*Altar of Aether - Laura Intravia and Jared Cowing
**Magmoor Caverns Ambience - Metroid Prime OST
***Stratagem in Black Armor - FE9 OST
****Shrine - The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild OST

*Meditating on their situation defending the Wind Tribe's plateau temple, Tsuruhime huffed in exasperation. Granted, they had been giving the Nohrian barbarians just as good as they had been getting- she had always said that one of her warriors could outfight and march ten of whatever wretches the enemy could put onto the field. But when the Nohrians outnumbered them twenty-to-one and supplies had been decreasing? Truth be told, it did not take a clairvoyant to see the writing on the wall here.

"Ma'am!" came the voice of one of her adjutants. "I apologize for interrupting your meditation, but the last defensive tower has fallen!"

"Damnit," Tsuruhime swore to herself. "Are the survivors in any condition to fight?"

The lad simply grimaced at the term, telling his commander all she needed to know against an enemy this savage.

A part of her was well-aware that this was a suicide mission, defending the temple's plateau from a Nohrian siege. However, it only just dawned on Tsuruhime that there would be no aid coming from their own people or any of their allies. But the site was held to be sacred for a reason- and for that very reason, she vowed to make the enemy pay for every step in blood. "Send a bird to the chief at once." she commanded. "Gather up anyone who can hold a weapon and prepare them for- just prepare for a fight."

"At once, ma'am!"*

**The whip's cracking seemed to somehow increase its sting against Toshiro's flesh. "Hey!" snarled the foreign sellsword. "Get back to work, swine! You're not paid to rest!"

Ever the jokester, his neighbor, Sochiro, could nonetheless be very perceptive. "You don't pay us at all!" he reminded.

The Nohrian guard grunted at his two men, who then proceeded to seize Sochiro, dragging him out of sight of his fellow forced laborers, but not out of earshot of the blows landing, Sochiro's pleas of speaking in jest, and finally, the blows landing to silence him for good.

"What are you all staring at?!" spat the Nohrian, cracking his whip in the air as a warning. "Back to work, the lot of you!"

Toshiro seethed, at the injustice and stupidity alike of the situation. The son of a village merchant, he'd taken over the family business after the passing of his father a few years ago. When word of Lord Kentaro promising the world of their "equal partnership" with the victorious Nohrians, he was of course, wary, but otherwise unconcerned. That is until ruffians from that very same country entered the village, slaughtered its meager guard, and threatened to raze the village unless the men and older boys got on the carts they had bought to gods-knew-where to toil in the mines, presumably for Nohr's benefit.

Truth be told, this did not feel very much like being "allies," thought Toshiro grimly. This felt more like being...well, the saying about their "ally's" worldview seeing the world in terms of slaves and enemies made far more sense. Perhaps it was the abuse to which he'd been subjected to for months on end. Perhaps it was the depredations he'd witnessed committed against his fellow villagers even before reaching the mines. Perhaps it was simply the mercenary's stupid, ugly face. But there was a growing part of Toshiro that wondered what exactly would happen if he took the pickaxe in his hand and shoved it into the sellsword's eye socket. Or even better, what if all of the men made such a choice at some moment? Surely, there were plenty across the land of Mokushu having very similar, if not the same, thoughts right now.**

Especially given the war and all that had been rumored to be occurring, it was a controversial undertaking, to be sure. However, with orders from Chief Klima to make it clear to the court their tribe's loyalty to Nohr was iron-clad, there was little else Servillus and his delegation to the palace were inclined to do. He'd always looked down upon the likes of their "champion" who would have them throw away their future- no, their very lives and those of their children- on a foolish undertaking like fighting the mightest nation on the continent. And after all, was not subservience better than oblivion?

"Ah, Servillus, my friend." greeted Matteo, contempt for his perceived lessers well-disguised with such practice as he'd had. "How was your journey?"

"Rather uneventful, Duke Toscana." remarked the delegate. "But no news is good news, seeing that we have an excess of young hotheads. The chief regrets his inability to come in person to pay tribute to His Majesty."

"Oh, water under the bridge." Matteo reassured, producing a document from his cloak. "I should ask you to sign on the line here- mere formalities, you understand."

"Of course, milord."

Scribbling down his name, in capacity as representative of the chief, Servillus returned the quill to his malicious host, unaware of the true nature of the document. "Truly, you are too kind." Matteo answered with a smirk. "But before I can formally introduce you to His Majesty, I must first send word to the next-of-kin of some of my late fellows- you understand."

"Of course. Take all the time you need."

Matteo departing the chamber with a wicked, triumphant grin, while not visible to any of his guests, at least a few of the delegates noticed something...amiss with the whole affair. "Servillus," a middle-aged man began "I may not be as smart as you are, but did that not seem somehow...off to you?"

"I swear, Antonius," Servillus remarked exasperatedly. "Everything has to be a conspiracy theory with you, doesn't it?"

"He has a point, you know." a middle-aged woman spoke up.

Servillus sighed. "Look, Nona, we may not love everything they do, but the Nohrians are-"

***This feeling of unease was only contributed to by the clacking of metal-tipped riding boots against the castle floor becoming progressively louder with each passing second. Flanked by a pair of his royal guards, the boots' owner made their dire situation clear to all but the rather-dim Servillus. "You know, you should really learn to read before you go around signing documents." Pietro sneered, leaning against his infamous lance.

One other delegate's eyes widened like saucers, recognizing on instinct the man and his wicked intentions. "Oh, fuck no!" he announced, attempting to rush the knight.

Deftly caught and restrained by the two guards, even as he struggled mightily to free himself, Pietro heaved the lance into his abdomen, shortly igniting the poor bastard as though he were a human funeral pyre. Over the screams and distinct smell of burning hair and flesh, several more guards entered the chamber, manacling their condemned "guests" together. As the screaming stopped and the man's burnt carcass mercifully fell to the floor, Pietro's sneer became even more pronounced. "Now are we going to have any more...interruptions like that or are the rest of you coming quietly?"

As they were being marched through the halls to gods-only-knew where, the guards shouting tales of their tribe's duplicity and treachery, Servillus began to fret. Surely, this was all some horrible mistake! If the king knew, surely, he would put a stop to this!***

****Granted, a dragon has no shortage of power- and that would be an understatement- but even for Anankos, it was not exactly an easy task to travel the lands, search out suitable locations, and to guide and aid human laborers to constructing these trials for the one with the mark on his hand.

"Is this truly necessary, Anankos?" inquired Amaterasu. "You have been running yourself ragged."

"What else would you have me do?" he inquired, exhausted-yet-proud of the great structure carved into the mountainside. "These trials are not exactly something any human can handle. We already know what happens when our power gets into the wrong hands."

"But even so. These trials you've created- they're grueling to the point of being almost cruel..."

"That's exactly the point, Amaterasu! We need to keep these blessings out of the wrong hands. That is exactly why I created these trials not as simple tests of brute power. But of wisdom and courage as well. Whoever is to complete these needs all of these virtues in balance."

"If you're certain they're needed, than I'll not question you again."

"Look, I know you feel closer to the humans- even closer than I. If I did not think it absolutely necessary due to the warnings from the other worlds, I would not have gone to this trouble to begin with."

"No, I trust you, Anankos. I trust your judgement."****