unsure of the consequences that I have brought to Ylisse. By going back in time, you have forever changed the flow of the river of time, and that will always be true no matter how hard you stay on the path that you think exists. Usually, this is dangerous, as no one has a perfect view of the future, but in this case, we can direct that change to make the world better. I am able to see the future as it progresses, and I know of not just the stream that we have sailed down, but into many of the creeks and tributaries of our seemingly straightforward river. Do not try to make time stick to its original course, that only makes our jobs harder. Instead, change it so we may have a better, more perfect future. Change is good, of course, but be careful, for even the best navigator is unaware of the currents swirling beneath their ship's hull.
Please, be careful, Lucina. Your life is worth more than anything. Promise me you won't do anything rash. Please.
Also, please don't think that Chrom would push you aside. He's way too trusting for that to happen, the muppet.
There will be times when you feel hopeless. I know how hard it will be. Don't ever give up hope. The future is savable. The future will be saved. Don't ever give up, Lucina
I will always be with you if you need me. I love you with all my heart, Lucina. Don't you ever forget that.
Your Uncle will always be there.
Do your best.
Best wishes,
Your most favourite of Uncles,
Septimus Terentius Aquilius Terentius
(Terentius)
Holy fucking shit ow. At least I didn't get knocked out, this time. I think. Time is difficult to tell when your head hurts like a bitch.
What I do know is that I'm still alive, I'm face-down in the dirt, and they're something around the weight of a great dane on my head and shoulders, though I'm not sure what exactly just decided to push me head-first into the very splinter-filled ground.
Luckily for me, I don't seem to have gotten any splinters embedded into my skin. At the very least, my face doesn't hurt. The small victories, man. Can't stay sane without enjoying them.
I groan something incomprehensible as I try, and fail, to get the thing off of my back. I'm a bit scared to use my hand to push up against whatever it is; I don't feel any splinters, but putting pressure on my hands is probably going to turn any near-splinters into definite ones, and that's something I want to avoid.
"H—Hey guys…" I cough. "I…think something fell on me. Did I get hit with a rock or something?"
"Um…Terence? Are you alright?" That's Lissa's voice. "And…uh…I think the person you were talking about…is uh…here?"
Oh. Lucina showed up? Took her long enough, gods damn.
"Great. Where…are they?"
"Well…" Robin holds back a laugh. "They're…right above you!"
I hear the distinct laughter of three people: Chrom, Robin, and Lissa. Good, Lucina isn't laughing at me yet. That would be one hell of an introduction. Well, hopefully, re-introduction.
"Great. L—Whoever's on top of me, please get off. I don't like my face in the dirt, and there are a lot of splinters!" I almost say Lucina's name out loud! Oops!
"Uh—Huh? Oh, I'm sorry!" I feel the weight leave my shoulders and head as Lucina rushes to get off. I hear a flurry of fabric noises and the clinking of metal against metal.
Spitting out dirt and chuckles of broken wood and leaves from my mouth, I practically drag myself up onto my two legs. As I do so, I see Randy, the adorable little murder-roomba that he is, giving me the machine equivalent of a concerned look. Seeing this, I give a thumbs up and shoot him a grin, which gets him to relax and have the tension seep out of him.
I turn towards Lucina, who looks normal except for two small details. Her boot looks…concerning. They look like someone took the skin from Pink and Blue Horrors of Tzeentch, stitched them over hardened bovine leather, tanned that, and turned it into a pair of boots. It's oddly offsetting in a subtle and nefarious way. You wouldn't notice that anything is wrong unless you were either looking for changes or looking for magical items, and that makes it all the more concerning. The second thing that's different is a golden longsword hilt—
Hey, I know that sword! That's fucking Dawnbringer! Why the hell does Lucina have it? It should be securely stored in a magically bright box in one of my bags of holding! Did she—wait a moment, she's from the future. Future me probably gave it to her. That's…honestly a good idea, especially if I died early on. That sword is probably extremely useful in the future, what with the lack of light and the ability to do not only radiant damage but extra damage to the undead.
Speaking of Dawnbringer, why the hell hasn't she started to pound my head with a calm, beautiful, yet extremely energetic voice yet? Does her telepathy not work through dimensions? Did I unattune to her? What the hell?
Honestly though? Good fucking thing. I wanna wake up to anyone but Dawnbringer's voice.
…
How the fuck do I even know how she sounds? Jonathan is a dude with a pretty baritone voice. And it was his job to voice all of the NPC, even female ones! So how the hell do I know how Dawnbringer sounds if I've never even heard her speak before?
And also, yeah, that's a nice voice. Keeps fucking talking during all the wrong times, though.
"Augh, my fucking baaaaack," I groan as I lead forward to crack it. "Man, I was expecting you to drop out of the sky, just not on my face…"
"I'm—ahem, I mean, apologies," Lucina starts off speaking in a very feminine voice, but quickly puts on her proverbial mask. She's…actually really good at that. If you said 'Marth' was a Bishonen I'd believe you. Plus, Marth himself wasn't too traditionally masculine either. "I didn't mean to be dropped on top of you."
"Ah, hell. It is what it is, I suppose. We've got those Frankenstein-ass fuckers to fight in a bit anyway. I don't feel anything wrong with my body, so you didn't break anything, so all's well that ends well, right?" I grin at Lucina, who returns a quick, stiff smile.
"Wait, there are more of those things?" Lissa's eyes go wide. "We have to fight more of those things?"
