A Cold Welcome Epilogue One Part 1. Dark Content Warning

It was a world of shining gold and white, a bridge of ice led to a palace stuffed with cushions and artbooks and a great Crystal Screen loaded with Magia Movies and snacks… despite the fact that Corrin had only ever seen one Magia Movie in her life. It was a palace of fluffiness, though outside the palace the gold and white world was full of blades and spikes. But Corrin never left her palace, so it did not matter how harsh the outside world was!

 It was Corrin’s Dreamscape. Her hyperactive imagination created it without fail every few days she went to sleep. Sometimes her dreams were… perverted and she scolded herself for them… but most of them time they were nonsensical things where she could play around and ride giant ponies until she woke up and barely remembered what happened in her dreams, only that she got a good night’s rest and almost always had fun in them.

 Now was no different as Corrin was giggling her head off as her brother Isaac, now a large sock puppet snake with a hat on, was performing a magic show for the dreaming princess of the Irrvasts. To the righ tsword-shaped ruler in his hand with the words “NO FUN” engraved on it. Corrin had scribbled a mustache onto the giant statue at the start of Snake-saac’s comedy show.

 “Heeeheeee~! Snake-saac shut uuuuup!” Corrin laughed and squeeled in a way the real Isaac would have fallen over clutching his heart if he heard from the cuteness overload of his sister acting like a child through and through.

 “But I haven’t even got to the butt of the joke! Oh, wait! I’m a snake I don’t have a butt!” Snake-saac said loudly as if just realizing that as Corrin fell over laughing even more. A cold shining silver hand touched Corrin’s shoulder as she sat up and smiled.

 “Mommy!” Dream Corrin beamed as a Kaguya made of radiant shining silver, with huge antlers of ice and a flying scarf of Ever Ice floated in the air as well as her huge poofy silver dress. Unlike her big brother who resembled a serpentine sock puppet, her Mother resembled a goddess in her dreams, or at least what Corrin thought a Goddess might look like.

 “Here my princess. You’ve been such a good girl! It’s snack time and you can eat them all!” The Dream Kaguya beamed as she pulled a giant tray of Blue Snowcombs out of her bosom. Corrin’s eyes sparkled as she squealed and grabbed the tray, but when she tried to grab the Blue Snowcombs they turned into blue beetles made of blue honey, with shells of comb! Corrin tried to grab the living snacks as they ran around on the tray, but for some reason they seemed to just zip straight through her fingers no matter how fast she was!

“Nngg! Stop moving so I can eat youuu! Bad Snowcombs!!!!” Corrin whined in her pajamas as the living honey kept running in circles, now the little beetles had climbed on top of each other and made a miniature statue of her Father.

 “My Princess. You can’t eat Snowcombs! I forbid it!” The snack in the shape of her Father spoke. Corrin’s gaze turned predatory as she looked down at the blueberry honey Cassinder made of beetles before they quivered and split back into the running combs. Each one saying in a tiny voice “Aboooorrt she’s gonna eat us!”

 “Eeeeheeheehee~! That’s right! All of you are going into my belly right no-“

 Save me.
 So hungry.

Corrin jolted. She was no longer in her perfect little palace. She was somewhere even farther from home than Clawtooth’s Hole. Corrin looked up and around in panic, she was in her full Blackhound Regalia save her helmet. Corrin shivered… she was cold… she was cold!? Panic started to creep into her heart as she only ever felt cold when Mother fought against her in practice duals! She looked around, she was in some sort of city but it was not Blacktorch, snow was covering everything and there were ruined houses mixed between barely repaired houses. There was not a soul in sight as Corrin tried to summon her Ghostblades or grab her broadsword. Two voices had echoed in her head, a woman’s and something… unholy, sounding like a creature made of metal.

“Sigrun! Mother? Hello? Who is there? Anyone? Anyone!?” Corrin’s voice filled with panic as she walked around the empty city.

 Save me.
 Devour all.

