And with this sword

“I am afraid you were delivered to us without any weapon… mayhaps it was lost in the transport or misplaced, i which case I shall of course help you retrieve it.”

He deemed fit to approach the pallet that the had placed the young woman on and take a seat near her, so as to make it easier for her to see and talk to him. Hmm… upon closer inspection her dirtied clothing seemed more refined than what most wore… Maybe she was an important figure back in her home town?

The princess with eyes the color of blades stared at the unfamiliar ceiling for an uncomfortable pause. “So the Sword of Kings is gone as well. Although disappointed, I am not surprised.”

Ashe remained unfazed for the rest of the man’s interactions, so inured to new stimuli as her broken spirit was. The guard gave her scant details of the situation but the tone of voice he spoke through was devoid of any urgency. Were the hostilities over in this region?  She had to know.

“̎͛Tͤ̏rait̓͛ͬ͊o̍̑r̐̾,ͤ ͫ̋̂̓ͧt͋̒̔͊̉̋ͬrͧ͛â̓̂i͗ͬ̓t̃o̅r.ͦ̑́̿ ̈́́̌ͧͥ̀ͮM̐̃͗͛́͆uͤ̃́͌ͫͪs̐̈͑̒t̾ͨ̋̔̚ ̔ͭ̽͛k̑̇̅̐̿̐i͊ͣ̏̽lͥ͂̿̿͗͛l̏ͩͫ̈́̐͗͌ ̈́ͯͯ͋͛͌ͬt̏̅͂̇h̓ͪͦ̾͆̑eͪ ͯ͛̓̊ͩ͛̏t̑͊̔ŕ̌ͧ͊͋aͦ̿̈̓̇͗iͯ̌̃͐̐̆t̅ͯ́̓́̅o̾̍r̿.ͤ"̓ͤ̔̑͌̂

Chaos infused the newly-born angel.

“̔̂Sͤ̋c̏̅ên̆̋͋ͫtͩ̏̇̅ ̃ͣ̊ͬ̈oͪ̾ͯ͑̌fͧ̚ ̊͆ͨtra̿̋ͭͯ͊iͬt͛̃ͯoͤ̃ͤͪͧ̌ͫr.ͮ̑ͬ̿ S͒ͫ͆ͬ̂̈m̂̿ͬͨ͂̇eͮ̈l͗ͭ̾ͦ̇̋lsͥͯ̾ͧ ṡ̎̎ͩͧ̽weͧ̇̓̑ͥͩͯet̏ͬ̔̑l̃́̍ỹͤ ͋̋̀͊̆̐t̑͛̓͌̐o͋ͨ ͑̎mͦe͛̓̋͗.̎̽̇ ̾̽̑E̔ͤͭͪn͋ͨ͑̊ͭò͌ͨȗ̒ͭ̽g͆ͦ͌͂̽̄̅h͋̄̒ͪͬ́ͣ ̃͗͂̈́̽̈to͂̽̒ͩ ̋͑̎͆mͤͦ̔͊̿aͣ̃ͫk͑ͬe͊̀̊ ̎ͫ̏ͩͪ̒̅a̎̒̇ͩ ͯ͋̍ͬ͗̈̚man̆ ͑̈́̾s͊̈ͦic͌̍kͣͣ͐.̀̔͆ͨ͑̆ͧ"͆͗

Cloud’s mind was overwhelmed by his new dominion over the crystal shards. With a direct link to darkness, his mind was now awash in an altogether familiar stream of consciousness. Darkness pooled about his from as an aura of corruption. Corruption he wanted to share with others instinctually…violently.

Especially because the resistance’s presence hadn’t been there.  With the leader still out of commission to her knowledge, Celes had found herself mostly alone and pondering what on earth to do. If the rebellion didn’t act fast, this was something that they wouldn’t be able to recover from…if it wasn’t too late to save their mere existence already. Eventually, she decided to examine some of the damage herself. Sheffield was the place she was located the closest to. Upon arrival, what Celes witnessed made her stomach churn.

Buildings charred, looking like they were on the verge of collapsing at any moment. Corpses were everywhere, and Celes found herself locked in battle with the monsters feasting on the flesh more than once as she navigated the wreckage, proceeding to take the bodies they were eating afterwards and tucking them away in corners of buildings and out of the streets. And to make matters worse, there was something about it all that was eerily familiar to her. Had she seen horrific wreckages like this back home? There was something in her gut and her brain that told her she had, which meant that her service had seen war. Unsurprising. But there was something else about all of this destruction, something about it all that just hit so sharply to her memories that convinced here there was something else missing.

If only she could reach out and grab what it was…

Her thoughts were interrupted by a young woman sprinting past her a few yards away, weaving around debris and trying to avoid the monsters skulking about. She appeared to be about her age, and immediately, Celes’s gaze searched for what precisely she was running from.

