Chapter Text
The Divine Dragon’s army was no stranger to tough situations. After everything they’ve experienced since Sombron’s reawakening– the harrowing, deadly battles against the Hounds with stolen emblems being a prime example– it was rare to be caught off guard by the more simple matters of war.
One of those simple matters was driving out hoards of corrupted from various towns across Elyos. Maybe at the start of their journey this would be considered a more advanced part of the job but at their current level of skill, it was almost easy .
It was usually easy, that is. Today, as their group wandered into a raided town by the coasts of Firene, Alear’s shoulders were stiff with caution.
Their allies were small in number, having been divided to help clear out more towns under attack. Alear only had Alfred, Céline, Louis and Etie at his side. Pulse two emblems– Sigurd with Alfred and of course, Marth with Alear.
Alear was right to be cautious, something was off about the town they were entering. Marth and Sigurd could both feel it and they shared a curious look.
Usually hoards of corrupted soldiers did not work in unison without a living being to give them direction. However, as Marth spotted the undead figures waiting by the remains of destroyed houses, their actions seemed unusual. Instead of charging ahead and attacking their army with abandon, they were lingering– weapons held up in defense– a sign of an intelligent strategy rather than a mindless mob.
Alear’s brow furrowed and he lifted his arm to signal for everyone to wait.
“Divine one, why are we hesitating?” Alfred asked and he pulled the reins back on his steed to keep the beast from barrelling forward. It seems the horse was as eager to charge ahead as its rider.
“There are still people in this town! We need to destroy these corrupted now before they set their sights on the innocent!”
Marth couldn’t blame the Firenese royals for their eagerness. They were protective of their people and they’ve already lost many lives to the Fell Dragon’s forces. It was natural to see the enemy standing around and want to strike them down quickly.
“Agreed, Divine One, I beg you to make haste.” Céline added. “We will lose lives if we tip-toe cautiously into battle, our people need us!”
“Hold on…” Alear trailed off as his mismatched eyes continued scanning over the enemy forces. He kept his arm raised in the ‘wait’ position and went silent again, much to Alfred’s impatience.
“Divine one,” Alfred huffed. He was having a hard time keeping the frustration out of his voice. “We cannot afford to wait around here.”
Sigurd moved in front of Alfred. His spectral white horse was behaving much calmer than the living one on the ground. “I advise you not to give in to overconfidence .”
Céline shot Sigurd and exacerbated look. “Overconfidence? This is a group of corrupted encroaching on our own soil, not a headlong charge into enemy grounds. We have a duty to help these people!”
“And we will .” Marth replied. “We will do so in a way that does not endanger our own lives. Have faith in your leader.”
With a sigh, Alfred looked down at Alear, relenting to the more experienced members of their group. “What has you worried, Divine One?”
Alear turned his head in the prince’s direction but his eyes stayed glued on the enemy soldiers. “They’re acting strange…it feels as though they’re baiting us.” His tone was suspicious. “Marth, any ideas?”
Said emblem shook his head, brow furrowed. “I’m just as confused as you are. Normally the corrupted only act this way if they are being controlled but the Hounds have been disbanded. Surely there are no more intelligent forces other than Sombron himself?”
“I’m certain there are only corrupted in this town…I don’t sense anyone else’s presence. Not anyone with bad intentions at least.” Alear put a hand to his chin in thought but the royals behind him were growing antsy.
“If we are being baited, I say we let them do so.” Louis beat his lance into the ground to punctuate his statement. “I can go in first and hold off the enemy while my lord and lady search for survivors.”
Etie walked up to his side, bow raised in readiness. “And I can take out enemies from a distance. We’ve cleared towns like this plenty of times, these guys are chumps .”
Marth turned to Alear, waiting for his response. Not long ago the dragon would probably be just as eager to charge into battle but his past failures have made him wiser. He took a long, calming breath.
“No, we stay together.” Alear ordered. He turned around and regarded their full group. “Everyone with an emblem will be in front– that means Alfred and me . Louis, you will take the middle and Etie and Céline will be in the back.”
Alear’s eyes hardened and his tone dropped into something more serious. “Do not go off on your own, even if you hear someone calling for help.”
The group went silent and their expressions made it clear that they were very unhappy with their leader’s orders. However, they all nodded and moved into the desired formation.
