Ꮏhe impact sent them flying backwards.
    Lucina landed on her knees, hands over her head for protection. It felt as if a magnet pulled them all out of control; and they were the metal. What had happened?
    "Gods! What was that?" Yelled Gerome. Everyone stood up in surprise.
    "Where's Laurent?" Inigo questioned.
    "Augh, he was HERE before!" Severa yelled in disgust. "Lucina, are you alright?"
    The princess nodded. "Yes. Is anyone–"
    But her words where frozen once a groan came from the closed areas of the trees.
    Lucina turned her head to the side. She scanned the forest. It looked... darker? More shadows, yes. But... it was dusk already.
    How strange... she thought, it was only sunset a few seconds ago.
    The tall trees seemed to be skinned to only their branches from what used to be full evergreens, leaving a dead look. Lucina squinted, looking for other signs of change. Yes— the grass was replaced with dirt and gravel.
    And there was something else that stood. The creature had a pair of blood-red eyes, a silver weapon, and purple smoke surrounding it.
    "A-a risen...? Now?" Stammered Noire, lifting up her weapon. Everyone did the same.
    "Not just a risen..." Gerome stated, "Everyone! They're outnumbered, we have no choice!"
    Seconds after the wyvern rider said the words, more of the beasts appeared as if they were spirits. Lucina staggered back, pulling out her— her fathers— Falchion.
    She charged towards the nearest one and streaked it clean in the middle, maneuvering her blade. The risen fell with an unsatisfied scream, and disappeared in the purple dust surrounding it. Lucina lowered her blade for only a split second, before she was met with another.
    Her eyes caught sight of Severa making a charge towards it. With a war cry, the mercenary thrust her iron sword forward.
    Lucina jumped in and finished it for her.
    Two down, many more to go.
    Yes; it was risky to do such a thing— to fight when your enemies were outnumbered— but that was the only thing they could do. They were surrounded. What could you do if you were surrounded? The answer came simple. You either had to fight or die.
    And as simple as it was, Lucina and her friends fought bravely. Stabbing and slicing with their weapons, they were able to cut them down.
     Minerva landed beside its trainer, Gerome. The wyvern let out an unsatisfied growl at her sight; the fighting made even the creature to cringe. Gerome put a hand on its head, petting her.
    "Let's go, Minerva. We must fight."
     Inigo sprinted after him with a war cry, holding up his blade in glory. He slowed down and lowered the hilt, preparing for a low-targeted attack. The fighter struck; hitting his foe with a bloody clash. Gerome watched as he held his axe in his hand.
    Taking a huge breath, Gerome and Minerva flew towards the crowd of beasts.
    They landed gracefully as he threw his hand axe towards the risen. It loaded an arrow to a bow in its hand, aiming it for the wyvern rider, but missed terribly once Gerome commanded Minerva out of the way. He was silent when he dodged it.
    Gerome could see Lucina and Severa fighting side-by-side, taking blows in graceful turns. Lucina fought so... confidently. It was quite astonishing, however. Gerome remembered how much she cried a few hours ago. What to expect? Gerome focused his senses on the battle and charged towards another.
    Lucina was so focused on what was ahead of her that she wasn't paying attention to what was behind her.
    "Lucina, look out!" Severa's high pitched voice squeaked through the air.
    The young exalt turned to see a spell making its way towards her. It was large and purple— most likely a dark spell— and leaped to the side. It whizzed past her like a full-speed train, sending it crashing to the undead in front of her.
    "Are you alright?" Severa questioned. She put a hand on Lucina's shoulder. The princess nodded.
    "Yes. Although, that spell... it looks... Plegian." Lucina explained. "Dark magic... its not very common in these lands..." Lucina trailed off.
    "Hmm..." Lucina's statement made Severa think as well. "It's not like you see that everyday. Shall we find the wielder?" She asked.
    "I... don't know." Lucina replied. "We're almost done the battle. I suppose we can find it. The risen was behind us..."
    But Lucina turned to see no tome-wielder in sight, only what was left of the monsters.
    "I'm sure we'll find the fighter. Don't worry. It's not very interesting, you know. It's just a spell." Severa gestured her hand towards Inigo and Kjelle who were attacking furiously.

