Malenia moves gracefully and swiftly across the sand as a large presence gives chase at her rear. She looks back over her shoulder and sees Radahn’s arms spread apart, blades ready to tear her asunder.

Leonard lets loose hot air from his nostrils as the horse’s legs, despite his scrawny frame, propel him and his rider forth with great finesse.

Radahn prepares to swipe his right armament as the duo closes in on their quarry. But at the very moment he attempted to strike and cleave the valkyrie in two with his massive blade, Malenia acrobatically backflipped over the blade in motion, spun in the air, and adjusted her angle as she prepared to drive her prosthetic arm’s blade attachment into her titanic foe.

Radahn tilts his head to the right and dodges the blade but lets out a pained grunt as the valkyrie manages to plunge her blade into his right shoulder instead. However, the general’s momentary pained expression morphs into a vibrant smile.

“Not bad, Malenia.” He swiftly grabs onto her while floating that hand’s former blade alongside him via his gravity magic. “But you’ll have to do much better than that!”

The titan turns in place, Leonard following suit, before tearing Malenia and her blade away from him. He then slams her down into the earth with frightening force, causing her to cry out in pain as frickles of blood are spat out from her parted lips and grains of sand fly high into the air.

Radahn lifts the valkyrie again and swings his arm sideways, loosening his grasp and throwing her away. The valkyrie manages to recover while soaring through the air with gritted teeth. She adjusted her angle, planted her blade and feet into the sand, and skied across the beach before slowly coming to a stop.

A trail of parted sands is laid bare before her as Radahn’s titanic form slowly approaches, Leonard trotting comfortably as he shakes his head with an aggressive snort.

Malenia takes a breath to recollect herself. “The time has come…” she mutters. “Know this, Radahn. I take no pleasure in doing what I must to defeat you.”

Radahn crosses his blades as Leonard brings them closer and closer to Malenia.

“You are far stronger than I had anticipated, and I have a hunch that, even now, you’re still holding back a large portion of your prowess.”

“Hey, Malenia!” Radahn calls out as he and Leonard pause at a generous distance. “Gotta say, you’re quite the nimble one. Hah! You’ll never see me doing acrobatics like that in my life.”

Leonard snorts in amusement.

“Hey!” Radahn roars down at his horse. “Was that a fat joke?!”

The horse nods in confirmation.

“I’ll have you know, Leonard, that I am what the ladies call,” the general flexes his arms and strikes a pose while floating his blades in the air with gravity magic, “T H I C C!”

Suddenly, Leonard lets loose a thunderous neigh as he spots Malenia kicking off and charging again. Radahn quickly heeds his steed’s warning but grins as he plucks his blades out of their gravitational resting place and slams them together, causing the runes etched onto them to give off a golden glow.

And upon doing so, a black and purple void manifests above him, which startles Malenia as she continues to run. The lavender energy that gave the gap its ring-like shape burned like a flame as the blackness within gave the encroaching valkyrie a glimpse into the abyss.

But even as she stared into the abyss, Malenia would not blink. I must end this quickly. I cannot allow him to use the powers he exercised against my forces.

Then, a trio of small meteors, but still large enough to plow through Malenia’s frame, is let loose from the abyss vortex. The projectiles careen towards the valkyrie as the black void from whence they came dissipates. At the same time, Radahn beckons for his steed to go forth and carry them to honor and glory.

Malenia swiftly dodges the first meteor, jumps off of the second, and slices right through the third before landing on the sandy terrain. But her test of agility wasn’t over yet as Radahn, taking advantage of the opportunity granted by the meteors, gets into range and brings his right blade down with a battle cry.

But the valkyrie shifts her torso and seemingly allows Radahn’s blade to cleave her prosthetic arm right off.

Malenia then fluently grabs her prosthetic limb’s blade attachment as it falls in the air, uses Radahn’s right shoulder as a jumping platform, goes skyward, freefalls, and impales herself with one end while doing so.