Alfred sighed and readied his lance. “All right, let’s at least be quick, we’ve waited enough as it is.”
The group moved quickly. Rather, as quickly as they could while staying in formation. They cut down each corrupted they came across with a surprising amount of ease. Instead of rushing at the royals, the undead bodies held their ground in a defensive position, barely responding even as Alfred and Alear stuck them.
When they reached the first house, Alear had Marth and Sigurd search inside alone. Since they were emblems they were not at risk of being injured from an ambush so they floated quickly through the rooms to check for survivors.
They continued on like that, moving from building to building. However, each room they checked turned up empty and the Firenese soldiers were growing more concerned.
“Where is everyone?” Alfred asked when the emblems returned empty handed for the fifth time. “Could it be…are there no survivors left ? Did we take too long?”
“No, we arrived here as soon as the corrupted attacked!” Céline countered. “There has to be survivors somewhere! We need to find them!”
“Let’s keep looking.” Alear hurried them along to the next house.
Eventually they reached a home that had the back of Marth’s neck prickling with unease.
It was a shabby brick building– mundane in every way– but the front door was missing and the opening was pitch black, void of any daylight that would normally shine through the windows. This house was kept dark on purpose.
Alear’s eyes narrowed, sensing something off about the home.
He aligned himself with the wall, just next to the open doorway and called inside.
“Hello? Is anyone there?”
His voice rang out and unlike the previous times, they received an answer.
“P-Please help me!”
It was a woman’s voice and the terror of it had the Firenese soldiers rushing closer to the building, however Alear held up an arm to stop them.
“ Marth .” The dragon’s head lifted to the emblem with urgent eyes and the latter nodded. In an instant, Marth blinked himself into the dark room. Unfortunately, even with the light of his aura surrounding him, he couldn’t make out much in the darkness. All he could see were several glowing spots of red littered around the emptiness.
He appeared back at Alear’s side.
“I can’t make anything out. However, the room is filled with corrupted soldiers.”
Sigurd’s eyes narrowed. “It’s a clear ambush.”
“They’re holding her hostage in there! We have to help her!” Céline urged but Alear held up his palm, reminding them all to wait.
“Are you hurt?” Alear called out to the woman. “ We’ve come to help you! Can you tell us what’s in that room?”
Muffled sobbing could be heard in the darkness. “I-I don’t know…I can’t see anything!”
“Divine one-” Alfred urged.
Just then, a loud shriek split the air. All of their heads snapped up, alarmed by the woman’s scream.
The sound of it was enough to have Céline darting forward through the dark doorway. She slipped past Alear just as the dragon reached out to stop her.
“Céline!” Alear yelled out as he ran at her heels.
Alfred leaped off his horse and the others bounded after them, rushing into the ambush desperately as their most vulnerable member threw herself into the fray.
Céline’s tome lit up with magic as she shot a burst of fire at the ceiling. It was enough to light up the room– revealing the woman cowering in the corner and eight corrupted soldiers–Marth’s heart hammered in alarm as he realized one of the corrupted was holding a staff.
A warp staff?
There was little time to react– the enemy already had the staff raised high in the air and a circle of light appeared just under Céline’s feet.
However, Alear was quick . He grabbed a firm hold of the back of Céline’s collar and he pulled her back with all his might. She was lifted off the ground and with her missing, the staff locked onto the next closest target.
Alear was surrounded by a bright beam.
In an instant, he was gone and Marth’s vision went black.
His surroundings shifted and he shook his head, disoriented.
They were outside again– both Marth and Alear– somewhere deeper within the town but just as Marth’s vision cleared he felt his blood run cold. They were alone, surrounded by hundreds of corrupted, all swarming around them– and Alear–
Alear was standing in the spot where he was warped, right under a huge corrupted berserker with a massive axe raised high in the air, already descending .
Marth shouted and rushed forward but it was too late, The axe slammed down, slicing through Alear’s chest and the dragon cried out in agony.
Alear dropped to the ground, limp and splattered with his own blood and Marth went deathly still. Blue eyes were wide and frenzied as time seemed to stop.
His vision narrowed and he felt almost far away as a violent explosion of energy burst from his ring and circled around his body.
