TBATE - Not Bound By Fate

Part 1

Arthur Leywin

It's finally over, Agrona and the Vitra are dead but the cost was much to high. Too many lives were lost, half of the continent lay in ruins while the other was in a state of chaos but I'm sure Seris can handle it. What concerns me the most is that Cecilia was nowhere to be seen during the entire battle. What did Agrona to her? Was she still alive? Doubt kept making it's way into my mind until Regis broke me out of my thoughts.

"Hey princess, spot overthinking for now and come here. That overgrown snake was hiding some pretty interesting artifacts."  Making my way to the basement of Taegrin Caelum I saw Regis waiting for me in front of an opening in the wall that we haven't seen before.

"Looks like Agrona had a secret storage room for his more special relics." Said Regis while emphasizing the word special.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, these ones aren't dead, we can still use them."

Walking inside the room I start inspecting the contents to see if there is anything useful. Most of them were very simple and seemed to be used for daily necessities. What caught my attention were the four relics in the back wall. The first looked like a keystone but when I pushed aether into it, instead of being pulled inside like the rest a set of instructions appeared in my mind. If I push mana into the keystone it would create a copy of a memory of my choosing and store it inside.

Putting it back into the shelf I moved to the next artifact. It was a box with a pair of rings inside, one black and the other white. Pushing aether in them I once again received the instructions on how to use them. They were communication devices. "This could come in handy." I stored the rings in my dimensional rune and moved to the next item on the shelf.

It was a small and thin black rock in the shape of a triangle, it felt familiar but I cound't tell where I had seen it before. Pushing aether into the rock, it just absorbed it not doing anything.

"Hey Regis, any idea of what this is?" He walked over to me and stared at the pebble for a few seconds and I could feel surprise and disbelief through our bond.

"How the hell did Agrona get a piece of acclorite!? I thought only Wren could make these things."

"Maybe he stole it before getting exiled? But why didn't he use it then?" I asked more to myself than Regis.

"Who cares, just store it already, we could give it to your sister or one of the Lances. Speaking of them, you could use that memory cube thing to teach them some of the spells you used before getting the grape juice core."

"You know, sometimes I forget you can have good ideas."

"You say that as if my genius and majestic mind didn't save your effeminate ass multiple times." Ignoring him I stored the acclorite and moved back the keystone and did the same.

Making my way to the last relic, I felt myself drawn towards it. It was a staff similar to the ones Buddhist monks used back on Earth. It was about my height with a black shaft with 3 amethyst rings evenly spaced out along its length. The top was made of only gold with five rings dangling on each side. Suddenly the rings on the shaft began glowing and I could hear a voice in my head.

"To our descendent who has been seeking the power of Fate, Arthur Leywin, finding this staff means you could not find all the four keystones we left behind before confronting those false deities. The greatest masters on each edict of aether came together to make this artifact for you. Once you guide aether and mana to these rings, you will be sent back to some point in your early childhood, but worry not, all the skill, knowledge  and insight you gathered will remain with you along with your draconic body. With this we hope to give you a chance to fight against the Asura, to protect the ones you love and this world from their tyranny. We thank you for all you did and will do for this world. And lastly, be sure to keep that promise you made so long ago."

Once the message ended I looked at Regis only to see shock on his face, it seems he heard as well.

"The Djinn knew I was the one looking for Fate, they knew I couldn't reach the room with the last keystone, or at least knew it was possible it could happen, so they gave one last chance. Do you know what this means Regis? We can save them, we can stop this accursed future from happening."

"Sure looks that way princess, so what are you waiting for, get to work. I want to see my horned goddess sooner this time you hear me." I could feel his lust through our bond. This damn horny mutt.

"Not yet, let's look around the fortress to see if there is anything we can take back with us. Meet me back here in three hours."

"Aye aye captain."

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"Did you find anything useful?" I asked hoping Regis he got something, anything that would help us and by the smugness in our bond, he knew I didn't while he had something.

"You know it." He said while dropping a notebook.

"I found our dearest reindeer journal full of his plans for Dicathen along with a list of every noble who betrayed the continent with enough evidence to execute some of them."

"That's great, I'll give it to Virion once the war starts." I said with an evil smile on my face knowing what gramps will do to them.

"So princess, before we go save the world, what's the plan?"

"Depends on which point in the past we end up in, but I got a few ideas already. Now get inside so I can activate the staff."

Once Regis was in my core I picked up the staff and activated Realmheart letting me see the particles of mana and aether dancing around me and the relic, as if waiting to be used. Using the aether around me I guided the mana to the rings in the shaft while infusing my own aether into it. The rings began to glow brighter until a flash of amethyst light surrounded me and suddenly everything went dark.

I stayed in the dark for what felt like an hour until sharp, agonizing pain shot through my body. I tried to open my eyes but the pain was too much. It lasted for a few minutes before dying down and I could open my eyes again. When I did, I found myself in an all too familiar cave, and I heard a voice I never thought I would hear again.

"It seems something happened to you in your sleep little one, are you feeling better now?"

A/N: Thanks for reading the first chapter, please let me know what you think and what I can improve.

I hope to do one chapter a week, but college will probably get in the way. So no promises other than I will let you know when I'll miss a week or two.

Peace