Clovis basked in his victory. He had managed to recruit not just a knight to his adventuring party, but two healers. Two professionally trained healers at that. They actually knew what they were doing, unlike some of the "healers" he dealt with back in Plegia. They couldn't even cure his poisoned father, the ignorant fools. Grandmaster Wilfrid had an awful eye for personnel. Which makes sense because he was such an awful person.

Clovis pointed at Kellam, "Right, off to the stables now. Cyrille Dusk needs himself a pegasus!"

Lissa, the poor clumsy girl, choked on her freshly poured cup of tea as Clovis announced his plans. She broke out into a coughing fit, her eyes watering. She tried her best to struggle out a response to Clovis's perfectly reasonable plan.

"C-Clovis! You're going to get kicked in the head!"

By Naga! Why was Lissa such a worrywart? Those beasts were just horses with wings! Clovis spent plenty of time riding horses during his campaign out in Plegia. He knew how to handle those creatures. Father had taught him all the basics to mounted combat and some of his father's knightly order even provided Clovis additional instruction. A pegasus can't be that different.

Clovis rolled his eyes at his sister, "I'll just kick it back."

Maribelle calmy rose from her seat at the table, "I believe it would be best if we ended our tea party a little early today. I need to collect my things from my manor for our journey."

Lissa groaned, "Ugh, I'm going to have to go get my healing staff from the armory. Thanks for visiting, Maribelle. Please hurry back as soon as you can. I'm really, really, going to need you for this trip."

Maribelle gave a short curtsy before leaving the room.

Lissa waved goodbye to Maribelle before turning to Clovis, "Okay. Let's go to the armory. I bet that sounds exciting, doesn't it?"

"Very! Emmeryn won't let me go there by myself."

Lissa sighed and muttered to herself, "Geeze, I wonder why…"

It was a short walk to the armory. Clovis spent much of said walk staring at the guards and knights they passed by. He did his best to memorize their faces. There was always a possibility of an infiltrator slipping into the ranks of the castle staff. It was an unacceptable blindspot, one that had cost them more than a few knights back in Plegia. It wasn't paranoia if the Plegians truly were out to get them.

Clovis suddenly turned around just as they got to the entrance to the armory. He checked to make sure no one was following them. To his relief, Kellam was the only one behind them. He was reliable, safe. Clovis respectfully nodded at Kellam before turning his attention to the two castle knights guarding the entrance to the armory.

Lissa grumbled at the guards, "Out of the way, please. I need to get my staff and Clovis needs a weapon."

The two knights looked at one another. They hesitated, both staring at Clovis, before finally opening the doors.

Kellam adjusted his throat behind the duo, "I'll uh, wait right here."

Clovis felt giddy as he rushed past Lissa to enter the armory. He had been wanting to enter the armory for some time now. If only to pay respects to his father by ensuring his father's war hammer was being properly cared for by the master of the armory.

Chrom did promise to bring him to the armory at some point, but it never happened. Whenever they sparred against one another, Chrom would either send for a knight to gather their weapons. It annoyed Clovis far more than his brother may have realized.

Clovis stopped in his tracks, reaching the displayed war hammer of his father. It was encased within a large glass display case. The silver war hammer still shined brightly, the engraved initials L.L.L. still visible on the head of the hammer. It was truly a shame his father could not live up to his engraved golden rules.

Live. Laugh. Love.

His father didn't live the full life that he had been due. He was a jolly man amongst the knights, so at least he did get a chance to laugh a lot. Clovis knew in his heart his father loved him, perhaps far more than anyone else in his family.

With one last longing look, Clovis moved past the displayed hammer. He took a sharp turn, heading towards a deeper part of the armory. He dearly hoped the master of the armory continued to ignore the corner of the armory filled with rusted bronze swords displayed upon a rack. Everything appeared to be untouched, given the layer of dust coating the handles of those bronze swords.

Clovis turned around to make sure no one was watching him. No one was there. He grinned, kicking the lower part of the brick wall just to the left of the rack. A loose brick fell back, exposing a hole in the wall. Clovis crouched down, claiming his hidden prize. A short spear and a warp staff.

