*I don't normally do this, but, uh... consider this a content warning for major character death. This is going to be another DARK storyline, like the PoR story centered on Elincia. There will be plenty of gts/shrinking content for sure, but... it's also a story I'm trying to tell, and there's going to be a lot of depressing plot stuff before I can get to the fetish stuff.
So, yeah. Major character death ahead. If you don't want to see that (or are a fan of Roy x Lilina) you should probably stop reading now.*
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How had it all gone so wrong?
General Cecilia sighed mournfully, the beautiful green-haired mage general frowning as she looked out of the window of Ostia's central castle. The once mighty but welcoming walls of Ostia's castles were badly damaged, crumbling, and in some places destroyed altogether. In the distance, beyond the castle just preparing to exit the city itself were General Percival's forces.
Percival had, at her plea, responded alongside her to an urgent missive from Roy of Pherae, stating that Bernese forces led by King Zephiel himself were invading Lycia!
Cecilia hadn't wanted to believe it, but the evidence was overwhelming. For some reason, Bern hadn't been satisfied with it's conquest and subjugation of Ilia and Sacae. Now, Lycia had been invaded, and...
Cecilia could hardly believe the speed at which the Lycian League had come toppling down. Of the great city-states of Lycia, Laus and Thria had risen up in open rebellion in support of Bern. Santaruz, Tania, and Caelin were still holding, now tending to the refugees from the other Lycian provinces... and the other houses were all in a mixed state of chaos and discord.
Over half of the Lycian League's ruling families had been rendered extinct in under a month.
Roy...
Cecilia's heart went out to her once-student. Roy was now the last living member of his family. Etrurian intelligence (later backed up by accounts given by the few surviving knights of Pherae) had painted a grim picture: Zephiel himself had personally led his army to storm castle Pherae...
And Eliwood, once a legendary knight, now a feeble man brought down by illness- had died defending his castle, trying to buy time for Lilina, daughter of his closest friend, to escape...
Cecilia's heart ached at the mention of her other precious student...
Lilina had possessed a gift for anima magic seldom seen, and Cecilia had firmly believed that the girl's kind but stalwart heart and magical talent would lead her to change the world one day.
None of that had mattered when the Bernese war machine continued it's bloody conquest across Lycia. With Thria and Laus bolstering there ranks, the other houses were swept aside... leaving Lycia in anarachy. A broken nation, a pale fragment of what it once was...
All that had come to a head in Ostia, less than a week ago. Roy had still been on the road with his surviving knights (thank Elimine for that!) but Lilina had been undefended at Ostia. With Hector dead, the logical course of action for the Bernese army under Zephiel was to crush Ostia, cementing in their defeat of Lycia as a whole by wiping out the remnants of the joint Lycian army. If Araphen had been a sword through the chest of Lycia... then Ostia had been the nail in the league's coffin.
Brave, sweet Lilina had attempted to lead a defense against the oncoming army of Bern at Ostia, and...
*Sigh*
It still hurt to think about. It had been five days since Cecilia had arrived at Ostia, ready to save her students.
Five days since she realized she'd answered her student's plea too late.
Five days since Lilina, last remaining member of the house of Ostia had died in battle defending her home.
The knights of Ostia were no more- their last senior commander- a large man in bright blue armor- had been found outside the castle gates in a pool of his own blood, his body already cold. The castle town was littered with the corpses of Ostia's brave soldiers.
Inside the castle was even worse.
Cecilia was glad that Roy hadn't set foot inside the castle. She didn't know if his heart could take the sight within.
Warm, comforting rooms and brightly lit hallways that he had no doubt walked through many times as a child had been awash with blood, the slumped and fallen corpses of Ostia's remaining soldiers littering the insides.
Worst of all was the throne room. Her tenure had been short, but Lilina's heart had been just as strong as her father's. Regardless of how terrified she must've been knowing that she was trapped in her own castle, waiting for the full might of Bern to crash down on her...
