"This is pretty out of the way," Robin reminded his travel companion as they trudged along in the muck. When Priam said it was north of the capital, Robin was curious as none of his maps had shown a village in that region, but now it was raining, muddy, and all around miserable.

"It will be worth it, and we're almost there besides," Priam kept trudging along, his raggedy scarf blowing in the winds as they went. He was unusually quiet, but that gave Robin time to ruminate on what they had picked up from local gossip.

The Ylissean League had pulled out an impressive victory. The part that left Robin wracking his brain though was how that rumors were still crediting their win in part to a robed tactician. Which was odd as he was very much not with them. Though rumors were just that.

This oddity left Robin wondering if they had kept rumors of him alive for morale. While that might have strategic merit, it was a bit too deceitful and underhanded for Chrom. It just was not his style to hire an impersonator for him. Could he have found a new tactician? Perhaps, and the robes could have been a nice way of carrying on the mystique he was told the regular troops thought he possessed. Though, he thought it could also simply be a lingering rumor.

So lost in his own head was Robin, that he nearly bumped into Priam before noticing that he had stopped.

"We're here."

Looking past the burly man, Robin saw an ancient fence surrounding, "A graveyard? You brought me all this way, in the pouring rain, to a graveyard?"

"For what's in the graveyard," Priam started climbing the fence, as he rounded the top, he called down, "You coming?"

"Of all the…" Robin started climbing, "I did not expect to be breaking into a graveyard when I woke up this morning."

"Relax," Priam set back down on the other side, "We're just here for a family heirloom."

"Here?" Robin dropped down to join him, "Where exactly is this?"

"This, is the Imperial Graveyard. Generations of Valmese rulers and their top brass are buried here. My old man just so happened to be the captain of the guard for the king before Walhart."

"Huh, I see." Robin looked around. The graves varied in size and grandeur, but one definitely grabbed his attention. One might think he would be more cautious given his bouts with the undead and the setting being a rainy graveyard, but there was something about that one. Something within was not normal.

Robin separated from Priam and made for the mausoleum. It was built into the hillside and decorated with plenty of sculptures and carvings created directly from the rock of the hill. With some effort, the door opened. He made it a few steps down when…

"What are you doing?"

"Ah!" Robin jumped and clutched his heart, "Priam! Don't do that!"

"Heh, apologies, but what are you doing here?"

"Do you know who's grave this is?" Robin asked, ignoring his question.

"I think it's the grave of the first king and queen of Valm. Why do you ask?"

"Makes sense, and I…felt something. Let's…take a look."

"Now who's grave robbing?" Despite his words, Priam followed along down the stairs. They went for some ways until they came to a crypt with one grave. Buried together. However, the thing that drew Robin's attention was a seemingly normal spot on the back wall.

"Someone sealed this," Robin muttered after lighting a torch on the wall with a simple spell, "Keeps out the elements." As Robin reached forward to pull it out, Priam stopped him.

"You sure about this?"

Robin hesitated before looking back to the wall, "Why would you seal something if you didn't intend for someone to find it? It wasn't exactly subtle. Any mage to visit this place probably felt it. They just weren't willing or able to investigate."

With that, Robin undid the seal and pulled a secret compartment free from the wall. It looked to essentially be a drawer. It was long and flat, and seemingly only had two objects: a leather bound book and a metallic seal that gave Robin a severe sense of deja vu. Not only did it look somewhat like it, but it felt like the Fire Emblem.

Picking up the book which remained well preserved, Robin furrowed his brow at the unfamiliar language.

"Let me see," Priam took the volume, "Ancient Valentian. Hmm, I'm a bit rusty, but I think I can read it."

"You can?" Robin raised a brow incredulously.

"Heh," The swordsman smirked, "I was the son of the captain of the guard, remember? Besides, a warrior must be strong of mind as well."

"Alright then, what's it say?"

"Hmm," Priam looked over the first page, "It appears to be a journal of sorts. 'To whoever finds this journal, I hope that you heed its warnings. There are things I rarely spoke of, things that we saw that I wish I could forget. The events I am about to recount changed us. Please, do not take them lightly.

"'Still, as horrible as they were, I believe there should be some account. I fear the danger is not passed. Perhaps I am paranoid, but I hope that perhaps these writings might help if this threat should rear its head again.

"I do not write this lightly. If you will proceed, heed my words, and bear witness to the evil that we witnessed."

Anthiese of Zofia, Queen of Unified Valentia.

"Anthiese?" Robin raised a brow.

