"Davina, listen to me. You are not yourself." Wrafe said as he circled around her down the stairs, holding the sword at his side loosely.
Davina simply stopped in her tracks, her hair finally down and just a mess as she had listened. She lowered her eyes to watch him descend, soon following him down at the same pace.
"You cannot beat me, Savencroner." She said, quite arrogantly.
Wrafe's brows raised a little bit before his eyes narrowed.
"Mmm… Okay." He shrugged her remark off.
Then, she had slowly raised her sword up, pointing it directly at him.
"For a man who never claimed to be much of a fan of the Emperor, you guard him viciously." She said, with an edge to her voice that didn't quite match her tones before.
"I was trying to stop you from getting yourself killed, again." He replied, gesturing his free hand to the side as he shrugged the shoulder holding his blade.
He acted awfully casual. But, inside, he was truly curious if he was going to survive this night. The power he felt radiating from the Valerian was unnaturally powerful. It was magic. But, it couldn't possibly be her. Could it…?
"You. Killed me. You watched me plummet into the darkness after you ripped your hand from mine!" She nearly yelled.
The flames above grew more intense as the amulet glowed more fiercely. His brows then furrowed a little as he had eyed her in pure shock.
"What the hell are you talking about?" He said defensively.
"I tried to save you. You… I just couldn't hold onto you before you just- Fell." He explained, hoping this would soothe the rage.
Although, his cynical side told him that was a laughable pipedream.
"I saw it with my own eyes, Wrafe. You killed me!" She yelled.
As she had only been pushed further by the Nobleman as she suddenly sprinted at him with the tip of her sword dragging along the stone of the floor and sparking before her direction curved to the side with her blade swiping across the air with her leaping upwards, dragging a long trail of emerald fire with her movements as her body twisted in the air as she brought the blade plummeting down upon him as hard as she could muster. Wrafe was distraught by what she was saying. But, he knew now was not the time to teeter on emotions. He had to survive. As well, as keep the Emperor from being killed. Somehow…
The Nobleman had quickly raised the sword up as a means of defense, its strike from the other nearly causing him to lose his blade immediately to It. He then took a very big step back, then many more back steps with how much the murderous soul progressed forward, slashing across the air with intent to truly slay.
"Davina, stop!" Wrafe shouted, soon to be conflicted with his sword violently clashing into hers as the two stood, leaning into each other.
She didn't say anything. She only spited him by grinding her blade into his. Even being so strong to be able to take a step and make his shoes scrape across the floor from being pushed. He grunted as his hands gripped the handle tightly, his grasp shaking a bit. She could tell he never wielded a sword all too much.
"You're worthless." Her distorted voice spoke with this sudden odd calm sounding tone to it.
Before long, she suddenly twisted the blade with both of them twirling around each other before the Savencroner's was sent into the air with a loud 'clank' of it hitting the ground. Then, there was little time to act fast. Wrafe quickly raised up his hand to simply engulf the warrior with a spell to repel her away from him. However, as quick as he was, she was just a bit quicker. She swung her sword up and behind her before slashing it directly upwards in a straight angle right into him. Right as she did this, she was hit with a wall of magic that blasted her back a little with a grunt. She still remained on her feet as her heels dug into the ground a bit as she slid just a ways away. The room then filled with a truly pained yell, one coming from the redheaded Nobleman as he reeled back, nearly stumbling backwards as he covered his left eye, a noticeable cut deep into his cheek and going up and passed his eyebrow. As well, as one on his chest that began to redden the white shirt underneath. He eventually did fall back, losing all sense of balance from such a quick turn of very agonizing events. One could not even register the pain brought to one's self with how he was cut. It was simply…Beyond Brutality.
"Now do you believe your magic can still save you?" The dark haired woman asked, straightening in a relaxed stance as she had slowly approached him.
He let out one more cry of pure pain as his horrendously dazed vision eyed her with his one good yellow eyes. He panted heavily, trying to keep himself together as hard as it was. The pain nearly brought unstoppable tears to his eyes. He watched this blur of a dead Knight walk up to him, the only thing he heard was the light thud of her footsteps. He wondered how she could do this to him. Even after what had happened to them both during the cruel journey they were both met with. He said nothing. As this was simply nothing he could be even mentally prepared for. The anguish was simply too great now. He leaned forward a little, trying his best to sit up and not just fall over on his side.
