High up in the air, I look towards Merid, who grabs me and says, "Franny, you braindead fool!"
"Wh-hy did you stop me!"
"Because you were going to die!"
"I was going to help our cau-." A smack from his hands crosses my face, forcing my mouth to close.
"STOP BEING AN IDIOT! Look at your hand, you're shaking."
I grab my fist, and I say, "I needed to do this?"
"And what? Sacrifice your life and take down a single member of their cavalry."
"YES! If I don't know what other purpose this life of mine has? I need to put it all on the line for the sake of honouring my parents, will or otherwise, otherwise, my existence is pointless!"
"It isn't, because I need you, Franny."
"Don't lie to me, I know how you are. I know how much you will have to keep moving on! But I don't have any goals, wishes, or hope outside of fighting for our people; I don't have a reason to live."
"DO YOU THINK I DO THIS BECAUSE I LIKE IT!"
From the behemoth, a blast of water swings through the air, and holding up his hand, Merid quickly takes some of it and surrounds our bodies, slowing down our descent.
"You think it hasn't been hard for me as well, you think it hasn't been hard to find reasons to get up in the morning. But I still get up, and I've been doing it for you. Because I want you to live. It's not easy, I know, but you, without a doubt, have value still left to give to this world. When you speak about all the different things about the country you learned for the sake of understanding this land, it fills me with joy."
"But you always complain when I ramble on too long."
"I complain when you try and pretend you are not part of that greatness as well. You are a member of Blestemate, and you need to be protected just as much as the land needs to, yet you don't understand that and do stupid things like this. Franny, you're just as precious as everything you see in our homeland, so please protect and love yourself."
"I can't! Look at the sights in front of us, how can you see this land, this beauty, and this injustice, and think a life like mine shouldn't be sacrificed for all of this? I just can't think of myself as worth this."
"Then until you can, I will love you."
Feeling my face burn up, I say, "What!?"
"I will love you and tell you how great you are every day. How kind, how strong, how beautiful, how smart, and how enveloping your existence is. I will make your rants about this country pale in comparison with the words I will release from my mouth daily to rejoice at the glory of your existence. So please don't die, and please stay with me."
Lowering my head into the water, I start to drown myself, causing Merid to say, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING!"
Pulling my head up, I say, "Now you promise you won't take that back!"
"Of course, I never would tell a lie about what I truly believe!"
"Dodge if you don't want it."
ΦMoving her face close, Franny lays a kiss across Merid's face, and as they do, he floats them all the way over to the cave as the battle rages on beneath them.
When they land and pull away from each other, Merid says, "I found something early when looking around. It should allow us to escape and regroup with the remaining leaders."
Franny nods her head and says, "Let's go."
Location: Command Post of the Four Armies of Blestemate
Φ Standing far in the distance away from the battlefield, Dumnorix, standing beside Orb, stares into the distance and says, "This is rather impressive! You're dominating them, a three-pronged attack from the sky, sea, and land has completely encircled them."
In the distance, he sees the Cursed Heart Army riding on a large series of bats flying through the sky, and says, "Though I don't know what they are doing?"
Turning around, he sees the three ministers all attended to by members of the Cursed Heart Army with little pieces on a war map in front of them. Vėja, looking at him, says, "Those are just cursed omega bats; they are used for recording the battlefield."
"Recording?"
Orb, still staring at the battlefield in front of him, says, "Didn't you Beastkin use to have them?"
"I have no idea what you mean?"
"I see. Omega wonderbeasts are a family of wonderbeasts with a third eye on their foreheads that allows them to record and project their recordings. The members of CN use them with the omega butterflies to spread news across the world, from Setanta's memories, the Beastkin used to use them to record their slaves, and in the story of King Charles Animus, he apparently used an omega owl to learn the Beastkin language."
"We have no such animals in Nialathru. If I had to guess, they were probably all wiped out in Nialathrú back when people were trying to alter our history. Maybe we should look into getting some."
"Basically impossible. The vast majority of them were in Victoria before it froze, and the rest were hunted. Very few of them exist with the omega butterflies of CN making up the majority of those which exist today."
"What a pity." Turning to the ministers, Dumnorix says, "Though isn't it in bad taste to show you killing a bunch of your people, to the rest of your people."
Stiprais says, "It's possible to edit the images in the Omega wonderbeasts' memories. By removing certain aspects, or combining the different memories into one, though it takes someone specially trained in the given Omega wonderbeasts' anatomy."
"You feel no shame in saying this?"
Veekeeris says, "They were very clearly planning an attack for the end of Radonitsa. We have already confirmed that bombs we didn't make have gone off on the battlefield. If we left them, our people would have been hurt."
