As the days pass, Seliph finds that the line between his past and present is beginning to blur. The dead make their presence known, not as shimmering apparitions — there but not quite — but as living, breathing souls. Warm to the touch with the fires of life dancing in their eyes. His father. His mother. Julius. Ishtar. Iuchar. And now…
“Emperor Arvis?”
Seliph’s blood runs cold. For a moment, he wonders if he is mistaken, for the man that stands before him does not resemble the Emperor Arvis he and his Liberation Army had faced off against at Miletos. This Arvis is younger — his head of fiery red hair is full and voluminous, his face is smooth, and he exudes a powerful aura of strength and pride.
“What … how …” Seliph takes an unsteady step backwards.
“I killed you.”
'Emperor Arvis'
While he has yet to claim that title, as Azmur still draws breath, he did oh so like the sound of it...
Arvis turns to see who addresses him, and is confronted with a child that shakes him to his core.
He has Deirdre's gentle eyes, and the same curve of her face, but unmistakably, that head of shining sapphire belongs to House Chalphy. This was Sigurd's son.
'I killed you.'
Ah.
Every mechanism in Arvis' mind clicks into place, and the picture is laid clear. Julius and Julia's appearance, and talk of his death. All three of them were from his own future.
"So it's you then. You're the one who kills me." He smiles pleasantly and chuckles in his throat. "How poetic. Sigurd's son avenging his father's death."
He exhales, tone edging dark and sober.
"I don't know how you managed it." He takes a step forward for Seliph's step back. "Perhaps age had dulled my touch, but rest assured, I am not the same Arvis. I killed your father once already, I nearly killed him again here in Fodlan. If you dare to cross me in this world, you shall meet the same end."
