Chapter Text
The sounds of weapons clashing and magical explosions rang out across the battlefield, the living and the corrupted, and, towering everyone present was a dragon. The fell dragon, its scales a combination of pitch black and various shades of red, the battle it was having with the group before him was clearly wearing him down, sword slashes cut all along the snake like hood on his head.
“Let’s finish this Alcryst,” Alear called from next to him, drawing his sword.
“Right,” Alcryst responded, trying his best to sound brave as he nocked an arrow. Out of everyone here why did Alear have to pick someone like him for this task? Surely Diamant would’ve been better… someone other than him…
Alcryst took a deep breath, pushing away the thoughts invading his mind, the divine dragon was relying on him.
He had to do it.
“I hope this is enough!” He quickly took a flip back while he drew his bow, the speed of the string of his bow shooting forward as he released the arrow vibrated throughout the bow. The arrow found its mark in the side of the dragon’s neck, he roared in agony but didn’t have time to recover as Alear had leapt up prepared to swing his own attack.
Except what followed was a familiar cry of pain, not a dragon’s roar of pain.
Alcryst’s heart dropped as he watched Alear struck out of the air by something and sent crashing to the ground, his sword clattering uselessly to the side. “Alear!” He cried, dropping whatever formalities he was supposed to use as he started towards Alear, his friend was hurt!
“Foolish child.” The dragon growled, opening its mouth as energy gathered from it as he aimed his head towards Alear as he struggled up, bleeding from a wound in his side where an arrow had buried itself in.
No, no, no! Alcryst thought, desperately pushing his body to move faster. He could hear everyone else around him trying to do something, anything to protect the divine dragon but they were either too far away or occupied with other enemies.
Even Alcryst was too far away, he would never make it in time. Even if he shot an arrow now, it wouldn’t stop the attack in time.
There was nothing he could do.
Wait,I do have something! The archer realized suddenly and quickly looked down, the silver ring on his finger, one of twelve emblem rings. The divine dragon had entrusted him of all people with one of these rings, with this Emblem to fight with. The blue gemstone in the center of it shimmered slightly with light, he still had a chance.
He could save Alear.
“Emblem engage!” Alcryst yelled, tapping into the energy from the ring. It reacted immediately, a burst of energy surged through him, invigorating him. His dark blue hair faded into a pale lilac, his ruby eyes faded into a pale white and his clothing changed to white.
Alear forced himself to his feet, panting as he held his injured side.
The fell dragon fired his beam.
“Divine one!” Someone screamed.
It was too late.
The divine dragon, left with little options, lifted his sword in an attempt to shield himself from as much as he could.
Come on! Come on! Alcryst hastily channeled the energy from his emblem through his body.
I have to… Protect him!
Override!
Alcryst reached Alear in a burst of speed, throwing his body into the divine dragon, pushing him out of the range of the blast.
An explosion of agonizing pain struck the archer’s whole body, Alcryst didn’t know how fast he lost all feeling, but it was well before his body smashed violently into a boulder throwing up smoke and rock into the dark sky. The Emblem’s effects wore off, his hair and eyes darkening back to its normal colors.
He laid there, bleeding profusely from a deep wound in his chest, and stomach the corners of his vision were blurring and he had no strength to do anything. He could taste iron in his mouth, pain stabbed at his chest as he struggled to shallowly breathe.
“Alcryst!” Alear screamed, rushing towards him.
I did it… I protected him, Alcryst thought with a weak smile as the divine dragon knelt at his side, his multicolored eyes filled with tears, his mouth moving but Alcryst could no longer hear. It was getting hard to keep his eyes open, but even so, he knew Alear was trying to tell him to stay awake.
He could barely feel as Alear held him in his arms, tears streaming down his face as he desperately tried using a heal spell. But even the best healing spells couldn’t heal a wound this grave.
He was dying, Alcryst knew that… he didn’t want to die… but… he had no strength to fight for his life when his whole body was destroyed.
Even though Alcryst could no longer feel anything physically, there was still that ache in his heart. How were his retainers Lapis and Citrinne going to feel after he was gone? Guilt… if only he could tell them not to feel guilty… and his big brother Diamant… first father… and now me…
And… he thought staring up at the fading image of the diving dragon holding him, his heart fluttering painfully, the sound of a drawer echoed in his memory, I really wish… he thought weakly.
“I-I’m sorry-ry…e-everyone…”
Alear watched as the light faded from Alcryst’s eyes, the eyes that shined and reminded him of rubies stared at nothing, the divine dragon’s shoulders shook as he held the prince tightly, “no, Alcryst please…” he whispered, his voice choked with sobs, “please…”
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…
…
Was that grass he felt under him?
