Fire Emblem: The Awakening of the Demon King

[T.G. Oskar]

Night had befallen, only starlight lighting the path. It was a clear night, a chilly night as the heat of the sun had finally faded. Caius and his men strode forth, less bothered by the weather but showing signs of fatigue. Even their horses went with a light step, after miles of travel.

Earlier, the soldiers noticed a very dim light at the distance. Now at night proper, the light had intensified, showing what seemed was a building. It was upon their path, which was the reason why they were capable of noticing it.

"Oi, what's with that light? It's be bothering me since we've went upon this blasted sandwaste!"

"Yar. What if it's one of them mirages of the desert? I've heard of them in folks' stories..."

"Ya sure? That light doesn't seem like a mirage to me..."

"Maybe it's Flarg?"

"No... It's too early for Flarg...besides, it seems like a single building..." Caius tried to quell the fears of his men, eager to avoid any threat. It was fortunate of him that no brigand had dared to attack him, which was both soothing and worrisome news.

"Hey, I be thinking...what if our spy is there? Ya know, maybe he's hiding in that fort..."

"Are ya daft? Whatever makes you think that ruffian must be hiding in there?"

"I...don't know. Depends on what that is... It's not Flarg, so it must be a watcher's post, or perhaps a fort. I doubt someone who's been hunted by Grado would hide there, for that would mean Grado soldiers engaging in battle with Jehannan soldiers. Then again, maybe...maybe that's his idea."

"What'cha do then, Boss? Knock on their door and ask them if they've seen a criminal?"

"Perhaps...but that would alert them. We're not here to get into a fight with them; we're here to see if the ruffian went to Flarg. If he crossed over here, chances are that he either went beyond, got captured or hides in there. And our horses need rest and relaxation..."

"So we knock in there?"

"..." Caius knew that the spy must have passed over whichever building was that; a city was a better place to hide, and if he was to stay one step further from their group, he would have to prevent any place that seemed too distant from his location.

But there was also the option. Perhaps he was caught; if so, he would have to return in order to fulfill his official mission, but not his true mission. And what if he died? The possibility was slim, but then again, there were no bandits on the way. That would endanger his mission. And he was to be wary of mentioning Prince Stephan, if at all.

Caius was not truly faithful, but if there was a god in there that would listen to his pleas, he pleaded that his mission would be successful. And that the building in the distance wasn't a bandit hideout...or worse.

As they drew closer, they could notice the lights from braziers illuminating what seemed was a small fort. That quieted some of Caius' fears, but brought new fears into his heart. What if the spy was captured? Or slain, mistaken by a real bandit? There was no other choice; a small request, as little a speech as possible, and if there was no news upon the matter, go straight to Flarg. The idea was that the spy had to have a jump start, so traveling all night and resting all day would be the perfect excuse to give the spy the needed head-start. They needed to remain in Flarg for as long as possible until the naval forces met them, and then they would commence their search for Prince Stephan.

And thus, Caius made his decision.

"Eh, Boss? What are we gonna do?"

"...stay far from the light. I'll go and meet them. Fred, Dietrich...you come with me. The rest, keep your distance and don't come for us. We should return soon. Hand me the warrant; I may need it. And none of you raise a sword; we're here to ask for the brigand!"

"Aye aye, chief!" "Aye aye, boss!" With a salute, and still within distance, the group split in twain. Caius, along with two of his men, galloped into the building; the rest remained within the shadows and outside the perimeter, as ordered."

Drawing closer, Caius could see the building was a large fortification, noticing with difficulty the banner of Jehanna which he could identify given his knowledge of heraldics. He held the scroll with the warrant, in case they were questioning his authority; given that he had none, he needed the best excuse to proceed further on. His heart pounded swiftly, but his helmet hid his nervousness; for the sake of his people, he needed to remain calm and confident.

Finally, his silhouette and that of his men could be easily seen by the inhabitants of the fort. He slowed his horse's gallop into a light trot, while he awaited for the guards to meet him. He would keep galloping until he was confronted, or at mere steps of the main gate; with fortune, he would be able to disable any instance of threat and deal with the fortune of the supposed brigand as soon as possible...

[Heartless Angel]

{OOC: I'm going to go ahead and ignore Cloud's post for the time being, since it seems as though it wasn't SUPPOSED to involve me, even though it kinda did <.<)

Lucian noticed a group three riding towards the fort. "Hmm? Could they be what I've been feeling?", he asked himself. He didn't want to think so. He desperately wanted to believe he'd managed to get far away from the chaos he was certain was coming, however; the more he tried to convine himself, the less he believed. "Maybe they live here... I can't imagine a group of three tryin' to attack a fort this size. Maybe they're just travelers like I was... mayb- aaahhh, who am I shittin'? There's somethin' not right goin' on here.", he said, finally accepting that in his effort to avoid the chaos, he'd walked right into it. He moved the side of his robe over, and gazed upon the hilt of his sword.

