A/N: Story begins just after Grey and Caera speak to Scythe Seris about the proposition to challenge Cylrit. Grey still says no and that he will have a much better idea in store for her to draw attention to himself. Nothing before that changes in canon.
CAERA DENOIR
From what it seems, Grey knows Scythe Seris nearly as well as I do. It's actually a bit concerning to think about how they could have met. What happened to Grey in the war? Is that why he's so stoic and gloomy? Just who is this guy?
"Are you just going to stand there and think to yourself?" Grey asks with a taunting smirk.
"Well maybe if you wouldn't give me so much to think about then I wouldn't have to stand here. Are you going to leave all of the questions I want to ask unanswered still?" I ask.
"For now, yes," he says with a sigh. "But I will at least give you this," he says as he pulls a small locket from his back pocket. It has a deep amethyst crystal that gives off a very subtle glow. "I'm going to give you this and open it the next time that we meet," he states as he unclasps the chain and gestures for me to turn around.
"Next time we meet? What do you mean by that?" I ask as I turn my back to him and lift my hair.
"I mean exactly that. I have to go and I can't tell you where but I will see you again at some point. And when I do, I'll unlock this," he says as he places the locket around my neck and it sits just above my other pendant that hides my horns. You won't have any luck because it's sealed with aether so don't bother trying any time soon."
"So you're just going to leave me here?" I ask. I can't believe he's already going to leave. I don't even know to where, or why, or even for how long. Then again, that's what you get with Grey. I sigh, turn my front back towards Grey and give him a soft punch to the chest. "You know you can't get away from me that easily, Grey," I say with a smirk.
"I know all too well that my navy-haired stalker will try and follow me. So, whenever you inevitably find me, or the other way around, I'll unlock that and it will help you understand most of the questions you have about me." he says with as he slightly tilts his head and scratches the back of his neck. "And when that day comes, there won't be any more secrets. I promise," he says as a smile creeps across his face but I can see the fear hidden behind his eyes.
"So long as you know," I shoot back. "In that case, let's get going and watch the rest of the competition with your students."
"Yeah. Let's go," he says as he hooks an arm and I loop my own through the opening.
"Off we go, my elusive ascender!" I say with a smirk, acknowledging my first gift from Grey but my last one for a long time.
** A/N: I won't bother copy-pasting all of the Victoriad fighting so we skip to after Cadell has been defeated. It isn't like I can write that fight better than TM anyway.**
ARTHUR LEYWIN
I pulled the sword from Cadell's chest and swept it over his head, shearing off both horns. Regis, sensing my intention, withheld Destruction, leaving them whole.
Then he was gone, nothing but the severed horns remaining.
Regis drifted out of the sword as it disappeared, moving back into my body near my core, his aether exhausted, no words necessary to express how either of us felt in this moment.
I bent down to retrieve the horns and stowed them in my dimension rune. A deep, crushing fatigue settled over me as my gaze swept across the broken coliseum.
Dozens of mages swarmed over the collapsed section, working to pull survivors from the rubble. The shields, those still functional at all, were flickering in and out. The rest of the audience was in shock, their eyes either following me or boring into the place where Cadell had been.
There was movement in the high box—one of the only untouched spaces in the entire coliseum—and my attention settled there.
A huge man with ornamented horns thrusting forward from the sides of his head moved into the dust-filled light. He was wearing a loose-fitting robe and a hungry smile. Though suppressed, his aura was heavy enough to bend the heads and shoulders of every Alacryan in the stadium. This was a Sovereign, Kiros Vritra of Vechor.
He was underwhelming, compared to the likes of Aldir, Kordri, and Lord Indrath.
I kept my eyes just slightly averted, not downcast or in a bow like the tens of thousands of Alacryans around me, but I didn't meet his eyes.
The slow, resounding clap that came from the high box caught me by surprise.
Kiros was applauding. His smile widened to a grin as his hands came together faster and faster. A confused and mistimed smattering of applause followed from the audience.
