"Keep it moving you damned maggots," grumbled a bandit as he shoved along the line of women they'd recently captured from the nearby village, "Tsk... they better be worth the amount of gold we've been told they're worth."

"OH they will be," cackled the lead bandit as he turned around, stopping the caravan, "You'd be surprised how much women like this would sell for. It's no surprise with all these soldiers needing some relaxation during times of war! Ahahah!"

He hopped off his horse and strolled along the line of women, each hand tied in a single line. The bandit's sword swinging by his side as he walked along the bruised and weary row of women.

"Ehehe especially fine broads like this one here!" He exclaimed as he grabbed one of the women by the head and dragged her out of line, making the other women stumble and fall after her, "See the curves on this one? Beautiful dontcha say boys? Just how we like it!"

He spat on the woman and grinned as she yelped at the spit, being unable to wipe it off of her. Murmurs of agreement came slowly from all the bandits as they eyed her up however and no other questions were asked.

"Now shut yer yaps and lets get a move on. Don't wanna dawdle, we're wasting money!" Barked the lead after a few moments as he turned to mount his horse, but before doing so he shoved the woman back into line, making the whole line sway to one side again with more of the girls falling over.

"Yessir," grumbled all the bandits in broken unison at his command as they shoved along the women. And with that the caravan began to move forward slowly once more, unaware of the fact that someone watching. Well... mostly unaware...

The caravan rolled along with little speech for awhile after that. Any sound heard from the girls was immediately met with a whipping to the back or a rough shove from the bandits as well as any fault in pacing was met with an immediate beating. Only a few hours had passed since the little pep talk from the bandit leader, yet nearly half of the girls were severely bruised and bloody from all the abuse.

"Aye, stop ya crying!" yelled one of the bandits as one of the girls began to sob and move slower than the rest. In anger he moved up to her and shoved her forward into the girl in front of her, knocking both of them down.

"Get up you dogs," he continued as he got up to the crying girl and grabbed her long pink hair, pulling her up to her feet with it. The girl cried out in pain at the rough tug, but quickly ceased her tears as a sword was put up to her throat.

"Oye, what happened to that pretty lil voice of yours?" cackled the bandit as he rubbed the edge of the blade along her neck, "Heh... but you're quite the looker now aren't ya."

His eyes wandered down to her frame now and he smiled as his gaze fell upon her chest.

"Well well well what do we have here. You're in the ripe age for some picking!" he murmured as his sword's tip turn to graze down the skin of her neck, cutting slightly into her skin, "But... it would be a shame if my sword were to slip and cut the fruit before it's ready..."

"P-please, sir... no don't do that, I beg of you..." she finally managed as her breathing quickened at the sharp pain of the sword etching itself into her tender skin.

"Ehhh?! And why not!?" he barked as his eyes flared and his sword quickly pressed up against her throat once more. He glared at her unflinchingly until the sudden tug of the rope at her hands and the protests of the other bandits reminded him of where he was.

"Pft," he spat on her as he relinquished his sword and shoved her back in line, "Keeping going then you bitch."

Breathing heavy with her hair in a knotted mess, the girl stumbled back in line and winced in pain as she felt bits of blood trickle down her chest due to the swords slight cuts.

"Hey..." whispered a voice from behind the girl after a few minutes, which made her glance back to see another girl forcing a smile at her, "You okay?"

"..."

"Not much of a talker then I guess," she continued in a hushed voice, "Well... if you need anything... my name's Sarah..."

"...Diana," replied the pink haired girl with one last glance at Sarah before turning to face forward out of fear of the bandits noticing them speak, but not without seeing a dark shadow in the distance that seemed to stand out above the rest of the landscape. Diana did a double take as she peered at the shadow, but almost as soon as she'd noticed it, it was gone.

"Now Owain!" ordered Lucina as she slid across the ground, narrowly dodging a blade sweeping over her head, "It's now or never!"

"Sword hand, don't fail me now! For I shall thrust vengeance upon-"

"Cut the crap Owain!" yelled Severa as she parried another sword strike from the Risen surrounding the group, "Do it NOW!"

"Alright alright," he grumbled as he pushed past Kjelle and struck down two swordsman with a quick lunge followed by a slash across the neck, "Clear! Push forward!"

"Got it!" yelled Inigo and Yarne as they pushed past Owain deeper into the horde of Risen with Lucina and Severa bringing up the rear.

Hacking and slashing, the group of six slowly made their way to the Outrealm Gate with the hordes of Risen closing in, their only hope of escape lay in them making it through the gate into the past in order to change the future. All the while hordes of Risen closed upon them in an attempt to stop their progress and seal a dark future for Grima.

"There is no way we're making it out of here!" yelled Severa as she rolled forward to dodge a sweep of a lance from some mounted Risen before parrying another strike for a sword, "This is suicide Lucina!"

"No we'll make it! For the sake of our parents and our future we must!" replied Lucina as she slashed through another pair of Risen and shoved Inigo to the side, making the lance heading straight for his back miss by mere inches.

"Thank you my fair lady," exclaimed Inigo in surprise as he parried yet another strike aim for his neck, "But on the topic of fair women, where's Cynthia? Along with Gerome and the others?!"

"Save the sweet talk for lat-"

"Sword hand! Summon forth this blade's power!" yelled Owain as he slashed another Risen in half, cutting off Lucina and continuing the push onwards, "Forward my fellow allies! Heed not the call of death and strike deep into the hearts of the enemy!"

