Arthur was busy laying out some clothes and other items on his bed to pack. Today was the day, his wedding day. As was a tradition the two races shared, they didn't spend the night together, so Tess stayed at the palace in Zestier. To keep his mind at ease Sylvie went with her, just in case anything were to happen. Arthur was now packing everything he would need for the next week, and would be soon leaving for the palace along with most of the other guests who were staying in the sanctuary. He doubted he actually needed half of the stuff he was bringing, but after his time in Alacrya he learned to plan in case he never came back, always carrying anything he would need.

Arthur turned to go grab a few more things when he froze and winced in pain. The intermittent sharp pain centered at his core that started after turning back time still persisted. The constant use of both mana and aether had only helped to dull the pain enough that he was able to push through it relatively easily. Quickly the pain went away, and he continued to gather his things.

Since moving to the sanctuary both Regis and Rinia have taken the time to examine him, but nothing wrong could be seen. He was tempted to ask his mother, in hopes that an emitter could provide some kind of different perspective, but the idea just reminded him of how he was lying to her about the other timeline.

After returning from the bathroom with his toothbrush, he saw Regis sitting on the bed with a few items at his feet.

"What are those?" Arthur questioned.

"Seriously? Maybe you need to get your eyes checked before the wedding. The way Aya has been cock blocking you, I wouldn't be surprised if she somehow used her illusions to swap places with your new master."

"Master?"

"Listen," Regis started flatly. "I identify as a guy, so I get it. After a week of banging your cute and sexy elf wife you'll be addicted, so she'll pretty much own your ass."

Arthur glared at the majestic wolf, annoyed.

"And why did you bring," Arthur picked up the first item. "A whip, and..." he paused as he examined the other item. "Fuzzy mana suppression cuffs?"

"I wanted to get your sexy queen a whole dominatrix outfit complete with all the accessories too, but my shopping options are limited down here," Regis replied seriously.

Arthur didn't respond and continued to glare at him.

"Hey, you're the masochist here! I'm just trying to help you out. Should I try and find you a butt plug too?"

"Arthur, are you ready?" Alice called as she stuck her head into the apartment. "Ahh," she suddenly screamed as she saw Regis flying down the hallway and slamming into the cabinets.

"You know," Regis shook himself off. "You didn't have to be so violent."

"Arthur?" Alice called out as she looked down the hall, concerned as to what was going on.

Arthur poked his head out of his room. "Oh hey mom," Arthur greeted warmly, and came out.

Alice was already in her dress, which was a simple two strapped grey dress that ended right above her ankles.

"Is everything ok?"

"Oh yeah, Regis was just being his unfiltered self and struck a nerve," Arthur replied dismissively.

"Ok," Alice said uncertainly. "Anyway, Ellie and I are all ready to go, we also saw a few people already heading to the gate."

"Gotcha, I'm almost done. I'll be down in a minute."

With that Alice left.

"Regis."

"I know, keep an eye on Four Eyes to make sure he doesn't revert back to Darth Emo."

"If it was ever going to happen, today would be the day. I don't know how aware of the outside world Nico is, but I know the last thing he wants is for me to be happy."

—————————————————————-

After a few minutes Arthur and the remaining guests entered the gate, and exited in the elven royal palace. There they were greeted by several servants who escorted the guests to the garden where the ceremony was to be held, while Arthur and his family were escorted to his room to prepare. Ellie was actually a little surprised Virion wasn't there as well to greet them, considering how involved he was in the wedding planning. But Arthur didn't need him to hold his hand, he and Alice were well aware of what he needed to do now. And if he did have any questions for him they could wait till later, as it was customary for the male members of the bride's family to speak with the groom and the female members of the groom's family to speak with the bride before the wedding, which were usually just kind words welcoming them to the family and possibly advice to a happy and successful marriage from the elders.

Once in the room the attendants inside got right to work getting him ready. Quickly he bathed, which was something they actually tried to do, but Arthur refused to allow that. Next, as he was in a bathrobe, two began working on his fingernails and another began working with his hair.