"Stand up." Davina demanded.
He then scoffed at the command. He had slowly sat up, having these shaky breaths as he held a very bloody hand over his eye.
"I'd rather not. I'm afraid your capriciousness has gotten the better of me…" He said, wincing quite a bit as his facial expression strained to remain straight.
Davina's brow merely cocked. She raised the tip of her blade to his chin, making him look up at her.
"I guess I don't feel too bad for you anymore, Captain. I just really despise whatever you are now." He spoke, quite hatefully.
Of course, he was angry. He often spoke with venom when he was hateful.
"If I wanted your pity, I wouldn't be parting your head from your shoulders tonight." The Valerian stated.
There was only silence between the two. Then, there was her raising the sword up and back for the defining moment. He had released a stuttering sigh before he had slowly removed his bloodied hand, holding both out to the side as he had closed his one good eye.
"So much for surviving…" He muttered, reeling his head back a bit.
This is exactly what she had been wanting. Justice…
"That is enough, Revenant." The man on the throne raised his voice quite firmly.
Davina's head tilted a little as her oddly inconsistently colored eyes turned to Tyr Malin. He had an agitated look about him. He soon sighed as he had clutched onto the armrests of his throne before he had stood up. He began to step down. Tyr, he was surprisingly tall. In fact, he was taller than the usual man and then some. He certainly didn't appear to be either.
"I'll handle you after he's dead." She said, turning away to simply look down at Wrafe, who had been looking at her. His eye was halfway open, filled with raw emotion. Though, nothing below a human could understand.
"I'm afraid you don't understand." The Emperor said, with his voice lightening even further to a voice that was hard to read between a man or woman.
With each step, his appearance suddenly changed drastically. His curly black hair started to straighten and grow longer down the back and shoulders. Streaks of brown turned blonde, then platinum all along the head. The skin paled to a light, subtle silver color with a perfect smoothness to it. The eyes, suddenly a vibrant blue while the iris' enlarged. His nose grew more pointy and straight. His cheeks filled out with a bit of a smaller chin and a more perfect set of cheekbones with a slightly defined jaw. The clothing, even. It all changed. Thuds turned into clicks from these white heeled shoes under a white silky dress fitting around the androgynous image of what this person became. Their ears poked beyond their hair, being very pointed. They looked skinnier, mostly in the arms. They had on these layers of light white clothing fitted with golden lining on the edges and for nature-esq designs. Swirls of flowers and leaves going up the one sleeve they had. It covered the left arm, while the other had no sleeve. Just a golden plate of armor on the shoulder that had a golden chain attached to a collar to a transparent cloak that dragged behind them. They were fitted with a line of gold across their forehead that had a spike upwards right in the center with two on the sides that were half the size, with a far smaller one underneath the top center spike of gold. It narrowed down to stop between her brows, while the other two going down touched their cheekbones.
"I wasn't asking." The voice from the Emperor said.
It was softer, sweeter. The way it sounded, you could not tell their sex at first. But, they had more to a feminine side of a body than anything. Even with the incredible height.
Davina stared at them. Usually, she would react. Perhaps surprised or even in awe. However, she merely turned away and immediately swung the blade with quite a bit of might.
"Hm." The Elven Royal turned her head a bit, with her presence suddenly a whole lot closer.
Davina, even in this state of determined bloodlust, even she, who was not completely in control, had gasped in shock. Her wrist was caught, quite firmly. And, she eyed the Elf's other hand. The one clutching around the amulet. Their long yet curved to an end nails lightly tapped the jewel.
"You will thank me." They said, with a small, content smile across their lightly gray lips before a vicious yank was given before the Valerian could even possibly react.
"No!" Davina yelled, reaching out to catch the amulet.
However, the grasp on her wrist seemed to prevent that as the amulet hit the ground. The moment it did, everything changed for her. How would you describe this feeling? You would lose all emotion you felt before. A loss to be grateful for. Your motivation after death, also gone. A tragedy in itself. There are no words, to put it simply. What she felt? No one could possibly understand.
