He sobs into me as I wrap my arms around him, sinking to the floor so we will not fall.

"W—Why must you go too, brother M—Merric? W—Why? P—Please don't l—leave me!"

I feel myself lose control and a single tear slides down my cheek as I lean my head against his. Another moment passes as I allow him to sob in silence, before I answer him softly in a whisper, "I'm sorry, brother Lance. I—"

"I—I'm scared... b—brother Merric. Everyone keeps leaving. W—Where are you going?"

"I know. I—"

"Y—you do know where they are g—going, don't you? W—Why? W—Why won't you tell m—me?"

His words sting but I stifle back any response and continue, "I'm sorry, brother Lance. It's dangerous, okay!" I allow my voice to come out a bit louder and keep it stern, "I don't want you worrying about it!"

I worry about it too much as it is. And it does nothing but destroy you from within.

His sobs quieten a bit and a moment of silence engulfs us while he calms himself, "But why do you have to go too, brother Merric? Why did you tell Mama you are going too? That means you do know where they go!"

"I don't wish to leave you here without me, but I must go now. I cannot tell you why but just know I have to do this, brother! I will return, I promise. Please stay safe in here and stay hidden until we return... Can you do that for me?"

I pull away, look down at him right in his eyes and wait for him to answer. He stares back at me for a while and I see many things fade in and out in his gaze as he studies me, "I promise I will tell you why someday... I will tell you everything... but I cannot right now. Okay?"

I lower my voice to a whisper, "Can you do this for me? Hide and wait for me to return,"

Finally, he nods his head at me and doesn't say another word. He releases me and gets up. He watches me leave before he disappears further back into the keep away from the entrance.

I spin around and rush towards the direction where Mama and Papa went. Upon entering the woods, I quicken my pace as I begin to hear sounds of clanking weapons far in the distance as the edge of the small section of woods clears out. I find myself staring down the hill at a field full of fighting. That is what I was hearing.

The battle has already begun.

I watch as I see the field split down the middle with many colors of armor. Black is on the left side furthest from the castle while both blue and red are on the side of the castle.

We fight on the red and blue side then. That is the direction Papa Greil is rushing towards.

I find Mama staring out there at something as she has stopped following Papa Greil. Why has she stopped? I push away the sickening feeling forming within me as I tug on Mama's sleeve so she will follow. Rushing down this hill is the point of no return. I will have to kill when I go down there. I will not be able to run away. Those knights will not spare me and they are out here to kill. I chose to come out here today, so I will do it.

They were training for this like me.

The feeling within me fights me, wanting me to turn around and run back to the keep. But I do not. Do it for Lance. If I don't do this then he will be in danger. Then how will I learn to protect him?

I glance around the field, wondering what Mama was just looking at. On the enemy side, I find what appears to be another dark magician. There's another one? How come Mama never told me? Or did she? Is that Vladimir who she mentioned? Is that who we are fighting? He catches my gaze for a moment and I suddenly feel something that I have never felt before wash over me, almost pushing me over.

Didn't Mama tell me something before, something about... no wait, the tome I read before told me this. Isn't dark magic one of the only things that can hurt another dark magician? Then how does the King expect to win this without Mama? Does he even know what is going on other than he is being attacked?

He swings his gaze away from me and towards the King and something starts to form around his hands. Is he summoning some kind of spell that I do not recognize? I slide my gaze over and find Papa escorting Mama directly through the middle of the battlefield towards the King. Then my gaze stops on the King and I study him.

I feel my eyes widen and I stop in my tracks. Is that Pa? Wait...

The sorcerer sends that spell he was just summoning directly towards him. I push myself up as I start to approach the edge of the battlefield and find myself starting to become targeted by the enemy knights. Wait... is Pa the King here too? But he's not Mama's father, he is Lucina's father... They have the same father? But they are not sisters?

Before the flying dark ball of energy reaches the King, the knights around him swing at it and it flies upwards towards the sky. It disperses in all directions and dissipates. So our spells can be deflected by normal weapons?

I shield myself from the oncoming knights as they approach me with their lances and I lift my hands up in front of me. I watch as I send my emotion through my arm. Before they reach me, I flick my hand towards each of them and a small ball of energy shoots from the ball between my hands to each one I flick towards as swiftly as I flick. When one strikes a knight, they fall away from me forcefully and have trouble getting up.

Should I kill them... or just push them away and continue following Mama?

More knights replace the ones I had just pushed away, like they were answering my stupid question. Here goes nothing then...

