This page features the story of the first of the Elibe series, chronologically.
This will also assume the bonus scenarios from the A Support of certain pairing.
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Backstory - The Scouring and the Ending Winter
In a distant past at the continent Elibe, mankind and dragons lived in coexistence and harmony. However, the peace did not last. Presumably due to their inherent greed, mankind declared war against dragons. The Dragons took up arms in response, but one part of the Dragons, the Divine Dragon Tribe, chose not to go to war. For generations, this war erupted Elibe.
Despite the Dragons having every advantage towards men, there was one big disadvantage that put them to the corner: They had troubles in reproducing, while the humans were much faster on that. They asked the Divine Dragon Tribe for help, but the latter still insisted on maintaining neutrality. Frustrated, the other dragons captured one of the Divine Dragons, Idunn, and turned her into a Demon Dragon, destroying her soul but gave her the ability to reproduce dragons in an alarming rate. With this, the Dragons regained the upper hand and cornered mankind.
In response, mankind combined everything at their disposal to create weapons specifically to combat the Dragons. These would become the Legendary Weapons of Elibe. The humans were led by the legendary hero Hartmut and his band of warriors, Roland the Champion, Barigan the Holy Knight, Saint Elimine, Archsage Athos, Durban the Berserker, Hanon the Divine Trooper and Bramimond the Enigma; carrying the Legendary Weapons and tipped the scales against the Dragons. They would be known as the Eight Heroes.
After several bouts of war, something terrible happened. Nature itself reacted against the overusage of the Legendary Weapons, causing a long lasting winter known as the Ending Winter. This was a bane for Dragons, as it forced them to take form of humanoid using Dragonstones as nature would not allow them to maintain their mighty form for long, now known as Manakate. The humans took advantage of this and pushed the Dragons to their defeat. Hartmut confronted Idunn afterwards, but was unable to kill a defenseless female like her. In turn, he merely sealed her with one of the Legendary Weapons he wielded, the Binding Blade. The majority of the defeated dragons fled through the gate known as the Dragon Gate at the Isle of Valor, but those who were unable to locate it ended up wandering Elibe and then killed by humans, with only one survivor, Jahn.
Eventually, the humans found out about how the Legendary Weapons were the cause of the Ending Winter. In order to ensure such calamity wouldn't happen again, the Eight Heroes decided to seal off their weapons as most of them relocated to new homes and founded their own Kingdoms. Hartmut founded the Kingdom of Bern, famous for its military might and the home of Wyverns. Elimine founded the Kingdom of Etruria, an advanced aristocratic and religious kingdom. Roland founded the Lycian League, consisting of several dukedom uniting under one banner. Barigan founded the kingdom of Ilia, a snowy kingdom where Pegasus soar the sky. Hanon traveled to Sacae and united the tribes there. Durban traveled to the Western Isles and tamed the people there. Bramimond simply vanished but his powers still remained within him to help humanity.
Archsage Athos' whereabouts will be explained in the next folder.
Despite the Dragons having every advantage towards men, there was one big disadvantage that put them to the corner: They had troubles in reproducing, while the humans were much faster on that. They asked the Divine Dragon Tribe for help, but the latter still insisted on maintaining neutrality. Frustrated, the other dragons captured one of the Divine Dragons, Idunn, and turned her into a Demon Dragon, destroying her soul but gave her the ability to reproduce dragons in an alarming rate. With this, the Dragons regained the upper hand and cornered mankind.
In response, mankind combined everything at their disposal to create weapons specifically to combat the Dragons. These would become the Legendary Weapons of Elibe. The humans were led by the legendary hero Hartmut and his band of warriors, Roland the Champion, Barigan the Holy Knight, Saint Elimine, Archsage Athos, Durban the Berserker, Hanon the Divine Trooper and Bramimond the Enigma; carrying the Legendary Weapons and tipped the scales against the Dragons. They would be known as the Eight Heroes.
After several bouts of war, something terrible happened. Nature itself reacted against the overusage of the Legendary Weapons, causing a long lasting winter known as the Ending Winter. This was a bane for Dragons, as it forced them to take form of humanoid using Dragonstones as nature would not allow them to maintain their mighty form for long, now known as Manakate. The humans took advantage of this and pushed the Dragons to their defeat. Hartmut confronted Idunn afterwards, but was unable to kill a defenseless female like her. In turn, he merely sealed her with one of the Legendary Weapons he wielded, the Binding Blade. The majority of the defeated dragons fled through the gate known as the Dragon Gate at the Isle of Valor, but those who were unable to locate it ended up wandering Elibe and then killed by humans, with only one survivor, Jahn.
Eventually, the humans found out about how the Legendary Weapons were the cause of the Ending Winter. In order to ensure such calamity wouldn't happen again, the Eight Heroes decided to seal off their weapons as most of them relocated to new homes and founded their own Kingdoms. Hartmut founded the Kingdom of Bern, famous for its military might and the home of Wyverns. Elimine founded the Kingdom of Etruria, an advanced aristocratic and religious kingdom. Roland founded the Lycian League, consisting of several dukedom uniting under one banner. Barigan founded the kingdom of Ilia, a snowy kingdom where Pegasus soar the sky. Hanon traveled to Sacae and united the tribes there. Durban traveled to the Western Isles and tamed the people there. Bramimond simply vanished but his powers still remained within him to help humanity.
Archsage Athos' whereabouts will be explained in the next folder.
Backstory - The Origin of Nergal
During the Scouring, a cross relationship was formed between a human and dragon. A man named Nergal and a dragon named Aenir fell in love, and together they produced two children: Ninian and Nils. After the defeat of the dragons, Nergal sent Ninian and Nils through the Dragon Gate, while he went on to look for the captured Aenir so the children would be safe from the humans that would do them harm. Nergal eventually failed to locate Aenir after awhile, so his focus shifted into trying to open the Dragon Gate to reunite with his children.
Meanwhile, after the Scouring, Archsage Athos found himself wandering in the Nabata desert. There, he met Nergal. Sharing their interest in knowledge, they became fast friends. Together, they discovered Arcadia, a haven where humans and dragons, mostly Divine Dragons, coexist and live together in peace. Both Athos and Nergal indulged themselves in the Libraries of Arcadia, which contained many knowledge about magic. Athos was trying to improve magic to help others, while Nergal attempted to learn about ancient dark magic in order to better his chance to open the Dragon Gate.
The study of dark magic eventually took over and corrupted Nergal's mind once he learned about 'quintessence', life energies of all living beings. After several experiments, he started becoming Drunk with Power, and in the end, Athos and the Divine Dragons defeated him and banished him from Arcadia.
Nergal's desire to reunite with his children became quickly eclipsed with the dark magic he learned, and now all he remembered was that he just wanted to open the Dragon Gate for a selfish bid of power to make him the most powerful man in the world. And thus, he did open the Dragon Gate and summoned both Ninian and Nils, only to tell them to call forth more dragons so he could absorb their quintessence and give him more power.
The study of quintessence also allowed Nergal to create humanoid beings known as 'Morph', used as his personal underlings. He had one of his Morphs, Sonia, infiltrate a group of assassins known as Black Fang, and turned it from a group that only targeted evil people as karmic punishment, into a much colder assassin group that would kill anyone for any reasons.
Meanwhile, after the Scouring, Archsage Athos found himself wandering in the Nabata desert. There, he met Nergal. Sharing their interest in knowledge, they became fast friends. Together, they discovered Arcadia, a haven where humans and dragons, mostly Divine Dragons, coexist and live together in peace. Both Athos and Nergal indulged themselves in the Libraries of Arcadia, which contained many knowledge about magic. Athos was trying to improve magic to help others, while Nergal attempted to learn about ancient dark magic in order to better his chance to open the Dragon Gate.
The study of dark magic eventually took over and corrupted Nergal's mind once he learned about 'quintessence', life energies of all living beings. After several experiments, he started becoming Drunk with Power, and in the end, Athos and the Divine Dragons defeated him and banished him from Arcadia.
Nergal's desire to reunite with his children became quickly eclipsed with the dark magic he learned, and now all he remembered was that he just wanted to open the Dragon Gate for a selfish bid of power to make him the most powerful man in the world. And thus, he did open the Dragon Gate and summoned both Ninian and Nils, only to tell them to call forth more dragons so he could absorb their quintessence and give him more power.
The study of quintessence also allowed Nergal to create humanoid beings known as 'Morph', used as his personal underlings. He had one of his Morphs, Sonia, infiltrate a group of assassins known as Black Fang, and turned it from a group that only targeted evil people as karmic punishment, into a much colder assassin group that would kill anyone for any reasons.
Lyndis' Tale
Years later, in the territory of Caelin, part of the Lycian League, Lady Madelyn, daughter of Marquess Hausen, fell in love with the chieftain of the Lorca Tribe of Sacae, Hassar. Together they eloped and then fled to the Plains of Sacae, against the wishes of Hausen, who in his grief, cut all ties with his daughter.
Hassar and Madelyn regardless lived happily and they bore a daughter, Lyndis, or Lyn for short. Unfortunately, when Lyn has come to age, the Taliver Bandits killed Hassar and Madelyn and the majority of the Lorca Tribe. The tribe dissolved that day, since they refused to be led by a woman, even if they're Hassar's only successor. Despite so, Lyn resolved to not mope around and continue on living, but this instilled her hatred towards bandits, pirates, thieves or any unlawful rogues in general and swore that one day she would exact her vengeance. Shortly afterwards, she helped a tactician named Mark, who collapsed in front of her, and nursed him back to health. She got Mark to help her on her quest to become stronger and prevent the tragedies of her parents even further by requesting to travel with him.
While visiting the Sacaen City of Bulgar, Lyn encountered a perverted cavalier, Sain, and his much more serious partner Kent. They ended up helping her against some bandits that wanted her dead for some reason, and both revealed that they have been sent by Hausen to pick up Lyn and take her back to Caelin, as after hearing about Madelyn's happy times with Hassar and Lyn's birth, he changed his mind and wanted to reunite with his only remaining family. However, this news did not sit well with Hausen's avaricious brother, Lundgren, who was supposed to be next in line of inheriting Caelin's throne had it not been the discovery of Lyn's existence, and so he sent out the aforementioned bandits and more of them to kill Lyn and secure the throne for himself.
Before departing for real, Lyn decided to visit a shrine and pray to the spirits, stopping a raid by bandits in the way and managed to discover that the spirits deemed her worthy to wield the sacred sword Mani Katti. The group came upon a ruins of a village ruined by bandits and thus Lyn was able to tell Kent and Sain about her horrid memory about bandits. And near the same ruins, they found Lyn's old friend, a timid Pegasus Knight from Ilia, Florina, being accosted with a group of bandits, although belonging to the Ganelon Bandits which found the Taliver Bandits' policy of 'kill everything in sight' distasteful, since they prefer to capture and sell women. Regardless, Lyn managed to pick up the services of a wandering Pheraen archer, Wil, and along with Kent, Sain and Florina, drove away the Ganelon Bandits. As the group grew, Sain suggested a name for the group, and 'Lyndis Legion' is picked.
The Lyndis Legion made a stop to a ruins of a nearby building where they found a worried woman named Natalie whose husband went missing, and she had troubles searching for him due to her wounded leg. Bandits quickly beset the ruins trying to kill Lyn; and in their services was a reluctant axeman, Dorcas. Out of instinct, Lyn approached Dorcas and managed to tell him his side of story that he needed money to buy a medicine to cure his wife, Natalie. After learning that Natalie was inside the building he's raiding, Dorcas quickly turned to Lyn's side and helped her drive away the bandits.