Radahn looks up in shock as the business end of Malenia’s former arm’s attachment pierces into the titan’s flesh. But the general ignores the pain as he questions what she is doing. Even Leonard, who looked up at the strange scenario from below, tilted his head while flickering his ears.

The valkyrie and the general were connected via impalement on either side of the same weapon. And as Malenia’s blood flows down the shattered blade, she lowers her head and whispers.

“For Miquella.”

“Malenia! What are you-!” Radahn’s words die in his throat as a series of orange and red leaves of a flower made of energy enters his peripheral vision.

“You will witness true horror.”

“No! Malenia, wait, you don’t-!”

“Now, rot!”

A loud sound akin to an explosion mixed with the rustling of leaves echoes across the beach face, and a blooming flower spurts out of Malenia’s form, to which Radahn bares the full weight as the mystical floret grows in size.

Energy-made petals fell all around Radahn and Leonard’s general vicinity as a sickly red and orange miasma traveled out in either direction, originating from the flower’s epicenter.

The miasma swept across the beach with admirable speed, and although the waters of the sea halted its spread, the traveling scourge scaled the nearby cliffs and reached their precipice before sieging the vast forests of Caelid.

“Redmanes!” Jerren roars out in alarm. “Take shelter in the castle, now!”

The collective of knights obey Jerren’s orders, and they flee into the castle just in the nick of time as the miasma splashes against Castle Redmane. Unfortunately…there were those throughout the fortress who weren’t so lucky and fell prey to the traveling sickness.

Throughout the lush forests of Caelid, wild animals fled, and unaware denizens of the woods looked around in curiosity about what that strange booming sound was. But their answer would swiftly present itself as the sickly miasma consumed everything in its path.

Trees withered and died immediately, and if any forms of life didn’t die from the initial wave of sickness, they became debilitated with the same damned curse that Malenia was known to have harbored.

Scarlet Rot.

Herbivorous entities like deer were driven so mad from the blight that they began to bite and kill their herd mates and just about anything they could sink their teeth into. However, the infection also caused horrifying mutations in other forms of life.

There were instances of wolves and other canines becoming bipedal yet grotesque, and their heads and jaws grew to unimaginable proportions, which gave their bite frightening levels of force.

There was even a dragon, one who had dwelled in these parts for an unfathomable amount of time, who fell to the sickness. Its once vibrant-colored scales became pale as the draconian’s tongue dangled from its maw as if it were fatigued.

Many other changes would occur, but all would pale compared to the land they once inhabited. Caelid, for all intents and purposes, was now forever lost.

Tarnished…by the Scarlet Rot.

Two hours… Two agonizing hours have passed since the ominous explosion transpired.

Within Castle Redmane, Jerren and the Redmanes took shelter in the largest room of the entire structure. They were gathered before a series of hardened, double wooden doors, one of many that were closed shut, as were the windows. But those transparent windows to the outside world depict the horrifying change that’s taken hold of Caelid.

By Radahn’s crimson locks…they could see everything. Caelid was now a wasteland filled with decay and monstrous abominations - if those strange-looking dog-like things were of any indication.

Jerren breathes deeply, standing at the forefront of the collective as he rests his hands on the doors.

“Here we go, friends…let’s just hope that our lord managed to escape…”

No words were said, only breaths of ominous anticipation. Jerren pushes the doors open and stumbles forth in the doorway, consumed by shocked grief from what he and the Redmanes now saw.

It was even worse than what they could see through the window…

Some of the knights fell onto their knees in sorrow, men comforting women as brothers in arms depended on others for support, as did sisters in arms. And one female member, in particular, takes off her helmet, revealing a tearful gaze.

“Ahhhhhhhhh!!!” Tabitha roars out, a greatbow resting on her back as her home, the home of many Redmanes, was defiled beyond recognition.

