The footsteps grew closer; Corrin dove into the same cell he had been held in a few days ago to get out of sight.
Corrin listened closely to them. He didn't recognize any of their voices.
"I'd rather that damn Shem hunt me down than patrol this place."
"You're such a baby."
"Yeah? Well, the dungeons are freaky as hell, man. Just take a peek into any cell. Blood covering the walls, sometimes limbs just… sitting on the floor. Feels like something is just gonna leap out at us."
"Gods, you're so stupid. Watch, I'll walk into one of the cells."
Corrin quickly dove behind the brick slab that he had been chained to before. He heard footsteps walking in. His dim torch was the only light in the room, aside from a dim window, revealing the gray morning.
"See? There's nothing here."
Corrin jumps over the slab with his sword and hits the man on the side of his neck with the hilt as hard as he could; the man instantly begins to topple over. Corrin grabbed the torch he was holding and threw it at the other man.
The fire hit the man, and he fell to the ground. Corrin quickly rushed and set his blade on the man's neck. He made sure he wouldn't kill any of them, but this guy didn't need to know that.
"Tell me where Tutsoi is or I'll slit open your neck."
The man's forehead had sweat beading down it. Corrin's heart was racing too, however. He had never interrogated somebody like this. Luckily, he seemed like an easy target.
"He- He's in his quarters! A few floors up will get you to the main hall. From there, take the stairs to the right to lead you up one of the towers! He's in there, I think!"
Corrin brings his sword up and hits the man with his handle again on the neck. The man instantly goes unconscious.
Corrin sheathes his sword and begins running down the halls where they came from. Eventually, he reaches the stairs. Corrin skips every other step going up. The stairwell was large.
He only slightly remembers when Omna brought them through these stairs. Corrin gets up the stairs to a hall that goes to his left and right. Nobody seems to be in it. But, through the door directly ahead of him was the main hall.
They seemed to be in some kind of meeting. Corrin couldn't see, but he could hear the voices of the council members as they spoke. He snuck through the halls to the right, listening. The bricks muffled the sound, but he could still hear them faintly.
He had to go all the way around the room to get to the right stairwell. Luckily, the halls seemed to wrap around the room perfectly. Corrin assumed the soldier had been talking right from the entrance of the main hall, which would have been directly ahead of Corrin through the council's meeting.
As Corrin snuck through the halls, he stopped. He recognized a voice. He brought himself to a door.
"I can help you. I have something that would be of great interest to your city here."
Corrin knew that voice. He listened to what the council had to say.
"We haven't ever had an Erthari come here before. You must have arrived with that Anees boy, is that true?"
"Oh, are you speaking of Corrin?"
"Yes, Corrin Hisstion. That is the boy we speak of."
Corrin knew the voice; it was Axel's. Axel's relief could be heard in his voice. Though Corrin was still skeptical. The last thing Axel had told Corrin was that Vrebathia was an Empire. Corrin didn't much like that idea.
"Is he here? Where is he?"
"He escaped alongside an extremely dangerous criminal last night. Right now, Corrin is enemy number two. Number one is the… extremely dangerous criminal I mentioned."
"Enemy? No! He's no enemy. Corrin Hisstion is a good friend; he fought alongside my son in battle. He saved countless lives from the oppression of a ruthless Shem queen."
They all erupted into conversation. Then, Corrin heard a noise behind him.
"Boo."
Before Corrin could turn around, the door opened quickly, and Tutsoi was holding Corrin by the back of his shirt.
"Sorry."
He threw Corrin forward, and he hit the ground. Corrin coughed a few times, wondering why Tutsoi had apologized before he threw Corrin.
"Corrin!"
Axel rushes over and helps Corrin up. One of the council members, a strangely old man, raises his hand and points at Corrin and Axel.
"Guards!!"
Guards instantly appear around them. They hold broadswords and shields.
"Axel, thank you for vouching for me."
Axel hit Corrin on the top of the head.
"You sided with a dangerous criminal? What kind of plan is that? Didn't we teach you better?"
Corrin gritted his teeth and looked at the council. He pointed at them.
"They locked me up in a house! And I- Don't think he's as dangerous as they may think…"
Omna, who was among the council members, spoke up.
"Guards, please put down your weapons. We initially were unsure of your intentions. We wouldn't have kept you locked up. In fact, I was planning on visiting you to explain everything. We were simply startled, that's all. Especially seeing as you share the same last name as Lukas Hisstion."
Axel's face went cold. His eyes seemed to lose the life inside of them.
"Is that boy… by any chance… a shem?"
Omna looked at Axel with a confused expression.
"Why, yes. He is."
Axel began to shake. He definitely knew something about this boy. He brought his hand to his mouth.
"So… this is where he ended up, then?"
Omna clearly wanted to apologize about something, perhaps regarding Lukas, Corrin thought. Maybe Lukas was telling the truth, and they locked Corrin away because they were frightened.
But Omna seemed curious as to what Axel was talking about.
"Tell us what is on your mind, Axel. What do you know about Lukas?"
Axel looks at Corrin for a moment, then back at the council members.
"I cannot speak it here."
Omna scowls.
"You will speak what is on your mind right now. You clearly know something about Lukas. So, speak up."
Axel looks at Corrin again. He takes a deep breath.
"A long time ago, before Corrin was born, his grandfather…"
Axel paused before continuing.
"His grandfather, Corris Hisstion, fell in love with… the same Shem queen that Corrin saved us from. Though at the time she was only a princess."
Corrin knew that his theory was about to be proven correct.
"He first went there as a diplomat, but soon the two of them became lovers. Eventually, however, the king of the Shem discovered their secret love and sent Corris to the dungeons. He rotted in the dungeons for months before me and a few other elite soldiers were sent to rescue him."
Axel seemed to be replaying the memories in his mind.
"The princess… had a brother that she was very close with, you see. During our escape, Corris accidentally killed him. This caused the princess to hate the Anees. But, as it happened, she was already pregnant."
Corrin's suspicions were becoming more true by the second, though it still shocked him.
"Soon, she had a child that she hated. She hated that the child was the son of a man she hated. So… We stole him to raise him under our ideologies. That son was half Shem, half Anees. Corris married another woman to cover for the child's strange appearance and to help raise him. A few years later, our nation fell to the Shem."
This was all new to Corrin. The vision he had seen hadn't gone this far. It was interesting, yet shocking.
"That boy soon grew older and married a woman… Corrin's mother and father-"
Omna stopped him.
"What does this have to do with Lukas?"
Axel clenched his fist.
"Just listen."
Axel relaxed a bit.
"They soon had a child, Corrin. However, because Corrin's father was half Shem and half Anees, Corrin was the same. Corrin was half Shem."
Corrin's heart began to pound.
"You see, his mother had a unique ability that she called a Resonance. I don't know entirely what that means, but I know how it worked. She could split souls apart to create two individuals."
The whole room fell silent. There wasn't much muttering to begin with, but it seemed as though the crackle of the torches and the whisper of bugs all stopped.
"She split Corrin's soul in two. She removed the Shem out of him to create a pureblood Anees boy. This left her with two nearly identical copies. She named one Corrin, but left the other unnamed. She set him… in the ruins of a place that would transport him to another realm."
Corrin's mind filled with questions. But for a moment, nobody spoke. The world was absolutely silent. The council, Corrin, Tutsoi, and even the guards were all shocked. Axel looked down for a moment, clearly angered at himself. He then looked back up at the council.
"Essentially… Corrin and Lukas are the same person."