"My necklace…" She muttered, the emerald fire immediately dissipating from her body as her eyes drained of the lively green color.
Silver, once again. She felt so weak. So much so her eyes dulled halfway open as she couldn't even hold her sword. The handle slipped from her fingers and landed next to them. The Elf simply released her, doing so and turning to step away. Nothing was said. There was only the Valerian, the real one, collapsing to her knees and to her side. Her vision began to immediately haze as her hearing began to deafen. The last thing she could process was the Elf walking away while Wrafe was just looking down at her, holding his chest with quiet breaths. Then, everything turned to nothing but blackness…
A time ago before the fall of Davina, the journey in Brytwood.
He slowly turned onto his side, releasing a deep breath as he had then opened his eyes. The window, it didn't quite show the sun. No, it was just a bit too early. He decided now would be a good time either way since he felt rested. If not just a little sore. The Nobleman had then pulled the blanket off of himself, sitting up and running a hand through his wavy red hair to get it out of his face. His yellow eyes spotted his fancy but slightly dusty boots and then slipped them on. He then stood up, adjusting the boots before turning to the table next to the bed in the rather quaint small room. He had definitely slept in better situations with worse circumstances, that he was certain of. As he had begun to redo some of the strings to his white shirt, he paused upon hearing a clink. His eyes raised to the window before his head turned, turning his attention to his door. With that, he had quietly walked up to it, planting his hand across it to then push the door open. It was there that he had seen a woman in the tavern. Nobody else but her. Not even the barkeeper. He was sleeping. She on the other hand, was simply sitting down and holding her head, seeing as how she also had a bottle of liquor in her hand. He could tell it was her. And, it seemed she was a bit out of sorts. He heard her sniffle. His head tilted a bit as his eyes narrowed, wondering in his silence. Speaking of silence, she seemed to prefer to suffer in it. His eyes lowered, knowing that it'd be best to make his presence casually known. Lest he wanted to be punched across the face. He pushed his door open further, taking a step to make his boot thud against the floor as he had approached the bar surface. He walked around it, hearing her scoot her chair up as he had plucked a tankard and bottle of random choice to set down onto the table. He then turned, ripping out the cork to then raise his attention to the somber presence of the Valerian. She had made sure to keep her face pointed in the opposing direction. Her hair was actually unbraided and undone, too. It was quite a mess. He assumed the worst. Which, for her, meant she must've been sulking to herself about today.
"That wolf must've really said something awful." He remarked.
Lowering his eyes back down to his drink as he set the bottle aside, raising the glass to his lips to sip the rather distasteful excuse for liquor. He heard a scoff from her. As well, as her hand loosening its grasp around the bottle before just running her face a bit. She shook her head, sniffling again. She was silent, at first. Reluctant to respond.
"People are… worse than wolves." She finally spoke.
His brows shrugged a little at the remark.
"Indeed. They are far more personal." He agreed.
He took his glass and his bottle, soon to circle around the bar table and approach the one she sat at. All her armor seemed to be rested off at the side. She was in her simple dark leather tunic and pants.
"Care to have company?" He asked.
"Sure." She quietly answered, only lowering her hands down and soon just pouring herself a halfway full tankard.
He went and had brought himself to the table, setting the two items in his hands down before he pulled a chair out and sat himself down. He did so in quite a relaxed manner, instead of sitting up straight and proper as she expected. Then, there was silence between them. Which was something both of them preferred. But, one of them knew it wouldn't handle anything.
"It's never going to be like the stories." The Savencroner broke the silence.
She turned her head a bit, turning her emerald eyes to him with visible confusement.
"Being a hero, I mean." He added, finally meeting eyes with her.
"No… I don't care about any of that." She dismissed it.
"If you really didn't, why is it appearing to hurt you so much? If I may ask." Wrafe blatantly let on his knowledge of what he assumed was her feelings.
He had heard plenty of the little show she made of the man who insulted her right after killing the Jokul-Dog. He understood such a feeling. She merely sighed.
