Chapter 8

Trail by (Very Literal) Fire

"Could someone please explain to me what exactly happened here?" I give the two people currently sitting down in the makeshift medical tent a death glare. At least Robin has the decency to look embarrassed, Vaike just looks confused while half of his face is covered with bandages.

"Well—er—a horse…ah…hit us," Vaike explains rather dumbly.

"I can see that," I point out bluntly. "I'm trying to ask for more context here. It's rather early in the morning and I cannot believe the first thing I have to deal with is two people out in the grass bleeding out. Do you know how much stress I was under? Sure, it wasn't anything life-threatening, but it was damn close. So, again, explain yourselves."

Robin looks down at the ground while Vaike just gives me a confused look.

"Terence…uh…p—please don't tell Sully anything…"

I blink in surprise before breaking into peals of laughter. That's happened already? HA! Didn't need to be worried at all. Man, a single sentence can really flip the context of a situation.

Oh, for your information it's not Vaike's C support with Robin. Though, I did use it as an inspiration for what just happened.

"Huh? What's the gigglin' for?" Vaike blinks in surprise as I try to get my bearings again.

"No no, Robin, please, by all means, go on," I cackle loudly while trying not to fall out of the chain I've sat down in to avoid toppling over.

"Something tells me you already know," Robin mutters.

"How would I know what happened yesterday night? Even if I did know something, my memory has been a little hazy recently, so I wouldn't remember," I give Robin a face of feigned innocence. Both of us know it's fake, but that doesn't mean it's not absolutely hilarious to see Robin seeth a little. "Of course, if someone hadn't slipped a frog down my neck, perhaps my memory would be a bit better…"

"You said you weren't mad!"

"Oh, I'm not doing this because of spite, I'm doing this because it's fucking hilarious," I chuckle. "Now, Robin, tell me, what exactly happened?"

"Oh…I'm going to get you later…" Robin growls. "I'll even grab Lissa and do a collaborative prank!"

"What's this 'bout a prank?" Vaike looks even more confused now, the poor man.

"Nothing serious. Need anything else, Vaike?" I steady my breath and stop my incessant giggling to give the blonde dude a serious stare.

"Er…not really…anything wrong with me, Doc?"

"Nothing I could find, no," I shake my head. "If you start feeling lightheaded or unexpectedly tired tell me and I'll get you some IV to replenish lost blood."

"So…I'm free to—ah—go?"

"Yeah, sorry for the inconvenience," I shrug.

Vaike blinks once before exiting the tent with an extremely confused look on his face. This leaves me alone with a seething Robin.

"Now, Rob, what exactly happened last night, huh?" I raise an eyebrow at the white-haired girl.

"Oh, you know exactly what happened," She stares at me with the rage of a slighted friend. I'm going to need to be on the lookout for pranks.

Ah…I should probably explain what happened…or rather, what's been happening.

See, a week or so back, Lissa pranked Robin by dumping a large amount of frog-infested water on her head. That was what was supposed to happen, but Lissa missed and hit me instead, and scampered away. I thought that Robin had done that to me, and while part of it was me being mad and not looking properly, Robin isn't completely to blame here.

So, I decided to concoct a rather amusing counter-prank.

I would have Vespi go invisible and take something random like a key or other trinket from Robin's coat or pack and place it in a random spot around the camp. I did this for four straight days without Robin being any wiser to my tricks.

And oh man was it absolutely hilarious. Sometimes Vespi would take one of Robin's hair bands but not the other so she couldn't do her usual hairstyle, but she also hated ponytails. She would then run around the camp looking for that hair band while only having one of her twin tails. Absolute comedy.

She found out and I had Vespi stop, but man I was not ready for the reply. I dunno why frogs are somehow tied into every one of her pranks, but they are. And I found myself surrounded by a metric ton of frogs. So. Many. Frogs. Everywhere. Frogs, frogs, frogs, frogs…

I'm surprised that Robin was even able to find that many frogs. Fucking frogs everywhere…funny, yes, for the first ten minutes. Then I found a dead frog lodged under my desk and realised that they were everywhere. Thankfully, turning the entire tent inside out dislodged most of them, and the flamethrower did the rest.

Now, I can't let that go unpunished, especially since that had broken the number one rule between us to at that point: the pranks would be kept between ourselves. Unfortunately, Kellam slipped on a frog when he was checking in on me and pulled a muscle. That meant I needed to respond with a…more damaging prank.

Now, things didn't go exactly as I intended, but I blame Vaike for this. He just had to piss off Sully's horse. Right, so I have this rather useful amulet that can cast the [Speak with Animals], which I used to convince (read: bribe) Sully's horse to always stare at and follow Robin around. Considering I've seen the literal spawn of Satan it's safe to say that Sully's horse is worse. I would not want that being of sheer hatred to continuously stare at me.

"So…Robin, what exactly happened?" I give her a raised eyebrow as I stand up from the chair and turn around to hide my grinning face.

"Well, I've found a new respect for Sully that I didn't have before…" Robin sighs before pouting. "Did you have to enlist the help of her horse? That thing is creepy!"

I know, Robin. Oh, man, I know.

"I want to know why we found you and Vaike under a tree with blood on your foreheads."

"Vaike pissed the horse off," Robin huffs. "He's such a moron. Don't know what Sully sees in him. Anyhow, the horse decided that Vaike needed to be removed from the face of the earth. I tried to help him and…"

"Ah. Damn. That means it got out of hand," I sigh. "He wasn't supposed to attack—"

"Are you serious? He had a potion in his mouth that he poured on me after he was done. You even thought that far," Robin snorts in a very Lissa-like fashion. "Don't beat yourself over the head over it. You've done enough to prevent the worst from happening."

"Well then. I look forward to your response, Robin," I turn around, a massive smile on my face. "Although, are you so out of ideas that you have to resort to asking Lissa…?"

"You little…I swear I'll get you back for this!"

I chuckle. I'm going to go through hell again, but I've already done that and came out relatively fine. I should be alright once Robin finishes with her prank.

Should be.


"That's…a lot of Risen…" Chrom folds his arms across his chest as he watches the horde of souls trapped within their rotting bodies created by Grima and-slash-or the dark manifestation of the denied god of death slowly waddle on the other side of the river. I'm…not sure how much pity I should be feeling towards these…things, but fuck me that's a lot of Risen.

I'd say…somewhere between a hundred and five hundred. The game does not do their numbers justice. This is proper zombie apocalypse levels of undead walking around.

"Looks like Terence's prediction was spot on," Stahl whistles. "So these are the 'Risen' that everyone's been talking about, huh?"

"Indeed. Nasty creatures," Frederick nods.

"How…exactly are we going to deal with them, though?" Stahl poses a rather interesting question. "They're all over there, and we'll have to cross the river to get to them. There's only a single bridge…"

A couple of people subconsciously glance at Robin, which must not be helping her current situation.

"Any ideas, Robin?" Chrom asks the slowly panicking tactician.

"I…need some time to think…" Robin bites her lip and squats down, eyes closed, mumbling to herself.

"Wow, this must be a tough situation that we've found ourselves in," Kellam chuckles.

"Gah! Kellam?" Chrom yelps as he jumps away from the direction where he heard Kellam's voice. "When did…how did you get here?"

"I've been here the entire time, Captain…" Kellam sighs.

This gets a laugh out of everyone except for me and Kellam. Really, I don't see what's funny. It's you guys' fault for not noticing him. He's right there.

"Kellam's right," I comment, trying to steer the conversation away from the tall man's ability to seemingly disappear from the perception of everyone…except for me. "This is probably the worst-case scenario for a river crossing. The only way it could get any worse is if we all go onto the bridge and the entire thing explodes, killing us instantly."

"Yeesh, we're in that bad of a situation?" Stahl winces.

"It's a contested river crossing," I start to explain. "Entire armies have been lost to this exact manoeuvre before, and we are certainly not an entire army. What the Risen can do is swarm us, and we would have to fight through a bridge where we have nowhere to run, nowhere to set up a proper defensive location. It would devolve quickly into a pushing match, and believe me when I say that undead will win pushing matches without question."

"Yikes…that doesn't sound good," Chrom sighs. "What…exactly should we do?"

"We're waiting for Robin to come up with a plan, right?" I blink. "Why are you asking me?"

"Well, you seem to know what's going on right now. I would like your input."

"I don't want to step on—"

"No, actually…" Robin suddenly stands up and interrupts me mid-sentence. "I…would like to know your thoughts on this, Terence."

"Why…?" You know I'm an idiot, right?

"Well, I don't think having just one person think up plans is a good thing," Robin scratches her chin. "I remember reading something…no, it's more like…an intuition…that…well, sharing ideas is good."

"Alright then…" I sigh, caving. It's not like I can reject something if both Chrom and Robin want it. "I would suggest fording the river at a different location. That way, we can wheel around and attack them from the rear. I don't think they'll be moving too much, considering we're this close and they haven't decided that our brains are a tasty snack."

Sully mumbles something under her breath that I don't quite make out.

"Hmmm…that's interesting…" Robin stews for a little bit.

"I really hope that's your 'I have an incredible idea' face," I deadpan.