I force away the uneasy feeling surfacing within me and push more energy through my arms, allowing free flow through them. The ball between my hands morphs into a stronger spell and I forcefully flick my hand in a circle around me, throwing it up above my head. I release the spell and it mimics my hand, surrounding me and hitting each knight in its way. These ones do not struggle to get up.

I ignore the sickly feeling that I now feel and spin around, not looking at them anymore. Just do it for your brother. Don't even think about it. They were trying to kill you, Merric.

As much as I remind myself of this, I just cannot look upon these knights with hatred and suck their life energy from them. I cannot use what I was practicing on them or watch as the fear emerges within their eyes as my spells work on them.

I find the sorcerer once again and he is summoning another spell that I don't recognize. It is another dark energy ball but snake-like energy is swirling around it, feeding it and making it larger. I slide my gaze over to the King and find both Mama and Papa rushing up to him. Not far from them, I find the princess rushing over to him as well. But it appears she will not make it before Mama will.

What does Mama plan to do? Deflect that attack? It looks powerful... maybe I should jump over there an—

I feel a painful sensation surround me as my eyes are forced back towards the sorcerer. Can he read my mind? I cannot move for a moment as he smiles evilly at me before releasing the spell towards Mama and the King. I study his eyes closely and a deep red color flashes through them. This red color keeps flashing around in them and something does not seem right about him the more I look. A dark magician's eyes flashing red? That shouldn't be happening...

I find myself finally moving my gaze away from his and I immediately slide them over to Mama and the King. Mama has reached him and is shielding him while positioning herself between him and the spell speeding towards them. I suddenly feel a healing sensation wash over me and the pain has faded away. I find Myst has healed me with her stave and the sorcerer is no longer paying attention to me.

I helplessly watch as the speeding dark energy ball slams into Mama as she braces herself with her own magic. I expected to see her fall in pain. I expected to hear her scream.

But neither happen.

The dark energy ball fizzles out around her and disappears as she flinches only slightly, probably expecting something more like I did. She glares back up at the sorcerer, expecting something else to follow, but nothing happens. I slide my gaze back to him as well and he looks pleased.

What happened?

His gaze finds me once again and I feel a creeping sensation like I am slowly sinking into something thick. He smiles evilly once again, "We have finished what we have come for. Fall back,"

His voice comes out strong and deep. There is something sinister about it. It feels as though it comes from everywhere, even though he is nowhere near me. I should not even hear his words but they surround me like there are multiple of him, all around me at the same time.

He narrows his gaze on me. You are next, boy.

My head begins to pound violently as his knights retreat away from me all around me. Is he talking to me? What does he mean? What happened? Did his spell work? Mama looks okay but he acts like he has won, and yet, he is retreating?

His eyes flash a bright red. You shall see me again.

My head throbs once again as his words radiate around in my mind. He then turns away and disappears. I keep my gaze glued to where he once was and I cannot look away. I will see him again?

My thoughts jump to what my Mama said to me before and I abruptly feel like the air temperature drops ten degrees within a second as I stand here. Mama's words echo in my mind. The Dark Lord picks and chooses the dark magician child they will chase until they take them away.

If his spell was meant for the King... then he would not have smiled when Mama blocked it. Did he really mean for this to happen? Is there something else going on that I do not understand?

I have never seen another dark magician before other than Mama. Is this how they act? They cannot possibly be evil, are they? And Mama is not and full of good? Could that be... possible? Are we evil?

Am I evil inside too?

I shake my head and force the thoughts away. I shake my energy away from my hands and push them away, forcing it back within. I watch my magic fade away. No, I do not believe that. Dark magicians cannot be evil. Mama has never said anything about that. There is something else going on here.

I look up in time to see Mama and Papa approaching me. I am no longer surrounded by the enemy knights and they are no longer on the field. I almost feel safe. I almost feel like we have won. But something is bothering me.

Is protecting the King really what we should be worrying about?

I want to smile as Mama and Papa reach me. But I do not. My thoughts consume me once again. It has been a while since they have done this.

Something is wrong. There is something wrong with Mama. And soon, the same will happen to me. That is not Vladimir. That is something else and it is after Mama.

Merric figured it out this early? Did you expect that?

But is he too late?

NOTE: This marks the turning point. Everything else after this will be what was mentioned by Merric in book 3 but is now actually being experienced.

WARNING: Later parts will be vivid and graphic, filled with torture and other negative things, if you remember what Merric said to Star after he revealed his identity in book 3. These parts almost made me mark the book as mature. Instead I will just leave a warning at the top of every vivid part.