Month of Blue Sea Moon - The Goddess's Rite of Rebirth
Chapter 9
The following days came and went with me tending to my new wyvern mount, earning his trust through sheer force of will and stubbornness. I took to feeding him every morning after training and sit in with him during evenings. I would typically dive into finishing my coursework or reading anything the managed to catch my immediate interest, hoping that by simply spending my evenings around the wyvern that he would get used to my scent and behaviors. I decided to call him Zu, after a legend that I recalled hearing about on a fateful story night sitting around a large bonfire while others ate and danced to music.
I recalled the festival night fondly, the mountains and the clear starry sky that watched over the small village while they celebrated around a roaring bonfire. lanterns dancing on strings and floated up into the night sky around an entire banquet of food and drink.
"The festival was glorious. So many people dancing, the lanterns and music were something divine. It was nothing like festivals here in Fodlan. Oh and did I mention the food? Oh, it was so good! I ate so much I thought they were trying to stuff me!" I reminisced as I oiled a soft cloth and began sliding it down my Wyvern's huge frame.
"The story tellers did an excellent job too. They weaved such intricate tales about local legends. I remember this one about a giant wyvern named Zu. The legend had it that Zu was a demigod, a enormous wyvern capable of creating great sweeping winds at the barest beat of his wings. Another legend I heard was he was the embodiment of thunder in a stormy sky, shaking the world with his mighty roars. Kind of like you I think."
I scrubbed the tender part of skin between my wyvern's wing joint and his pale pink wing with the oiled cloth, attempting to get rid of the build up of grime. The spot must have been more tender then I had expected due to neglect as Zu turned his neck and bared his teeth at me.
I managed to pull my hand back from the gnashing razor sharp teeth in the nick of time. Realizing a warning signal when I saw once, I moved quickly down his side, still cleaning his armored scale plates. "Alright, alright, I'll move down here happy now?"
Almost in response to my question Zu's tail lashed out at me. The whiplike appendage dealt me with a stinging blow across the back of my knees. I felt my knees give way from the blunt force of the tail swipe. The force of the blow caused me to abruptly pitch forward, my elbows flying out to help protect my face from hitting the floor of the straw covered stable.
Amidst the yellow straw, dark brown almost black legs, equipped with claws the size of my forearm stamped down next to my head. I lay on the ground for a brief second , not sure what hurt worse, the sting of the tailwhip on the back of my knees or the throb of my kneecaps that had just hit the hard pavement.
I groaned as I pushed myself back up, scolding. "You do need to be cleaned and oiled or else you'll just become itchy and dryer. That means you'll just be more moody." I lectured my wyvern as he snorted and started pawing the ground in anger.
I noted the irate signals, realizing it was time for me to leave my wyvern alone for a while. I shrugged, maybe I had pushed Zu bit too far today. I grabbed my oil and cloth and made for the exit only to look up and find Claude watching me with interest from the doorway.
"Hey Lilianna its about time to…"
Zu heard the male's voice immediately began roaring.
"Claude! Get out of here!" I yelled at the top of my lungs as I stepped in front of my Wyvern. Zu began stomping and snorting, lowering his head as he got ready to charge.
I tried talking to the wyvern as calmly as I could, slowly backed toward the stall door. "It's alright, it's just Claude. He's not here for you, I promise."
My wyvern growled a low feral sound just before he roared again. My back bumped up against the doorway.
Zu's tail lashed across the floor with a clatter as I yanked the stall door open and dashed outside. A second later Zu's head poked out the top slot. The wyvern's green eyes glared around the empty alley as his huge maw opened to reveal the razor sharp teeth inches away from my face. The wyvern voiced his displeasure as he roared again.
Putting a protective hand over my sensitive ears, I took a quick look around revealed that Claude was nowhere to be found. Deprived of his prey, my wyvern snorted in displeasure.
"I guess he's gone. You'll have to see if you can scare him off again next time." I spoke normally as my heart hammered in my chest. I tried to assume some normality as my hands shook. I placed the supplies I had been using in the maintenance stall next to his.
I came back outside to find Zu still glaring down the alley. With his head out in the open it was pretty easy to see that the wyvern had been neglected for some time. Dry and cracked scales from his last molt were clustered in the corners and folds of his skin and several areas still held dried blood.
I sighed, it looked bad. It would probably take me awhile for me to get him to trust me completely, but at least I didn't have the same issues as some of the others. Seteth had informed me over tea that Zu's last rider had been a personal guard for his own flying battalion, and had died some time ago. Since then my moody wyvern had been in retirement and only used as stud services as he wouldn't let anyone else get near him enough to care for him let alone ride. He had warned me that it would be a while before he would be in fighting condition again, and that it would be even longer before I was able to take him out in combat, if ever.
After sharing tea with the advisor again, I started to pay even more attention to Zu. It had become fairly apparent to me within a few days that Zu no longer appreciated the company of men. He would often snap and become extremely temperamental if anyone so much as came to talk to me, as both Ferdinand and Sylvain had discovered. The only male Zu seemed to tolerate was Seteth, but seeing as Seteth used to be the leader of his battalion, I thought that was to be expected.
