Final Fantasy XVI - Thunder's Torrents

Ch. 6 - The Soldier

She had been so close to victory, and now this final, surprising opponent had defeated her. For a brief moment she looked at the grass in front of her, feeling the cold earth of her home with her fingertips, and said goodbye to life. Then she turned to the man standing before her, looking down at her. Erie tried to get her labored breathing under control. He just looked at her, and slowly but surely, the blurry images came back into focus.

She wiped the sweat from her forehead and finally, still breathing a little heavily, found words again, "You should kill me instead of taking me prisoner. When Anabella dies by my sword, I will make sure everyone knows that you are responsible for her death. Because you captured her and your colleagues' executor instead of killing her at the first opportunity." The man just laughed.

"Relax, they weren't my colleagues. I must say, though, that I am very impressed by your skills with the sword. If five men couldn't beat you, they deserve what they got."

Erie squinted her eyes. Now she saw that the man in front of her was not wearing Sanbrequios armor. He wasn't wearing any armor at all. Who was he? A bounty hunter? An assassin? A mercenary? Her racing heart began to calm with each passing second. If the man before her had intended to kill or capture her, he would have long since taken advantage of her situation instead of letting her rest.

"And with whom do I have the pleasure, if not with a Sanbrequios bastard?" Erie asked challengingly and stood up. She felt dizzy as she came to a standstill, and he reached out a hand for her. "Don't touch me," she hissed. He raised his hands apologetically and took a step back.

"Cid. Have the honor, mi lady," he introduced himself and bowed effusively to her. Erie frowned in irritation. They stood in the middle of a bloody massacre and he was making strange jokes. Was he trying to provoke her?

"Just Cid?" she asked, walking past him to pick up her sword from the ground. He allowed her to do so. She put it back in its sheath and turned back to him.

"Just Cid," he confirmed with a grin, "and you're the young lady all of Sanbreque is looking for right now. The future princess of Rosaria - well, not anymore, I guess." He shrugged.

So quickly the rest of Rosaria, perhaps the world, had heard of the duchy's demise. Erie knew she could not return home. If what this Cid standing in front of her - if that was even his real name - said was true, then Anabella really had it out for her and, Founder knows, wanted to hurt her. And probably out of pure spite.

She had to escape. But where to? Rosaria used to have the Holy Empire as an ally. She could now discard this option with good conscience then. Erie had to seek anonymity where Sanbreque had no influence. Dhalmekia or the Crystalline Dominion. Or at worst, travel to the other continent, to Ash.

"You know a suspicious amount about me and Rosaria, Cid." Erie put a hand on her hip and eyed the stranger. He exuded a very confident aura as he stood there so casually in front of her, scanning her in return. Only that his gaze was not as unpleasant as that of the dead soldiers earlier. Rather, he was looking at her with friendly curiosity, as if considering how he could help her. Apparently he had heard of her.

And that, although Erie had been only a small light at court. Nobody of rank, just the daughter of the Lord Commander, who had been lucky enough to become the fiancée of one of the Archduke's sons. Albeit the son disowned by his mother, the black sheep, if you will. Erie wanted to expand her influence in Rosaria, but she had not even begun. She owed her unexpected fame solely to Anabella, who hated her eldest son and with him all those who were close to him.

Cid clicked his tongue. "News travels fast. What I don't know, though, is what your name is."

"Erie," she introduced herself.

"Just Erie?" he asked, grinning.

"Just Erie." She nodded briefly and managed a smile. His confident manner was helping her to gradually calm down. She felt like she didn't have to be afraid anymore at the moment, at least not of him. She hardly wanted to admit it, but the presence of a man who was obviously sympathetic to her and also seemed to be a strong fighter, partly due to his skills from earlier, and partly due to his overall stature and the fact that he carried two slender longswords at his hip, made Erie feel more at ease.

"I was this close to rushing to your aid," Cid gestured with his fingers at how close he had indeed been to coming to Erie's aid, "but before I could get there, you had already killed all those soldiers. And were going to kill me after that, too. That's what I call dedication."

"Anyone who sneaks up on you like that is asking for it," Erie couldn't help but slyly reply. Immediately after, her gaze softened, "Still, I want to apologize. I've seen red. The truth is ... I don't really feel well."

After Erie spoke those words, sadness overcame her for the first time since last night. Briefly, very briefly, she thought that her father was most likely dead, that her fiancé was most likely dead, that her liege was even more likely dead. Her home was destroyed, her country betrayed by its allies. And so tears welled up in Erie's eyes, which she could not hold back. All she could do was turn away for a moment, rub her eyes, and pull herself together. There was no time for that now.

"I can imagine that. It's not every day your life gets turned upside down," Cid said, and Erie was grateful to him for not pitying her. That would just make things worse. "Come on, we should get out of here. Sooner or later someone's going to discover the carnage here, and when they do, we don't want to be around." For lack of alternatives, Erie followed Cid in the direction away from Rosalith, deeper into Rosaria.