It wasn't long until the group was able to put away their weapons.
    "Anyone else hurt?" Gerome asked. He turned to Komura. "That's all of them, thank the gods."
    "Mhm." Is all what Komura mumbled. She turned to Lucina. "Milady, I haven't caught sight of your friend Laurent. He must've gotten in the fight earlier, I'm afraid."
    "But that cannot be possible!" Inigo scrunched his eyebrows together in worry. "They just... appeared, you know? How can Laurent see them first?"
    "These disappearances... Owain... now Laurent? How?" Lucina shook her head. "This... is certainly different." She muttered.
    "Precisely." Komura added.
    "For the least, I wager their out there." Gerome glanced at the sky. "For the least."
    "Yeah..." Severa looked down. "I really wish that dork Owain could come back. It's different without him."
    "Agreed." Lucina smiled just thinking of her cousin. He was weird in a way, but nevertheless, he was very helpful. The fights he would do for the kingdom. The courage.
    They stood in silence thinking, only the sounds of wind rushing around them.    
    Lucina's thoughts came back to Owain.
"Alright, you little scums! Nobody takes the cousin of Owain!"
    And then she stopped thinking. It was her fault that Owain went missing.
    Again. Why did so many people have to do things for her? Yes, she was royalty, but it didn't make any sense. She was not the exalt. She wasn't anything worthy. Lucina knew she was... just a princess, despite how she could fight. Lucina didn't care. If she died...
    "Wait," Gerome intruded her thoughts. "I hear something."
    It was unneeded to say that, as everyone was quiet. Somehow, though, everyone went even more quiet. Lucina strained her ears.
    She did hear something. It sounded like footsteps. Slow, steady footsteps as if someone were walking.
    "It can't be another risen, can it?" Severa whisper-asked.
    "No."
Lucina let out a gasp. The voice was a woman's voice, but unidentified. The tone was quite medium, but she was sure the voice was quiet.
    The owner of the words stepped out of the shadows.
    She was shorter than Lucina expected. She was small, about a few years away from Lucina and the others. She wore a black robe, with Plegian markings on it. Lucina staggered back. The cloak... it resembled...
   Robin's cloak.
   The stranger wore a more worn and torn version of Robin's tactician clothing. It seemed large on her, but the hood draped over her head made Lucina think if the girl could even see.
    And then Lucina saw it. A tome in her hand.
    Was she the one who cast the spell at her? The book looked like it contained the colour of the spell— the pigment of the leather cover almost matched the spell that flew past her in the battle. It started to make Lucina suspicious. She began to doze off into her thoughts again until a high scream filled the air.
    There was Komura, on her knees, and clutching her head as if she had a migraine. Lucina covered her mouth in surprise as the familiar purple smoke intruded Komura's limp body. She screamed again, this time with more pain rushed in the tone.
    The stranger— the enemy— had hit Komura with the spell.
    "Komura!" Gerome screamed. He dropped down beside her, not caring that the spell could spread. "You... what did you do?"
    Lucina could sense the unknown girl smirking. "What I wanted to do."
    "Attacker! Everyone, kill the jerk- AUGH!" Severa began to drop and clutch her fists. It had hit her too. Lucina stepped back. "Nngh... hmph..."
    "Stop, please!" Noire begged, trembling in fear. "We don't mean any harm!"
    "You killed my army..." she growled.
    "The risens are your army?" Cynthia wrinkled her nose. The girl turned to face the pegasus knight with what seemed like rage. "Uhh... I..."
    "Cynthia! No!" Lucina screamed once the magic flew towards her. Using no thinking, Lucina leaped in front of her, taking the blow. The princess bit her lip to keep from screaming. Dizziness and pain intruded her body.
    "Sister! Are you alright?" Cynthia questioned.
    It was slightly more powerful then Lucina had expected. She could feel her whole body aching from the magic. The most made its way to her stomach, and then her knees. Her legs gave out, letting her meet the impact of the ground.
    "I..." Lucina brought a hand to her forehead, unable to speak, "I'm... f-fine..."
    "You are all so overdramatic. Now, which should I finish first?" Came the Robin clone. She turned to Lucina, her smile dropping once seeing her. "W-wait..."
    "Elwind!"
Sooner than Lucina expected, a green light— wind magic, to be exact— broke through the near term of death. The spell hit the foe with a magical but powerful sound.
    Lucina gave in a heave of breath before turning to face the young boy who save her. He rearranged his giant hat, making it drape away from his face framed with a skinny pair of glasses. The princess was too relieved to see him.
   "Laurent!" Severa screamed.
"I'm perfectly fine," the mage replied, "Now, is anyone badly wounded? Brady, tend their wounds." He acted as if the enemy were dead, but she wasn't.
   Lucina stood up, ignoring the fact that she was hurt. She unsheathed her blade, walking towards the girl who tried to murder her.
   As she got closer to her, Lucina noticed that the girl had her hands pressed against her head like Komura had. The tactician let out a pained groan. Lucina staggered back.
   "S-spare... m-me... I didn't m-mean to... augh!" The girl screamed. She let go of her grip on the weapon she was holding, forcing the hood over her head to fall away from her face.
    Now, Lucina was able to make out the details on the woman's face. Her hair was blue— a tad lighter than Lucina's— and had royal sapphire eyes. Lucina stopped at her position. The girl... she looked like... her. It couldn't be any of her siblings— she only had one. Who else could she be? Lucina almost sheathed her blade until the girl looked up at her with her big eyes.
    She stared at them. They were bright and afraid, as if she had seen a ghost. Lucina didn't know what to do.
    "M-mother?" The girl gasped.

-*-

Authoress Notes ~ Comments

-enchantedfangirl | Ꮶαмυι~¢нαи