Fódlan Alternative II

{Part Two: Ascendent Star} Chapter Thirty-Three: Vengeance of Lost Time II

At the end of the month, You awaken from your slumber and begin to prepare for your attack on Enbarr. Your nerves are racing in your body, and You doubt You will ever be able to calm them fully. You remain stiff as You reach for your blade, and Seraphine speaks to You in the silence.

Seraphine: I must admit that I'm a bit nervous about where this will take us... We're going to do everything we can to defeat Argades, of course, but what will that mean for us until we can see him into his grave?

You say that You will give the battle everything You have regardless of what it takes. You expect Seraphine to do much the same.

Seraphine: And I will too. I know how much this battle is going to mean for everyone, and I can't let that go because I'm a little bit nervous about it. No matter what it takes, this will be the day Enbarr is back in our hands... And we'll claim the rest of the Empire along with it.

You nod and go to meet with the rest of your allies at the front of the monastery. Everyone is waiting for You there, and You greet them before falling into your place beside them.

Cordelia: Alright... Now that we're all here, we should prepare to set out. We have a long battle to prepare for when we arrive at our destination.

Chris: Enbarr will no doubt be swarming with troops. I wonder how many of them there will be... Though I suppose arguing the specific details won't help us much now.

Raithius: All we can really do is make our way up to Argades and talk to him personally... Well, I say talk, but I think we all know exactly how this is going to end for him.

Aisa: Enbarr is a crowded city even when you do not take the grip of war into account. I can only imagine there will be many people in the city, and we should warn them all to take cover.

Magnolia: I agree. I hope we don't need to tell anyone to flee from the battlefield, but it would be safer if we did what we had to.

Eli: We can handle that when we get there. For now, we should head out... The journey will not finish itself, after all.

You nod, and You leave the monastery with the rest of your allies. You remain a bundle of nerves the entire way there. You cannot help but wonder just what claim to the throne Argades has, and You are certain You will learn it before the sun sets on your battle. The truth will continue to nag away at You until You know it though, and You are all too happy to give it that chance.

Halfway through your journey, Chris approaches You, and You instinctively fall to the back of your traveling party so that You can talk to her about what is to come.

Chris: Are you nervous?

You nod and say that You are going to give it your all despite your anxiety.

Chris: I'm glad to hear that.

You hesitate before asking what Chris knows about Argades. He claims that he should be the one on the throne, but You cannot say that You understand why he is so determined to usurp her.

Chris: ...That's a rather simple question to answer, as a matter of fact. He actually has the blood of the previous emperor.

Your eyes go wide.

Chri: It was an affair. His noble mother had an affair with the previous emperor, and Argades was the result. He was born without a Crest though, so he was tossed out before he could lay claim to the throne. He was raised in another noble house, and he came to hate the world for the way it had treated him. He had been used because he had no Crest, and he wanted to tear everything down and take control of it for himself.