That shouldn’t be possible…
Alcryst groaned as he slowly opened his eyes, slowly adjusting to the sunlight shining down on him.
How? He sat up still groggy, didn’t he die? Was he in the afterlife? But everything felt so real... The air in his lungs, the softness of the grass, the warmth of the sunlight… the sound of his heart beating…
He was alive.
He rubbed his eyes as he stood up and looked around, the area was surrounded by trees, it didn’t look like any forest he was familiar with.
What was that weight on his head?
His hands slowly reached up, his heart nearly leapt out of his chest as he felt there indeed was something foreign on his head, not because it was anything like a bug or object, but because he could feel himself touching whatever it was, like it was a part of his body. His hands shook slightly as he felt around to get a better idea of what it was, it was triangular and… furry.
Animal ears?
And this weight on his back, looking behind him, there was furry blue appendage extending from his spine. He jolted in surprise, the tail stiffened as his ears flattened, they were real, he wasn’t imagining things. Pointy ears and a tail… these were wolf features!
What on earth happened to me? Alcryst wondered, his heart thumped wildly in his chest. He surely died on the battlefield now he was here in the middle of nowhere with these strange new features on him! How did this happen? Who did this? What now? What was he supposed to do, he didn’t even know the way out.
“Al..cryst…” he jolted at the sound of the faint voice, looking around for the source. He stared down at his hand, the Emblem Ring was still on his finger, shouldn’t it have been taken off after he died? A crack now ran through the blue gemstone, the gemstone’s normally bright light now flickered faintly.
“Lord Sigurd!” Alcryst whispered to the ring.
The gemstone glowed faintly before shooting out a small beam of light, summoning the Emblem, a man with blue hair and eyes. But something was off about Sigurd’s form, the bright aura that usually surrounded him was now fainter and his dark blue eyes were filled with exhaustion but he still stood tall. “Prince Alcryst, I am glad to see you’re ok.” The emblem spoke, he blinked, “what are those features?”
“I don’t know, I woke up like this.” Alcryst replied, one hand reaching to touch his new ear.
“I see…” Sigurd said before looking around, “it seems we are no longer in Elyos and we don’t seem to be Jugdral either.”
“Th-then where are we?” Alcryst asked.
“I do not know.” Sigurd replied, “perhaps if we find our way out of this forest we could find a village to learn more about this world.”
“The thing is, I don’t even know where to start,” Alcryst said, his ears flattened as he looked around, Lapis would’ve easily been able to figure it out. His heart ached a little at the thought, here he was stuck in another world while everyone thought he’d died.
Even Alear…
“You’re going to be ok Prince Alcryst,” the emblem reassured him, putting a hand on his shoulder although Alcryst didn’t feel it physically, the gesture was felt internally. It was reassuring to have someone familiar with him in this world at least… The lord suddenly grimaced as the light around him flickered.
“A-are you ok?” Alcryst asked.
“It seems I am significantly weaker now,” Sigurd replied with a deep breath, “I do not think I’ll be able to lend you my power, at least for now.” Alcryst glanced down at the ring, on the crack on the gemstone of the ring, would repairing it even be possible without the divine dragon’s power?
“I see,” Alcryst said, it was at that moment he realized he was lacking his bow, where… he looked back at where he first woke but his weapon was nowhere in sight, “I don’t have my bow either.”
“We will have to be extra cautious then,” Sigurd said looking more tired than ever, he was clearly struggling to keep his form.
“I have to ask, would you happen to know what happened after I died?” Alcryst shuddered a little at the words “I died” it was chilling to think about really. He had actually died.
“That time-“ the emblem was cut of with a sharp cry of pain as his form started to ripple, he took a few shaky breaths before closing his eyes, “I am sorry but it seems I have.. exhausted myself...” with that, Sigurd’s form faded away, the ring on Alcryst’s finger glowed once then darkened.
“Get some rest lord Sigurd,” Alcryst whispered to the ring, he looked around, he should probably start finding his way out now…
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“I was so nervous about waking you that I didn’t sleep,” a voice confessed nervously as Alear stirred from his sleep, who’d come to wake him this time he wondered. A short yawn followed from the speaker.
“Must stay… awake…”
Thump!
Alear blinked awake as he felt something fall next to him, he turned to his side finding himself face to face with a sleeping face. The divine dragon’s heart skipped a beat as he stared at the sleeping prince, he slowly reached out his hand, brushing some of the hair away from Alcryst’s face.
He looks… cute like this, Alear thought, a small blush creeping onto his face.
