Alex stared down at them deadpan, his hands casually in his black jacket’s pockets. He was wearing his casual clothes, a grey top, black pants.

‘I guess this fight is over then’, Lewis deactivated the spell was attempting to cast, darkness and light mana dispersed inside him. That was if you could even still call it a fight, not because It was a two verse one but because Alex Athra was now here. The Rouge also seemed to accept that fact as it stopped attempting to form another scythe. Lewis knew it was the most logical thing it could’ve done but he had to admit it was a little disappointing. From his fight he thought the Rouge was the type to never give up no matter the odds.

“You alright Lewis” Alex asked.

“I’m fine”.

“You’ve definitely seen better days” he joked, his deadpan expression turning into a grin.

“I’ve also seen worse” Lewis retorted.

“You were finally able to use eclipse”.

“I was” Lewis said as he approached the Rouge forming handcuffs made of pure darkness. “Put these on. If you try anything other than what I say they’ll cut your hands clean off” he informed it. The Rouge made no attempt to reply instead it reached into its cloak. Lewis readied himself for an attack and he could sense Alex channel mana. However, no attack came. Instead the Rouge pulled out a relic that looked identical to the one the Lewis had stolen from Wraith weeks earlier.

“Shit” Lewis cursed. He charged towards the Rouge and Alex suddenly appeared next to it, but just like at the depot the Rouge vanished in a white flash. Any trace it was ever in the city was gone.

“What just happened?” Alex asked confused as he stood over where the Rouge had been.

“The relic” Lewis stated, “I didn’t know what it did before, but I guess it’s some sort of spatial device”.

“The relic?”.

“I’ll explain later”.

“Any idea who it was? What it wanted?”.

Lewis shook his head “No, first time we’ve properly met”.

“Properly met -” Alex began to question but suddenly Lewis stumbled to the ground. Pain overwhelmed his body as his adrenaline worn off and he was quickly reminded of the cross that had been carved into his chest.

Alex instantly appeared next to him and held him up, “You can explain what you’ve been up to lately. First let’s get you help”.

“I’m fine” Lewis lied. Suddenly like his body had given up supporting his senselessness, he passed out.

He woke up in a bed, in the same clothes as earlier except for his shirt which assumed wasn’t able to be saved. ‘That was one of my favourites’ he sulked. With a painful groan he sat up ignoring his sore muscles begging him lie back down. Looking around he could see he was in the Military medical hospital. The HQ had its own private medical sector to keep soldiers and personnel separate from the public. At further inspection of his surroundings he realised he was in one of the private rooms as well ‘Not bad’. He’d been in a ward full of injured soldiers before and it wasn’t an experience he’d consider great. He had no tubes or equipment hooked up to him, so he guessed that was good, but he was still faced with the issue that anytime he tried to move it felt a piercing pain as if the Rouge had stabbed him all over again. He’d felt like the before, it was the side effect many types of healing magic. Healing magic could help you recover from many deadly injuries, but it didn’t function in the way of casting spell and your instantly recovered. Instead most healing magic was more like influencing your body to heal itself while providing it with the required resources. As a result, your muscles usually felt really sore especially if you hadn’t had much rest. Lewis then started wondering how long he’d slept, judging from the pain his body was in it couldn’t have been long. He saw that there was a clock placed above the door, he didn’t know how long he’d been fighting, but had a feeling it had been asleep for just under three hours. His body felt that way anyway.

Suddenly the door to his room opened and Becka wandered in.

“I thought you’d be up by now” she stated while taking the seat beside his bed, “you’ve never been good at resting”.

“Resting is boring” he told her with a smile. He tried to get out of the bed but was quickly paralyzed by a sharp pain shooting up his spine.

“I wouldn’t bother trying to move for a while” she informed him, “Your injuries well …”

“It was only two cuts”.

“It was only two cuts, if it stayed that way it would’ve been easy I could’ve healed you in moments and sent you on your way. But you kept fighting and everything got ten times worse Not to mention the other injuries you had. Should’ve seen the state of your head”.

“I kind of needed to keep fighting” he defended himself, “It was either that or death”.

She let out a sigh “Well you’re alive and well. Sort of. You’ll be happy to know you have no new scars”. Lewis looked down to see his chest was identical the way it was before fight.

“They don’t call you the best for nothing”.

“They don’t call me the best”.

“I do”.

“That’s because I’m the only one who heals you”.

“Why would I settle for someone worse when I could have the best” he grinned stupidly. Becka held back a smile and let out another exhausted sigh when the door swung open again. General Jager and Alex Athra entered the room. They wandered into the room practically having to duck under the door frame. The General sat in one the chairs against the wall while Alex leaned against the wall beside Becka.

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“General” Lewis greeted him with a nod, “I’d get up and greet you properly, but I physically can’t. Doctors orders”.

“You must’ve been punched really hard to be saying things like that” the General joked. Lewis attempted to shrug but quickly regretted it as he felt his muscles spasm.

“I assume you’ve come to ask what happened” Lewis cut straight to the point.

“If you’re up for the conversation. If you need more rest I can return later”.

“No it’s fine”. Lewis told them all exactly what happened from the moment the Rouge attacked him at the orphanage to the point where he passed out on the cathedral.

After he was finished the room remained silent. The general rubbed the back of his neck as he contemplated everything Lewis had said.

“A Rouge” Alex spoke first, “Are you sure?”. Lewis nodded.

“Why do you get always get the best fights” Alex grumbled.

“A Rouge?” the General questioned.

“An ancient magic discipline. They possess unique techniques and magic that earnt them the title of ‘History’s greatest assassins’.” Alex informed him “Went extinct a long time ago. People don’t actually know why, but many assume they were considered too dangerous and hunted down”.