"Indeed. This world teeters at the brink of a horrible calamity. What you saw tonight was but a prelude. You have been warned," I can feel Lucina trying to get away from the situation. She visibly stiffens every time she looks at her father. I'm unsure if Robin's her mother or not, but she's definitely someone to her.
She is about to leave when I reach out and grab her shoulder.
"Leaving so soon?" I feel her muscles tense up when my dirt-stained palm touches her shoulder. "You haven't even introduced yourself yet. And plus, there are undead falling from the sky, and we'd really like some help with that."
"Yeah! Stay with us for a bit!" Lissa grins. "I'm Lissa! What's your name?"
A bit of Lissa's more childish side shows through.
"Y—You may call me Marth," Lucina's voice is a bit shaky. Unsure of the impact of her words, maybe?
"Marth? After the heroic king of old?" Chrom scratches his chin. "I mean, you certainly are dressed and armed like a hero…"
"Unless that sword's only for show…" Robin frowns as she mumbles.
"No way!" Lissa turns around to stare at Robin. "He looks like a warrior, and can probably fight like one!"
"...He?" I blink in surprise. "Lissa, are you absolutely sure that this person's a dude?"
"Well, duh?" Lissa stares at me in an equal amount of surprise. "Look at him! He looks so dr—I mean cool!"
You really just called your niece dreamy? I mean, yeah, Lucina is pretty and extremely badass, and by proxy 'Marth' is as well, but you…didn't have to say the implied part out loud? And yes, I do think Lucina is very attractive, thank you very much. Not…enough to try my hand, especially when her father and maybe even her mother are right in front of me.
"I mean…" I sigh. "I don't think you can judge someone's gender by just…looking at them. They could be a very feminine man or a very masculine woman."
"We could always just ask Marth," Chrom points. "Hey, Marth, are you a man or a woman?"
Lucina stiffens even further as she has to contend with an inquisitive gaze from her father. She's probably panicking so hard right now. It takes all I have not to break down in laughter. While her facial expression is covered by that beautiful midnight blue mask, I can still see hints of her alarm in the other facial muscles that are uncovered by the butterfly mask.
"It's rude to ask for a person's gender right after you've met them, Prince Chrom," Lucina settles on diverting the conversation away from herself. "Not only that, but we are in a dangerous situation. U—Sir Terentius is right, the Risen will be coming in large numbers, and we need to stop them."
"H—Hey, you still haven't—" Lissa tries to get Lucina to answer the question, but she suddenly disappears. I'm not joking. I was literally staring at Lucina one second and then staring at the form of a cracked and fallen-over tree the next. Yes, I'm as confused as you are. No, I probably do know what the hell happened. Boots of Elvenkind, maybe?
No, those boots don't look like someone skinned a lesser demon of Tzeentch to make them.
What the hell are those boots? They're obviously magical, and I'm ninety per cent sure that they are what allowed Lucina to teleport just now. I doubt she used a spell like Misty Step because that actually leaves behind evidence, while displacement from magical items usually doesn't.
What the actual hell?
Man, am I going to have to deal with a Lucina that can teleport at will? Because that's going to be painful.
"What? Huh?" Lissa is the first to respond to Lucina's sudden disappearance. "Did he just…disappear? Y—You all saw him just disappear, right? He just…stopped being there."
"Yeah, we all saw that. Suspicious…" Chrom scratches his chin. "Well, Terence, this 'Marth' person seems to know our names. Do you know anything about him? Or her?"
Oh, do I know. I can't say anything, of course, but I probably know more than she wants.
"Other than they'll be here today? Not much," I shrug. "What I do know is that there are a lot more of the undead…what did 'Marth' call it again? Risen? Yeah, I know that there are a lot of those on their way here and we should probably do something about that."
Chrom sighs and nods his head.
"Yeah, we should. Do you know where they are?"
"Near these old stone walls. Didn't get a good look, but I did see Robin over there tell you to cut one of them down, so there's that," I shrug again. I also give Robin a small look to judge her reaction. She stiffens at the mention of her name. I guess she hasn't adjusted to her role as a tactician yet…
Man, do I have to push her more into that role? I really don't want to, but if I have to…
I mean, I don't trust Virion with my life and Miriel will probably be distracted by something to really tactic properly. And Laurent is a long way off.
Oh yeah, Robin is also probably a god-tier strategist, on the same level as Minerva. Dea Romanorum Minerva, to be exact. Not the ancient Macedonian Queen, or Cherche's dragon.
Just so we're clear.
Because one of you is going to make that joke, and I don't want to hear it.
"That'll be the forts," Chrom sighs. "Alright, Shepherds! We need to destroy these Risen from this forest! They cannot be allowed to ravage the countryside!"
"W—Wait, I'm a Shepherd now?" Robin blinks in surprise.
"Well, do you want to sit this one out?"
"N—No, but are you really going to trust a person you just met?"
Chrom just shrugs.
"I also met Terence this morning, and he's saved my sister and my life. You've saved my life at Southtown already too, so if you're ready to risk your life for us, I'd say you're trustworthy," Is Chrom's reply. Actually…that's decent logic.
"Alright then. Chrom, stick with your sister, closely this time. Frederick, you're alone again, and Terence, you're with me!" Robin's mind starts to whirl and commands start to come through. "We're not at the sight of the battle, so I'm going to have to revise the battleplan when we get more information, but at the current moment, Chrom should stick to the front with Lissa to heal him if he gets hurt, Terence and I will be in the back, while Frederick, you can just go and kill everything and anything you can."
Hey! That's the tactician I know! Good to see that even if she's reluctant, those brain juices are still as potent as they should be. It's still concerning how reluctant of her position she is. I would think that someone like her would take to commanding as a fish takes to swimming, but she's floundering like a recently-hatched chick.
