FEHeroes: Realm Guardian

Chapter 5: Unmasked

"It turns out that Zacharias is fine after all. What a relief!" Alfonse sighed as I explained what exactly happened in detail.
"Yes, but... Why did he leave before we had a chance to meet?" I couldn't assure anything to Sharena. I quickly went back to the World of Radiance, I didn't see him, but I kept that to myself.

"I don't know, but he must have had a reason, judging by what Aqua told us." Anna's expression changed to one of confidence. "Don't worry! Even if Zacharias is in hiding, we do have a way to speak with him now..."

"We do? Since when?"

"I manage to get my hands on something special while we were in the World of Radiance. It's called a sending stone-it's a magical stone that lets you talk to someone far away."

"And you believe we can use this to speak with Zacharias?"

"Usually, the person you want to talk to also needs to have a stone... But we can use it as a catalyst for a magical rite in the World of Shadows, which we're headed next. As long as he's alive, Zacharias will be able to hear us....even if he's asleep!" Anna's theory seemed a bit far fetched. I have to remind myself that I'm in Askr, anything is possible at this point.

"That's fantastic Commander Anna!" Sharena contently said. "What are we waiting for? Let's talk to Zacharias right away!"

Alfonse opens the gateway to the World of Shadows, and we jumped in. We then saw Celica, a hero of this world, in the distance with what looks like her attendants.

"My name is Celica. I'm a childhood friend of Alm's and...I don't want to fight you. Sadly, though, it seems I cannot resist this contract. I'm sorry. All I can do is fight, and pray that your strength will be enough to free us." She said to us. Great! Now we have to fight our way through them to find Zacharias.

After the battle, Anna thought of something."It seems the Heroes of this world are already under the control of Embla, which means..."

"You again?! I tire of meeting like this." Bruno appeared before us again out of nowhere.
"Prince Bruno!" I gasped.

"Guh! Leave... now. Get in my way and... I... will kill... you!" He placed his hand in his head. Is he in pain by something?

"Wait!" Alfonse exclaimed. I suddenly looked around us to find the Heroes from here and some Emblian soldiers that came with Bruno.

"An ambush!" I hollered.
"Just remember-if we keep on defending, then enemy will eventually retreat. Be careful and don't do anything rash. We just need to be patient!" Anna reminded us. We took it in consideration and tried to divert them and find our opening to retreat.

During battle, I managed to get close to Alfonse to keep him safe.

"I got your back!" I said to him.
"And I got yours!" He returned.

We both were in sync, like a pattern for any foe. Sharena smiled widely at such skills and coordination.

"Behind you!" I shouted as I turned behind him to defeat some remaining soldiers.

After battle, Bruno retreated with the Heroes.

"He's retreating!" Sharena exclaimed.
"Don't worry about him! Anna, you said we were close to where this artifact to perform the rite was, right?"
"Yes! C'mon!" She leaded the way, hopefully not falling for any other ambush.

Night fell after we continued our journey, we set up camp along with the heroes accompaning us to rest. I went to Alfonse's tent to check on him and give him a snack. When I opened the tent, he got startled at my appearance, and I got nervous seeing what he was doing.