Thankfully they didn't try anything outrageous, and simply pulled his hair back tightly into a ponytail, with his bangs, which were just too short to be tied back, were brushed to the right and some tucked behind his ear. As for his nails, they were cut back with precision to make them perfectly even, and filed to make them smooth. Lastly he was sprayed with a perfume that had a slightly minty smell.

With Arthur's preparations complete it was time for two other attendants to help him to get dressed. Ceremonial robes like these consisted of three layers. The first two layers were made of the same protective material that both Tess and Virion had used to make him some clothes in the past. Seeing as this was a royal wedding, and during a war, the concern for an assassination attempt was high so procations were felt necessary, although also unnecessary considering the groom was Arthur. The final layer was a cream colored robe that reached down to his ankles. Included on the top was a very wide rich black leather belt with a second layer that was just a little more narrow made of gold cloth. On his left shoulder were black leather panels, with a strip of gold going along his collar bone to his neck, and another going from his shoulder to halfway down to his elbow. There was a gold rope with a golden tassel at his left shoulder as well, that went to the middle of his chest where the top robe opened. Traditionally mages would wear precious gems on this rope to signify their affinity. For Arthur, there was a ruby, sapphire, emerald, citrine, and amethyst. Everyone who knew of Arthur's aether affinity knew the amethyst would certainly confuse everyone else.

Once completed the servants stepped back to allow Arthur and his family to admire the finished product.

"When you were young and I envisioned your wedding, I never thought you would be wearing robes," Alice commented as she looked her son over, then smiled with motherly love. "But I can't deny how handsome you look wearing them," she concluded, then hugged him and kissed his cheek.

"Thanks mom."

"Yeah, you look pretty good I guess," Ellie added, acting disinterested so she could get away with not giving him a proper compliment.

"I don't know Eleanor," Virion said, drawing attention to himself and Alduin as they entered the room. "I'd say those robes haven't looked that good since I wore them."

"If they're yours then I must have made them look even better since back then," Arthur chortled.

"You know there's still time for me to grab my cactus?" Virion shot back with a threatening grin as Alduin dismissed the servants while covering his mouth to contain his laughter at Virion and Arthur's bantering.

"Maybe so, but I doubt you would want to ruin these," Arthur said as he gestured to the robes he was wearing.

"Notice he didn't mention the rope or tar, that's because I already stole them and put them in the honeymoon suite for tonight," Regis commented humorously.

"And then I threw them out," Sylvie added, making Arthur think Regis actually stole them.

Virion sighed then smiled. "You have always been too quick with a rebuttal. I feel like I'm losing my edge in my old age."

"I doubt that. I'm just that much sharper."

"Anyway," Virion looked at Alice. "Before you two go see Tessia, I'd like to show you both the final product for your family crest."

Virion pulled a dark wooden box out from his robes. Ever since the wedding planning had begun and Virion learned of the Leywin family's lack of a family crest, Virion had been working with local artists to develop something worthy of a family marrying into royalty.

The Leywin family gathered around to see the future symbol of their family. Alice of course had seen sketches, but this was also her first time seeing it completed. Virion opened the box and held it out to Arthur who took it. The gold bangle bracelet, which was supposed to be given to Tess, was about an inch thick with a small gap on the bottom so it could open a bit to slide on to her wrist. At the top was the new Leywin family crest, an image of Sylvia stood prominently with her wings spread with lines representing beams of light, as an image of a great tree stood behind her, all of this done in platinum.

Dragons in the family crests of Sapin noble families were rather common, especially with the higher ranked ones. However all of them were just symbolic of the power they wield, whereas the new Leywin family crest had a true meaning and power, hence the beams of light around it.

"Oh wow," Ellie said with amazement.

"This is so beautiful." Alice turned to Virion and took a knee as she bowed her head. "Thank you so much Elder."

"This was nothing," Virion replied with a warm smile. "And I've told you before, you don't need to bow to us, and just call me Virion. In just a little bit we will all be family, so it wouldn't be right to stand on such formalities."