The next day, while beset by another group of bandits, Lyn encountered a loudmouthed cleric, Serra, and her exparasted bodyguard mage, Erk. After the battle, Serra insisted to come along with Lyn, much to Erk's consternation. The legion made their way to the town of Araphen where Kent managed to secure an audience with its Marquess for shelter in the night. Another group of bandits struck the legion, but Lyn manages to thwart them with the help of a nearby thief named Matthew (or so he claimed) and the marquess' own mercenary, the nomadic horse archer Rath. Unfortunately for Lyn, the Marquess of Araphen decided not to grant shelter for the legion since Kent didn't mention Lyn's Sacaen heritage and he abhorred savages as such. However, Lyn took great pride to her heritage, and thus agreed to just leave without even staying. Rath overheard the Marquess' expression of distaste, and after suspecting that the Marquess' distaste to savages also included him, fellow Sacaen, he ended his services and joined Lyndis' Legion as well. However, Lyn also learned that her grandfather has fallen ill, so her time was running short.
In the next day, instead of trouble coming to Lyn, she accidentally bumped into it. After Nergal summoned them, both Ninian and Nils eventually couldn't take enough of the abuse and ran away, with Nergal sending the Black Fang to pursue them. Nils was separated from Ninian, and while pleading for help from the locals, the Black Fang caught up to him, but Lyn came to his rescue. Not only that, the violence forced the hand of a wandering effeminate monk, Lucius, to intervene and helped Lyn drive away the Black Fang. When the Black Fang was driven away, Nils feared the worst, but thankfully Ninian has already been found by the son of the Marquess of Pherae, Eliwood. When she learned that Ninian lost her bracelet, Lyn decided to delay her journey to Caelin just to reclaim Ninian's bracelet, and she did, earning the siblings' gratitude.
Due to their dragon heritage, both Ninian and Nils possess extended sense, enabling them to sense danger from afar, which saved Lyn from being hit by ballista. During this battle, Matthew took absence under the pretense of having an errand. When he returned, turned out he was spying for information and found out some dire news: Marquess Hausen fell ill because he was poisoned by his own brother, Lundgren. Furthermore, Lundgren has spread rumors that an impostor of the Marquess' daughter roamed with 'two traitorous knights' trying to lay claim for Caelin, which pretty much branded not just Lyn, but also Kent and Sain as criminals. Thankfully for them, Eliwood was sympathetic to them, and thus he convinced the rest of the Lycia League's regional lords to not interfere with Caelin's problems.
As they approached Caelin, it was getting foggy and Matthew's 'thievery' came to a great boon as it allowed further sight. The first that greeted her was a hulking bald knight named Wallace. Kent and Sain feared the worst that he was there to apprehend the criminals. Thankfully for Lyn, Wallace was able to see the good in Lyn and decided to join her instead. Waiting for them was Kent and Sain's former combat instructor, Eagler, who fought them to the death in order to protect his men from Lundgren's wrath. This greatly angered Lyn and she swore that Lundgren will pay for his evil deeds.
Lyn and her men stormed Castle Caelin and defeated Lundgren, who perished in combat. Finally, Lyn was able to reunite with her grandfather, the sight of his granddaughter somehow made him feel a lot better and healthier, recovering his health. All that's well ended well. Kent and Sain resumed their posts, Florina and Wil entered the services of Caelin as knights, Wallace went on a journey but wouldn't be back due to having No Sense of Direction. Dorcas, Serra, Erk, Rath, Matthew, Nils and Ninian went on their own separate ways. And finally, Lyn bade farewell to Mark, the strategist that guided her through the journey as she resumed her position as the Princess of Caelin and helped her grandfather's recovery.
Thus ends Lyndis' tale... but not the whole tale of the Blazing Blade. No, we're just beginning.
Hassar and Madelyn regardless lived happily and they bore a daughter, Lyndis, or Lyn for short. Unfortunately, when Lyn has come to age, the Taliver Bandits killed Hassar and Madelyn and the majority of the Lorca Tribe. The tribe dissolved that day, since they refused to be led by a woman, even if they're Hassar's only successor. Despite so, Lyn resolved to not mope around and continue on living, but this instilled her hatred towards bandits, pirates, thieves or any unlawful rogues in general and swore that one day she would exact her vengeance. Shortly afterwards, she helped a tactician named Mark, who collapsed in front of her, and nursed him back to health. She got Mark to help her on her quest to become stronger and prevent the tragedies of her parents even further by requesting to travel with him.
While visiting the Sacaen City of Bulgar, Lyn encountered a perverted cavalier, Sain, and his much more serious partner Kent. They ended up helping her against some bandits that wanted her dead for some reason, and both revealed that they have been sent by Hausen to pick up Lyn and take her back to Caelin, as after hearing about Madelyn's happy times with Hassar and Lyn's birth, he changed his mind and wanted to reunite with his only remaining family. However, this news did not sit well with Hausen's avaricious brother, Lundgren, who was supposed to be next in line of inheriting Caelin's throne had it not been the discovery of Lyn's existence, and so he sent out the aforementioned bandits and more of them to kill Lyn and secure the throne for himself.
Before departing for real, Lyn decided to visit a shrine and pray to the spirits, stopping a raid by bandits in the way and managed to discover that the spirits deemed her worthy to wield the sacred sword Mani Katti. The group came upon a ruins of a village ruined by bandits and thus Lyn was able to tell Kent and Sain about her horrid memory about bandits. And near the same ruins, they found Lyn's old friend, a timid Pegasus Knight from Ilia, Florina, being accosted with a group of bandits, although belonging to the Ganelon Bandits which found the Taliver Bandits' policy of 'kill everything in sight' distasteful, since they prefer to capture and sell women. Regardless, Lyn managed to pick up the services of a wandering Pheraen archer, Wil, and along with Kent, Sain and Florina, drove away the Ganelon Bandits. As the group grew, Sain suggested a name for the group, and 'Lyndis Legion' is picked.
The Lyndis Legion made a stop to a ruins of a nearby building where they found a worried woman named Natalie whose husband went missing, and she had troubles searching for him due to her wounded leg. Bandits quickly beset the ruins trying to kill Lyn; and in their services was a reluctant axeman, Dorcas. Out of instinct, Lyn approached Dorcas and managed to tell him his side of story that he needed money to buy a medicine to cure his wife, Natalie. After learning that Natalie was inside the building he's raiding, Dorcas quickly turned to Lyn's side and helped her drive away the bandits.
The next day, while beset by another group of bandits, Lyn encountered a loudmouthed cleric, Serra, and her exparasted bodyguard mage, Erk. After the battle, Serra insisted to come along with Lyn, much to Erk's consternation. The legion made their way to the town of Araphen where Kent managed to secure an audience with its Marquess for shelter in the night. Another group of bandits struck the legion, but Lyn manages to thwart them with the help of a nearby thief named Matthew (or so he claimed) and the marquess' own mercenary, the nomadic horse archer Rath. Unfortunately for Lyn, the Marquess of Araphen decided not to grant shelter for the legion since Kent didn't mention Lyn's Sacaen heritage and he abhorred savages as such. However, Lyn took great pride to her heritage, and thus agreed to just leave without even staying. Rath overheard the Marquess' expression of distaste, and after suspecting that the Marquess' distaste to savages also included him, fellow Sacaen, he ended his services and joined Lyndis' Legion as well. However, Lyn also learned that her grandfather has fallen ill, so her time was running short.
In the next day, instead of trouble coming to Lyn, she accidentally bumped into it. After Nergal summoned them, both Ninian and Nils eventually couldn't take enough of the abuse and ran away, with Nergal sending the Black Fang to pursue them. Nils was separated from Ninian, and while pleading for help from the locals, the Black Fang caught up to him, but Lyn came to his rescue. Not only that, the violence forced the hand of a wandering effeminate monk, Lucius, to intervene and helped Lyn drive away the Black Fang. When the Black Fang was driven away, Nils feared the worst, but thankfully Ninian has already been found by the son of the Marquess of Pherae, Eliwood. When she learned that Ninian lost her bracelet, Lyn decided to delay her journey to Caelin just to reclaim Ninian's bracelet, and she did, earning the siblings' gratitude.
Due to their dragon heritage, both Ninian and Nils possess extended sense, enabling them to sense danger from afar, which saved Lyn from being hit by ballista. During this battle, Matthew took absence under the pretense of having an errand. When he returned, turned out he was spying for information and found out some dire news: Marquess Hausen fell ill because he was poisoned by his own brother, Lundgren. Furthermore, Lundgren has spread rumors that an impostor of the Marquess' daughter roamed with 'two traitorous knights' trying to lay claim for Caelin, which pretty much branded not just Lyn, but also Kent and Sain as criminals. Thankfully for them, Eliwood was sympathetic to them, and thus he convinced the rest of the Lycia League's regional lords to not interfere with Caelin's problems.
As they approached Caelin, it was getting foggy and Matthew's 'thievery' came to a great boon as it allowed further sight. The first that greeted her was a hulking bald knight named Wallace. Kent and Sain feared the worst that he was there to apprehend the criminals. Thankfully for Lyn, Wallace was able to see the good in Lyn and decided to join her instead. Waiting for them was Kent and Sain's former combat instructor, Eagler, who fought them to the death in order to protect his men from Lundgren's wrath. This greatly angered Lyn and she swore that Lundgren will pay for his evil deeds.
Lyn and her men stormed Castle Caelin and defeated Lundgren, who perished in combat. Finally, Lyn was able to reunite with her grandfather, the sight of his granddaughter somehow made him feel a lot better and healthier, recovering his health. All that's well ended well. Kent and Sain resumed their posts, Florina and Wil entered the services of Caelin as knights, Wallace went on a journey but wouldn't be back due to having No Sense of Direction. Dorcas, Serra, Erk, Rath, Matthew, Nils and Ninian went on their own separate ways. And finally, Lyn bade farewell to Mark, the strategist that guided her through the journey as she resumed her position as the Princess of Caelin and helped her grandfather's recovery.
Thus ends Lyndis' tale... but not the whole tale of the Blazing Blade. No, we're just beginning.
Eliwood & Hector's Tale: Trouble in Lycia
Months passed peacefully after Lyn returned to Caelin, but eventually the days of peace was replaced with unrest within Pherae, when Eliwood's father Elbert took on some of Pherae's best knights on a journey and never returned. Worried, Eliwood decided to depart, taking along the veteran knight Marcus and his squire Lowen with him, while leaving his mother Eleanora in the care of the lady knight Isadora. A group of bandits decided to take advantage of the absence of Elbert and started pillaging the nearby villages. The village magistrate's daughter, an young archer named Rebecca, was helped by the scouting Lowen and pleaded for help to Eliwood, and he complied. Lowen also managed to pick up Mark who just happened to be nearby and Eliwood made Mark his strategist. Not only that, Dorcas and a fellow axeman mercenary, Bartre, couldn't stand the bandits' havoc and decided to help drive them away and entered Eliwood's services.
Eliwood learned from Rebecca's father that the territory of Laus was preparing for war, most likely to take advantage of Elbert's absence, thus the situation looked grave and demanded that Eliwood finish his quest to find his father posthaste. Rebecca insisted to come along as she guessed she might find her missing brother along the way.
Meanwhile, the largest region of Lycia, Ostia, also heard the news of Elbert going missing. Hector, the younger brother of the Marquess Uther, knew that his best friend Eliwood wouldn't stand still. Against his brother's neutral stance, he stormed out of the castle, only taking along his aide, the very same Matthew that accompanied Lyn before, actually a spy for Ostia. However, several assassins blocked his way, but Hector was known for his mighty strength that he drove away these assassins with ease. On the way, Hector also ended up picking up Ostia's primary knight, Oswin, and the very same Serra that Lyn encountered, as she was a cleric of Ostia... much to his chagrin.
