The nine lances and Sylvie flew quietly through the night sky. Their destination, the floating castle, their mission, take back control. To keep their mana usage to a minimum and avoid detection they were riding a variety of mana beasts, with the exception of Arthur and Sylvie who could use mana undetected. To further conceal themselves they were all wearing black and did not speak, not that they needed to. The plan was made prior to their departure, so now it was only a matter of carrying it out.

Varay, Pasta, Mica, and Tess entered through the lower mana beast entrance. Surprisingly the hanger doors were wide open, but no one was inside, not even a single mana beast. Tools and supplies were still out and the lights were still on, as if they just stopped what they were doing and walked off.

Barion, Elijah, Aya, and Jasmine landed on the balcony leading to the ballroom. However as they opened the doors the were met with a far more gruesome sight. At least a hundred Alacryan soldiers dead. Some skewered with black metal, some even pinned to the wall. Others completely dismembered with barely any blood dripping from them. And a collection of others, their bodies melted to the point where it was questionable if they were ever human. Lastly, atop the stage was a horned woman with black splotches looking like she was crucified as she was nailed to the wall bay black metal spikes with her arms outstretched.

Arthur and Sylvie landed on a balcony close to the teleportation gate room, and started to make their way through the halls.

"There's a Vritra blood mage here, I can feel their decay mana," Sylvie observed.

"Gotcha, Regis."

Regis then jumped out of Arthur's body and took point. As they came to an intersection to the hall leading to the teleportation gate, they found multiple Alacryan soldiers dead in the ground. They all either had black splotches, or signs of a blade being used on them.

"These guys were running away when they were attacked," Arthur mused.

"What do you think happened? Seris?" Regis questioned.

"Let's go ask," Arthur replied.

Ahead of them was the gate room, which was wide open and the gate was active. Arthur could feel the mana of several powerful individuals, but none powerful enough to be Seris. The three of them stopped in the doorway to see the three maids from earlier, but this time they were wearing matching black battle robes.

"Hello ladies," Arthur greeted. "I take it that was your handy work?" He asked, pointing behind him.

"The retainer who was in charge here refused to swear her loyalty to lady Seris," one maid replied flatly.

"And after she attacked us we had no choice but to eliminate her and her forces," continued another.

"I see. So Seris is really committing to this whole overthrowing the Vritra plan," Arthur said.

"She would never shy away from such a noble cause," the third shot back aggressively. "Now is the most opportune time to end this."

"That is, if you are still committed?" The second asked.

"Killing Agrona is mutually beneficial for us, as long as Seris keeps her word about withdrawing Alacrya's forces after she takes over."

"Lady Seris always keeps her word. The war in Dicathen will end peacefully after Agrona's death. Alacrya will have nothing to gain from continuing, and peace will be the most logical conclusion," the first replied.

"Then I guess I just need to know when to go," Arthur said with a smile.

"Very good," the first said with a nod. "In three days Lady Seris' disciple shall meet you at the gate you identified."

"Fantastic. Tell her I'll be bringing two other people along with me."

"You aren't coming alone?" The second asked confused.

Arthur shook his head and groaned. "Don't ask."

——————————————————————-

The debrief after meeting with Seris

"With all these horned bastards dead, I'm almost surprised you all don't want to host another party," Pasta commented while leaning back in his seat.

"If we still had the castle it would have been a good idea to boost moral," Prescilla replied. "But as long as the people are able to see that we can defeat Alacrya's elite forces, that's plenty."

"Well the nobles would have been confused anyway," Mica commented.

"And why is that?" Alduin asked.

"Arthur took their horns," Barion answered.

All eyes were on Arthur.

"Are you collecting war trophies?" Virion asked with a concerned look.

"No, I just need them for preparations."

"What kind of preparations?" Merial asked.

"Virtra horns hold a lot of mana, enough to probably push a silver core maga into the white core stage."

The council's eyes practically lit up with excitement.

"In other words, you're planning to boost our number of white core mages," Marcus replied excitedly.

"Yes, but not now. We won't need anymore white core mages to finish this war. These are for preparation for the next war."