Not that my riding lessons were in much better state than my wyvern's temperament. While true that my flying skills were much better than my horseback riding, and the wyvern's didn't seem to hate me unlike anything with hooves, it felt like my flying skills were rusty from years of not being used. My flying instructor, Manuela, and sometimes Seteth, would praise me for the way I was able to read the winds, launch, and navigate the landscape, but somehow I lacked the coordination to wield any weapon during flight. Landing was also a problem.
Not entirely pleased with my own personal performance I recalled standing in front of my homeroom teacher as we discussed my options a few days prior.
"Well, for the time being we will assign you to sky watch with Claude. Leonie is expressing an interest in following in Jeralt's footsteps and is looking to become a Paladin, so our class requires another representative for skywatch."
Hanneman's words came back to me from a few days prior as I reached my hand out to scratch the underside of Zu's huge jaw. The wyvern snorted and quickly withdrew his head back into his stall and I heard a wet crunching sound from within. I assumed he had taken to eating now that the threat was gone.
Satisfied my wyvern was settling down, I jogged down the alley towards the flight paddocks, thinking that's probably where Claude had retreated back to. Sure enough, my house leader, and current flying partner, was waiting with two saddled wyverns in the padlock.
It had become apparent my first day out actually flying, that even the pegasi would not tolerate me anymore than the ground horses would. So wyvern's were literally the only form of flying mounts I could even use.
I sighed as Claude poked his head out from behind one of the wyvern's wings "Hey Lilianna, over here!"
"Sorry Claude." I huffed as I approached.
The wyvern's snorted as Claude mounted up. He tossed me the reins to the spare mount. "Taking care of your bruiser, huh?"
I quickly set my foot in the stirrup and heaved myself upwards. I settled into the saddle and pulled the reins over the saddle horn. "I was trying to. He's been neglected for a while, but I think he's going to take some time to warm up to me completely."
"Well, let me know if you need a hand. I know a few things about wyvern care." He offered casually as we checked our harnesses.
I pulled a safety strap a bit tighter. "I might need to take you up on that offer. He has some really tender spots that he won't let me touch. Got any ideas?"
"Hmm…" Claude rubbed his chin as he nudged his mount into take off position. "Try I have a special oil that might work. If you let the oil sit, it will loosen the dead skin and then you can use the pumice stone the next day to just buff it away. I can get you some after we are done with Sky Watch."
I nodded my understanding as I moved my wyvern in behind him.
"Well let's get this over with." He winked back at me as he nudged his wyvern's side. The beast spread its wings and leaped high up into the air with a powerful beat of its wings.
"Wohooo!" I heard him let out a whoop of joy as his wyvern climbed higher into the air.
My own mount tensed under me seeing it's compatriot launch, the wyvern knew it was next to be airborn. I gave it's side a small kick. Realizing the takeoff symbol, my mount leapt up, following after Claude's wyvern with a heavy beat of its own wings.
My throat dropped as I fought the upwards momentum. I didn't exactly blame Claude for yelling out. I held my scream in, barely. The only reason I did was because I did not want to bite my tongue.
My wyvern followed Claude's instinctually. The golden deer's wyvern led us up to the top of the watchtower where we hovered in place to recap on our assignment.
"Alright do you remember our flight path?" He shouted out over the flap of wings.
I flashed a quick hand signal for yes, opting to not shout over the heavy wingbeats.
He got the message and signaled back before taking the lead.
The next few weeks saw me completing a whirlwind of Sky Watch patrols and foot patrols along with my normal classwork. It didn't help that I often stayed up late reading, or, if I wasn't reading, I began exploring the dark places of the monastery after lights out.
I started being called down to Seteth's office almost daily for falling asleep in class, and more than a few occasions, I was escorted to the advisor's office in the dead of night by armed guards who were displeased to catch me wandering around in the dark.
Seteth would sigh and rub the bridge of his nose as he dismissed the guards, normally opting to scowl and lecture me before send me back to my room with a stern promise to not wander around again so late at night. He stressed that I should make attempts to rectify my wayward behavior.
It took a day or two for me to work out a loophole, and it took me a few more tries before the exasperated advisor closed the loophole to include not exploring during the monastery sleep hours. My reasoning, upon admittance, was that after the midnight bell it was technically morning hours. Seteth was not impressed by my cleverness and my cheeky abuse of the rules, and as punishment it earned me several rounds of extra assignments cleaning the stables out or tidying the classrooms.
However extra punishments did not stop me from wandering, in fact it enticed me to do it more often. Like there was something hiding, so I just became a little smarter about not being caught. Some of it was by design, other times it was because I discovered several secret passages or used unorthodox methods to travel.
Outside of causing Seteth headaches, I began to get to know Cereza better. The young shaman was overly apologetic about nearly breaking my nose. I told her not to worry about it, and that it wasn't a big deal, accidents like that happened to me all the time. Patrolling with her began to an experience and a half, as she enjoyed hiding in her veils whenever I asked her flustering questions.
And I asked her a lot of questions. A lot of questions - questions about life in Brigid, why she came to the Monastery, along with what she found different or difficult to adjust to. The language barrier was an ever present problem, and as I discovered, she was exceedingly shy.
As we patrolled I did manage to get her to open up a bit.
We talked quite a bit as our feet marched along the ramparts of the Monastery walls. She mentioned how the language was difficult, and that she was having trouble with her course work because she had issues with reading and writing in the Fodlan language. She admitted that Petra was helping her but the Brigid princess often had her own duties to attend to. Sensing an opportunity, I offered to help her if she needed some additional assistance. With all the extra patrols I felt bad for her, and it was nice to not be the only one struggling to adapt into Monastery life.