Eliwood's entourage headed to Santaruz to confirm the presence of Elbert. However, the Marquess of Santaruz, Helman, was being aided by a mysterious man, Ephidel, that advised him to send men to attack and scare Eliwood from continuing his quest. As planned, a group of bandits struck against Eliwood, but in the same time, Hector arrived in the same place and aided Eliwood instead. The two groups merge and they march to Santaruz.
Ephidel's men really went for the kill and this angered Helman that he decided to apologize. Not wanting to compromise his plan, Ephidel declared that Helman has ran out of uses and struck a mortal blow to him. Eliwood and Hector had to fight their way to reach Santaruz castle, and along the way, Matthew persuaded a swordsman of the plains under Santaruz' services, Guy, with an old debt to his side. Though he's not pleased with how Matthew tricked him, Guy nonetheless proved to be a jovial swordsman.
Eliwood arrived too late, Helman was already at death's door when he arrived. However, he managed to relay the information that Elbert did visit Santaruz and was briefed about the diabolical plans of the Marquess of Laus, Darin, and it might be the cause of why he's missing. Therefore, Darin might know more details about Elbert going missing. And lastly, Helman told Eliwood to be aware of the Black Fang before drawing his last breath.
En route to Laus, night fell. Eliwood and Hector set up a camp, only to hear a call of distress of an accosted, hapless merchant, Merlinus. The two came to his aid and saved him, and he insisted to come, becoming their own warehouse keeper with his wagon.
As it turned out, Ephidel was also advising on Darin, fanning his desire for rebellion against Ostia and taking charge of the Lycian League. But with Eliwood approaching, his plans might as well end up in ruins. However, Darin's son, Erik, was a former classmate of Eliwood and knew how naively trusting he could be and offered to take advantage of that and kill him. Hector just couldn't stand the sight of Erik so he excused himself for a 'walk'. Eliwood kept his suspicion on Erik, forcing him to reveal that his friendly approach was a ruse and he already planned an ambush, but it turned out that Hector's 'walk' was just an excuse to scout for possible ambush units and routed them himself. Without a choice, Erik called forth his main army and commenced the attack. Just shortly after, an old seer named Hannah offered her services to Eliwood for fortune-telling.
During the battle, Erk was holed up in a nearby village protecting his newest client, the noblewoman of House Caerleon, Priscilla, who was sheltered by the villagers for refusing the advances of Darin. He decided to seek help from nearby villages, but he found no helps at all as the other villagers were too scared of Darin. And much to his annoyance, he was reunited with Serra... but then he decided that he could turn around this unwanted meeting as an excuse to get Eliwood to help Priscilla by enlisting to his ranks, and they did rescue her.
Erik quickly realized that he was no match for the combined forces of Eliwood and Hector. He requested aid from his father, and found none. Ephidel has convinced Darin to abandon his son if he wanted to eventually succeed taking Lycia for himself and thus had to regroup somewhere else with Ephidel's master... Nergal, for Ephidel is just one of his Morphs.
Finally defeating and apprehending Erik, Eliwood and Hector managed to hear what happened from Erik: Beforehand, while Darin felt that Ostia's position as the leader of the Lycian League was unfair, he never thought of rebelling, but then Ephidel came and Darin became interested in inciting a rebellion. He sent envoys to other Marquesses, and even Elbert gave his reply, much to Eliwood's shock. Did his father supported a rebellion? Regardless, even Erik knew that Elbert didn't trust Ephidel at all, and argued with Darin vehemently over it before eventually disappearing. Though shocked with how his father could be planning something insiduous, at the very least Eliwood confirmed that his father was still alive and thus focused to look for him first before asking about the truth.
And unfortunately for Eliwood, there's no way Hector's brother Uther could help in this, as he noticed that the King of Bern, Desmond, was setting his sight on Lycia and any crack in defenses would justify his plans to invade Lycia. While pondering on this, Marcus brought the news that the soldiers of Laus conquered Caelin in a surprise attack.
Marquess Hausen's whereabouts were unknown, but it was known that Lyndis survived and planned to retake the castle. Along with Kent, Sain, Wil and Florina, Lyn hid in the woods and decided that the best course of action would be to ask for help from Eliwood. Florina volunteered to relay the message since she's able to fly with her Pegasus. Eliwood arrived to see Florina arriving and relaying the message... and promptly fell to the ground, with her Pegasus falling on top of Hector by accident while dodging arrows from Laus' archers.
Regardless, Eliwood helped Lyn storm the castle and she was introduced to Hector. The three storming the castle brought panic to Darin, and Hausen tried to make him halt his plan, but Ephidel silenced him and rerouted Darin back to his original plan with Nergal. As the young lords approached the castle interiors, Hector somehow could sense a killer instinct aiming at him, but he didn't know where it came from. Turned out, it came from an imprisoned Caelin mercenary, Raven, who offered to join in Laus for a chance to strike against the younger brother of the Marquess of Ostia, since apparently he had a grudge against Ostia. Lucius was accompanying him in prison and urged him not to give in to vengeance, but Raven would not listen to him. Before he reached Hector, however, he was met with Priscilla, who recognized him as her missing brother Raymond of House Cornwell, a disgraced house thanks to Ostia, which explained his desire for vengeance. Thankfully, Raven would rather not raise his sword against his sister so he decided to join her, and also bailed Lucius out, though he preferred to think that being closer with Hector as an ally meant that he had more chance to kill him.
Eliwood, Hector and Lyn managed to liberate Castle Caelin and frantically searched for Hausen, and found blood, much to Lyn's horror. However, it was turned in relief when it turned out that another Ostian spy, Matthew's girlfriend Leila, rescued Hausen in secret. Leila then briefed about her work: She posed as a member of the Black Fang, a group of assassins based on Bern, formerly just targeting corrupt nobles, but then changed their policies to targeting anyone, ever since Nergal came and manipulated them via the newest wife of the leader Brendan Reed ever since a year. The Black Fang was dispatched to Lycia for Nergal's desires and sent Ephidel as its emissary, where he manipulated Darin to hatch a rebellion. Elbert did answer to his call, but Leila couldn't say if he was agreeing or not. She did know where they're headed at the moment: The Dragon Gate at the Island of Valor, known as the Dread Isle. Lyn decided to accompany Eliwood and Hector to make sure that her grandfather is safe and to prevent Eliwood from possibly losing a parent.
Eliwood learned from Rebecca's father that the territory of Laus was preparing for war, most likely to take advantage of Elbert's absence, thus the situation looked grave and demanded that Eliwood finish his quest to find his father posthaste. Rebecca insisted to come along as she guessed she might find her missing brother along the way.
Meanwhile, the largest region of Lycia, Ostia, also heard the news of Elbert going missing. Hector, the younger brother of the Marquess Uther, knew that his best friend Eliwood wouldn't stand still. Against his brother's neutral stance, he stormed out of the castle, only taking along his aide, the very same Matthew that accompanied Lyn before, actually a spy for Ostia. However, several assassins blocked his way, but Hector was known for his mighty strength that he drove away these assassins with ease. On the way, Hector also ended up picking up Ostia's primary knight, Oswin, and the very same Serra that Lyn encountered, as she was a cleric of Ostia... much to his chagrin.
Eliwood's entourage headed to Santaruz to confirm the presence of Elbert. However, the Marquess of Santaruz, Helman, was being aided by a mysterious man, Ephidel, that advised him to send men to attack and scare Eliwood from continuing his quest. As planned, a group of bandits struck against Eliwood, but in the same time, Hector arrived in the same place and aided Eliwood instead. The two groups merge and they march to Santaruz.
Ephidel's men really went for the kill and this angered Helman that he decided to apologize. Not wanting to compromise his plan, Ephidel declared that Helman has ran out of uses and struck a mortal blow to him. Eliwood and Hector had to fight their way to reach Santaruz castle, and along the way, Matthew persuaded a swordsman of the plains under Santaruz' services, Guy, with an old debt to his side. Though he's not pleased with how Matthew tricked him, Guy nonetheless proved to be a jovial swordsman.
Eliwood arrived too late, Helman was already at death's door when he arrived. However, he managed to relay the information that Elbert did visit Santaruz and was briefed about the diabolical plans of the Marquess of Laus, Darin, and it might be the cause of why he's missing. Therefore, Darin might know more details about Elbert going missing. And lastly, Helman told Eliwood to be aware of the Black Fang before drawing his last breath.
En route to Laus, night fell. Eliwood and Hector set up a camp, only to hear a call of distress of an accosted, hapless merchant, Merlinus. The two came to his aid and saved him, and he insisted to come, becoming their own warehouse keeper with his wagon.
As it turned out, Ephidel was also advising on Darin, fanning his desire for rebellion against Ostia and taking charge of the Lycian League. But with Eliwood approaching, his plans might as well end up in ruins. However, Darin's son, Erik, was a former classmate of Eliwood and knew how naively trusting he could be and offered to take advantage of that and kill him. Hector just couldn't stand the sight of Erik so he excused himself for a 'walk'. Eliwood kept his suspicion on Erik, forcing him to reveal that his friendly approach was a ruse and he already planned an ambush, but it turned out that Hector's 'walk' was just an excuse to scout for possible ambush units and routed them himself. Without a choice, Erik called forth his main army and commenced the attack. Just shortly after, an old seer named Hannah offered her services to Eliwood for fortune-telling.
During the battle, Erk was holed up in a nearby village protecting his newest client, the noblewoman of House Caerleon, Priscilla, who was sheltered by the villagers for refusing the advances of Darin. He decided to seek help from nearby villages, but he found no helps at all as the other villagers were too scared of Darin. And much to his annoyance, he was reunited with Serra... but then he decided that he could turn around this unwanted meeting as an excuse to get Eliwood to help Priscilla by enlisting to his ranks, and they did rescue her.
Erik quickly realized that he was no match for the combined forces of Eliwood and Hector. He requested aid from his father, and found none. Ephidel has convinced Darin to abandon his son if he wanted to eventually succeed taking Lycia for himself and thus had to regroup somewhere else with Ephidel's master... Nergal, for Ephidel is just one of his Morphs.
Finally defeating and apprehending Erik, Eliwood and Hector managed to hear what happened from Erik: Beforehand, while Darin felt that Ostia's position as the leader of the Lycian League was unfair, he never thought of rebelling, but then Ephidel came and Darin became interested in inciting a rebellion. He sent envoys to other Marquesses, and even Elbert gave his reply, much to Eliwood's shock. Did his father supported a rebellion? Regardless, even Erik knew that Elbert didn't trust Ephidel at all, and argued with Darin vehemently over it before eventually disappearing. Though shocked with how his father could be planning something insiduous, at the very least Eliwood confirmed that his father was still alive and thus focused to look for him first before asking about the truth.
And unfortunately for Eliwood, there's no way Hector's brother Uther could help in this, as he noticed that the King of Bern, Desmond, was setting his sight on Lycia and any crack in defenses would justify his plans to invade Lycia. While pondering on this, Marcus brought the news that the soldiers of Laus conquered Caelin in a surprise attack.
Marquess Hausen's whereabouts were unknown, but it was known that Lyndis survived and planned to retake the castle. Along with Kent, Sain, Wil and Florina, Lyn hid in the woods and decided that the best course of action would be to ask for help from Eliwood. Florina volunteered to relay the message since she's able to fly with her Pegasus. Eliwood arrived to see Florina arriving and relaying the message... and promptly fell to the ground, with her Pegasus falling on top of Hector by accident while dodging arrows from Laus' archers.
