The man walks forward, his broadsword drawn. As the man walked forward, Corrin noticed he had on bulky, warm clothes. He had a hood that obscured his face. Corrin looked around quickly, hoping for anything he could use against this obvious threat.
Not too far away, he saw his katana sitting sheath up to his left, away from the strange man. He begins to walk closer, and Corrin makes his move. He slid to his sword through the deep snow, grabbing and unsheathing it.
He spun around clockwise, looking ahead slightly to see if the man had rushed him. Corrin pushed his sword around to slash. The man brought his sword down like thunder and smashed it against the steel.
A huge orange spark exploded throughout the scene, and sharp shards flew by Corrin's face, cutting it up. Corrin's katana burst into pieces, completely shattered. Corrin lunged backward and fell into the snow.
Corrin quickly got up and looked at his sword.
"No…"
It was completely shattered; only about six inches were still attached to the katana.
Corrin's jaw dropped open, and sweat began to bead on his head despite the cold temperatures. He looked up at the man who had just destroyed his katana in one hit.
The man brought his unoccupied hand up and pulled down his hood. The man was, in fact, not an adult, but looked closer to Corrin's age. His physique was eerily similar to that of Corrin, yet his hair was a deep black color. His eyes were red, and his skin was pale.
The boy was a Shem.
Corrin gritted his teeth.
"Who are you!?"
The boy takes a deep breath.
"Black Steel…"
Corrin gears for an attack.
"Dash."
The man shot forward, Corrin. In these moments, had a good look at the boy's sword. It was a shining black. Corrin didn't know of any metals that were black, not to mention how it completely shattered Corrin's steel katana.
As the man grew closer, Corrin tried to lunge back again, but his foot slipped on the snow.
"D-Dammit!"
Corrin tried to recover, but it was too late. The boy's sword was directly on Corrin's throat. The sword flipped around, the dull side coming towards Corrin instead. It seemed this person didn't want Corrin dead.
Suddenly, the boy was thrown to the right, and another person came flying from the left, hitting him.
The man who had just arrived had longer black hair tied in a ponytail. He reaches for Corrin and grabs his shirt, pulls him up. The man had a broadsword on. Upon closer inspection, Corrin found that this man also seemed young.
"Follow me, quickly now."
He started running away from the boy who had attempted to kill Corrin, or possibly only injure him. The snow was thick, but they were moving at a good pace.
Corrin, however, began to lag soon. The cold was getting to him, and he couldn't go on much longer.
The man pulled off his fur coat and threw it to Corrin.
"Put that on."
"B-but don't y-you need i-it?"
The man looked at Corrin with a serious face. Corrin took the answer and accepted the coat graciously. He wrapped it around himself. They seemed to have lost the boy in the snowstorm.
Corrin's teeth began to shatter.
"W-What's your n-name?"
"Tutsoi Ika."
Corrin nods his head through the cold.
"I'm C-Corrin Hisstion…"
The man instantly turns and stares at Corrin. Shock rises through his serious face.
"I hope you mean that as a joke."
Corrin looks to his left and right.
"N-No…?"
Tutsoi unsheathes his sword and hits Corrin over the top of the head with the hilt, knocking him out instantly.
Corrin had a strange dream. He found himself running away. He held a broadsword, and around him were bodies lying. None in the blood, though they seemed badly injured. Tutsoi was screaming something and crying, though Corrin couldn't hear it.
Corrin eventually woke up. He was in a dark and cold room. In fact, it was pitch black. The only light came from Corrin's left through a small barred window in a door.
The surface he lay on was tough like brick and uncomfortable. He brought himself up, but he found that he couldn't move his body too far away.
He could hear the rattle of chains as he moved. His ankles, waist, chest, and wrists were chained to the slab he was sitting on. He could hear boots moving outside.
"Hey! Help me!"
The boots stopped, and Corrin heard the rattling of keys. The door soon opened, and the orange light from the hall outside bathed Corrin's face. The man held a torch and went around lighting torches on the side and above Corrin until the room was all orange.