"It's more of an 'I think this will work' face," Robin shrugs.

Oh well. Good enough, I suppose.

"So? Let's hear it."

"Well, I really have three ideas. I don't know which one will work, and if any would work better than Terence's plan—"

"Believe me, my plan is relatively dumb," I shrug. "I trust that your plan is better than any plan that I can think of."

"—I somehow doubt that," Robin frowns before she continues on. "The first idea I have is to force our way across. Kellam's armour should stand up to most things that the Risen can throw out, and if he does get hurt, we can have Lissa heal him."

Robin pauses her explanation, presumably to let us digest it a little bit.

It's…not a bad idea. The river here is a lot wider and the bridge narrower than what the chapter map would have you believe, and if Kellam focuses on not letting anyone past him, we could easily stall an entire army a la Battle of Stamford Bridge. Just need to watch out for Risen floating in barrels trying to stab Kellam's crown jewels from under the bridge.

Although…what we're going to do once we get to the other side of the bridge worries me. We will have to form up a defensive line quickly, and I doubt the Risen are going to give us that time. So instead of being killed as we tried to cross the bridge, we would be slaughtered trying to form up once we got off of it. Not…too much of an improvement.

"My second plan is a bit harder to pull off. We could lure the Risen onto this side of the bridge and gang up on them as they come off. Have them come to us instead of going to them. We turn the bridge's ability to funnel people against them."

Ooh, that's a good idea. That could actually work. Although…

"Here's to hoping none of them has the smart idea to break the bridge. Or, gods forbid, one of us gets a little frisky with their spells and blows the bridge up," I shrug. "While it's a good idea, there is a non-zero chance that the bridge might break due to a whole slew of reasons. Just a reminder. I've had too many close calls with bridges while trying to find a way to cross the Cocytos while trying to get to the last circle."

Robin blinks before muttering something under her breath.

"Miriel…how much weight can the bridge hold?" She asks in a quiet voice.

The brown-haired mage pushes her glasses up in an incredibly cliche fashion before responding.

"According to my records, wood-and-iron arch bridges in the Marchen-Algravin area built across rivers of a minor width are rated to withstand the weight of two fully loaded four-ox carts at the same time," Miriel supplies.

"Which…is certainly a way to measure weight…" I mutter.

Seriously, the weight of two fully loaded four-ox carts? What kind of oxen? Loaded with what? How big is the cart? What am I supposed to do with this information?

The worst part?

"That…the bridge isn't going to hold, is it?" Stahl mutters. "That's way too many human-weight bodies…right, Terence? These Risen…weigh the same as a normal human, right?"

How does anyone understand that weight system? How is anyone able to use it as a type of weight? How many kilograms is that? How the fuck is this a coherent system?

"T…Terence?" Stahl suddenly prods me on the shoulder, taking me out of my rant. "You alright? That's a massive scowl on your face."

"Huh? Scowl…?" I blink and loosen the muscles on my face, only to realise just how much tension they were under. "Ah…sorry about that. Didn't mean to scowl."

"No problems. But uh…how much do Risen weigh?"

"Pardon?"

"Yeah…so…"

"Do you think the bridge can handle that many Risen?" Robin interrupts Stahl and asks a rather interesting question.

"That's going to depend…" Oh, alright, if you say so, Terentius. Looks sturdy, though…alright, alright, I'll stop underestimating the weight of a human body, so stop screaming about it! "I wouldn't want to test it. I suggest not having a thousand or so kilograms of Risen placed on what looks to be a rather fragile bridge."

Wait, a thousand kilograms? Are you insane?

Oh right, equipment. Chainmail and armour are incredibly heavy, and so are horses, understood. Can you please stop yelling inside my head? Wait…would it be…our head? My head hurts.

Oh, he's started complaining about shoddy workmanship. I mean, that bridge is a rather ad hoc job if you took more than ten seconds looking at it.

"Right, so we need to get across the bridge without breaking it…" Robin frowns. "Well, that only leaves the third option, doesn't it?"

"What's the third option?" Chrom blinks.

"We take the forts on the other side and use that to distract the Risen," Robin points over to the other side of the river. "Make big enough of a ruckus, and the others should be able to sneak across the bridge. Then…well, we'll just have to…somehow get them out…ugh, can't we just go with Terence's plan?"

"Wait no, that's a good idea. I can bring myself and one other person with me to the forts with the cloak…" I frown as everyone's gaze suddenly turns towards me.

"The…cloak?" Sully blinks. "What can a damn cloak do?"

"It can teleport two people, myself included, to any location within that I can see," I explain while slinging my backpack onto the ground to search for the cloak. "It's a rather useful magical item, but I have other items for teleporting around so I don't use it all too much. Plus…uh…it Vortex Warps…"

I gulp a little.

Vortex Warp as a spell is incredibly uncomfortable to a person's body if they're being teleported around. Imagine being squeezed into a narrow tube, stretched until you start to break, and then suddenly being compressed back into a human form just when you've gotten used to being stretched out. Oh yeah, you can't breathe for the entirety of this process. It's nauseating and excruciating to go through. But uh…it's a rather quick and easy way to get around…so…

"…The hell is Vortex Warp?" Sully raises an eyebrow.

"It's a spell. A spell that can move anyone, practically anywhere, but does so in a rather painful way," I wince as I grab the cloak in question and feel its magic snapping to my body. Attuning to a magical item usually takes an hour or so, but I'm an artificer so usual rules on magical items can go to hell, preferably to die a similar death to how Amette did.

"Woah. That's a cool cloak…" Lissa stares at the dark navy covering that I've now draped over my back.

"Are we going with that plan, Robin?" I ask the tactician, who is currently deep in thought. "Depending on exactly what you want us to do, I have different magical items that could aid us."

"Well, since you're already prepped for an insertion, why not try it?"

"Wait, try it?" Chrom blinks. "Are we not committing to this plan?"

"Well, originally I was going to have a small group try and sneak over to the other side with a raft or something of that nature," Robin explains. "But with teleportation…assuming, of course, that Terence can use his cloak more than once—"

"It has five charges," I shrug.

"—right, if things get bad, we can just have Terence teleport us back," Robin grins.

"That's…honestly a good point," I shrug. "What do you think, Chrom?"

"Well, it certainly mitigates some of the risk inherent with the plan, especially if…wait…"

Chrom and I look at each other before staring at Robin in disbelief.

"Hold on a minute, we!?"

"You're going, Robin!?"

It appears that Chrom and I have realised the same thing at the same time.

Robin, you know this is going to be a rather dangerous mission, right? I have to go since I'm the person doing the teleporting, but having the tactician away from the actual forces that they're leading?! That's incredibly dangerous and even more dumb! That's like if Eisenhower decided to charge Normandy Beach with the 116th Infantry or if Nelson decided to charge the Franco-Spanish fleet with HMS Victory in the lead. Well, Nelson did do that, but look at where that led him! Dead! The commander should not ever charge the enemy!

"Well, yeah?" Robin blinks as if she didn't just suggest practically charging the enemy almost completely by herself.

Look, I can probably handle myself and I'd honestly be surprised if a bunch of Risen can beat a fully kitted-out Artificer, especially since the action economy doesn't exist in the same way that it does in DND. If I have the power to do so, I can use as many actions as I want. Also, an AC of 21 with everything equipped is nothing to laugh at either. Breastplate plus two dex plus gauntlets of protection plus two rings of protection means that an average person literally cannot hurt me.

Of course, the Risen are anything but average people. I'll probably still get smacked around, but nothing short of being slammed against a wall by a horse is going to do any real lasting damage, and even then…

A clinking of glass against glass assures me that my pouch of healing potions is still as full as it was when I checked it yesterday.

Robin…on the other hand…I am far more worried about it. Not only are there a shit load more Risen than there were in the game, this is still technically the second chapter of the story. Even with Robin's ridiculous EXP gain buff, she can't be much higher than level two or three here. And against that many Risen…yikes. I'd bet on the Risen.

Furthermore, unlike Evocation Wizards, I can't shape my spells to avoid hitting allies if they get in the way. Fortunately, within my party of insane min-maxers who basically only played insane builds with…well, thankfully all of us were writers of varying levels of creativity, so the roleplaying aspects weren't too bad. In fact, sometimes it was really good. Chucking fireballs every which way at a party where there was less than a 25 per cent chance that anyone would actually be damaged by one is fine.

I don't know how high Robin's dexterity is, but it's certainly not going to be enough to beat a DC 21 DEX save fireball. If I can cast a fireball, that is. Might be completely locked off to me. Oh well, shatter is still a gorgeous spell.

Even still, it's going to be a war zone if I'm allowed to get loose. Terentius is absolutely ready to just unleash hell upon the undead, and I'm pretty sure if Dawnbringer was awake right now she'd be screaming bloody murder in Sylvian. I have to temper Terentius's expectations. We probably won't get to use everything at our disposal, since that would end with a crater in the ground.

"Robin, are you sure about this?" Chrom frowns while folding his arms across his chest. "This is going to be an extremely dangerous task. I was going to volunteer for it—"

"No, you're not," I cut him off. "The only person I think who could do this with me is Frederick. He's got the stamina, skill, and most importantly communication to pull this off with me."