Regardless, Eliwood helped Lyn storm the castle and she was introduced to Hector. The three storming the castle brought panic to Darin, and Hausen tried to make him halt his plan, but Ephidel silenced him and rerouted Darin back to his original plan with Nergal. As the young lords approached the castle interiors, Hector somehow could sense a killer instinct aiming at him, but he didn't know where it came from. Turned out, it came from an imprisoned Caelin mercenary, Raven, who offered to join in Laus for a chance to strike against the younger brother of the Marquess of Ostia, since apparently he had a grudge against Ostia. Lucius was accompanying him in prison and urged him not to give in to vengeance, but Raven would not listen to him. Before he reached Hector, however, he was met with Priscilla, who recognized him as her missing brother Raymond of House Cornwell, a disgraced house thanks to Ostia, which explained his desire for vengeance. Thankfully, Raven would rather not raise his sword against his sister so he decided to join her, and also bailed Lucius out, though he preferred to think that being closer with Hector as an ally meant that he had more chance to kill him.
Eliwood, Hector and Lyn managed to liberate Castle Caelin and frantically searched for Hausen, and found blood, much to Lyn's horror. However, it was turned in relief when it turned out that another Ostian spy, Matthew's girlfriend Leila, rescued Hausen in secret. Leila then briefed about her work: She posed as a member of the Black Fang, a group of assassins based on Bern, formerly just targeting corrupt nobles, but then changed their policies to targeting anyone, ever since Nergal came and manipulated them via the newest wife of the leader Brendan Reed ever since a year. The Black Fang was dispatched to Lycia for Nergal's desires and sent Ephidel as its emissary, where he manipulated Darin to hatch a rebellion. Elbert did answer to his call, but Leila couldn't say if he was agreeing or not. She did know where they're headed at the moment: The Dragon Gate at the Island of Valor, known as the Dread Isle. Lyn decided to accompany Eliwood and Hector to make sure that her grandfather is safe and to prevent Eliwood from possibly losing a parent.
Eliwood & Hector's Tale: Dread Isle
The Dread Isle lived up to its name that no one would even want to give a passage for anyone to that place. There's only one group crazy enough for this: The pirates stationed at Port Badon. Eliwood and Hector realized that they had no other choice, but Lyn immediately stormed off in anger, refusing to cooperate with pirates since it reminded her of bandits, the same people that destroyed her tribe. One of the pirates' captain, Fargus, offered them a proposal for a free ride: His men would attack Eliwood's group, but if they could make it to Fargus despite so and talk to him, the free ride would be theirs. Eliwood accepted and soon after, Lyn ended up admitting that she really had no choice but to put up with pirates for the time being, since no one wanted to help her. The commotion attracted a curious scholar of ancient arts, Canas, who offered to join the group out of curiosity to the Dread Isle. Eliwood managed to complete Fargus' challenge and got him and his group a sailing to the Dread Isle.
While on the ship, Hector managed to talk Lyn out about her distaste to pirates by telling her about his past, in particular when his father died and he was unable to cry. Their talk was interrupted when Eliwood discovered Ninian drifting in the sea and seemed like she lost her memories. A ship full of Black Fang assassins assaulted their ship intending to take back Ninian, but Eliwood's group stalled them until Fargus' men came to help and overwhelmed the Black Fang. As they finally landed onto Dread Isle, Fargus then sent out one of his men, Dart, as a representative of his men. While he might not realize it, Dart caught the eye of both Wil and Rebecca, who suspected that he might be their missing companion, and in Rebecca's case, her brother.
Meanwhile, Nergal and Ephidel watched the events unfold from afar and was impressed that Eliwood came to the Dread Isle taking Ninian along, much to the distress of Elbert, who was actually taken prisoner by Nergal and his men slaughtered. Nergal then sent Ephidel to take Darin along and eliminate Eliwood, and to his other Morph, Limstella, to head to Bern and contact the Morph that manipulated the Black Fang, Sonia, in order to continue fanning the war within Lycia. Leila caught wind of this and the involvement of Bern would mean disaster. Unfortunately for her, Ephidel finally discovered her spying and then had her executed by Black Fang's emotionless top assassin, the Angel of Death, Jaffar.
Ephidel specifically put up Leila's corpse at the shores of Dread Isle, so Eliwood and Hector would witness her corpse firsthand, and they did. Saddened with the loss, Matthew confessed that the task would've been Leila's last, but then she died on duty. He requested a temporary leave in order to bury Leila. Unfortunately, the area was covered in thick fog, and this was used by a member of the Black Fang, a Sacaen named Uhai, to spring an ambush and took Lyn hostage to be exchanged with Ninian and the rest to leave the island. However, not only Lyn, but Eliwood and Hector showed determination to push on through, so Uhai decided to let Lyn go and engage in a honorable all out combat to death, as with the tradition of Sacae.
Matthew quickly came back to the group, having concluded Leila's burial as fast as possible and realizing that it should have been his duty to guide the group through the thick fog, and he should not shirk from his duties. And from the fog, a serene Pegasus Knight flew into the battle, intending to dive suicidally into battle and avenge her friends, even if she might die, she would prove her creeds as a Knight of Ilia. Florina flew onto this lady and identified her as her eldest sister Fiora, and then managed to talk her out of her suicidal behavior, as it stemmed from her guilt of losing her whole squad in this very island. With Matthew's guidance and Fiora's aid, Eliwood's group defeated Uhai fair and square, and he gave the direction that would lead to Dragon's Gate.
En route to the Dragon's Gate, another Black Fang member, Aion, sprung his attack using his long range magic. However, the appearance of the enigmatic Kishuna suddenly silenced Aion, allowing Eliwood to freely decimate him. This ended up having the group take yet another detour to a ruins where they fought the Kishuna once more. After finding nothing, they got back to the real route. Unknown to them, Nergal unconsciously paid a visit to this ruin, bits of his past memories as an uncorrupted father of Ninian and Nils resurfacing to him. However, he then dismissed the memory as insignificant if he easily forgot it, and resumed with his old plan of seeking power for himself.
When the group finally reached the Dragon's Gate, Ninian grew further anxious, stating that she should not have come to the place. Ephidel warped in to taunt the group about how he personally arranged the death of Leila, infuriating Hector and gave Ephidel an opening to capture Ninian and bring her to Nergal while he left Darin and his men to guard the gate. While Eliwood and his friends stormed the gate, they came across a defector from the Black Fang, the thief known as Legault the Hurricane. Eliwood and Lyn convinced him to join their cause, but Legault warned them that as of the moment, the Black Fang leader Brendan Reed was not the enemy, but someone who manipulated the group from behind... none other than Nergal, of course.
Darin has been fed with lies and grandeurs that he would be the ruler of the world. He died believing in that lie with no one helping him in the last moments. As Eliwood reached the interior of Dragon's Gate, he finally found his father, at the moment he has been heavily wounded thanks to Jaffar for striking back against Nergal in an act of defiance, as well as Ninian, who was in a trance. While attempting to escape, Ephidel and Jaffar blocked their path, though Ephidel told Jaffar to head for his next assignment at Bern.
Shortly after, Nergal extracted Elbert's quintessence and commanded Ninian to open the Dragon's Gate with the quinetessence. Things seemed dire for the group as a literal Fire Dragon was about to enter from the Dragon's Gate, but suddenly Nils appeared and snapped Ninian out of her trance and led everyone out, while Nergal teleported away. However, the Dragon had partially passed the gate and Ephidel was left behind to his doom against the dragon's fire, with him begging for his life to no avail.
Nergal cursed at Nils' interference, and as one final spite, Elbert moved his dying body to wound Nergal, forcing him to completely retreat. In his dying breath, he apologized for making Eliwood and his wife worry, and told Eliwood to finish his task of stopping Nergal once he returned. Eliwood then wept for his father's demise.
While on the ship, Hector managed to talk Lyn out about her distaste to pirates by telling her about his past, in particular when his father died and he was unable to cry. Their talk was interrupted when Eliwood discovered Ninian drifting in the sea and seemed like she lost her memories. A ship full of Black Fang assassins assaulted their ship intending to take back Ninian, but Eliwood's group stalled them until Fargus' men came to help and overwhelmed the Black Fang. As they finally landed onto Dread Isle, Fargus then sent out one of his men, Dart, as a representative of his men. While he might not realize it, Dart caught the eye of both Wil and Rebecca, who suspected that he might be their missing companion, and in Rebecca's case, her brother.
Meanwhile, Nergal and Ephidel watched the events unfold from afar and was impressed that Eliwood came to the Dread Isle taking Ninian along, much to the distress of Elbert, who was actually taken prisoner by Nergal and his men slaughtered. Nergal then sent Ephidel to take Darin along and eliminate Eliwood, and to his other Morph, Limstella, to head to Bern and contact the Morph that manipulated the Black Fang, Sonia, in order to continue fanning the war within Lycia. Leila caught wind of this and the involvement of Bern would mean disaster. Unfortunately for her, Ephidel finally discovered her spying and then had her executed by Black Fang's emotionless top assassin, the Angel of Death, Jaffar.
Ephidel specifically put up Leila's corpse at the shores of Dread Isle, so Eliwood and Hector would witness her corpse firsthand, and they did. Saddened with the loss, Matthew confessed that the task would've been Leila's last, but then she died on duty. He requested a temporary leave in order to bury Leila. Unfortunately, the area was covered in thick fog, and this was used by a member of the Black Fang, a Sacaen named Uhai, to spring an ambush and took Lyn hostage to be exchanged with Ninian and the rest to leave the island. However, not only Lyn, but Eliwood and Hector showed determination to push on through, so Uhai decided to let Lyn go and engage in a honorable all out combat to death, as with the tradition of Sacae.
Matthew quickly came back to the group, having concluded Leila's burial as fast as possible and realizing that it should have been his duty to guide the group through the thick fog, and he should not shirk from his duties. And from the fog, a serene Pegasus Knight flew into the battle, intending to dive suicidally into battle and avenge her friends, even if she might die, she would prove her creeds as a Knight of Ilia. Florina flew onto this lady and identified her as her eldest sister Fiora, and then managed to talk her out of her suicidal behavior, as it stemmed from her guilt of losing her whole squad in this very island. With Matthew's guidance and Fiora's aid, Eliwood's group defeated Uhai fair and square, and he gave the direction that would lead to Dragon's Gate.
En route to the Dragon's Gate, another Black Fang member, Aion, sprung his attack using his long range magic. However, the appearance of the enigmatic Kishuna suddenly silenced Aion, allowing Eliwood to freely decimate him. This ended up having the group take yet another detour to a ruins where they fought the Kishuna once more. After finding nothing, they got back to the real route. Unknown to them, Nergal unconsciously paid a visit to this ruin, bits of his past memories as an uncorrupted father of Ninian and Nils resurfacing to him. However, he then dismissed the memory as insignificant if he easily forgot it, and resumed with his old plan of seeking power for himself.
When the group finally reached the Dragon's Gate, Ninian grew further anxious, stating that she should not have come to the place. Ephidel warped in to taunt the group about how he personally arranged the death of Leila, infuriating Hector and gave Ephidel an opening to capture Ninian and bring her to Nergal while he left Darin and his men to guard the gate. While Eliwood and his friends stormed the gate, they came across a defector from the Black Fang, the thief known as Legault the Hurricane. Eliwood and Lyn convinced him to join their cause, but Legault warned them that as of the moment, the Black Fang leader Brendan Reed was not the enemy, but someone who manipulated the group from behind... none other than Nergal, of course.
Darin has been fed with lies and grandeurs that he would be the ruler of the world. He died believing in that lie with no one helping him in the last moments. As Eliwood reached the interior of Dragon's Gate, he finally found his father, at the moment he has been heavily wounded thanks to Jaffar for striking back against Nergal in an act of defiance, as well as Ninian, who was in a trance. While attempting to escape, Ephidel and Jaffar blocked their path, though Ephidel told Jaffar to head for his next assignment at Bern.
