Corrin's vision faded in and out of blackness as his eyes fluttered open. Slowly, his senses came back to him—the thick scent of bitter medicine and herbs filled his nose, and the coppery taste of blood lingered on his tongue. One by one, his memories returned as well: the attack on the northern entrance, him getting chewed up and spit out, and collapsing in the grass outside the manor.

He groaned weakly, his throat dry. But as the haze finally cleared from his sight, he realized he was looking up at a ceiling—he must be in a cot.

"Corrin! You're awake! Are you alright?"

To his right, Kei's face was wrought with worry, and… was she holding his hand? To his left, Aria was looking down at him, her amethyst eyes sparkling as they met his own.

Not the worst way to wake up, he thought.

Something on his face must have given him away, because Kei let out a sigh of relief, then her face twisted and she dropped his hand in an instant. "I don't like that look you've got, idiot."

She smacked him on the head and he shot up, yelping.

"Ow! Come on Kei what'd you do that for? Cut me some slack can't you see I'm… injured?"

Slowly, he realized he didn't feel any pain—well, besides the stinging on his head—certainly not the kind of pain he should be feeling. That was odd. Tentatively, he patted himself all over, checking his body for injuries, but he couldn't find any. There wasn't even a scar.

Finally he noticed two more people crowding his bed. Bruno was sitting next to Aria, shooting Corrin a thumbs up, which Corrin returned with a smirk and head nod. And another person, whom he didn't recognize, was sitting at the foot of the bed. The young man had striking white hair, and his chin was resting on his knuckles as he gazed at Corrin curiously.

"Well," the newcomer said, "I'm shocked you're awake so soon after getting healed."

This must be the guy that healed me then.

Corrin grinned, slapping his bare chest. "What can I say, I'm just built sturdy."

The healer smiled, amused. "So it would seem. Your channels are certainly something. I'd like to ask you… who did it?"

Corrin's grin faltered and he looked away. "I did, who else?"

As he glanced back, the healer's eyes seemed to pierce right through him. "Is that so? You must be the greatest talent since Edrian himself."

"That sounds about right."

They stared at each other for an endless moment, and Corrin felt an intangible pressure for reasons he couldn't explain. Something was tingling at the base of his neck, and his palms were suddenly sweaty. Even Tor hadn't made him feel like this… just who was this guy?

The tension finally broke as crack shook the estate, and Corrin jumped.

"Spirits! What was that?"

He looked around, finally noticing Kei's and Aria's darkened faces.

Bruno chuckled. "Welcome back to the land of the living. You might wish you'd just stayed dead."

"You've been unconscious for a while…" Kei grimaced.

Corrin took a breath, letting his own expression settle. He felt his eyes hardening. A tinge of worry gripped his heart. Had he slept through everything? Where was Wyn? What was happening in the city?

"What happened while I was out?"

Over the next few minutes, they caught him up to speed. The estate was under attack, he'd slept through most of the day, and Eia had gone to check on Wyn almost two hours ago without coming back.

"So they couldn't collapse the entrance," Corrin rubbed his chin. "Damn. That's not good."

"Corrin, the king of stating the obvious." Kei chuckled. Despite her teasing, Corrin could still see relief in her shoulders and eyes.

Things must really be bad.

Corrin turned to the healer, bowing as much as he could from his position in bed. "Thank you for healing me. I appreciate it."

"It was nothing, just a warm up for the main event."

"The main event?"

Eyes of green and gold flickered. "I understand you're familiar with the spirit knight in this infirmary?"

"Eryndor, yeah. What, are you saying you can heal him too?"

"Well, I'm willing to give it a shot."

"And say you can heal him, how long do you think it will take?"

"We'll have to see, but at a guess? He'll be up by sunrise tomorrow."

Corrins brows rose. "That's pretty fast. The rest of the healers said he'd be recovering for weeks at least."

"And maybe they're right. But they also said they couldn't heal you any more than they had. Yet here we are..."

Corrin studied the man for a second. Was he really so much better than the rest of the healers here? He remembered the feeling he'd gotten earlier, and he saw the confident expression on the man's face.

The summer solstice, Corrin thought. One way or another, it all ends tomorrow, doesn't it?

Well, no use wondering. He nodded. "Sunrise then. That will work" The other three turned to look at Corrin, bemused by his reaction. "For now, where's Luscien? Him and I need to talk."

