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"Oh, thank you sweetie..." Camilla hummed as she took Xander's hand. Her wyvern lowered its head to provide a step for the King, allowing Xander to sit firmly upon the beast's back.
"What a kind and selfless individual you are... it's a shame you had to throw your lot in with these fiends and raise your arms against those sweet soldiers..."
Camilla raised her hand and called upon her Fimbulvetr tome. A large, jagged shard of ice surged forth from the cliff face and consumed Leo.
"Wait! Camilla don---"
"No!" Xander protested.
"Stop!"
Leo's fingers ceased up. After squeezing Alice's had desperately for a moment, he had no choice but to let go. Alice was sent tumbling down into the abyss, passing Rei and Valk on her way down.
With one final, exhausted groan, Odin passed out. His arms went limp. The last of the Return were sent spiraling into the black.
"Well..." Ferdinand smiled.
"If that's the plan, who am I to argue..."
The Fortress Knight released Odin's legs and watched him slip from the ledge. The guards raised their spears and began to tighten their perimeter. Ferdinand picked up the last of the unconscious returned and slumped them over his shoulders.
"What are you going to do? Kill me?" He chuckled.
"I'm about to jump into a bottomless cavern with a bunch of dead Saints in my arms. By the looks of things, I'm going to die either way." With a smile on his lips, he made his way towards the ledge.
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"Oh, but before I go," He turned back towards the guards.
"When the Goddess asks you whom you let escape, be sure to let her an old friend was involved. Tell her that it was I, Ferdinand Von Aegir! I'm sure she'll take the news well!"
With a smirk, he followed Rei and Valk's example and leaped from the remains of the bridge.
***
The wind roars around you.
You've leaped from one white dark void into another.
A familiar blue light burns in the black.
Azura's necklace.
Yuri pulls the charm from its chain and points it towards the rapidly approaching ground.
Nothing happens.
He shakes it.
He points it again.
Nothing.
"Come on..."
He curses.
"Come on... tell me someone's home..."
He shakes it again.
He points.
Nothing.
"Come on! Open up! Open up!"
He shakes it.
He points.
Nothing.
Nothing.
Nothing.
The ground is getting closer.
Closer.
Closer.
You can practically touch it!
"Open the door, Kana! Open the damn-"
CRACK
***
And so the story of the Returned ends.
Well, that's one ending. This is a story with many endings.
According to Goddessian records, the Godless were killed in an escape attempt gone wrong.
Azura was mourned by her Nohrian Family.
Ferdinand's spear was retrieved and returned to his disgraced house.
Balthus' relics were looked by thieves and sold on some black market somewhere.
Trophies were taken from the Chosen and placed in a museum back at the Temple.
That's the official story.
But I know better. I know that there is much more to their story than the Goddess might tell you.
Their story continues in a land named Valla in a country across the sea...
***
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Crack
The Return struck the earth of another realm.
The air was simultaneously warm and cool in Valla. Their grass was fresh and lush. The sky was bright a beautiful.
Mountains floated across the skies like clouds.
You can forgive some of the Returned for believing that they had died and gone to Heaven.
But Yuri knew better.
"Welcome to the Astral Plane of Dragons..." Yuri cried, dusting the dead grass from his shins. He could pry a stupid smile from his lips.
"More precisely, we're standing in the Lost Kingdom of Valla. Well... when I say 'Lost', you'll have to imagine quotation marks around the word. Valla was lost on purpose. It was the only way to hide it from the Goddess."
"And you didn't tell us about this place because...?"
"Because the land is curse. A real nasty curse too. You speak its name whilst outside its border? You give away its location? Some ancient Dragon turns you into a pile of water." He smirked.
"You're kidding, right?"
"Does it matter? You're not planning on filling the Goddess in on our location, so it shouldn't matter. Curse or no curse, I couldn't risk you blurting our plan if the Goddess got hold of you. I couldn't play my hand until I was certain we were safe."
"Were you 'certain', Yuri?" Wally muttered, cracking his neck.
"You didn't sound so confident when we were in punching distance of the ground..."
"Well, the thing is... coming here wasn't my original plan. That plan went to Hell when somebody set fire to the bridge. Coming here was more of a last ditch gambit. It was a last resort that paid off."
"So we got lucky..."
"That depends on what you mean by 'lucky'. From another perspective, we've jumped from one frying pan to another. If we slip up, we could just as easily end up in the fire."
"What do you mean?"
"Well... I'll say this much: Secularists like us aren't too popular here. This realm has declared itself Neutral in the War on the Goddess."
The sound of pounding hooves rattled from behind a nearby ridge. A troop of black armored knights came into view, their spears glittering in the sunlight.
"Don't get me wrong. These guys love Azura. They love Odin. But me? I am most certainly in their bad books."
An elderly man led the troop, a black axe hanging over his shoulder. Three white clad individuals rode behind him. Their faces were obscured by the bodies of their guards.
"Mockingbird!" The elderly man snapped. His armored beast spat and snorted in Yuri's direction.
"So you've returned to the scene of the crime."
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"And you've brought some outsiders with you. This afternoon is growing more complicated by the minute. I was too old for this post decades ago..."
"Gunter!" Yuri muttered.
"I know I have a lot to explain..."
"You made a mistake returning to this place, boy. Your risked destroying all we've built coming here. What if those Nobles had followed you? What if they had caught wind of the Lost Kingdom? You have endangered the lives of your Brothers and Sisters in Arms!You have endangered the life of the Queen Mother! You would have endangered the life of the Young Queen!"
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"It's fine, Gunter..." One of the white clad riders broke away from the pack.
"My mother lives. I sense that she is tired, but she will recover. She and the rest of Yuri's back have only done what they believed to be just."
"Your Majesty." Gunter nodded and pulled his beast back a few steps. Yuri performed a semi-genuine bow.
"Queen Kana, your are as wise as you have always been..."
"What matters now is that you're all safe. Our secret remains safe, for now. Should Yuri go against the will of our Fellowship again, well... I trust a few days in the stock will straighten him out."
"Is it too late to take back the statement I made regarding your wisdom, your Majesty?"
"And what will become of these outsiders?" Another white clad rider broke away from the pack.
"We cannot simply allow for these outsiders to--"
His eyes locked onto the Chosen.
With jaw swung loose. His eyes bulged. For a moment, the Great Seteth was lost for words.
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"You!"
The third figure stepped forth.
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"Well, would you look at that... the guys who got me killed have come to me again. To think I predicted this... and I am still somehow disappointing..."
***
Reunited with old friends... or are they old foes?
A lot has changed in the past 5 years...
Welcome to the 4th Month of the 5th Year of the Age of the Goddess.
Welcome to the Future, Dear Friends...
Welcome to...
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THE GODDESS PART II
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***
But that's a story for another time.
We have many more stories to tell.
What happened to Alexander Luthor?
What was the Infinity Tree?
Who was really responsible for Murder World?
So many stories and so little time... let me introduce you to another one...
Stop me if you've heard this one:
END OF PROLOGUE I