Shortly after, Nergal extracted Elbert's quintessence and commanded Ninian to open the Dragon's Gate with the quinetessence. Things seemed dire for the group as a literal Fire Dragon was about to enter from the Dragon's Gate, but suddenly Nils appeared and snapped Ninian out of her trance and led everyone out, while Nergal teleported away. However, the Dragon had partially passed the gate and Ephidel was left behind to his doom against the dragon's fire, with him begging for his life to no avail.
Nergal cursed at Nils' interference, and as one final spite, Elbert moved his dying body to wound Nergal, forcing him to completely retreat. In his dying breath, he apologized for making Eliwood and his wife worry, and told Eliwood to finish his task of stopping Nergal once he returned. Eliwood then wept for his father's demise.
Eliwood & Hector's Tale: Preparing for departure to Bern
The group returned to Badon, where Nils briefed the group about Nergal's goals in gathering quintessence and told the group what happened after he and Ninian went separate ways from the Lyndis Legion: The Black Fang captured them once more and brought them to Dragon's Gate, but Elbert was also there and cheered them up by telling them stories about his family, including his son Eliwood and his wife Eleanora. He let them escape one more time, but a storm in the sea separated them, while Ninian was found by Eliwood's group, Nils ended up in a ruins alone and had to fend for himself until he could reunite with Ninian. The topic, however, began to hit Eliwood in sensitive spots since he just recently lost his father, so Hector convinced Nils to halt the story and let Eliwood be alone for awhile. Outside, he managed to tell Hector and Lyn on how Nergal might not be human since he could heal his wounds quickly enough.
Meanwhile, Ninian started to develop her own guilt for leading to the events that caused Eliwood to lose his father, but Eliwood bore her no malice and continued to treat her kindly, treatments that Ninian felt like she didn't deserve. But around this time, both siblings detected danger once more and the group found themselves under night ambush by Black Fang. As the group prepare to fight, Ninian was insistent to help out Eliwood to make amends for Elbert's death. Unable to stop Ninian's insistence, Nils then transferred his powers into Ninian, so she could aid Eliwood's team with her mystical, refreshing dance.
After the battle, it seemed that Eliwood has recovered from his grief and decided that there is no choice but to report Nergal's actions to Uther and seek guidance in what should be done in the name of Lycia League. And in the same time, the lady knight of Pherae, Isadora, came at the order of Eleanora after a secret messenger from Marcus arrived to tell about the last moments of Elbert. As the group depart to Ostia, Eliwood also decided to petition Uther to send some troops to defend Pherae while he's away.
Meanwhile, Nergal, recuperating from his wounds, gave his orders for his other Morphs: Sonia to further manipulate the Black Fang, and Limstella to seek for people with strong quintessence, just like Elbert before. For that, Sonia had Brendan dispatch the Four Fangs to do the job. However, she only had the Reed brothers Lloyd and Linus to try to kill Eliwood. As of the other two Fangs, Ursula and Jaffar, she had another job.
Uther would be late in their meeting, but he would come. While waiting in Ostia, Nils suddenly collapsed and felt very ill. And in the same time, former Laus mercenaries managed to surround them and they're forced to do battle to defend Nils. Thankfully, within the mercenaries, Lyn met a familiar face: Rath. He was easily convinced to return to Lyn's side. Furthermore, the group was approached by a wyvern rider from Bern amongst the mercenary, named Heath. The mercenary's decision to attack the group that also happened to have women and children disgusted him that he'd rather surrender and fight for their cause.
With Rath and Heath's help, the group managed to defend Nils as finally Uther arrived with his main force, forcing the mercenaries to retreat. The group then briefed Uther with the current events, from Laus' rebellion to Leila and Elbert's death to Nergal's plan to bring back the dragons to the world. And as Ninian detected, Nergal currently resided at Bern. Knowing that if Nergal managed to ensnare the most powerful country in Elibe, the world is doomed, Uther gave permission for the group to depart to Bern, but he suggested to take a detour to Nabata Desert to meet the Living Legend first...
While traveling through the hot sands of Nabata, the group still managed to bond over together as friends, with Hector showing his heart as big as his own stature to Nils, and Ninian bonding further with Eliwood. And shortly after, they came across a lone man facing multiple bandits, and when they try to help him, a giant axeman named Hawkeye suddenly appeared and lent his help for the group. And just as they saved the man, a quicksand sucked the whole group where they once more faced the enigmatic Kishuna. Once the battle concluded, Hawkeye was able to take the group to the aforementioned Living Legend...
None other than Archsage Athos of the Eight Legends, in flesh and blood, living a long life secluded in the desert. And the man they just previously saved was none other than Etruria's Count Reglay, Pent, and he is accompanied with his wife Louise in assisting Athos. Athos knew about the threat of Nergal, and instructed Eliwood and his friends to head to Bern's Shrine of Seals where the force that could oppose Nergal lies. Gathering everyone, Athos then teleported them to the territory nearest to Bern: Lycia. In there, Eliwood paid one last visit to his mother and spent one night before departing to Bern.
Meanwhile, Ninian started to develop her own guilt for leading to the events that caused Eliwood to lose his father, but Eliwood bore her no malice and continued to treat her kindly, treatments that Ninian felt like she didn't deserve. But around this time, both siblings detected danger once more and the group found themselves under night ambush by Black Fang. As the group prepare to fight, Ninian was insistent to help out Eliwood to make amends for Elbert's death. Unable to stop Ninian's insistence, Nils then transferred his powers into Ninian, so she could aid Eliwood's team with her mystical, refreshing dance.
After the battle, it seemed that Eliwood has recovered from his grief and decided that there is no choice but to report Nergal's actions to Uther and seek guidance in what should be done in the name of Lycia League. And in the same time, the lady knight of Pherae, Isadora, came at the order of Eleanora after a secret messenger from Marcus arrived to tell about the last moments of Elbert. As the group depart to Ostia, Eliwood also decided to petition Uther to send some troops to defend Pherae while he's away.
Meanwhile, Nergal, recuperating from his wounds, gave his orders for his other Morphs: Sonia to further manipulate the Black Fang, and Limstella to seek for people with strong quintessence, just like Elbert before. For that, Sonia had Brendan dispatch the Four Fangs to do the job. However, she only had the Reed brothers Lloyd and Linus to try to kill Eliwood. As of the other two Fangs, Ursula and Jaffar, she had another job.
Uther would be late in their meeting, but he would come. While waiting in Ostia, Nils suddenly collapsed and felt very ill. And in the same time, former Laus mercenaries managed to surround them and they're forced to do battle to defend Nils. Thankfully, within the mercenaries, Lyn met a familiar face: Rath. He was easily convinced to return to Lyn's side. Furthermore, the group was approached by a wyvern rider from Bern amongst the mercenary, named Heath. The mercenary's decision to attack the group that also happened to have women and children disgusted him that he'd rather surrender and fight for their cause.
With Rath and Heath's help, the group managed to defend Nils as finally Uther arrived with his main force, forcing the mercenaries to retreat. The group then briefed Uther with the current events, from Laus' rebellion to Leila and Elbert's death to Nergal's plan to bring back the dragons to the world. And as Ninian detected, Nergal currently resided at Bern. Knowing that if Nergal managed to ensnare the most powerful country in Elibe, the world is doomed, Uther gave permission for the group to depart to Bern, but he suggested to take a detour to Nabata Desert to meet the Living Legend first...
While traveling through the hot sands of Nabata, the group still managed to bond over together as friends, with Hector showing his heart as big as his own stature to Nils, and Ninian bonding further with Eliwood. And shortly after, they came across a lone man facing multiple bandits, and when they try to help him, a giant axeman named Hawkeye suddenly appeared and lent his help for the group. And just as they saved the man, a quicksand sucked the whole group where they once more faced the enigmatic Kishuna. Once the battle concluded, Hawkeye was able to take the group to the aforementioned Living Legend...
None other than Archsage Athos of the Eight Legends, in flesh and blood, living a long life secluded in the desert. And the man they just previously saved was none other than Etruria's Count Reglay, Pent, and he is accompanied with his wife Louise in assisting Athos. Athos knew about the threat of Nergal, and instructed Eliwood and his friends to head to Bern's Shrine of Seals where the force that could oppose Nergal lies. Gathering everyone, Athos then teleported them to the territory nearest to Bern: Lycia. In there, Eliwood paid one last visit to his mother and spent one night before departing to Bern.
Eliwood & Hector's Tale: Black Fang in Bern
The people of Bern were excited as the well-favored crown prince Zephiel was about to attend his coming-to-age ceremony, and Pent and Louise were previously sent as the representatives of Etruria. Therefore, they suggested to sneak into Bern themselves for further information, but told Eliwood to be careful and disguise themselves, as Bern under the tyrannical King Desmond might see their sneaking around as an excuse to declare war to Lycia.
(For this recap, we will assume that Lloyd is faced first)
Meanwhile, the Reed brothers Lloyd and Linus conversed with their little sister figure Nino, supposedly daughter of Sonia. They commented that Nino was a good girl as opposed to Sonia. In the same time, Eliwood decided to use Pent's absence as the time to investigate Black Fang. It was at that time both Lloyd and Linus spotted Eliwood and decided it's time to strike. Lloyd offered to strike first and used the fog to his advantage to strike against Eliwood. And in the midst of this fogged strike, a familiar face showed themselves: Wallace got lost in his way to Caelin once again and stumbled here, only to be picked up by the former members of the Lyndis Legion. In the same time, Nino encountered a wounded Jaffar and showed compassion to him, tending to his wounds.
Eliwood prevailed against Lloyd's strike, and also surprised him with Eliwood noticing that Lloyd went out of his way to make sure civilians were not involved. This left Lloyd pondering on what to do on Eliwood since he could sense Eliwood's sense of honor, unlike how the Black Fang kept telling him that Eliwood is evil, the type of people the Black Fang used to target. He decided to report this to Brendan and hoped that there would be a change of plan, but he never got the chance, Limstella decided that Lloyd's quintessence was ideal for Nergal and drained him out of it. Linus arrived too late and thought that his brother was killed dishonorably by Eliwood, thus he swore vengeance. Jaffar recovered but was baffled on why Nino gave her all to tend to him.
Meanwhile, the palace of Bern is embroiled with drama. Queen Hellene and King Desmond did not get along at all, as Desmond despised his son Zephiel born from Hellene, but doted his daughter Guinivere born from his other, commoner wife that he truly loved, as opposed to Hellene whom he married out of political necessity. However, the rule of Bern decreed that only men can inherit the throne, thus Hellene was overjoyed as opposed to Desmond that she would finally stop Desmond's constant belittling. Unfortunately for Hellene, Desmond reported that someone has stolen the royal treasure of Bern from the royal palace, the Fire Emblem, and without it, Zephiel's coming-to-age ceremony must be cancelled. Desmond admitted to Hellene that Zephiel excelled at pretty much everything he didn't, from books, blades to winning the hearts of the people, but he was still adamant to not let Zephiel steal what was his. It was at this time that Louise, an old friend of Hellene, came to the scene and she ended up having to bear the task of recovering the Fire Emblem to Eliwood and his friends.
Hector already did his scouting and decided to seek information in the south, surrounded with marsh and lakes. However, in there, they ended up being attacked by a mad soldier imprisoned by Bern but released by Sonia to eliminate Eliwood and Hector. By this point, Fiora and Florina has wondered what happened to their middle sister Farina, and shortly after, Farina herself came flying to earn her keeps. Her prowess piqued Hector's interest so he approached her and asked if she would like to join them, but Farina was being a mercenary at heart; thus she demanded 20,000 Gold in advance payment. Hector paid that fully and she joined their cause. Unfortunately, aside of getting Farina, no information about Fire Emblem was received from the trek, so the group had to sneak into the royal palace itself.