“Damn you, valkyrie!!!” She fell onto her knees, “Damn yoooooouuuuu!!!”

As the descendant of Ogha’s voice echoes out, the other Redmanes begin to cry out their own words of scorn.

“That honorless wench!”

“She couldn’t just take the loss?!”

“Damn her!”

“Is this how those of Miquella’s order display their honor?!”

Many others would voice their hatred and demand penance for this insult.

“Enough!” Jerren’s voice boomed, silencing all others as he turned to face the Redmanes.

“Our hearts have been broken, but our resolve stands firm.” He points at a Redmane positioned close to the nearby lift, “You! Give me an inspection on the lift.”

“S-sir!” The individual’s male voice responds as he walks over to the lever and lowers himself to inspect it. He soon nods before walking over to the lift itself for another inspection.

“We’re in luck. That honorless filth’s defilement hasn’t ruined the gears.” He then grabs onto the lever, “But there’s only one way to find out.”

The Redmane pulls the lever with a grunt, and the grinding of gears sounds off as a wooden rectangular lift with metallic reinforcements slowly but surely rises.

The elevator platform soon rests before the collective, gears locking it in place as a square-shaped pressure plate rests in the middle of the forum. Every Redmane steps onto the platform one by one, and Jerren is the last to do so.

Once everyone was onboard, and with confirmation from Jerren, Tabitha stepped onto the pressure plate, causing the gears to loosen their locking mechanism. The elevator slowly descends, and its occupants look onward toward those precious sands in the distance with only one thing in mind.

The well-being of their beloved lord and general.

After walking across a stone bridge connecting Castle Redmane to the beach of precious worth, the Redmanes step onto the sand and tread forward. However, a series of gasps escape from helmets that hide glaring eyes, and Jerren, always leading at the helm proudly, as is his devotion as Radahn’s Herald, growls upon spotting two particular individuals heading toward them.

“You!” Tabitha roars out, instinctively taking hold of her greatbow.

A surviving member of the Cleanrot Knights, with whom Jerren had crossed blades with at the beginning of Malenia and Radahn’s war, was carrying that very same valkyrie on their back.

The Cleanrot Knight stops before the collection of hatred, all of which is targeted at the unconscious woman upon the knight’s back.

“Jerren,” the Cleanrot Knight said, her voice filled with regret.

“Finlay…” Jerren crosses his arms. “So…how’s it feel to carry the very embodiment of dishonor upon your back?” he quipped. “Must be a heavy burden, eh?”

“Jerren…believe me when I say that I had no idea-”

“Silence!” The masked elder exclaimed as he pointed an accusative index finger. “How dare she! That she-devil on your back, LOOK AT WHAT SHE’S DONE!” Jerren motions to their surroundings.

“ALL BECAUSE SHE COULDN’T TAKE ONE. FUCKING. LOSS!!!”

“You don’t understand her as I do!” Finlay screamed in desperate defense. “She’s a good woman! But she was desperate!”

“So all of Caelid deserved to die?!” Tabitha challenged as the other Redmanes roared out and damned Finlay and Malenia both. All the while, Jerren stood there in thought, although no one else could see that through his mask.

“Of course not!” Finlay answered. “My lady never would’ve bloomed as she did had she known of this outcome! I swear on our honor!”

“Your honor means shit to us now!”

“Look at what your honor has wrought!”

“To think that we ever respected your lot!”

“Sir Jerren,” Tabitha says as she stands alongside Jerren, sets an arrow on the arrow rest of her greatbow, and takes aim. “Give me the order, sir, and I’ll put them down right here and now!”

Gravity-defying prowess gathered around the arrow and greatbow in a fantastic display.

“Yeah!”

“Do it, Tabitha!”

“For General Radahn!”

“For Caelid!”

Finlay’s breaths become panicked as she and Malenia’s doom takes the form of the angered Redmanes—especially Tabitha’s current display of power.

