Shounen Hero Book 10!!

Sands of Time!!

Ninian has died.

You guys are to head back to Ostia on Hector's advice!

In Ostia...

Soldier: Lord Hector! We're pleased to see you home alive and well!

Hector: Where's my brother?

Soldier: He departed yesterday for a conference in Etruria. He's scheduled to return in a half month's time.

Hector: Etruria? That's a pity. Go and prepare rooms for my companions. They need rest.

Athos soon comes in as the soldier goes to fulfill Hector's request.

Hector: Graybeard, you know something, don't you? Tell me! What are we supposed to do now?

Eliwood: How do you and Nergal know each other?

Athos: I suppose you've a right to know...... I first met Nergal some 500 years ago, wandering the Nabata wasteland. Like me, his only drive was the search for truth in this world. We were equals in power and knowledge, and we became fast friends. We believed we could solve the mysteries of the world. We truly believed...

Lyn: Then what happened?

Athos: A...disagreement, made at the height of our quest. One day, as I charted the mysteries of Nabata, I came across the most amazing village... It was unbelievable, but in that place, humans and dragons lived together in cooperation.

Hector: Dragons and humans? Are you telling me they could live together in peace?

Athos: At first, I doubted what my own eyes showed me. But yes, the village truly did exist.

Eliwood: That's... ...amazing.

Athos: The dragons that I beheld there... They were both similar to and different from the dragons I had fought hundreds of years before.

You then appear out of nowhere.

Everyone: (Y/N)!

(Y/N): What else do you know?

Athos: They had refused to fight humans in the war, and instead, they retreated to this wasteland. They desired nothing but to remain hidden from the outside. Nergal and I crafted a barrier and created an oasis for them. Upon their invitation, we lived there with them. Our life there... It was calm and satisfying. At some point, the village became known as Arcadia, a place of perfect peace for travelers gone astray. The dragons' libraries were a dream come true to us. We studied their language and history with unbridled passion. A century, then two... Time passed in an eye's blink. And yet, slowly, our thoughts turned down different paths.

Lyn: In what way?

Athos: I wanted to share the dragons' wisdom with others. My hope was for our earthly paradise to spread outward.

Hector: And Nergal?

Athos: Ah, Nergal... He took the dragons' knowledge... He learned the art of stealing the essence from living creatures and turning it into power. ...It was terrible. When we discovered what he was doing, the elders and I tried to persuade him to stop. But the power bewitched him, and he was deaf to our pleas. He started with small creatures and grew ever more confident. Then, he began draining the quintessence of humans. The villagers and I joined forces and...defeated him. Or so we thought, but...

(Y/N): ...

Athos: After he was banished from Arcadia, Nergal fled to Bern. He increased his power slowly to avoid our eye. Using quintessence, he made his "puppets," the morphs. They're bewitching in form, with intellects beyond human. I'm sure you've laid eyes on them yourselves. Jet black hair, pale complexion, and blood-red lips... Their most striking features are their glittering gold eyes.

Then a soldier comes in out of nowhere!

Soldier: ATTACK! We're under attack!

Hector: WHAT?!

Soldier: L-Lord Hector! It's bad! An unknown group has breached the castle walls! They just appeared out of nowhere! The attack was so sudden, the castle guards were annihilated!

Hector: Castle Ostia is famed far and wide as being impregnable... If it's been breached so easily, can we save it!?

Athos: It's Nergal. His magic created an entrance for his thugs within the castle.

(Y/N): Bastard! Let's go!

All of the units come in and begin to tear down Nergal's henchmen.

Soon enough all of them were finished!

(Y/N): What was up with those guys?

Athos: Those were morphs. When Nergal began using morphs to carry out his plans, his power had grown beyond our ability to contain him. After humans, his next target became the essence of dragons. His next target had to be Arcadia. I concealed our paradise behind a curtain of sandstorms. I then hid in the underground ruins and waited for him. I did not hope to defeat him. Just to exchange blows... and then draw him into the desert, which would be his end.

(Y/N): We're stopping him here and now! To Dragon's Gate! I won't hesitate to use Durandal to skin Nergal alive. I'll make him pay!