Actually, that analogy is bad. She has the capability, but not the will. That's…worse than if she didn't have the knowledge. It's easier to teach a person than to encourage them, after all.
"Right!" Chrom nods, moving to the front of the group with Lissa following him like a little duckling following their mother. "To battle, Shepherds! Today we remove this blight from our lands!"
A bit…insensitive, considering a large minority of said shepherds aren't Ylissean, but a good battle cry nonetheless.
You know, it's…sickening how easily battle comes to me. Before I got thrown into Ylisse with the body of a Punic-Era Roman jacked up on magic, I was a peaceful man. The worst thing I did was slam a bully's head into a locker. That had been a unique experience…but I digress.
It's worrying how easy it is for me to point my weapon towards human-looking, or at the very least humanoid, things and pull the trigger. The worryingly familiar heat of a Fire Bolt shooting out of a wand-like apparatus at the patchwork face of a Risen is as natural as can be. I feel my mind drifting, thinking about different thoughts, thinking about what's going to come next, how much sleep I'm getting, and what I want to eat tomorrow.
And then, my mind will snap back to the situation that I'm in.
I'm not worried that I'm able to kill Risen efficiently. No, that's probably something to be applauded. Instead, it's the fact that I'm so accustomed, and frankly used, to killing human and human-adjacent beings that I'm afraid of. Think about it for a moment. Even pointing a gun at a zombie, most of us would hesitate, even if it was for a second, about pulling that trigger.
But me? I'm…practically doing it on instinct. I see movement, I point my All-Purpose Tool at it. If it turned out to be a Risen, I blast a spell, usually Fire Bolt, at it. If it doesn't dissolve into purple mist instantly, I do it again. No hesitation, no thought, nothing of the sort. It's…frightening. It's like looking at a mirror and not seeing yourself in the reflection.
Oh gods, Terentius doesn't look like me…
Holy shit, that's actually going to happen, isn't it? Oh, fuck…
One crisis at a time, please. I don't want body dissociation at this moment.
"Terence?" Robin's voice snaps me out of my miasmic thoughts. "You alright?"
I try to give the silver-hair tactician a smile, but I doubt it looks anything remote to reassuring.
Hell.
"I'm…fine. I can sort everything out after we make sure the reliving dead are put back to their deserved sleep," I sigh.
"But you're not ok," Robin frowns, slowing down and putting a hand on her hips as she turns around to give me a glare. Those amber eyes that are usually so comforting send a chilling shudder down my spine.
"Shouldn't we be more focused on the Risen?" I give her a questioning look. "The Risen aren't going to wait as we have this conversation. As you said, getting Risen out of that fort isn't going to be easy.
Chrom and Frederick were able to tear a gaping hole through the absolute sea of Risen that appeared as we got deeper and deeper into the forest. That revealed one of the ancient fortresses that were built here millennia ago to be absolutely crawling with the undead. Even from a distance, you could see the red eyes crawling around the unkept building. They were like a swarm of crimson ants swarming around and on top of a large carcass.
However, the other fortress was untouched, pristine, even. It is in much better condition too, with all the walls intact and even a half-built aqueduct protruding through one section of relatively long wall. Of course, that aqueduct was probably abandoned when the country that built these forts, most likely Archanea, decided that these forts were no longer useful, but it still warms my heart. Aqueducts are cool, man.
Robin wanted us to capture the fort, both to deny the Risen access to such a well-defended position, and since it offered a very good vantage onto the other fortress, and having Robin and I rain down spells onto the Risen inside would make capturing that fortress a lot easier. A manoeuvre that brings more than one benefit, nice!
So, Frederick is off harassing the veritable tsunami of Risen on the other fort, while the rest of us attack this fort. Chrom and Lissa are attacking it from the north-west, while we're going at it from the east.
Considering neither Robin nor I can hear the sound of combat, it is safe to say that Chrom hasn't reached the fort yet, and those small red dots are slightly worrying me. Dislodging enemies from fortifications in-game was difficult already, and I don't want to see it in action.
"Yes, but I don't want bad things to happen because you're distracted," Robin frowns at me. "A wandering mind is dangerous on the battlefield."
"And where'd you read that from?" I smirk. "Anyhow, don't worry. I'm not going to die because my mind is wandering. I've been doing this kind of work for too long."
"Er—What kind of work?" Robin blinks at me as we pick up the pace.
"You know, war? Fighting, stabbing, killing, maiming, generally doing things the normal citizenry thinks are barbaric," I shrug.
"Really?" Robin blinks at me.
"I joined the military at the age of fourteen," I explain. Sounds come out of my mouth faster than I can even realise what words they form, much less stop them. "Rome needed men to defend it, and I was called up. I served for ten years, mostly on or close to the front lines. After that, I got recruited by Konstantine to an expedition into the depths of the Abyssal Plane itself. Time…is strange there, but chronologically, I stayed there for another eleven years."
"Hold on, how old are you?" Robin stares at me with an intense glare. "You don't look thirty-five."
"I did say time in the Abyssal Plane is strange," I shrug. "Chronologically, I am thirty-five. But a person's body doesn't age in the Abyssal Plane, and the time we got out of the Plane was only a couple of minutes removed from the time we went in. I left a chronometer—er, a really precise clock—at the entrance of the mansion, and the time only changed by six hundred forty-seven seconds. So, it is really hard to tell my age. On the one hand, my body is only twenty-four, but I've experienced thirty-five years of life."