Jerren, after moments of thought, finally raises a closed fist. “Finlay…you know that I can’t just let you and that thing on your back leave after all you’ve done.”

The Cleanrot Knight looks down. “I know…”

“However,” Jerren’s words garner Finlay’s attention, “I’ll offer you and only you a deal: set down that honorless wench so that she may face our justice. Do so, and by Redmane Code and honor, we shall allow you to leave.”

“I can’t- no,” Finlay takes a step forth, “I won’t do that. You’re not the only ones who swore an oath to a demigod you love with all your heart and soul.”

“...I see.” Jerren stares at Finlay in a moment of silence. “I respect that. Truly, I do.” He nods. “Very well, then. By the power vested in me, I, Jerren, Herald of Radahn, sentence you both to death.”

“Yes!” Tabitha celebrated, grinning. “Just say the word, sir. Ohoho~ I’m going to enjoy this!”

Jerren’s closed fist tightens as it remains airborne. “Ready.”

Finlay takes Malenia off her back and hugs them with all her love. “Forgive me, my lady…”

“Nock.”

“Mark.”

“Way ahead of you, sir,” Tabitha said with a toothy grin.

As this goes on, the other Redmanes form a half-circle around Jerren and Tabitha, ceremonially holding their weapons.

“Draw.”

Silence takes hold, save for the magical hum of Tabitha’s greatbow and Finlay’s anticipating resignation.

“Loo-!”

“Wait…!”

A familiar voice echoes out from a distance, carried by the wind and ceasing all actions. Everyone in attendance turns toward the source and is greeted by Radahn’s hulking form, although he was leaned over as he seemingly couldn’t lift his upper body.

His blades, which the general has wielded against his past foes, were noticeably absent.

Poor Leonard seemed to have trouble supporting his vast rider for the first time in many years. Seeing this, Radahn had doubled his efforts in making the load more bearable for his horse. After all…it’s why he learned gravity magic, although there were also…other reasons.

The Scarlet Rot had claimed them both, and it took all of Radahn’s efforts just to shout as he did. His lungs burned with every breath he took, and fumes of blight escaped from his mouth as he exhaled. His wits were also deteriorating as he could feel the Scarlot Rot eat away at his mind.

Even so, something within him fought against the sickness, allowing him at least some semblance of sanity: his Great Rune. It burned away the blight, but not enough to completely be rid of it, thus keeping the general’s body in a stalemate.

Radahn shielded Leonard during Malenia’s bloom, and although the horse still became afflicted, the general’s actions did offer some relief. But the harsh reality remained that the general and his steed suffered from a fate worse than death.

The Redmanes’ hearts stirred with sorrow and pity for the sad state of their lord, who finally managed to reach them through Leonard’s dedicated efforts. But the horse, and by extension, his rider, fell over as their bodies crashed onto the sand.

The Redmanes cry out as they run over to their lord, although Tabitha remains, keeping her bow locked onto Finlay and the comatose Malenia. But the greatbow wielder wept as tears went down her face.

“Why…?” She asked of the Cleanrot Knight. “Just…why…?”

Finlay couldn’t give her an answer. Instead, she once again carries Malenia over a single shoulder.

“I… I could say many things,” Finlay answered regretfully. “That it was for my lady…for Miquella…for our dreams. All of that would be true, but I just need you to know one thing…”

Tabitha growls, tightening her grip on her greatbow. “Yeah? What?!”

“...I’m sorry. And if my lady were awake, she, too, would be sorry…”

Tabitha blinked. “...‘Sorry’…?” she breaks out into laughter. “Y-you say that you’re sorry? And what? Does that magically turn back the hands of time?” the black-haired archer growled. “Does it undo all of the damage your so-called demi-god has wrought?! Huh?!”

