FEATHERS.

given lif is much older looking than our alfonse and i stand by the fact that dead people don’t age, coralin was in her late thirties when she died. having decided to stay in askr after “the conflict ended”, she took on a position as one of the newly crowned king alfonse’s aides and continued her magical studies, becoming an incredibly skilled mage who specialized in converting earth technology to a magic fueled version that could be used in askr by absolutely anyone for a better quality of life. she would go on to be given the title of the daybreak sage by the people, and ultimately moved past much of her depression and anxiety. she never married, but she was very much present in the lives of her friends, having come to see them as family. 

the tome present day coralin carries was written by the doomed, older version-- while the daybreak sage didn’t see much battle until hel’s invasion of askr, dellingr is a pet project and culmination of all coralin’s magical study. 

coralin had implored alfonse to think about it a little more before using the weapon, as they had no idea what it might do or what it might cost to unseat the ruler of the underworld. unfortunately for her and too consumed by grief over sharena’s murder at the hands of hel, alfonse refused to listen to her and unleashed it anyways. he died on the spot, the first person to be claimed by the heart’s beat. coralin immediately returned to the hall of the order of heroes with anna to regroup and find a way to stop the forbidden heart from claiming lives, but her life ended too as she was walking up the stairs.

hel, however, saw a use for the summoner. she reanimated coralin, though stripped her of her identity and personality to leave a hollow shell with all her summoner powers behind-- a tool. while alfonse and veronica -- lif and thrasir -- had the power to force contracts upon heroes whose worlds they invaded, between the two of them it could be slow going. this is where coralin would be deployed, to speed up the process. when not in use, she is kept in hel’s castle. while she does not speak beyond simple acknowledgement of orders, one might hear her crying as they pass her by. 

while she is primarily a tool to bolster hel’s forces, should those among zenith’s living get too close or catch her attention she will lash out and attack them. ( a build will be determined soon enough.) 

“Only my pride.” The lie was so blatant it was almost funny- Alfonse had ripped off part of his cape to fold up and press against his head, where a falling rock had nicked him.

“I really thought I had figured him out. If he’s me, then how hard could it be to figure him out, right? I just have to wonder what I would do.” But this… to collapse the castle like this… his mind was as alien as Hel’s. Alfonse had no idea where Lif might have fled to, what he might be preparing. Well, another foray into their Askr, perhaps. “Why did he bother to come back here, leading us to this Askr..? Why not kill us in Hel? Why risk us finding out all of this? He must have known I would figure it out…”

He tapped his forehead once with his fist, and regretted it immediately when his head spun due to his wound. “I’m so close to the answer… but it’s like I’m missing one piece, one crucial piece, and without it I can’t solve the puzzle…”

   talk about the understatement of the century. something had hit his head by the looks of it, and for a moment you forget all about the ruined castle and the campaign itself. oh god, alfonse might have a concussion. you’re about to start asking him about the symptoms when he presses on, and you can’t help the quiet huff. 

“i think...” you say slowly, doing your best to put yourself into a desperate, dead alfonse’s shoes. one who tried to combat hel, but failed, and has been forced into acting as one of her generals in hopes of reversing the death of his world. “i think he wants us to win. there’s no way hel will make good on her promise to restore his world for every life he takes. that’d just weaken her own forces, right? why would she want to do that? so he and thrasir -- him and veronica -- they’re being strung along... and i think maybe lif knows that.” 

   you feel a small pain in your chest at the thought of alfonse -- kind, intelligent alfonse, the prince you’d been so intimidated by because he just didn’t seem to like you for the longest time and you had no idea why but had soon come to see as a cherished younger brother --  being used in such a cruel way, but unable to fight it... and evidently, you’d been unable to protect him from that fate. you’d been unable to stop him from unleashing the weapon. you’d been unable to stop hel from taking him as a trophy.

this is entirely because dancing berkut now has verdandi as his lance, yes. 

anyways.

when coralin first arrived in askr, the first thing she thought about was trying out magic for herself. earth doesn’t have it, but she’s grown up on fantasy and has always played mages in games when possible or found herself drawn to the genre in general. unfortunately, it really isn’t as easy as picking up a tome, flipping through it, and making sparks fly. discouraged and assuming she just didn’t have the gift because her world is non-magical, coralin gave it up.