The echoed voices filled her head again as Corrin shrieked, the city was no longer empty. Thousands of Corpses were in the snow as a river of blood was swirling, trying to drag her feet as Corrin scrambled to get away from the bleeding ground. Crunching skulls and decomposing bodies beneath her feet as the road was more corpse than street. Corrin wailed and cried as she climbed one of the ruined houses, with two leaps she was atop the roof staring as the river of blood was now three feet high and buried the bodies in red.

 “Go away go away go away! Mommy, please! Someone… Help! Please please please wake me up. I wanna go home!” Corrin cried as the bloody river flowed on. The chill eating away at her as she shivered. Corrin tried to use her ice but she was powerless.

Save me.

Kill them.

The voices echoed in her head again as the bloody river began to swell and turn violent, rising higher and higher as Corrin screamed and scrambled backwards, trying to stay above it as the river swallowed up the first floor of the house, breaking the windows as Corrin saw hands reach out of the river, the dead bodies were calling to her, beckoning her, men and women and children all eaten by something, all repeating the same voice of a girl she’d never heard before. All of their groans were a cacophony of agony that filled Corrin’s head as she clutched it and screamed in hopes everything would go away and she’d wake up in her family’s arms.

 “Leave me alone! Leave me alooone pleeeaassse! MOMMMMYYYY!” Corrin screamed as the blood wave hit the roof and the bodies started climbing it. Grabbing her feet as Corrin shrieked and kicked them, one powerful kick disintegrated the corpse that touched her, but then another took its place, and another and another and another and another as the river rose and her feet sank into the red as the corpses grabbed her legs and arms, ten hands replacing every one she destroyed as Corrin shrieked before the river rose over her mouth and blood pooled into her.

 Save me.

Destroy it all.

Corrin’s eyes opened as no longer was she drowning in blood and corpses… now she was underground, in some sort of Cathedral with a giant hole in the ceiling, spikes surrounding the hole aiming towards the center as a blood red moon shined above it. But that was wrong! There were two moons! The Great Moon of Harmony and the Lesser Moon of Balance! But in this twisted place only one red moon shined like a sun in the center of the room as Corrin saw black oily chains dripping onto the ground of the Cathedral. At the end of the chains in the center of the room was a woman, her back turned to Corrin… a woman who even her back alone was enough for Corrin to recognize her from their battle.

 Night Eater.

Fury rose in Corrin’s heart as she remembered the ambush at Clawtooth’s. Was this nightmare her doing!? Corrin strode forward, ready to rip off a chunk of floor and beat her to death before she stopped as she noticed Night Eater was crying again. Corrin looked up at the chains attached to her wrists and her eyes widened as she saw symbols all over the walls, not recognizing any of them… except the one on that filthy Priest’s hood as he ordered Night Eater and sent out the little girl from Whiteridge to be sacrificed…

 “You! Why am I here?” Corrin’s voice sounded pathetic compared to Sigrun’s commanding voice. Hers was too delicate and pretty, even when it shook with rage and confusion.

 Night Eater’s silver tail raised a few inches off the ground before slumping as if she was out of energy. Corrin looked at the back of Night Eater in confusion as she noticed she was different than on the battlefield. The right side of her body was as it was then, her right foot was silver and clawed like a beast’s, yet it seemed to be bleeding silver onto the ground, and her left foot was… completely human. Silver spikes grew on the right side of her back yet there were only scars on the naked woman’s left side.

Corrin gulped as the chill grew stronger than before, but she steeled herself and walked towards Night Eater. “What is this place Night Eater? Why are we here?” Corrin spoke as she neared the Living Relic. That is what her Father had called her when he warned Corrin that she might someday battle against her. The unkillable Night Eater. A Living Relic just like the Golden Crucible, and the other Eaters scattered around the world. A person bonded with an ancient relic, one who wielded the powerful abilities of the relic as if they were their own. Night Eater was supposedly a silver whip that fed off corpses to empower itself. But the Night Eater she knew was a woman with a sword in hand and a tail and horns…

*Drip… drip… drip… drip…*

 Corrin slowed down as she heard something dripping from Night Eater as she neared her. Just a few feet behind her… Corrin could see so many scars on the left side of her flesh, yet the right side was spotless besides the silver spikes and scales on her foot and hand…

 The Bloody Moon finally faded as the two Moons of Qyerath returned, illuminating the Cathedral properly as Corrin realized that silver was pooling from Night Eater like blood, dripping from somewhere in her front. Fear was pounding in Corrin’s chest as she strode forward once again, determined to see the face of this strange visage of Night Eater. Corrin was not prepared.