Something I realised quite quickly with the shepherds is that they're more like a mercenary company, and not in a good way. Their communication practices are…incredibly lacking at best. Only Kellam, Chrom, and Frederick have any coherent communication between them, and—oh look, the only people with actual military training, how peculiar.

Seriously though, some people don't even know what an 'echelon' was. Terentius threatened to pull our hair out. I had to clamp down on him considerably. Not that I wasn't very close to doing the same thing when I asked Sumia how she communicated. She said she was inexperienced but holy shit is she inexperienced.

"Hey, I can communicate well!" Robin frowns before Chrom can even respond to me. "You never even bothered to ask me!"

"Robin…" I sigh a little, letting Terentius hold the reins while I go through a mental list of what exactly I need to prepare. "Do you know what you're even talking about?"

"Yeah, combat communication. It's one of a tactician's jobs, you know?" Robin folds her arms across her chest.

"Fair, but having our tactician go out on the most dangerous part of the mission will never end well," I reply. Or rather Terentius replies. I'm…not sure how to describe the difference because I really don't know, but he is. And I'm not.

"Sure, but Frederick's a cavalryman. He's supposed to be out there running down the enemy, not holed up in some tower throwing random javelins at people," Robin counters.

"Fine, then I'll bring Kellam,"

"I need him for the first assault," Robin shakes her head. "He's too good of a wall unit."

"And you're not any good at being a wall unit," I shake my head. "You have practically no armour on!"

"H—Hey, I dislike how they feel, alright? Not everyone has the luxury of custom-fitted breastplates!" Robin huffs.

"Alright, touche, but you should really actually get some armour, you know?" I sigh, slowly giving in. I guess this is how Robin is able to get Chrom to agree to some absolutely batshit insane ideas.

"Alright, but I am going with you, alright? You're not suggesting that I'm incompetent, now are you?" Robin frowns.

"Of course not!" I deny it vehemently. Robin, incompetent? If that's the case, Grima would be fucking benevolent instead of the malicious fuck he is. "Even still, it's a poor tactical decision! Who's going to lead the charge against the Risen from this side?"

"Chrom, of course? Who else would it be?" Robin frowns.

"You think that's a good idea, but I'm fairly certain Chrom's entire strategy is 'hit them harder than they hit us'," I snort.

"That's…fair," Robin frowns.

"Eh…why do I feel like I'm being insulted…?" Because you are Chrom, because you most definitely are, you dense man.

"Anyhow, I still think this is an incredibly bad idea," I sigh. I've somehow let Robin convince me that it'll be fine…even though she said nothing of substance to alleviate my fears. Now, if this was Gudao or Gudako with their Charisma EX bullshit I would have understood, but Robin isn't a harem protagonist…right? Let's not dwell on this…

"Well, I think it's a great idea," Robin frowns at me. "Come on, you said you needed to get things ready?"

"Yeah yeah…just…" I shake my head. Let's not tempt the dice gods, if Robin's rolled high on her charisma check let her roll high…I have multiple ways of resurrecting the dead if shit hits the fan.


"Does everyone know their roles?" Robin has somehow found a wooden crate and is currently standing on top of said wooden crate, addressing the entire camp.

A confused and lethargic affirmation comes from the gathered people below.

"Vaike," I mutter under my breath loud enough so only the blonde-haired axe maniac can hear. "Do you have your axe?"

"Huh? O' course I…damn it…did ya take it?"

"No…I figured something like this would happen, though," I groan. "Here, use this one."

I pass him an axe that Jugen used…I think during the second circle? He didn't use this handaxe for very long, I know that for sure.

"Woah…this thing's sharp! Thanks!" Vaike grins and gives me a thumbs up. Robin continued on with her rather lengthy explanation, again, since Lissa decided to not pay attention at the exact moment that her role was explained.

I sigh and mutter some meaningless thing to myself. I'm nervous, alright? I messed up in a rather big way. Naga even told me not to let me and Robin get too injured, but I really can't see a way out of this without one of us being incredibly injured. We're about to teleport right into the enemy, for fuck's sake! To be fair, we are going to popping into a reasonably strong position, but that doesn't make it any less risky.

The plan isn't much different from the 'idea' that Robin suggested to Chrom and me an hour or so earlier. Basically, Robin and I teleport over to the forts and hold on to it for dear life while the Risen basically swarm us and the rest of the shepherds move to a safer spot. I then reminded them that I could teleport anywhere I could see and then the plan morphed to one where the rest of the Shepherds sneak around to the front of the Risen Group and pin them against the river instead of fighting to rescue us. A better plan, tactically, but they're forgetting that they've put the only person who can make competent tactical decisions in the only place where she can't affect the battle at all.

Great. Just wonderful. And I was supposed to make sure Robin doesn't get all too hurt. Naga must be slamming her ethereal forehead against the nearest pole in frustration by now.

No no, I think I can still salvage this. I just have to make sure Robin doesn't get too hurt and we should be good to go…right? I really, really hope so. We're barely past Chapter 2 of the game and I'm already screwing up this much. Why the hell did I let Robin do this again?

Oh right, because Terentius managed to convince me that it would be fine. I mean…

Ok, it might be fine. I'm honestly not sure. It's rather dangerous with either plan, and this way we're minimising the risk to the two people most able to handle that risk right now…if you don't count Chrom or Frederick. Argh, I was so sure Robin would pick Frederick to go with me, not herself!

I sigh and shake my head. No use crying over spilt milk now. I'm already armoured up, significantly more than before, and honestly if someone gets really hurt that's going to be my incompetence and my incompetence alone that gets people hurt. Right, I should probably talk about my equipment, both to ensure that everyone knows exactly what I can and can't do and to make sure that I've actually brought everything that I need to bring.

Currently, I'm wearing a mithril half plate with a rather tough dragonhide gambeson underneath offering a great deal of protection to my chest and abdomen. Even though there's not much mithril, because of the metal's incredible strength and ability to convert kinetic energy into heat, even a small amount, around two centimetres thick, is enough to comfortably stop most bows, not to mention melee weapons. Its ability to reduce the bludgeoning effect of weapons such as a halbert or warhammer also makes it generally better than iron or steel when it comes to armour quality. Did I also mention that it's incredibly light? The whole thing weighs like five kilograms max!

I've abandoned the backpack for a much more useful tool belt and chest strap. The backpack still exists, of course, but it's going to be moved with the rest of the convoy. It's big and heavy and cumbersome, and I don't want to be lugging it around during combat. I've attached the two bags of holding that are most useful for me in combat on my tool belt and the items that I needed the most—potions, catalysts for high-powered spells, and other combat consumables—are on my chest strap. Since I don't use any gunpowder-based weapons, I can't call it a powder strap, but the amount of grenades on this thing makes up for it.

My hands are also glittering with a wide variety of rings. Unfortunately, I can only equip as many rings as I have fingers minus the two ring fingers, ironically, but that still leaves me with eight shining bands of metal on my hands that produce an incredibly varied assortment of effects. Two increase my AC by…I'm not actually sure. Probably generating a force field? Going to have to test that. The other six provide convenient spells that I'd rather not spend spell slots on: [Grease], [Web], [Colour Spray], [Blur]—any spell that's useful but doesn't benefit from my [All-Purpose Tool] and the Arcane Firearm ability that I've smack onto it. Hopefully, there aren't any people too interested in my motley collection of incredibly valuable bits of jewellery since there are some rather rare artefacts in this bunch. Especially the one that lets me cast 25 levels worth of Wizard spells a day. That one is incredibly useful and if anyone dares touch it I will murder them with incredible efficiency.

As for weapons…I really, really don't want to use a melee weapon. I'll be relying on my spells, thank you very much. I don't want to see the death mask of whoever I'm killing; I would much rather burn them from a distance. My trusty [All-Purpose Tool] is in its earned position in my right hand, Randy is ready to be summoned at a moment's notice, and Vespi is…somewhere in the sky above me, probably chuckling to himself as he finds new ways to prank people.

As for Dawnbringer…I'm honestly not sure what to do with her at the current moment.

On the one hand, I'm 90 per cent sure that she's going to completely and utterly decimate any Risen that comes within reach. A +3 weapon with extra radiant damage to undead as well as most undead being weak against radiant damage? That is going to cut through any Risen blob like a hot knife through butter.

On the other hand…I don't feel all too comfortable wielding her. Sure, if you get her in my hands and I actually start swinging, I am rather good at using a sword. In fact, I'd say I'm a decent duelist on par with Chrom right now. Of course, he's going to get a lot better and I probably won't, but it's not that I can't use the incredibly ancient weapon, but rather I don't think I should. I don't…deserve her, in all honesty. Why should someone like me be allowed to touch, nevermind wield, what amounts to the Sun Elf equivalent of the Holy Grail?

In the end, I slung her onto my belt, despite many protests from the sword herself and Terentius to use it. I really don't want to, both because I abhor melee combat and since I don't want to sully her handle with my unworthy hands. Seriously, I don't even worship Heisla, why am I even allowed to use Dawnbringer?

