Wild ARMS

Rebirth

Prologue

It was summer, the hottest summer Adlehyde had seen in years, the flowers bloomed in the usual outlandish colours and the grass was lush and green, the soil rich and the people of the surrounding village of Surf and the magic school of Curan Abbey were very happy. The people of the city of Adlehyde were especially happy as it was time for the annual summer festival that praised the three heroes that vanquished the demons twenty years ago, the queen always attended the festival due to the fact that it was one third in her honour and one third in honour of the captain of the guard who helped her defeat Zeikfried and Mother all those years ago.

The world had not always been so healthy and green, the war with the demons a thousand years before had turned it into a dustbowl, a mere shadow of its former self. After the three heroes killed the demons however, the guardians who had nearly lost all their power fighting the demons a thousand years before, regained their strength and turned Filgaia back to the way it was before the demons had arrived.

Cecilia smiled and waved, walking with two guards and the captain of the guards, in tow. Despite being twenty years older than she was during the battle, the years had been kind, she was almost unchanged apart from she was a bit taller and wiser. She turned to the blue haired man standing behind her.

"Can I stop smiling now?" She said through clenched teeth "The sides of my face hurt."

The captain nodded, he knew how she felt.

"Just keep smiling and we can be out of here in an hour."

"An hour!" Cecilia’s gleaming toothy grin almost left her face "I can’t do an hour, last year we only had to stay half an hour!"

Cecilia hated being their heroine, there were so many expectations, everyone was so sure she was the greatest ruler Adlehyde had ever had. She didn’t want to let these people down even though she wasn’t so sure herself whether she was a good queen. Going to the festival only reminded her of the pressure being put upon her, despite being fully aware of this Rudy decided she should go to the festival to make a speech and raise her subject’s morale, even the her advisor thought it a good idea so she went every year, got really upset and nervous and drank a bottle of wine when she got back to the castle. When it came to her public image, Rudy was more help than the royal advisors, and she had to admit his advice worked even if she wasn’t happy about it.

Despite being the queen Cecilia listened to Rudy, after all he had defeated the demons alongside her and had the kind of level headed demeanour and worldly knowledge one would expect from a royal advisor or strategist, Cecilia would have made him an advisor had he not been such a powerful fighter, she was going to make him a general but he wanted to help Cecilia out with her political duties as well as fight, Cecilia wasn’t going to argue with this as she hated politics so she made him captain of the guard so he could fight, but also stay and help her out. Rudy had proved to be an excellent guard captain, managing to beat the guards into a more efficient team than the previous captain of the guard.

"Okay, I’ll try to stay gracious." She said grumpily,

"Good" Was all Rudy said as Cecilia walked up to the podium to make her traditional speech. If truth be told, Rudy hated this day just as much as Cecilia he realised he didn’t have to suffer the intense pressure she did and he realised that he could walk out any time he wanted and continue his life as a dream chaser (wanderers usually without a birthplace or parents who roam Filgaia finding work as a mercenary, trader or whatever their chosen profession) but he was still bothered, the festival reminded him of what it was like when they were a team, battling the demons wasn’t fun but Jack and Cecilia had become the closest thing Rudy had to family since his adoptive grandfather Zepet died. The festival only reminded him of Jack disappearance and finding out he was a Holmcross (a half human, half demon).

Cecilia’s speech was rousing and sentimental and many women in the audience cried and the men all looked like their eyeballs were about to explode as they fought back tears of their own, once the speech was finished, Cecilia walked back to Rudy, Rudy gave a weak smile.

"Wasn’t that the same speech you made two years ago?" he grinned, but Cecilia could see something was troubling him

"Whats wrong?" She asked, ignoring his question

"Nothing" Said Rudy "You go back to the castle, I’m gonna head down to the bar with some friends." Cecilia nodded and started back to the castle.

"Your coming for a drink then?" Said a soldier called Daniel, Rudy shook his head

"’Fraid I only said that to get out of going back to the castle and drinking a bottle of wine… again" Rudy said with a wan smile, Daniel nodded and he and four other soldiers walked into the pub.

Rudy walked forward a couple of steps and his legs gave way, he fell to the floor, there was a ringing in his ears and a voice, it was laughing. Rudy put his hands to his ears to block out the sound but the laughter was becoming louder, not only was there laughter but a loud cry of pain, Rudy then realised it was him making that noise but the searing pain in his head and legs was deafening him and blinding him. Then the pain stopped and as he collapsed he heard one word

"…Alhazad…"

The blue haired warrior picked himself up shakily, he was given a wide berth by people who thought he had a disease as he started towards a bench, one man asked

"You ok man?" But Rudy ignored him and sat himself down.

He’d been having these spasms for the past month, he knew he couldn’t go to see a doctor because he wasn’t human. Each time, just as he thought he was going to pass out he heard the name ‘Alhazad’, the evil demon who he thought he had killed twenty years ago.

"This isn’t good" Rudy moaned his hands kneading his forehead.

And he was right.