"I'd hoped I'd never need you again...", he sighed, "but I kinda knew my hopes were in vain.", he continued as he began to slide the blade out of its sheath. The sound of the blackened weapon sliding across the metal of the sheath was a symphony of Lucian's despair. "I guess I ain't mean to part ways with the blade... Y'know, bein' damned gets kinda old after a few thousand years...", he said as if talking to the sword, then sliding the evil weapon back into its resting place.

[Magi of Worlds]

A loud knock could be heard in Arc's bedchamber. He rolled over in his sleep and continued dreaming. Another knock was heard a few minutes later. This only made Arc moan in his sleep. Unfortunately this woke up Myra. She used one of her lesser dark spells to wake him up. It was quite unpleasant but it worked. As Arc staggered to the door she fell back to sleep.

He opened the door muttering about women and their beauty sleep. Maximus was on the other side. Along with Julius and Meena, who hide her face from his nakedness.

"Its in the middle of the night dammit! Can I help you three?"

"Yes you can m'lord! It seems that a small contigent of Grado soldiers are at our door. They may be friends of the spy." Maximus stated.

Arc woke up instantly. Not a single thought of sleep was left in his mind.

"Wake everyone else up and prepare for battle everyone!"

He went back in the room to tell Myra and pulled back on his clothes and armor. Last, but not least, he equipped Yin and Yang in their usual positions. Leaving the room, he followed Maximus and Julius to the top of the fort to get a look at the enemy. It was a Knight and two Cavalair's. Arc smirked and then wondered if they had a small army hidden.

"Have all of our Sniper's on the wall aimed and ready to fire at the enemy."

As everyone rushed around to do his bidding he spotted the Knight's party down below.

"Hail Gradoan's! What may thoust want?" he called down.

[Heartless Angel]

He remained on the balcony, not speaking a word. His hand seemed to be trying to reach for the weapon in spite of Lucian's hatred for it. He didn't want to be swept into another war, but in the past these wishes had proved an excercise in futility. His hand gripped the hilt weakly. It's wrappins felt comforting somehow. As much as he hated it, the weapon consoled him. "If I must... I'll take up the sword again...", he said. He began unsheathing it once more, but just before the blade had completely left the scabbard, he stopped. He began to sweat, he was out of breath. In his mind, once the weapon was in his hands, free from its prison, it was too late to back out of this. He slowly returned it to his side once more, not removing his hand from the hilt.

"No... never again. Never again will I be swept into battle against my will. This time, I make the choice. This time... I wield you. You do not wield me.", He took a deep breath, and pulled the weapon from the sheath completely. A strange crimson glow ran up the blade. The Chaosbringer was born anew. He ran down the stairs, awaiting whatever may come.

[T.G. Oskar]

"Hail Gradoans! What may thoust want?"

An unexpected cry spawned from the heights. Caius looked at the fort's balcony, noticing a figure echoing a greeting. He ordered his men to stop, moved his horse parallel to the walls, and broke the seal upon the warrant scroll. He rose the window of his helm, and bellowed in a mighty voice his demand as he unfurled the scroll.

"Greetings, fortsmen! We are here in official command of the Prince Lyon of Grado, by request of the Chancellor of Grado Keep. We are searching for a criminal who has escaped our territory, and we may suspect he might have traveled this location. We would be grateful if you have heard news of this brigand, either location, hostage or passage. The Prince has offered a reward for any individual that provides with means to this man's capture. If you have no news of this criminal's location, we would also desire passageway to the town of Flarg, of which we have received reports of his destination. Spare you the whereabouts of this man, or have you captured this man?"

Caius expected that the few soldiers and the scroll with the warrant of capture would do enough. If not, the promise of a reward would sweeten the deal for the hardiest of man. He gulped, as he was unaware if the warrant was truly providing a reward for the capture of the spy, but even if it was a lie, he was a man of honor. He would spare of his own coffers if needed, if only to retain the facade; his true mission was far more important than the capture of a petty "criminal", but even his "capture" would provide strong information. None in Tai'zel, the closest town to Jehanna, were aware of a fort in the midst of the desert; news of this force would be well appreciated, even if at the very end he would fail on his main task.

He showed the scroll of warrant even as his hand tired from the weight of his own armor, while he held the left arm holding the reins of his horse. Neither Fred nor Dietrich moved from their spots, eagerly awaiting for a response.