she still never lost her interest in the magical arts, though-- her job as summoner required her to work with mages and have a general understanding of the craft to better tend to their needs, which meant having to at least study the craft. once soren began acting as one of her champions, she would also ask him questions, too. with a recommended reading list and some tutelage from the mercenary cora slowly grew more comfortable and understanding of magical theory.

this became relevant upon reaching the ruined askr’s library. desperate for something to take her mind off the campaign, coralin decided that she would give magic another attempt while they were here. if it didn’t work, it didn’t work and at least she wasn’t thinking about doom and gloom for a little bit. if it did... that was even better. 

with a better understanding of magic this time, she successfully conjured fire. 

encouraged, she quietly nicked a few fire tomes from the library and has been practicing with them on their way to the destroyed order of heroes hall. upon reaching that, however, she came across another tome in the foyer, abandoned on the stairs. a curious coralin picked it up, but unfortunately the battle with lif and ensuing destruction of the castle hasn’t given her a chance to look at it just yet...

this tome is called dellingr. named for the norse god and personification of the dawn, it is a red fire tome with 14 mt, and comes with built in close counter; coralin can counterattack regardless of range. it also grants atk+3. the tome can be refined with a rally spectrum effect; at the start of the turn, any adjacent units to coralin will gain +4 to all stats, while those within two spaces will gain +2.

dellingr was written by the coralin of the doomed askr before her death as a pet project and culmination of all her own magical studies, and the magic of the tome itself was sealed to her-- only coralin could use its full power. the present day coralin is still a coralin, therefore she can use it too. once she gets over the shock of discovering something left behind by her doomed self, cora will honour her by learning how to use dellingr herself.

her full build and stat spread is under the cut! tldr, with a total bst of 168 she pumps everything into attack and res, but her hp and defense are kinda lacking. thank you so much pearls for helping me figure this out! i did shuffle a few things to remain just a little closer to my original concept and throw an assist skill in because i don’t like leaving that blank but,,, yeah!!

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I didn’t think he would…”

The past few minutes were a blur. After ordering a retreat from the ruined castle of the Order, Alfonse didn’t know what had happened or what he had done. All he knew was that now, he stood outside the collapsed castle, at the side of the summoner. “I didn’t think he would be so desperate to kill us that he would destroy the castle. He… It’s almost as if he’s trying to distance himself entirely from who he was.”

There was… something going on underneath the surface. Alfonse could feel himself clawing at it, trying to force it to yield up its secrets, but he was missing a piece… But for now, solving the riddle was a lower priority. “Did everyone make it out?”

“i--”

   oh. alfonse. you take a deep breath, willing your nerves to settle into something more manageable. the last thing he needs right now is you falling apart on him. that’s the last thing anyone needs, really. inhale. exhale. get it together, marsh. you wipe at your eyes and stand a little straighter, giving his highness a rather sad attempt at cool professionalism.

“we’ve really gotta work on this waltzing into traps thing. of course he knew alfonse knew that he’d be here. of course he did.”

   hopefully, showing annoyance will hide how your whole body shakes as you stare at what was once the castle of the order of heroes. it had been hard enough walking into the ruined keep, seeing that same building you spend so much of your time in derelict and abandoned... but to see it reduced to rubble on the ground... you choke back a sob. 

“oh! thank you, alfonse. if i hadn’t lost my footing so quickly, i’m certain i might have done a little better… but it is what it is, isn’t that right? i fear i am a little out of practice… i will have to redouble my training upon returning home”

“Magic is not as inherently complicated as it may appear at a first glance, my lady.” Laurent lowered his head in deference before continuing. “’t Is a simple matter of imposing one’s intent upon the element chosen, forcing it to behave in a manner accommodating one’s wishes. Depending on the chosen element, it is quite easy to learn.”

“In fact, I would be happy to help you learn the basics, as are, I am sure, many of the mages in the Order. I would recommend against starting out with Dark Magic, but perhaps a basic Wind Tome would be within the realms of possibility?”

“you know you can just call me coralin, right? or cora? i’m not a noble.”

@arenablessings replied to your post.

cora vc but you competed in an entire obstacle course AND did really well!! weren’t you scared of heights before? that’s still amazing!

“well i - yeah, it was really bad before. i could barely stand to be in the aether keep when we were outside,” ingrid replies. her cheeks turning pink, she adds in a half-mumble, “i guess i have come a long way anyway.”

“there you go, see? you’re doing better than i am. i’ve moved my personal quarters in there, sure, but i’m still really scared of going onto the outer part of the thing...”