t h e d a y t h e w a r w a s l o s t

~Back at Ylisse Castle

I am about to continue my story, continuing after how I escaped the evil sorcerer when I notice Ma giving me a peculiar look with one hand under her chin and the other on her hip. It's not a look I expected to see on her face after just telling the scene of her death from the future.

I study her for a moment, "Uhm, Ma?"

Her lips form into a slight smile from the thin line they were just forming, "You figured it all out at such a young age,"

"Wh—Wha?" I am baffled to hear this from her. I mean, maybe I was figuring it out with very little information. But she obviously doesn't know everything.

She closes her eyes with a smile and giggles a bit before opening them again, "You really need to give yourself more credit, Merric,"

I look back at her with a stunned expression, "I... uh... I try, Ma,"

I reach up and hold the side of my head with my hand and glance around to Pa and Lance with a weird smile on my face, "Heh, I guess I did, but I did have some help,"

Pa crosses his arms casually like Papa Greil always does, "So you did know what was happening then. But you said you didn't tell me?"

I turn to him while dropping my hands back to my sides and shake my head no, "I really wanted to Pa. My fears stopped me," I look back over to Ma, "The demon was uh, speaking to me through my mind. I was afraid if I said anything he would come after me or make it worse somehow,"

Ma's eyes open slightly as she studies me, "I—It did?" And her lips open partially.

I nod, "Yes. At first, it was intimidating me enough to where I felt helpless and I couldn't do anything about it. I knew right away after you became ill Ma that you could never be cured. It wasn't until near the end of that day that I thought about why the demon was so fast,"

Pa nods once, still studying me closely, "I see. You didn't want me to lose hope,"

I slide my gaze over to him and nod, "When I followed you into battle Pa, I felt something invisible latch onto me and that's when my magic would not listen. The fear that shot through me helped me notice our enemy's red soulless eyes and then I started noticing that our attacks weren't damaging them. It might have been easy to overlook the fact that maybe you weren't strong enough, but no attack was doing a single thing. That helped me figure out the demon was controlling every single Daein Knight against their will,"

I slide my gaze back to Ma, "It's not like the purple glow around them didn't give anything away or anything," I smile slightly and Ma chuckles.

"My, what a smart son we have, Hun,"

Pa grunts, "I'd say so. Very wise indeed,"

I smile, "Yeah, so I eventually figured if I don't try something, then I might not ever know if I could have done something. Falchion kept glittering at me when I would look at it, and somehow it felt like it was telling me to just pick it up and fight,"

I pause for a moment, looking down at the blade on my hip, "So, I did. But nothing I tried worked which made me feel helpless once again. Such a vicious cycle,"

I shake my head slightly, remembering how it felt to always feel helpless no matter what you did as I look up at the calm blue sky, "So, the fact that nothing was working on him after remembering that Ma told me the only thing that can stop dark magic is itself, was that he has gotten stronger somehow,"

I look back down to find Ma's gaze once again and she continues listening to my words silently with her calm look about her, "When I escaped back to your bedroom Ma, and saw how weak you were since that morning before the battle, I was figuring out the demon was absorbing your energy since the battle's start, which was explaining why he was so much more faster and stronger,"

I pause, and Ma opens her mouth, "It was basically battling me, Vladimir and the demon at once, with all the energy combined. I would say that was much more powerful than the last time,"

I nod, "Yeah, that's what I thought. That made me feel different about it once again, but I realized I couldn't have won or have done anything at that point and I needed to have escaped... So, I did,"

"Mmm, so that's why you couldn't fight. That thing kept placing a spell on you, stopping you from using your magic and forcing you to watch it kill everyone..."

Pa lowers his gaze away from mine like he is suddenly in deep thought, "I see,"

"Yeah..." I add softly in a whisper, "It was torturing me as another form to torture Ma before killing everyone and I am sure he was going to get me too if I didn't escape when I did... There was no one left,"

A short moment of silence.

I move my gaze back over to Ma's. She finds mine in return.

"I wish I was able to teach you how to use white magic before then, Merric. I am sure you could have eventually helped me out of that hex, but it would have taken a long time. I am unsure if you would have had enough time though,"

I nod, "Yeah. At that point, I had no idea about the magic and was angry when I learned of it almost too late,"

Ma's eyes widen again slightly, intrigued by my statement. I smile and place my hands on my hips, "Yeah. We haven't gotten to that part yet, Ma! Stop spoiling my story!"

She raises her hand to her mouth and chuckles at me, "Hehe, sorry, sweetie. Please continue with your story,"

Well, there it is! Ma really insisted I share that too.

Well, the story shall commence shortly. See you there. Hope you enjoyed our little conversation.

~Merric