"Amazing!" Kiros said, his voice projecting effortlessly through the coliseum and silencing the weak applause. "A beautiful display of power. Such unexpected death! And delivered with—"
A pearlescent oval opened over the arena floor, twenty feet in front of the high box.
Kiros frowned.
Two figures stepped through.
The first was someone I had never seen in person before, but I knew him instantly, and the mere sight of him was enough to sober me from my fatigue.
Agrona's horns splayed out from his head like an elk's, the dozens of sharp black points ornamented with chains and rings. He had strong, sharp features that reminded me uncomfortably of Sylvie.
The second, I was less prepared for.
Tessia looked exactly as she had when I'd last seen her, speaking to her people from a balcony in Elenoir. She wore form-fitting battlerobes, similar to the dress worn by Seris, except the individual "scales" were emerald green and shaped like little leaves. The battlerobes left her arms bare, showing off the faintly glowing runes I'd noticed in my vision.
Although she looked the same—gunmetal gray hair draped down her back and over her shoulders, braids tucked behind her pointed ears, shining teal eyes—she was immediately and unequivocally not Tessia.
Tessia...
Tessia was a princess. She'd grown up in the royal palace in Zestier, been tutored in the manners of customs of elven, dwarven, and human nobility. That grace extended to the way she held herself, the resting expression of her face, the cadence of her walk...
But all that was gone now.
Instead, this person masquerading as my oldest friend moved with aggressive confidence—not the Cecilia of my youth, but not far removed from the young woman I had battled in the King's Tournament. Whatever harm that experience had done to her mentally, clearly it had carried through into this life, no doubt fostered by Agrona, just as Nico's misplaced rage had been.
Logically, I understood what I was looking at.
But the cold, distrustful look Cecilia gave me from Tessia's eyes still drove a knife through my chest.
Agrona's appearance wasn't unexpected, necessarily, but Tessia—Cecilia...
I had buried her too deep, labeled her a problem that could only be resolved in the future when I'd had more time to consider...
Could Tessia even be saved? Was she still in there, somewhere? And if she could...was protecting her more important than depriving Agrona of the Legacy?
I hadn't been ready to face these questions. I still wasn't. Regis tugged at my core. 'This is dangerous, Art. If we push ourselves much farther...'
I should have been afraid. There was no way I could fight Agrona. I wasn't even sure that I could fight Cecilia, knowing nothing about her powers in this world. But I wasn't frightened. If anything, Agrona's willingness to appear here in person simplified things greatly for me.
It meant there was only one path forward, that I was free of the burden of deciding what to do after the Victoriad.
Kiros's voice boomed, shaking the already unstable stadium. "Vechor welcomes the High Sovereign. All hail Agrona Vritra!"
People fell on their faces to properly bow throughout the stands, their voices echoing back: "All hail Agrona Vritra!"
"I guess I finally got your attention," I said into the silence that followed.
Agrona smirked. He rested one hand on the small of Cecilia's back, and her arms came up in a complicated gesture.
Something happened in my core. It felt like a pinprick of light, burning right in the middle of me. Cecilia's hands went wide, and that pinprick expanded into an orb of white light that completely surrounded and encapsulated me, pushing away the dust and dirt. Little eddies of wind and bursts of flame manifested around the outside of the sphere, with moisture condensing against it to drip down, like the outside of a window on a dewy morning.
Clear crystal bars thrust up out of the ground in a square with me at the center. The crystal had a liquid smoothness to it, turning just above my head so the bars all ran together, forming a cage.
Uncertain, I took hold of the bars. They were cold as ice and vibrating with energy. I pulled. They didn't break.
'It's some kind of mana nullification,' Regis thought with a sense of exhausted wonder.
Though I couldn't sense the mana she'd just displaced, I was pretty sure Regis was right. Cecilia had pulled all the mana out of the atmosphere, even out of my body...If I still relied on a mana core, this single spell would have left me powerless. I couldn't even begin to wrap my mind around how such a thing was even possible.