"The proper name of the first queen," Priam noted, "More commonly known as Celica. She isn't talked about as much, but she was the princess of the southern lands of Zofia. Her marriage to Alm made the unification of the two kingdoms far smoother, and, arguably, what made it possible at all."

"I see," Robin muttered looking at the journal, "Keep going."

"Okay," Priam cleared his throat, "'It all started when we set sail for Arcadia. We wanted to see off some of our comrades that hailed from there, but we ran into a storm and were blown off track.'"

"What a storm," Alm sighed, passing by Tobin and Gray wringing out their shirts.

"Wow, we ended up really far off course," Est noted, "I have no idea where this is."

"All this because you wanted to see us off," Palla frowned, "Let us ride out and get some bearings before you try to set sail again. It's only fair since you're here because of us."

"We'd appreciate the effort," Celica smiled, "But do be safe."

"We should be fine. Everything was going relatively smoothly when we left."

"Just be careful," Alm waved them off.

"'After that, we made camp, but Kliff, ever curious, went exploring. What he found would change our lives. How he found it, I'm not sure, but he stumbled upon some ruins. Bored, Alm agreed to go explore it. I was a bit cautious, but thought better than to leave them to go alone.

"'I wish I had protested more strongly.'"

"Wow, these ruins look ancient," Kliff commented in a rare state of excitement, "These look even older than those where Duma resided."

"Mila and Duma both came from this land," Celica responded, "I suppose it makes sense to have more ancient ruins."

"Think dragons lived here?" Alm looked at the cavernous ruins, "Imagine, a whole city of dragons."

"I doubt it," Kliff dusted himself off from investigating a pillar, "Seems decidedly human shaped."

"A human civilization that old," Boey whistled, "Kinda neat."

"It's alright," Mae commented, and Celica could not help but smile despite her unease. Something felt wrong here, but seeing her friends banter put her at ease. Not enough for her discomfort to be undetectable though it would seem.

"Hey, you alright?" Alm asked as he slunk up beside her, "You've been awfully quiet."

"Yes, sorry. Perhaps I'm just concerned over the danger of traversing old ruins."

"Not like we haven't done plenty of that already."

"That's true I suppose. So long as we tread carefully."

"Of course!" Alm beamed with an easy grin.

"'We ventured deeper inside. We fought a few monsters and bandits, but nothing particularly out of the ordinary. What was troubling was the written record we found along the way. This place had once been a thriving city called Thabes. Thriving, until the unfortunate events detailed in what seemed to be a public record.

"'Forneus. He was an alchemist. By the accounts, a genius who was well respected in the city. He lived there with his wife and largely kept to himself. All of that would change when his wife died.

"'It seems he slowly slipped into madness from then on. People started to go missing in the district in which he resided. Rumors abounded that he was somehow responsible. Eventually the senate sent messengers only for them to never return. That was followed by soldiers. Likewise, they never returned.

"'Fearing what the mad genius was doing, they eventually sealed him inside his labyrinthian workshop. The seal was maintained by a relic. We should have left it in place, we should have left well enough alone. What have we done? What have we released upon the world?"

Robin bore a serious look as he stared at the relic in the drawer and Priam paused, "What do you think was in there?"

"I don't know, but let's find out. Keep reading."

"Right."

"'Here lies the sealed workshop of the fell alchemist Forneus.'"

"Well, that sounds ominous," Gray deadpanned after Kliff read off the plaque.

"Come on," Alm soldiered forward with the seal in his arms, "Don't tell me you're afraid of a long dead alchemist? He may have been insane, but he might have some useful stuff in there for all we know."

"I'm not so sure this is a good idea," Celica shivered despite herself as she looked into the dark abyss of the labyrinthian structure, "Something about this place is just…wrong. It's worse than Duma's lair."

"Don't worry," Her brother smiled, "I will be here to protect you."

"And if anything gets too bad, we can just turn back, right?" Alm replied with a carefree smile.

Despite the shiver going up her spine, and the uncomfortable look Mae and Boey were giving her, they pressed onward. Deeper into the ancient workshop.

"'As we progressed, we found records left behind by Forneus himself. Despite his madness, he was brilliant. I have included everything we found there. Some I had to have translated later, but I hope it may prove useful.

"'Forneus was consumed by two twisted desires. The first was to use the dead as soldiers. While initially this may have been to bring his wife back, he ended up diverting into using the dead as subservient soldiers. This was achieved through an insect which when placed in special masks could be controlled as they in turn controlled a cadaver. Alone, they were not much, but with dark magic, they could essentially raise a corpse to be even stronger than it was in life.