"I don't know." She said.
There was silence for another moment. Perhaps she was thinking about it? Or she already knew the answer and was simply too flustered to be honest with it. Which, he wouldn't have minded.
"Do you know why I'm stationed in Winter's Ark? Why the not-so-famed Captain of the First Battalion's stationed in a small hold instead of at Mor Vendrel?" She asked, looking at him as if readying herself for her own answer.
He shook his head a little and simply stared in silence, unknowing as to why.
"My Father was friends with the Emperor before Tyr. Through the sister he romanticised. He was in such a high society while I stayed in Valeria. He was known as the best swordsman there was. So much so, he trained me to be a soldier. My Mother, she never really wanted that. She thought it was far too dangerous." She explained, soon to take a large sip of her drink.
Wrafe listened.
"It's the only thing I ever wanted. Was to be like the tales. Wielding a sword and fighting dragons." She scoffed at her own dream as a child, looking down a little as she scrolled her thumb across the top of the tankard.
"My Father. He had issues with his ire. The rage he felt. He never took it out on us, bless his heart. But… Within a day, I gained everything and lost him. This was by the time I was hitting my second decade on this world. My Father, not long to leave it. Emperor Maul was passed. His son, Tyr, in control. My Father brought me before him to have me challenge his greatest warrior, a man named Abel. I beat him. And, I swear to you I had been my old man's entire pride and joy that day. But," She paused, tilting her head a bit as the moisture in her eyes built.
"Then Tyr looked down at me. Said, 'Is this girl all you have to offer?'. Turns out, he made me fight a cheap warrior he hired off the street. Made a fool of us both."
What a tragic tale, he thought. To think she hasn't tried to kill the Emperor after seven years, considering her personality, was stunning.
"My Father got so enraged that he got himself killed cursing out the Emperor. Even struck him. We both know the punishment for that."
So the tragedy built on top of it. Such a terrible fate. He looked down, knowing the Tyr Malin she knew was suffering as he knew he damned well deserved to. He only wished he could comfort her with that sentiment. But, he knew, pragmatically, she could not know. Not yet, at least. For now, another form of comfort was going to have to do for his partner. The one he considered to be a friend.
He leaned forward a bit, over the table. He, quite boldly, had extended his hand forward to take hers, laying his palm over the top of the back of her hand. His fingers lightly squeezed. She then met his eyes with hers, not knowing what to think of his action quite yet.
"Those who are strong cry, too, Davina." He said.
It was startling, being given this gesture with this sudden… Kindness from him.
"I have done it plenty. You don't have to even speak another word for me to know what I want to say to you. Someone who has my empathy, you, I know what I think you need to hear from someone who won't lie to you." He said, laying his other hand on top of hers.
Somehow, this had only made certain to close their partnership where they both knew it to be sure.
"An ungrateful Empire doesn't deserve heroes such as yourself. Truly, I want you to know, you do not need to be anybody's hero but for your own." He stated, sounding so certain of his words.
He believed it to be true. He learned this for himself not too long ago. His rather serious, yet suddenly kind looking expression had sent Davina with a wave of emotion. Gratefulness, to have met him. The very words made her smile a bit, though you could still read the somber emotions through those emerald eyes of hers. Meeting such words had caused her to return the gesture by lightly grasping onto his grip. She averted her head to look straight ahead, not being able to look at him any longer. Unless she wanted to grossly burst out into tears, which she already swore to herself would not happen. She soon pulled her hand away, getting all her hair out of her face before grabbing the bottle Wrafe brought over and refilling his tankard. Soon, she picked up hers, a bigger smile on her face as she offered a toast.
"To becoming even stronger then." She proposed.
He did the same, smiling where he even had his teeth showing a bit in the smirk. He picked up the tankard and soon lightly hit it into hers.
"To becoming even stronger." He toasted.
With that, the memory faded.
