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Kiran sat at his desk, preparing strategies for the upcoming battle. He knew that there was a lot riding on what happened soon, so he had to be at the top of his game. No playing it by ear, every step had to be carefully planned out, with no room for error. Even still, he couldn’t keep his hands from shaking. Before long, their longtime enemy, Surtr, the flaming king of Muspell would be defeated. He had left a trail of bodies in his wake, and it fell to Kiran to avenge all of them. Clenching his hands, he focused on what he knew. They had defeated him once before, with only his immortality saving him then, but now even that was gone, thanks to Fjorm performing the Rite of Frost. Of course, ever since then, she had developed a concerning cough that he would have to look into, but that would have to wait for later. Convinced that they had a plan that would be sufficient to defeat him, he moved to tell Anna that they were ready to move out. Even as he went to tell the Commander about his plans, he had a strange feeling that something bad was going to happen…
Kiran made his journey into the heart of Muspell, with his allies behind him, strengthening his feeling that this was the final battle. Although it hadn’t been his first time marching into battle with his allies nearby, it was his first time walking straight into the enemy base, fully expecting to win. He believed in his allies, they had gotten him through so far, and he didn’t think they were going to fail him now. As he approached the first wave of Muspellian soldiers and contracted heroes, he ordered out his main team, consisting of Raven, Brave Lyn, Ephraim, and Vanguard Ike. This team had seen him through many conflicts, and as a result, they were his go to for this, one of the more important battles the Order has had in recent memory. While they attended to the enemies, Alfonse, Anna, Sharena and Fjorm remained close by, to provide backup. It ended up not being necessary, as before long the four summoned heroes had emerged victorious. When they approached the second wave, the same thing happened, and they moved ever deeper into the castle. When they reached the third wave, something was different this time. For starters, they weren’t greeted by generic soldiers, but rather by one of Muspell’s generals, Laegjarn. Kiran thought back to when they had captured her, and had the opportunity to see firsthand that she wasn’t the evil monster her father was. However, she had escaped right back to his side, most likely to protect her sister, Laevatein. Kiran was shook from his recollection when Laegjarn began to address them, saying that she would undergo the Rite of Flame to give her the power to defeat them. As she began to say the words that would bring the power to life, the pit in Kiran’s stomach grew as he realized what was about to happen. His eyes widened as he yelled to the enemy general.
“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING, LAEGJARN?!”
It was too late, as the words for the fatal rite were finished and Laegjarn was surrounded by flames that would grant her immense power for a short while, before claiming the tax of her life. Laegjarn challenged them to a fight, and as much as he didn’t want to give it to her, he had to in order to get to Surtr. “Besides,” he solemnly thought, “it’s not like it makes much of a difference either way, she’s going to die anyways. That bastard… Using his own daughters as sacrifices...” Realizing that the only reason that Laegjarn was standing before him, marked for death, was in order to protect her sister made Kiran hate the scene in front of him even more than he already did. With a heavy heart, Kiran ordered his Heroes to meet Laegjarn’s soldiers in battle. Before too long, the soldiers had all been defeated and only their general remained. Laegjarn remained, but not for much longer as the Rite of Flame’s secondary effect began to take hold. Fjorm asked if there was anyway to cancel it, and to save her, but Laegjarn said what Kiran already knew: there was no stopping it once it had begun. Laegjarn had already burned away, and was hanging onto life by a thread that would soon be cut. As she died, she admitted that in a different world, her and Fjorm, and the rest of the Order could have been friends. Kiran supposed he was lucky that the heat of Muspell wasn’t a very hospitable place for tears, as the ones he shed over Laegjarn’s death had nearly already dried up without his help. Even still, he wiped his eyes, with the tragedy in front of him furthering his resolve to put an end to Surtr today. Enough blood had been spilled because of him, and now that of his own daughter was added to the list.
As Kiran made his way further in the castle, he was greeted by another Muspellian general.
“Oh, crap. Couldn’t have gotten much worse than this.”
Laevatein appeared to have gotten the wrong idea regarding Kiran’s conquest over her sister, blaming him for her death.
“Look, we didn’t… Damn you, Surtr.”
As Laevatein prepared to perform the same rite that had claimed her sister, she was, fortunately, able to be stopped by the Order. Before long, she was defeated, leaving only one enemy left to defeat: Surtr.
As the Order entered the room where the flame king resided, he addressed them, crazed grin on his face. Kiran couldn’t hear any of what he was saying over the sound of his blood pumping in his ears. His hands started shaking with anticipation and rage.