Agrona's smirk sharpened. "Was this all done just for me? I'm flattered, Grey. For a lesser, your over-inflated sense of self-importance is astounding. But you seem to have tried very hard to get my attention. And, well, now you have it." Agrona's head cocked to the side a fraction of an inch, sending the tinkling of golden chains rustling through the deadly-silent coliseum. "I find myself quite eager to see how your new abilities function. I'll take great pleasure in dismantling you piece by piece to find out."
'We should go,' Regis thought. I glanced around the stadium. First, my gaze landed on Mayla, Seth, Deacon, and the others. Though still bowing, Seth was staring at me, his eyes wide with confusion and fear. I wished suddenly that I had been kinder to him. He had a warrior's heart, and didn't deserve the hand life had dealt him.
I found Valen and Enola, their bloods' private boxes close to one another. Though kneeling to their High Sovereign, both students were practically pressed against the transparent shields protecting them, staring down at me just like Seth.
I was surprised to see Caera with one foot on the scorched dirt of the combat field, fallen into a kneel at Agrona's appearance, which must have interrupted her rushing out to check on me. She, too, risked lifting her head just enough to watch me. There was genuine terror in her scarlet gaze as her lips moved in some silent prayer.
Hopefully, she wouldn't hate me for what I had to do. I regretted not telling her who I was, but even now I couldn't say what her reaction would have been. It could be that she would have turned against me, and I would have ended up regretting telling her instead.
She has been such a good friend. We may not be departing on the best terms, but I know she can at least understand this much. I have to go. I'm sorry.
While I'd been gazing around the coliseum, the Scythes had flown out of the high box and maneuvered around the arena floor to box me in.
Seris's face was unreadable, her thoughts carefully hidden. Melzri had left Nico's side, and was staring at me with open hatred. Dark energy writhed like wet tentacles around Viessa, though her gaze was on Agrona instead of me, waiting patiently for his command. Last was Dragoth, frowning down at the dark stain that had once been Cadell.
One thing was consistent through all of their expressions, even Seris's—an edge of uncertainty undercutting their usually unshakable confidence.
Before following Regis's advice, I again met Cecilia's eyes, searching within them for something. Some sign. I had made a promise. But I didn't even know if the woman to whom I'd promised myself was alive in her own body.
Agrona waved for the Scythes to take me. "I'll admit, I'm ever so slightly disappointed. I expected you'd have yet another trick up your sleeve. Still, even if what I've witnessed from you so far is the extent of your abilities, I'm sure I'll find dissecting you a useful distraction."
I had to decide. It was time to leave. I could go without her, turning my back on the question entirely, trusting that there would still be a chance to answer it in the future.
Or I could try to take her with me, try and find some way to pull Cecilia out of Tess's body, bring them back...
Yeah, it's going to be that. 'Ready Regis?' I quip to my weapon.
'As I'll ever be to defy an asuran clan head's orders, princess,' I get back.
With a smirk forming, I push aether through every vein in my body and my godrune as I God Step immediately behind Cecilia, conjure an aether blade into a blunt baton, and deliver an impossibly fast swing to her neck, knocking her immediately unconscious.
'Success,' I think to Regis. 'One more step.'
Staring into Agrona's wide eyes after witnessing my literal teleportation, I grab the falling Cecilia by the collar and use the last shreds of my aether reserves to take us both out of the arena.
-------------------------
Landing quite painfully on the grass and dirt, I roll over to check if Tes-Cecilia is still unconscious. Fortunately she is. 'Thanks for mapping out that pathway, you mutt,' I spit at Regis.
'Anytime, princess. Now get us the hell out of here before Rudolph comes and takes back his prized maiden,' Regis spits back while chuckling at his own joke.
'Good point,' I reply.
"For Vritra's sake boy, I thought it was going to be just you, but now we have a sleeping beauty on our hands," my "uncle" slurs as he walks over to me.
I roll over and give a quick glance at the old portal in major disrepair. "It was supposed to be, but I improvised," I say as a smirk emerges on my face. "Now get us out of here. Now."
"Aye, Grey. Don't worry about me whenever you leave. No one bothers faulting a drunk for anything other than pissing in alleyways and causing a ruckus in the early morning," Alaric replies.