Other than that…I don't have much else on my person. Being light and quick on your feet is rather important, after all.

"Terence! You ready?" Robin suddenly appears right next to me and starts talking in a concerned tone. "You've been just standing there for the past couple of minutes."

I blink and realise that the small crowd had dispersed some time ago, and we're moving into the final stages of preparations. I'm still standing here dumbly.

Oh well. At the very least I have Robin here alone, and I can talk to her in something approximating privacy.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I sigh. "Although…Robin, I need you to hold on to these."

I pop a couple of vials of dark crimson liquid from my potion strap and hand them to Robin, who blinks and puts them into her coat.

"Sure…what are these anyway," Robin frowns as I hand her the fifth vial. She holds the glass containers up towards the sun so that the slightly opaque liquid becomes more transparent. It's still rather opaque, however, and the liquid is more translucent than transparent. Still, the light levels throughout the liquid are equal without any areas with more or less light able to show through. A good sign, meaning these potions were made very well.

"It's a potion of Greater Healing," I explain. "I know for a fact that these are better than vulneraries from some testing I did a while ago, and since we're going into a particularly dangerous spot, I'd like you to have them."

"Wait, why me?" Robin suddenly blinks and shifts her gaze back to my face. "Should someone like Lissa or Vaike have it?"

"They already have vulneraries and let's be honest here, they're in much less danger than you and I are going to be in a couple of minutes," I roll my eyes.

"I guess so…" Robin sighs. "I really don't want to impose on you too much…how much are these worth?"

"Three hundred or so gold coins," I shrug. "Each, by the way."

"Three hundred!?" Robin's jaw drops onto the ground. "I—I—I can't accept this! This is way, way, way too expensive for—"

"Oh, don't be like that," I sigh and shake my head. "I would gladly pay any price if it meant keeping you alive. Plus, it's going to cost a lot more if you die, you know? Resurrection costs something like ten thousand gold coins."

I chuckle a little bit at my own joke, but I don't think Robin quite understood the joke and simply nodded before putting the final potion into her coat with much more care than she did before.

"I'll try not to need it…" Robin sighs. "Hey…you still haven't answered my question. Are you ready to go yet?"

"I was ready from the moment you started explaining everything," I shrug. "Are we doing this now, or do we have a predetermined time?"

"While I would love to have much more command and control over everything, I doubt that anyone would actually follow them," Robin sighs. "I really hope that Frederick can command them well."

"He is a trained and experienced knight, at the very least," I shrug. "If there's anyone other than you who could keep them in line, it would be Frederick."

"I just…I guess I'm worrying a bit too much," Robin chuckles slightly and rubs the back of her neck.

"You could always back out of this, you know?" I suggest. "I'm sure Frederick and I can handle this just fine."

"No. I won't do that. It's too risky…plus…I…no, never mind," Robin shakes her head.

"If you insist," I sigh, giving up entirely. This is going to get someone extremely hurt, but…well, this is Robin right here. Can't really say no. "Ready to go?"

"Huh?" Robin blinks. "We're going now!?"

"Of course. I did say I could teleport wherever I could see, right?" I raise an eyebrow at Robin's confused face before laughing. "Don't be like that! I'll go first…just uh…try not to throw up."

"Wait, what do you—" Robin's sentence is cut off as I activate the magic embedded within the cloak.

The world suddenly goes a frosty white and stops entirely before being painted pitch black. Suddenly, I can feel my body being squeezed and compressed as the spell takes effect. Not a pleasant feeling at all. Oh, sure, Robin's going to have a hell of a time when I get to the other side and need to pull her along, but it's not fun for me either.

Just as my body gets used to the sensation, I'm deposited onto hard stone floors and need to remind my legs how walking works. Thankfully, I've done this too many times to count, so I steady myself within moments.

Unfortunately, when I can finally get a proper look at my current surroundings, I find a couple of incredibly angry purple-red eyes staring back at me.

Great.


(Robin)

"—mean by try not to throw up!?" I finish my sentence, but by that time, Terence had already disappeared in a vortex of blue and black magic. I blink at the spot where the blonde-haired man had stood just moments earlier in utter incomprehension. Look, teleportation is theoretically possible, but it has never been achieved before practically. It's like seeing a pig fly or a person walk upside down.

"Fascinating. The magical enchantments of the phylactery were able to cultivate a matrix that condensed matter into a compressed form," I almost yelp as the tall form of Miriel suddenly speaks right next to me, giving me a rather esoteric explanation of the spell that just made Terence disappear. "Most intriguing. At the moment the compressed matter is subject to external stimuli, the matter reverts to its original stature. More investigation must be conducted in order to bring forth an acceptable explanation for this phenomenon. This shall have to be approached later."

"I…I see…" I reply rather lamely.

Miriel and I stand in silence for a little bit as I frown.

Why isn't Terence teleporting me? He should have arrived at the fort, right?

"Peculiar…intense, bright orange flashes following a teleportation event…" Miriel scribbles something in her notebook. "I must get a first-person account of this phenomenon…"

"Wait, bright orange flashes?" I blink. "Are you sure that it isn't just Terence fighting off some Risen or something? He does love to use fire-based spells."

"Hmmm…a sensible theorem…" Miriel scribbles something else into her journal.

"Hold on, is he fighting Risen…without me—?" I frown as I try to peek and get a better look at what Miriel is looking at.

Honestly, I'm not sure what exactly I'm looking at. As Miriel said, it's just a couple of orange-red flashes happening occasionally…well, it's probably Risen that Terence is fighting…

"Curious…is that the start of the matrix…?" Miriel suddenly says something completely unexpected while looking down at my feet.

I'm vaguely aware that the bright flashes of light have stopped when—

Oh, gods.

Ow.

OH GODS IT HURTS!

I feel something attempting to compress me, and while I struggle against it for a brief moment, it does not take long at all for it to overpower me. My vision suddenly goes white as I feel any attempts that my lungs make to draw breath met with a disappointing vacuum. My hand instinctively moves to my throat as I make a couple of choking noises. Rather, I think I make choking noises, it gets hard to tell when your ears pop and the only sound you can hear is the roaring sound of water.

After what was probably only a second or two but felt like an eternity, spots of pitch black started to stain the frozen white landscape. The roaring sound of water suddenly disappears and is replaced by a silence even more deafening than the noise of water from earlier.

Argh, I still can't breathe! I try to cough, but a strange liquid fills the inside of my mouth, and I'm forced to try and throw it up. It…works, somewhat, but I still can't breathe!

The pressure from earlier returns, first pressing at the soles of my feet. I can feel my ankles slowly buckling under the strain, and it hurts more than I have ever felt. I try to scream out in pain but the lack of air in my lungs makes no sound come out of my mouth. I feel like I'm going to black out from the pain, but something forces me to stay awake.

Another silent scream tries to leave my mouth as I feel my feet getting compressed and curled up against my shins. Slowly and agonisingly, my body is curled up into a ball and compressed further and further together.

It hurts—It hurts—It hurts—It hurts—

Someone help me! Someone save me! Please! It hurts!—

Suddenly, I feel a force jerking me forward as my screaming and scorched lungs suddenly cry out as fresh air is allowed back into my system. The force keeping my body together disappears in an instant and the remaining force spits me out forcefully, almost as if it was contemptful of my very being.

My hands hit cold stones as my lungs, grateful that air still existed but confused about what exactly air is, start to force air out of themselves violently, causing me to cough. My stomach, seemingly equally confused as to our current situation, decided that it needed to evacuate all of its internal contents onto the stone tule beneath me. A slight…problem, perhaps.

Thankfully, the nausea passes relatively quickly, though I feel the burn of stomach acid in my throat a few more times than I'd like. My coughing, however, takes much longer to get out of my system.

"Hey! You took my advice to not throw up," I hear a cheerful voice standing somewhere above me.

I should probably feel rather happy…but on the other hand the only warning that I got from that thoroughly unpleasant experience was a simple 'try not to throw up'. I'm slightly annoyed. Only slightly. Slightly…

"Wow, you look really bad…are you alright, Robin?" Terence presumably squats down to get a better look at me on my hands and knees. I cough something from my throat in response.

"Yeesh…hold on, give me a moment…" Terence places something on my back. I'm not sure exactly what it is since my coat blocks my skin from telling the shape, texture, or texture of the object. However, I quickly hear a whirring noise, and the ill feelings appear to drain out of my body through this object. As soon as the bad sensations disappear, the object disappears along with them.

"Ha…ha…gods, what was that?" I cough while trying to get back onto my legs. To my surprise, they listen without much trouble and I am able to get back to my feet. My head lurches a bit as it gets used to being on dry land again on two feet, but other than that not much else happens.

"That was the [Vortex Warp] spell. Unpleasant, I know," Terence sighs. "But hey, you're holding on much better than I was back then. Don't beat yourself up that much."

"Ugh…couldn't that have been a bit faster?" I groan. "Isn't teleportation supposed to be instant?"

"Oh, it is instant. The problem is the human brain, not the spell itself," Terence shrugs. "We've done some tests, and it turns out that no time passes for the object targeted by the spell, as moving a clock shows. But, our brains think it's an incredibly long time due to the intense pressures involved. It's kind of like how time slows down for people in extreme danger."