"That was just the beginning of the horrors of the Labyrinth."

"That's…something," Tobin swallowed, "Do you think he was really raising the dead down here?"

"Hah!" Gray slapped him on the back, "Even if he was, they would have rotted away long ago, right?"

"Hehe, yeah, of course. I-did you hear that?"

"I think the musty air might be getting to you," Alm looked at him pitifully.

"No, I heard something, I'm sure of it!"

"How could that be?" Conrad surveyed the area regardless, "This section of the city was sealed. Perhaps time created another way in?"

"I…maybe, but what if-there it was again!" Tobin backed up quickly, "I saw something move in the path we came through!"

"Please," Gray rolled his eyes, "Just admit that you're-"

"Uh, Gray," Alm swallowed as he drew his Falchion, "I don't think he was seeing things."

Gray turned and could nearly feel his blood turn cold as human shaped…things poured out of the cracks and semi blocked passageways of the Labyrinth. They were completely blocked off from the way they came.

"They don't look very decomposed," Conrad readied his lance as a bolt of lightning hit one square in the chest, but that did little other than stun it.

"Less talking, more killing!" Mae hollered.

"We need to go," Celica responded nervously as she helped fend them off. Her magic was slightly more effective, but there were too many of them.

"Go where?" Alm yelled as he cleaved one nearly in two before it disappeared into a puff of miasma. Had they truly been so infused with dark magic?

"Deeper. It's the only way for now."

Alm hesitated for a moment, but looking at Celica, he nodded, "Alright, everyone, fall back for now!"

Everyone hustled to get away from those monstrosities, but as they did so, Tobin tripped. Or, more accurately, he was tripped.

"Help!" Alm and Gray stopped and turned back upon hearing his cry, "One of them's got my leg!"

The two ran to help as one of the undead creatures tried to pull him beneath a fallen column and into a dark passage littered with those things. Alm and Gray each grabbed an arm, but it was strong and it had numbers.

"Please," Tobin cried as the two men were losing their grips, "I'm…sorry…"

"Don't say that, buddy," Gray ordered and Alm busied himself with pulling with all his might, but he knew it was a lost cause.

"Keep her safe and happy, you hear?"

Gray swallowed and nodded, "You bet."

"Tobin!" Alm shouted as they finally pulled him under. Gray immediately went to chase, but Alm held him back.

"What are you doing?" Alm flinched from his words and their friend's screams.

"They'd have you before you even stood up."

"He's our friend, Alm!"

The prince responded by pinning Gray to the wall with his forearm, "I don't intend to lose another friend today. We…we should honor his words," Alm bit back tears as the screams got more and more distant, "We have to survive. You have to survive. For Clair."

Gray calmed down, both due to Alm's words, and the fact that the horde was still approaching as seen by the moving red glow of their eyes, "Alright. Let's get out of here."

"That sounds an awful lot like Risen," Robin rubbed his chin, "All the way back then though? I have an idea what they ran into now, but let's keep going. It could prove informative."

Priam nodded and began reading again, "'We ventured even deeper, fending off those creatures we would dub as masks, but their strength and the low morale was wearing us down. However, one member was intent on learning more about this foul workshop.'"

"Is this really the time for taking notes?" Boey furrowed his brow as Mae drank from his canteen. Kliff, meanwhile, did not look up from his notes and the stone tablet he was transcribing.

"These tablets could hold the key to defeating these creatures," Kliff replied as he continued to scribble, "Besides, if what I'm reading is accurate, then they may be the least of our worries."

"What could be worse than these?" Mae asked, not sure she wanted the answer.

"Well, I'm not entirely sure, but it seems-"

"They're upon us!" Conrad ran up in a hurry from his post as sentry. Even as he spoke, the masks could be seen crawling from crevices in the ruins. Most of their band was quickly on their feet, but Kliff had dropped his notes at the sudden start. He quickly worked to scrounge them together.

"Kliff!" Alm yelled, "Leave them and run!"

"They're too important," He quickly gathered the journal and the few loose pages, but not before one of the masks cut his back open with a rusty axe. He yelled in pain, but the mage, ever focused, slid his journal across the floor until it hit Celica's boots, "Take it…don't let it esca-urgh!"

Alm forced himself to look away even as Celica picked up the journal and they both ran. Kliff's final words drowning on his own blood.

"Why?" Alm slammed his fist into a wall while everyone else panted, "Why would he throw his life away for that?" Alm looked in disgust at the notebook and papers in Celica's lap.