“That bastard, all the lives he’s ended and he can still smile? Just you wait, Surtr, when you stop smiling, that’s when I’ll start.”
Surtr and his army of Muspellian soldiers and contracted heroes alike put up the most fight the Order had experienced thus far, but without the power of Surtr’s Muspellflame, he was able to be defeated. After Ike had dealt the finishing blow, Kiran began to stride towards the dying king.
“Kiran, he’s not dead yet, are you sure you should approach him?” asked Anna.
“That power of his takes energy, and even he knows when he’s running on empty. I’ll be fine.” replied Kiran.
The four heroes that had done battle eyed the summoner warily as he grew closer to Surtr, all of them ready to attack at a moment’s notice. As Kiran got to the dying form of the flame king, he crouched down on one knee and glared at him before whispering:
“Well, did you get what you wanted? Your immortal rule over everything and everyone? No, you wouldn’t be lying here in a pool of your own blood otherwise. You ruined everyone’s lives and for what? Some selfish desire to rule the world?”
Kiran clenched his teeth before continuing to speak, noticing Surtr growing paler by the second, he had to wrap this up fast.
“Fjorm, Ylgr and Hrid have had to deal with losing a mother and a sister, and if that Rite of Frost is anything like the Rite of Flame, Fjorm might not be with us for much longer. Laegjarn killed herself just earlier, not that you care, and I’d bet Breidablik it was to save Laevatein, who we just had to fight instead of consoling. Veronica, she may be our enemy, but she’s too young to have to deal with what you put her through. And the hell you visited on everyone might have been had a purpose, however twisted, if your plan had succeeded. But our victory here means your downfall, and that of the purpose behind their deaths.”
Kiran began to rise, looking down on his soon-to-be dead enemy before continuing,
“Surtr, I don’t know that even the gods can adequately punish someone as evil as you, but I hope they do their damn best. Go to hell, you monster.”
As Kiran walked away, Surtr died, bringing about an end to the flaming terror of Muspell.
Kiran walked past his Heroes, a single purpose in his eyes, back through the way they had come to the castle. As he slowed down on their way through the room where they had done battle with Laegjarn, the remnants of the battle still remaining, it became clear to everyone why Kiran had returned.
“She may have been our enemy, but she didn’t deserve this fate. After everything, the least I can do for her is to bury her, but anyone who wants to head back to Askr can do so.”
Fjorm stepped forwards offering her assistance.
“During her time in captivity, I began to understand her, and see how she was different from her father. I can’t pretend to understand her making the decisions she did, but I can at least do this for her.”
All of the other Heroes agreed to help Kiran perform this last service for the fallen general, since she was largely innocent of the callous actions of her father, and was ultimately as much a victim of them as anyone else. Kiran squatted down and picked up Laegjarn’s lifeless body, walking outside to the courtyard. As he found a suitable clearing in which to bury her, he set her down and looked in a nearby shack for some shovels. Finding more than enough of them, he handed them to the other Heroes, who helped him to dig the grave. After it was all dug out, Laegjarn was lowered into it, as gently as can be, before they undid their previous work, returning the dirt to the hole it came from.
After a while, Kiran spoke up.
“It’s almost surreal, that this war that we’ve been fighting so bitterly is already over. Even still, I can’t bring myself to be fully happy over it, just because of all that was lost for that end. Fjorm’s mother, Gunnthra, Laegjarn, and that’s just what we know of, I’m certain that countless innocents have also been caught in this ordeal. But, I hope that all of you can look upon us with happiness, knowing that at least we could avenge you.”
Kiran paused before continuing,
“I’m not going to forget you guys, I’ll try to make sure to live a life you can be proud of, that will be my way of honoring you. Gunnthra, you and your mother gave your lives so that we could know the power that would help us to defeat Surtr. I’m grateful for that. Laegjarn, I know that we fought on opposite sides for the majority of this war, but I want you to know that I don’t blame you for the horrible man your father was. I can see that you were different from him, and it sucks that we never got to really see that. I’ll make sure to protect Laevatein for you.”
After that, Kiran fell silent, allowing the other gathered heroes to pay their respects for the fallen. Fjorm, the other gathered members of the Order of Heroes, and even young Ylgr and Veronica, who had been rescued from Surtr, all said their piece, honoring everyone whose lives the war had cost, and promising to never forget about them.