Lilina had mustered up whatever courage she had. Rather than fleeing the city in the dead of night, she'd stayed to fight the army of Bern. Touched by her resolve, many Ostian soldiers who had been considering joining some traitor's rebellion had instead stayed true to their oaths, swearing to fight by their young marchioness to whatever end.
And the end had come for them all, swiftly and bloodily.
That had been the sight Cecilia had found, alongside Percival and their retainers.
It had been a small mercy that Roy hadn't been with her at the time. Bern- Zephiel, Murdock, Brunnya, and a huge army- had nearly come to blows with them in the central square of Ostia. It was only by the grace of Elimine that a full-scale conflict had not broken out. Instead, Zephiel had merely shrugged his shoulders, loudly proclaimed that he'd 'smashed the Lycian League' and that there was no point in him or his forces remaining.
Just like that, the despot had left Ostia, retreating somewhere with his mighty army, un-penalized for so many murders.
Leaving Cecilia and Percival's forces the horrifying task of 'cleaning up.'
She'd urged Roy not to follow her into the castle, not wanting to take the chance that her student might recognize some of the bodies... But nothing could prepare Cecilia for the sight of Lilina's broken, bloody body at the foot of the throne she had occupied for less than a month.
Ostia's young marchioness had reigned for less than a month, and her enemies had been so discourteous to her even in death that they'd left her corpse where it had fallen, alongside the many bodies of the men and women who'd fought beside her.
The news had spread like wildfire. The Lycian League was no more. Hector had died at Araphen, and Lilina had followed in his footsteps at Ostia.
Roy had been beside himself at the sight of the Etrurian soldiers bringing Lilina's body out of the castle.
The blonde princess beside him had looked no less horrified, and while she hadn't known the kindhearted girl, she knew Roy had lost someone irreplaceable to him.
"You're still here?"
A soft voice roused Cecilia from her thoughts. Guinevere, princess of Bern, stood before her.
"I have to. The king has, at the behest of his advisors, appointed me Governor- sorry, *Governess* of Ostia. I suppose that puts me in charge of Lycia as a whole..." Cecilia sighed. After a moment, she spoke again.
"How... How is he?"
Guinevere winced.
"In truth? No better. He is no longer catatonic... but he refuses all meals, and turns away even his closest companions..."
Cecilia wished there was something she could do for Roy, but what? He was effectively a prince in exile- Etruria had declared Ostia a province under its protection, placing Cecilia in charge of the defense and upkeep, and seemed intent on claiming all of Lycia, while Bern seemed to be content with its bloody conquest. Percival's forces were now returning to Etruria, the knight general being needed for the defense of his homeland. With Lycia no more, many worried that Etruria would be Bern's next target.
After all, every other nation on Elibe had been crushed by Bern.
How in the world had things grown so dire?
Cecilia could hardly believed how bleak it sounded when she summed up the situation in her mind.
Lycia as a country was no more. Her student, a wonderful, smart, kind girl, was dead. Roy had lost his closest friend, his father, and a man who might one day have been his father-in-law.
And Bern stood poised to launch an all-out attack on Etruria now that there were no longer any other nations to oppose them.
But what could she do? True, she was a general of Etruria, a widely-respected figure of authority even though she was still several years from thirty... but how could she oppose the might of Bern?
To her side, Princess Guinevere had a melancholy but pensive look on her face, no doubt thinking something similar.
Something had to change.
The situation seemed dire, that all hope was lost... but they couldn't just roll over and accept death at the hands of Bern!
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1) Bern isn't done with Ostia OR Lycia yet. Unable to sleep that night, Guinevere walks the halls of the castle, passing by Roy's room... just in time to spot a mysterious figure casting a spell on the sleeping Roy!
2) A week passes by, and Cecilia finds an old, dust-covered tome in Ostia's library with some magic that she believes could change the war!
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Casualty list (Note that there won't be one of these every chapter, just when necessary after a big info dump like this chapter.)
Dead
Lilina
Barthe
Eliwood
Hector
Rutger
Narcian (was captured by Ostia prior to it's fall and executed
Missing/possibly dead/unconfirmed
Dieck
Ward
Lot
Noah
Trec
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