That poor, lost memory finally returning to its owner. Along with others. Along with the most important one. In her mind, there was a flash of the truth after the amulet was ripped off. The tomb, she remembered the moments before her own death as if she had been reliving it. She saw not a man who casually walked up to her and watched her die just to drop her off the edge of darkness… but a man, her friend, to whom had fought so hard and ran to her aid as fast as he could to take her hand. And, by the time he did, she had begun to fade with no strength to hold on. She remembered watching his panicked expression as he called out her name. The look of worry, the stress and strain written by the way he tried to pull her up. And, the look of horror as her hand was simply to slip out of his grasp. Then, darkness. Even in the dark, light began to seek into her vision. She groaned a little as her breath escaped from between her lips, her eyes slowly cracking open to reveal the silver, lifeless color. Yet, the Revenant was alive, even when deceased. She planted her gloved hand onto the ground as she rolled onto her side, her eyes took in the sight of a hurt man. One with disheveled red hair and only one remaining yellow eye that was halfway open, staring at the ground and nearly fading into unconsciousness. He couldn't process a spell to heal himself just from how out of it he was becoming. Davina eventually registered it all. He was terribly injured. And, it was all her fault. It was so horrifying, suddenly realizing just how much you've done to someone you care about. She quickly sat up, immediately crawling to him and catching him in her arms before he had leaned forward too much.
"Wrafe- I-" Davina stuttered over her words, being so flustered with the horrendous damage she's done to him.
Not even with her own capabilities that she could acknowledge. Nonetheless, she was flooded and overwhelmed with this seemingly endless wave of remorse and concern that would turn anyone's hair gray.
"Hello, Captain." He muttered, seemingly dazed by it all.
"I'm so sorry! I didn't know- I- I couldn't-" She was so bewildered by her actions as she looked him over, soon to hold his face by her hands cupping each side of his jaw.
He smiled a little, soon to dryly chuckle.
"You took becoming stronger a little to—" His voice faded into mutters.
It only broke her heart more to hear his damnable facetious sense of humor with him so terribly injured.
"Wrafe, I'm sorry…" She said, more quietly, with the world around her becoming irrelevant to what it once was.
The Emperor no longer mattered. Nor did her revenge that she did not deserve. She watched as his eye closed as he merely released these panting breaths with dire need of rest and healing. She closed her eyes tightly, her brows furrowing as she had laid her forehead against his. The banners on the sides of the throne burned with the usual red and yellow flames. The men, all unconscious one way or another. Ser Talon, his awakening to the fake Emperor hadn't been acknowledged by the Valerian. She had only been there, at that moment, suffering in a mental state of distress for having wrongfully destroyed so much.
"M-My liege…" Ser Talon grunted as he had stood up, holding his head.
Everything was so fuzzy for him. He looked up at the tall Elf who… Actually was level with him if not just a bit taller due to the shoes.
"My Queen! Your magic-" Talon suddenly stressed.
The Royal Aegis acted surprised and knew of the imposter for an Emperor's identity. The Elven Queen averted her eyes from him and exhaled deeply, holding her hands together as she gazed upon the burning banners.
"Indeed. Our trickery has been revealed. You'll have to forgive me for putting you to a state of rest. She would've killed you." She said, stepping up the stairs to approach the throne.
"Of course, your Majesty…" He bowed his head in thanks.
"Seize the girl. Handle the Savencroner." The Queen ordered softly.
She turned, soon to place herself right back onto the seat, crossing one leg over the other as all the bodies around her, even the ones untouched by the Valerian were cold with a miasma of deceased state. Ser Talon nodded before yelling for more of the guards. The loyal ones, in on the deceit. After they seized the Valerian and tore her away from the fainted Wrafe, they were taken away out of the massive throne room. With Ser Talon quickly walking up the stairs to the Elven Queen, a human to whom had endless loyalty to her. He stood by her side, sheathing his claymore.
"What are we to do now, My Queen?" He asked, looking about the place.
Her eyes stared straight ahead as she held her hands together, a small smile beginning to engrave on her beautifully pure face.
"Now, we bring the Regime of Salynthra to destroy this Empire."
The amulet remaining on the ground. The green jewel heated from the inside like a heart, though it didn't move. The power, you could practically see it seething out of the amulet. Even with it off the Valerian, it was power. It was someone's power. It was then...
The jewel cracked.