"Hey! Do you hear me? Get me out of this thing!"
He walked through the door and nodded to somebody out of view. Suddenly, there came a very, very old, hunched, and wrinkly man, alongside two other individuals. Tutsoi, the man from before, and a girl with bright blonde hair in a ponytail.
The old man came forward and looked at Corrin's face.
"I am Omna, a council member of this city. Tell me your name."
Corrin took a gulp. Despite his desire to ask questions, this old man seemed to override his desire with only words.
"Corrin Hisstion."
Omna nods to the girl.
The girl comes forward.
"Hi… I'm Mary. Tell me your name."
Corrin's mouth opens when he hears the name. Icy tears fall down his face, but he shuts his eyes tight enough to stop them.
"C-Corrin Hisstion."
Omna walks forward again.
"Why are you crying, Corrin?"
Corrin wants to wipe his face to save him the embarrassment, but he can't.
"I… knew somebody named Merri. She passed away not that long ago."
Tutsoi began to speak up, but Omna silenced him.
"Tell me about this.. Merri."
Corrin looked away from him and up at the ceiling.
"She was… kind. And caring. But she was also determined. She would do anything to see her wants come into fruition."
Mary looks at Tutsoi. Omna holds his hand up.
"That's enough… Tell me now, Corrin Hisstion. What do you know about your last name?"
Corrin took a breath of the cold air.
"Well… I know that it's a long lineage of soldiers. My grandfather was a soldier in the Vrebathian army. He was a commander. The Hisstions… were close with a lineage known as Leimon. Aside from those things, that's all I know."
Corrin thought about the queen and the vision he had seen. He wondered if the queen of the Shem was related to Corrin in some way. But surely not, seeing as he's a pureblood Anees.
Omna scratches his chin.
"Hm, very interesting. Do you have any Shem blood in your veins?"
Corrin lost his train of thought for a second.
"Not that I know of…"
Omna leans in closer. That's when Corrin finally spots it, a scar on his cheek. An Anees scar. Corrin speaks up.
"Are you Anees?"
Tutsoi grits his teeth, but says in a somewhat calm manner:
"Hey. We're asking the questions here."
Omna raises his hand, silencing Tutsoi.
"Yes, we are Anees. All of us here are Anees."
"How many are there!?"
Omna smiles.
"Thousands."
Corrin opens his mouth in shock.
"How?! Where are we?"
Omna takes a deep breath and turns to Tutsoi.
"I don't think this boy will be causing any problems. Release him."
Tutsoi grits his teeth.
"What? What do you mean release him? His last name is the same as"
Omna raises his hand again.
"I said, Tutsoi, release him."
Tutsoi sighs and does so. He takes a keychain from his pocket and unlocks the chains. Corrin sits up and rubs his wrists. He looks at the others in the room, taking all of them in. They all appear to be Anees. Even Tusoi, despite his black hair color, had a scar on his cheek as well.
Their clothes were also strange to Corrin. They wore pants that were skinny at the top, yet large and baggy at the bottom. Their shirts seemed to fold in together and tuck into their pants. The look was strange yet appealing to Corrin.
Corrin followed them out of the room and through a hall. On either side were people who were locked up. They were all Anees. Soon they exited through stairs that brought them up, and found that they were in a large building.
The room they were in was not too unlike a throne room, yet there was no throne sitting at the end. Instead, it was a long, ornate table with five chairs. One in the middle with two flanking on either side.
They walked across the room and into another room. Inside, on a chair, was Corrin's sword. Omna picked it up and handed it to Corrin. Corrin unsheathed it and looked at the shattered state.
Upon seeing the sword again, Corrin was reminded of the boy who had attacked him.
"Wait- who was that boy who attacked me?"
Omna sat down in a chair around a table and had them all sit down, one on each side, with Corrin on one side, across from Omna. Behind Omna was a window that had a dim light outside.
"Well… I was hoping that you would know who I was speaking of."
Omna sighed.
"The boy's name…"
Corrin was geared to know who his attacker was.
"...Is Lukas Hisstion."