[Chapter Size: 2400 Words.]
Third Person POV
Cintra.
...
...
After taking Eira from one of the hideouts that had kept the unicorn safe, when Madara and Ciri were in the northern mountains — since it would be dangerous for the young unicorn to enter dragon territory — they finally went directly to Cintra.
Ciri used her powers to try to reach the southernmost part before going to Toussaint.
Ciri appeared in the southern region, bringing Madara and Eira with her. She knew this place because it was a small town where she had traveled with her grandmother a few months before meeting Madara — or before her trip to Verden, when her grandmother had promised her hand to a fat prince of that kingdom as his future wife, when she was only six years old. That had led to her escape to the Brokilon Forest, where she met the dryads — and also Geralt. Later, she met Madara in a Cintra forest when they were returning.
But what she found in that small town, which had once belonged to a local duke, was not the same town she had fallen in love with more than thirteen years ago. All she saw was the darkness of the night and the place in ruins.
The town was completely devastated, with some houses still partially standing, but burned, and all the wood was rotten. What had once been a lively and joyful town had become a dead field, destroyed by the war many years ago.
Madara, looking around, saw Ciri trembling.
"I'm sorry you had to see this," he said.
He had never been here before, so he hadn't expected to find such a devastated scene, created by the Nilfgaardian armies when they attacked Cintra. He immediately understood what had happened here.
Ciri didn't think twice before rushing forward and hugging him. Even Eira let out a sad sound upon seeing Ciri begin to cry, tears streaming down her face. Her emotions were intensified by the fact that she carried a forming child in her womb — and the joy she had felt when visiting the Valley of Dragons before had quickly died, replaced by sad memories.
"They were ordinary people, Madara," she said through her tears. "How could they do this to them?" She didn't need to try to see the past to know how many people had died the day the town was attacked.
"Unfortunately, that's how wars work, Ciri. One side always seeks to conquer the other, bringing a wave of death and chaos. Innocent people, who have nothing to do with the conflict, always suffer. That's how the world is — as long as there's a winner, there will always be a loser..." Madara replied.
"Can't we change that?" she asked, staring at him with eyes full of sadness.
"I don't know if there's a way to change how humans behave..." Madara answered seriously. "People will always be like this, and wars will continue to come from time to time."
He paused and continued, "However, we can change our own time while we're alive, Ciri. We can avenge them, restore Cintra, and give the people a dignified life. Later, we can change the world — but that's only temporary. The conflicts will return in the future. At the same time, it's the responsibility of those in the future to deal with that... We just have to do our part."
Ciri nodded as she listened, hugging him even tighter. They stayed there for a while, as Eira approached and wrapped her body around Ciri's legs as a gesture of support. She laughed softly, then soon pulled away from Madara, wiping her tears before hugging the unicorn and turning to her husband.
"Can we go there?" she asked.
Madara nodded, confirming with his head. He took the first steps toward the ruined village. She didn't let go of his hand and followed beside him. The burned wood was so old that not even its smell lingered in the air — but the atmosphere was still heavy.
Madara and Ciri didn't need torches to illuminate the place. While Madara activated the Sharingan, Ciri used a spell on her eyes, which began to glow.
"There are ghosts here," Madara said immediately, his eyes turning red. He could see the faint chaotic energies scattered around the place. "That must be why this town was never restored. There are at least fifteen ghosts here — all vengeful spirits," he informed.
"So their bones are still here…" Ciri murmured sadly, while Madara nodded.
"Yes. Do you want to free them?" he asked. After all, they would have to burn all the mortal remains that tied them to this world.
"Please… I know you wanted to go to Toussaint before, but can we wait a little?" she murmured with her question.
He nodded. "Alright. I just don't think we'll find a place for dinner tonight. But that doesn't mean we can't make something ourselves," he said, and Ciri smiled gratefully.
Madara turned to the young unicorn. "Can you create a magic shield here?" he asked. The unicorn replied with a firm neigh.
Madara had taught some interesting things to the magical creature, who knew a bit about magic — in fact, the unicorn was an entirely magical being. To help it protect itself, Madara had taught it some defensive spells that Ciri and Yennefer mastered through the manipulation of chaos.
Madara took that same spell and implanted it into Eira's mind using his Sharingan, and she had to adapt it to her own style of magic. The unicorn used a type of magic different from that of humans. Likewise, the sorceresses had to translate the spell used by the foal, which she had created to annihilate the chakra that would flow into Ciri's body through the umbilical cord, using human magic — and later, Ciri learned that Tissaia had managed to do the same.
In any case, the foal's horn began to glow in several colors before a yellow shield started to form around it — oval and translucent, far more powerful than a witcher's Quen. Eira had understood that she should maintain it while Madara and Ciri were there.
Ciri, despite her sadness, soon took on a more serious look and began to manifest Zireael, summoning it through time. Now, she had the ability to call the sword directly from the future whenever she needed it.
Madara drew a silver katana, and the two advanced toward the center of the village after applying ghost oil that Madara had stored in a scroll.
It didn't take long for the ghosts to appear. Their spectral forms, with ethereal colors and grayish tones, emerged with green eyes full of hatred and distorted faces that reflected the state in which they had died.
Soon two or three appeared, and in the end more than ten of them materialized and charged toward Madara and Ciri in the center of the town.
The two quickly entered battle. Madara summoned a circle with a fūinjutsu equivalent to a Yrden to combat the ghosts, while Ciri took advantage of Madara's circle as well, since her only ability to fight ghosts was to destroy a specter by sending it to another dimension. It was a cruel method — and that wasn't what they wanted there. They wanted to free them.