"I see…what…happened here, exactly?" I frown as I survey the area around me. There are multiple large scorch marks around the usually white limestone stone walls and floors. Terence's golden bird is also looking like it's missing a few tawny feathers. There was obviously a fight…but…

"Ah, a couple of Risen decided to make this fort their home. I evicted them," He chuckles. "Randy is currently at the door, blocking any attempts that the remaining Risen might make to get into this room."

"I see…how many Risen were in this room?" I grab my thunder tome and trust bronze sword.

"Eh. A couple dozen, I think? I certainly wasn't counting. A couple of blasts of fire were able to clear them out," Terence shrugs nonchalantly.

"A couple dozen?" I blink.

"I dunno. Maybe more, maybe less. Took all of two minutes for me to kill all of them, though," Terence isn't able to give me a clear answer. "You ready? The courtyard has a lot more Risen."

"Y—Yes," Robin nods. "Do you…?"

"Have the flare, yes," Terence produces a small metal tube. "It's a bit on the louder side, however, so you might want to cover your ears when I launch this thing."

I nod.

"So, shall we head off?"

"We should," I reply to his strange question. "Is there a balcony area or anywhere we can fire down at the Risen from? I would hate to get stuck in against a large number of Risen."

"There is one. Over through that door. But…uh…well, there's a problem," Terence licks his upper teeth. "See, the fact that this building even has a courtyard is strange, no? It's supposed to be a fortress,"

"Well, yes…" I frown. "What is so strange though?"

"Well…it doesn't take too long to realise that this isn't a fortress…not in a conventional sense, at least," Terence sighs. "This was a castle built for a lord…and with that…it means that this wasn't a military structure, and instead built to house people…"

"Please get to the point," I sigh.

"Right right…sorry about the rambling," Terence apologises. "The walls are weak, the doors are weaker, and there isn't a single bottleneck where we can funnel everyone through."

I blink, then wince. That…wasn't a part of the plan…

That makes our job a lot harder. By multiple factors of magnitude, unfortunately. Without a single point of entry, it makes controlling the Risen horde approaching incredibly difficult.

"How many points of entry are there," I start to think of ways to fortify this building better. An earthen barrier should be able to resist most Risen attempts at climbing…though wood would be easier and quicker to put up…

"Thankfully only four, which is somewhat more manageable. One of them has a relatively strong door that we could drop, but the other three are practically an open hole," Terence grimaces as we get onto the balcony.

I take a sharp breath as I realise just how many Risen are in the courtyard. I could…at least twenty. Gods…

"Oh sweet. There are fewer here than before," Terence cheerfully comments.

"There are fewer?"

"Yup. I think Randy burned a couple…yeah, that'll be the fumes," Terence chuckles as a slight breeze carries with it the smell of burnt flesh.

"We should get to work…" I crack open the thunder tome as I feel my soul connect with the magic imbued within its pages. Not too long after, an arc of lightning shoots out of a magical matrix and blasts a Risen to pieces.

"Ha! Good hit!" Terence chirps cheerfully. "Watch this!"

With a snap of his fingers, he swings his magical tool and a massive spout of flame manifests itself and smashes into a group of Risen further back in the courtyard. If my blast of lightning didn't get their attention, that certainly did.

"And there goes stealth!" Terence grins brightly. "Not like I had any intentions of using it. I'm an artificer, not a damn rogue! Tally-ho lads!"

"Terence, what are you—hold on, wait!" I suddenly realise that Terence is going to flip over the balcony's stone railing and hop onto the courtyard floor.

I reach out a hand to try and stop him…but…

"Ghahaha! I'd never thought I'd have this much fun killing mere beasts!" He moves much faster than I have ever seen him move. As he's landing, a jet of frosty air smashes through any Risen in the immediate area and he touches down with more grace than a lithe dancer completing a gymnastics routine. He seems completely fine, despite having fallen down a high greater than a two-story building.

"Terence! Are you—"

"I'm fine, Robin! [Fire Bolt]! No need to worry about me!" Terence makes a cackling sound that slightly unnerves me. Although…

Not too long after he jumps down, a bolt of miasma slams into him. I yelp and quickly identify the undead mage casting the spell and dispatch them with a blast of lightning.

"Terence—!"

"Is that all you could do? That didn't even get past my first defensive ring!" Before I can even finish my sentence, Terence laughs boldly and boastfully yells out into the air. "Come on, hit me! I know you want to! Focus on me!"

I…think I'm starting to see the tactical play at hand here. Terence must have known that there were mages in the vicinity and jumped down to attract their attention. It's working, too, though a bit too well. There are other chambers within this building, and all the Risen within them are streaming out to fight Terence. Among them are a fair few mages and even more archers.

If we had both stayed on this balcony, they would have been able to slowly pick us off. There's not nearly enough space to move around and dodge on this ledge with just me on it, and it would have been a nightmare if Terence was also here.

I stifle a chuckle as I look down at the ground.

It's honestly a bit amusing seeing all sorts of weapons just…fly off of him.


(Terentius)

Gods damn it Terentius stop telling me to do that! That's just stupid! I"m not going to jump off the railing—

Stop! Stop! NooooOOoooOooOOOOooOOooO! Don't you dare—

"Ghahaha! I'd never thought I'd have this much fun killing mere beasts!" Terentius roars as we crash into the ground after I am forced to cast a [Ray of Frost]

Oh well. This…probably won't end well.


(Robin)

I settle into a steady rhythm of picking off any stragglers that Terence's spells don't manage to reach, or killing Risen that have already started to fall apart but are rather stubborn to do so. Occasionally, a couple of Risen with ranged weapons target me, but Terence usually spots them aiming at me before they're even able to attack and cuts them down. The couple of times that he doesn't get there in time are littered all around me—a burn mark in the rock, a javelin embedded in mortar, and a rather concerningly close patch of bubbling purple-black miasma.

Still, this is the most target practice-esque fight I've ever had—not that I remember many, mind you, but this still probably takes the cake. It doesn't take long for Terence's machines to also join the fray, the stout yet terrifying form of Randy and his flamethrower burning massive holes in the Risen's ranks while his eagle squawks out what are probably bird profanities from above while occasionally adding in with bursts of translucent blue bolts of power.

I've burned through half of my own Thunder tome, and while Terence was very insistent on bringing spares of practically everything, I'm a bit nervous about running out of tome pages. I still have three other Thunder tomes—the cost wasn't too much of a problem with a man who is practically made out of gold and is currently happily cackling away beneath me—but at this rate, I'll run out of magic before we're able to clear all of the Risen.

I gulp as I realise that I'll probably have to rely on the bronze sword currently being gripped lightly in my right hand. I elected to not upgrade to an iron or steel sword seeing as it's one of the only things that I have tying me to my past…but seeing a similar sword shatter on Terence's protective shields after a couple of strikes…I realise I might have to borrow a weapon from Terence once all of this is over.

It doesn't take awfully long for the entire horde of Risen to be completely destroyed, mostly thanks to Terence and Randy. I cannot see how Lissa sees that machine as cute, I don't think I can ever get the image of a small metal device smaller than your average hunting dog spewing forth more fire than I have ever seen in my life. Scary…

After everything in the courtyard that isn't Terence, Randy, and that annoying eagle is dead or crumbling into purple mist, I find my way down to the courtyard through a staircase. I will not be jumping from a second-story balcony, no matter how easy Terence makes it seem. I will break both my ankles and be forced to drink a potion that costs more than everything on my person combined. That would hurt both my body and my soul. And probably make Terence laugh at me. Rrrr…I still need to think of a way to get back at him for siccing Sully's horse on me. Not now, of course, this is an inappropriate time to do that…

As I open the door to the courtyard, however, I am treated to an unusual sight. Instead of what one would expect from Terence, perhaps spending some time tinkering with a machine that I know neither head nor tail of, perhaps yelling at his little creations about something or other that doesn't make sense to me…but instead, Terence is sitting down with his back leaning against a stone wall. I can't see his face from here…but…he doesn't look too happy. A surprising change, and one that concerns me somewhat.

"Terence…?" I say quietly as I slowly walk up to him. He doesn't respond. I…don't know if that's because he wasn't able to hear me, or because he doesn't want to talk. So I walk closer to him. He still doesn't respond to my presence. His face looks more gaunt than normal, and his expressionless face is more frightening than any expression he could have made. His grey eyes have glassed over, and the muscles in his face are slack, making his eyes look much bigger than ever. I subconsciously realise that Terence always has a slight scowl, even when he's happy. Strange, really.

At this point, that damn eagle of his lands on his shoulder and stares me in the face. I stop in my tracks. What, he's scary!

After a moment of a rather embarrassing staredown, the eagle turns its head away from me.

"Ah…Robin…" Terence finally acknowledges my presence. "I didn't…see you there. Let's get going then. I don't know how long we have until the Risen pounce—"

"Are you alright?" I frown as Terence stands up, the hollow expression from earlier seemingly sliding off of his face the moment he stood up. I'm…not too certain that's the case, however, and I press my question.