Father had truly been a genius. He had taught him a combat style unlike any other when Clovis had served him as a squire. A smile tugged at Clovis's lips as he quietly brushed dust off of the two weapons. He'd never forget those lessons.

Father's silver helm gleamed under the scorching heat of the Plegian sun. His father's gauntlet clad arm rested upon Clovis's shoulder.

"Son, what is the duty of a squire in the service of a knight?"

Clovis dutifully responded, "To clean the blood and grime from your armor. Oh! To also clean the brains and bits of skull off of your war hammer too!"

His father's armor clanked as he happily rose his hand to pat the top of Clovis's head, "A perfect answer! However, let me tell you a secret."

Clovis stared into his father's visor, holding his breath in anticipation.

"What if I told you there was a far better way to fulfill your duties as my squire?"

"How?!" Clovis bellowed.

Father barked out an order towards one of his personal knights, "Fetch my son his gifts!"

A robed priest strode forward, huffing. The overweight man took a knee, presenting Clovis with a one handed spear and a strange looking staff. Clovis noticed the handle of the staff was engraved with text.

"World's best son…" Clovis read aloud as his eyes began to tear up.

Clovis immediately hugged his armored father, who began to explain his gifts, "Clovis. What I have granted you this day is a warp staff. You must promise me you will take care of it. Maintain it as if it were my war hammer. This staff is worth a salary of two years of service as a Ylissean knight. Keep the enchantments of the weapon charged at all times or it will fail on you when you most need it."

Clovis hesitantly took it from the priest, he stared at it in reverence, "What… What do I do with it?"

His father's deep voice seared itself into his memory, "The duty of a squire is to maintain the gear of his knight. A knight's gear is dirtied by spilling filthy Plegian blood. Preemptively destroy the source of what dirties the gear of a knight and you will have fulfilled your duty at a much lower cost in time. I shall teach you a new way to fight. A method Naga granted me within my dreams!"

Clovis gripped the staff and spear tightly, "What is the method, Father?"

His father looked off into the distance, "I shall deem it as the W.M.D. fighting style. Warp, maim, and disable. Remember this!"

Clovis would never forget his father's lessons. It took him months to eventually get the feel for rapid warping. Months of vomiting his guts out. Eventually, he had gotten used enough to the feeling to poke Plegian barbarians with his spear. Clovis had learned to warp around the battlefield, stabbing just under the armpit of Plegians. Sometimes he would stab them just behind the knee or pierce the back of their neck. Many dark mages fell before they ever had a chance to hurt the knights around him.

Clovis truly missed his father.

Clovis strode out of the dusty corner of the armor with his spear and warp staff in hand.

Lissa was waiting for him by the door, her healing staff in her grip, "What took-"

She blinked, "Is that a warp staff?"

"Yes."

"...Goddess protect us. Who gave you-"

"Father."

Lissa slammed her forehead into her healing staff, "Of course he did! Yes, let's give CLOVIS a warp staff. Great. Wonderful. There is no way that can possibly go wrong. This is too much…"

Clovis shrugged, "Can we go to the stables now? I really want to fly on a pegasus. Actually, do you think I can warp a pegasus?"

Clovis happily twirled the warp staff in his hands, idly recharging the enchantments on the staff. He wasn't going to let the enchantments of his staff die. Die like his father did.

Clovis frowned at his staff as Lissa continued to tap her forehead against her healing staff while muttering, "A warp staff…"

While Lissa fretted over seemingly nothing, Clovis yelled, "Last to the stables is a rotten egg!"

Then he warped.

Clovis momentarily appeared by the two knights standing guard outside of the castle armory. The two guards seemed to panic at his sudden appearance for some bizarre reason. Honestly, shouldn't they have expected him to depart from the armory? Emmeryn really was starting to scrape from the bottom of the barrel when it came to their castle staff.

"Meet you at the stables, Kellam!" Clovis warped.

He warped again. And again.

Clovis was the first to reach the pegasus stables! He happily twirled his warp staff as he checked his surroundings for a worthy mount. None of Phila's order appeared to be at the stables, meaning all the present pegasus at the stables were without a rider.

