No Safe Haven

"Well, there we have it." Asta looked over the besieged city. Even from the edge of the forest, they could clearly make out Eldingenau. Dozens of bombards hammered the walls, taking it apart more and more. Mortars fired magical munitions that detonated in the city, unleashing their payload of fire tornadoes, poisonous gas, or whatever curses the Empyrean mages were creative enough to store in the accursed steel balls.

It had been roughly two days since they had emerged from the Colakian woods into 'safe' territory, but they had seemingly emerged into an active warzone.

"So much for being out of the danger zone." Hanna complained. "Ugh, I want to go home." She winced as a steel ball from a particularly large bombard pummeled into the city wall, collapsing an entire section, men and all. "The world's gone mad. This is sheer madness..."

"It's the way the world is. That's how it always has been." Asta hopped back onto the cart. "We need to keep moving!" He yelled out to the others. "Just because we're out of the forest doesn't mean we're out of trouble yet."

"I must concur." One of the warriors said. "Talk about out of the frying pan and into the fire."

"We're not totally safe on the forest edge from the forest creatures within either." One of the civilians on the pilgrimages said. "I've been on a few of these pilgrimages, before, they can chase you out to the plains!"

"Then we better be careful." Hanna said. She turned to Asta. "Iwen, do you really think we can make it past this?"

"We're probably going along the edge of the forest." Asta said. True, that meant they could be attacked by both the creatures of the forest and by the army, but it also made them less likely to be detected. "It'll be fine. Probably."

"No guns, only bows! No firearms unless we get spotted by the other army! Full speed ahead, no falling behind!" Something howled from deeper in the treeline. It was far too guttural to be human, but far too deliberate to be an animal. There would be no turning back.

~~*~~

Elysius feebly watched as the sun set over the capital city. It had been a full day since Aeneas's strike force had set out at dawn, but he had refused to move from the watchtower since. Elysius was not normally mobile, but despite his normally bedridden status, he had rushed out to try and see his old friend off. Despite Claudia's protests, he had managed to get out, but by then, the team had already reached the outskirts of the city, and Elysius could only watch as the regiment grew more and more distant.

"Is Aeneas out there?"

"Yes, he is." Claudia looked at her half-brother, and sighed. Serians were known to be pale, but Elysius looked like a ghost. The last few years had not been kind to him, and the feeble boy now looked even more feeble. Her eyes quickly shifted to the Shrine of Saints Elyon and Aerlotte, the temple her brother loved so much. Prince Elyon Au Atrean, the savior prince and the hero with no peer. The hero Elysius had always looked up to. And her partner, the Celestial Sigilite Aerlotte, who in truth, Claudia had admired once as a child, as much as she tried to deny it.

"I should be there with him. I should have rallied the troops and sallied forward. I'm the emperor." He grasped his sword. It was an intricate sword, patterned similarly to Aerlotte's Sword of Hresvelgr. Though it lacked the holy properties of Hresvelgr, it was an elegant yet formidable blade. Completely wasted on a half-corpse like Elysius.

"Don't be too hard on yourself, your majesty. It simply could never happen. Rest up, and make sure you don't strain yourself too hard, okay? We can't have your illness getting any worse. You need to-" Claudia watched as tears rolled down Elysius's face. "Ely? Ely!" Elysius fell over onto the floor, not because of his illness, but due to his sorrow. 

"I'm not getting better!" Elysius exclaimed. "I'm never getting better! Why don't you understand that?" Elysius wheezed and coughed after his little outburst, causing Claudia to try and hold him up. "Claudia?"

"Yes?"

"You don't think I'm weak, do you?" Elysius looked at her, defeat in his eyes. "If I had the choice, I would be sending the imperial guards out with him. I should be there doing that. I should be in Eldingenau right now-" Elysius paused as he caught himself, trying not to overexert himself. "Dammit Claudia, this isn't living. I'm a living corpse." He looked out at the ever shrinking blocks of men that marched away. "I've wasted my entire life trying to get better. And truth be told, maybe that is the only way."

"Ely, we need you. Seria needs you." Claudia embraced Elysius warmly. "I need you."

"No! No you don't. If I died right now, you would be in line for the throne." Elysius looked up at her. "That's why you try to stop me from seeing Aeneas, right? My children, Claudia. And Kaleia. As long as I don't meet her, they don't exist to you." He pushed her away as he glared at her. "I demand to see Kaleia. Right now."

"What makes you confident she's even still in the city? Has Kaleia even responded to any of your letters? I don't know where she is." It was a bold faced lie, but one Claudia had gotten used to saying. If she said that she didn't know where Kaleia was, she could almost trick herself into thinking it was true. As long as Aeneas and Elysius never met, Elysius would never know where Kaleia was. Claudia looked towards her brother, who now looked at her with eyes of sorrow and shock.

"That's...true..." Her August brother murmured. "That's true." Elysius hung his head. "Claudia, what's going to become of me? If this is going to be my life every day, I might as well die. I can't live like this. I'd rather have died alongside my friends back then." He shut his eyes. "Back then." Elysius sat down, and curled up back into a ball. "Back then, when I was so happy. I still dream of those days, you know that? Seeing Kaleia and my children are the only things that keep me going." The pale emperor's face was even paler now. 

"Elysius, calm down. We have to get you back inside."

"I need to go back. Back when I was the hero. Back when I had..." Elysius said, a cold sweat running down his face. "Kaleia..." Claudia's eyes opened wide as she saw her half brother's eyes roll up into his skull and keeled over.

"Your majesty! Elysius! Dammit!" Claudia shouted. "Someone, get a doctor, quick!" Dozens of servants rushed into the watchtower where Elysius and Claudia were located, quickly bringing the emperor a blanket. "Dyeus above, please let my brother be safe." Claudia looked out at the speck on the horizon once more, but the army had gone. She looked back at the passed out body of her brother, the Emperor of Seria.