"Old habits," Alice said with a smile as she stood back up.

"Master Virion?" Ellie called out. Even though he didn't require it of her, she felt calling him master was appropriate due to the fact that he was taking time to also train her with her beast will. "I understand the dragon is a reference to Art's beast will, but what's with the tree?"

Virion cleared his throat. "I may have been a little selfish with that part," he said, sounding a little embarrassed. "You see, that is the tree from the Elenoir royal family crest. With Tessia being the only heir to our family, I guess that was my way of keeping our crest continuing to the next generation."

"Well, I think it's time for Ellie and I to go see Tessia," Alice said. "Arthur, we'll be waiting at the garden."

Arthur nodded in acknowledgment and the two left the room.

"You know," Virion started as he walked over to a chair, sat down, and looked at Arthur seriously. "Back in the beginning when I started planning this wedding all those years ago, I told myself I had to say one of two things. Either something inspiring, or threaten you for if you didn't treat my granddaughter the way she deserves." Virion's expression softened as he smiled. "But saying something inspiring to each other in this situation isn't us, and I know you'll always treat Tessia as she deserves. So I guess all I can say is, welcome to the family, brat."

"Thanks gramps. So does this mean you'll call off Aya now?"

Virion looked confused. "What are you talking about?" His eyes went to Alduin, who shrugged.

"Didn't one of you order Aya to keep tabs on me?"

"No. What has she been doing?" Alduin asked.

"For the last two months I've caught her spying on Tess and I, and anytime she sees us doing more than a single kiss, she interferes. Just the other night after Tess and I got back from my bachelor party, when I came back from the bathroom, I found Tess out cold while still fully dressed, and a tranquilizer dart in her neck," Arthur replied as he showed the dart. "Then I saw her in the window of the adjacent building."

Alduin just had a look of bewilderment, as Virion cleared his throat. It clearly looked like he was trying to come up with some kind of explanation.

"Well, Aya has always been an anomaly amongst even her own people. As I'm sure you've seen, she is extremely flirtatious, which leads to a very promiscuous behavior. However her

loyalty to Elenoir and the royal family has never once been in question, so I doubt she meant any actual harm," Virion explained.

"She has spoken to me before about your relationship with Tessia," Alduin said, recalling the conversation. "She feels humans have a lack of morals when it comes to relationships, and was concerned that you may pressure Tessia into certain acts."

"In other words she thought I'd pressure Tess to have sex with me?" Arthur clarified flatly.

"Yes," Alduin admitted. "I feel she may have been concerned with our family's image if something were to have happened, and decided to take matters into her own hands."

"Which means she should stop after the wedding," Virion stated reassuringly. "And if not, you'll be a member of the royal family, so you can just order her to stop."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"Back to the wedding," Alduin said, then looked to his father. "I'd like to speak with Arthur in private please."

Virion looked at Alduin curiously, but just shrugged and stood up. "Very well, I'll be waiting at the garden entrance. Don't take too long, we should be starting soon." Virion opened the door to leave, then looked back to Arthur. "By the way Arthur, there is something I wanted to discuss with you and Tessia. It's not too urgent, we can speak about it at the reception later."

"I'll be looking for you."

With that the door closed. Alduin then cast a sound dampening wind spell around the room.

"I hope you don't mind, even after all these years I can't bear to disappoint him," Alduin admitted sadly.

"How would you be disappointing him?"

Alduin sat down in the chair Virion just got up from. "It's about the deal I almost made with Agrona."

"Ahh," Arthur replied in understanding as he remembered how Virion reacted in the previous timeline. Then, being a little paranoid Arthur started to strengthen his body with aether, just in case.

"Even though I thanked you for stopping me and saving Tessia, after hearing about the previous timeline, what I caused." He looked up at Arthur with the most pitiful expression, far from suitable for a king. "I don't think I could ever apologize and thank you enough."

"Like everyone's been saying, we're going to be family soon, so it's ok." Arthur then smiled brightly. "Besides, you're letting me marry your daughter so I'd say we're even."