"I'll be back someday, Alaric. Oh, and it's Arthur now. No more of that Grey bullshit. And yes, that Arthur," I reply as I grab a burlap sack off of the ground, toss Cecilia over my shoulder, and give an earth-style salute to the now stunned Alaric.
"ARTHUR LE-," was the last thing I heard as I stepped through the portal feeling that familiar nauseating yet refreshing wave wash over me.
CAERA DENOIR
"What the actual fuck."
I knew he was leaving but THAT?
To completely discard Scythe Nico like that and then use unbridled rage and vengeance to reduce Cadell, the strongest of the Scythes, to nothing but a set of onyx horns was astonishing. I could have guessed that Grey was strong enough to take down a few of the Scythes- maybe even Seris- but to fight and defeat TWO in a ROW? It's ludicrous.
As the High Sovereign spews angry directions at the Scythes, Retainers, and then Sovereign Kiros in the viewing box, another portal opens and he exits with a face red in rage.
My heart sank as I saw Grey trapped in that crystalline cage and I saw him look at me with guilt-ridden eyes. He didn't leave because he wanted to. He left because his statement was going to be so loud that he'd draw the ire of the High Sovereign and be killed for it.
I take a firm hold on the purple locket he gave me not but an hour ago. I figured I'd get to say a proper goodbye as he went through a portal or maybe even send him off onto a solo ascent through his relic, but to have to see that pained expression and reluctant kidnapping of that Elf girl was too much. A few tears escape my eyes as I hear a few rhythmic clacks from down the hall. Scythe Seris was making her way out of the arena.
She spies me huddled on the floor with my knees to my chest and hands clasped around the locket, and squats down to be eye level with me.
"Caera, I know you have tons of thoughts going through your head right now but as I'm sure you're aware that statement was a little larger than I was expecting so I'll have to be away from Sehz-Clar for a while. So... in that time, I think you should go on an ascent with your bodyguards to avoid an interrogation should the High Sovereign start to investigate into all of Grey's contacts while he was here in Alacrya," Scythe Seris says with an almost motherly tone.
What does she mean "here in Alacrya?" Scythe Seris isn't one to just let information slip out, so that means she's trying to seed something in me. Is Grey not Alacryan? Is he from Dicathen? Epheotus? Hell, who even knows anymore? I wouldn't be surprised if he was from some mystical fourth continent.
"Yes, Scythe Seris, I'll do that. Should I stay for longer than usual?" I ask, through a few sobs.
"Probably try and stay for around 3 weeks, so a week out here. It gives me enough time to be able to carry out my orders and then return to protect you," she replies and places a hand on my cheek while bringing my eyes to hers. "Don't be too reckless. Maybe even just enter into a zone and stay there for 3 weeks after clearing it."
"Okay, I think I can do that. I'll see you in 3 weeks," I say, forcing a smile through my teary eyes.
** A/N: I also won't be copy-pasting the Taci vs. Lances fight. The same goes for Taci vs. Arthur because I REALLY can't do that fight justice. Also apologies for the copy-pasting before Arthur leaves with Cecilia but it was relevant for context.**
RINIA DARCASSAN
"How close are we you old bat?" I hear from the man carrying me.
"Not far, Virion, now stop rambling and pick up the pace. Those lances can only hold for so long. Let's just hope there are still bodies to bury later," I reply as a few exasperated sighs echo throughout the tunnels.
We walk for roughly another ten minutes before I hear a slight gasp from Virion and a few others.
We must be there. The Relictombs, I thought
"Rinia... what is this?" Virion asks.
Climbing from his arms, I make my way to a large stone door. "Virion get this open, quickly! The asura boy is coming!" I shout as I hear roughly a dozen sets of footsteps make their way towards me.
The doors groan as their age-old hinges open for the first time in what could be millennia.
Though my blind eyes couldn't see the room, I knew well from my visions. An arched door frame opened into a large hexagonal-shaped space a hundred feet wide. Steep stone benches led like steps down to a dais in the middle, where a rectangular stone frame stood.
"Take me down to the center," I said, desperately focusing on the carved stone frame. There wasn't long now. If it didn't happen soon...