In return, I told her about my wyvern adventures from the week before, and how I had injured my left eye when I first got here. With wide and expressive eyes, she cited a keen interest in Fodlan magic, showing me that her magic was mostly fire and wind-based along with some holy support, which was similar to my light and wind based magic. It was also different though, in how she cast the spells and which incantations she applied to get similar results. I found it to be very valuable knowledge to my own studies to see how that her native spell casting could be applied to my spell casting and I began experimenting with blending the different techniques.
Over all the week passed rather uneventfully, my sky patrols with Claude switched to Ingrid the next week, and then to Petra as my night patrols were spent with Cereza and then finally with Lorenz.
The last week leading up to the Goddess's Rite of Rebirth ceremony was more stressful than normal. The tension in the air felt like it could be cut with a knife.
Any ambition I had felt to even look at my own school work evaporated completely, but that did not stop me from spending time with Zu and digging around the expansive library. During my time in mist the towers of books I spent a lot of my time looking up wyvern care and attempting to blow off a lot of penned up energy by reading more about magic.
Cerzea helped, explaining how magic was taught and celebrated in Bridget, and I in return, helped her with her schoolwork.
My own assignments lay forgotten under piles of magic books and wyvern care as the texts continued piled up in my room. The small pile I had started with at the beginning of the month grew to dangerous levels. My patrols with Lorenz did not help either. He often complained that patrolling was below his station and that he could be doing other things rather than walking around looking at the scenery.
I asked him once out of curiosity what he could be doing in which he flicked his hair back and smiled at me.
"Why, I am looking for a suitable wife, what else could I be doing?"
I thought about replying with a number of things but chose not to validate him as the noble ignored the tension grew between us. "There is nothing more noble about securing the next bloodline for my house. It simply will not do for me to choose any such woman for a wife. She must be refined, elegant, and capable. Ladies of common birth simply will not do."
"Why? Because they do not come with a castle and territory to bolster your lands?" I rounded on him and stepped up to go toe to toe with the tall noble.
Lorenz seems shocked by my sudden anger as I growled. "That's all you do, go on about women like they are some prized mare to be put before the stallion. I don't know what's worse, people like you who are looking just looking for the best blood linage like everyone is just some common breeding stock for you to pick and choose from, or the others who date around so casually you can't tell if they are sincere or not. I find them both appalling."
"Excuse me ? You-" He started to backtrack. "You find me appalling? I do believe you have misunderstood me. I am not merely looking for a wife. If it was for mere bloodlines or money I could be married several times over. No, I am looking for an…"
I stood on my tip toes and pushed my finger into his chest glaring in rage. "Oh I get you. You are just some well-bred stallion searching for some prized mare. Don't try to deny it."
He gulped and seemed to realize I was in power. He coughed and then looked down his nose condescendingly at me. "It is very easy for a commoner such as yourself not to have the slightest understanding of the finesse and tactic that is required of us nobles. You would do well to not speak to me in such a manner ever again."
I backed down and rolled back on my heels, considering if it was worth pressing him or letting the matter drop. I decided it wasn't worth the lecture later. "I am glad we have reached this understanding then. I don't have to listen to your fanatic search for unicorns, and you in return don't need to subject yourself to logic and common sense. I feel like I am getting the better end of this bargain."
I turned on my heels as Lorenz stared at me for a second and then followed after me.
Patrolling with him the rest of the week was a rather quiet affair.
"Alright everyone today is the ceremony for the Goddess's Rite of Rebirth." Hanneman finished drawing our assignments out on the chalkboard.
As a mage I was stationed with the other mages, Lysithea and Lorenz. The latter would scarcely even acknowledge my presence, while the former nodded to me as a formal acknowledgement that we understood the assignment. Reluctantly I accepted the assignment, realizing why the casters were grouped together with a healer.
So, I didn't raise a fuss. Rather, I just set about patrolling per our instructions and prayed for the day to be over with quickly. I had been sleeping restlessly the last few nights, having dreams of blood and battle. My headaches were getting worse too, with several speechless encounters with the green haired girl. The entire ordeal left me just wanting to get some sleep. I felt exhausted. I had even been sleeping in class a little prior to us receiving our patrol assignments.
The fact that Seteth had caught me sneaking into the Library after hours the night prior and I was assigned extra duties to attend to after patrol did nothing to help my temperament.
We began our patrol rather quietly, covering the outside of the church cathedral, patrolling the courtyards adjacent to the main building in silence until we got used to the area's layout and the influx of patrons coming to worship.
While we patrolled, Lorenz insisted on walking ahead of us, taking his duties with a level of responsibility that surpassed diligence and overran clear into arrogance. I tried not to pay him any mind as I kept my eyes on the crowds of civilians coming and going, watching for anything suspicious. While we walked, Lysithea and I took up discussing magic and positioning that we could handle if anything broke out and how we would evacuate the civilians. Something just didn't feel right to me and having a plan made the waiting a little bit easier.
"There are so many people here." She commented dryly as we watched throngs of people swarming around the church.
"It probably would have been better for Lady Rhea to cancel the festival." I muttered as a handful of young children dressed in their most formal attire ran past us yelling in glee.