Before he knew it, he had his rapier buried deep in the berserker’s chest and before that body even had a chance to fall, he had his sword buried in another one. He locked onto the next corrupted– the one closest to Alear’s fallen form– and his body rushed forward, faster than he'd ever moved before. He sliced through them with a burst of light and he was moving again, cutting through the next enemy, and the next one, and the next one–
Foul blood stained the grass under him and the bodies of corpses began piling up beneath him but Marth only moved faster and grew more erratic as he continued slaying every enemy in his sight. He became more aggressive with each foe he bested until his teeth were gritted in rage and he was growling and shouting out in anger with every stab of his sword.
He fought with abandon, with little thought and with no sense of how much time was passing.
He only stopped when his sword met the cold steel of Sigurd’s lance.
“Marth!” The older man called to him, eyes wide with alarm.
He spoke again but it was quieter–more soothing. “Marth, please , you have to calm yourself.”
Marth lowered his sword and spun around, his eyes snapped around wildly, searching for the next enemy– desperately searching.
“There’s none left, you’ve slain them all. ” Sigurd’s lance disappeared and the man brought his hands forward in a pacifying gesture. “Please, my friend, calm down. Alear needs you.”
At the mention of Alear, Marth’s wide eyes snapped over to the dragon’s fallen form.
Alear–his beloved Divine Dragon– the one he adored most, was still on the ground, unmoving.
He was surrounded by their allies. Céline had a healing staff working at Alear’s chest. There were tears streaming down her face but her eyes were focused as she concentrated. Alfred was crouched on the other side of Alear. He had a cloth pressed to the dragon’s wound as he waited for the staff to work its magic. Alear’s left arm had Marth’s energy swirling around it–emanating from the ring of the Hero-King.
Etie and Louis were standing close to their lords. Their faces were distraught and the air was silent. They were surrounded by the aftermath of Marth’s assault– a sea of corpses hunched on the ground in piles.
It was an awful, horrifying sight– but the scariest part was Alear’s lifeless face, pale and limp against the grass.
The sight did nothing to calm Marth’s frenzy. In fact, it worsened it and Marth made a helpless sound as more energy burst around him and started rushing violently in circles.
“Marth…don’t do this to yourself.”
Sigurd reached towards him but Marth’s focus zeroed in on something he was just now noticing.
He could feel Alear’s heartbeat through his ring. It was a weak, fragile thing, barely beating but it filled Marth with so much hope that he found himself focusing on nothing else.
He disappeared, blinking back into his ring. He was still stuck in his frenzied state but he cared little about the energy rushing through him like a tornado and assaulting his senses. All he cared about was that fragile heartbeat.
He heard Sigurd’s voice again and the murmurs of their allies but soon it all faded away and Marth was left with the soft thumping of blood rushing through Alear’s skin.
–
Thump thump thump.
Marth was unaware of how much time had passed. It felt like he was phasing in and out of a dream– a very painful dream. The state of his energy had him feeling trapped and in constant agony. He felt as though he was being torn apart and put back together again over and over in an endless cycle.
Focusing on Alear’s heartbeat gave him a small amount of relief and he counted each sound and waited for what felt like an eternity.
Eventually some of the fog cleared and he could make out voices in the distance through his ring.
He heard someone say his name.
“...No, he won’t come out. I’m not sure if he can even hear me…”
“I’ve never seen him like that before. It’s just like when the Hounds forced him to fight us.”
“Yes, it’s very rare for this to happen of our own free will. It takes a great deal of stress to force one of us into that state.”
“I’m so sorry! This is all my fault!”
“You can’t blame yourself for all of this, Céline. You weren’t the only one who tried to rush things when we entered town.”
“Still…”
“Let us focus on his recovery for now. Rather… both of their recoveries.”
The voices faded and Marth was once again left with the sounds of his roaring energy and the soft thumping of Alear’s heart.
He tried to clear his mind and focus on a way to calm himself. After all, a frenzy never lasted this long when it was forced onto him by the Hounds, so why couldn’t he calm himself now?
He tried to think–tried to form some kind of solution in his mind but it was incredibly difficult to even focus on a single thought. The cyclone of emotions left him helpless and stagnant.
He could only listen.
Thump thump thump.