When we reached the dais, I pulled free of them and rested my hand on the stone frame, my fingers tracing intricate carvings.
It was cold. No mana or aether hummed within it.
"What is this?" Madam Astera asked as she was helped down off Ellie's bond. "You've led us into a dead end!"
"No, I've led us to salvation!" I spit back as others begin to join in on the protests. I understand their concern but as I always am forced to say, I can't reveal too much.
"Everyone in the room. NOW!" I hear a fearful Virion yell out to all of the people still in the tunnels.
Shortly after Virion's commands, a few screams and thumps to the ground echo throughout the chamber as all talking comes to a standstill.
A figure so rich with mana that the outline of him glowed in my senses stepped into the archway above. His killing intent was like a murderous fist around my heart, squeezing the life from me.
The world seemed to jerk to a halt, the only sound a half-muffled cry of abject terror, the only movement the slow turning of the figure's head as he scanned the room.
"People of Dicathen, followers of Commander Virion Eralith, I am Taci of the Thyestes Clan." His voice was lilting and arrogant, the words echoing out of him and through the chamber stained with his disgust for us. "For your failure to see the way forward, your inability to understand the necessary evils of this war, Lord Indrath has proclaimed that you all must die to make way for a more sensible future."
Virion stepped forward. Brave fool, I thought, though I didn't try to stop him. We needed every last second now.
Mana surged from Virion as he activated his beast will. His voice was a low growl as he said, "False allies and betrayers. The Indraths are no better than the Vritra."
He dashed forward, his movement lightning quick. I heard his sword slide from its sheath and cut the air, watched the radiant outline of Taci move to defend, then the chamber lit up with magic as a dozen other mages hurled whatever spells they could to support Virion.
I held my breath praying inwardly. Please hurry. They're all going to die at this rate.
The asuran boy cut through flesh and weapons alike with ease as he sends Virion directly into the far side of the chamber, embedding him into the stone. A few more figures made their way into the fray only to meet the same unfortunate fates as the others, but after dispatching of them he turned to... me?
"I know not what arts you stole from us, seer, but now they end with you. Only Lord Indrath and his clan may use aether arts. It is above mere lessers such as you all," Taci spits and appears before me faster than I could comprehend.
"My people are not pawns to be used by your megalomaniac you call a Lord!" I manage to get out before my side becomes warm and damp. Ah yes, this is how it will end, isn't it?
The large bear, Boo, made his way to defend me only for his mighty bellows to turn into wheezing gasps for air as Ellie cries out in a fit of hopelessness.
Stepping in front of her mother, Eleanor creates a bow made of pure mana and launches a half-dozen mana arrows towards Taci only to draw his ire. With a single thrust of the spear, he skewers through Ellie and partially into Alice.
Alice's screams ring out first in pain but then in complete despair as she began to pour mana into Ellie's wound in vain.
"It seems that I can restore honor to Elder Kordri for lowering himself to training that... lesser. May your bloodline end in nothing but regret for defying Lord Indrath's will," Taci says as he raises his spear towards Alice and Ellie but just as my vision begins to go completely dark and the sounds of my fellow Dicathians begin to become nothing but forgotten memories, the portal at the back of the room begins to glow and hum. Emerging from that portal was an indiscernible mana signature and an unforgettable bloodlust that made me pull my hands from the wound in my side to my throat to try and force air into my lungs.
It's him...
I heard a thud towards where I remember Virion being towards the back of the room. "Virion. Put her in mana restraining cuffs. I know you have some on you. That is NOT the Tess you know and love," he says.
"I figured you would have learned by now that no matter how hard you fight and try that you'll never best this lesser, Taci," says the man as he grabs the asuran boy by the arm, halting the strike that would have slain both Ellie and Alice.
"If it isn't the stain on the resume of all Thyestes children. I was just talking about you," Taci responds before he breaks the grip on his arm and readies an attack.
"Regis, to Ellie. Now. Keep healing her, Mom, it will work I promise." says the figure as he gestures towards Alice.
"...A-Arthur?" Alice asks, dumbfounded. "But how?"
