"You say that you are my judge. I do not know if you are! But I tell you that you must take good care not to judge me wrongly, because you will put yourself in great danger. I warn you, so that if God punishes you for it, I would have done my duty by telling you!" Saint Joan's warning to Bishop Cauchon during her trial.

Chapter 2: The English Dragon

"So Emily… what will happen to both of us? If we leave this place… do I just…?"

Nope, we will still be in this situation when we disconnect, Emily reassured her.

"So I will get to be able to see your world?"

Or what's left of it, but yes.

"And you're alright with this… arrangement..?"

Yes, I trust you. Her master stated resolutely. There was no feeling of trepidation or betrayal.

The thought made Jeanne smile. To know one of her descendants was kind-hearted. Maybe that does run in the blood. Though it does bring up another question. So many of them.

"As much as I appreciate your openness to this situation… I do feel like I'm being intrusive while I'm in your body…"

If we find the Holy Grail, it will recreate your own real body that you can be transferred over to, if you so wish.

"I see…" Jeanne said as she leaned on her banner, taking in the sight of this world. The air was fresh; the hint of autumn filled the air as she looked up to see the trees started to change. A yellow leaf gently floated down into the hand of the maiden.

It felt so real. "And you said this is all completely… what was the word you used…"

Digital.

"Right… this leaf is made up of numbers…?"

Essentially. In time you'll know what I mean.

"I trust you," Jeanne said as she brought the leaf up to her nose and taking a sniff. After a stressful couple of hours. She realized that her body was also digital. Still, from what Emily said, their condition was permanent, in and out of this made-up world.

Even the sun looked real. It certainly felt real. And if the one thing the Order did well, it was building a perfect world.

"Emily… thank you," Jeanne said as she held the leaf up to the sun.

For?

"Being with me during this rather… trying time."

A pang of guilt filled her heart as a cold shiver fell down her back. I should apologize for bringing you back….

"If it's the Lord's will, then so be it. I'm glad that it's a kin member than some stranger." Which wasn't a lie in the least bit. "So where do we start."

We will need to find our allies.

Picking up her banner and using it as if it were a walking stick, the young woman started down the valley's rolling fields.

"We will have allies?"

Yes. They should be arriving soon.

"Will they be similar to me…?" Jeanne asked, somewhat hopeful. As much as it relieved her that she considered Emily a friend, knowing someone going through the same thing would be a plus.

Indeed they will share in the same condition as us. Emily's voice hesitated, causing Jeanne to stop in a wheatfield.

"Something troubles you, Emily."

There was only silence and a sense of dread.

"Emily, you may confide in me."

They are English…

Jeanne nodded, understanding the hesitation. Though Jeanne would be lying if she said she wasn't a hundred percent alright with this revelation.

I'm sorry… they are one of the keys to finding the artifact.

"You said they are an ally?"

Somehow Jeanne picture the person Emily in her mind nodding. She would be lying if she said she wasn't beautiful. "Emily?"

'Apparently, I can manifest myself in our mind.' She laughed nervously.

Jeanne studied the figure. Slim, blonde, long braid with a bow on the end wearing a long white coat, blue blouse with a black skirt.

"You're… we're… you're gorgeous?"

"Thanks…? Kinda weird to hear that from yourself?"

Jeanne chuckled, "Heh… I can say I know what that feels like."

Continuing through the field, The maiden was reminded of her small village. A smile formed when she saw a few cows out feeding chewing on hay. The fields, the farms, the animals, Jeanne smiled at the memories of her playing out in the fields after taking care of the animals.

You had a happy childhood, didn't you?

Jeanne nodded in fondness as she hopped over a cobblestone wall and walked down a dirt road coming into a village.

Careful, Jeanne. We don't know who we can trust.

Jeanne nodded as she entered the village, seeing people going about their days. The air was filled with sounds of the blacksmith, people bartering for goods, the smells of bread and meat being cooked. It made her stomach grumble.

"If we aren't in a real-world… then why am I hungry…?" Jeanne asked.

Everything constructed in this world is to simulate the real world. Even bodily functions and needs.

"That means…"

I won't look.

"Shouldn't I be the one saying that?" Jeanne chuckled to the feelings of dismay from Emily.

She walked around listening to conversations and trying to get a feel when and where she was. "Emily…" the maiden whispered.

Yeah, sorry, Jeanne. Everyone speaks the language that they know, and the world translates it. The only reason you know English is because… well, you're in me.

She walked over to one of the staws and saw freshly baked bread, which smelt absolutely divine. "Hello, young lady."

An elderly man poked his head up from the stall seeing an aged but ever so kind smile.

