Leanna sat underneath Ulrich's cherry blossom tree, her swords resting upon her legs. She could tell just from sitting there for a few moments that this must have been what was able to calm Ulrich when he was troubled. The garden was so beautiful and serene that there no possible way for anyone not to feel relaxed. She looked around at the garden and noticed the different tools that littered it. After seeing it, she looked to the right and took notice of patch of land that was covered with lilacs. Just by looking at them, she could tell that Ulrich had put in a large amount of care in tending them. She let out a heavy sigh and looked up into the tree and closed her eyes. She then began to see flashes of the past. Different memories that brought forth a multitude of different emotions, emotions that she had kept locked away. She could no longer run away from, nor deny this feelings that she now had. No, what she needed to do now, was to face them head on. She then began to think to herself, "I didn't expect all of that stuff to come flooding back. I guess that I still have a long way to go as a swordsman." Leanna took a deep breathe. "My first step on that long path will be to face it all head on."
Meanwhile, Alicia sat within the throne room, observing Excalibur. "Caladbolg is a great sword, and yet, this sword here feels like it weighs about three times as much. Ulrich is able to swing this sword and make it seem so effortless." Alicia stood up from the throne and made her way to the middle of the room. She then grabbed the handle with both hands and assumed a fighting stance. She began to go through the movements of the sword style that she was taught, however, she quickly noticed that each swing she took, the more the sword seemed to become heavier. She began to pour magic into the sword, while also enhancing her body, and continued. She could hear the sword hum with each consecutive swing she made. As she continued, many thoughts began to enter into her mind. "My brother, what do I do? Here I am within this room, giving orders and trying to be the best leader that I can be. I know that I can do this, because you always believed that I could, and I have been doing my best to make everyone believe in me. Yet, I can't help but be afraid. I can't even wield your sword efficiently. How did you do it? How did you handle being the king, when it takes me everything I have just to keep myself from falling apart from the pressure? All of those lives within your hands, yet, you always seemed steadfast when it came to the city and the people." Alicia tightened her grip on the sword. "What does it mean to be king?" The runes on Excalibur began to light up as the sword became slightly less heavy.
Leanna found herself in an empty space that was filled with nothing but blackness. She looked down and saw that she was standing on top of a reflective watery surface. An unknown feeling began to wash over her, causing her to look in front of her. In front of her stood her reflection. The reflection then began to walk towards her, with a casual smile adorning its face. The reflection was then face to face with Leanna. Leanna didn't move an inch, for she had no fear, as this was her mind's inner world. Leanna learned how to create an inner world in her mind when she was training to master her swordsmanship. There weren't many people that were able to do such a thing. It required an exceptional amount of focus and reaching a serene state of mind when meditating. When Leanna had no sparring partners, or when she was traveling, she would train by meditating in this state. The reflection in front of her this time, however, felt a lot different than normal. Leanna took a deep breath, just before the reflection poked Leanna's forehead.
In the blink of an eye, the serene setting that Leanna was standing in, transformed into a fiery landscape. Her eyes widened as she realized where she was. A young girl ran through the streets of fire. Her eyes were darting from side to side, taking note of a huge wall in the distance. She heard pained screams and cries of help from all sides. The sound of running horses and clashes of metal seemed to be constant. She then saw two bodies on the ground, a man whose body was shielding a woman. In his back were multiple arrows that had pierced his body and landed inside of the woman. It was the first time she had ever seen a dead person, as well as the first time she had seen such a large amount of blood. As she stood in the street, shocked at the sight in front of her, three men stepped out from a burning house. The men all looked like shadows, probably because Leanna hadn't remembered what they looked like. The two bodies on the ground were etched into her mind, the man's face contorted in a mixture of pain and panic, and the woman's only had a look of shock, as if she didn't know what had happened. The blood that mixed into the muddy ground looked like bright crimson that bled into the ruddy brown color of the ground.