 When Corrin walked around her and finally stood in front of the naked woman, her head hanging low. Corrin could see something sticking from her chest… that something was the source of the dripping silver. Corrin’s fury was completely overtaken by fear as a great sense of wrongness pounded inside her head and stomach. As if she’d throw up if she continued to look at Night Eater even though she still hadn’t even seen her face or whatever was in her chest. Corrin saw that just as before, Night Eater’s right side of her head was growing the horn she had seen on her in battle, and the left side of her head was still entirely human.

 “Night Eater? What is… what is wrong with you…?” Corrin asked. Something inside her told her this was all wrong. Something had been done to Night Eater, something even an enemy of Blacktorch did not deserve. A fate worse than death. Corrin took a deep breath as the urge to vomit was growing as Night Eater wheezed and several droplets spilled from her chest. Night Eater shook, before lifting her head as Corrin fell backward, landing on her butt and screaming in fear at what she saw.

 Night Eater’s left eye was a beautiful but dull purple as silver tears leaked from the edges, silver seemed to be creeping into her eye like worms as Corrin began to hyperventilate but couldn’t stop taking in everything in front of her. Night Eater’s right eye was solid silver, but cracked, as silver tears flowed down her face. The right side of her mouth was torn open by teeth far too big and sharp to fit inside her jaw, piercing through the cheeks and lip as she wheezed and Corrin’s fear only rose as she looked down. Silver veins and something thicker, something alive, crawled up Night Eater’s throat and around her. Corrin could see it trying to poke out of Night Eater’s skin as it slowly crawled through her… and Corrin whimpered in fear as her gaze dragged lower, despite every nerve in her body screaming not to.

 Night Eater did not have breasts, her chest was hollow, with her ribs splayed outwards on both sides, as if something had burst out of her chest… but Corrin instinctively knew it was worse than that. Something had been jammed into Night Eater and was bursting out of her.

 *Ba-bump ba-bump ba-bump*

 Corrin stopped breathing as she saw the source of the dripping blood. Night Eater’s heart. It was a great silver orb in her torn open chest with a small bit of red flesh sticking out, the last of the original woman’s heart. The silver heart pumped rhythmically as Corrin tried to breathe but couldn’t, too fixated on the horror in front of her as Night Eater stared into her soul. Around that silver heart… was a whip, embedded into the body of the woman, the grooved chains of the whip were wrapped around the heart and growing thorns, and the thorns were sprouting throughout the woman’s body. Corrin watched in horror as before her eyes Night Eater wheezed and the thorns grew from the whip, a spiky bulge visible inside Night Eater’s stomach.

 “AHHHHHHHH G-*UURRLKP*” Corrin gave a bloody shrill before turning over and vomiting onto the floor, gasping as her throat pooled with silver, Corrin fell and scrambled away, wiping silver from her lips as Night Eater’s head slowly turned to follow her.

 “YOU! *AHUG* WHAT- WHAT ARE YOU! WHAT IS THIS!” Corrin shrieked as she nearly vomited more silver, watching the skin under the human side of Night Eater writhe as the whip grew more into her body. Corrin’s disgust and hatred were met with… sorrow… helplessness… Night Eater looked at her like a broken thing, an animal starved and beaten…

Save me

Save us.