"That's so childish." Lysithea narrowed her eyes and stuck her nose up into the air. "It's such child's play to be running around like that."
Her light pink eyes narrowed in disgust as I leaned back on the castle walls casually. "As long as they are not hurting anyone, I don't see a problem with letting them run around."
Lorenz was standing a little ways off and he sniffed. "I fail to see why we are stationed outside the tomb. We are not even in the church! This is hardly a duty fit for a noble."
I started tracing symbols in the air. They glowed softly as I peeked through them to keep an eye on the crowd. The headache from my casting appearing almost instantly. Ignoring Lorenz's comment I turned to Lysithea. "Here, try using this symbol when you go to cast."
Lysithea drew the same glowing rune in the air with ease and it shimmered in front of her. "Alright, so what does this do?"
"Helps identify anything that looks suspicious. You would know it if you saw it." I sighed as my runes faded into the air. My hand made its way up to my head as the other fumbled for my waterskin and the pounding in my left eye made me wince.
"Really must you two experiment with such spells when there is such an influx of patrons? What would happen if something did happen?" Lorenz lectured as Lysithea continued looking through the modified foresight spell that had blown up on me two months prior. I had been practicing it for the better part of the past two months, tweaking it from its original form to see a few seconds into the future. I was impressed, as my classmate managed to hold the spell in place a lot longer than I could manage.
I rolled my eyes at Lorenz's lecture. "I don't see what's the issue. If something did happen the noble and mighty Lorenz Hellman Gloucester would step up into his most noble of duties to help us commoners learn our place, would he not?"
The stuffy noble took my sarcasm much too literally, he scowled with disdain."Nobility does have a time and a place in assisting commoners that is true, and I am more than happy to do so in the right situation. You must realize that commoners are of lower rank and are meant to serve, and that this is hardly the time to be bringing about such things. I will be forced to report such a snide insult to Professor Hanneman."
"You have been forcing us to follow in your footsteps all morning and ordering us about like we are some kind of common solider! Why don't you get off that high horse of yours and try asking rather than just ordering us around then! I'm not one of your subjects, and I don't take orders from you!" I snapped as I straightened up, not in the mood for him to lecture or threaten me.
Lysithea seemed a little taken back by the sudden hostilities between us. "Lorenz, I am sure we could respond if there was any danger, but we are located on the northeast the side of the church. I don't think anyone would try to do anything here. The tombs are located on the other side of the cathedral."
"The Archbishop Rhea is just inside these doors. That means we are the first line of defense if something were to happen." Lorenz proudly proclaimed, as his violet eyes glared daggers at me, as if daring me to refute his analysis.
I crossed my arms and sniffed in equal disdain. "So, what you just told me is we are expendable."
Lorenz's face paled to a ghostly color as I continued hissing my words. "If we are the first line of defense that means that anything we say or do is just to alert the more experienced guards around Lady Rhea along with potentially stopping the threat. However, isn't it a bit off that we in the Officers Academy, are surveying the front lines? That we are caught between an alarm bell and body guards?"
"This area isn't exactly high risk. The intruders would have to first get past several other checkpoints before invading." Lysithea pointed out as I thumbed my bottom lip in thought.
What I had blurred out was a sudden impulse of anger that was true, and on reflections, I found it rather concerning. Was Rhea trying to keep me safe, or was she trying to keep the nobles of those who might oppose her close to use as leverage?
I pondered that thought as the conversation continued.
"Still we are only one of many checkpoints. It's hard to say what exactly is going on here." Lysithea up at me and then looked at Lorenz as if looking for some kind of reaction.
"You have a unique way of looking at things." I informed her as I folded my arms. "I still can't shake the feeling that something is going on. Something bigger is happening here, but I can't put my finger on it."
"Of course it is, it is the Goddess's Rite of Rebirth. Every noble and commoner is here to worship." Lorenz huffed as we started walking back down our patrol location in the far courtyard of the church.
We walked opposite of the huge crowd of patrons, keeping everyone in line and answering questions. Our fresh and well pressed dress uniforms helped us stand out from the crowd of churchgoers. Lysithea and I were working on answering a question from a new mother who was wondering if there would be a chance to meet Lady Rhea in person as a fuss broke out from near the front of the line.
It started as a bit of angry shouting from the line leading into the church and quickly broke out yelling as it escalated into a complete panic. As the panic started to ripple out into the crowd. We all made eye contact with each other and then started running in unison to the entrance yelling out at random.
"Please stay calm! Shoving is against protocol!"
"Make way! We are here to help."
"I don't have time for this! Get out of my way!"
Several knights started blockading and escorting people out of the church as we approached. Our uniforms helped us stand out in the crowd, marking us as students from the leadership academy. Lorenz hailed them and the guards halted the doors from closing for a few seconds. Just long enough for us to get in.
Inside the church was utter pandemonium.
People were running everywhere as sparks and flashes went off just in front of the entrance to the tomb of the goddess.
"Goddess, What is happening-" Lorenz paused as I continued shoving through towards the lights. The pit in my stomach grew as I searched around for the Archbishop and her aids.
"Move! I need to…Milady!" My voice dropped as I watched the person in front of me give a gutted yell. Warm blood splattered across my face as a sword appeared mere inches from my chest.
I froze for a second and then started screaming.