"Kliff was always a curious one," Celica noted sadly as she tucked the papers into the notebook, "But if he believed the contents of these notes to be so important, we should trust him."

"Lotta good they'll do us without someone to translate," Gray snapped, "Where are we even going? Are we just gonna go deeper and deeper until those things, or something worse, corners us?"

"You're more than welcome to try and go back the way we came," Conrad replied with a cold glare.

"This is no time to fight!" Celica stepped between them, "We must keep looking for a way out. With the seal gone, there may be hope of escaping yet."

"She's right," Alm had regained his composure, "If it makes you feel better, you can punch me once we're out, but for now, we have to stay alive. Alright?"

Everyone relented, but it was clear that everyone was struggling to keep going.

"What do you think, Celica?" Alm asked, his voice devoid of any light heartedness it had a few hours prior, as he looked at the door with what he could only imagine was some twisted alchemical symbol on it.

"Something powerful is beyond this door. Something…evil. It feels like pure malice, but…"

"It's the only way to go."

"Right."

"Alright," Alm sighed, "Weapons ready. Be ready for anything." With a nod, Celica opened the door and they all filed through into a large, cavernous room. The masks were present, but they were not attacking. No, they almost stood as if at attention.

None of them were naive enough to think that the masks were the only threat in that room. They could hear it flying above them in the darkness of the vaulted ceiling. Evaluating its prey.

They flinched as a raspy voice echoed through the room in an ancient tongue, sending chills through their bodies.

Clenching his fists in anger, Alm shouted, "Come down here so I can face you myself! Or are you too much of a coward to face us personally?"

For a few moments, it did not respond, but they did see the occasional movement as parts of whatever was up there moved around in the shadows. Then it seemingly made its decision with another raspy statement that they could not understand.

From the darkness descended a large, dragon-like creature with two large mandible-like horns and most strikingly, six glowing red eyes that seemingly stared them all down at once. Celica was more in tune with such things, and she could feel its overwhelming might.

If possible, Celica could have sworn the abomination was smirking as it made some of the masks move to a defensive position. Two front and center being their friends with those horrifying masks adorning their faces. Alm and Gray in particular were incensed by this as they prepared to try and end this monster.

A task easier said than done. The masks were doing a good job of guarding their master. The dragon…thing itself was not doing much. It was observing them like a predator with its prey silently directing these monsters. While still feral in many of their actions, the masks were at least acting more like soldiers. It was not until they broke through its first defensive line that it acted directly.

"Alm!" Celica called, and the two of them barely managed to evade the uprising of spikes from the floor. Landing across from each other, they took refuge behind two pieces of stone debris. They were unharmed from the attack, but they had been separated.

Neither of them dared to test and see if the debris could withstand its flames, so they both darted from behind their cover, but there were not many options to flee to. They at least tried to split the monster's attention for all the good it was doing. It did seem to focus on Alm though perhaps because of the Falchion he held.

The creature began to rear its head, but Celica would have none of that. Using as much energy as she could muster in her exhausted state, she hit it squarely in the head with her strongest spell. She was forced to her knees from the expended energy, but it had landed. The glow of the massive explosion shined through the room. Surely…even Duma would have felt that.

Dread came over her when the monster moved its head through the smoke to glare at her. If it felt the attack, it certainly did not show any signs of damage. It did, however, divert its attention to her as it once again reared its head back, a purple light building within its maw.

She was too exhausted to move though. She could do little but accept her fate at that point. Were it not for one action, she would have been incinerated on the spot, but that was not the case. However, in the next few moments she wished it was.

Pushed out of the way in a panic, Celica opened her eyes to see that her brother had pushed her out of the way of the incoming attack just in time. His expression told her everything. He had no regrets. Her life was more important after all.

"Conrad!" She reached out as the dark flames licked his body. It was a powerful torrent that made Duma's fell breath seem like a campfire. She supposed the one mercy would have been that it must have been quick for by the time the fire passed, there was nothing left of her brother. Not even ash.

"That's enough!" Alm shouted as he shot an arrow into one of the monster's red eyes. Not that it had any hope of doing much, but it did distract from Celica. Alm and Gray fought viciously with Mae and Boey doing their best to cover them, but Gray was having trouble keeping up with Alm. As angry as the villager was, he was now seeing how much the prince had been holding back emotionally.

"No more," He slashed through the fiends in an almost frantic manner, "I won't let you take anymore friends from me!"

The dragon almost seemed amused by Alm's outburst before sending another barrage of spikes at him. They forced Alm to roll out of the way, halting his momentum, but not for long. The best the others could do was run interference for the masks trying to interrupt him. Gritting his teeth, Alm seized the opening when he saw it.