Maybe…
He shuffled closer to the prince, carefully wrapping his arms around Alcryst, careful not to wake him as he pulled the prince close to his chest.
Just for a little while… Alear thought, closing his eyes, he briefly thought about the pact ring tucked away in the drawer next to his bed..
After the fighting is over, I want you to wear that ring.
Alear woke from his dream with a gasp, quickly sitting up.
But as he turned, no one was next to him.
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The air of the forest was thick and Alcryst had this unnerving feeling that he was being watched even though no one was present. Bugs chirped loudly, animals shuffled in the distance, could he hear this well before or was it because of these ears? Alcryst wondered, subconsciously touching one of them.
“We should stop here to rest, it’s been a long day.” Sigurd said from next to him.
“Agreed, we-“
Awoooooooooooooo!
Alcryst’s ears perked up at the sound, a wolf? It sounded like an ordinary wolf howl but… something certainly felt off about it, but what?
The howl sounded far off in the distance, he should be ok for now. If only one of his retainers were here, Citrinne’s power magic or Lapis’s strength would be really reassuring in situations like this.
And what was he right now?
A useless, defenseless archer.
If he were attacked now, he would most certainly die… again.
The sounds of footsteps approaching snapped him out of his thoughts, his ears twitched slightly trying to pinpoint the direction it was coming from. “Prince Alcryst behind you!” The Prince whirled around, barely avoiding the arrow shooting towards him. The arrow sped past him and sunk deeply into the tree behind him.
“Well, well what do we have here?” A mocking voice asked as a silhouette approached, a masked figure came into view, the mask in the shape of an animal, a bear.“a mangy little wolf out here? What’s wrong pup, were ya chased out of the village like the rest of your kind?”
What is he talking about? Alcryst backed away as more people showed up, surrounding him from every side. Each wearing masks that obscured their faces, save for the ears that they all had atop their heads, all of different animals. Animal features just like his.
He quickly shoved one of the bandits aside as they charged him, swiftly evading weapon swings as he attempted an escape route. He was however, too tired to move as quickly as usual and after one of the masked people managed to land a heavy hit to his side, with the blunt of the weapon luckily but it still knocked the wind out of him.
Sigurd swiped his sword in an arc in front of him, however his sword phased right through the enemies. They weren’t even aware of his presence at all. The action itself clearly took a heavy toll on Sigurd and the emblem faded again with a whispered apology.
Alcryst’s ears flattened as he steadied his breath, in his grip was a dagger he’d managed to steal. As the enemies charged him again he managed to use the small knife to parry and deflect the worst of attacks attacks, but he couldn’t block them all. Pain erupted in his side as one of the men slashed deep into his stomach.
He was going to die here.
If only he knew how to fight hand to hand combat as well as Diamant could.
If only he had Lapis’s strength.
If only he could wield magic like Citrinne.
If only he’d at least had his bow…
But here he was useless as always.
Useless.
Useless.
USELESS.
Pain surged throughout his body but it wasn’t from a physical attack, it bloomed from his heart, rapidly shooting throughout his limbs, it felt like power, something like how it felt whenever an emblem leant their strength. But this power felt wrong, overwhelming, confusing and painful as it ate into every bone in his body. The archer screamed in agony as more power shot through his body.
He collapsed to the ground his arms barely catching him, his breath coming out in pained gasps as more pain overwhelmed his senses, he heard voices, not just the confused shouts from his attackers. Something was whispering at the back of his skull, kill or be killed… kill or be killed.
Kill or be killed.
Alcryst’s vision went red then dark.
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Awoooooooooooooo!
“You hear that brother?” A woman asked, the canine ears atop her head twitching slightly as she turned to the direction of the howl, “that was Demon Wolf Fenris’s howl!”
“Hm, yeah, what does she want this time?” Her brother replied from the tree he had been napping under, he sat up with a yawn, lazily revealing his sharp fangs. He stood up, dusting himself off before following after Hati who had already started walking ahead without him.
Hati focused on the sound of the howl, deciphering the message carried within it knowing Skoll was likely doing the same.
“Looks like Fenris wants us to find someone, sounds important, another shadow disciple?” Skoll yawned from behind her, “ah well, let’s get to it then before those disciples of light get to em first.”
“Of course, assuming you don’t decide to take frequent naps, we’ll be fine,” her comment earned her a small laugh from Skoll who had caught up to Hati, walking side by side with her, “The disciples of light should receive similar information through a revelation from Naga soon, that could be troublesome.”
“Who cares about those guys? You worry too much little sis, you’ve got me here.” Skoll replied, giving her shoulder a few friendly pats, he laughed a little, “well, let’s go find our little disciple of shadow.”