"What in the hell do you think you're doing?!" I screamed in an absolute rage, anger filling my very essence as I watched the light in the man's eyes fade right in front of me. An armored soldier's grim face appeared from behind the fallen patron. I didn't recognize his armor but I didn't wait for him to ready his sword a second time.
A white orb of light appeared in my hand a second before aiming it straight at my opponent. Anyone who cut down innocent bystanders during a holy ceremony, wielding a sword in front of me, wasn't going to live. My magic light spikes hit home and the soldier fell with a gutted grunt of agony.
Lysithea managed to get up beside me. She quickly followed my spell up with a miasma ball similar to my own just like we had planned in our test scenarios. We both realized that fire spells was much too dangerous to be using in the church full of civilians. In fact, I noticed, if we were not careful some of the patrons would also be caught up in our magic.
"Lorenz!" I turned around to see where our third mage had got to, only to find the noble cornered up against the wall with his spear out. The noble was valiantly trying to protect a mother and child who were sheltering in the corner. I held my tongue, realizing in my haste to push forward and find the Archbishop that I had broken our formation enough to leave room for the enemy to get behind me.
Lorenz's violet hair boobed once as a strong spell blew his opponent away. Over the din I managed to make out a smug, condescending. "My name is Lorenz Hellman Gloucester and you shall not stand in my way!"
Another opponent rushed us and I heard my partner behind me gasp sharply in pain. I turned to see what had happened and was greeted with the sight of a fresh an arrow wound. The shaft had embedded itself into her upper arm causing red crimson to bloom out onto her black and gold dress uniform.
"Leave it there until we can heal it!" I ordered as I turned to cast, determined to remove the archer from existence.
As I started casting, winds and holy light answering my call, lightning flashed through the cathedral. I staggered as the spelled lightning slammed down into me. I gritted my teeth and continued my casting, refusing to break concentration. My holy magic cast a strange yellowish-white light on the morbid massacre as I lobbed another set of my light spikes at the archer. The archer fell, pinned to the ground by several dozen spikes of light that dripped red in the magical light.
I confirmed the kill and released the spell as Lorenz gave a shout that caused my blood to chill.
Blood coated the walls of the church as the noble took a knee well out of reach of my healing spells. My gut twisted, and I had no time to contemplate the headache that was escalating as I grabbed Lysithea's arm and teleported in a blink of an eye.
The world went dark for a second as we appeared in front of Lorenz. My world spun from teleporting, the headache forcing me to grip my head and steady myself as a flash of black magic caught my attention.
My world came back into view a few seconds later as I dropped to my knees next to my injured classmate. "Hang on Lorenz!"
"I am fine. It is but a scratch." He waved me away hanging onto his spear to keep himself from toppling over onto the ground.
I huffed in irritation at the noble's stubbornness, and insisted."Let me see. I can help."
"I am fine!" He snapped as I reached over and roughly tugged his hand away from his chest to reveal the giant gash.
The sight of the fresh wound caused me to pause. I sucked in air through my nose and slowly released it before redoubling my efforts. "I told you I can..."
"I told you I am fine!" He shoved my hand away. "If anything make sure that she is alright."
I looked towards my other teammate, torn between Lorenz who clearly needed my help, and my youngest classmate who looked like she didn't have that much stamina left.
"Can you two hurry it up? This is getting bad!" Lysithea snapped as she unleashed another magical.
Lorenz sighed and pointed behind him. I looked behind the kneeling noble and realized he was still protecting the mother and child. I understood, shaking my head at Lorenz's ideologies that apparently held fast even in the heat of battle, but moved over to do as he requested. "Are you alright Miss? I am a bishop, I can help if you're injured."
The woman's frightened eyes gasped at me in shock as the child continued to wail in her arms. I didn't blame the child, the chaos was only growing worse as the battle escalated. I ran my eyes over them both, on a quick inspection nothing seemed critical for them, just a few bruises and scrapes from stumbling and debris. I nodded as I reassured myself a second time that none of their injuries were critical enough to warrant using magic. "Just hang on, we will get you two out of this. I stake my life on it."
I waited until she gave some semblance of understanding and then I turned back around. Lorenz was earnestly attempting to keep fighting while protecting the corner we had managed to secure. Just behind him Lysithea poured healing magic into the noble. The meager healing the dark mage knew was barely doing enough to keep Lorenz standing, and Lysithea herself looked about ready to drop.
"Oh goddess we need help." I muttered as I forced myself to stand, the headache feeling like it was going to split my head open. My head wasn't the only source of pain either, somewhere in the fighting I had picked up a jagged cut on my thigh and it was making standing difficult. It seemed like we were about to fall when a yell from the church entrance caught my attention.
I blasted another knight with a bunch of light spikes, my magic starting to flicker as I watched a spear swipe across my opponents back. Caught between my magic spell and the force of the spear, my opponent crumpled to the floor.
I looked up to see Cereza pulling her spear free, fighting back to back with Petra and Caspar. Caspar yanked his axe out of another soldier and then tossed it over his shoulder with ease. "Hey Lilianna, looks like ya could use a hand over here."
I nodded mutely and staggered over to Lysithea. I touched her shoulder, leaning on her heavily as Lorenz straightened up and started talking quickly. I knelt down and looked Lysithea in her eyes.
