The pleasant air of the night suddenly turn gloomy and Chrom who was sleeping soundly notice this change and woke up. Lissa heard Chrom woking up also woke up and look at his direction, she was already not able to sleep properly because she was scared that some bug might went inside her ears in her sleep.
"Huh?? What's wrong big brother??" Lissa asked while rubbing her eyes
"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up, but something is amiss" Chrom said while looking towards the woods
"Yeah, I felt that too, I am getting the same feeling as I got when I was thrown into the forest of death by that fake priest" The one to wake up was Ezekiel
Even after hearing Chrom and Ezekiel talking about something being wrong Lissa didn't believe them.
"The bad feeling you two are getting is of bugs go to sleep now" Lissa said
But Chrom and Ezekiel stood silent and after 5 seconds of silence Chrom said "I think, I will look around"
"I am coming too" Ezekiel said and stood beside Chrom
"Sigh, then me too" Lissa said while getting up from her place and dusting her dress
Chrom looks at them and smile "thanks, you two"
The three of them began walking towards the woods, after reaching the darkest part of the forest, they stop and started looking around. The forest was too quiet not even a single insect was making a sound there
"It's so dark and quiet.....where did all the birds go?" Lissa was not liking this silence so much that she would be happy to hear the sound of bugs flying
"Something is wrong here" Chrom said
Then suddenly the ground began to shake violent like there is an earthquake happening
"Ahhh Chrom" Lissa screams while running towards Chrom
"Is this an earthquake?" Ezekiel asked while trying to balance himself
"Ahh? What is this madness, you two stay close" Chrom said while holding Lissa close to him
"Ah guys, I think we should run cause the ground is cracking" Ezekiel said while looking towards the cracking groud and the tress that the falling.
The three of them started running when they saw the cracks coming closer. The ground was crack open and lava began to come out from the ground
"Is today the judgement day, cause I can see my end near" Ezekiel tried to make a joke but he was scared nonetheless.
Burning rocks were falling from the sky, but the three of them don't stop running.
"You two this way" Chrom said while pointing towards the other direction where their was no fire nor cracked ground. By following Chrom's suggest the three of them soon get out from the hell
Lissa then notice a circle forming in the sky "Chrom, Ezekiel look at that, a magic circle" she pointed towards the sky where the circle was forming. From the circles some humannoid creatures began to come out.
"Great, now what are those?" Ezekiel said
"Lissa, you better stand back" Chron said while drawing his sword and looked at the humanoid creatures that came out of the magic circle
"Ghouls?? Are they ghouls no they are but at the same time they are not" Ezekiel began to trace black keys around them and he gave one to Lissa
"Here, Lissa take this sword and slowly pour your mana in it they are effective against undead and Chrom you will not need it cause your sword is already a divine artifact, am I right?"
"Yeah ho-"Chrom wanted to asked how Ezekiel knew that but the ghouls began charging at them but before it can do any harm to Chrom, he block it's sword with his own, kicked him in the chest and stab it with his sword
"Later" Ezekiel said while firing black keys at the remaining ghouls
A ghoul was able to snuck in between them and it began to charge towards Lissa but before it could swing his sword at Lissa, someone came and stop his sword from reaching Lissa, the said person was wearing a black mask and had blue hair
"Help!!" The person wearing the mask said while looking at Chrom and Ezekiel
Ezekiel quickly shot black keys at the ghoul and the person with the mask let a breath out in relief
"Quite an entrance, what's your name?" Chrom asked while looking at the person with mask girl from her long hair, Chrom suspect her to be a girl.
Then suddenly Chrom and others heard noise coming from the woods and they saw Robin, Frederick and Amethyst who was flying at a very high speed
"My lady, my lord are you two okay" Frederick ran towards them and Robin followed him
"Noooo Amethyst do-" Ezekiel couldn't finish his words as the flying gem hit him in the stomach and he fall to his knees
"Ezekiel, are you okay?" Robin said while crouching down at Ezekiel's level to examine him
Amethyst made crying sound but she doesn't even have eyes to produce tears
"Yeah yeah we will talk later because right now we are surrounded by ghouls" Ezekiel said while standing up he looking at the ghouls
"Are those things common in your world Ezekiel?" Robin asked Ezekiel
"No they're not, the ghouls here are too different from my world and I promise no ghoul could ever escape that priest eyes to even come this far" Ezekiel answers
"We need to get to a better place to fight properly" Robin said
"Better place?? The forest is burning their isn't any better place where we could avoid them and if we run they might attack the nearby villages, we must put an end to them before it could happen" Frederick argued
"Then I have a plan, you guys guard me, I am going to perform an exorcism" Ezekiel cross earing turn into a golden sword
"You guys heard him, don't let those foul creatures get near Ezekiel" Chrom Shouts
The three of them stood around Ezekiel. Robin started giving orders to them to attack the ghouls. Their plan was simple hold the line till Ezekiel finishes his spell.