"Thank Sylvie for now but I'll explain when I've dealt with him," Arthur replies.
Arthur and Taci begin to exchange blows, each one shaking the entirety of the room and leaching air from every individual present. Everyone in the room had been scattered across the room from the shockwaves formed by the blows. Ellie and Alice were on the ground heaving, trying to force air into their lungs while also trying to stay alive, considering the wounds in their sides.
I stare at the outline of the figure before me hoping that my thoughts are being portrayed on my face well enough for him to understand. Please Arthur take him out of here before your fight destroys all of us.
'How can I get him out of here?'
Shocked at the fact that there was some kind of connection between us, I internally gasp. Go into the portal.
'But Asuras can't go into the Relictombs."
Just trust me on this.
'This better work'
Arthur backs Taci towards the portal through successive blows and yells out, "REGIS, PUT AETHER IN THE PORTAL!" As he finishes, a mote of aetheric presence emerges from Ellie and makes its way over to the portal amidst the fighting before a burst of aether sends a deafening screech throughout the room.
The portal hums to life and Arthur plants a firm kick to Taci's chest sending him into the portal but thr asura recoils off as if the portal were made of gelatin. Noticing the circumstances, the asura smirks and begins to push Arthur back a few steps before Arthur does something none of us expected, he bull-rushes Taci. Tackling him by the waist, Arthur plants his feet and uses every ounce of physical strength to thrust Taci and himself through the portal. The aetheric barrier seeming to almost tear like fabric as they both are forced through the portal.
With a slight chuckle I lay and think, 'Come back alive, brat,' before I breathe my last, content that my plan worked.
** A/N: As previously stated I will not be orchestrating the Arthur vs. Taci fight. The original is simply too good for me to try and paraphrase so I advise you to go and read the real one now if you're looking for action before coming back and finishing this chapter ;). **
ARTHUR LEYWIN
My feet hit solid ground as the rift behind me closes in a blink. Hunching over I try and lower my breathing and slow my heart rate.
"B-brother? Is that really you?"
A few tears fall from my eyes as my vision blurs at the sight my sister with a hole in her abdomen. "Yeah, Ellie. I'm home," I squeak out with a voice crack. I fall to her knees at her side. "Regis, go to my mother, get her to heal herself then come straight to Ellie. Then onto everyone else."
'Aye, aye, princess. One fixed up family coming right up.' he sends back.
"It's going to be ok Ellie. We're all going to be ok," I urge, more for myself than for Ellie.
"I believe you, Art. I knew you weren't dead," she says before breaking into sobs and rolling over to hug my legs.
I let the dam break as tears begin to saturate Ellie's bloody clothes. All of the emotions I had suppressed while I was in Alacrya were for this moment. This reunion with the ones I cherished most. While this moment is certainly not perfect, my mother at my side as she heals my little sister from a usually mortal wound helped ease my nerves. I lean over and hug my mother as I watch the green glow of her healing magic through wet eyes.
It was only after Regis was completely out of aether and reduced to his wisp form that he finally returned to me. I tried to regain my composure. 'I know I give you a lot of shit but thank you, Regis. You saved those people,' I thought to my companion.
'All in a day's work, you masochist. Now let me take a nap, I'm running on fumes here,' he replies.
I move Ellie's head from my lap and make my way over to the now recovered Virion that is staring endlessly at "Tessia" through wet eyes made of nothing but regret and despair.
"I cuffed her, kid, but I didn't think when she woke up she'd start screaming, kicking, and calling for the death of Dicathen. I never want to have to silence my granddaughter like that again," he mutters loud enough for only me to hear. "That's not even her is it?"
"No, she's the start of out problems but hopefully a solution to them if I can help it. I'll solve this somehow, Gramps," I say, trying to reassure him more than anything. "Now we just need to wake her back up."
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A/N: Whew! This was my first ever fan fiction novel or anything of this sort for the public to read. All in all it's just over 5,000 words and over half of that is completely OC. This chapter is probably going to be on the longer end of length but expect somewhere between 2-4k words. Thank you for making it to the end of this first chapter and I hope to see you when I update next!