"Next war? We haven't even finished this war and you're already planning for the next one?" Alduin questioned with disbelief.

"A wise thing it is to prepare," Elder Rhina said as she entered the room. "It's always best to plan for the worst, that way you can keep standing when it hits."

"Do you know something we don't?" Virion asked, sounding concerned.

"No," she replied dismissively. "I can only see up to my own death, and as long as we defeat Alacrya in this war, there won't be another war as long as I'm alive."

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, before Arthur explained.

"The war I'm planning for is for the possibility of something happening with Alacrya again in the future. Right now Agrona isn't throwing the full force of his Vritra blooded mages against us because he needs them to fight the Asura. However, after he's been dethroned, who knows what the future will hold. But I doubt Seris or any other leader in the future will hold back as much as Agrona. If another war does break out, we'll need more white core mages than just the ones bound to the artifacts." Arthur's attention then went back to Rhina. "Now that my actions have been explained, elder Rhina, what brings you here?"

"It's about your upcoming mission to Alacrya. Things need to end as they began, the three of you must do this together."

Everyone looked confused. Arthur looked deep in thought before he stood up quickly in realization, knocking over his chair. His eyes were wide as they locked on the elder elf.

"If this is your idea of a joke..."

"I don't joke about things like this," she replied calmly.

"Arthur? Rhina? One of you care to explain?" Virion asked.

"Everyone but Rhina out," Arthur said through gritted teeth as the pressure from his core started to seep out, his eyes not leaving Rhina for a second.

"You do not order anyone here!" Barion replied angrily.

"Maybe not, but Mica thinks it's best to just respect his request this time," Mica said as she pulled Barion's arm and everyone else began walking out.

He looked down to see a nervous expression on her face. He then realized what everyone else did. Whatever Rhina meant by her words instantly did something to the mission that Arthur was against, something no one could order him to do, but would have to be convinced it was the right idea.

Once everyone was out Arthur cast a sound dampening spell in the room, one so powerful no one could even walk in, not even Pasta.

Arthur stood quietly as he leaned forward with his hands on the table as he glared at the old elf, and she sat down. She aged, looking like she had aged decades since he saw her last before the relic tomb dive. She looked much more frail, her back hunched, cheeks sunken in, and one of her eyes had become pale. She practically looked like a walking skeleton, not far from what she looked like before dying in the previous timeline.

"Say that again," he said, no, demanded. "And this time, no being cryptic. Just straight forward."

"You, Elijah, and Tessia need to go on this mission together," she said flatly.

"Have you gone senile? This is a suicide mission even if just Regis and I go. They stand no chance against a pure blooded Vritra, which I expect to have to probably fight several of them!" He shouted.

"I know."

"That's your niece! MY WIFE YOUR TELLING ME TO TAKE!"

"Notice you only care about Tessia, not your best friend."

"I'm not going to argue the obvious," he said as he pushed off the table and tried to regain his composure. "If Nico and Cecilia were the ones in those bodies this would have made more sense, but they aren't, so please explain to me why?"

"This war, all of this, is happening because of you three. Agrona is only here because of his desire to obtain the Legacy. If not for the dragon you met as a child, we wouldn't have had anything to do with the war between the Vritra and Asura. Now you three are invaluable to Agrona, no one else can take your place, or theirs."

"That still doesn't explain why they need to come with me."

"Because Agrona won't kill either of you. He needs you all alive to bring the legacy here, anyone else he would kill without a thought."

"Hence why Regis and I were going to go in alone," Arthur pointed out. "Besides, all three of us going together will be like giving Agrona exactly what he wants!

"And what will happen if you go alone and are captured? I know of his memory manipulation abilities. Do you think we'll survive if he gains control of you?"

"So you're saying he's going to capture me if I'm alone? But if I go with the others and we're all captured, what then?"

"I'm just stating a possibility. I can see so very many things happening. So many different timelines, but I can't tell which will happen. My visions only can show me but so much at this point, and the upcoming battle has so many things that could go wrong."

"So you're saying the odds are against me if I go alone, but better if they come along?"

"A little bit better."

