Mercae's History

My throat felt sore, and my whole body was burning. Sight lugged me all the way home, but I'd fallen sick on the way, so I didn't remember the journey. I just remembered that I'd been heaving my breath for a long time, and that made my insides hurt.

Sight had delivered me to my room, and as luck would have it, Lady herself was nursing me. The only problem with her was that she wouldn't stop talking when I wanted to sleep and wouldn't say a thing when the air was heavy with tension. I would silently just glare at her with my eyes burning, but I bet she was just torturing me.

"Do you understand why they died? Do you understand, Seraph? Why did Grey and Silver have to die? Have you asked that question? You must ask such questions, Seraph. This is important for people like you. Understand, Seraph?"

And of course, she thought I didn't understand what she meant. But I feigned ignorance.

"People like me?", I barely managed to say this much.

"Yes!", my rare responses made her excited, "People like you, Seraph. But have you asked those questions? No, I don't suppose you have. Chopper will be back soon, you know. I sent him on an errand. It was a false alarm, though, so he should be back in a day or two."

She'd say something to provoke my half-dead brain, but then abandon that line of thought and stray to useless topics. One time she explained the anatomy of a pineapple to me. And I suffered until I could no longer fight the weakness. This might have been her version of a lullaby, but it made me think that if she kept nursing me, I might never recover.

While I was sick in bed, I thought about everyone we had left back in the ruined city. I don't know what Lady did with Excalibur. Sight had relayed everything to her. About Grey, Silver, the Knights, everything. The one thing she didn't yet know was Yngvi.

"Lady...", when I couldn't take my thoughts anymore, I picked up my strength and called to her in the dead of night. It was utterly silent. Even my weak voice was loud enough to reach her.

She lifted her head from her reclining chair in the corner where she usually sat, right beside the window. It was a full moon. The light was filling up the little room, and almost felt cold. She was bathing in its silver, silently.

"Lady", I said to her, "There's something...Sight doesn't know."

She stood up and came up to me, sitting beside my bed. I think she guessed I knew something. Sight guessed it too.

"There's...", at this point, tears had started flowing from the corner of my eyes, soaking into the pillow, "There's...something I saw."

I was in terrible pain that night. My wounds hurt really bad for some reason. And everything was hazy.

"He...", my voice barely escaped, but Lady was patient with me, "His name is Yngvi."

Lady's eyes widened.

"He's still...", I didn't know what to say anymore.

Lady held my hand, "You don't have to say anymore, Seraph."

I settled my breathing and tried to relax my racing heart. Lady sat beside me, waiting for me to calm down. She had a solemn look on her face. It looked almost grim in the moonlight.

"That name, Yngvi...I didn't think I'd ever hear it from anyone, let alone you, Seraph. Do you know who he is?", she asked, but realized I knew and went on, "His name is privy only to a handful. After all, there's a history that needed to be rooted out if this world was ever going to be saved."

She then looked at me and realized I was eager to know. She smirked.

"Don't worry, its a long night. I'll tell you everything I know", she said as the wind blew her hair back, "The reason the Great War started in the first place was because of the elves that ruled Mercae. A noble line of snow elves ruled over these diverse people. Back then, it was a much bigger kingdom. It spanned most corners of the world. Elves, humans, and all other kinds lived together. They lived together, but not in harmony."

She took a brief pause.

"The records state that the first king, Yngvi, ruled peacefully for over half a century, and his was an era of peace and harmony. He believed that all kinds could exist together. Elves had long lifespans. In his long time of ruling, he was able to bring them all together. But it didn't last long. Elves had too much power. They were the strongest and wisest race. Unfortunately, they were the kindest too."

I listened intently. Lady took her time relaying this story to me.

"It started with a mutiny. But a small rebellion turned into a political conspiracy. The noble family of Mercae was exiled and executed. Elves were killed where they were found. And since they were in smaller numbers than humans, it was easy to gang up on them when they were weak. The Mercae of then...executed an entire race. Those elves who only wanted to live, chopped their ears off just so they wouldn't be found."

Lady took another pause and spared me a brief glance.

"But they couldn't be saved. In the end, they were all killed. They say some mixed descendants of the elves might still exist, but I doubt even they themselves know. For all we know, those elves never existed in the first place. And even if some of their descendants have survived, they would barely have any elf left in them. And so, for years and years, until the very last elf hadn't been killed, humans carried out mindless persecutions. In the end, they forgot why they had needed to do so."

"A line of demons that coexisted alongside humans and elves left the human world and went back underground because they believed their own fate would be the same. In the end, all those races were divided once again. After all, humans could only exist all alone. But then, with no one to fight, they began fighting among themselves. The Kingdom of Mercae broke into many pieces. We are only a small fraction of what it used to be."

"When Iris Bergmeier...when I finally put an end to the War seven years ago, with Bardock beside me...the world said Mercae had put an end to an everlasting war. But it was laughable. Mercae was no hero; it was only cleaning up the mess it itself made. Bardock and I thought that it was all ridiculous. But we couldn't rewrite anything, so Bardock decided to put a lid on things until matters had settled down."

"Even though he made that decision, I'd always known he never intended to reveal the history to the world at all. And I was fine with it. There was no need to pull those atrocities out of the record pages. But...", her grip on my hand tightened, "I'm sorry, Seraph...that you had to see all of it."

"Lady...Yngvi didn't die", I managed to say, "Not all of him."

She looked my way.

"He was...watching over everything...all these years. But he didn't know the war had ended. Because...", I coughed, "Excalibur got buried in the lake before the war ended. Yngvi...he didn't know the war had already..."

"I see", she sighed, "Remember him, Seraph. Only you can do it now. And you must. Excalibur is just a husk now. I haven't seen Yngvi in it, even if he does exist. And Sight hasn't either. I don't suppose we'll ever get to meet him."

I thought it was such a sad loss. But then, I couldn't find any justification for anyone who died in that city.

"I'll build a world for all of them", I thought to myself, almost instinctively, before slipping into a deep sleep. I wonder how long Lady stayed by my side.