The men grew closer and closer. Leanna remembered that these men were the ones who had attacked the town, and these three, most likely killed the couple in front of her. Looking back into the memory, Leanna was able to clearly tell what the men now had in mind with her, but the past her had no clue. For one reason and one reason alone, what she felt back then, was fear, sorrow, disgust, and loneliness. Leanna now knew why she was brought back to this moment when she saw the bodies begin to spontaneously catch fire. Leanna removed those feelings from her heart, burnt them away like the burning buildings and replaced them with rage and anger. She looked to the middle man, who spoke in a garbled voice, however, he was beginning to reach his arms out towards her. Leanna remembered feeling all of that anger and rage, until finally, she felt nothing but a coldness. She held out her hand towards the man, a strange feeling welling up from inside of her. Leanna looked at her younger self and noticed her eyes begin to glow blue before they turned black and lifeless. "Go away." She whispered. The surrounding fire began to dance around in the air, before violently shooting in the back of the man, engulfing him completely. Leanna's eyes widened, a memory that she had forgotten, or chose to forget. She never remembered the first time she used pyrokinesis. Before she had a proper chance to process this memory, a lance pierced through the body of one of the remaining men. The cause was a horseman, or rather, it was a younger Richard Ector.
Alicia began to feel a surge of magical power begin to flow through her. "Why art thou holding onto me young Alicia?" Alicia, in her startled state, dropped Excalibur in the middle of a swing before she stumbled backwards onto the ground. Excalibur then lodged its blade into the ground. "I hope thou knows, that does hurt a little."
"Who are you and why are you talking? You're a sword, you aren't supposed to be talking." Alicia slowly began to make her way up to her feet after she asked her question. While she knew that sword spirits existed, she had never heard of Excalibur housing one. She then remembered that the sword called her by name, as if she had already met her before. "Wait, how do you even know my name?" Alicia began to slowly make her way towards Excalibur once again.
"Ah, thou has many questions. Well, allow me to answer thy questions. My name is Viviane, and I am currently a spirit residing within Excalibur. The reason that I know thy name is a simple one, I have observed thee many times in thy interactions with my beloved." Alicia thought that her voice was as sweet as the cherry candies that Elizabeth would give her when she was younger and the playful tone made her feel at ease. That was until she processed the last thing that she said.
"My interactions with your 'beloved'? Wait, are you talking about my brother?" She was surprised, not only because of what Viviane had said, but because of the fact that Ulrich never mentioned her, not to mention she was a sword. Alicia then found herself holding Excalibur in her hands, the weight becoming much lighter than it was before. However, there was still some kind of heavy weight that she couldn't shake.
"Of course, Ulrich is my dearest friend and he was the one who awoke me from my slumber." Alicia then noticed that she took a very long pause after she finished speaking, normally, Alicia would have asked her a question because of such a pause, but she could tell that Viviane had something more to say. "My dear Ulrich, my connection to him is so weak." It seemed like her words slipped through her lips. They were quiet, though louder than a whisper, but quieter than normal words. Alicia could tell that Viviane was a lot like her, but it seemed that Viviane was a lot more in control of her feelings than she was. "Thy heart is in quite a bit of anguish dear. Does thou wish for me help thy burden?"
"No, it is a burden that I must bear alone. I need to learn how to continue moving forward, especially if I am to become the ruler. Though, I must admit that I know very little of what that means. The moment I saw him enter the city, I immediately did what I thought I should do, but I don't know the first thing about what I'm doing, or even how to manage how I feel right now. Everything is so different and I'm so confused. It was my brother who would always help me when things were like this, but he's not able to help me now." Alicia's emotions, which she had sealed up when she saw her brother, were starting to break though. Her hands tightened around the grip of the sword, her blue eyes were beginning to glow, her blue aura began to leak from her body, and the shadows around her began to move erratically. That was until a soothing feeling began to fall over her. Everything that was getting out of control began to calm down, the shadows, her eyes, and her aura began to slowly even out and disappear.
"I respect thy determination dear, however, allow me to lend thee some advice. A ruler should learn to rely on others, though, even I know that is easier said than done. My love didn't fully understand the concept until recently." Viviane then paused for a moment. During that time, Alicia began to think about what Viviane said, and particularly thought about all the things that she said herself. She didn't even know what she was saying when she said it, though it was obvious that she said what she was really feeling, even if she didn't know it. Her own words echoed in her brain, filling her head with doubt. She could feel her shadow begin to spread outwards from her, tendrils and blades were beginning to rise up from it. However, before it could spread any further, Alicia began to cough uncontrollably and an intense pain overcame her. She quickly reached behind her back and grabbed a small, ornate bottle from the satchel that she now wore because of Ulrich. She quickly uncorked the bottle and began to drink from it.