"That…sounds really complicated," Robin frowns. "So do you think of yourself as thirty-give or twenty-four?"
"I'm twenty-four," I insist. I wasn't even that old when I got into this body. I don't want to lose more than a decade of life! Plus, Robin doesn't think I look thirty-five, so I'm going to trust her judgement. "While it does mean that those eleven years in hell aren't counted, I'd rather forget about those traumatic days."
Hmmm…that last sentence was all Terentius. In fact, all of that was mostly Terentius speaking. I did write that he saw through the entirety of Scipio's Campaign in his backstory, and that did last ten years. However, we reached level eleven from level five, and I doubt it took eleven years for that to happen. Hell, the campaign only lasted a year and a half!
Though, we did rest for a long time. I believe we stayed something like seven in-game months in the third circle just waiting for the entrance to the fourth circle to open. Yeah, things like that probably inflated the time that Terentius was there.
And as for the traumatic experiences part…well, it was a very difficult campaign set in hell itself, and considering a majority of the players at the table were fans of dark fantasy and much more…brutal stories, there were a lot of plot beats that could be considered traumatic. Oh, who am I kidding, the entirety of the campaign starting from the fifth circle can be considered traumatic.
Robin's sudden silence distracts me from my thoughts.
"Are you alright? You've suddenly become quiet,"
"I'm fine," Robin shakes her head. "I was just thinking about how best to deal with that."
She points at the top of the wall where a—
Oh, for fuck's sake! Really?
A very large, beast-like risen is crouched on top of the wall. If I had to guess, this is the chapter boss. He looks very big, very strong, very powerful, and very, very hard to kill. How he got on top of the fort, I don't know. Aren't bosses not allowed to move?
"Ah…shit," I mutter. "He looks mean."
"And tough," Robin nods her head. "Thankfully, I don't think there are any other Risen around. We take him out, we take the fort."
"Easier said than done," I click my tongue.
"Well, we have a couple of options, none of which I really like," Robin sighs. "We can either try to kill it from here, or we can try to charge it."
"It can dodge our spell fairly easily if we want to stay out of its range, but if we charge it will have a lot of free shots with those hand axes," I sigh.
"Hey, that's some good strategic analysis," Robin smiles at me. "Personally, I prefer the ranged option. We have more range than it does, and we will hit it eventually. Even if we did manage to get closer to it, I doubt that would help our current situation."
I nod. However, I can't help but feel like we're missing something. Currently, the main problem is the Risen's height advantage. That gives it a rather large advantage over us. But…what if we get rid of that advantage?
"Robin…I think there's a third option here…"
"Hmmm? What do you mean?"
"Well, it's standing on a wall, right?" I point to the stone wall it's standing on. Now that I'm looking at it closely, the wall seems…slightly damaged. It's definitely not as stable as it ought to be. I'd reckon…"
I do a little bit of math in my head that I forget the process too instantly. Damn, I want the knowledge that Terentius has! He's so smart, but I'm not!
"It looks like I couple probably take down the wall with a Shatter," I finish my calculations in record time. "I'm not completely certain, but the spell is going to hit the Risen anyway, and we won't be in a disadvantageous position."
"A—Are you sure that'll work?" Robin blinks. "Blowing up a wall isn't easy."
"It isn't," I agree. "But that wall isn't in the best condition, and I'm a good artificer. Plus, we're in the same situation even if it does fail."
Robin bites her lip.
"How close do you need to get?"
"Pretty close. Close enough that he can hit me," I wince. "But I'll be fine. I'll be in and out before you know it."
"I'm not sure—" Robin shakes her head violently. "No, that is probably the best plan we have. A destroyed wall will still offer us a good defensive location, and the Risen will be coming from the southwest anyway. Just…don't get hit."
I nod my head with a grin.
I hop a couple of times before sprinting with all my might towards the wall. It's… surprising how fast I can move. I was never good at sprinting, but Terentius is in better shape than I was. I kind of feel bad taking his body.
I guess I make too much sound as I rush towards the wall because around halfway into the twenty-metre run the Risen stares down at me with a grunt. Its flaming crimson eyes glint in the moonlight, and I can swear those eyes just did the anime flash. I catch of glint of silver moving very quickly but ignore it. I sprint better when I'm looking down anyway.
Not too long after, I hear a thump somewhere behind me. Ah, shit. He's throwing axes.
I seem to be moving fast enough that the first half-dozen of attempted shots land haphazardly onto the ground around me. Considering that the Risen Chief is probably chucking the things as hard as he possibly can, I'm not surprised at the terrible accuracy of his ranged weapon. But what's concerning is the amount of axes he's throwing out. That's number eight! Where is he keeping the damn—
Something niggles up my spine, and my body stops responding to my commands for a split second. My spinal cord overwrites my brain's instructions and my body suddenly yanks itself to the right, kicking up a cloud of dusty brown dirt. Not long after the sound of moving air announces itself right next to my left ear as a sudden jolt of Adrenaline pushes me even faster forward. Along with the adrenal steroid comes a sudden wave of sweat as my heart rate picks up considerably.
From here, my body goes into autopilot, requiring little to no active command from my brain. It's…certainly a new experience. I'm basically seeing a movie with my own eyes.
The sudden jolt to the right causes my centre of gravity to no longer be over my legs. After a split second of consideration, my spinal cord decides a roll is the best course of action, and tucks my head into my arms.
In one smooth motion, my eyes see dirt, legs, dark night sky, and the wall in front of me in that order. I hear another thump behind me, which is probably another axe hitting the ground. From my instinctual knowledge of my spells, I know that I'm almost there. Just a couple more steps, and I can hit him with a shatter.
