Chapter Text
Clive struggled to awaken as an oppressive darkness enveloped his mind. He tried recalling what had happened before he blacked out, but the only thing he remembered was returning to the Phoenix Gate after completing a quest with Sir Wade and Tyler. However, when he attempted to follow that train of thought, the memory slipped further and further away from him until the few details remaining were little more than a blur.
When he couldn’t recall anything else, Clive then tried to assess his sudden immobility. First, he attempted raising his arms, but he felt so sluggish, that he hardly moved. It was the kind of exhaustion that typically followed a full day’s Shield training with Lord Murdoch. At the thought of his mentor, a sudden wave of sadness overcame him for some unknown reason. He attempted shaking off the gloomy feeling, yet it persisted.
Next, Clive turned his focus to his surroundings. He could tell he was on the cobbled path near the front of the Gate based on the uneven, stony texture of the ground he lay on. Also, he could feel sunlight streaming on his face, thus it must still be daytime. So why was he alone on the ground? Where was everyone? Clive strained his hearing to try to gain any further clues on what was happening, but was only met with an eerie silence. It was this lack of sound or rather any signs of life that unsettled Clive the most, simply because the Phoenix Gate was always bustling with people given its importance to the kingdom of Rosaria. Yet there seemed to be no movement anywhere.
He continued concentrating with his remaining senses and soon recoiled as he registered the smell in the air. Was that burning flesh he smelled? Clive recalled feeling like he’d been on fire earlier, yet strangely he didn’t appear to have been harmed by the heat. Instead it had felt akin to sinking into a hot bath, much more intense of course, but in some ways the flames had seemed just as comforting. Was he losing his mind? Had he been singed in battle? Maybe he was dying? As he registered the burning smell once more, Clive could feel his mind starting to slip away again.
Minutes or possibly hours later, his mind awakened once more when he heard the sounds of armoured soldiers approaching.
From behind him Clive heard a commanding voice shout, “Your Grace, over here!”
Whose voice is that? Clive wondered. They don’t sound familiar? As his sight slowly began to clear, an armoured boot walked into his field of vision. The soldier’s armour was made of a fine, polished steel, while their cape bore the familiar emblem of a flying dragon. Suddenly it clicked where he’d seen such armour before. Sanbreque! What would an Imperial officer be doing all the way out at the Phoenix Gate?
“It’s the older one, Your Grace, and he’s still alive. What are your orders?” The officer asked.
“That’s unfortunate,” a familiar voice said with disdain. “But as my husband never tired of telling me, he’d make an excellent soldier.”
Was that his mother? Were they talking about him?
“I’m sure he’d make a wonderful addition to the Imperial front line,” the Archduchess continued snidely. “Bring him,” she commanded.
Clive then saw two Imperial soldiers approach him and pick him up from the ground. In the meantime, his mother had already turned her back to them and seemed to be surveying the destruction around them. When she moved away from the carnage shortly after, the soldiers trailed behind his mother. Clive’s vision fully returned then and he was alarmed to see the numerous dead bodies and piles of ash scattered on the ground as they passed. How many Rosarians died in the battle? Who attacked them? Additionally, he noticed that the Phoenix Gate had been nearly obliterated by fire. Little remained of its ramparts which had been crumbled into pieces or nearly melted. What could possibly be powerful enough to melt stone? Had the Phoenix lost control somehow? Where was Joshua or his father?
Eventually, the soldiers stopped when they reached a black carriage and placed him inside. His mother entered shortly after and looked at him in disgust as usual. She asked with intensity, “Do you have any idea what happened here? Did you see the creature that attacked the Phoenix?”
Clive shook his head in confusion. What foolhardy creature would attack the Eikon of fire?
“Just as useless as usual,” his mother muttered in disappointment to herself. She sat back in her seat and seemed deep in thought.
Clive buried his feelings of hurt at his mother’s comment. While he’d grown used to her pointed barbs, they never failed to sting him at his core. Despite his current weakness, he tried sitting up to face her more directly. He needed answers to the sudden feeling of dread that had overcome him at her questions.
“Where is Joshua, mother? Why isn’t father here? How did all of those people die?” Clive slurred, in his exhausted state.