The Bern family drama continued here. Zephiel was very much a well-loved, well-respected prince that even his half-sister Guinivere had nothing but adoration to him. Everyone loved him... except his father Desmond, that is, who continued to belittle him and trying to win Guinivere's attention to no avail. Furthermore, it was revealed that Desmond himself collaborated with Sonia to steal the Fire Emblem so the ceremony would be canceled.
This did not bode well for Eliwood's group, if Nergal managed to influence the most militant nation of Elibe, hopes for peace would vanish. But they didn't have time to rest either, since they suddenly spotted one Wyvern general flying and aiming at someone they know of... Nils. The Wyvern general, Vaida, also the former captain of Heath's squad, was planning to hand over Nils to Nergal as part of Bern's pact to Black Fang, despite her Undying Loyalty to Bern. And what's worse, it would seem that she wielded a cursed power from another source, most likely Nergal. Regrouping with his friends, Eliwood were joined by Pent and Louise, who decided to take the field directly. With their help, they managed to stave off Vaida's assault and she fled. Lyn then suggested that they track her down in hopes that she would lead them to the stolen Fire Emblem itself, if what they learned from Desmond was right.
Lyn's intuition proved right as it led them right into a Black Fang base. After Sonia punished Vaida for her failure, she called upon Nino. Sonia entrusted her with the task of assassinating Zephiel and assisting her in the task would be Jaffar. She would brief the two more, so she left the Fire Emblem in the hands of two henchmen: The mad ex-Four Fangs member Jerme and the bishop that renounced God in favor of Nergal, Kenneth. It was there Eliwood witnessed firsthand what happened when someone got Nergal to sink his claws in too deep... driven to madness. At the very least, in this battle, there were two people connected by madness that ended up helping him. The first was Karel, a wandering swordsman with exceeding blood lust, and the second is Harken, one of the former knights under Elbert, now driven into suicidal tendencies and only looking for a battlefield where he could die, only to be knocked from his senses by his Pheraen compatriots, especially his fiancee Isadora. After the battle, the group finally obtained the Fire Emblem, but they had to hurry to stop the assassination plot upon the Prince of Bern.
Nino made Sonia, in reluctance, promise her that if she fulfilled her mission, her mother would hold her hands. Once she was away, however, Sonia showed her true colors by telling Jaffar to kill Nino once she fulfilled her mission. Sonia reasoned that since Zephiel was a well loved prince, his death would cause a big uproar and a scapegoat was needed, but in truth, she just couldn't stand Nino, being disgusted at her existence and would rather see her dead, at least she'd be useful that way. In a rare bout of emotion, Jaffar expressed disgust at Sonia's attitude against her so-called daughter.
Nino and Jaffar snuck to the Bern royal palace and stumbled upon Zephiel praying for the well-being of his family as his last wish of being an innocent child, so that his family would be together in harmony... and that his father would finally acknowledge him. This hit too close to home with Nino, who was never acknowledged by her mother Sonia. Because of this, after knocking Zephiel unconscious, Nino was unable to fulfill her duty and resigned herself to die for failing a Black Fang's duty. Surprisingly, Jaffar changed his mind from doing business as usual, killing those who failed the duties of Black Fang, and decided to cover for Nino as they try to escape. Unfortunately, Sonia did have a backup plan... the last of the Four Fangs, Ursula, was sent to finish the job just in case Nino failed. And Nino living means that Sonia's whole plan was ruined, she wasn't supposed to come out alive no matter the outcome. Jaffar sent Nino to safety while he took on the Black Fang assassins alone.
And it was just in time with Eliwood's group to arrive. Nino managed to get their help to protect Zephiel and save Jaffar and they defeated Ursula. As the Bern guards swarm the place to protect their Prince, Eliwood's group made their escape. While they were glad that Nino made it out alive and Jaffar spared Zephiel, Jaffar chided on their naiveness because he has killed many of their friends. And this did not sit well with Hector, who valued the lives of his men. However, Eliwood emphasized that they needed all the help they could get to defeat Nergal, one of them being Jaffar. After Nino insisted on him, Jaffar accepted the offer. Meanwhile, Limstella took the quintessence out of Ursula's dead body.
The group was finally granted with the audience with Queen Hellene, who seemed more interested in the recovery of Fire Emblem. This didn't sit well with Eliwood, who was aware that her son's life was in danger just moments ago, and she was more concerned in one-upping Desmond and Guinivere, using Zephiel as her means for it. While the Queen formerly promised the reward of the road to the Shrine of Seals, Eliwood just left the room out of disgust without even saying anything about the reward. And it was just then the soldiers of Bern, including Zephiel's loyal aide General Murdock, reported about the assassination attempt to the Queen.
Eliwood apologized for blowing up the chance to get to the road of Shrine of Seals. However, Pent and Louise didn't blame him, Louise suspected that Hellene's loveless marriage with Desmond changed her, who was formerly only wishing to be a good wife and good mother. But it was around that time that Hellene suddenly came out and gave them the book containing the map and the Fire Emblem as well to thank them for protecting her son. Afterwards, Hellene summoned Zephiel and apologized for treating him more as a tool and promised to be a good mother, with Zephiel happily accepting her apology and hoped that one day his father would also see reason and they would be a happy family.
In the same night, Nino still felt uneasy and decided to sneak and say one final good bye to her mother. Despite his warnings, Jaffar relented and assisted Nino. Eliwood and Lyn were ready to follow them just in case, but Hector was skeptical, he's still unable to completely forgive Jaffar for murdering his men and Leila when he was under Black Fang. But regardless, he settled with the idea that a dead Jaffar would be an easy way out, he had to live to bear the burden of his sins. And so the group tailed behind Nino as she headed to where Sonia was located... a water temple.
And Nino witnessed what shocked her to the core. Sonia openly admitted to Brendan Reed that she was just using him, formerly only reined by Lloyd and Linus, but at the moment one of them was dead and the other was away, and the rest have been replaced by Morphs. And Brendan just ran out of uses for her and she was only using him because Nergal ordered her to, she despised the activities otherwise. Brendan called out for her betrayal and they both struck at each other, with Brendan only managing to wound Sonia, but he died. Limstella then extracted his quintessence, with Sonia belittling her as nothing more than a mindless puppet, compared to her who looked more human.
And when she came face to face with Nino, Sonia revealed the whole truth of her past: Sonia was not her mother. Nino came from a family of mages in Lycia that guarded the secrets of dragons, which made Nergal target them, and then Sonia killed them and their other son when she held the infant Nino as a hostage. Nergal saw potential in Nino's magic lineage so he ordered Sonia to raise her as her daughter, and Sonia hated every thoughts of it, she just wanted to kill Nino had it not been that order. Jaffar at this point realized that his interactions with Nino made him reclaim a bit of his emotions, and he used one of those first moments to denounce Sonia as an inhuman monster. And shortly after, Eliwood and his group came to help. Finally confronting the dark lady, Nino eventually unleashed all her pent up rage for being lied to, abused and disposed by Sonia and defeated her.
Eventually Nino recovered the last remains of her true family, a pendant from her true mother. As Nino remininsces about her happy times with the old Black Fang who were kind to her, she bid farewell to her old family. Meanwhile, in her dying breath, Sonia found out the truth from Limstella that as much as she claimed herself to be human, in the end, she was only a Morph, thus Limstella couldn't extract any quintessences from her. Sonia fittingly died in denial of her true nature.
(For this recap, we will assume that Lloyd is faced first)
Meanwhile, the Reed brothers Lloyd and Linus conversed with their little sister figure Nino, supposedly daughter of Sonia. They commented that Nino was a good girl as opposed to Sonia. In the same time, Eliwood decided to use Pent's absence as the time to investigate Black Fang. It was at that time both Lloyd and Linus spotted Eliwood and decided it's time to strike. Lloyd offered to strike first and used the fog to his advantage to strike against Eliwood. And in the midst of this fogged strike, a familiar face showed themselves: Wallace got lost in his way to Caelin once again and stumbled here, only to be picked up by the former members of the Lyndis Legion. In the same time, Nino encountered a wounded Jaffar and showed compassion to him, tending to his wounds.
Eliwood prevailed against Lloyd's strike, and also surprised him with Eliwood noticing that Lloyd went out of his way to make sure civilians were not involved. This left Lloyd pondering on what to do on Eliwood since he could sense Eliwood's sense of honor, unlike how the Black Fang kept telling him that Eliwood is evil, the type of people the Black Fang used to target. He decided to report this to Brendan and hoped that there would be a change of plan, but he never got the chance, Limstella decided that Lloyd's quintessence was ideal for Nergal and drained him out of it. Linus arrived too late and thought that his brother was killed dishonorably by Eliwood, thus he swore vengeance. Jaffar recovered but was baffled on why Nino gave her all to tend to him.
Meanwhile, the palace of Bern is embroiled with drama. Queen Hellene and King Desmond did not get along at all, as Desmond despised his son Zephiel born from Hellene, but doted his daughter Guinivere born from his other, commoner wife that he truly loved, as opposed to Hellene whom he married out of political necessity. However, the rule of Bern decreed that only men can inherit the throne, thus Hellene was overjoyed as opposed to Desmond that she would finally stop Desmond's constant belittling. Unfortunately for Hellene, Desmond reported that someone has stolen the royal treasure of Bern from the royal palace, the Fire Emblem, and without it, Zephiel's coming-to-age ceremony must be cancelled. Desmond admitted to Hellene that Zephiel excelled at pretty much everything he didn't, from books, blades to winning the hearts of the people, but he was still adamant to not let Zephiel steal what was his. It was at this time that Louise, an old friend of Hellene, came to the scene and she ended up having to bear the task of recovering the Fire Emblem to Eliwood and his friends.
Hector already did his scouting and decided to seek information in the south, surrounded with marsh and lakes. However, in there, they ended up being attacked by a mad soldier imprisoned by Bern but released by Sonia to eliminate Eliwood and Hector. By this point, Fiora and Florina has wondered what happened to their middle sister Farina, and shortly after, Farina herself came flying to earn her keeps. Her prowess piqued Hector's interest so he approached her and asked if she would like to join them, but Farina was being a mercenary at heart; thus she demanded 20,000 Gold in advance payment. Hector paid that fully and she joined their cause. Unfortunately, aside of getting Farina, no information about Fire Emblem was received from the trek, so the group had to sneak into the royal palace itself.
The Bern family drama continued here. Zephiel was very much a well-loved, well-respected prince that even his half-sister Guinivere had nothing but adoration to him. Everyone loved him... except his father Desmond, that is, who continued to belittle him and trying to win Guinivere's attention to no avail. Furthermore, it was revealed that Desmond himself collaborated with Sonia to steal the Fire Emblem so the ceremony would be canceled.
This did not bode well for Eliwood's group, if Nergal managed to influence the most militant nation of Elibe, hopes for peace would vanish. But they didn't have time to rest either, since they suddenly spotted one Wyvern general flying and aiming at someone they know of... Nils. The Wyvern general, Vaida, also the former captain of Heath's squad, was planning to hand over Nils to Nergal as part of Bern's pact to Black Fang, despite her Undying Loyalty to Bern. And what's worse, it would seem that she wielded a cursed power from another source, most likely Nergal. Regrouping with his friends, Eliwood were joined by Pent and Louise, who decided to take the field directly. With their help, they managed to stave off Vaida's assault and she fled. Lyn then suggested that they track her down in hopes that she would lead them to the stolen Fire Emblem itself, if what they learned from Desmond was right.