"Gooday, sir. I'm just looking. I'm afraid of nothing trade." A slight frown formed on the young woman's lips at the thought of not getting any bread.

The man picked up a fresh loave offering. "A knight should never go hungry…"

Jeanne's brow furrowed as she looked at the loave then back at the man." But I am no knight… I couldn't take it…"

"It's alright young lady… I insist."

The man was offering a loaf. It would be rude not to accept it. She sighed but bowed in thanks before taking the bread and ripping it in half. "I insist you share with me." Jeanne offered the other half to him.

The man raised an eyebrow but took it. "Thank you, kind madam."

Jeanne brought the loaf to her nose took a whiff. It felt like centuries since she had something freshly made… instead of that gruel in the dungeon…

And the…

You're arent ready to go down that.

The maiden took a bite from the bread as she looked around the village 'what?'

Going through some of your painful memories could lead us to a desync because you aren't fully melded yet. I'm holding back some of the more intense memories.

'Thank you, Emily, I will need to sort through them at some point, but I do accept your judgment.'

She took another bite admiring the buttery salt, the sweetness, just like how her mom made it. It was indeed a marvel.

She turned to the man behind the stall, "sir, what village is this?"

"Comte. We're about a day's travel from Paris."

"Paris? Who owns it.?" Jeanne asked, her heart skipping a beat.

The man raised an eyebrow. "The Burgundians."

Jeanne felt an extraordinary and foreign emotion she hadn't felt in a long time. Anger. Paris would have been captured if her king sent her the reinforcements she had requested.

If only she hadn't been betrayed.

Calm down, Jeanne. The Lord would disapprove of such thoughts and feelings. What's done is done. She exhaled as she took another bite from the bread.

"LOOK OUT!"

Jeanne peeked her head out to see two villagers running down the main road and towards the church. Between them, they carried a young woman like herself. She wore a blue battle dress with plate cuirass. She, too, also had blonde hair, though it was in a bun. By the looks of it, she was not doing well.

That's one of them.

"Who is it?" Jeanne asked as she watched them escort her to the church, which she followed at some distance.

Artoria Pendragon. Widely known as King Arthur.

Jeanne froze. The fabled English king who built and founded the city of Camelot and ruled over all of England. She was real?

Indeed.

She was the heart and soul of England. By essence, her natural rival and enemy. The heart and soul of England, she gulped as she followed behind.

The gates of the church were flung open as metal boots clanked in. A man in brown wool robes looked up from the table where he was about to examine his patient.

"Excuse me, Father."

"Madam, I can't let you be in here… I have a critical patient."

"I'm well aware of her condition. You could say I went through it."

"Then you know how to treat it?" The young man asked with a hopeful look.

Jeanne nodded as she walked into the church, genuflecting and blessing herself with Holy Water. Moving up to the church and towards the table, she saw the young woman.

She's in rough shape.

"Can anything be done, Emily?"

The priest raised an eyebrow.

Careful Jeanne, the priest is listening. Take her hand.

Jeanne reached out and touched the gauntleted hand. A slight glow emerged between the two gauntlets as a strange feeling of emptiness overcame the maiden. As if a part of her strength was being sapped.

Amethyst eyes looked down to see her English counterpart started to twitch and convulse as blood began to pour out of her mouth and nose.

Instinctively Jeanne moved to pin the woman down as the priest moved to the other side. Her legs started to buckle, breathing became more labored.

Arms losing strength.

"MORDRED NOOO!" The woman shouted with her back arched. As suddenly as the woman cried out, she fell limp, causing Jeanne to collapse to the ground.

"Madam, are you alright?" She heard the priest.

That was a good question. She felt like her life energy was just sapped out of her. Breathing was difficult. It felt like a horse sat on her chest.

'Emily… are you there?'

Silence. Emptiness. Loneliness.

'Emily?' Jeanne called out in her mind.

The blonde maiden collapsed to the ground in blackness.

A large man, clad in the purple finery with several jewel-encrusted rings, pointed a stubby finger at the young girl clad in ragged clothing. "You, Jeanne, are pronounced a heretic, defiling the name of our Lord and tarnishing the name of our Holy Mother Church."

The young maiden took a step forward to her judges as the guards reached for their weapons. "I do not recognize your authority, you who accuse me of being a heretic. My only authority is God, not to you hypocrites. It is the English who have bought you!"

The room grew terribly silent as Jeanne looked around the room to see stunned English and Burgundian nobles horrified at this peasant girl's accusations. "All of your claim to be Christians, but look at yourselves. Carrying yourselves in arrogance and vanity! It is you who will face eternal fire and damnation for waging an unjust war against Christ's people."

The people started to jeer and shout at this defiant inferior, throwing all sorts of things, food first, then cups and plates.