"He's out in the yard, drawing those circles," Kei pointed out the window, though Luscien wasn't visible from the infirmary. She started towards the door. "Let us go with you, we can—"

Corrin grabbed her wrist. "Just wait to hear from Eia. This is a conversation the two of us need to have alone."

Her eyes seemed to be searching his. "Fine, but answer something for me. Are you going to win? Promise me Corrin."

He tossed aside the blanket and swung his feet to the side. The floor was cool to the touch. He shot a cocky grin. "Of course we are. Who do you think I am? You're looking at the future greatest spirit knight in the world. This is nothing." He stood up and threw on a shirt, his body feeling lighter than usual.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

He walked over to the window, looking out at the walls, and with his back turned to the rest, the smile dropped off his face. He took in a breath, his body beginning to fill back up with ash.

Let's have a chat, Luscien.

***

As he walked down the front steps of the manor, Corrin's eyes went to the sky. The morning's blue had purpled as the sun made its way towards the horizon, but it was slowly being obscured behind a thickening layer of clouds. Sizzling sparks of red flared against it as the barrier above the estate incinerated another attack. The air was warm, heated by the spells.

As he found the fire-channeler at the same slab of stone, Corrin looked pointedly at the circles scrawled onto its surface, the broken chalk, and Luscien's own ragged appearance.

"How is it that I look better off than you do?"

Luscien's head came up at the words, his eyes flickering with surprise. "You're actually healed? That healer isn't normal."

Corrin glanced back at the manor. "I figured about as much. Think he'll be able to heal Eryndor?"

"No idea," Luscien shrugged, his demeanor returning. "I don't know anything it seems."

Corrin frowned. "That guy, Kieran. What's the story between the two of you? You said you took the exam together, but that's not the whole story is it?"

"It doesn't matter."

"I disagree. Because you're clearly terrified of him, and I don't see how we're going to fight him if you can't get over it."

Luscien scowled. "Fight him? What are you talking about? We lost Corrin. Maybe this healer can get my master back on his feet, then maybe he can do something. Anything else is just a dream."

"Humor me." Corrin's voice was edged. "I'm a curious kind of guy."

"I don't see why I should." Luscien's grip tightened around his leg.

"And I don't see why he scares you so damn much!" Corrin grabbed Luscien's shirt, pulling him up. "So he beat you in a fight two years ago, who cares? In the end, he failed and you passed! You're the one that's going to become a spirit knight, not him! Isn't that—"

"You're wrong!" Luscien growled. He shoved Corrin off of him, but the fire in his eyes faded just as quickly, and he looked down into the dirt. "I didn't pass anything. If it wasn't for him… I wouldn't have ever been accepted into the academy."

A drop of water fell from the sky, landing in between them and soaking into the dirt. As Corrin glanced up at the sky, it began to rain. The refugees crowded under tents as the staff moved quickly to set them up.

Neither of them moved.

"Tell me, Luscien."

After a long silence, Luscien looked back up, his fists clenching. "The Dunet's are a minor noble house, much like my own. It would be wrong to call us childhood friends, but we were both heirs to our families, so we grew up around each other. Kieran has always been… temperamental, to say the least, but I'd be hard pressed to think of anyone more dedicated to becoming a spirit knight than he was. He was a special person, the kind I'm not. By the time we were old enough to enroll, he was one of the strongest candidates in our year, a shoe-in."

Even now, Luscien seemed to hold some level of respect for the young man. Corrin couldn't fault him for it though. Kieran was strong.

"And you?" Corrin asked.

"I guess I was more middle-of-the-pack. No… to be honest, I was probably below average. Like I told you before, I reached the limits of my natural abilities a long time ago. People caught up."

"I see."

Luscien shook his head, the rain beginning to mat down his hair. "During the second stage of the exam, we ended up on the same team of three. We were doing well, though it was mostly thanks to him and our third teammate. But Kieran went too far. We defeated another team, but he was angry. He wouldn't stop, beating them even after they were down, yelling at them for being weak. I thought—he looked like he was going to kill them.

Next thing I knew, I'd somehow gotten in between them. I tried to fight back, but I just ended up getting beaten instead. I don't remember much after that. Apparently, Maliah—our third—was able to get help while I was getting whaled on. I woke up a week later in a hospital bed, too injured to participate in the rest of the exam. Lucky me I guess, since the headmaster himself made an exception to accept my enrollment."

"And Kieran got expelled," Corrin finished. "Seems a little unfair of him to hate you for that, doesn't it?"