It didn’t take long for her to find it. A black streak that was taking form. It spread wider, and Celes immediately sprinted towards the girl. She chose a path to run parallel to hers, narrowly missing one of the monsters sensing her presence. Waiting to greet whatever that thing was seemed to be suicide. Celes had heard of black magic before that was literally nothing but darkness, but she had never seen it before with her own eyes. Until now, that is.

Successfully, Celes managed to get ahead of the girl. Her eyes flickered up to the sky and then back to the ground, and immediately spotted a behemoth rounding the corner.

Cloud...no, that assassin that used to be Cloud looked to be delayed from continuing the chase by the sheer amount of rubble catching onto him. Ashe’s brothers had taught her to make use of any delay, no matter how slight, to prep magical defenses. Her head was still turned to watch the heartless angel’s rise while she raised her hands in front of herself to perform Protect’s somatic component. When a shield of momentary visuals orbited around her, Ashe knew her defenses were boosted. As was her confidence.

Then she saw another blonde in the way of her escape route. Her tuft of hair sticking over her headband swayed violently when she grabbed Ashe’s casting hand.

“No, wait! I have to cast another spell!” The pitter-patter of her musketeer boots increased to a fevered pitch to keep up with the pace of the new addition to the struggle. Ashe was about to rebuff her companion before seeing the horned beast of titanic proportions claw its way into her field of view. A behemoth? Here?! What in the world is happening to this place?! The princess’ thoughts were to be answered at a later time. The blonde swordswoman had to guide her out of this pincer attack.

“It is not within the duty of Myrefall’s guards to cut down unarmed young women at any time, but even less so when there is no reason to do so. So unless you gave me reason to raise my blade at you you need not worry.”

His voice is calm and collected and by this quality alone already it stands out amidst the hectic voices surrounding them. Indeed, he meant no harm for this nameless patient, but her reaction gives rise to a handful of questions, most prominently the crucial one:

Fallen royalty’s aching head turned impotently to better see her dialogue partner, resulting only in a weak pivot of the neck and steely eyes moving to the guard’s position. Her vision was still clouded but the shape of a man in an iaijutsu master’s gait was clear to her.

“Wait. Myrefall? Am I not in Sheffield? And what’s this about being ‘unarmed’? Where is my sword?”

Ashe aimed for another try at moving herself to face the man and his revelations by twisting her waist towards him. Her white and gold Lordly Robes were grimy and bronzed from heavy contact with the earth but the tensile strength and abrasive edges of some of the embroidery she used to gain traction. Now on her side she could see more of her surroundings and the lack of a threat they posed.

The number of days since the assault on the waterfall city had steadily grown and reached a solid number by now, yet the number of injured people bought to the temple and the white mage schools hardly reduced at all. Not, if anything, they grew by the day too and that made it harder and harder to find a place to properly treat everyone.

By this point, even a small training hall normally used by the city guard for training had to be repurposed into a makeshift healer station.

But such was the fate of Myrefall, for it could not turn away those who sought aid in these dark hours. No matter from where they came to the city of healing, no matter how dire it’s own situation was.

And this young woman that had been bought to them a few hours past, unconscious but not with any obvious wounds was no exception. Another had brought her here, directly to the repurposed training hall, and asked for her to be taken good care off. That person had refused to state any name, claiming to only be helping a stranger out in these dire times, and for this reasoning he had had to thank them and let them leave. Even if this all seemed quite suspicious…

Ashe’s eyes opened to the sight of an unfamiliar ceiling. Bejeweled but dirtied arms made motions of bracing the fallen woman’s rise to an upright position, then fail when the internal wounds get the better of them. She could not remember the circumstances which had seen her transported from the lonely crag to this austere location but the aches in her body told her it involved violence of the bludgeoning kind.

For a minute she stood still, eyes unmoving from the spot in the ceiling she bore into. Voices of overextended healers and groaning patients went unheard by the selfish young woman who thought only of whether or not this was a dream she would experience on an airship ride home to a liberated Dalmasca. The voices echoed off into the distance like she was about to lose consciousness again, to dream sweeter dreams.

Blink. Ashe felt someone was watching her. Her legs shifted weakly in reflex and found themselves without the strength to carry her off the pallet. With an ever-vexed sigh, Ashe lamented silently her situation. I could be being ogled at by someone and I am without recourse. Once again, I can’t do anything but accept what fate’s whip will give me. With grim resignation abundantly clear in her soft voice, Ashe addressed her watcher without turning to meet his direction.

//Don’t you mean sail a ship?

With hands together in a ball she brings her thumbs up before bitten lips. “You’ve thought about this before, haven’t you?”

The man was much more capable of social engineering than she surmised from the start of this debacle. His bullying of the barista would’ve made sense as being part of a large con when that is taken into consideration. “Look at yourself. Not much younger than I and already coming up with plans to act as shepherd to the sheep. I would be so bold as to suppose your cunning and not obscurity may be why you’ve survived so long among the crystalists.” Ashe leans back into a straight posture with her hands in her lap like the dainty princess she was raised to be.