"You are asking me to bet my wife on, a little bit better?"

"Tessia is my family too. I wouldn't risk her if I didn't believe everything would be ok."

"In the previous timeline you refused to stop Tess from going on a mission, even though you knew she would get captured. Because if her mission failed the sanctuary would have been discovered. You keep making decisions based on the futures you see, but instead of telling everyone so we can prepare or come up with a plan." He then slammed his hands on the table and yelled, "You just make arbitrary decisions on your own, not caring about who you sacrifice!"

"As you can see, Tessia is alive and in control of her own body. I can't guess my thought process in that timeline, but I can assume that I saw this happening. You turning back time and making it right."

"Grahhh!" Arthur roared in frustration as he stood up and began pacing. She had made multiple sacrifices in the previous timeline, but he had no way of knowing whether or not she knew he was going to change the past. In the beginning when he learned of her visions and the decisions she made, he saw it all as her making sacrifices for the "greater good". But with his turning back time, he was left with a new question, did she only make those sacrifices because she knew he would fix them later?

Arthur canceled the spell.

"I won't order them, but I will ask them," he replied, then left the room.

——————————————————————

"Very well, we will inform Lady Seris. It shouldn't be a problem," the first maid replied, then spun around on her heel and walked to the gate, the other two following behind.

"Wait, how did you know I was going to be here? Seris just could have used the scroll to gave her to notify me of the plan."

The first maid stopped and turned around as the other two continued through the portal. "We didn't plan on running into you, we were only here working to recruit the retainer. But once we realized you were approaching we notified lady Seris, and she ordered us to relay the message." She then turned back around and left through the gate.

With them gone Arthur shut down the portal to ensure no one came through, then sealed the heavy metal door as he walked out to regroup with the others.

——————————————————————-

"This place is just creepy," Mica commented from within the council meeting room. "Not a soul around, just dead bodies."

"You're a Lance, hold yourself better than that," Aya replied with annoyance.

"Mica is allowed to feel! Mica didn't cry saying she was scared!"

"Calm down," Varay stated. "Something happened here, we need to at the very least search every room to confirm the castle is empty."

"Good idea," Arthur replied as he and Sylvie entered the room.

"Did you see anything?" Pasta asked.

"Seris' maids," Arthur replied.

"Apparently they aren't very good at cleaning up their own messes they leave behind," Regis added.

"So they did this?" Jasmine asked.

"Yeah, apparently they tried to recruit the retainer here but failed," Sylvie replied.

"Arthur, what are your orders?" Varay asked.

"Me? Since when was I in charge?" Arthur asked in confusion.

Almost everyone gave him a deadpan look.

"You do realize you've been pretty much giving all of us orders for months now right?" Aya pointed out.

"That doesn't mean I was in charge. Those were just recommendations, you could have refused."

"And if we did the commander would have just made it an order," Barion grumbled as he rubbed his temple.

"When it was decided the Lances would become public knowledge, we agreed upon a hierarchy, the strongest one leads," Varay explained.

"And now that Arthur is the strongest, you are the leader," Mica clarified.

"Well, thank you." Arthur looked to Varay. "No hard feelings?"

Varay shook her head.

"Alright then. In that case, let's split up and search the castle floor by floor. Report in if you find anything."

——————————————————————-

The castle was now back under Dicathen control, there was no one else alive. It was decided that for the time being, two lances would be present in the castle whenever possible. With the addition of three new Lances the chances of it being possible rose greatly, leaving Barion and Aya on the first rotation as they awaited the replacement guards.

Arthur informed the council of the meeting with Seris' subordinates, although it left all of them with an uneasy feeling. They did their best to trust in Arthur, but there were just too many uncertainties that not even he could really prepare for, and with him taking Tess as well, they were feeling even more worried. It was more than just her parents concerned about her presence, if she were to be captured they knew Arthur would never leave her behind, that he was essentially as good as captured as well. Not a soul was happy about this development, but it was hard to argue with a diviner when they make a recommendation.

