Locks began to break apart as Corrin opened each cell around them one by one. The prisoners quickly rushed and grabbed weapons. The others quickly followed suit, breaking as many cells as possible. Soon, nearly a dozen prisoners stood, weapons stolen from the fallen Vrebathians around them.

  They all could hear the footsteps running down. Corrin turned to the staircase, his black and blonde hair swaying to face him.

  “So, you don’t know where the shards are, do you?”

  Tutsoi shook his head.

  “I only know they’re on the upper floors.”

  Corrin nodded, taking in the information quickly.

  “Got it, then we need to get there.”

  One of the soldiers spoke up.

  “How will you do that? There’s an entire army here!”

  Corrin turned to him, a smile forming on his face.

  “We just… have to distract them enough to leave enough time for me and Tutsoi to get there.”

  Corrin looked back at the staircase, ready for when the enemies made their way down.

  “We’ll fight our way out, but we’ll free prisoners as we go up, who’ll join us as we go up. By the time we’re outside, there’ll be an army of us. That should give Tutsoi enough chaos to slip away and find the shards.”

  Some of the others gave their nods and approbations.

  “Damn, Corrin, that’s smart.”

  Corrin shook his head.

  “I’m just quick at adapting.”

  Corrin turned back to the others.

  “Who here is the best at close-quarters combat?”

  A few people raise their hands in the back.

  “You people will do your best to fend off the Vrebathians. Everybody else will be freeing others from the cells, is that clear?”

  They all nod, and Corrin turns back to the staircase. He takes a deep breath, readying himself.

  “Go!”

  They all quickly start running, with numerous people breaking open cells. Vrebathian soldiers begin to pour down the stairs, with a few soldiers holding them off at a disadvantage. Corrin and Tutsoi quickly join them. The Vrebathians stand no chance against elite soldiers with Resonances and Ani. Gold seeps through the air as they all fight. Vrebathian soldiers fall by the dozens as they make their way up.

  Numerous prisoners get out and pick up swords, desperately helping their comrades. That’s not to say, however, that some of the Anees didn’t die, however. Many of them were, too, falling to the ground by the Vrebathian blades. Most of them simply weren’t strong enough to keep up the attack for long, having been starved and beaten.

  They got up the stairs and made it to the first floor, and Corrin knew only this flat plane and one more staircase stood in their way before freedom. However, there were not many more soldiers in their way. In fact, most of them were fleeing. They all stopped as the last of the Vrebathians fled in terror. But Corrin quickly spoke up in the silence.

  “Quickly, while they’re away, break open the rest of the cells!”

  As they did so, Corrin and Tutsoi ran ahead and looked up the staircase. The door to the dungeons was wide open. Corrin looked at Tutsoi and nodded, and they quietly made their way up.

  As they reached the door, they peered out to survey the situation. Hundreds of archers manned the walls of the castle. With more walls to the left and right, surrounding any form of escape. Dozens of soldiers armed with katanas and shields stood only about a hundred feet from the archers.

  They both quickly ran back, unlocking the last of the cells as they went. Finally, they all stood at the bottom of the staircase. Chatter and conversations grew louder by the second. Corrin took a deep breath and walked onto the staircase, looking out at all of them around and the direction of the hallway, which was to the left.

  “Everybody quiet!”

  The chatter roared louder than ever.

  “I said quiet!”

  It was as if he hadn’t said anything. Corrin walked to one of the walls and kicked it with all his power. The walls shook around, and small rocks and pebbles fell from the ceiling. Everybody gasped and looked up and around. Corrin took a small break to regain his strength before again calling out as the conversation stopped.

  “Listen to me!”

  They all looked at Corrin, who was more than a little nervous to be in front of all of these people.

  “Outside are hundreds of archers, and dozens of soldiers waiting for us! If we go out there unprepared, we are sure to be slaughtered where we stand! I need you all to follow my instructions for a moment, right now! If you have a defensive Resonance, stand over to my right; if you have an offensive Resonance, stand to the left! If you don’t have one, or yours can’t be used for fighting, stand in the middle and back!”

  Corrin watched as everybody actually listened to him. There were more people without fighting Resonances than he had anticipated, however. There were also more offensive than defensive Resonances. Corrin walked over to those with defensive Resonances first.

  “Out of all of you here, who has one that can be used on a massive scale, able to protect multiple people at a time?”

  Multiple people raised their hands, much to Corrin’s relief.

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  “You all come over here.”

  They did as he said and walked forward. He led them to the front near the staircase.