"Hold your screams." I warned her a second before I yanked the arrow out of her arm. She let out a small scream next to my ear as I began to cast some of my last attempts at healing magic. I continued casting dispute my headache, allowing the healing spell to take effect, closing her wounds. My exhaustion started to dissipate as a second wind full of battle high adrenaline took over. I walked over to Lorenz, while Petra and Caspar held off the rest of the soldiers. I was about to cast when a spark of holy magic from beneath Cereza's hand caught my attention.
There wasn't any more time to think as the next wave of soldiers, this wave was much weaker than the last, crashed upon us. The growing number of church worshipers behind us continued expanding as we were able to increase our front lines to be three across. I stood behind Petra backing her up with spell support as she tore her opponents down with an amazing display of both swordsmanship and lance work. Next to me on the front lines was Cereza, who surprisingly was backing up Lorenz while Caspar enthusiastically protected Lysithea.
The battle came to a grinding halt as Professor Byleth emerged from the tomb holding a grand chain sword. She appeared from out of the darkness of the goddess's tomb wielding the weapon with a powerful orange and red glowing light that wrecked the soldiers who were standing in front of the tomb entrance. Upon seeing the glow and the weapon in its glory, the Knights of Seiros and my fellow classmates sent up a great cheer. Our opponents, soldiers of the Western Church fled at the sight of the holy weapon.
The aftermath and cleanup of the battle was terrible and bloody. No one had escaped without some kind of memento of the attack, but we all stood strong as the surviving patrons all thanked us soundly for saving them.
I looked on and bowed to the living while looking at the dead that lined the cathedral floor. Many of the patrons who had been in the tomb and towards the front of the church did not make it. The fallen were escorted by the Knights of Seiros, as they were all removed respectfully from the front of the church.
I made use of my time by tending to the living, for a short time until the guttering strength of my magic gave out completely. When my magic gave up I took to tending and reassuring those who needed it.
Felix found me resting up against a pillar, taking a breather, while trying to fix a fresh bandage over the cut on my own leg.
"Tsk. How did you manage that?" The swordsman looked unimpressed as he knelt down next to me. "I thought you were better than this."
I gritted my teeth as the fresh bandage already started to show pink. "None of your business. I can handle it."
The temperamental swordsmen looked like he was still on his battle high as he scoffed at me. "Whatever, looks to me like you can barely walk."
"Please sir, she has been tending to the wounded without a moments rest. Could you not help her?" A random woman who I had just healed a small cut on her husband's arm stood up to defend me.
"I see. So you were involved in this mess as well then." He shook his head. "And your just as stupid as that other idiot. Come on let's get you to the infirmary."
"No. Felix just leave me alone. There are others who need the help more than me." I protested as the swordsmen reached for me.
The sour swordsmen did not respond to my rejections, instead his hands reached out and grabbed my bandage.
"Let go." He yanked the bandage out of my hands without waiting for me to comply.
"Hey!" I protested with a gasp as Felix quickly tied it off with expertise.
"Fine, then I'll take you back to your room then if you stop fussing. It's not like you can do anything else in this state anyway. You'll only work yourself until you faint at this rate."
I shook my head not wanting to face the harsh reality of the swordsman's logic. "No, I can do more! I need to stay! There are only so many healers and there so many wounded."
Felix's scowling brown eyes glared at me until whatever protest I had been giving died on my lips. "I don't care. That idiot has already tested my patience enough today as it is, I won't have you doing it too."
The swordsman promptly slid his arms around me and lifted.
He adjusted his grip as I winced and he looked down at me with a snort. "I can see why you're so light on your feet."
Embarrassed by the swordsman's words and still wiggling, I gasp. "S-Shut up Felix and put me down!"
"Stop fussing." He ordered as he carried me past the long line of wounded.
As we neared the door I heard a familiar voice.
"Oi lad! Where be yon taken my lass?" Navan threw out a heavy ax covered in blood to stop Felix from leaving the church.
"Navan!" My guardian looked fresh from the battlefield but unharmed. "Tell him to put me down!"
"Fine. I'll put you down." Felix barked and promptly dropped me with no warning what-so-ever.
I attempted to catch myself in midair as the swordsmen sniffed, apparently done with attempting to be nice. I landed on my feet unbalanced as the swordsman's arm caught me to steady me.
"There now you're free to walk back inside."
I leaned heavily on Felix's side as Navan sighed. "Got caught up in dis mess dintcha lass? I can see that bandage turnin a pretty shade of pink. Go git yourself some rest. The grunt work is done."
"No, there are others I can still help!" I protested as Navan put his hand on my other shoulder. "Lad I'd be mighty grateful if yer would take care of her whist I stand guard. Lass, I'll be by to check on yon later."
Felix rolled his eyes and crossed his arms as I continued to lean on him for support.
My protests didn't die as my injuries and headache told me I should rest. "No, I can still be a use!"
"Yon did right lass. Now rest." Navan gave my shoulder a firm squeeze. "Settle down and let the lad take care of yer. It'd do well to let yerself be pampered for once."
Felix sniffed in disdain. "I am not pampering her. She can barely walk and she keeps bleeding everywhere."
"Aye lad, whatever helps yer sleep at night. I appreciate yer looking out for her."
Felix's hand shot to his sword and the hilt clicked open and the temperamental swordsmen glared up at my mentor. "Do you want to go?"