The sanctuary was mostly quiet as most of the people slept. Only the quiet noise of guards moving and talking on their patrols were being heard. At first Lilia would sometimes wake up in the middle of the night screaming due to nightmares of losing her parents, but she had been quiet for the last few nights, so they were pretty confident that she was getting better.

Tess was fast asleep in her and Arthur's bed, but she was alone, the mountain elephant blanket carefully pulled up to keep her warm. However that wasn't enough to keep her asleep anymore. With the training of her new aether abilities she had become sensitive to Aether fluctuations. Enough so that when she felt a rather significant one it woke her from her sleep.

"Art?" She called out groggily.

But there was no reply. She rolled over to see his side of the bed was empty. She sat up, holding the blanket at her chest to keep her otherwise bare chest covered, and saw a dim light from the hall. She climbed out of bed and grabbed a silk robe from the floor, thrown there earlier that evening when things in the bedroom heated up. She put it on and tied the silk belt before walking out of the room.

He first looked into Sylvie and Regis' room. Sylvie was sitting with her legs crossed with one of the black cubes in her hands that Arthur gave her. While they were gone Sylvie had made some good progress, and not only improved upon her healing arts of Vivum but also unlocked destruction. She wanted to unlock an Aevum god rune, but she couldn't help but find temporal mechanics very confusing so she decided to put that one off until Arthur had more time to be able to help her. She had expressed a strong desire to learn how to open portals, so Tess expected she was working on that.

Tess glared at Regis in the bottom bunk as he appeared to be asleep, although he wasn't. His mane flickered as he absorbed aether for the upcoming battle. Unlike mages, the only way for him to really get stronger was for him to absorb more aether, and since he didn't have a core, he essentially had unlimited potential.

The reason she was glaring at him was simple. Despite it not being tradition, Claire got her a gift, a small robe made from a see through material. Tess had worn it several times to turn Arthur on in the palace, but because of Regis and his behavior, Arthur asked that she not wear it until they were in a home with actual doors.

Moving on, she moved to the kitchen, where she saw Arthur sitting on the floor. His legs were crossed and his runes were all glowing gold.

"Art?"

He didn't reply. She walked over and touched his shoulder, still no response. She then knelt down behind him and pressed her chest against his back as she started kissing on his neck.

"Hmm?!" Arthur startled awake as he looked around.

"Sorry, but you weren't answering. I was a little worried about you," Tess admitted.

"Oh, sorry I hope I didn't wake you. Since I don't need to sleep as much I was doing some training with my aether arts," he replied sheepishly.

"You did but it's fine," she replied, understanding how boring it must be to just lay in bed when he doesn't need to sleep. "What kind of training are you doing? It just looks like you're meditating to me."

"I'm, trying to gain insight into fate," he admitted.

"But how are you supposed to gain insight if you don't even know what it does?"

"Sylvia sent me on this quest to gain fate, so I'm betting that she knew I would gain all these other godrunes. I was thinking maybe if I could find something that connects them all, it might give me the insight I need."

"Any luck?"

Arthur shook his head in disappointment. "No, not yet."

"Don't worry, I know you'll get it. Like you told me in my aether training, you can't expect results quickly."

Arthur had been trying to help her to just manipulate aether ever since they left the relic tomb, but sadly they had little luck. She could sense it now, probably due to the large amount in her core from the pill the Dijin gave her, but that was about it so far. She was getting a little frustrated, but he would remind her that aether and mana are different, and that she now had to learn all over again.

"I know, I just really need this."

"I understand, to fight Agrona."

"Not just that," Arthur said as he shook his head. "While I was training with the Dijin I asked why I couldn't save my father. He said that, they never understood why, but that some people have a fixed fate. And in the case of my father, his fate was to die."

"That doesn't make any sense," she replied in confusion.

"Like I said, they couldn't explain it. He told me how one of their greatest users of Aevum tried countless times to save his own child, but no matter what he did she kept dying, just in a different way. That's how they came up with the theory."

"Then how does fate play into this?"

"That same Dijin gained fate, and only then was he able to save his child. Fate is the only way to change a fixed destiny. So with it, not only can I ensure everyone survives, but I should also be able to use it to undo one of my greatest failures and bring my father back."