Corrin gasped as the woman and beast’s voices filled her head again. What… what did they mean!? “Save you!? How?! Why!? You are my enemy! YOU! YOU! IF YOU WEREN’T THERE, I WOULDN’T HAVE FAILED!” Corrin cried silver tears as she crawled towards Night Eater, clenching her right hand into a fist. Something told her if she were to hit Night Eater now she could kill her with her bare hands. But Corrin’s fists trembled as she looked at the broken thing, this was no Living Relic. This was an abomination made by some corrupt force Corrin could never have dreamed was in this world. “How… can I save you?” Corrin’s voice quieted as Night Eater looked at the floor, only the dripping of the silver blood and the pounding of her heart filled the room.

Kill me.

Free me.

The voices spoke in her head. Corrin didn’t know what to do. What did that mean? The Woman wished to die but the… creature… no. Night Eater wished to be freed? As if in response to the blasphemy the two voices had spoken. Night Eater cried out in pain as the chains tightened around her arms and legs, the black ooze pooling into the scars in her hands and feet as the silver whip pulsed with black veins before growing once again. Corrin watched in horror, wishing for the terrifying show to end as Night Eater writhed. Her horn and tail grew as the silver thorns crawling under her flesh bulged under the skin more and more on her left side, eating away at the human remnants of the woman.

“What’s happening!? Stop it! Stop it! Whoever is doing this to her! This is vile! Isn’t she a woman from Whiteridge!? Isn’t she one of yours! She should die by my blade not suffer by her own people! STOP THIS! STOP IT ALREADY YOU DEMONS!” Corrin screamed as the chains finally stopped squeezing more of the black ooze into Night Eater’s wounds and the forced growth of the relic inside her ended.

“Night Eater! What… It is the priests, isn’t it? This ritual? I will tell my Mother and Father and we will come. I will kill them all… and then you for what you have done… but you will receive an honorable death. Mercy from this… this horrible thing. I swear on my name Corrin Irrvast that I will do so. I will end you… I will save you from this.” Corrin cried, and her tears were a sparkling icy blue. Night Eater raised her head as Corrin gasped. Her left eye was completely silver now. Night Eater gave a small, sad smile as her overgrown teeth pierced her cheeks and caused fresh silver blood to flow down her jaws.

Corrin?

Corrin?

“Yes. I am-“ Corrin wiped her eyes on her armor and took a deep breath. “I am the Tailless Wolf. The Living Armory. The Frozen Legion. The Ghostblade Hound. Princess of the Irrvasts. All of this and more they call me… stupid, isn’t it? I am just Corrin… But all these names I give as proof that next we meet. I will find a way to kill your tormentors and end your suffering. Please… if you can… tell me your name?”

Night Eater’s head tilted as if she- the two beings in one were confused before she looked back at Corrin once more.

 Night Eater.

Syndra.

Corrin’s face paled as it was the metallic creature’s voice that spoke the name. Before Corrin could speak again, the chains tightened once again as more of the ooze began to pool down, Night Eater giving a silent scream of agony as another spike burst from her back… from the left side. Corrin tried to grab Night Eater, Syndra, as she writhed as more black blood filled her body, but those same black chains now burst from the walls and grabbed her, unable to pierce her skin they pulled her away as she screamed… and woke up.

 “SYNDRAAAA!” Corrin screamed as she bolted awake. Kyrta stood up so fast the Moon Elf slammed her head into the ceiling before gasping in pain and clutching her head. Reserve shelters were not made for people over seven feet tall after all. Corrin looked around, a candle was lit but even without that, Irrvasts could see in the dark as the blue of her eyes glowed like a magical gemstone. Corrin saw Kyrta and clutched her arms to her chest before folding over and wailing as Kyrta rushed over.

 “Corrin! Corrin what’s wrong sweetie!? You are fine you are fine! Everyone is safe, no one was hurt and no one even knows it was-‘

 “I couldn’t- I couldn’t save her! Syndra! They EXPERIMENT ON HER! *UUAAAHH!* Where is Mommy where is Mommy where is Mommy?! ” Corrin started choking on sobs as Kyrta’s expression shifted in a second as she quickly grabbed Corrin and hugged her, telling her over and over it was going to be okay before she paused and cast a [Message]. Scared of who would answer… but more scared if they didn’t.