The ghosts were fast and attacked with huge claws, but they had no chance. Madara moved far faster, delivering precise strikes with his oil-coated blade, while Ciri danced among them with agility and teleportation. In just a few minutes, the ten spirits began to scream — and one by one, they vanished, freed from the curse that had bound them to that village.
There were still five more, and Madara located them all easily with his eyes as they moved to destroy the last ones hiding in the corners of the town.
"We have some time before they come back. So let's finish this," Madara said, and he and Ciri went after all the bones and objects linked to the spirits that kept them tied to this world, seeking vengeance against the Nilfgaardians who had killed them there many years ago.
One by one, they destroyed each of those points until Ciri found what seemed to be a small hidden storage room — and came out crying. Madara went to see what had happened to her and found two skeletons with no flesh left — some animal had dug a hole and fed on the corpses. The problem was the size of the two skeletons: the bones showed they were children who had died there alone, holding each other.
Ciri broke down in tears, sitting in a corner of that place. Madara went to her.
"Go with Eira, I'll take care of this," he said, and she nodded, leaving the place still crying, without saying another word, as her figure passed through the ruined town.
He destroyed the last remaining bones. Then he returned and found Ciri sitting outside the town, her hand gently stroking Eira, looking exhausted from so much crying.
"I wonder what those children felt in their last moments of life," she murmured, not even looking at Madara, though she already sensed he was approaching.
"How could they do this?" she asked again, her voice filled with anger. Madara had found more bodies of children in the area after that, but he didn't think it right to tell his wife, who was already emotionally shaken.
"I'm sorry for them. Unfortunately, there are many scattered all over Cintra. I can't lie — this is the result of war," Madara replied.
"War for what? They just showed up and wanted to destroy everything in Cintra! I really want to go to the capital. I want to see who's the bastard sitting on my grandmother's throne. I want to kill him, Madara. Make him feel everything those children felt — dying alone, trapped in a place while their parents were being killed outside. It's not fair," Ciri said, through tears.
"I know. We've talked about this many times, Ciri. We fled Cintra because we didn't have the power to change the fate of this kingdom. However, that doesn't mean we won't be able to change it in the future. We'll reclaim Cintra, as we planned, but it's not time to act yet," Madara replied.
Ciri nodded and touched her belly — referring to their child and the enemies lurking around.
"Alright, you're right... Even so, if we have time, maybe we can eat somewhere — in a restaurant in Toussaint. I don't want to be near too many people today, can we just eat by ourselves?" she asked, clearly no longer in the mood.
"Of course," Madara said, just before his eyes turned toward the edge of the village, where he saw a torch burning. He narrowed his gaze as he noticed someone coming out of one of the ruined houses and approaching. Ciri immediately wiped her tears and stood up, also finding it strange to see a man with white hair walking toward them, a backpack slung over his shoulder.
Madara watched closely. That man hadn't been in the village before — he must have just arrived. Still, he stayed on alert, though his expression remained calm as the stranger approached.
"Well, this certainly wasn't a sight I expected to find tonight," said the man, holding a torch. Seeing a black-haired boy with red eyes, a white-haired girl with glowing eyes, and a unicorn in front of him — none of them using torches — was hardly an ordinary scene.
"Who are you?" Ciri asked, while Madara studied his features and began to associate him with a certain familiar figure.
"Ah, I'm just a dentist who was passing through the region when I heard screams in the middle of the night. So, while camping nearby, I came to this village and saw you here," the man replied.
Madara narrowed his eyes. "You certainly didn't light your torch until you reached the village, since we would have noticed you earlier. And given that we didn't see any sign of light on the horizon, it means your camp is quite far away. Besides, you're very fast to have arrived here, considering it's only been a few minutes since we started fighting the ghosts. I also believe your hearing must be quite sharp to have caught the sound of their screams," Madara observed calmly, arms crossed, while the man raised an eyebrow at the boy's deductions.
"In my opinion, you must be a vampire," Madara declared a few seconds later.
Ciri was slightly taken aback. The man stared at Madara for a moment.
"You're young… very young. And yet, you deduced that about me," Regis murmured, scratching his chin and wondering what Madara truly was.
A sorcerer? A witcher who had somehow delayed aging? He could easily be older than he appeared, given how he had figured that out and how calm he remained even with a vampire standing before him. But at the same time, when Regis observed him more deeply, he felt an inner chill. Whatever that boy was, he was extremely dangerous — a feeling he hadn't experienced in his life except when encountering an ancient vampire. Perhaps this boy was even worse!
The vampire almost choked, feeling an urge to flee. It had been a terrible idea to approach that village — and those two unusually looking people… not to mention the unicorn. It was far too strange a combination.
"I'm not going to harm you, vampire," Madara said calmly. In a way, he even sympathized with the creature — in the stories he knew, this vampire had joined Geralt to fight Vilgefortz to save Ciri and had been burned alive while facing the sorcerer's power. In the game, the vampire had helped Geralt in Toussaint. He was a trustworthy individual, and it was interesting to meet him there, in the middle of nowhere, south of Cintra.
Before the vampire could respond, Madara continued, "My name is Madara Uchiha, and this is my wife, Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon. And the unicorn is Eira."
Ciri gave a small nod, somewhat surprised that Madara seemed friendly toward the vampire, so she saw no reason not to trust her husband's judgment.
The vampire raised an eyebrow, studied Madara for a few seconds, then looked at Ciri and Eira. After that, he placed a hand on his chest and bowed slightly in a courteous gesture.
"Then I must introduce myself as well — my name is Regis," he said politely.
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