As she did so, Viviane spoke again. "Dear little Alicia, I know thou has many more questions, and I wish to be of service to my beloved. I know that my dear Ulrich would want me to assist thee. So, after thy body acclimates to the medicine, close thy eyes and hold Excalibur with both hands on the grip and the blade pointed down, after thou hast done that, lay down and I will take care of the rest." Alicia wasn't exactly sure about doing what she was saying, but it was clear that she cared about Ulrich and that she genuinely wanted to help. If she was to be queen someday, then she should begin to trust in her friends and her own abilities. Right now, this was her first step, at least to her. She gently laid down next to the throne exactly as she instructed, closing her eyes. "Open them!" Viviane's vibrant words were much clearer this time, and as she opened them, she was stunned by what she saw. A beautiful girl in a short, white, silk dress with porcelain colored skin. Her hair color and facial features were the same as a fairy, however, her ears weren't pointed, and her eyes were golden in color, not silver. Alicia then thought to herself, 'She's like a goddess'. The beautiful girl then danced over to her and wrapped her up in her embrace. "It's wonderful to finally meet thee, Little Alicia. Allow me to properly introduce myself. She let go of Alicia and took a few steps back, before doing a curtsy. "I am thy brother's betrothed, loyal partner, and treasured sword. My name is Viviane Ladylake, I am pleased to finally make thy acquaintance." She looked up at Alicia and had an infectious, big, beautiful smile plastered on her face that exuded happiness and, most importantly, love.
Leanna watched the memory intently, since she previously believed that she had passed out after catching sight of the three men, but now, she realized that wasn't the case. The feelings she once thought she didn't possess, began to flow into her. She knew that if she didn't keep everything in control during her meditation, it could cause severe damage to her mind. Rather than fight back against such overwhelming feelings, she let them flow through her naturally. As she felt these emotions inside of her, the memory continued to play out, Richard remaining on his horse. The last man began to run away, however, Richard wasn't about to allow that happen. His horse quickly closed the gap as Richard thrust his lance into the man's chest, impaling him and lifting him into the air, "Rhiannon, eviscerate him." His command was calm and didn't seem to have a hint of hatred within it. The gold swirls seemed to gather towards the tip of the lance, before the gold swirls spread outwards and quickly snapped back into their original places. The body that was on the lance then fell into pieces with very little blood even being spilled. Without even a moment of pause, he turned his horse around and quickly made his way to Leanna, holding out his hand to her. "Princess Leanna, I've been sent to protect you and get you home. Come, we have to find Princess Nina too."
It was clear to Leanna, that her younger self seemed to be moving by instinct. After Richard offered his hand, she quickly took hold of it, being lifted in front of him. Richard then quickly began making his way through the village. Leanna then saw many different people as they rode, many of them were engaged in combat. As the memory played, flashes of the times when Leanna had taken down slave compounds began to play. She saw the many different things that had happened to them, the suffering and torture they all experienced, in her mind, the lucky ones were the ones who were able to die. Leanna didn't understand why those memories came to mind out of nowhere, though she guessed it had something to do with what she saw during that time, the sights that she must have suppressed. Once again, Leanna's emotions began to run rampant, however, she was determined to see the memory through to the end. Her inner world began to grow unstable, the memories of the slave compounds and the memory of her younger self began to blend together, filling in the pieces that she had forgotten completely.
She could feel a sharp pain in her mind and knew that it would get worse the longer she continued. Rather than attempt to power through the memory, she decided to discontinue her meditation. The memory began to fade away as if a powerful gust of wind came and blew it away. Leanna opened her eyes to the sunlight illuminating the flowers of the garden. She could feel many different emotions within her chest, the most prominent being sadness and pain. It was a very unfamiliar sensation to her, as she very rarely felt such feelings. The one thing that she felt was odd, was that she felt lighter than before. In fact, she felt as if the world itself was much livelier than before. She did know that she wasn't finished, feeling as though there was something that she had yet to acknowledge. Whatever was left to see, she knew, played a part in her becoming the way that she was.
The one thing that had always bothered her, was how she felt after she had to kill. It was something she knew set her apart from everyone, even Nina. It was the fact that Leanna never felt any sort of remorse, hesitation, or even any sort of emotion after she killed something. In fact, that's why Leanna always tried to maintain her cheerful and carefree demeanor. These feelings were genuine and they represented her true personality, however, she often used it as a mask because of a single emotion, fear. She saw the way people would act around Nina and heard the things they said about her and it frightened Leanna. Nina felt some remorse, or at the very least, felt something after the things she did. Yet, everyone always labelled her a cold blooded assassin. If that is how they felt about Nina, someone who was very loving and surprisingly gentle. Someone who went of her way to save a young girl and treat said girl as family, then how would they feel and what would they say about her.