“If they went extinct, how did you one attack you?” the General asked Lewis.

“My best guess would be that its ancestors where Rouges that survived the purge by going into hiding and after all these years the magic has reawakened”.

“You and Alex have both told me the Rouge just vanished. Any idea how?”.

“It pulled out a relic moments before disappearing I didn’t know what they did before but it’s clear there some type of spatial device” Lewis explained.

“You know of it?” The General questioned.

“A few weeks ago, when Eric stopped Blade, Wraith stole crates full of them”. Lewis stopped himself there deciding it was best to keep the fact that he was there and has one of the relics to himself.

The General remained silent for a few moment carefully considering everything Lewis had said before abruptly standing up from his seat and walking towards the door.

“I’d spend the next few days resting” The General advised, but it sounded more like a command. He opened the door to Lewis’s room and exited leaving the three of them alone.

After a few moments Becka stood “Now you’re up and we know you’re okay I have to get back to work” she told him before also leaving.

“You should trust the General more” Alex told him as the door closed.

“I do trust him. But he’s a busy man and doesn’t need more issues that I can handle on my own”.

Alex mumbled something under his breath before looking directly at Lewis “Didn’t know you were back on the streets”.

“I’m not”.

“Then why were you at the warehouse?”. ‘So he knows about that’ Lewis did his best to keep his face blank to hide his surprise.

“Lucina snuck out. It was just luck that me being there worked out”.

“You said that wasn’t the first time you’d met?”.

“Yeah. It’s been stalking me for weeks but that was the first was at the warehouse and the second today” Lewis replied but his tone sounded distant.

“You alright?”.

“No” he confessed, “During the fight I realised how rusty I’ve become. Don’t get me wrong the Rouge was strong but the me a year ago would’ve destroyed it with no issue. The only reason I wasn’t killed was because I managed to finally perform eclipse.

“You couldn’t have predicted being attack by someone like that”.

“It doesn’t matter, and you know that. Because of whom I am and what I’ve done its always a possibility and because I wasn’t ready, innocent people almost lost their life. Hell, if the Rouge didn’t want to harm them they would’ve been killed”.

“So what are you going to do about it?” Alex asked sternly.

Lewis dull expression vanished and was replaced by a childish smile “I think you know”.

“Good” Alex said as he stopped leaning against the wall and started walking towards the door.

He went to leave the room however suddenly stopped “What’s wrong?” Lewis asked.

“Be prepared. I have a bad feeling that sooner or later this world is going to need you more than ever” Alex told him. Before giving Lewis a chance to question him he quickly left the room leaving Lewis alone to contemplate what had just happened.

After resting for the next few hours, Lewis was able to return to the orphanage before night fell over the city. He was instantly bombarded with questions as soon as he walked through the door despite Becka’s efforts to keep everyone calm. Eri never left his side until he said he was going to bed were she reluctantly released him, after complaining that she wasn’t allowed to visit him at the hospital one last time.

After showering a dressing himself in fresh clothes, he sat on the edge of his bed reliving his fight with the Rouge when suddenly there was a knock on his door.

“Come in”. The door creaked open, and he expected it to be Eri however, Ava wandered in.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

She remained silent facing the floor “Are you alright” she asked him softly.

A smile crept upon his face “Yes I’m fine” he assumed she blamed herself for what had happened.

“That’s good to hear” she responded.

Still not glancing up from the floor she turned and went to leave his room “It’s not your fault. You know that right?” Lewis said, “It was going to attack me no matter what. I’m just sorry you got caught up in it. I never got to ask where you harmed”. She turned around a looked at him with a small smile.

“No, it didn’t touch me”, she paused, “I know you’re like an older brother to us all but don’t think you have to stay behind to protect us”.

“hmmm” Lewis mused, not really understanding what she was saying.

“Eric and Kate have both left and I know Arthur, Ike and Lucina will too, Mera is barley here these days, even I’ll be gone soon, but you remain here” she then stopped like she’d lost track of her thoughts, “Erm basically I’m saying don’t let this place hold you back because even if you leave for a bit it’ll be exactly the same when you get back. If that makes sense. Nothing bad will happen to us”.

Lewis started laughing and Ava went red “Thank you, I’ll keep it in mind” he said. She gave him a nod and opened the door to his room “Oh and also thanks for saving me” she quickly said before leaving and closing the door behind her.

He switched off the light and lay in bed considering what Ava and Alex had said to him as well many other similar conversations he had over the last year.

Lewis took the Generals advise and spent all his time resting and by the time it came for them to leave for Thalassi he felt fully recovered.

The whole orphanage made their way to the portal to Iter, everyone excitedly carrying bags or rolling suitcases along the pavement. Becka and Alex led the group while Lewis remained at the back making sure no one got left behind. It didn’t take them along to meet up with General Jager and his personnel at the portal.

Becka had everyone line up and slowly make their way through the shimmering white portal with an adult following behind every five children. Lewis remained at the back along with Eri who’d snuck out the line to stand next to him.

“Is this your first time through a portal?” she asked him.

“No, I’ve done it a few time?”.

“What about Thalassi?” she quickly asked another question.

“Once before” he replied, “Are you nervous?”.

“No … a little” she admitted.

“Don’t be” he smiled “You’re with me nothing bad going to happen”.

“Lewis! Eri!” Alex called out to them “Everyone has gone through just waiting on you”. They walked over to the portal. It was a large arch of a smooth white stone with blue glowing runes carved along the arch. Inside the arch was a semi-transparent wall of white mana depicting a city that wasn’t Elysi on the other side.

“You ready?” he asked Eri, and she gave him a confident nod. He glanced back at Elysi one last time a took in a deep breath of its air before disappearing through the portal.

The Atlas Games begin