A larger figure then Navan approached behind him. The man with orange hair and a grim, haggard looking, face stepped in. "What is the problem here? Kid you look like you have seen hell today. Shouldn't you be in bed resting?"
I couldn't tell that he was talking to me, but as no one else responded so I answered. "Y-yes sir."
Jeralt loomed over Felix and me and then nodded. "Good, no more of these complaints then. Navan come with me, we are being summoned."
Navan dropped a quick salute and yelled out loud enough to hurt my ears."Yes sir!"
I swayed in place as Felix sheathed his sword once more. "
Tch, and there goes a good opponent. He looked at me with an disgusted expression. "You could have just shut up and let me carry you."
"No I am alright. I can do it myself." I gritted my teeth and started limping for the exit.
"..." I could hear the incoherent muttering behind me.
"Why do you have to be so stubborn?"
"I can do it myself." I repeated, feeling weary as I looked out over the long bridge.
Felix grabbed my arm and spun me around roughly to face him. "It would just be faster if I carried you!"
I snapped at him, in no mood for charity. I just wanted to be left alone. "I don't need help from you!"
The swordsmen grabbed my arms and forced me up against the bridge railing. "What is your problem?!"
"I don't need help from some- some noble!" I gritted my teeth and yanked to free my arms.
Felix held my arms tightly for another second and then let go.
"Fine. Get back to your room by yourself." He released me and started to walk away.
"I will!" I yelled back at him in defiance.
It took a while, but I managed to get across the bridge that spanned length between the church and the academy without Felix's help. Exhausted by the efforts, and cursing my stubborn pettiness for not accepting help when I needed it, I rested on the brick floor with my injured leg out in front of me. My back was firmly braced up against the bridge railings for support when Cyril found me.
The young Almyrain was hauling buckets of water from a nearby well and bringing them across the bridge to help supply everyone with water. He passed by me, hauling several large buckets full of water. "You don't look so great. Are ya sure you should be just sitting there?"
I muttered something under my breath and he stopped. The water sloshed in the buckets as he glared at me. "I can't stop to help you, but you can't stay here. Hold on a second."
He grabbed the buckets he was holding and trotted back inside the study hall. A few seconds later Raphael came out. "Hey there Lilianna, Cyril said you needed some help?"
I let out a sigh of relief and tried to pull myself up, I was done being petty and not accepting help.
My easy-going classmate didn't wait for me to finish. Without a word of warning Raphael leaned down and picked me up without breaking a sweat. "So where too? Cyril didn't say anything about where you were going, just that you needed a hand."
His eyes drifted to my leg that I gripped in pain. "Oh you were assigned to patrol the cathedral weren't you? Were you actually inside the church?" He rubbed his head with his free hand. "I guess I should take you up to the infirmary."
"NO! My wound isn't serious! I just want to go back to my room and clean up!" I hissed as Cyril trotted off over the bridge with his water buckets.
Raphael was unconvinced by my request. "It kind of sounds like it might be, are you sure you don't want Manuela to take a look at it?"
I glared at the man holding me as he started walking. "There are others that need medical attention much more than me…I don't need to waste anyone's time."
"You should take care of yourself too though!" He protested as I shifted to bury my head in his shirt.
"Please Raphael, just take me to my room."
Whatever I did caused him to pause and there was a gentle pat on my head as he assured me. "Alright, but I am going to report this to Claude just so you know."
"Sure..." I reluctantly agreed as the brawny deer easily carried me back to my room.
Once back in my room I promptly worked on stripping off my soiled clothing. Removing the buttons and straps from my attire was difficult as my hands started shaking and reality started to set in. My eyes caught sight of the rusty tints encrusting the edges of my hair. I raised one of my hands up to touch the discolored lock.
The small lock of hair turned into a crispy chunk, stuck together with clotted blood. Realization that I was covered in blood, that the crimson liquid stuck to my face, in my hair, coating my body caused me to start to shake. The pound headache from all my spell casting did nothing to help matters.
It was hard to concentrate. The glaring fact that some of the blood covering me was mine, didn't bother me.
The fact that most of it was the blood of innocents did.
That fact stirred a deep memory. My hands coated in the rust colored liquid, helping others, fleeing a massive chaos, somewhere from the depths of my memory this felt overly familiar. Sickening familiar.
A violent knot started to form in my throat as the familiar feeling seeped into my consciousness penetrating my entire being. The sharp, painful, feeling began to overtake me. The pounding just behind my left eye grew to be excruciating, causing my vision to start to fade. My gold room faded from black and then to white.
In a dream a hauntingly familiar scene unfolded into mass chaos. A brilliant flash of white light bolted down from the heavens and the shock wave was accompanied by blood curdling screams and terrified yells. Slowly the colors came into focus and I discovered I was no longer in my room.
The brilliant reds of freshly spilled blood returned, staining the rocky canyon walls the darkest shade of crimson that I had ever laid eyes on. A huge city was in the process of collapsing as an army invaded over the ridges. A battered palace stood the middle of the canyon falling into shambles under the onslaught of heavy artillery. A tall figure with tresses of green adorned in heavy armor looked entirely too familiar as she guarded the entrance to the falling palace defiantly.
The fighting broke out everywhere as the army remorselessly invaded the city, sparing no one in their path. The stark red of the walls were contrasted deeply with the civilians who lay dead all over the cannon floor. Civilians with hair the exact same shade as mine were cut down with steel and then finished off with twitching weapons that pulsed red from a jewel in their center.