"Hmmm? What do you mean? I haven't gotten hit or anything. I'm fine," Terence tilts his head to form his usual confused look. However, I can see the slight glassing of his eyes. He's obviously feeling something, and I intend to get to the bottom of it.

"You were sitting on the ground with a concerning expression on your face," I fold my hands across my chest.

"I…I was thinking…about something…" Terence bites his lip and looks down. "It's…nothing to worry about, really."

"Really? If it's nothing to worry about, then why can't you tell me?" I stare at him pointedly.

"Would you take privacy as an answer?" He stares equally pointedly back.

"I somehow doubt it's just personal stuff," I click my tongue. I…was not expecting that as a reason. "You were fine moments earlier. At the very least, it's relevant to the battle ahead. I would like to know. Please."

Terence stares at me with a conflicted look on his face before relenting with a slight, sad smile.

"Ah…you somehow always manage to convince me to talk, even when it's in my best interest not to…what the hell. It's not like it's going to make me feel any better keeping it bottled up," He chuckles and shakes his head. I see a little spark of…something in his eyes, but it quickly disappears. "Although…let's walk and talk. I want to seal up the side entrances and fortify the main entrances as fast as possible."

I nod silently and follow him towards one of many small gates in the walls.

"Well…I guess it started…gosh, it would have been the first battle we ever fought, huh? Key word being 'we' in that sentence," Terence sighs.

"When we drove off those bandits in Southtown?" I shudder slightly, remembering the Thunder spell that nicked my leg and left a rather large burn wound. "What happened?"

"Hmmm…this won't make a lot of sense without a lot of context first," Terence starts to explain. "You know I was dumped into hell with some other idiots and practically told to not die, right?"

"I assumed that was the case, yes,"

"Well, hell has a large number of creatures that dislike mortals or are so insane that they don't care what they're slamming their clubs-slash-swords-slash-pikes-slash-other-weapons-of-choice into, so avoiding conflicts goes as well as trying to get sodium and water to go together and not cause a massive exothermic reaction," Terence uses a simile that goes straight over my head. "Really, there's not much of a reason to not kill those fuckers in the most efficient way possible. Even if you were a dedicated pacifist, I'm sure the fuckers who put barbed wire on pikes kebabed with the decapitated heads of babies and toddlers while wearing skirts made from severed arms could get you to reconsider your stance on killing. Even reigning pacifism champions like Jesus and the Buddha won't object to killing those fuckers."

"What this meant, however…" Terence sighs and pauses for a moment, stopping to turn around and look at me for a moment before shaking his head, muttering something under his breath, and continuing to walk forward. "…is that…well, we got used to killing. We got used to doing something that is…morally wrong. It might seem…well…odd to you that someone like me would hate killing but…I do. And…and…and…I…"

Terence shakes his head and stops talking for a moment.

I'm slightly conflicted about what to do right now. Part of me wants to help; I see him in pain and I want to reduce it. However…I heard from Lissa how difficult it was being on the receiving end of rather piercing questions. I mentally shake my head. No, what Maribelle was doing was pestering. This is something legitimately serious, not a couple of loose hairs.

"You killed people…during the battle. In Southtown," I start to put two and two together.

"Not just that. I've killed…before, and I never once got used to it. That's why I was a part of first the Equitas, and then the Miles Tormentuorum when I served in the army. I…prefer not to look my enemy in the eyes when I kill them. I…never really was able to condone my own actions, even when I knew I would be saving so many lives by doing so," Terence starts to speak again.

We've gotten to the first of the small exits, so Terence stops his explanation to start constructing an earthen barricade. I say barricade but I have a sneaking suspicion that a massive solid block of stone thicker than I am tall and actually cracked the brick and mortar around the doorway when it was being placed inside is actually much stronger than the walls surrounding it. Just a sneaking suspicion, really.

As we start to move on to the next entrance Terence continues.

"Yet…at Southtown I…I didn't…feel anything…" His voice is barely audible over the background noise of the wind and our footsteps. "I…I killed without…I killed without…trouble. I took someone's life…and didn't feel a single thing. What if…it doesn't stop? What if I can't…"

He stops talking, leaving me silent as well.

I'm not sure…what exactly Terence is feeling at the current moment. Sure, I might have a couple of ideas on what exactly I should do…but this is really out of my area of expertise.

We walk in silence for a while, filling each of the remaining secondary entrances with a massive slab of stone. Terence assures me that these rocks—made from a mineral called Corundum, not sure what that is or means—are strong enough that it will take an incredibly determined person hours even to make a dent in the crystalline structures of the thing.

As we reached the main gate, the dour mood that had permeated through Terence's body seemed to have evaporated. With his grey eyes shining with an excitement that could only be matched by a child on their birthday opening their presents, Terence gets to work on constructing a defensive position both inside and outside the walls. Within moments, a whole armoury's worth of traps and hidden weapons seem to sprout out of the ground. Bolt throwers, spike traps, acid traps, and poison injectors seemingly grow like weeds in the dusty soil. Hidden, yes, but no less dangerous. Even more impressive is the network of trenches that just seem to dig themselves. Trenches for us to stay in, trenches covered with pikes with hollow points full of acid, trenches filled with broken glass and caltrops, you can think of a way to delay the enemy, there's probably a trench for that.

I just stand off to the side, occasionally dropping my jaw at the speed or intricacy of the defences that Terence puts up. I doubt it takes more than a couple of minutes for him to have set up everything, but seemingly not finished with all of this, he summons Randy and positions him on a hill in the centre of all of these layers of defences, able to spew flame over all locations in this quagmire of pain and death.

Then he slaps something onto Randy that creates multiple shimmering walls of brilliant azure energy that layers one on top of another, providing even more protection against the very unlucky Risen horde that is presumably heading our direction.

"And…there!" Terence announces proudly. "Not as grand as the siege works I created during Utica, but it'll do. I'll like to see them get through all of this."

I shudder. Just thinking of the efficacy of some of these traps makes me feel frightened. I just saw Terence test the potency of the acid used in both the acid traps and those hollow glass pikes. The fact that it ate through a chunk of hardened leather thicker than my thumb is long in barely a second concerns me. If this isn't his best, then I really, really don't want to see his best.

"Hello? Hello? Robin, you there?" I suddenly realise that Terence is standing in front of me with a slightly worried smile on his face. When did he get here?! He was just on the centre hill—

"Ah. I didn't notice you there…uh…sorry…"

"Don't worry about it. I get that my rambling doesn't make too much sense at times," He grins. "As I was saying, from what Vespi's told me, it appears we killed the Risen inside this place a bit too fast."

"Huh? What do you mean by that?"

"Well, they seemed to have forgotten that we exist. Nobody is coming to check us out," Terence shrugs. "Not that it matters, really. Vespi's going to drop a large explosive in the middle of the horde and lure them here. We just have a bit longer to wait and have anxiety eat at our hearts and minds."

"Alright…" I sigh, then frown. "Who's Vespi?"

"Ah, he's the eagle currently yelling Greek profanities at the Risen," Terence jerks his head up towards the sky at a conspicuous gold-tinted blob on the horizon. "His name is Vespasian, and he's a bit of a…odd thing."

"Ah…I see…" I nod my head. "How long do you think it'll take for them to get here?"

"After the bomb is deployed?" Terence blinks. "Around six—"

A sudden shuddering of the ground threatens to chuck me from my feet. I grab the nearest stable object, which turns out to be a wooden stake and hold on. It probably only lasts barely a second, but during that time my heart threatens to leap out of my throat. Terence, as usual, is standing ramrod straight and chuckling.

"—I stand corrected, we have around five minutes and thirty-four seconds—and counting down—until they get here," He amends his previous estimate.

The cackle that comes after that statement unnerves me.


"T—Thunder!" I pant as I feel the last of my magic that I've managed to squeeze through my rapidly disintegrating tome. A lazy streak of golden light launches itself from my outstretched hand and impacts into a Risen, thankfully burning through its defences and killing it.

I take a deep breath as I feel my heart rate slowly increase. I'm able to keep my blood flow under control and not fall over like the time in the forest, but this is just too much! How are there this many Risen? How Terence is still able to throw out spell after spell I have no idea.

Even still, he seems to be getting a bit tired after fighting for…I'm not sure how long. The flare gun—a rather scary device that shoots a bolt of exploding light high into the air—signalling to the other Shepherds to enact their part of the plan had been fired off a long time ago, and yet the horde still seems to be as unrelenting as ever.

"[Ignis]!" Terence roars as a streak of crimson-orange crashes into another Risen attempting to get out of the first set of trenches. "Gods above, there are so many! Randy, target the cavalier trying to—[Glacies] fucking stay down!"

A blue-tinged spear slams into the Risen in question, who complies with Terence's command and slowly crumbles into purple smoke.

I climb up to the position where Terence is currently standing and promptly collapse onto the hardened and blackened dirt there.

"You alright, Robin?" He gives me a worried look all while concerning smoke curls from his steel bracers. How many times has he cast that fire spell for the armour on his body to start smoking? How is he fine with it?