"Ha, well I don't feel that way. That's why I'm telling you now, that after this war I'll be stepping down from the council, and I'd like you to take my place."

"No," Arthur replied flatly with a small smile.

"No? You don't want my position?"

"I don't, but that's not what I'm saying no to. You're not stepping down. The council will need you."

"I'm a liability. You know what I almost did."

"Yes, almost. It took not the offer to preserve Elenoir to break you, but a threat against your own daughter. You were thinking like a father, which is why everyone's family was taken to the sanctuary."

"It doesn't change what I did, I need to atone."

"By giving me more work?"

"That's part of why I want to wait till after the war, and that we can't afford to take you out of the fighting."

"My answer is still no. After this war I want to spend all my time as peacefully as possible. Maybe even become a father myself."

Alduin smiled a little at the thought, as he remembered when he became a father as well.

"You need to stay on the council, they're going to need you."

"They don't need me."

"Right now, no." Arthur picked up another chair for the opposite side of the room and brought it over, then sat down in front of Alduin. "There are two types of leaders, ones that excel during war, and those that excel during peace. Unlike gramps and I, you excel during peace. You are the kind of leader that can see the people's needs and take care of them better than I can. So no, they don't need you now, but they will need you after when it's time to rebuild."

Alduin looked at Arthur in disbelief that he was actually only eighteen, as he seemed to carry the wisdom of someone much older.

Alduin chuckled. "And here I'm the one who was supposed to say something inspirational.

Arthur smiled and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Next time. Now how about we get going, I think it's time Tess and I got married."

—————————————————————-

Meanwhile within the central domain of Alacrya, on the highest floor of the home of the Vritra, Taegrin Caelum, Agrona sat on a throne at the head of a table along with three other Vritra. The throne itself was gold and ornate with precious gems, and the cushion itself made from the finest silk and stuffed with the feathers of rare native birds, yet Agrona saw this as nothing more than a cheap substitute for the throne he longed for, that he was being delayed taking due to their troubles in Dicathen.

Normally the Vritra had nearly no hand in the war, but out of nowhere Agrona called for this meeting with the hopes of bringing this war to an end quickly. The three other Vritra were to be the sovereigns of the three domains Dicathen was to be broken into after the war. They were pointing at various locations on the large map of Dicathen that took up most of the table, going round in circles trying to come up with a new strategy to bring the war back under their control.

"Perhaps another invasion fleet? This time bigger and attacking multiple locations. Their forces will be spread so thin it will be impossible for them to hold out against us," one of the Vritra suggested.

"No, we'll still lose too many lessers. We should send several of those lessers whose Vritia blood has awakened and have them lay waste to a city. If we threaten to destroy more cities their council will no doubt surrender," another suggested.

"Are you an imbecile?!" The third scoffed. "Their General Leywin killed Scythe Cadell! You think they'll bow down that easily?"

They suddenly froze as they felt a sudden spike in pressure coming from Agrona. The fact that a lesser was outwitting them was infuriating, but the fact that he was originally supposed to be serving them enraged Aronga even more.

"Damn you Sylvia!" Agrona thought to himself. "If not for you destroying my artifact I would know exactly what was coming and how to respond."

Ever since Sylvia used and destroyed the artifact Agrona used to see into the future, he had been limited to only the futures that he had already seen. At first this wasn't a big problem, as for the most part the predictions remain accurate. However, ever since losing the battles at the Wall and Elenoir, nothing had been accurate.

"If not for Sylvia reincarnating Grey into Dicathen, he would have been here leading my army of lessers," he thought angrily. "If only he took my deal before, he would have been out of the way and this war would already have been won. Then it would have just been a matter of taking Cecilia's vessel from him. Yes, Arthur's the problem, if not for him this war would have turned out just as I had predicted and those other lessers wouldn't have been able to do anything to stop me. I need to eliminate him as a factor somehow."

A look of realization had formed on his face as an evil smirk formed, causing the other Vritia to shutter.

"Summon Dragoth, I have an assignment for him."