The weapons appeared to be made of still twitching bone.
The image faded as quickly as it had come and I found myself lying alone on the floor of my room, blood smearing on the golden carpet. The excruciating pain in my head was quickly accompanied by a restless, hopelessly, disgusting feeling that caused my stomach to cramp violently. I held my hand to my mouth as I pushed myself up off the floor and bolted for the washroom.
The needless slaughter of innocents, along with the hopeless suffering and pain in my vision overlapped with reality caused my gut to twist and writhe. I barely made it to the sink before I lost control. Crying, trembling, in immediate pain from my head and several battle wounds, I proceeded to empty the contents of my stomach.
The painful contractions continued as I dry heaved, the water running, mixing with the contents of my stomach and the blood that I attempted to wash off. It wasn't that I had never seen battle, bandits and thieves were as common as the dirt that collected on my cloak when I rode with the caravans. Several times even my own personal camp had been raided, as were towns and villages I sometimes stayed in. As an outsider in Alymra, it was as if they thought I would be an easy target. As a female in Fodlan, the situation wasn't much different.
My attackers had always been wrong, and Navan and I had always managed to get the upper hand, enough of an edge to escape or win the battle. So I was no stranger to death and the hardships of this land, but something about being the loss of life in such a holy place, on such a holy day that did not sit well with me.
It felt too familiar.
I held my head as the pain in my eye came back. "What is with that cannon? Who were those people? Why is it so familiar?"
I felt a myself start to frown as I slid slowly down the wall. The pain in my leg reminded me keenly that it required attention as I lowered myself to sit on the cold stone floor of my washroom. Once settled I reached for a fresh roll of bandages. My hands moved almost of their own accord as I thought in a daze, working to switch out the makeshift bandage on my thigh for a more proper one. I washed and disinfected the cuts with a hiss, and remembered to apply some of Cereza's salve to my wounds before tying off the bandages properly.
To remorselessly remind me of the trauma I had just experienced, I possessed a decent allotment of minor cuts and bruises as well as the jagged cut on my thigh. That was the only wound that really concerned me. I groaned as I shifted to look longingly at my bed.
"I'll probably have to have that looked at later." I fought to hold back a yawn, my battle highs dissipating completely as exhaustion quickly overtook me.
I sighed and braced myself, pushing slowly back up the wall. It was a struggle to get back upright, but the thought of crawling along the floor was unappealing. I shutter ran through my body as I considered it, and I refused to give in as I finished pushing myself up right. Slowly I manged to limp over to my water pitcher. My hand wrapped around the heavy pewter, cool to the touch. My arms felt like limp noodles as I struggled to lift it to my lips.
Slowly, savoring the fresh water, I proceeded to drain the entire pitcher, hoping that my headache was due to dehydration and not some head injury I had forgotten in the heat of battle.
The fact that the headaches were linked to magic was pretty much confirmed at this point, and it was getting harder to hide them. I slammed several pain relievers from my personal medical cabinet and resolved to wash my hair after I woke up from my sleep. I barely managed to reach my bed before I passed into the land of dreams.
Author Corner:
Ok! Chapter 9 is complete! Wow - how about that chapter? So much happened - I mean I think the biggest thing that happened is most definitely the attack during the goddesses rite of rebirth. This was done by the Western Church as part of an uprising that Byleth and the Blue Lions worked on last month, but apparently Rhea, Seteth and the Knights of Seiros did not uncover. At the same time, stepping in line with the game, Byleth comes out of the tomb with the relic "The sword of the creator" - and thus saves the day.
This chapter the raid took on a different standpoint and you saw the attack happening from Lili's standpoint. Baring everyone in the church was a bit of a strange move, but it was to protect the Archbishop who was shepherded to safety and prevent reinforcements from aiding the Western Church that might be on the grounds.
We see Lilianna is still very concerned about the Archbishop and is growing her bond with Seteth as well. Seteth seems less stern with her, and her schooling is starting to slip. Lili has a bunch of other priorities now, exploring the Monastery searching out its secrets, taking care of her Wyvern, Sky Patrol / guard duty, and she is picking up reading and spell modifications. She is basically pursuing her own interests and not paying to much attention to her school assignments, though Navan and her still train daily in axes and she works with Dimitri on spears.
Lili is also making friends with Cereza - helping her with her schooling(While neglecting her own?). We see her relationship with Lorenz is still not warming up, and Felix and her have a bit of a tiff. Lili doesn't particularity like admitting she needs help, especially from a noble, but the swordsmen is much to used to dealing with Slyvain, Dimitri, and Ingrid to be off put initially, but something about Lili's rejection strikes a cord in him and the pair separate.
On the other hand we have a nice patrol with Claude who offered to help Lili out with her wyvern, as she learns to care for Zu. You find out a bit more about the wyvern's backstory, and we can see its going to take Lili a lot of effort to get him back into shape.
If your interested in seeing what happens next - on the aftermath of battle and how Lili takes everything that has happened to her - I suggest you hit the follow button so you don't miss the next chapter! If you are enjoying the twists and turns of the story please let me know by hitting the like button! And if your feeling very adventurous - it would mean the world to be if you told me you enjoyed it in a comment!
Hope to see you in a week!