Luscien looked up at the clouds, raindrops bouncing off his lenses and running down his impassive face. "His sins are his own to bear, but that doesn't change the truth that I was only accepted because of him. My status as a student, and as a prospective spirit knight, is built on an illusion of merit where none exists. So what will you tell me then Corrin? That I should act like a spirit knight? That we can beat him? We can't. I couldn't beat him then, and I can't beat him now."

"I won't tell you any of that." Corrin shook his head. "But I would like to ask where I can find the guy who got his ass kicked trying. That's someone I can at least respect."

Luscien let out a growl of frustration. "You just don't get it do you Corrin? If we go out there—your dream? Becoming a spirit knight? It will die with you."

"Becoming a spirit knight? Playing things safe? You're the one who doesn't get it, Luscien. None of that matters right now." Corrin took a step forward, something roiling in his chest. "What I want at this moment, more than anything else in the world, is to take this sense of defeat and shove it down that icy bastard's throat. If I can't do something as simple as that, then what right do I have to pursue that dream?"

Luscien caught himself as he stepped back away, meeting Corrin's eyes as he let out a dry chuckle. "You're insane, do you know that? I've known it since the beginning, but you really are like him. You're both special."

"I'm sick and tired of all this 'special' bullshit. Who gives a damn? From where I'm standing, you're just using it to justify your own inaction."

"It's called realism you suicidal freak."

"I wasn't planning on dying."

"No? And what exactly was your plan then?" Luscien challenged him.

"I don't have a plan! I'm an idiot! Or are you too stupid to have realized that?" Corrin threw his hands up. "That's why I need you to get your head out of your ass, and help me figure out what the hell we're going to do! If you say we have to wait, then we'll wait. But there's waiting because we have to, and waiting because you're scared of somebody that only exists inside your head! Stop trying to take the easy way out!"

The rain picked up further, drowning out the sounds of anything beyond them.

"Easy?" Luscien's voice was low, so much that Corrin could barely hear it. "You think this is easy for me? You think I don't wish I could do more? What a load of crap. If I could be like you Corrin, I would. But you don't get to lecture me when you don't know a damn thing."

Corrin looked into his eyes, trying to find a flame. There had to be one, it was in there somewhere, he was certain. But the rain doused any spark he may have found.

"Fine," he said eventually. "But I'm going to find a way to fight, with or without you."

Luscien looked up, letting out a shaky breath. Corrin wondered when the last time he'd shouted like that was. "If we're done here, I'm going inside. I hate the rain."

The rainfall drowned out his footsteps as he left. Corrin stayed in the yard until his hair was soaked through, staring up at the wards burning faint red against the twilight sky. Even the assault from outside had slowed. Apparently the cultists weren't fans either.

"It's easy to say, isn't it?" He muttered to himself. "But what am I actually going to do?"

Even just breaking through the siege of the manor would be difficult. Still, the more he thought about the cult's actions, the more sure he was. The siege of the city, their choice of targets, and the way they'd suddenly besieged the manor upon realizing they had enemies there… They didn't want anyone able to interfere. In Corrin's mind, that just meant they were still a threat.

"Corrin!" A voice broke through the downpour, calling him from the manor's entrance. It was Kei.

He jogged over, the ground already muddying beneath his feet.

"It doesn't seem your conversation went very well."

Corrin grimaced. "Him and I really don't get along. In the end, I'm not sure if he'll even fight with us. But I'll manage. What's going on?"

"Eia's back from checking on Wyn."

"Is it bad news?"

Kei shook her head. "Well, we're still not one hundred percent sure. She can't get him to wake up."

"So he's asleep?" Corrin frowned. "He could probably use it, but that doesn't sound like him."

"That's what I thought," Kei said. "But Eia thinks it's more than that. She can't wake him up, their bond feels odd, and apparently he's asleep outside, with one hand clutching onto the trunk of the tree. She thinks… he might be trying to make a bond with Haoma."

Corrin's eyes widened, and a smile broke out on his face. He started to laugh as his mood in the wake of his conversation with Luscien evaporated. "That crazy bastard! Why didn't I think of that? A great spirit huh? I'd bet that'll help us somewhat."

"What should we do in the meantime?" Kei asked. "We don't know when he'll wake up."

"No, Wyn wouldn't sleep through this. He'll be up soon enough." Corrin rubbed his chin, muttering to himself. "If I have to wait, I'll wait. Even if it sucks."

He looked back out towards the walls.

Hurry and get up Wyn. Don't make me wait too long.

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