“No…” Finlay’s lower lip trembled behind her helmet. “But I’m asking you for forgiveness. Please, allow me to take her away…”

“So she gets to go home while our lord suffers from the plague she inflected upon him and all of Caelid?” Tabitha scoffed at the very thought. “Sorry,” her mind was made up, “but I’m NOT in a forgiving mood right now!”

“Tabitha!” Jerren roars out from nearby, causing the archer and Finlay to turn toward the masked elder, the Redmanes, and the suffering Radahn.

“Let her go, chum.”

“What?!” Tabitha roars out. “We’re just going to let them go?!”

“General Radahn has spoken,” Jerren crosses his arms, “and you will not disobey our lord’s direct orders.”

Tabitha growls - not at Jerren or Radahn; she loved them far too much, but at just how unfair things were. She shifts her sight back onto the Cleanrot Knight and the devil Tabitha scorned with all her being.

Tabitha’s gravity-defying arrow stayed on target until…it was lowered, and the prowess surrounding it vanished. With clear signs of pained hesitation, the archer lowered her weapon, but the glare she kept aimed at Finlay, more so Malenia, spoke volumes.

“Go.” She said after a time of silence. “Get out of our sight…”

Finlay nods before turning her head toward the direction of Radahn. “Thank you,” she muttered.

“Damn right, you’d better thank him!” Tabitha shouts, having heard the murmur as Finlay is in the process of carrying Malenia across the stone bridge. “You’d better tell her, Finlay! Tell her that it was Radahn who spared her miserable life! Tell her!”

Finlay stops in place but doesn’t look back. “Fire.”

“What?!” Tabitha asked.

“Fire can halt and even defeat the Scarlet Rot. Although the results might vary.” With that said, Finlay continues to cross the bridge, entrusting Tabitha to spread the word amongst the Redmanes.

The Cleanrot Knight reached the other end of the bridge, and as she ventured up a hill to board the lift, she heard one final scream from Tabitha.

“TELL HER!!!”

Finlay couldn’t respond; the shame she felt simply wouldn’t allow it. But…she would honor that request. The road to the Haligtree would be long and filled with opposition. The knight knew this.

Regardless, she will get her mistress home…and tell her…everything…

Some time passes after Finlay’s departure with Malenia, and the Redmanes, now joined by Tabitha, gather around Radahn and Leonard in sorrow.

“R…ed…man…es…”

The knights flinched. They could see how difficult it was for Radahn just to speak. Leonard laid on his side, his stomach rising and lowering to signal that he still drew breath.

“Shhhh,” Jerren comforts. Of everyone, he stood closest to Radahn and Leonard. “It’s ok, ol’ chum…we understand…”

The others nod and utter words of gratitude and hopefulness. For many of them, Radahn was a father figure. He was so much more to them than ‘just their lord and general.’

Then, Radahn, in a display of pure willpower, manages to lift his torso from the sand. “L…i…ve… On…” he grits his teeth with great effort. “I will…stay…here. Be…safe. All of…you. Stay…away…from…m-me…”

Despite their renown as hardened warriors, many Redmanes began to cry and sob, their helmets being the only thing to hide their sorrowful expressions. But it was all on full display for those like Tabitha, who had removed their helmet.

Even Jerren, masked as he was, cried. “W-we will, my lord… However…” In one fluent motion, and with shaky hands, Jerren reaches into the satchel and pulls out a particular gift from Queen Rennala.

“You shall live on, too!” The Amber Egg within the herald’s grasp began to glow with a golden aura. “You shall not suffer here on this beach! No! We refuse to allow it!”

Radahn’s eyes shot wide open in horrific realization. No! He couldn’t allow them to do this; there was something he needed to warn them about. He tried to speak but found that his earlier efforts had effectively made him mute, only allowing him to grunt and groan.

Damn it! How could he be so foolish?!

“Go on, my lord!” Jerren declared. “Be free from these accursed lands! We’ll hold down the fort until the day you return to us with bountiful stories of glory!” The masked elder laughed as he set his sights on Leonard.