Orb, looking ahead, says, "You're correct about that. Without a doubt, these idiots would have caused lots of trouble if they were left to their own devices. Yet I think you guys are still a bunch of violent idiots."
"What?" Stiprais says.
"People can choose not to be violent, but aren't you also the rulers of this country. This was the inevitable end of what you have done, and now that it has reached the clear path in front of you, the people are being killed. I think that feels like a trap. Though at least from how your children speak about you, I know you aren't that callous."
Vėja says, "Thank you for your opinion, but it is pointless, it doesn't matter in the slightest, Orb. Because you a merely the leader of a small country up north that isn't even half a year old. Do you really think you could've done better, or found some way out of this that no one knows about?"
"No, to be honest, this entire situation has been built up by poor decisions over centuries. You could act in the same way as all your predecessors, and it would have still been like this; you've inherited a shit situation, there is no illusion in my mind about that."
"If you understand the unfairness of the situation, I don't understand the entire point of this conversation. Do you just enjoy hearing your own voice?"
"No, it's just that regardless of whose fault this is, things still need to be done and changed. It is a shit situation, but right now you're all in the negative, so simply doing what is expected of you won't change anything; you need to go above and beyond. Though I would have you know that I am a man of my word, I won't be telling people to act while not doing as much as I can. Dumnorix, are they ready?"
Dumnorix pokes into his pocket and pulls out two daggers, one of which he throws at Orb, who catches it and starts stretching his body.
Vėja, concerned, says, "Orb, we have invited you here as a guest. You are our responsibility, and in front of you is a warzone, not a game field. Don't you dare."
Turning back around with gold hair, Orb says, "I dare."
Vėja snaps her fingers, and member of the Cursed Sky Army move forward and try to restrain Orb, but Dumnorix, bringing out his rapier, swats them away, and in return, they bring out blades made of bones from their sides and smash them into Dumnorix's.
Orb, using this moment of reprieve, says, "Red branch battle arts; Passiflora and Snow Boost!"
Orb tenses up his legs and activates his legacy, then, together with Snow Boost Orb, activates Passiflora to lunge forward at high speed, right toward the battlefield, with Dumnorix doing the same moments later.
"AFTER THEM!" Vėja screams.
Stiprais says, "No, we can't allow members of the Cursed Heart Army to be seen on the battlefield. They can only act on the Queen's command, and we can't be accused of overstepping our authority right now!"
As the lunge forward, Dumnorix, holding his hand, says, "My hand is still shaking from taking their blows; those Cursed Heart soldiers are quite strong. I felt like they were trying to kill my head might've flown off."
Orb, with a smirk, says, "This is what the elites in one of the great powers in the world. You're going to need to keep up with them with all I have planned."
With a face full of joy, Dumnorix says, "That's a rather terrifying prospect, given I can barely tell the depths of their strength. But equally as exciting. I will be training the Red Branch Knights personally when we return, and whoever else can keep up. Can you compile a list of the strongest?"
"Sure, but for now let's deal with this."
Both Orb and Dumnorix arrive on the battlefield, where members of the Cursed Land Army are decimating the forces in front of them, and instantly they both dash towards members of Blamator, then with piercing blows they knock them down.
Orb grabs the member and palms his face, and pushes the man towards to ground, though behind him, a member of the Cursed Land Army, who looks like a giant scaly between a kangaroo and a pangolin with two large fists that form into drills, looks at Orb and says, "Hey, aren't you the boy from the match? What are you doing here?"
"Just restraining him, you can go now."
"No way, if I don't finish him off now, who is to say he won't get up again. I don't feel like allowing terrorists to roam the land."
Orb under his breath says, "Any restraining Nightmares are not always possible due to their curses, that's why I planned ahead for this."
Holding up the dagger Orb was given by Dumnoirx, he stabs the man in front of himself, and under his breath, he says, "Please work."
Name: Cursed Wendigo
Height: 630 cm
Type: Wonderbeast, Carnivore
Description: A giant black wonderbeasts, that has it's entire body made of a dark ash along with a head that looks like a combination between a wolf and a deer, the horns radiating off it's head are filled with purple fur that constantly sheds and regrows as it moves, and throughout it's entire body green flames flow in each crevice of the ash. It has the ability to turn its entire body into ash, allowing immense mobility on the battlefield.
Fact: Despite being a wonderbeast, the wendigo is closely related to dogs and behaves the same. Due to this, in the times before Blestemate became cursed, many actually kept them as pets, making them the most held wonderbeast. Though after the land became cursed, many died protecting their masters from humans who were trying to hunt them.