The person she felt could relate to her the most and the person whom she felt closest too, was now in a coma. In order to move forward, she knew that she needed to progress without relying on him, as she realized that her over reliance on him caused her to completely ignore her current problems. She did realize that this was something that she couldn't face alone and that, while she needed to overcome it on her own, she did need someone there who would be able to assist her with these new things that she was now feeling. She stood up and placed her two swords on her hip, resolved to seek such assistance. Only one person came to mind, someone who was the complete opposite of herself, Alicia.
Alicia stammered a bit before she could get her words out, "Wait, this is all a bit too much to take in at once. I don't even know where we are and all of the things that you're saying about you and my brother is a lot to take in." Alicia let out a deep sigh before looking around and inspecting the environment. Ignoring her comments about her brother, she began to think about all of things that Viviane had said to her. "Sorry, the change of scenery must have confused me a bit more than I thought. It seems you've brought me to a rather familiar place, or at the very least, a very detailed recreation. I apologize, um, it is nice to meet you face to face, though you're different from what I thought you would be." Viviane laughed in response to Alicia's words.
"Thou art a lot different from thy brother, though the similarities are easily recognizable. I still remember the first time that I brought him here." Viviane then looked down to her hand, drawing Alicia's gaze to it as well, revealing a mark on it. The same mark that she saw on Ulrich's hand when he was brought in. "However, that's a story for a different time. I brought thee here to offer my assistance, or at the very least, assist thee in helping thyself."
"What do you mean by assistance?" As Alicia was speaking, she began to think about something that she noticed. Ever since she arrived in this version of Avalon, she felt strangely calm and at peace with everything. The situation should have felt bizarre to her, yet, she felt as if this was a normal occurrence. "Also, are you the reason behind how I'm feeling right now?" Viviane tilted her head at Alicia's question.
"Of course, I learned my lesson after the last time I brought thy brother here. It's not entirely unrelated to why I brought thee here. I wish to help thee like I helped my beloved. However, the first thing that thou must learn, is how to wield Excalibur, in other words, me." Alicia's face had a puzzled expression on it. "Wielding Excalibur is not the same as wielding any other sword. Even before my beloved awoke me from my slumber, the sword was very similar to a living being. To wield effectively, it must be seen as a partner or, ideally, a part of thyself." Alicia listened intently at Viviane, remembering all of the times she saw Ulrich fight and even the times when he sat in the garden with it, cleaning and sharpening it.
"How do you propose I learn that? Even with the things that I learned, it doesn't sound like that'll be easy. I'm sure you're aware of what happened in the throne room when I tried to wield it." A sly smile appeared on Viviane's face. She pointed to the ground in front of Alicia, revealing Excalibur at her feet. Alicia bent down and grabbed Excalibur, once again feeling its weight in her hands, however, she noticed that it felt a lot lighter than when she first held it. She looked back up to Viviane, who also wielded her own Excalibur. There was notable confusion on Alicia's face, however, after thinking about the situation, came to the conclusion that Viviane was able conjure her own Excalibur because of the fact that she resided within it. Then she began to think about the reason why Viviane conjured it. "Wait, why are you holding one too?"
"Well, the best and quickest way to teach thee how to wield Excalibur, is through this method. Who better to learn it from, than the Lady of the Lake herself?" Viviane then flashed a smile at Alicia, a smile that sent a shiver down her back. It was an expression that she had seen on Ulrich's face when sparring with the different members of the council many times before. Then, Viviane's last words finally processed inside of Alicia's brain.
"Wait, did you say Lady of the..." Before she could finish her question, Viviane then dashed forward, as if floating above the ground, and swung her sword at Alicia. She quickly pulled the sword in front of her, attempting to parry the blow. As the swords made contact, Alicia attempted to redirect the blow, however, her movements were too slow, allowing Viviane to grab ahold of Alicia's wrist, locking their swords together. Viviane's smile was still plastered on her face, even as she let go and jumped back a few feet, before once again rushing forward. This time, Alicia channeled magic through her body, allowing her to move much quicker. Rather than be defensive, Alicia then swung her sword at Viviane, who responded in kind. The two swords hitting each other created a small shockwave at the point of impact that sent a shock up Alicia's arms. Within in the next moment, Viviane delivered another swing, however, this time Alicia was able to parry the strike successfully. However, before she could fully prepare herself for the next move, Viviane delivered a side kick to Alicia, sending her sliding back a few feet. She looked up and saw Viviane once again dash towards her, that same familiar expression on her face.