“Ah! But don’t think that Queen Rennala and I forgot about you, Leonard. You have carried the big guy through many conflicts. I know not where our general will go, but it comforts me to know that you’ll be there to aid him.”

Radahn raised an arm in an effort to halt Jerren’s actions, but its’ intended effect was lost on the old warrior and the Redmanes. No! If he were to disappear, the stars would resume their cycle!

“And now, General Radahn! Leonard!”

No…

“Behold! A powerful sorcery the likes of which these lands have never before seen!”

No!

“Powered by two Great Runes! Yours and that which lies within this egg!”

NO!

“Properly named by Queen Rennala herself, I cast…Primevaaaal Voyaaaage!”

The golden energy surrounding the Amber Egg reaches out and dances all around Radahn and Leonard’s forms. At that moment, Radahn’s Great Rune reacts as its fiery insignia presents itself and scorches away the sickness that plagued the general and his steed.

“Wait, everyone!” Radahn, finally cleansed of his debilitation, cries out with an outstretched arm. “You musn’t-!”

The general and his steed suddenly become encased in a vast blue and green crystalline substance known to all as glintstone, abruptly silencing Radahn’s words. His rune could be seen burning brightly within the crystal casing as the silhouettes of Radahn and Leonard were barely visible.

And as for the duo themselves, their consciousness surrendered to the bliss of slumber.

The golden strands of energy let loose from the Amber Egg turns to the same color as the large glintstone. A vortex is then torn open just above the enormous crystal, which begins to suck in grains of sand and the crystal itself.

“Redmanes!” Jerren barks but sports a smile beneath his mask. He had done it! “We’ve done what we could - fall back!”

“Yes, Sir Jerren!” They all roared in unison, obeying his orders.

As they fled, the breach finally consumed the glintstone mass that contained the general and his steed. And once that was accomplished, the anomaly closed itself and vanished without a trace, which, in tandem, caused the glowing Amber Egg in Jerren’s grasp to lose its hue.

They…they couldn’t believe it…

After a moment of disbelief, the Redmanes began to cheer, whistling and rattling their weaponry against their shields in celebration. Jerren was especially proud of what had transpired, but a part of him wondered: why did Radahn look so distr-

Suddenly, the stars littering the heavens began to shoot across the sky as the Redmanes looked on in awe. Truly, their general was mighty! It was he-

One shooting star was too close for comfort. Luckily, that one seemed to pass over with no issues.

But then the next one came…

[KTHOOM]

It crashed into an unknown location beyond the Caelid cliffs but toward the direction of Limgrave, one of the nearby regions to the west. Again, it was nothing too dangerous for the Redmanes, although it provided quite the light show. And they could always investigate later.

Then…another one fell. However, it was noticeably smaller compared to the others. And if Jerren didn’t know any better…

“Oh, dear…”

[KTHOOM]

The small meteorite crashes into the beach face’s epicenter, undoubtedly glassing the sands where it impacted, causing the Redmanes to shield their eyes. A large cloud of dust and remnants of Malenia’s actions blocks out the area, hindering anyone from looking upon the crash site from afar.

At first, nothing seemed out of the ordinary, save for the latest addition to the Redmane’s-

REEEAAAARGH!!!

Fear and an ominous feeling unlike anything they’d ever felt before were injected into the knights as they heard the screeching roar of…something. Something was hidden within the cloud of dust.

A large sum of sand was then thrown into the air by whatever had fallen from the stars. Jerren, and the Redmanes, tried to peer through the cloud of dust. They needed to know what they were up against.

And it was then that they saw it…

“By all that is good and holy…” Jerren comments in a fear-filled tone.

An elongated abomination made entirely of the same meteorite that seemingly birthed it raises its head like a serpent. Four black mandibles folded and protectively encased its head, and when they unfold, the star-fallen entity roars again as if staking its claim.