Clovis spotted a large black stallion twitching in the corner of the stables and a small foal chewing on grass. Without any hesitation, Clovis approached the twitching stallion.

The stallion slowly lifted its head to stare at him.

Clovis remained where he was, staring back. He refused to flinch at the intimidating gaze of the beast.

Clovis. He was Clovis, son of the greatest Exalt Ylisse had ever had. A simple beast would not intimidate him!

Clovis narrowed his gaze as he continued his staring contest with the stallion.

It twitched forwards in a charge towards him.

Clovis planted his spear into the ground, glaring at the wild beast, "Kneel!"

"Neigh!" the stallion roared back.

The beast grew closer, its massive form loomed towards him with its dark wings spread in a show of intimidation.

Clovis refused to back down.

The stallion stopped its gallop a mere second before impact. The beast slowly craned its neck to stare down directly into Clovis's eyes, mere inches away from his face.

Clovis felt the hot breath of the pegasus as he spoke to the beast, "Accept me as your master and I shall provide you an endless feast of Plegians one day!"

The beast continued to breathe in his face.

It… placed its forehead against Clovis's chest.

"Neigh," the creature gently spoke.

Clovis knew the creature had accepted his offer. He shifted his staff just enough to reach out to pet the fluffy mane of the stallion. A moment later, Clovis climbed upon the back of the pegasus. He basked in the glory of doing the impossible. He could not recall another male pegasus rider in the history of Ylisse.

"What the fuck?!" A red headed female pegasus rider swooped down from the clouds.

Clovis recognized the pegasus rider as she landed near him and his new mount.

"Oh! You're Cordelia, right? Come to Ferox with me!"

The red head jumped off of her own mount, "Are you mad?! How are you even on top of that old bastard? He should have taken your head off!"

Clovis blinked at her in confusion, "No? I'm not feeling mad. I'm actually feeling pretty happy! I just made a new friend here. Hey, do you have any tips for a first time flier?"

She seemed to be overwhelmed by the situation. She stayed a respectable distance away, holding the reign of her own mount while beside it, "Who even are you? This is insane…"

Is… is she retarded?

Clovis tilted his head in complete and utter confusion. He had seen Cordelia around the castle grounds plenty of times. He may not have ever formally introduced himself, but how did she not recognize him? This was just silly. How could she not know who he was at just a glance when he was the brand in his eye?

"I'm Prince Clovis…" Clovis spoke slowly for her.

Cordelia froze before him, her eyes widening as a bead of sweat began to travel down her forehead.

She let go of the reign of her mount, immediately walking towards him to take a knee.

She bowed her head low, "I deeply, deeply, apologize for my words. Please don't punish Phila or the others for my foolishness."

What.

Why would he punish Phila? That was something Emmeryn was into, not him.

He looked at Cordelia with pity. He didn't know Phila's special student was actually her "special" student.

Clovis warped off of his mount to lean down towards the poor "special" member of Phila's order. Tears were falling from the girl's cheeks as she remained kneeling.

He didn't understand why she was angry enough at herself to cry. Was she really that embarrassed that she didn't recognize him? Poor thing. Clearly the girl before him had greater social issues than even Vaike.

Clovis reached out, brushing one of the tears off of the girl's face, "It's alright. Everything is going to be okay. Let's start over. I'm Prince Clovis."

The air around them felt different as he finished speaking. Her fear and worry seemed to melt away as he remained calm before her.

Cordelia's voice came out as a near whisper, "I'm terribly sorry for calling you mad, Prince Clovis."

Clovis gently wiped at another tear on her face, "You don't owe me an apology. I know how difficult it can be to communicate with others at times. It's hard for me sometimes too. I've made a fool of myself in front of knights in the past. Regardless, I think you're the perfect person to act as one of my knights for a trip to Ferox. I've been looking for you."

Cordelia gently smiled, "I accept, Prince Clovis. It may be selfish of me, but I do have a request of my own as a condition for my acceptance."

"Name it and I shall honor it."

Cordelia rose to her feet, "Can you… ask Chrom if he would be willing to go on a flower viewing date with me?"

Huh. Clovis didn't expect that. Poor Chrom had a retarded girl pining after him.