"Shut up Owain, now is not the time to be-"

"Look! It's Gerome and Cynthia along with Laurent and Noire!" called out Severa suddenly as she paused briefly to point in the sky, making all their heads turn to see two black dots flying towards them, unaware of the streams of Risen archers prepped to fire at them.

"Oh no..." whispered Lucina as she glanced in the direction of where they were heading, "Quickly! Inigo, Severa! Push out the ride side of the Risen line! They have archers amongst them! With the archers in place, they'll be shot down immediately!"

Two quick nods were given as the fight resumed with even more ferocity, knowing that they were so close to their goal.

"Prepare for impact!" yelled Gerome as he leaned forward on Minerva, Noire clinging to his back in utter fear, her bow in one hand and her eyes sealed tight. Out of the corner of his eyes, Cynthia was flying next to him with Laurent on her pegasus as well.

"What an entrance, right?!" yelled Cynthia with glee to Laurent as he held onto his hat in desperation, "Father would be so proud of-"

"Look out!" called Laurent as a sudden wave of magic and arrows came flying from the ground where they'd spotted the rest of their companions, "Incoming!"

"Got it!" called out Cynthia as her happy attitude was replaced with one of seriousness as her, along with her pegasus, barrel rolled to the right and left to avoid the volleys of incoming projectiles. Gerome followed suite with Noire still clinging to him for dear life. The volleys continued for a few for more moments before ceasing completely, allowing for the two to land.

"Thank the gods they did it, they stopped the ranged Risen," said Gerome to himself as he landed Minerva on the ground with a smash, crushing several Risen upon landing. A little bit farther down, Cynthia landed near the other children and Laurent hopped off, already firing off spells into the waves of Risen.

"Alright rides over Noire, get your bow and get off before we get overwhelmed. Minerva and I don't fight well on the ground," said Gerome as he swung his axe at nearby Risen in unison with Minerva who was snapping and hissing at the Risen surrounding them.

"About time you got here!" boomed a voice as suddenly a cluster of Risen collapsed forward onto the ground and the rough body of Kjelle showed herself, sweating and bleeding from her forehead, "Come on! One last push before we get to the portal! I'll keep you save as we regroup Noire!"

Noire, who had just opened her eyes, nodded at Kjelle before stumbling off, bow in hand. With a curt nod to both of them, Gerome patted Minerva's neck, signalling her to launch with a gust of wind which knocked over several more Risen. Leaving Kjelle and Noire to slowly knock down and kill the Risen advancing to replace the ones killed by Gerome.

"Good girl," said Gerome as he swung his axe at the Risen jumping up to get a hold of the wyvern, "Now let's show Cherche how much we've learned from her."

At the mentioning of her former rider's name, Minerva let out a piercing roar and began flying through the hoards of Risen, slowly clearing a path for the others to follow.

"Alright, let's go everyone!" yelled Gerome as he waved his axe for everyone to regroup on him before he turned back to slashing at the Risen below. Within minutes all of the kids had formed up and were now mere meters away from the gate when suddenly a dark figure flew above the portal and landed right in front of them, letting out a tremendous roar.

"You have got to be kidding me," gaped Owain as he stepped back a bit, his sword shaking slightly in his hand which was now red with his blood, "No one mentioned Risen dragons! How can this be!?"

"They must've been summoned as a last form of defense in case anyone were to attempt this," muttered Lucina as she raised her Falchion up in preparation for the oncoming fight.

"So what do we do now Lucina!," said Kjelle as she shoved off some more Risen, "We've got Risen behind us and Risen in front of us."

"Tsk... I... We must keep fighting," said Lucina as she took a step back once the dragon took a large step towards the group, "That portal is our only hope to leading normal lives!

"That's right! Ahaha!" rang a voice from above as a flash of light shone from amongst the hordes of Risen and with moments a tremendous roar rang across the battlefield, making the group cringe and hold their ears. Then, out of nowhere, another dragon came barreling towards the Risen dragon and knocked it off the cliff and to everyone's surprise, Brady was atop the dragon.

"Everyone hurry!" he called out as he slid off of the dragon who turned to face the crowds of Risen and blast them with flames of light, "Nah will hold them off as we enter the portal. Go!"

"Alright everyone let's go!" called Lucina as she waved her hand in the direction of the portal and started off in a sprint towards it, "Thank the gods you came Nah and Brady..."

Followed closely by Owain, Inigo, Laurent, Cynthia, Noire, Kjelle, Severa, and Yarne, Lucina made for the portal and quickly jumped into it, disappearing in flashes of light one by one.

"Alright yer the last one Gerome!" called out Brady as he stood at the foot of the portal with Nah who'd expended all of the dragonstone's power and was now panting and leaning against him, "I'll see you on the other side!"

Gerome and Minerva watched as the last duo jumped into the portal before directing her towards it, arrows and spells whizzing past them.

"This is it Minerva, the others will be fine... We have other goals to attend to when we make it through however," he said as they dove into the portal, unsure of what lay ahead of them, but knowing that the Risen were behind them.

Another chapter quickly executed. If you have any questions please ask! And again constructive criticism and reviews are greatly appreciated! Along with the fact that if you spot any mistakes, please let me know.