His mother looked at him coldly with contempt. Then she leaned forward and said seething, “Your brother and father are missing. All of Edwin’s plans to retake the mothercrystal have come to naught. The reports I’ve received have said that some monstrous creature attacked Joshua when he transformed into the Phoenix. Their battle razed the Phoenix Gate to the ground, killing everyone here, including your brother. His body has yet to be found however. After that, the monster simply disappeared.”
Though his mother continued to speak, Clive tuned her out. He simply felt numb. Joshua and his father were missing? It couldn’t be! If they hadn’t found Joshua or his father maybe they were still…His mind then flashed to the piles of ash he’d seen on the way to the carriage. Clive felt bile rise up in his throat at the thought that the ash could be…could be... No! He wouldn’t accept such a fate for them! He began to shake his head to deny her words as tears began to stream down his face. Yet a part of him knew she wasn’t lying. She wouldn’t lie about Joshua or the Archduke. His mother might despise him, but she’d always doted on his brother and father.
Suddenly, the memories and feelings that were lost, came back to Clive in a torrent. He recalled the anxiety he’d felt as he watched his brother and father leave before turning to face their attackers at the Gate. The fear and helplessness of seeing the Phoenix out of control and not knowing what to do. Horror when Lord Murdock was disintegrated by the flames of the fiery beast that emerged from nowhere. And finally, despair when the monster tore out the Phoenix’s throat right in front of him. He heard himself call out to the beast, “Stop it! No! Joshua! I’ll kill you. I’ll fucking kill you!”
Clive felt an overwhelming mix of despair and rage fill his entire being. He was fully awake now. On the one hand, he knew the vision of his brother’s death would haunt him for the rest of his days, but on the other hand, he wanted nothing more than vengeance against the creature who had felled sweet, innocent Joshua.
“I remember, mother! I saw it!” Clive exclaimed when the visions eventually ceased. “The beast was as large as the Pheonix, it looked like a demon from hell. It was a second Eikon of fire, I'm certain of it! And…I saw a man in a cloak just before that, I think he was saying a spell which caused the beast to emerge.”
Anabella narrowed her eyes at him. “You’re certain? You saw this?”
At Clive’s nod, she seemed to be in deep thought once more. Finally, she said cautiously, “Maybe you’re not so useless after all. I don’t know who sent this Eikon, but obviously, they were after your father and brother or at the very least sought the destruction of Rosaria. Until we find whoever was behind this attack, it is best that we stick together for our mutual protection. With your father missing, his powers fall to me until you come of age or I remarry. Will you swear allegiance to me and help me find those responsible?”
Clive hesitated for a moment. Something about his mother’s shifty demeanor told him that she knew more than she was letting on. He’d never trusted Anabella, but there was one thing that they had in common, their love for Joshua and his father, Elwin. Finally he responded with conviction, “I swear my allegiance, Your Grace. However, I can help to find those responsible, I will do it.”
“In that case, you’ll come with me to Oriflamme,” she said with a calculating gaze. “No one else has mentioned a cloaked man, so you can help us follow up on that lead with Sanbreque’s resources. King Lesage of Sanbreque has promised to host me at his castle until Rosaria can be put to rights again. You can tell us more of what you remember of this Eikon and the robed figure once we are in Oriflamme.”
After these words she seemed to dismiss Clive entirely, turning to face the window closest to her while ignoring him. Out of the corner of his eye, Clive saw his mother settle back into her seat, with an ease that he didn’t understand. She seemed completely unconcerned about what had transpired, not even having shed a single tear.
“Yes mother,” Clive stated, the words leaving a sour taste in his mouth. While outwardly he assented, inwardly his mind was full of turmoil. His mother’s lack of emotion bothered him. Did she really not care about Joshua and his father after all? Or about the deaths of their people? The attack on their Kingdom? And did he imagine it, or had she been about to send him to the front lines of battle, presumably to his death before he’d been picked up by the soldiers? Something wasn’t right here, but he needed answers before making a move against the Archduchess of Rosaria. If he learned she was involved in this disaster somehow, he’d make sure she paid dearly.
His mother interrupted his train of thought by tapping on the back of the carriage. Moments later it jolted forward as it began to move. Clive gazed forlornly out of the window as the Phoenix Gate and everything he’d ever known got further and further away from him. What had he gotten himself into?