He clutched his Falchion in both hands as it started to glow. This thing looked sort of like a freak dragon after all. He just hoped this worked. If not, he had no solution. Jumping off one of the fallen pieces of stone, Alm was able to get enough height to climb onto the dragon's back.

It tried to shake him off, and Alm did lose his grip for a moment, but he grabbed onto the scales at the nape of the monster's neck. Stabilizing himself, Alm hoisted Falchion, and with a yell of rage, he plunged it into the monster's neck.

Its roars of pain and hatred were deafening, but Alm did not let go. Not until the beast was on the floor, its eyes dimmed, and the masks went still with most of them evaporating into dark mist. As he stood to remove the blade, Celica stopped him.

"No," She struggled to stand, supported by Mae, "I think we should leave it."

"Why?"

"It isn't dead," Celica stopped to take in the creature up close. Its features were truly monstrous, "I can feel its power, weakened, but very much still there. I fear removing that blade may allow it to move freely again."

"Right," Alm nodded and jumped off the creature. Looking back, he let out a breath, "What…was that thing?"

"I don't know," Celica clutched Kliff's notes, "But maybe this holds the key."

"Let's just…go. Those things seem to have dissipated. All except for…"

"Must not have been saturated with dark magic enough to disappear," Boey commented sadly.

"We should bury them," Gray spoke solemnly, already getting to work moving stones. Alm nodded, and everyone pitched in to make three graves. No one spoke while making them. No one spoke on the way out. No one felt like it. They just wanted to leave that place behind.

"'Alm was different after that. He was quieter, more withdrawn. It was no secret that he blamed himself for what happened. It was more than that though. He was anticipating the creature's return. He readied militaries, and sought strength over all else. This unexplained military buildup and Alm's distrust of the people of that continent where such a monster had been found meant we never really formed much of a diplomatic relationship with our unified neighbor to the east.

"'Our son and heir, Cecil, has been informed of these details by his father in some regard. He is continuing the preparations. Still, I fear it may be all for naught, and dangerous for our kingdom in the meantime. They are so determined to fight this monster that they neglect most anything else.

"'I am not sure anything we have or could hope to construct could slay the beast. Falchion only forced it to slumber. I fear the only thing that may be able to destroy it might be its own corruptive powers, but I hope I am wrong.

"'The monster was the result Forneus' twisted work. From the notes that Kliff transcribed and I have included in this journal both in their original language and the translated version, it seems the monster was made in part with his own blood. This may be responsible for how the creature seemed to exert control over him. Were any of his bloodline to survive, it may be possible they could be used to remove the seal from the creature, whether willingly or not.

"'I wonder if I am paranoid. I hope that I am. My research has yielded no possible way to permanently kill it, and I fear Cecil is too much like his father though to seek any means other than annihilation to end the threat. So, I have hidden this journal so that someone may find it that I hope will have the means to defeat it once and for all, and, barring that, seal it permanently.

"'May you find success where I found failure. I do not have much longer left. Everything I have learned is here. Please, save this world.'"

The crypt fell silent as Priam stopped at the notes of the creature's creation. He was still the first to speak though, "Do you think this is your monster?"

Robin looked at the journal, he saw the sketch of the brand with the notes, "Yes. I've little doubt that this is Grima. We should take it with us. Perhaps I can decipher something useful from its pages."

Robin took the journal as well as the seal within the drawer before closing it back tight. Priam nodded and began ascending the stairs, but Robin stopped and put a hand on the stone casket, "I'll stop it. I promise."

As they surfaced, Robin remembered they had a reason for coming here in the first place, "You brought us here to get something, right?" In the dawn's early rays, he realized he had missed that Priam had a different sword, "Is that it?"

"Yes," He held the blade up with reverence. It was large to say the least. Easily a two handed weapon for most, but he held it up with one hand, "A blade of legend wielded by my ancestor. I had left it behind not thinking myself worthy, but even if I am not, perhaps the cause is."

"Looks a bit worse for wear," Robin noted the many cracks and chips along its surface. It looked ready to shatter, but he could not deny he still felt some power emanating off it.

"Yes, long cut off from its source of power, it has begun to decay, but it has a few good clashes left in it. What better send off for a blade of legend than to save the world?"

Robin was a bit amazed, "Even after everything we just read, you're so confident we'll win?"

"If you believe you've lost, then you already have."

"Hmph, I suppose you have a point. Come then, let's go end this threat."