Clovis's lips twitched as he did his best to mask the amusement in his tone. Chrom deserved this. He really should have brought him to the armory. Naga preserve his dear brother for Clovis was going to throw him under the wagon.

Clovis was nearly on the verge of laughing as he spoke, "I'm sure my brother would love to view flowers with you. I've heard he has a preference for roses as red as your hair. He finds them to be quite beautiful. I'll inform him of your desire to view flowers with him as soon as we return from Ferox."

Cordelia released a breath, her face bright red. She broke out into a short joyous dance as she pumped her fist in victory.

Clovis stared at her silently. The feeling in his chest… the dread. Was that how Emmeryn felt about him at times?

For a fraction of a second, Clovis contemplated cold blooded murder. The girl before him could spell doom for the entire line of the Exalt should his brother breed her.

Clovis took a deep breath. He really needed to go find some Plegians to work out his anger on.

Clovis slowly backed away from the giggling redhead, "Right… I'm glad you'll be joining us on this journey. Isn't that right Kellam?"

Clovis wasn't actually sure if Kellam was there or not. He just assumed the loyal knight would have caught up by now. He was extremely swift for his large size.

"Of course, Prince Clovis," the gentle giant spoke while petting the foal within the stables.

Cordelia was happily humming, "Ah! I'm so, so, happy to join! When will we depart? It's going to be soon, right? Right?!"

Clovis grimaced. His life sucked.

Without answering her, Clovis warped onto the back of his stallion. His new friend craned its beck to stare at him. Clovis ran his hand through the mane of the pegasus once more.

"We shall depart as soon as we can. Maybe a few days if we can prepare everything fast enough," Clovis spoke.

Cordelia seemed to be lost in her thoughts, lost in her own retarded delusions.

It was at that exact moment Clovis heard his slowpoke of a sister yelling a short ways away from the stables, "Please don't be dead! Please don't be dead!"

Ah. A panicked Lissa was a million times more bearable than the pathetic redheaded knight before him.

"I'm still alive!" He shouted for his sister's sake.

Lissa rounded the corner of the yard panting and covered in sweat. She stared at him before her gaze fell upon his new wonderful mount. She swiftly fell backwards, collapsing onto her butt.

"This… This is a nightmare right? I'm going to wake up any moment. I just drank a bad batch of tea, that's all. Clovis isn't on a pegasus. Clovis isn't on a pegasus."

Clovis continued to pet said pegasus, ignoring his sister's breakdown. He really needed to name his new best friend.

"Darkness… Shadows? A mere shadow in the darkness overhead. Shadowmere."

Clovis gave the stallion a hefty pat on its neck, "Shadowmere. You shall be Shadowmere. May you strike fear into the hearts of all Plegians as you grind them underneath your mighty hooves!"

"Neigh!" Shadowmere roared as he stomped the ground.

Shadowmere's excitement was contagious! Clovis felt a spark of joy course through him as his mount continued to stomp the ground.

"There can be no peace as long as a single Plegian draws breath!" Clovis announced.

If only Emmeryn could see through her delusions to realize the same profound truth. Why did no one but him take Father's lessons to heart? See, this is exactly why he was his father's favorite child. Chrom deserved that retarded girl, he truly did.

Clovis rose his warp staff, roaring alongside his mount.

Clovis and his mount immediately warped into the sky without an ounce of hesitation. Shadowmere's dark wings spread out wide as Clovis flew a pegasus for the first time in his life.

Childish glee took hold in his heart as he laughed. Clovis's heart was rapidly beating in excitement as Shadowmere seemed to somehow adapt to the rapid warping.

Clovis warped.

Warped.

Warped.

Emmeryn was calmly sipping at a cup of tea while reading through reported sightings of brigands near the border. Just as she started to read another riveting eyewitness account from a farmer, her gaze strayed to her study window.

Her glass of tea shattered in her grip.

Did she… did she see what she thought she just saw?

Clovis was riding a pegasus…

Clovis was holding a warp staff…

The physical pain from the shattered cup was nothing compared to the complete and utter dread coursing through her veins.

What did she just unleash upon the world?