  “These people have Resonances that can protect multiple people at a time! Looking at our numbers, we have maybe two hundred… three hundred people here…”

  He looked at the few people he had called over.

  “That means we’ll have each of these people protecting around fifty of you by themselves! Everybody split into groups of around fifty, it doesn't need to be exact!”

  They did so, and Corrin assigned the defensive Resonance users to each group of fifty.

  “Do everything you can to protect the person who can defend against the archers' arrows. Everybody else, do what you can to help and push forward with all your might.”

  Corrin turned to Tutsoi, who stood near the bottom of the stairs.

  “Everybody, prepare yourselves, get your bearings, give yourself some room to breathe for a moment!”

  Corrin walked over to Tutsoi. Tutsoi patted him on his shoulder.

  “You’re a natural leader, Corrin. That was brilliant.”

  Corrin brushes Tutsoi's hand off and leans against the wall for a moment.

  “No, I just told them to do what I hope to the gods will work. I really have no idea…Tutsoi, while we still have time, I need to talk to you about something. While I was in a coma, I saw a vision. I saw the past, a thousand years ago. I witnessed the war of the gods, I witnessed Rotix’s decisions. I also got confirmation from a man I see often in my dreams.”

  Tutsoi looked slightly confused.

  “Man in your dreams? Are you sure you weren’t just dreaming?”

  Corrin exhaled sharply.

  “I know the difference between visions and dreams, I’ve experienced enough of them to know. What I saw was not what I thought, Tutsoi. Rotix stole Fallis’s shard, the God of the Erthari’s shard. It was the Shard of Life, and she stole it from him. Her own ally. She manipulated time to make her 32nd grandchild destined to obtain her Shard of Time and kill Katan.”

  Tutsoi now looked even more confused.

  “Okay, slow down, Corrin…”

  “Rotix stole the shard from her ally and gave it to a mortal Anees man so he could stay alive to enact upon Rotix’s plan. She wanted her 32nd grandchild to obtain the Shard of Time and finally kill Katan. She manipulated time so I could get the Shard of Time, Tutsoi!”

  Tutsoi looked astonished.

  “What the hell are you talking about? Are you saying you’re some kind of chosen one?”

  “No! I’m-”

  Corrin rubbed his red and blue eyes with his hand in frustration.

  “Listen, Tutsoi. Rotix was allied with Fallis and Lumi in the War of the Gods, right? Well, before she sacrificed herself to kill Mollou and banish Katan to the Realm of Grief, she betrayed Fallis. She gave the Shard of Life that she stole from him to a man named Oknata. She gave him the task of making sure her true plan occurred. She manipulated time to make sure that her 32nd grandchild, me, obtained the Shard of Time and finished what she couldn’t, by killing Katan!”

  Tutsoi placed his hand on his chin.

  “Are you sure what you saw was the truth?”

  Corrin nodded, pacing around slightly.

  “Yes. Lumi… she has the Shard of… Fate, I think it was called-”

  “Shard of Fate? I’ve never heard of that before.”

  Corrin pointed to Tutsoi.

  “That’s exactly what I thought! But… Lumi, the god of the Othari, has it. She can see the fate of all things.”

  Tutsoi finally began to understand fully.

  “Okay, but how the hell are you supposed to kill Katan?”

  “Oknata gave me a plan… but it can’t wait much longer. The Mostiis are trying to bring back Katan from the Realm of Grief. I can’t do this alone, Tutsoi.”

  Tutsoi just stared at Corrin and took a deep breath.

  “Corrin… listen. Since Nevarii died, things have been bad. We found this- structure. With the ability to send people between there and the Holy Realm. For the first time since the War of the Gods, we escaped to the Holy Realm. We saw a world that wasn’t covered in snow, and we felt warm. But the imperialism that lives in this world is not something we imagined. I only wanted to help my people, but so many of them are dead. Tortured for information about the shards…”

  Tutsoi stood there for a moment, silent. He relived the moment of fighting her sister.

  “When I fought against Nevarii, he revived my sister, as he did with Janis and the others. He forced me to fight her. But in that moment, I remembered something she always wanted, Corrin. She always wanted to help people; she always wanted to save anybody she could. I want to carry on that legacy. If you really trust me enough, then I’d be honored to go with you. To save everybody from a ruthless god.”

  Corrin smiled. He knew that Tutsoi wanted nothing more than to help people, and Corrin felt the same way. Since his father's death, he’s done nothing but been unable to save the people around him. This was his one reason for living, and he knew he could not let the world down.