 [Kaguya!]

 [What happened? Ingall begged me to let you keep my daughter tonight. What has happened to her!?] Kaguya’s voice responded back in Kyrta’s head. Despite how happy Kaguya had been just before as she stroked her Virrate’s hair in the temporary house the army of Makyrs had made for them. At the sound of Kyrta’s panicking voice, Kaguya’s expression had shifted instantly as cold as the wastes of the Tundra during the height of Wrath.

 [I don’t know! She… she woke up screaming and cried out the name Syndra!]

[Sing to her, you failure. I am heading there now. It is the Seventh Reserve Shelter is it not?]

[Yes. I… I don’t know what happened! She has never-]

[Do not waste my time. If you wish to see tomorrow, your voice will be hoarse from singing when I arrive.] And with that, Kaguya forcefully ended the [Message] as she stood from her husband’s warm embrace. Quickly covering him with the blanket before she clothed herself and carefully opened the door, shutting it, and sprinted towards the Seventh Reserve Shelter of the Sector, all who saw the white blur trembled in fear as Kaguya’s fury showed that there would be several bodies tomorrow.

Kyrta squeezed Corrin as she told her Kaguya was coming, trying to hide her fear as best as possible as she started singing one of Blacktorch’s many songs. Choosing “The Rise of the White Legion” to inspire the brave little princess wailing in her arms.

Barely ten minutes later, two terrified shouts at the door announced that Kaguya had arrived. Kyrta couldn’t believe how fast she must have run to get there already. The door slammed open as Kaguya stood there, white frost leaking off of her as Kyrta was still singing. Kaguya’s silver eyes bored into Kyrta as if she would cut her head off right then and there before Kaguya spoke up. “Get out.” Was all the icy Queen of the Irrvasts said as Kyrta hastily stood and bent over to get out as quickly as could be without banging her head on the ceiling again.

“Shhh my Snowbear, shhh… Mommy is here. There there.” Kaguya’s voice switched as gentle and warm as ever as she hastily sat down and shoved the wailing Corrin in her bosom once again. Rubbing her head and kissing her forehead as her heart ached hearing Corrin cry twice like this in the same day. Kaguya opened her mouth and began to sing softly to Corrin, barely keeping her lips away from her daughter’s forehead.

 “Look little angel, the snow has fallen, the world is cold and white, yet here you remain. So perfect and pure. Look, little angel, the clouds are parting, the dawn is coming, and here you remain. Look, little angel…” Kaguya sang and sang as over the next few minutes Corrin’s bawling became gentle sniffling before quieting down into a small smile as she finally finished her death grip on Kaguya’s back. Pulling her head out of Kaguya’s bosom, Corrin wiped the tears from her eyes as a soft blue blush took on her cheeks.

 “Forgive me, Mother…” Corrin started, but Kaguya reached out a hand and stroked her cheek gently. Smiling in such a way it told Corrin that all was well without even needing to utter a word.

 “Do not ever apologize for crying to me, Snowbear. You are my beloved daughter, my little princess. The day you cannot come to me when you are sad is the day I have failed as a Mother. Are you well enough to tell me what happened? Or would you like another song?” Kaguya asked as Corrin sniffled and her face flushed a bit more.

 “A…Another song please Mommy…” Corrin asked, her voice as soft as the snow on a Yoru flower. Kaguya smiled warmly as she grabbed Corrin and pulled her to her side, still shoving her head against her large breast as she sang another song, Kaguya’s perfect voice filling the hall almost like a Siren’s as she sang and sang, eventually stopping with any lyrics and simply letting her wonderful voice fill the air as Corrin’s sadness faded entirely and twenty minutes later she was a beaming little princess again.

 “There, my love. Mm-hmm~ Look at that gorgeous little smile on your perfect face. You are so strong, my Snowbear. Now, tell me what happened.” Kaguya said as she looked Corrin in the eyes. Corrin nodded, her smile fading, but no new tears formed. Corrin took a shaky breath.