"Let the flames of judgement be ignite
Oh holy sword made from the branch of sephiroth
Burn them, Gweiadur"
The sword in Ezekiel's had light up in golden red flames the fire quickly surrounded them, Chrom and others got shocked when the flames surrounded them but they quickly stop packing when they felt their wounds heal and they soon realise that it didn't do any harm to them, and soon the fire reach the Risen and all of them burn and turn into dust.
Ezekiel check his surroundings, after seeing that none of the ghouls survive he let out a breath. He turn his sword back into cross earings. The flames release from his sword didn't do any harm to the surrounding. Chrom and others after checking the area once more quickly came near Ezekiel
"Wow that was amazing Ezekiel, was that some kind of magic spell??" Lissa asked in cheerful voice
"Something like that, it was made with the concept of Gevurah, one of the branch in tree of life and was given to me by my teacher" Ezekiel said
Upon hearing Amethyst words Ezekiel let out a loud sigh. Amethyst knows about the sword but he never told her that it could turn into a earing, even he only learn about this 2 days ago when the fake priest or his teacher gave him the sword "I only learn about this two days ago Amy and we were chase after as soon as we left Agartha by my father's minions"
Amethyst just huffs after hearing Ezekiel's words and connect itself back to Robin's robe
Frederick and others wanted to asked some more questions but before they could asked any they heard someone approaching them
"Captain Chrom, my lady Lissa and Frederick are you three ok. We came as soon as we saw the giant pillar of fire"
"We are okay Sully" Chrom said to the red hair girl. Soon more soldiers came and all of them greeted Chrom and others
"My lords are you all okay, I am very sorry for coming late but fear not cause I have come to help" A third party came and interrupted the conversation between Chrom and others
"Huh? Who the hell are you?" Sully asked
The guy smirks and replies "The man who puts the 'arch' in 'archer'! My name, dear lady, is Virion" The man introduced himself
"Now, my lady will you tell me your name?"
"I am Sully...a shepherd" Sully hesitate for a while but reply to the bow man
"Sully what a beautiful name, say my dear Sully will you marr-" Virion stop speaking when he notice that all other have gone to the other side and talking to a young girl
"young lady, I would like to thank you for protecting my sister a while ago" Chrom said
"..."
"So..ahh I never get to thank you for before. So thank you for before" Lissa said to the mask girl
"My name is Chrom, might I ask yours?"
"You can call me Marth" The masked girl reply
"Marth?? As the heroic king of old? You certainly fight like a brave warrior, where did you learn your way with sword?" Chrom asked again
"I am not here to talk about me. The world teeters in the brink of a horrible calamity" Marth said ignoring all the question Chrom asked
"What you saw tonight was but a prelude" Marth said this and walked away from their
"Wait what teetering?? What do mean calamity?" Lissa asked but she got no reply as Marth walked inside the forest
"What kind of half-ass information was that?? Chrom want me to bring her back?" Ezekiel said while looking towards the direction where Marth walked away
"it's fine, with her skills, I think we will meet again" Chrom said
"Now I am concerned about the capital we should make haste" Frederick said
"Well then let's move fast, I missed soft beds. And I think we found a new shepherd" Ezekiel said while looking at Virion who was talking with Sully
"By the looks of it he is an Archer, might be pretty helpful" Robin said
By the morning the Shepherds and had reach the capital. The capital was lively no sign of chaos, which makes it clear that nothing bad had happened during the night.
"It appears that the capital was spared the chaos we encounter, thank the gods" Frederick said
"Well that's a relief" Lissa said
Then they saw the exalt walking around the crowds.
"Is it really safe walking around commoners like this?" Robin said
Amethyst words earn an eye from everyone present their and her master just face plamed at her words
"Please act as if she doesn't exist" Ezekiel said while talking out some wires from his belt
Amethyst couldn't finish her words as she was wrapped around by the wires that Ezekiel took out. Frederick started talking about her and Yelisse and soon they also learn about her being the big sister of Chrom and Lissa
"Oh God then that makes you two nobles" Robin said
"Well I had my suspicions, when Frederick called you two my lord and my lady but never expect you two be royalty" Ezekiel said
"You said you were Shepherds!!" Robin says out loudly
"Yes, we are Shepherds and we just have a LOT of sheeps to look after" Chrom laughs
"Oh Prince Chrom please forgive me for my manners" Robin apologies then she looks at Ezekiel and asked "how are you so calm?"