"I just…need a moment," I pant as I attempt to shake off my exhaustion. "How many are there?"

"Too many. Way too many," Terence grits his teeth as a wave of heat rolls over our position from Randy in the front roasting another group of the undead. "There's not supposed to be… never mind."

"How are Chrom and the others doing?" I manage to get back onto my feet. "If we're facing this much trouble, they must be doing a lot worse."

"How are the rest doing? Ironically—they're doing a lot better than we are. We…uh…might have been a bit too effective in drawing the Risen's attention," Terence chuckles nervously.

"That's…" I frown. "I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not."

"Good for them, somewhat bad for us—" Terence mutters. "—Randy, 170 degrees, 30 seconds—personally, I'm starting to think that this wasn't all too great of an idea…"

My heart sinks a little bit.

"Not because of you, Robin," Terence chuckles, seemingly able to read my mind. "Not at all…I'm just…I… never mind, don't worry about it."

I frown at Terence's reluctance to tell me anything, but my mind quickly focuses on other matters. The Risen haven't been able to breach through our defences here courtesy of Terence's absolutely insane preparations, but that doesn't mean that they haven't made meaningful progress at crossing the multiple cart lengths of hell that Terence was able to put up. Many ditches have been filled up by the corpses of animals or the gear that the Risen leave behind when they disintegrate, and nearly all of the traps that are either single-use or require ammo have been completely depleted. Even the spike pits have been filled with so much stuff that they've turned into simple pit traps.

Not a good situation to be in. A real headache for both of us.

"Tch…I was not expecting this many damn Risen…I might have to—no, that's—not with…" Terence starts muttering to himself. I've gotten used to his ramblings to himself, but that face that he's making…it scares me somewhat. It's a dangerous face, I feel like. A face that leads to bad decisions.

"Are you alright?" I ask with a worried face.

"Hmmm? Yeah, I'm—" His face suddenly darkens. "That's not supposed to be here. That is not supposed to be here for a long time! Where the—"

"What? What's not supposed to be here—" My question is seemingly ignored as Terence's face switches between a couple of different expressions—fear, confusion, anger, disappointment—all of them worrying to different degrees.

"I see…if that's the case…" I watch in morbid horror as the usually small tool in Terence's hand slowly turns into a massive metal cylinder with legs that climbs itself onto Terence's shoulder, a small blue glowing thing sliding in front of Terence's right eye.

At that exact moment, a massive crashing sound comes from the main gate and throws up a massive grey cloud filled with shards of both stone bricks and hardened mortar. A guttural roar that somehow shakes me down to the pits of my stomach rings out through the air, though this just seems to make Terence more agitated.

"Tibi videre possum," Terence whispers something in a language I don't understand. "[Propello] Hic vitare non potes!"

Equally as suddenly as the main gate exploding, another explosion occurs in the tube that has mounted itself onto Terence's shoulder, causing acrid smoke to shoot out the back and something to rocket out the front. It slams into…something in the grey smoke and a flash of yellow-orange light followed by another explosion within the cloud of dust and smoke.

As the stone fragments finally settle down onto the ground and visibility is restored, I see what exactly Terence was firing at. A massive body, easily twice my height, is lying on the ground. It is obviously a Risen…but not only is it massive, but it looks nothing like a human. Its sickly green and purple flesh is decaying at different rates, and there are many noticeable seams within the creature—now firmly residing within the realm of the dead—that look as if they were sewn together. Now, its rapidly disintegrating nature and the massive, charred hole through its chest make it difficult to tell details, but I would have been as worried as Terence was if that thing had just smashed through a gate in front of me.

"That's not…fucking hell…" Terence seems to snap out of something as his voice is much louder now. "Robin, are you alright?"

"What…was…that?"

Terence winces.

"I…I don't think I can…honestly…this…" He seems to be avoiding the question, so I press harder.

"Please, tell me what that was. I have a feeling that this won't be the last time we see that,"

"Yeah, I know…but…not so…this isn't…" He keeps shaking his head, almost as if…there was something in his mind talking to him.

Gyahahaehehehehehehe

I suddenly jerk my head around to where that awfully familiar and disheartening sound came from.

"Who's there…" I whisper. When I get no response, I turn back to Terence, who still seems to be stuck in a conversation with himself.

"I know, but this—I can't just—" His face morphs into a mask of disgust. "No! Do not—you cannot be…this isn't the time for that!"

"Terence? Are you alright?"

"There is no point in that! This isn't going how it's supposed to be going! Can you not see that?" Terence hisses while his eyes dart across the landscape in front of him. Even Randy has turned around to stare at his creator in what I can only describe as concern. "That…that…isn't this…aren't we…aren't I…just…"

With a growl, Terence summons a bolt of lightning and hurls it at the nearest undead creature, which just so happens to be an axe-wielding Risen—a normal one—who promptly combusts into ash and purple smoke.

"What do you want me to do? What the hell can I do?" Terence continues to scream. "There is…what have I…"

His grey eyes suddenly lock onto mine, and a grimace slowly spreads through his facial features.

"What am I going to…" Terence continues to ignore my questions as his eyes have become more and more erratic. "Yes. Yes. That's a good…start…I can…"

Slowly, almost as if he was slowly putting himself back together, the fury and desperation in his eyes calm down and a mask of stability slides back into place in front of his face.

"Robin? Are you alright?"

"That's not what you should be asking right now!" I snap back. "Are you alright? What happened? What's that!? Should we—"

"I'm fine, a small headache, really. That over there…is kind of like a levelled-up version of the common Risen. I'm not going to leave…but…" Terence answers my questions almost off-handedly as the metal thing on his arm slowly returns back to the small tool that it usually is. He even predicts the question he cut me off on, surprising me somewhat. "I think you should."

"And leave you here!?" Terence's suggestion blindsides me. "Are you insane?"

"Look…I know what these things are, and I know that I can take their hits without any problems. I'd honestly be surprised if they're even able to hurt me. I also know—" His glare seems to pierce my body and stare straight into my soul. It makes me feel uneasy, especially with his previous…episode. "—that they will completely and utterly tear you to shreds. That's not even considering that there are at least half a dozen of the things out there, and all six are heading our way. No matter what they say, my life is worth much less than yours. Worst-case scenario, I save your life at the price of my own. Best case scenario, I manage to fight off whatever's coming this way in time for the rest of the Shepherds to catch up."

"Don't say that!" I snap back. "Your life is worth as much as mine, if not more!"

"I'm glad you think so, but that simply isn't true. You and Chrom need to live. That is non-negotiable. The rest of us…we're expendable, really," Terence smiles slightly.

"What do you mean by that!? Everyone except Chrom and I are expendable? What kind of logic is behind that?" I glare at him, but that just seems to make him more sure that he's right, for some reason.

"You would think so if you knew…well, I can't tell you. Don't worry, I see everyone else as non-expendable as well. I will protect them with my life. I have that to owe to the fu—others," He smiles.

"And what about you? Are you just going to let yourself die!?"

"What difference would that make? I'm…no, let's not say that…" Terence chuckles to himself, amused. I am unsure what he's laughing at, but it doesn't make me feel any better. As he is doing so, I remember something that he said…some time ago.

"Are you saying this because you could never see yourself with us in your visions?" I ask firmly. This seems to do more than any other objection that I gave as he physically flinched after he took in my question.

"I…while I would be lying if I said it had no impact on my decision…that's not it," Terence seems to be testing his words in his mouth before he says them.

"Tell me, then," I snap back. "What is it? What is it then?"

"It's something…a lot more…and difficult…I can't tell you. I cannot tell you. No, I will not tell you. Not until after I figure out…" Terence shakes his head. His psyche seems to be returning to what it had been before: scattered, incoherent, and self-contradictory. "I must…but I cannot…this is…I cannot! It is impossible! But it must be done!"

Terence suddenly drops down onto one knee, startling me.

"Yes…I must…first…"

From his position on the ground, Terence snaps his neck towards me so that his grey eyes seemed to bore holes into my own irises.

"[Quid vidis video]..." He mutters something incomprehensible to me. "[Vale sub mari stellanorum]"

Suddenly, that feeling of compression that had started my rapid and extremely tortuous journey here appears again, and with much more force. At once, I realise what Terence is trying to do, and I try to move.

Only to realise that my legs were currently entrapped in a swirling mass of black liquid. I tried to say something, but that just made my lungs realise that they had no air.

In the black-and-white world that I was deposited in, I could see Terence mouth something to me.

I am sorry. Please live.

I feel the compression from the spell take effect as black ink seeps into the bright portions of the world and it goes dark. I scream. I scream again.

I get a mouthful of nothing for my efforts.


(?)

Somewhere deep within the caves of the mountains of Western Ferox, Grima stirs.

I do not intervene, but I can see him do so.

I can see him move around in this black abyss that he has created for himself.

"I can see you now, little Farseer," He chuckles to himself. "I will have your soul bound to me. I will have your body destroyed—ground into dust! You cannot escape from me!"

He moves around, swirling his unfamiliar humanoid hands around the black miasma that he now calls home. He is moving pieces around. Gathering them at one point. I can see them, hordes upon hordes of undead marching towards a single location.