REEEAAAARGH!!!

It would seem that Malenia’s curse…wasn’t the only thing the Redmanes, and all of Caelid, would have to deal with…

---

Meanwhile, in another world…

---

An equine figure with a gray coat and dark-gray protective scales adorning its back and going down the center of its face walks through a small village in the dead of night, a full moon reflecting off nearby water sources and claiming mastery of the sky.

A sudden breeze flutters the individual’s green mane, which covers their neck and the edge of their tail like a lion’s, as their cloven hooves carry them to one of several houses built into the base of a large tree.

They sighed as they looked up at the stars in the night sky. “Hey there, Buddha.” Their female voice was harmonious and sweet in the night. “It’s me again, Mulan. I’m still trying to fulfill our dreams…but it’s only me and Rain Shine, you know? We’re just…two kirin.”

The individual approaches a tree stump that rests between the home’s closed door and a stream that practically surrounds the residence. She then rested her forelimbs on the stump and clasped them together in prayer.

“I beg of you, Buddha, deliver onto us an ally. The kirin of Qina deserve to be free, but Oolong…” Mulan growls, narrowing her gray eyes, “Her power is too great, and she enforces her rule over the land.

That is not what an empress should be like. And anykirin who dare to defy her, assuming they can get past her armies, are turned to ash and thrown out into the winds.” Mulan sighs. “Look…I’m sorry if this might sound rude, but…are you even listening?

I…I pray to you every night, but all Rain Shine and I get in return are more failed attempts to inspire others to rise against Oolong. Please, just - give me a sign…”

Her gaze fell to the tree stump as a tear fell onto the grass she sat upon. “Show us that you even care…”

A sudden beam of green and blue light shoots down from the night sky, causing Mulan to look up at it, flee in a panic, and take shelter behind the home. The beam sets itself besides the tree stump, illuminating the entire village.

And had Mulan kept watching, she might’ve spotted the figure descending within the beam yet was encased in protective crystals.

The lights cast by the strange phenomenon soon fade away, prompting Mulan to sneak a peek around the corner. She gasps with a hoof covering her muzzle upon spotting a slumbering stallion surrounded by crystalline fragments.

The fragments then sizzle and fade away, leaving a particular equine behind.

Leonard.

“Oh, my goodness…” Mulan said, absolutely stunned. “Is that a…saddle arabian…?”

There…Leonard has been sent to the eastern lands, a place I’ve deemed proper. Now, it’s your turn…

Radahn.

Renna has assured me that you both can be trusted. And so, I, Maker, welcome you to this world with open arms. During your time here, I dare not interfere with your lives, as the paths you walk will be your own from this point forward.

I will never be like the ‘Greater Will.’

Never.

But I do hope that you’ll help lead this world to a brighter future. Of course…there’s the chance you’ll also lead it to ruin.

Fate is such a funny thing, and no matter how hard you try to control it, it reminds those who are arrogant enough to try why it can’t be contained.

Ah. Look at me rambling on. Hehehe.

Now then, where to place you, my overgrown stallion… Hmmm…

Oh! Yes, that’ll do nicely. Selene’s in that nation, too.

You’ll have to forgive me, though… The sands of Saddle Arabiah can be quite unforgiving. But, from what I’ve heard…you’re used to that, huh?

Okay then. It’s decided.

Oh, and, Radahn?

About that ‘Great Rune’ of yours…

Another beam of energy touches down on the desert sands as the night continues on. And like Leonard, General Radahn, now taking on a whole new shape and form, is set down nice and easy.

The fragmented crystals that were around him began to fade away, and it seemed the large earth pony would sleep through the remainder of the night.

His coat was thick enough to keep him warm against the chilling nights of Saddle Arabia’s desert. And when he eventually awakes…

Who knows what this new world has in store for the general and his steed…

Next Chapter: Chapter 4~ Estimated time remaining: 3 Hours, 31 Minutes