Last time, Red and the Shepherds arrived on the continent of Valm. There, they were able to enlist the help of the swordmaster Say'ri, and agreed to join her fight against the Conqueror. There'll be spoilers, probably, so consider this your usual warning.
Say'ri explained to us that her people had worshipped Naga, or to be more precise, they worshipped the Divine Dragon's oracle, Lady Tiki. Tiki was better known as the Voice. Say'ri's intent was for us to free the Voice from the temple she was kept prisoner in, in order to get the Resistance to unite around her.
When I asked where she was being kept, Say'ri told us about a shrine built in the branches of the divine Mila Tree. Chrom did not hesitate, and we set out with our plan in mind.
As we were making preparations, I could feel a familiar presence standing right behind me. I asked Tharja to stop doing that, so I would be able to see her face. She just questioned me, so I ended up turning to her. We were standing fairly close together... and I have to say, I quite liked it.
Tharja had been around me quite a bit, and I had grown quite fond of her company. I offered her a ring, telling that we should stand together forever. Tharja turned it down, then stood behind and told me to try again.
Tharja accepted the proposal, although she did threaten to murder me in my sleep if I backed out of it...
With that out of the way, I noticed a few locations on the map that seemed to be of interest. However, I decided we would focus on helping Say'ri first, so once everyone was ready we set out for the Mila Tree.
Chapter 16: Naga's Voice
The Mila Tree was unbelievably huge. It seemed to stretch upwards for miles and miles. The shrine we needed to get to was hidden within its branches. Say'ri told us that a great staircase inside the trunk led to the top, although the empire had closed off the only route to the steps. Of course, Chrom's plan was to just have us break through.
We would be fighting our foes on the roots of the Mila Tree. There were a few thieves carrying some items of interest, several fighters, some pegasus knights, as well as some more experienced soldiers. Say'ri was first to score a kill, followed by Tharja and I taking out fighter and thief respectively. I was able to claim a medium bullion from the thief, which I would sell for some gold after the battle. Lucina, Miriel and Ricken joined us advancing up the right side of the tree.
Lissa and Vaike were first to advance on the left, backed up by Cherche and Virion. Chrom and Sumia joined them as well, although they were more central and able to lend their help to either side.
Sully and Gaius killed another thief, claiming a speedwing from him. Lucina finished off a hero that had attacked me, whilst Lissa tended to the wounds inflicted to Cherche by an enemy warrior. Virion defeated an enemy pegasus knight, and the aforementioned warrior was defeated by Sumia, with support from Chrom.
Sully came under attack from an enemy falcon knight, and a bow knight. She wasn't able to dodge the falcon knight's attack, but she did dodge the bow knight's arrow. Lissa used her magic to take out the bow knight. Once again, Virion defeated the enemy's flying unit, acquiring a Mend staff in the process.
Tharja and I defeated another enemy bow knight together, whilst Gaius defeated an enemy thief and was able to claim a master seal.
I took some fairly major damage, but Tharja was nearby, so I partnered up with her and we took out an enemy pegasus knight together. Lissa healed Lucina's wounds, and then Miriel and Ricken weakened a sniper sufficiently enough for Say'ri to defeat.
Reinforcements arrived to our south; four fighters, one hero and one warrior. Rather than send anyone down to confront them, I had everyone continue their advance. We would wait for the enemy to come to us before we struck.
The next wave of reinforcements were four pegasus knights. We wouldn't have to wait long for them to catch up to us. Fortunately for us, most of our allies they chose to attack were able to see them off without too much trouble. Since our goal was simply to defeat the enemy's commander, Tharja and I charged on ahead whilst everyone else stayed back to fight the reinforcements.
The enemy's commander was a general named Cervantes. He carried a tomahawk, a fairly powerful throwing axe. However, due to his thick armour, he had low resistance. That meant magic attacks would be our best option. Tharja and I managed to goad him into attacking, and then Tharja took him out with a critical strike. He mentioned something about his invincible moustache before retreating.
Say'ri was impressed by the Ylissean soldiers' fighting ability. She quickly led us to the shrine when Chrom asked if she knew its whereabouts.
It felt like we had spent an eternity climbing up stairs by the time we had arrived at top. Once we were there, Say'ri called out for Lady Tiki. A woman with green hair and in a red dress emerged, yawning. That must've been Tiki, since Say'ri said she was relieved to see that she was all right.
Lucina spoke, and Tiki seemed to think she was Marth for a moment. It seemed that Tiki was reminded of someone when she had seen Lucina. Tiki was aware of Lucina and Chrom's bloodline, and asked about the Fire Emblem. Chrom showed it to Tiki, who then commented that the gemstones were missing.
Apparently the only one we had was Argent. Tiki revealed that there were five gemstones; Argent, Sable, Gules, Azure and Vert. Each one held a portion of Naga's power, and would allow one to perform the Awakening when mounted upon the Fire Emblem.
The Awakening was the very same rite by which the first exalt channelled the Divine Dragon's power, or so Frederick said. The Fire Emblem had been powerful enough to allow the exalt to defeat Grima, but the power was too much for men so the gemstones were scatted aftewards.
Tiki was in possession of Azure, and Say'ri's kingdom was guardian of Vert. Unfortunately, Walhart's men had stolen Vert. As for the other two, Sable and Gules, Tiki did not know the whereabouts of those.
Basilio told us that Regna Ferox was founded at the time of the Schism, as had all other nations. Lissa thought this meant that he had one of the gemstones, but Flavia quickly shot that theory down. Basilio then revealed that they did have a gemstone; Gules. Unfortunately, Gules had been lost before Basilio's lifetime.
Tiki granted Azure to Chrom, thus giving us two of the five gemstones. She told us to find the other gemstones and perform the Awakening.
Chrom was confused, as he believed that Grima's power had been sealed. Tiki told us that what Chrom was true, but there were people who were trying to change that. Grima's life force was growing, his presence coming ever closer.
I thanked Tiki for her help. She then made a comment that I possessed a power like hers. I questioned her on that, but she dismissed it, claiming that she was still groggy from her sleep. Say'ri asked if she was all right. Tiki said she was fine, just not strong enough to fight alongside us yet. What Tiki would do, however, was bring the people together and pray for the end of the conflict.
So, after proposing to Tharja, fighting on the roots of a giant tree and climbing an endless staircase, we have officially made our first step towards defeating Walhart. We now knew that Chrom would need the Fire Emblem's five gemstones to perform the Awakening in order to defeat Grima.
First, however, we would have to deal with Walhart. Say'ri said that he had taken one of the gemstones from her people, and I doubt he would be willing to hand it over peacefully.
However, we have now enlisted the help of the Voice of Naga, who should be able to get the people to rally to our cause.
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