"Well my father is something like a king so, I have little fear while talking to some with the same status as mine and considering Chrom's attitude he seems like the guy who likes being speak to without much manners" Ezekiel explains
"Indeed, Ezekiel being a prince is really annoying" Chrom sighs
"That explains why Frederick tolerates all the teasing" Robin said while looking at Frederick with sympathy
"Indeed, oh the sacrifices I make for the sake of realm" A small tear escape from Frederick's left eye
"Well, looks like Emm is returning to the place let's go and meet her" Chrom said as he and others walked towards the palace
The five of them entered the place with Chrom and Lissa walking in the front while Frederick is walking behind them. Robin and Ezekiel walked behind Frederick and waited a little so that Chron and Lissa could greet Emmeryn
"Chrom! Lissa! Welcome back. Oh, and good day to you Sir Frederick" The three of them greeted her back. Emmeryn then started asking about their trip and how the people of her country are doing and Chrom answer her questions.
She then looks at the people behind Frederick and says "oh you got yourself new companions"
"Yes, she is Robin and the guy in black robes is Ezekiel, Ezekiel von Einzbern. Both of them fought bravely with us against the brigands" Chrom said while forgetting about the purple gem tied in Robin's robe again he forgot to mention Amethyst two times first while fighting bandits and now infront of the queen herself
The talking gem talked and it surprised Emmeryn and her guard the Pegasus knight Phila got alerted but don't do anything cause she knows that Chrom wouldn't bring something harmful to the palace but her eyes don't left the gem.
"A-ah yes Amethyst too" Chrom said while scratching the back of his head
"I would sincerely like to apologize for the behavior of Amethyst" Ezekiel said
"It's okay, I am not offended but what is that thing?" Emmeryn said while looking at Amethyst who was being held by Robin who was trying to stop it from talking and mistakenly offend someone
"It's a Kaleido gem, it can be used to travel through different dimensions or parallel words" Ezekiel answers
"Forgive me for asking this, but is it really possible to create such thing that can talk and have emotions?" Emmeryn asked
"Yes, it was created by my grandfather who got it's blue print from master Zelretch the user of second true magic" Ezekiel explains and Emmeryn just nods, she wanted to asked more but kept it for later and she knew her brother might have already asked about the gem, so she can just asked him later
"Well you three, fought beside my brother and sister, looks like Yilsse owes you two a debt of gratitude" Emmeryn says
"Forgive me my lady, but Robin claims to lost her memories, but it is only that, a claim and Ezekiel words are hard to trust" Frederick interrupts " we can't rule out the possibility that this two might be Plegiab spy and both of them are found on the same place"
Chrom: "Frederick!"
Emmeryn: "and you let this two inside the place, does this mean that this two have your trust??"
Chrom: "Yes they risk his life for our people. That's enough for me"
"Well then Robin, Ezekiel you two have also have my faith" Emmeryn said but she also forgot to add Amethyst name which cause the gem to shake more violently in Robin's hand the only reason her voice couldn't he heard was because Ezekiel put boundfield around her
Robin: "my lady"
"Thank you for believing in us my lady" Ezekiel bows his head
Emmeryn smiles and nods at them, then she looks at Frederick and says " Thank you, sir Frederick for your prudence, Chrom and Lissa are lucky to have you as their guardian"
"I am doing my job my lady, it's always an honor to serve you all. And I assume Phila that you've heard about the deadly creatures, we encounter, yes?"
"Yes my lord, they have been sighted all across Yelisse"
"I have a spell for dealing with those creatures" Ezekiel said while putting one of his hands up
"You do? Then you are most welcome to teach it to our mages, we could provide you any amount of gold you want for the spell" Emmeryn said
"I will do it for free, it's more like a prayer and it's superlong, also it is different from performing a spell the flow of mana while doing it is different and it use the aura of your own soul to cast the spell, so a single mistake can be very dangerous for the person" Ezekiel explains
"And if you know how to perform it, than I suppose you can also teach it. Yilsse will be in your debt for this" Emmeryn says as she walks away
(A/N: please ignore the grammar mistakes.)