As the gathered heroes prepared to leave, Kiran asked Veronica, the only mage present, to fashion some form of headstone for the grave. As she did it, she also engraved Laegjarn’s name in it, as well as those of the others killed in the battle.
“Thanks, Veronica. All right then, let’s head back.”
“It’s the least I can do. She, at least, wasn’t cruel.”
Eventually, the Order made it back, and there was a feast in honor of the flame king’s demise. Kiran and all of the heroes that had gone with him were given particular praise and were treated as guests of honor. Eventually, Hrid, Fjorm and Ylgr left the table, with the older two talking in hushed tones, before Fjorm returned, and her two siblings began to depart for Nifl. The next to leave was Veronica, who had to return to Embla and didn’t feel entirely comfortable remaining in the company of people she had once fought bitterly with. As the night drew on, Kiran got steadily more and more tired, eventually deciding to get up from the table himself and go to sleep.
As Kiran reached his room, and eventually fell asleep, he realized very quickly that he was in for a rough night. The first face he saw in his dreams was that of the woman he had only just earlier finished burying, Laegjarn. Lamenting that images of the dead had followed him to his sleep, he next saw the face of an enemy soldier they had fought, Helbindi. Kiran’s first thought was to wonder if the man had actually died, but it made sense that he would have, Surtr didn’t take kindly to failings, and Helbindi failed to kill the Order on multiple occasions. Trying further in his pursuit of sleep, he was then greeted by Laevatein. Seeing her in the hellish montage of the dead he was enduring was nearly enough to wake him, her death meaning that he would have failed in his promise to Laegjarn. Eventually, she disappeared, and Kiran was finally able to sleep peacefully.
When Kiran woke up, his face was buried in a pillow and a hand was gently nudging his back. He turned around and came face to face with Lyn, the Bride of the Plains. Seeing that the Summoner was awake, she sat down on the bed next to him.
“Are you alright? You don’t look like you’ve slept well.”
Kiran sat up and stared at the wall, blinking into space, for a few moments before answering.
“No, I didn’t. I saw some of our enemies, for some reason. I don’t know if my mind wanted to mess with me and show me a bunch of dead people, or something but I don’t know.”
Kiran still had questions, like why only those three were shown, when he had seen Gunnthra die in front of him, but he didn’t want to think on the subject anymore. Fortunately, Lyn had an idea that banished the thought from his mind. Hopping off of the bed, she asked Kiran if he wanted to go out to the main area of the castle and check the news. Kiran decided that that wasn’t a bad idea, and walked out of his room with Lyn, holding her hand. As the pair walked out of the room, passing the Brave version of Lyn walking and talking with Brave Hector, and the regular versions of them sparring, eventually they came to the lobby. Lyn led the Summoner first to Feh, the owl who brought rewards from Naga knew where, every day. Then the pair went to the fountain, and checked the quests they had for the day. Kiran also took the opportunity to wash his face, since he was still rather tired from his fretful sleep. Then, they went to the bulletin board to read the news for the day. Kiran raised his eyebrows at the notice of a new summoning altar and then was shocked when he saw who was on the banner: Laegjarn, Helbindi, and Laevatein, the same faces from his dream. With the knowledge that this was most likely why they had appeared in his dream untying the knot in his stomach, he grabbed Lyn’s hand and dashed for the summoning room. Before long, however, once she knew where they were going, she was the one leading them there, her training on the plains of Sacae easily outspeeding Kiran, even despite the cumbersome wedding dress she wore. Eventually they arrived and the altar could be clearly seen, with the new heroes above it. Kiran drew Breidablik, his legendary summoning weapon and loaded it with orbs, causing 5 stones to appear. He placed a red one in the altar and fired at it, causing a pillar of light to erupt, and a Hero to be called forth. With one purpose in his mind, Kiran repeated this cycle, until a rind of dust came from the altar, and it shone with a particularly brilliant light. When the light faded, Kiran stood, staring, at a familiar head of reddish-green hair.
“LAEGJARN! YOU’RE BACK!” Kiran yelled as he rushed to the summoned Hero, giving her a hug.
As Laegjarn accepted the hug, she realized that Kiran’s words must have meant that this world’s Laegjarn had already died. Deciding that that meant that Laevatein must be safe, even if she wasn’t in Askr, was enough for her. She smiled as the Summoner drew away from her, the feeling that her sister was safe and sound giving her the strength to begin a new life, free from their father, as a member of the Order of Heroes.