The large man, the Bishop, stood up. "TAKE HER AWAY!"

Four Englishman grabbed her by the arms and feet and dragged the peasant of the room. They tossed her into the mud of the ground. Reaching the tower, they dragged her up to her cell where they kicked and beat her. After blacking out from a metal boot to her head, she woke up confined to a cage with straw hay.

Jeanne….

The young maiden groaned and stirred.

Jeanne…

She rubbed her head, feeling a sticky wetness of blood.

Jeanne…

Amethyst eyes slowly opened from a hazy cloud over her vision started to clear up.

Thank goodness…. I thought I lost you.

"Emily?" Jeanne groaned out loud.

"No, I'm Father Colette."

The blonde woman looked over to see the young priest drape a damp cloth of her head. "You took a rather nasty fall, Madam Jeanne."

Jeanne…? He just said Jeanne… the girl pulled herself away from the priest only to find her sword was nowhere near her.

"Madam, I don't mean you any harm." The priest raised his hands, "I was at the siege of Orleans. I was there confessing the troops."

Jeanne relaxed a little, still weary. "How did you know?"

"Your banner is exactly how I remember it." The man laughed nervously.

A deep frown crept in that matched the empty feeling in her heart. "I was condemned as a heretic…"

The priest nodded solemnly, "Yes… but it was in English territory.. I don't think that counts. Besides.. you being here right now is a miracle."

It was more than he could imagine, she mused to herself. But hearing the priest's words helped ease her anxiety. "Thank you, Father."

The maiden picked herself up from the bed and stood up on two shaky legs. A hand prevented the priest from helping her. She needed her own strength.

Once her metal boots were steadily planted, she noticed on the other bed was Artoria, who was starting to stir.

'Emily?'

A faint familiar presence was felt as if stirring from slumber. ...hello… Jeanne…

She could field how exhausted Emily was. "Are you alright?" She whispered. "What happened?"

I fed some of my energy into Artoria. It took more out of me than expected. I was also trying to keep you from splitting.

That didn't sound good.

I am a focal point, if I'm gone.. you'll… cease to exist.

Jeanne gulped while she had died once in a terrible manner; she wasn't too keen on doing it again. Not when there was work to be done.

"I'm glad you're back. You had me worried." Jeanne said a little too loudly

"Who?" The priest interjected with a confused looked.

Taking Artoria's hand and praying to God to find a way out of this awkward predicament, she looked at her English counterpart, "my friend… here…"

A loaded statement for sure

That was when two large sea-green eyes opened. Thank you, God, for hearing my prayer. "Ughh…." She moaned.

"Praise be the Lord!" The priest celebrated. Another miracle worked by you, Jeanne."

"Nono." She waved her hands in humble decline, "I… I…"

"Where am I?" The woman moaned with a pained sigh.

"Comete." The priest said as he rushed over placed a new damp cloth over his second patient's head.

"I don't…"

We should have some privacy with her. I think she got the basic rundown, but she might still be hazy.

Jeanne turned to the priest, "Father, may I have some time with my friend. I would like to catch up with her. It's been centuries since I've spoken to her"

Emily laughed.

The priest raised an eyebrow but shrugged, knowing that friends catching up was a private affair.

"Sure. Ill cook supper,"

"That is greatly appreciated." Jeanne bowed.

Once the priest left the room and the door closed, Jeanne fetched water for the both of them.

Setting her own down, she took the other and helped Artoria sip her. "...Thank you…" she said weakly, to which Jeanne nodded with a smile. Artoria scowled slightly as if trying to place a name with a person.

"Jeanne d'Arc."

"As you have given your name freely…" the woman winced as she pulled herself up slightly, offering her hand, "I give mine away freely. Artoria Pendragon."

Jeanne studied the woman. She had a soft, low, and confident voice that matched the determination in her green eyes. Without hesitation, Jeanne took it. "Well, Artoria, we have a lot to talk about.

"We are the Gods of the New World Order. We are the Soldiers, the Legion of Light. We are the Center, the depth of the sun. Fire and Flame, we are one.

We are the bulwark against terror and chaos. We are the defenders of humanity." Ordo Credo

Welp Chapter 2 is out, cause, I was in an editing mood, and I didn't want to stop. So here we go. Also, big thanks to all follows, favs, and reviews. Really do appreciate them.

Please leave your thoughts, ideas, or just say hi,

But yeah! Artoria the spirit of England and Jeanne the spirit of France :O A dream team!

Edit 2/17/2021- huge thanks to Dan for catching a big flaw. Apparently google docs didn't like transferring Italics... I went through and used italics for Emily's speech. Huge appreciation mate!

Cheers,

LordxSauron