[Magi of Worlds]

"Greetings, fortsmen! We are here in official command of the Prince Lyon of Grado, by request of the Chancellor of Grado Keep. We are searching for a criminal who has escaped our territory, and we may suspect he might have traveled this location. We would be grateful if you have heard news of this brigand, either location, hostage or passage. The Prince has offered a reward for any individual that provides with means to this man's capture. If you have no news of this criminal's location, we would also desire passageway to the town of Flarg, of which we have received reports of his destination. Spare you the whereabouts of this man, or have you captured this man?"

Arc had to think about that one for a moment. A reward would have been nice but being a Prince rewarded him with more money than this lowly man ever could.

"You mean the Gradoan spy we captured earlier in the day? Nay. I shall not hand him over so that you may go after Prince Stephan good sir. I have a better idea."

Arc gave his Sniper's the order to fire. They killed the two Cavalair's but spared the Knight because of order's from Arc. He then sent a trio of General's with Silver Axes to capture the Knight and bring him to Arc. After this was over Arc would question the man to get more information about Prince Stephan.

[T.G. Oskar]

The figure in the distance pondered for a while. It seemed, Caius thought, that it would be an uneventful night. The thought, however, did nothing to dispel the fears he held.

What the figure did, however, confirmed his worst fears.

"You mean the Gradoan spy we captured earlier in the day?" Caius gasped at the sudden revelation. It appeared, because of the revelation of the figure, that the spy had been captured. Fred and Dietrich were astounded, as they were unaware that the criminal they were to capture was truly a spy; for all they knew, the criminal was just that. Not even the scroll was of any use... "Nay. I shall not hand him over so that you may go after Prince Stephan good sir. I have a better idea."

It was worse. How would this man know about his true mission? Caius stood still, his men ready for the first order of their commander.

But not even that was to happen. A swarm of arrows flew from the walls, piercing the hearts and the helmets of Caius' escort. That would have been the last drop, but Caius simply closed his eyes. He tried to contain the tears that would flow from his eyes. How would he explain Agatha, Dietrich's sister, that his brother had perished because of his fault? And Fred; whom would care for his lands now that he was cowardly slain? Caius mulled over his own failure, and his terrible decision, but he could only think to himself.

This...is war. People live...and people die.

He could only hope that he had the strength of the Generals he so admired. These were friends, partners...he couldn't simply stand still, he had to avenge them. But he was also a commander as well. They had no guilt; it was only his own. These men were ready to die for their lord, and so they did; that they were not slain honorably was Caius' own regret.

The gate opened. From the gate, three heavily armored men emerged, each wielding a massive axe glistening with the light of the stars. He could recognize all of them were veterans, willing to slay him in a single strike. Pirates, bandits, and even the lowly foot soldier...these were nothing to his own prowess. But he knew, every bit of his soul knew that this would be a lost cause. His heart urged for revenge; he couldn't lay idle as he saw his men slain cowardly by the arrows of bowmen he didn't even notice.

The men surrounded him. One gave orders to surrender his weapons and his horse; Caius' couldn't do more than to agree. Perhaps, perhaps he was to pay for the lives he had taken, both from the unjust and from the innocent. But such was war; there was no good, no evil. Just honor, and treason; just the victors, and the slain.

He grasped the scroll in his hand. Even if he had to lie, even if his own life was at stake, he would not betray his own lord. Even if his men were captured, they were willing to follow him; they knew they would die, and perhaps they would have no regrets. But he was to be silent, as a wall was; broken, but never moving from the spot.

[Heartless Angel]

He arrived too late to witness these events unfold, but looking at the scene afterwards was enough to surmise what had occured here. He looked at the two corpses with a sick grin, and began laughing hysterically. "How ironic... that the battle I tried so desperately to flee from begins right here where I came to hide from it.", he said. He looked around the area, there was no sign of a third corpse. The third man must've been captured.

He took a large drink from his freshly refilled jug, mead ran down his face, through his black beard. "The drink saitsfies once more, then it is truly begun.", he said. He thought back to his days in Nivix, in particular his first trainer in the ways of the sword. An old, wise man; easily in his 70th year. He had a long grey beard, and looked as though he'd never touched a sword in his life. He remembered very clearly one of the many fragments of wisdom his master had given him, "A mere soldier rejoices at battle's end, but a true warrior is only at peace when he is at war." He was absolutely right. Combat was a way of life for Lucian. He had tried many tiems throughout the years to leave that life behind. He'd been a traveler, an explorer, a merchant, and many other things... but if he did not find battle, battle found him. One way or another, Lucian's life was caught in a spiral of unending warfare. In times of peace, he hated war with all his heart... but when the chance came to take up the sword once more, the sword became his only friend, and the battlefield the only place he could call home.

He began searching for Arc. If he was to fight, he'd need to choose a side...