Lyn's intuition proved right as it led them right into a Black Fang base. After Sonia punished Vaida for her failure, she called upon Nino. Sonia entrusted her with the task of assassinating Zephiel and assisting her in the task would be Jaffar. She would brief the two more, so she left the Fire Emblem in the hands of two henchmen: The mad ex-Four Fangs member Jerme and the bishop that renounced God in favor of Nergal, Kenneth. It was there Eliwood witnessed firsthand what happened when someone got Nergal to sink his claws in too deep... driven to madness. At the very least, in this battle, there were two people connected by madness that ended up helping him. The first was Karel, a wandering swordsman with exceeding blood lust, and the second is Harken, one of the former knights under Elbert, now driven into suicidal tendencies and only looking for a battlefield where he could die, only to be knocked from his senses by his Pheraen compatriots, especially his fiancee Isadora. After the battle, the group finally obtained the Fire Emblem, but they had to hurry to stop the assassination plot upon the Prince of Bern.
Nino made Sonia, in reluctance, promise her that if she fulfilled her mission, her mother would hold her hands. Once she was away, however, Sonia showed her true colors by telling Jaffar to kill Nino once she fulfilled her mission. Sonia reasoned that since Zephiel was a well loved prince, his death would cause a big uproar and a scapegoat was needed, but in truth, she just couldn't stand Nino, being disgusted at her existence and would rather see her dead, at least she'd be useful that way. In a rare bout of emotion, Jaffar expressed disgust at Sonia's attitude against her so-called daughter.
Nino and Jaffar snuck to the Bern royal palace and stumbled upon Zephiel praying for the well-being of his family as his last wish of being an innocent child, so that his family would be together in harmony... and that his father would finally acknowledge him. This hit too close to home with Nino, who was never acknowledged by her mother Sonia. Because of this, after knocking Zephiel unconscious, Nino was unable to fulfill her duty and resigned herself to die for failing a Black Fang's duty. Surprisingly, Jaffar changed his mind from doing business as usual, killing those who failed the duties of Black Fang, and decided to cover for Nino as they try to escape. Unfortunately, Sonia did have a backup plan... the last of the Four Fangs, Ursula, was sent to finish the job just in case Nino failed. And Nino living means that Sonia's whole plan was ruined, she wasn't supposed to come out alive no matter the outcome. Jaffar sent Nino to safety while he took on the Black Fang assassins alone.
And it was just in time with Eliwood's group to arrive. Nino managed to get their help to protect Zephiel and save Jaffar and they defeated Ursula. As the Bern guards swarm the place to protect their Prince, Eliwood's group made their escape. While they were glad that Nino made it out alive and Jaffar spared Zephiel, Jaffar chided on their naiveness because he has killed many of their friends. And this did not sit well with Hector, who valued the lives of his men. However, Eliwood emphasized that they needed all the help they could get to defeat Nergal, one of them being Jaffar. After Nino insisted on him, Jaffar accepted the offer. Meanwhile, Limstella took the quintessence out of Ursula's dead body.
The group was finally granted with the audience with Queen Hellene, who seemed more interested in the recovery of Fire Emblem. This didn't sit well with Eliwood, who was aware that her son's life was in danger just moments ago, and she was more concerned in one-upping Desmond and Guinivere, using Zephiel as her means for it. While the Queen formerly promised the reward of the road to the Shrine of Seals, Eliwood just left the room out of disgust without even saying anything about the reward. And it was just then the soldiers of Bern, including Zephiel's loyal aide General Murdock, reported about the assassination attempt to the Queen.
Eliwood apologized for blowing up the chance to get to the road of Shrine of Seals. However, Pent and Louise didn't blame him, Louise suspected that Hellene's loveless marriage with Desmond changed her, who was formerly only wishing to be a good wife and good mother. But it was around that time that Hellene suddenly came out and gave them the book containing the map and the Fire Emblem as well to thank them for protecting her son. Afterwards, Hellene summoned Zephiel and apologized for treating him more as a tool and promised to be a good mother, with Zephiel happily accepting her apology and hoped that one day his father would also see reason and they would be a happy family.
In the same night, Nino still felt uneasy and decided to sneak and say one final good bye to her mother. Despite his warnings, Jaffar relented and assisted Nino. Eliwood and Lyn were ready to follow them just in case, but Hector was skeptical, he's still unable to completely forgive Jaffar for murdering his men and Leila when he was under Black Fang. But regardless, he settled with the idea that a dead Jaffar would be an easy way out, he had to live to bear the burden of his sins. And so the group tailed behind Nino as she headed to where Sonia was located... a water temple.
And Nino witnessed what shocked her to the core. Sonia openly admitted to Brendan Reed that she was just using him, formerly only reined by Lloyd and Linus, but at the moment one of them was dead and the other was away, and the rest have been replaced by Morphs. And Brendan just ran out of uses for her and she was only using him because Nergal ordered her to, she despised the activities otherwise. Brendan called out for her betrayal and they both struck at each other, with Brendan only managing to wound Sonia, but he died. Limstella then extracted his quintessence, with Sonia belittling her as nothing more than a mindless puppet, compared to her who looked more human.
And when she came face to face with Nino, Sonia revealed the whole truth of her past: Sonia was not her mother. Nino came from a family of mages in Lycia that guarded the secrets of dragons, which made Nergal target them, and then Sonia killed them and their other son when she held the infant Nino as a hostage. Nergal saw potential in Nino's magic lineage so he ordered Sonia to raise her as her daughter, and Sonia hated every thoughts of it, she just wanted to kill Nino had it not been that order. Jaffar at this point realized that his interactions with Nino made him reclaim a bit of his emotions, and he used one of those first moments to denounce Sonia as an inhuman monster. And shortly after, Eliwood and his group came to help. Finally confronting the dark lady, Nino eventually unleashed all her pent up rage for being lied to, abused and disposed by Sonia and defeated her.
Eventually Nino recovered the last remains of her true family, a pendant from her true mother. As Nino remininsces about her happy times with the old Black Fang who were kind to her, she bid farewell to her old family. Meanwhile, in her dying breath, Sonia found out the truth from Limstella that as much as she claimed herself to be human, in the end, she was only a Morph, thus Limstella couldn't extract any quintessences from her. Sonia fittingly died in denial of her true nature.
Eliwood & Hector's Tale: Tragedies
As Eliwood resumed his march to the Shrine of Seals, his efforts to Zephiel paid off; Queen Hellene ordered many Bern soldiers to not interfere with them. But one last obstacle remained... To Nino's horror, it was Linus, still believing that Lloyd was murdered dishonorably by Eliwood. Nothing, not even Nino nor fellow decent Black Fang member Legault, could convince Linus otherwise thus they could only fight to the death. In the same time, a group of Wyvern knights suddenly came to Eliwood's group. Their leader was none other than Vaida, who offered to join Eliwood as a gratitude for saving Zephiel's life. Eventually, Linus joined his brother in death, leaving Nino to mourn for him.
As they reached the Shrine of Seals, Athos warped in and congratulated them for making it this far, Eliwood and his friends certainly proved their mettle and strength. With that, they entered deep into the Shrine of Seals to meet the last remaining of the Eight Legends, Bramimond the Enigma. Bramimond was convinced by Athos to open the Seals of the Legendary Weapons as it was the only hope to stop Nergal; it was formerly disgusted with the fraility of mankind and their tendencies to do bad things, but Eliwood's journey depending on his and his friends' strength alone made it realize they might be different than other greedy humans it encountered. That, and Bramimond stated that Eliwood reminded it of one of its allies. It's not clear whether it was talking about Roland or Hartmut, but it made its point.
With that, Bramimond rested. Athos urged the group to hurry and retrieve the Legendary Weapons... but at this point, Nergal has completely recovered and demanded Nils and Ninian to come. To everyone's surprise, Ninian transferred her power to Nils and offered to go alone, which Nergal surprisingly accepted. At this point, their hope was to get the Legendary Weapons if they ever hoped to save the world.
Meanwhile, after taking Ninian back to Dragon's Gate, Nergal tortured her and somehow unleashed something terrible upon her, referred by Nergal as 'her true form'.
There were two weapons that was available for the heroes to use, one of them lies in the Western Isles where Durban the Berserker laid resting. Hector faced the trial to wield the mighty axe Armads. However, the spirit of Durban gave him one warning before wielding Armads: Those who wield the axe would be cursed to die horribly in battle rather than dying in peace. An intimidating threat, but Hector paid it no mind, at this point, helping Eliwood and stopping Nergal took priority, so he gladly bore the curse. Afterwards, they headed to a flaming cave in Ostia where the sword Durandal resided. Eliwood braved the trials and after he and Athos spoke with his ancestor Roland, he earned the right to wield Durandal.
Just as they got out of Roland's shrine, they were greeted with immediate danger; a towering white ice dragon approached them! The Durandal reacted and Eliwood instinctively raised it and sliced clean the creature. Athos was suspicious of that creature, but then Nergal came and revealed the horrible truth... the dragon was Ninian's true form and Eliwood just instinctively struck a mortal blow on her! And Ninian momentarily woke up in trying to console Eliwood that it's not his fault, and then she died, with Eliwood utterly horrified and heartbroken at what he has done.
In retaliation, Athos attacked Nergal with the Legendary Weapon that he wielded since days old, the Forblaze tome. Only for it to do nothing on Nergal, not even the Legendary Weapon can stop Nergal at that point. Nergal then left triumphant as Nils just woke up from his unconsciousness, only to find his sister dead and screamed in anguish.
Resting at Ostia, Hector noticed that Uther was away for a business in Etruria, which Hector noticed that it was really a suspicious timing. In the meantime, Athos then revealed to everyone his past with Nergal, how they met and the latter's first descent to evil and the creation of Morphs. And just then, the castle was under attack by Morphs. Eliwood mustered what remained of his willpower and helped his friends defend the castle. As the situation has become this dire, Athos decided to convince Bramimond once more to lend the greater power of the Legendary Weapons. Eliwood, however, suggested that he and his friends head for Dread Isle in advance, Athos could catch up with them later.
As contacts were made to Fargus to transport them once more, Hector confronted Oswin to spill one final detail that he has been hiding about Uther's absence. Hector's suspicion was true, Uther has actually passed away and Oswin was ordered to not tell Hector about it, as Uther knew that Hector would not take it well and might sacrifice the world for him.
The group gathered in Badon, making a last minute shopping before they head for the final battle. Eliwood and Lyn managed to notice several cracks within Hector putting up strong faces, but decided not to buzz him about it too much. Meanwhile, Bartre used this chance to train within the arena, only to find a familiar face: A swordswoman by the name Karla, who defeated him in one strike in the past. Bartre demanded a rematch and this time managed to stand his ground. After revealing how he got stronger, Karla showed interest to join Eliwood's army for her true goal: To find her wandering brother. And she was right on the spot too... said brother was Karel.
As they reached the Shrine of Seals, Athos warped in and congratulated them for making it this far, Eliwood and his friends certainly proved their mettle and strength. With that, they entered deep into the Shrine of Seals to meet the last remaining of the Eight Legends, Bramimond the Enigma. Bramimond was convinced by Athos to open the Seals of the Legendary Weapons as it was the only hope to stop Nergal; it was formerly disgusted with the fraility of mankind and their tendencies to do bad things, but Eliwood's journey depending on his and his friends' strength alone made it realize they might be different than other greedy humans it encountered. That, and Bramimond stated that Eliwood reminded it of one of its allies. It's not clear whether it was talking about Roland or Hartmut, but it made its point.
With that, Bramimond rested. Athos urged the group to hurry and retrieve the Legendary Weapons... but at this point, Nergal has completely recovered and demanded Nils and Ninian to come. To everyone's surprise, Ninian transferred her power to Nils and offered to go alone, which Nergal surprisingly accepted. At this point, their hope was to get the Legendary Weapons if they ever hoped to save the world.
Meanwhile, after taking Ninian back to Dragon's Gate, Nergal tortured her and somehow unleashed something terrible upon her, referred by Nergal as 'her true form'.
