Corrin awoke softly in a bed, the room bright and awake, the window across from him open. Next to the bed was a nightstand, a dark cedar wood. Across from him, to the left, was a wardrobe.
Corrin brought himself up slowly, but the pain in his body was too much for him.
"I wouldn't try getting up anytime soon."
Corrin looked past the wardrobe. On the other side was a chair with a man sitting in it. He had short brown hair that went just past his eyes. He was wearing very baggy clothing, baggier than Corrin had ever seen.
He wore an off-white, baggy long-sleeve shirt. Around his waist was a leather belt that held up tan baggy pants.
"Who are you?"
Corrin brought the pillows on the backrest and rested on them.
"I'm James Kingston. A Canlian Kingdom diplomat and a close friend of Leimon."
With Corrin hearing the name of his once close friend, his mind began to wander to all of them.
"Is Edwin okay?"
James nodded
"Your friend was unharmed. Severely, at the least. He had a few scrapes and cuts; the only problem was his exhaustion when we found him. In fact, both of yours' exhaustion. You were panting like a dog when we found you."
Corrin looked around for a moment, and he wondered if he dared to ask his next question or to hear the answer.
"Did anyone else make it?"
James shook his head.
"It was only you and Edwin. We found we were too late to save the others. They were gone when we arrived."
Corrin looked out of the window. It was a bustling city, brick buildings rising numerous feet into the air,
"Where are we?"
"You're standing in the very city that you liberated from the Shem Oppression, Corrin. The Previous Capital City of the Shem. Now renamed to Shenam via the King's orders."
Corrin couldn't believe the plan had worked.
"But- Who…?"
James cut him off.
"I'll just start the story over from the top so that you can understand the full extent of it."
James wipes his nose before continuing.
"The group of spies inside the city walls was able to overrun the gate and open it for the Vrebathians, albeit with many casualties. They fought their way through the city for hours until they reached the castle. They went through, fully expecting the Queen to still be alive because you all had not come to unlock the gates."
James takes a deep inhale of air.
"When they entered the throne room, however, they found a gaping hole through the floor. At the bottom were you, Edwin, Merri, and the Queen. They found Edwin unconscious, and Merri had already passed from the blood loss. The Queen was dead as well. However, you were neither of those. You were sitting in one spot, staring out through the hole in the wall."
James took another deep breath.
"Next to you was a cardinal. As they approached you, the cardinal flew off. Immediately, smoke began to billow off of you, and you fell unconscious. Guess you really pushed yourself, huh?"
James points up and down Corrin.
"You also really banged yourself up. You have faint scars where you were slashed. They had to stitch the wound in your mouth and disinfect it. You broke three ribs and tore dozens of muscles. You have burns and blisters on your hands and your scar. You have cuts and scrapes all over your body. You and the Hidden Vanguard pushed yourselves past your physical limits to kill the Queen."
Corrin took a deep breath. He leaned back in his bed. Tears filled his eyes, but he wiped them away. He thought about everybody. He thought back to their moments sitting together in the cold of Kalem's cellar.
They had no idea what was really going to happen. They were sure that they were going to complete their mission with flying colors. Not one of them mentioned the possibility of a trap; none of them wanted something like that to occur.
Corrin then found himself thinking about the strange vision he had seen of the past. His grandfather and the Queen. Had it all been true? Corrin found his mind racing.
"The Queen used some kind of red power when fighting me. What do you think that was?"
James looks at Corrin before standing up.
"You should get more rest, Corrin. Your body still needs healing."
James stood up and faced the exit, but Corrin stopped him beforehand.
"Wait! You mentioned a king before… is there a king now?"
James nodded his head.
"Yes, there is. The last surviving remnant of the king's bloodline. They've been in hiding for years. They're here until the Vrebathian Capital of Veris is restored."
Corrin sighed and instinctively grabbed for the shard around his neck. But it was gone. By the time he noticed, however, James was gone.
Corrin lay in bed for weeks healing. Nurses would often come in and check on him. Corrin didn't like it, however. Seeing a nurse only reminded him of Merri and, by extension, the Hidden Vanguard, to whom he missed dearly.