It grates against me. I hate it.

But I can do little. I am not allowed to do more than what I have already done. I can stop his tormenting of the past, but beyond that, I cannot do any more.

I am not allowed to.

"Destroy my spawn all you like!" Grima laughs. "I shall only create more! I shall only create more and they shall be stronger than you can imagine! I shall turn your future into a hellscape!"

I can see them, walking across the land.

I can see them, clawing forward towards a singular point.

I could destroy them all. Cut these insolent undead into pieces. Yes…I can…I am powerful enough to do so. I can help my friend…but…

I am unable to. I am bound by beings stronger than I am. I can do nothing.

So, I must sit here in silence. Looking upon this disaster with idle hands…

"So…you're here as well," My thoughts are interrupted by a being of immense power—similar to my own—speaking. His voice is distorted as if he is speaking through a veil. "Unable to do anything, fit only to stare as the world slowly crumbles."

"You…I do not know who you are. You speak of things as if you know what shall occur,"

"That is correct…you speak as if you are a god—a deity." He snorts. He has switched to a language I thought long since dead…but… "Is that what my brethren of this world have become? Gods? We are powerful, yes, but to desire worship from younger races? Pathetic."

"You are not of this world."

"Sure. Though you should know as well as any that the line between one world and the next is blurry and getting more and more blurry with every passing century," I feel this being shrug his shoulders.

"Who…are you?"

"I am a Dragon—you know this to be true. As for my name…I see fit that you do not need to know what my name is. Names contain power, after all."

"Pardon me if I believe you to be lying. Dragons should not be able to exist in the state that you do in this world."

"Ghaha! Who said I existed in this world at all? Magic is a wonderful thing, yes? If you had not decided to become gods and improved your magic, perhaps your horizons would be wider!"

"We did not wish to become deities. I, for one, only wished to aid humanity."

"Why should you? In the end, they abandoned you. They have no need for such things anymore," He snorts. "I only see fit to repay debts."

"But you cannot. You have been bound too…but by someone else."

"This…is true," His voice has become more depressed, less provocative. "A debt unable to be repaid is worse than a debt that is refused to be repaid."

"We can only watch," I shake my head. "Naga has willed it."

"We can only watch," He agrees. "He has not called upon me yet."

Silence engulfs us.

"So…" I prod. "Who are you? Is that a question you can answer now?"

"I…suppose I can. My name is Cly Morth, but the Farseer—" Cly Morth chuckles a little to himself. "—would know me as Claymore. Who are you?"

"I…my name is Forseti, the Divine Wind."

"Hells—title and everything. Do you ever need someone to drag your head out of your ass?"

"Apologies. Forseti of the Wind Clan," I smile slightly. It feels…strangely welcome when you can talk to someone frankly. "It appears as though I have been spending too much time in the Temples of Judgal."

"That's more like it! I…don't really have a clan anymore seeing as they are all dead…but I used to be a part of the Clythort Corobal. I am a Cobalt Dragon, for my scales are metallic blue."

"I am a wind dragon, the last one, if Naga is to be trusted."

"Naga…Naga…what a strange woman. Never have I met a person that I hate as much as I agree with them…and I agree with her on a multitude of issues."

"What led you here?"

"My debtor appears to have been teleported here. As by my oath, I am to follow him and keep him safe. And if possible, have him become the father to my daughter's brood."

"That seems to be a rather strange way to pay off a debt."

"Oh, that isn't paying off the debt. That's just a Cobalt Dragon tradition," He chuckles. "If you are to be saved by a being stronger than you, give them a brood. If he had asked before I was to marry, I would have gladly changed my gender in order to give him my own children, but he has not asked, and I have found another to give my own brood. My daughters give their consent if you were worried. Two of them seem…rather enthusiastic. I know Cly Selia is only wanting it because she has failed to acquire a mate in nearly two hundred years of life, but I think Cly Mara has been rather infatuated with the Farseer."

Once again, he chuckles at the name, even switching to the human language to say it.

"What strange traditions," I hum.

"No stranger than giving a book that contains part of your consciousness to the descendants of a person who drank your blood."

"While I would usually argue against it, to an outsider it must seem incredibly strange," I give him a smile. "It is a tradition for tradition's sake. I have yet to possess another descendent of Ced in millennia. I doubt many still remember Lewyn's experiences with that shard of my soul, and with each progressive year Silesse grows ever further away from the land I remember."

"Yet both nations that inhabit the peninsula still worship you as their god."

"Same as Archanea. Naga is a god here, as well as in Valentia, where Duma and Mila were killed all those years ago."

"To devolve into madness…truly—a horrid fate…"

"Agreed, my brethren. I was most fortunate to be able to avoid such a fate. And you?"

"Such madness is avoidable in my species. I still have many hundreds of millennia before I have to even acknowledge such degenerative diseases."

"Fortunate, then."

"Yes…incredibly fortunate."


AN: Hello there! Acardia here! Getting ever closer to a Baldur's Gate 3 fanfic.

Now, this week's chapter might seem a little short...and ends on a slight cliffhanger, at least with the main cast. The thing is, this chapter was supposed to be the entirety of Chapter 2 of Awakening, and not just the beginning of that fight. In fact, I have most of the actually fighting done, and this chapter would have been a ~25k word chapter. However...well, I didn't want to give everyone an aneurysm like I gave Terence since he is disassociating hard right now. I hope you guys can read parallel structure well because the next chapter has a lot of that. Still, 14.5k words is a rather good length for a chapter. What do you guys think?

Alright, since people are probably going to be wondering, here's all the Latin in this chapter:

Ignis - fire - Fire Bolt incantation in Latin

Glacies - ice - Ray of Frost incantation in Latin

Tibi videre possum - You I am able to see

Propello - (I) propel - Catapult incantation in Latin

Hic vitare non potes - (you) are not able to avoid this

Quid vidis video - I see what you see

Vale sub mari stellanorum - Goodbye under the sea of stars || Be strong under the shimmering sea - Vortex Warp incantation in Latin

Good thing about splitting off a chunk of this chapter is I'm halfway done with Chapter 9! Hurray! Still won't be finished for 2 weeks since next week is going to be A Thousand Burgundy Flowers's update.

Time for reviews! Hurray! Thank you all for your continued support.

Ricki123: Sorry, not here. If you still want to know, I'll send you a PM. Also, no worries. English isn't my first language (Even if it is technically my mother tongue) so I've seen my fair share of bad English and can understand it without too many problems. You're doing quite well.

Louie Yang: Perhaps...perhaps not.

kreeft123xx: Pick up BG3, it's absolutely amazing. Anyway, this fic has nothing to do with the Baldur's Gate series and the Forgotten Realms as a whole, even if I'm considering writing a fic based on that setting. Thank you! I spent a little too much time writing and re-writing that bit. Ehe...

Freekillm249: Naga is nothing if not a Big Lizard...though since Dragons' shoulder joints connect downwards, wouldn't that mean that they're more like Archosaurs—Crocodiles, Dinosaurs, Birds, the like? But Big Archosaur sounds weird and Dinosaur doesn't quite have the same impact as Big Lizard. Anyhow, Terence has seen his fair share of Dragons and other large scaled monsters—alive, dead, and reanimated (Dracolichs are scaaaaary)—so Naga isn't all too powerful in his eyes. Voice buddies are a good way to describe their relationship. Noire will be fine. Not only did she get a really powerful bow, but having half of her childhood being raised by a better parent than Tharja (not a high bar to set, I know) means her split personality disorder isn't as bad as it is in Awakening

Speaking of changing the children, I have a better answer for your previous question about how Lucina seems more mature than the game. See, in canon (unless I am severely mistaken), Lucina and the rest of the second-generation kind of had to figure themselves out after their parents died. Lucina had to learn how to lead by failures and whatever Chrom and the rest of the first-generation were able to leave behind. That makes for a rather lopsided growth experience. Place canon Lucina in a warzone and she knows exactly what she has to do to either fight or lead, but outside of that situation, she is lost. This Lucina had that responsibility taken by someone else—Terence—instead, which means that she's had time to develop more skills relating to living and communicating. She might not be as experienced as a leader as canon Lucina is, but she's more experienced in other aspects.

Now, relating back to maturity. While Lucina in canon is an adult, she's never really had the emotional development that this version of Lucina has, which makes her more mature. This also applies to the rest of the future children too. Yarne doesn't have to deal with being the last of his species on his own, making him less cowardly and more assured of himself; Owain and Cynthia have an actual living person to base as their hero, changing their views on being special and heroic. Owain cares much less about the supposed power within him and instead, he cares much more about his actions and morals, even if he does co-opt a lot of Roman culture from Terence. Cynthia's version of an ideal hero is shaped to be much more morally focused; instead of practising her heroic entrances, she debates the correct course of action in certain scenarios. Having a role model later in life than all of them did before allows all of the future children to develop into less problematic people as adolescents and young adults.

Anyhow, that's what I have to say about the matter. Hope it doesn't sound too ranty.

That's all for this week, folks. I'm going to go back to playing Baldur's Gate now.

Vale, omnis.

Acardia out!