A sudden bolt of golden light streaks across the sky, but I'm only dimly aware of Robin shooting a Thunder spell at the Risen Chief. Why? Because my All-Purpose Tool just turned into a small firearm, I'm confused about how I'm supposed to—
I point the tool up and pull the trigger. A small piece of mica that shudders with arcane arcs not too dissimilar from the arcing motion of a grenade out into the sky. It smacks the wall, causing a massive implosive shockwave, sucking in air from all around it, before exploding out, the pressure wave sending clumps of dirt, stone, and wood flying out in a spherical pattern.
The Risen Chief is buffeted by the spell and howls in agony, its skin peeling to reveal a reddish-purple undertone that spews out that purple miasma that Risen extrude when they die. However, considering that this Risen is growling at me very angrily, it's certainly not dead.
However, most of the damage is dealt to the ancient wall, and whatever was holding it together, whether that be mortar or gravity, gives up.
I start running back to where Robin is standing as the fortress wall crumbles under its own weight, a landslide of several tons of brick and stone crashing down with a terrific sound. It's…like the sound of an avalanche, but…harder? If that makes any sense at all. A thick cloud of grey and brown inflates itself as the wall crumbles to pieces.
Going back to Robin feels a lot shorter than getting to the wall. By the time I reach the small ridge to a very concerned and annoyed tactician, I'm covered in a thick layer of sweat that probably makes my skin shine like a glazed pot. I'm breathing heavily, the adrenaline leaving my system and causing all of the nerves that had been repressed by its absorption to be activated once more. My lungs burn with light heat, my muscles ache slightly. But, considering how much I've just run, I don't think that any of this is too extreme. In fact, after a couple of moments of relatively calm walking, as exhaustion drops onto my shoulders, I'm able to regain most of my stamina as my breathing steadies and my muscles relax. It's…strange. I've never been this athletic, and I'm certainly not expecting myself to be this good at athletic tasks. I guess that twenty in Constitution really helps, huh?
"What was that!" Robin hisses as I come into earshot. "I thought you were going to get closer, not actually reach the wall!"
"Well, it worked in the end," I shrug as I wipe some sweat off my forehead. "Wall's down, Risen's either dead or at the very least trapped under rubble, and I'm not hurt."
"You're not hurt? Have you looked at your shoulder?" Robin points at my left side.
I blink in surprise. It doesn't hurt, so what's going on—
I follow her finger to reach my left shoulder, where there is a rather large gash in the armour, with a crimson fluid oozing out from beneath the hardened leather. Even as I'm staring with my mouth agape at the wound, I still don't feel any pain ringing out in my mind.
"Ah, crap. That axe must have come a lot closer than I realise," I mutter.
"Here," Robin fishes a brass vial from within her coat and hands it to me. "It's a Vulnerary. Drink."
I accept the brass container but don't drink the healing liquid within it. Instead, I swirl it around in my hand, mulling it over.
"You…do know how to open it, right? Here, you uncork—"
"I know how to open a vial," I shake my head, bringing the vial closer to my body as Robin reaches out to help me open the container. "I just…don't think it's necessary, you know?"
"Not necessary? You're bleeding! You've been hit by an axe!"
"Yeah, but it's not painful at all," I frown. "I'm sure that I'll be fine, even without a Vulnerary. It's just a little cut. I've had worse."
"You'll bleed out!"
"I have bandages. We have a task to do, and we're wasting time!"
Robin suddenly snatches the Vulnerary from my hand, uncorks it, and shoves it back into my face.
"Drink! Drink you stubborn man, or so Naga help me! You're injured!"
"But maybe you'll need it—"
"Drink! I won't need it later!"
I sigh reluctantly and take the Vulenary from her hand. Careful not to drink too much, I put the spout to my lip and take the smallest of sips. The liquid is thick and viscous and tastes sour and sweet, sort of like an underripe fruit. There's a herbal undertone and a bitter aftertaste, but it tastes…rather good. It might just be because I like more complicated foods, but it's an enjoyable drink. Enjoyable enough that I have to remember that I'm only taking a small sip, not to waste the precious material. Sure, you can buy a lot of the stuff and they're so common that everyone sells them, but I'm still very stingy with my stuff. I have a bunch of magical items that have use charges and that I still haven't used yet, including a Wish Ring. Yes, I have one of them. Yes, it still has three charges. Yes, I should probably find a place to use it.
Robin stares at me suspiciously as I hand her back the vial.
"Are you sure you drank enough?" She frowns as she internally weighs the Vulnerary.
"I mean, it didn't hurt beforehand, and it doesn't hurt now," I shrug. "I really don't think the Vulnerary is necessary."
"I guess…" Robin sighs, a bit defeated. "A bit of healing is better than none, I guess."
We kind of stare at each in silence for a moment before we decide to climb up the rubble and into the fort. You would think that a crumbled wall is hard to climb, but stone crumbles in a way that kinda makes this large pile without much of an incline. That pile of somewhat stable rock makes it easy to get up onto.
From the top, we can see the fortress in the distance, teeming with the tell-tale signs of Risen still swarming it. However, considering we can also see a very active Frederick running down any that try to leave the walls, it's not too surprising that the amount has decreased significantly from before.
"Well, we'd better start helping Fred out," I sigh, pointing the All-Purpose Tool at a stray Risen off in the distance. The tool-turned weapon heats up with a comfortingly familiar heat, before an arrow-lengthed spike of flame shoots out of the front opening with some force, rocketing its way across the field and slamming into the sword-wielding Risen on the side of its head. The flame's heat burns a scalding hole in the side of its head, black carbonised flesh flaking off of the fatal wound as the rest of the body turns into purple mist as the creature dies. Even now, I feel drained. I know I should feel something after killing something humanoid.