He continued to ask them if he could see James, or Edwin, or Axel, or anybody, but they said that they were 'busy.'
He never got to learn Lenn well enough, nor Forrest either. Merri was too kind and caring to have died the way she did.
Those moments often visited Corrin in his dreams. It was not uncommon for Corrin to awake in a pool of sweat in the middle of the night. The only person he expected to see was Edwin, but he never once came to visit Corrin.
He wondered how that could be the case. Corrin was told he was alive, but what if that wasn't the case? What if Edwin were dead?
Corrin was eventually brought his sword, which had been mended. Apparently, the battle against the Queen had severely chipped the blade. He often looked at the reflection in the blade, viewing himself as a failure to his friends.
One day, while deep in thought, there came a knock at the door. Corrin sat up, which he had been able to do without feeling any pain. Axel came through the door, Forrest's father. Corrin hadn't seen him in a long time, not since he had sent them off on their mission. However long ago that was, Corrin could not say.
"Good afternoon, Corrin. I must… apologize for not coming sooner. Many things were unfortunately too important to skip to come visit."
"Axel…"
Corrin was slightly taken aback for a moment, then the shard crossed his mind.
"Axel! Do you know where the shard is?"
Axel nodded and pulled it from his coat pocket. It hummed in the air. Corrin reached for it, but Axel pulled it away.
"This shard is now the property of the Vrebathian Imperial Army, Corrin."
Corrin stopped for a moment.
"Imperial? What do you mean by Imperial? What are you talking about?"
Axel sighed. He put the shard back in his coat pocket.
"The Vrebathian Empire was established today via royal decree. The idea behind it is to protect the shard with all our might. Alongside… acquiring the other shards in the world."
Corrin looked betrayed.
"What do you mean… acquire? And there are others?"
Axel nodded his head.
"There are others. Upon overtaking the castle, we found documents intended only for the royal family of the Shem to view. In those documents were… very interesting things."
Axel adjusted his seat on the chair. Clearly, whatever was on these documents was very peculiar.
"The documents spoke of… different shards. The Cornimax, according to these documents, was a powerful relic created by 'The Holy Goddess', the creator of all living things. After she created the guardians to protect us, she used the last of her power to put together a relic of sorts: The Cornimax. The power inside this relic was far too powerful for one entity to ever wield. So the guardians split it apart into shards. Each guardian was given one shard to protect the race they were told to protect."
Axel pulled the shard out of his pocket and held it in the air.
"There were five guardians. However, the shard was only split into four pieces, which I find very strange. The documents also label the shards' names, though not what they do. The shards are labeled: Life, Realms, Time, and Power. We assume that their names are closely related to their function, but we don't know which one this is."
Axel looks around, still holding the shard. Like he's wondering if sharing this information with Corrin is a good idea.
"The Queen was dead set on acquiring this shard from the Vrebathians. But she never found it. We, on the other hand, have one of the shards. If Vrebathia can find all of them, then we would—"
Interrupting him was a loud bang and a hum. In between Corrin and Axel was a strange black circle. It glowed, and purple lines straggled off of it. It seems to be pulsing and spinning. Corrin flew into the corner, and Axel flew backwards off the chair.
The shard flies up out of Axel's hand and into the black sphere.
"No!!"
He jumps up and instinctively reaches for it. Suddenly, he's sucked into the black circle like a black hole. Corrin stands up on his bed. The circle seems to glow brighter, and it expands.
"What the hell is this!?"
Corrin becomes trapped in the corner, and then he himself falls through a black space. Around him are flashing images that do nothing but confuse Corrin. They speed up, slow down, spin, flip, and stop all at the same time.
Then, Corrin is falling through the air. The air instantly becomes cold. He watches snow fall around him. Below him, about twenty feet, is a snow-covered landscape of trees and rolling hills.
Corrin falls face-first into the snow. Corrin stands up and shivers. His flimsy button-up is doing nothing to protect him from the cold. He looks around. The trees are spread out, and it's easy to see past them. Around him is nothing but foggy falling snow. He turns and sees a figure in the short distance.
"Hey! H-Help!"
The man pulls out a sword.