There were two weapons that was available for the heroes to use, one of them lies in the Western Isles where Durban the Berserker laid resting. Hector faced the trial to wield the mighty axe Armads. However, the spirit of Durban gave him one warning before wielding Armads: Those who wield the axe would be cursed to die horribly in battle rather than dying in peace. An intimidating threat, but Hector paid it no mind, at this point, helping Eliwood and stopping Nergal took priority, so he gladly bore the curse. Afterwards, they headed to a flaming cave in Ostia where the sword Durandal resided. Eliwood braved the trials and after he and Athos spoke with his ancestor Roland, he earned the right to wield Durandal.
Just as they got out of Roland's shrine, they were greeted with immediate danger; a towering white ice dragon approached them! The Durandal reacted and Eliwood instinctively raised it and sliced clean the creature. Athos was suspicious of that creature, but then Nergal came and revealed the horrible truth... the dragon was Ninian's true form and Eliwood just instinctively struck a mortal blow on her! And Ninian momentarily woke up in trying to console Eliwood that it's not his fault, and then she died, with Eliwood utterly horrified and heartbroken at what he has done.
In retaliation, Athos attacked Nergal with the Legendary Weapon that he wielded since days old, the Forblaze tome. Only for it to do nothing on Nergal, not even the Legendary Weapon can stop Nergal at that point. Nergal then left triumphant as Nils just woke up from his unconsciousness, only to find his sister dead and screamed in anguish.
Resting at Ostia, Hector noticed that Uther was away for a business in Etruria, which Hector noticed that it was really a suspicious timing. In the meantime, Athos then revealed to everyone his past with Nergal, how they met and the latter's first descent to evil and the creation of Morphs. And just then, the castle was under attack by Morphs. Eliwood mustered what remained of his willpower and helped his friends defend the castle. As the situation has become this dire, Athos decided to convince Bramimond once more to lend the greater power of the Legendary Weapons. Eliwood, however, suggested that he and his friends head for Dread Isle in advance, Athos could catch up with them later.
As contacts were made to Fargus to transport them once more, Hector confronted Oswin to spill one final detail that he has been hiding about Uther's absence. Hector's suspicion was true, Uther has actually passed away and Oswin was ordered to not tell Hector about it, as Uther knew that Hector would not take it well and might sacrifice the world for him.
The group gathered in Badon, making a last minute shopping before they head for the final battle. Eliwood and Lyn managed to notice several cracks within Hector putting up strong faces, but decided not to buzz him about it too much. Meanwhile, Bartre used this chance to train within the arena, only to find a familiar face: A swordswoman by the name Karla, who defeated him in one strike in the past. Bartre demanded a rematch and this time managed to stand his ground. After revealing how he got stronger, Karla showed interest to join Eliwood's army for her true goal: To find her wandering brother. And she was right on the spot too... said brother was Karel.
Eliwood & Hector's Tale: Final Showdown with Nergal
Eventually the group set sail one last time to the Dread Isle. As they arrived, Fargus bade them and his representative in the group, Dart, farewell and make them promise to come back alive. But he forgot something to deliver, and eventually Nils recovered from his shock and steeled himself to go after Eliwood, saving them from a lightning strike by Limstella. Eliwood and his friends marched through Limstella, also receiving the help of an enigmatic priest, Renault. Right afterwards, Nils, now recovered, revealed how he and Ninian came to the world and how they got into this mess and reaffirmed his will to protect the world. They were later stopped once more by the Kishuna, but Eliwood's group couldn't be stopped.
Once the group arrived at Dragon's Gate, Athos arrived with good news. He managed to retrieve Elimine's sacred weapon Aureola, which was the only thing by default could be effective in damaging Nergal, and enhanced Durandal and Armads so they could harm Nergal this time. Not only that, he gave Lyn the partner weapon of her Mani Katti, the Sol Katti. Before they depart, they sent Merlinus to safety and gave him a letter of introduction so he could open a business there.
Confronting Nergal, the warlock then boasted for his highly potent power and showcased it by summoning the Morphs of Brendan, Lloyd, Linus, Ursula, Jerme, Kenneth, Uhai and Darin. And he even had the gall to offer Hector a creation of a Morph based on Uther, which Hector swiftly refused. Not only that, he rebuked Athos' chastising by showing the wound he received from Athos back in the days. At that point, Eliwood declared that he would stop him... but he had nothing but pity, instead of hatred, for the man who lost his humanity. One by one, Eliwood and his friends rallied for this final battle with the existence of Elibe at stake.
In the middle of battle, Lyn was surprised that Hector has been keeping up the strong front in the face of Uther's death, and Eliwood actually knew this after he managed to force Oswin to spill the beans. For that, Lyn approached Hector and offered to cry for him. One by one, the Morphs start to fall apart, and they leave out a peaceful smile after being defeated. This was much to the anguish of remnants of the Black Fang, Nino and Legault. Finally, all of them confronted Nergal, and even the newcomer Renault seemed like he had a decade long grudge against Nergal. Once Nergal was finally struck down, he started to bit by bit remember his life in the past, why he decided to seek power after all, his wife's name, but all of them were drowned with his last spite, with his last breaths, he launched a magical force that opened the Dragon's Gate for good.
When the group came to the main Gate, three Fire Dragons have arrived. Even Athos alone was not enough to stop them. It was at this time Bramimond suddenly warped in and it used its last powers to resurrect Ninian, the only person capable of closing the gate for good. Ninian did so and managed to knock down two Fire Dragons. Eliwood and his friends then took care of the last one.
The threat was over, and Bramimond breathed its last. Athos was sure to join it in afterlife, and for a present, he decided to give a vision to the future of Elibe... only to be shocked to see that an evil star would rise from Bern and threaten Elibe when both he, Bramimond and the rest of the Legends wouldn't be there to protect it. And yet... hope remained with a star of hope and children of fire coming from... Lycia. With that, all of the Eight Legends passed away for good.
Eliwood was overjoyed with the return of Ninian and promised to make sure the world would at least be as the stories of Arcadia, where humans and dragons lived together, but was saddened that she had to return to the world of Dragons along with Nils. However, Nils had other ideas. Realizing that Ninian has grown very close to Eliwood and loving each other, Nils offered to go home to the world of dragons alone and seal the gate by himself, so Eliwood and Ninian could be together... even if it's for a short human lifespan, something that Ninian wouldn't mind to spend alongside with Eliwood.
Day broke as the heroes returned to the surface and they returned to their homes...
Eliwood and Hector prepared for the day to succeed their predecessors, Elbert and Uther respectively. They invited Mark and asked for his advice on how to name their children. Afterwards, they bid the tactician farewell as the tactician headed to parts unknown, wandering once more. Peace for Elibe has come as the threat of Nergal has been quelled.
But that was not the end of Elibe's troubles.
Once the group arrived at Dragon's Gate, Athos arrived with good news. He managed to retrieve Elimine's sacred weapon Aureola, which was the only thing by default could be effective in damaging Nergal, and enhanced Durandal and Armads so they could harm Nergal this time. Not only that, he gave Lyn the partner weapon of her Mani Katti, the Sol Katti. Before they depart, they sent Merlinus to safety and gave him a letter of introduction so he could open a business there.
Confronting Nergal, the warlock then boasted for his highly potent power and showcased it by summoning the Morphs of Brendan, Lloyd, Linus, Ursula, Jerme, Kenneth, Uhai and Darin. And he even had the gall to offer Hector a creation of a Morph based on Uther, which Hector swiftly refused. Not only that, he rebuked Athos' chastising by showing the wound he received from Athos back in the days. At that point, Eliwood declared that he would stop him... but he had nothing but pity, instead of hatred, for the man who lost his humanity. One by one, Eliwood and his friends rallied for this final battle with the existence of Elibe at stake.
In the middle of battle, Lyn was surprised that Hector has been keeping up the strong front in the face of Uther's death, and Eliwood actually knew this after he managed to force Oswin to spill the beans. For that, Lyn approached Hector and offered to cry for him. One by one, the Morphs start to fall apart, and they leave out a peaceful smile after being defeated. This was much to the anguish of remnants of the Black Fang, Nino and Legault. Finally, all of them confronted Nergal, and even the newcomer Renault seemed like he had a decade long grudge against Nergal. Once Nergal was finally struck down, he started to bit by bit remember his life in the past, why he decided to seek power after all, his wife's name, but all of them were drowned with his last spite, with his last breaths, he launched a magical force that opened the Dragon's Gate for good.
When the group came to the main Gate, three Fire Dragons have arrived. Even Athos alone was not enough to stop them. It was at this time Bramimond suddenly warped in and it used its last powers to resurrect Ninian, the only person capable of closing the gate for good. Ninian did so and managed to knock down two Fire Dragons. Eliwood and his friends then took care of the last one.
The threat was over, and Bramimond breathed its last. Athos was sure to join it in afterlife, and for a present, he decided to give a vision to the future of Elibe... only to be shocked to see that an evil star would rise from Bern and threaten Elibe when both he, Bramimond and the rest of the Legends wouldn't be there to protect it. And yet... hope remained with a star of hope and children of fire coming from... Lycia. With that, all of the Eight Legends passed away for good.
Eliwood was overjoyed with the return of Ninian and promised to make sure the world would at least be as the stories of Arcadia, where humans and dragons lived together, but was saddened that she had to return to the world of Dragons along with Nils. However, Nils had other ideas. Realizing that Ninian has grown very close to Eliwood and loving each other, Nils offered to go home to the world of dragons alone and seal the gate by himself, so Eliwood and Ninian could be together... even if it's for a short human lifespan, something that Ninian wouldn't mind to spend alongside with Eliwood.
Day broke as the heroes returned to the surface and they returned to their homes...
Eliwood and Hector prepared for the day to succeed their predecessors, Elbert and Uther respectively. They invited Mark and asked for his advice on how to name their children. Afterwards, they bid the tactician farewell as the tactician headed to parts unknown, wandering once more. Peace for Elibe has come as the threat of Nergal has been quelled.
But that was not the end of Elibe's troubles.
Epilogue — Prelude to the Binding Blade
Years passed after the battle against Nergal. Eliwood and Hector reunited to discuss the current events, but beforehand, they had other things to show off each other: Eliwood has fathered a son by the name of Roy. In return, Hector then showed his daughter, Lilina. After introducing their children, they had them play together, and happily witnessed that Roy and Lilina quickly became fast friends. And as of the current events, it was one event that might be dire, but still steeled Eliwood and Hector to protect their people. Or perhaps, it was a way to show that Athos' warning is about to come....
In Bern, despite Hellene and Zephiel's reconciliation, Desmond never changed his heart. He still hated Zephiel, but unable to stop the latter's coming of age ceremony. Because of that, one day, Desmond did one more trick that would eliminate Zephiel forever: Put a poison in his meal. The plan at first worked, Zephiel looked as if he died and he was given a royal burial. One day, just to be sure, Desmond checked Zephiel's coffin. And suddenly, Zephiel revealed that the poison didn't kill him and that was the last straw of his father's hatred to him that he could bear, and he killed Desmond out of cold blood.
The poison given to him damaged Zephiel's brain, and given his history of parental abuse, Zephiel was Madden Into Misanthropy, deciding that Humans Are the Real Monsters if there are many people like his father, and they did not deserve Elibe. On the other hand, he viewed Dragons as the more worthy successors of Elibe. The Wise Prince saved by Eliwood was gone, and a mad king was born in return.
In a short moment after his succession, Zephiel was approached by a remaining dragon... Jahn. After Jahn revealed his heritage, Zephiel flashed a mad smirk... his plan to bring Elibe back to its worthy successors from those wretched humans could proceed...