Oh gods, I murdered a bunch of people this afternoon with Randy, didn't I? Why…Why didn't I feel anything then? What have I become? What other things have I done that—
A golden bolt of thunder catches my attention and yanks me forcefully from my thoughts. I watch the point as it smashes into a bare-chested Risen, causing its malformed body to shake and shudder before it too crumbles into purple miasmic smoke. I turn to look at Robin and give her a smile. These thoughts are dangerous, and right now, I need to focus on the battle. No thoughts, just war. Thoughts can come later. Now…is not later.
This sort of exchange goes on for a while. Bolts of yellow-orange are followed up by lances of dark yellow, taking turns either burning or shocking the Risen below into dust. Not too long after, Chrom and Lissa appear behind us, having been held up by a particularly annoying sword-wielding Risen, and Robin directs them to help Frederick. She also mentions my wound again, but I shut that down quickly. Lissa's already healed me enough recently, and I'd rather her save it for later. Sully and Virion should be here in a bit, and Virion is a squishy, squishy man. More squishy than I am, even. If he gets hit, he's going to be very close to dying.
Afterwards, Robin gives directions from the fortress, while we both shoot down fire onto the swarm of Risen, though slowly, Robin's pace starts to drop. At first, she's keeping pace with my cantrips, but soon, she's casting a single Thunder for two of my Fire Bolts, and then that ratio becomes one to four, and then one to eight. After a while, I realise that she's no longer casting any spells.
Instead, she's breathing heavily, clutching the side of the wall hard enough that even in the low light conditions I'm able to see her knuckles turn white. There's a rather thick sheen of sweat on her forehead, and a concerningly burnt Thunder tome is sprawled haphazardly on the floor, only a couple of blackened pages remaining still bound to the cover.
"Yeesh! You alright, Robin?" I hurriedly rush to pick up her tome and check her pulse. It's beating faster than usual, but not by much. She's a bit hot, perhaps a bit parched too. Probably overuse of magic, or at the very least she burned out her Thunder tome and this is the result of the backlash. In the back of my mind, I wonder how I know this, considering I have no idea how magic works, but it's lost in the swirling of worry.
"Y—Yeah…" Robin coughs as I hand her my waterskin. "I think I just overused my magic. Just…need a breather…"
She gulps down water before she stands back up, wobbling, and sighs. She's still shaking quite a bit, so I place my arm around her back to steady her. It takes Robin a moment, but eventually, she steadies herself enough that I let go. She's not breathing as heavily, as her face has regained its colour. That's good.
"Man…I don't know how you keep up that pace…" She smiles a little. "I…think I'm good at magic, but when I look at you, I just see something better."
"It's not even magic," I shake my head. "I'm simply using a tool to produce an effect similar to magic. If you gave me a tome, I would struggle as much, if not more, than you are right now."
"Really? So if I were to try to use a spell with that…what is that?" Robin pauses her line of thinking to ask me a question.
"An All-Purpose Tool," I shrug, handing the roughly wand-shaped magical item to Robin. "And yes, you'll probably be able to cast a spell without much trouble."
The machine whirls uncomfortably as Robin gestures with the metallic object. A small gout of flame spurts out from the tip, making the tool resemble a blowtorch.
"Huh…I mean it activated. Why won't it shoot out?" Robin frowns.
"I don't think it likes you," I giggle a bit. I take back the tool, the machine whirling happily in my hands, before discharging the stuck Fire Bolt into a rock wall.
"It…doesn't like me?" Robin looks confused.
"Well, everything that I make has a bit of a soul. Sure, laugh all you want, but sometimes Machines will just…have a personality, and there's nothing you really can do about it," I shrug. "A toaster won't even work if you don't be kind to it. Just don't be a cogboy and try to bang it."
"Toaster? Cogboy?" Robin just looks more confused.
"Look, I'll explain it to you later," I sigh. "I'm going to blast more Risen. You focus on making sure our new-found friends don't die. Also, if I do eventually make a toaster, don't let any Cogboys near it."
Robin blinks at me. I think she wants to ask a question, but she decides not to. A…good choice. I don't want to explain the Adeptus Mechanicus to her. Why'd I even make that joke? I have no idea.
We do as I suggested, and before long Robin is yelling out commands to the men currently fighting, while I keep a near continuous stream of flame going downhill to destroy isolated or already wounded Risen. Sure, I could go after the more intact ones, but I'm more useful in picking off stragglers. Robin often tells me to target specific Risen, and I respond to those calls for fire with practised and extreme efficiency. It's actually easier for me to attack a Risen that Robin has already pointed out, though I supposed that's to be expected.
However, I have this weird tingling in the back of my mind that keeps drawing my attention back to the collapsed section of rock. I…don't think I actually killed the Risen Chief. But…why is it still staying still under that pile of rock?
Shrugging, I focus my attention back on destroying the Risen in front of me. That is until I see a sudden jolting movement and a flash of silver.
Ah, shit. You know, I should have expected this.
Once again, Terentius's instincts take over and I tackle Robin to the side. She yelps in surprise, but I'm more concerned about the sudden pain that shoots out of my leg.
Ow!
It's not life-threatening, I think. My toes still respond to me, and my leg isn't detached. Still hurts, yes, but I haven't lost a limb. I untangle myself from the pile of limbs that Robin and I have ended up in and stand up as fast as I possibly can, only to see another axe flying in my direction. Once again, Terentius's instincts save me, as the All-Purpose tool roars to life, igniting a blue shield in front of me. The axe impacts the shield forcefully, causing me to be pushed back a couple of dozen centimetres. I grunt in frustration as the shield flickers and fails, the magic inherent in the spell trying and failing to contain the kinetic force of the axe. Thankfully, that axe drops to the ground, clanking against the rock of the wall.
Unfortunately, the Risen prepares to throw another axe forward at me. I sigh in disappointment as I see Robin stand up from where I just pushed her down. You know, I have multiple magical items that could have prevented this situation. I doubt I can actually retrieve it from my bag fast enough not to get my head split open, though.
How many fucking axes does this dude have? I prepare a Scorching Ray in order to blast the bastard. If I'm going to get hit with an axe, I might as well make sure he gets as much, if not more, pain in return, even if Risen can't feel pain.
Before any of that can happen, however, a blur of blue shoots out…from somewhere, and said blue blur cuts the axe down in midair before I can even react. Robin, however, does.
"Marth? Why are you here!"
'Marth' is…currently too preoccupied to respond, so she gives a grunt of effort instead. The Risen Chief managed to pull out another axe (Again, where the hell did he get all those axes from?) and attempted to bisect Lucina with it. She responded quite well, catching the axe in a bind, and preventing the Risen Chief from actually cutting her in half.
However, this presents a different problem. For me, at least. Why?
Well, the All-Purpose Tool is getting rather hot, and I don't think I can cancel the spell at this point.
"Marth! Duck and roll, spell incoming!" I bark out, hoping and praying to any divine being out there that Lucina will be safe.
The Past and Future Exalt turns her head around to give me a glance before her face tightens up. With a grunt of exertion, she pushes the hand axe of the Risen Chief up before she ducks and rolls to the side. The Risen Chief, seeing that the pressure keeping his axe from chopping his prey in half, decides to cut downward anyhow, just barely missing Lucina's left leg as she moves to safety.
Not a moment too late, either, as three bright orange beams of flame slam into the chest of the Risen Chief. He roars with anger and distress as his chest evaporates into bubbling and ruined flesh before he turns into a cloud of purple miasma.
We all take a moment to calm ourselves and figure out what exactly just happened. All of that occurred in less than six seconds, and none of us were ready for it to happen. Well, perhaps Terentius was, but I certainly wasn't.
"What…What was that…" Robin is the first to speak. "Marth? Why…why are you here?"
Robin's out of breath. She probably tried to cast a spell at the Risen Chief while on the ground, and failed, causing her current state.
"I saw Sir Terentius in danger and was compelled to act. He will be essential in the days to come," Marth bites her lip and she walks forward. Hmmm, that's an odd gait. Is…Is her leg wrong?
"Oh…where were you…before?" Robin is still recovering from that earlier attempt to form a spell, but she seems a lot better.
"Killing Risen," Lucina frowns. Her face tightens suspiciously. I can't see due to the mask, but I wouldn't be surprised if she winced in pain right there.
"Marth. You're hurt," I don't phrase this as a question. I take Lucina completely by surprise, with the blue-haired girl tightening a little bit at my statement.
"I'm…not,"
"Really?" I gesture towards her leg. "That doesn't look normal. Let me heal it."
"You can heal?" Robin blinks in surprise.
"I am a doctor, thank you very much," I sigh. Or rather, Terentius sighs. I'm only a medical student, while Terentius is a trained medical professional. That kind of stuff is useful when you're fighting a war, you know?
Lucina still looks very reluctant to be healed. Look, it's not going to hurt. It's just going to be a Cure Wounds spell.
As I think of that spell, my All-Purpose Tool turns into a metal box with an opening in it. Going purely off of instinct, I attach the roughly shoe-box-sized apparatus onto Lucina's leg. The girl in question bites her lip but doesn't refuse the weird machine.
A sudden whirring sound fills the air as the All-Purpose Tool emits a strange green light. Lucina makes a noise halfway between a relaxed moan and a pleasurable sigh. It's really quiet, and she flushes up after she makes it, but I pay it no heed. Her trousers have been ripped and bloodied, and I should probably fix that as well.
As the spell finishes its job, the tool reverts back into a wand-like shape, and I'm able to see the now-healed wound. It used to be a rather dangerous and large axe wound, but now not a hint of that damage is there anymore. The only indicator is a moist burgundy spot around a tear in her pants. I fix that too, with a quick cast of Mending.
"Alright, Marth, Don't do things like that again. We can handle ourselves, and you need to remember to take care of yourself too," I grin. "And also, tuck your legs in when you roll; it helps to avoid stuff like this from happening."
"A—Alright," Lucina nods. "I—I need to—"
"Hey! They're over here, big bro!" I hear Lissa's voice from below. I also hear Lucina take a sharp breath, and she's just…gone. What the hell?
"Marth? What the hell? Naga, how does he do that…" Robin mutters as the cheerful blonde Princess comes up to the wall, followed by the future exalt and his knight. Sully and the 'archest of archers' aren't too far behind.
"Hmmm? What's this about Marth? Was he here?" Lissa blinks as she manages to get up and frowns. "Aww, man! I wanted to see him! What was he doing here?"
"Well, he did save my life, though they got nicked by an axe on the way," I shrug. "Said something about me being necessary or some other nonsense like that."
"Who're the new faces," Robin points to Sully and Virion.
"Why, my fair lady, I am—" Virion starts, before being cut off by Sully.
"I'm Sully, and this 'ere is Virion. No idea why he's here, but he's been following me around for a while. I'm a Shepherd. Guess you two are the new recruits that Cap's been talking about," The Cavalier nods her head.
"Er—Yes. I am Virion, the archest of archers. A pleasure to meet you two," Virion sighs after a moment of silence after Sully's interruption.
"Septimus Terentius Aquilius Aurelius, likewise," I throw Virion a bone and introduce myself with a slight bow. I was going to do just a small bow, but Terentius takes over at the last second and does…a weird movement that is hard to describe. I think it looks halfway between a bow and a kneel, with elements of swishing a cloak-like piece of clothing. I think it would look better if I had a Toga on.
"Oho! I was not expecting another cut from the same cloth as I. I am pleasantly surprised," Virion grins. "Please, you have to—"
"Lissa?" Robin interrupts Virion yet again, causing the light-blue-haired archer to sigh quietly. "Can you take a look at Terence? He got hit by an axe earlier, but he said he didn't need any healing."
"Hmmm? Lemme have a look. Where'd he get hit?"
"The shoulder," Robin gestures towards my left shoulder. She's somewhere between 15 to 20 centimetres shorter than I am (6 to 8 inches for my weird American friends), so she has to guess where my wound is. Lissa is even shorter than Robin, so I decide to sit down to let the blonde-haired healer do her job easier. I'm sure that it'll be fine—
"Oh, Naga!" Lissa cries out, making me jump a little in surprise. "That's really bad. How it managed to stop bleeding by itself I have no idea, but you really should have gotten this checked earlier, Terence!"
I wince as Lissa practically yells into my ear.
"Is this a bad time to mention that I got nicked on the leg earlier too?" I say quietly.
Lissa actually takes a moment to steady herself with her staff.
"Why. Didn't. You. Tell. Me. Earlier!"
Oh, bother. I appear to have made the healer mad. Well, considering I used to be said healer, this is certainly a new experience for me. Oh, hell…
AN: Hello There! Acardia Here!
Here's the next chapter of BOaS! Sorry for the late release everyone, I'm nursing a rather exhausted body from a hiking excursion yesterday.
For those of you who want to ask about WCLS or ATBF, I'm writing three different fics at once so please excuse me if I have to take some time to release anything as my little scatterbrain doesn't want to keep writing one thing until it's finished. This means that Entry 22 of WCLS, Chapter 6 of ATBF, and Chapter 7 of BOaS are being written concurrently, and not in any particular order. Oh yeah, speaking of WCLS, I've actually finished the damn chapters three times over, then realised I hated the chapter I just wrote, and then scrapped. Yeah, I should just release the damn thing, but man I'm a perfectionist and that fic is my oldest and honestly, rereading the beginning makes me want to cringe. Urgh.
Right, let's move on to the review replies! Thanks, everyone!
Louie Yang: Lucina encounter is HERE!
Guest: Thanks! Glad you liked it! Please continue to read and support me, while I write for my own benefit I love writing all the more when it brings enjoyment to someone else.
Guest(ii): You'll have to see. ;-)
Freekilmm249: See, Sirtypesalot? This is how you format a review, not whatever the hell your reviews were. Thank you, man. Right, this response is going to be rather lengthy so if you'll excuse me...
Oh, man...Tharja is going...to be an issue, isn't she? She's already jumping onto the list of people that Terence just cannot get along with joining Frederick and Maribelle. She's definitely going to see a lot of screen time and I actually have a plan for her now, after plagiarising being inspired by the newest chapter of Yes, I Remember by HopelessRomantic1020. Also, the author took like two years to update with no other updates in between. I'm a little mad at that. Anyhow, I have something I want to do with Tharja now, which means one more character that I can put on the chart. Also she's going to mainly be talking in Robin's narration while just...being there in Terence's. Terence can see Tharja, but neither party wants to really converse with the other so they just end up staring at each other while pretending to not notice. I'll be really mad at myself if I can't make that situation funny; I'm already cracking up.
Alright, great. Stahl is great and all, and honestly he has a lot of potential, so I'm a little bummed that I can't write it. I could shoe-horn him in for a couple of Extras, but eh.
Kellam is the best bro. If I do ever get Isekai'd to Ylisse and have the opportunity to join the Shepherds, I'm A rank supporting with Kellam. Literally the most bro of all bros.
Hmmm...I'll have to reread that support again...be right back...alright, I'm back. I actually pulled up the SerenesForest support for Maribelle and Olivia since I forgot that I don't actually have their support unlocked yet in my current run of Awakening...
You know what? I actually really like what I'm seeing here. Not for Maribelle, ironically, but for Olivia. One more page for Olivia's character arc. But this...does give my brain more juice to work with for Maribelle. I'll see what I can come up with...
This might actually be a part of Maribelle's arc since Terence is already doing his damned best to try and get Nowi dressed in something more appropriate and Maribelle has a rather low opinion of Terence due to him having an odd choice of clothing (A toga) while still being a noble (A patrician). I'll...see if I can run with that.
I'm guessing this is for Nowi, but it also fits for Tiki...hmmm...brain is turning...
Oh yeah, I'm going to have fun with Anna. Doubly so since Terence can actually tell them apart while literally nobody else can.
No issues! It's actually beneficial to me if I express my thoughts in writing. That way I can reread them and make sure they make sense. Do keep reading and review this series!
And that's all, everything! Thank you for joining me this week and I'll see you on the 30th. Also, please pray to RNJesus for my Morgan roll, I'm 300 SQ in and still no Fairy Wife.
Valete, omnis! Acardia out!
