Cursed Yoshi

 

Epilogue = Peace

 

Disclaimer: All characters here are of my own invention, but the original idea of Yoshies, Birdos, etcetera, are copyright of Nintendo, and I make no money from writing this.

 

In the aftermath of the King’s assassination, the Prince was given the throne. After choosing a replacement council of advisors, the Prince and his entourage met with the advisors to the late baron of Lince, and negotiated a peace treaty.

Calling for an immediate end to hostilities between the two races, a few other stipulations were added: the immediate disbanding of the Dragon Slayers, or what was left of them, and cessation of all attacks on the Yoshian sub-races. All military forces would withdraw back to their capital cities, and trade would resume within good time. Any and all bounties on the sub-races would be removed, and anyone killing a member of another race would be weighted just as heavily as a murder of their own.

All of the clauses were agreed to and signed by both the Prince and his entourage, and the Yoshian advisors. Returning home, with the Baron dead and without an heir, the royal family was called to an end; with the peace treaty, it was hoped that they wouldn’t need it any more. Instead, the baron’s eight advisors formed a council to collectively run the city and other parts of the Yoshian lands.

 

On the same day as the Prince’s coronation in Telkyte, the entire city of Lince was engulfed in celebration of the newfound peace. The eight advisors, now referred to as the Republic Council, along with Darkmark, were prominent figures in the festivities, along with other significant figures from the army. Skafria and Tsi-Lau, with their cute and curious daughter Siniera; Vachez and Tamaroro, who was amused by all the things going on around him; Élloré, who performed many times over the course of the day; and Mikhail and Salína, who were together at all times.

As the day drew to a close and the celebrations continued, Darkmark vanished without a trace, stopping only to say goodbye to his friends. Nobody saw him leave, or knew where he was going; but the day was to be a day of happiness, and so they toasted to the Saviour’s health and let him go.

 

Vachez returned to Corvan with Tamaroro, raising the little child in peace, no longer troubled by the guards. The Yoshies maintained control of the city, repairing the damage they had done in their conquest of it. The church was empty much less frequently than before, as people came to hear the priest’s sermons and his tales of his experience in the army.

Skafria and Tsi-Lau travelled for a short period of time, paying to have memorials placed on the ruins of the Shoreside Village, and another at the destroyed prison in Corvan, for the people that they and Darkmark had lost – as he had vanished from the public eye and was not there to do it himself. The prison itself was cleared and instead turned into a park, the memorial standing in the center of it. After this was done, the family of vampires was married by Vachez before they moved to Lince, doing their best to cause as little disruption in the city as possible.

The Republic Council also placed a memorial in the city of Lince, inside the castle grounds, but in an area anyone could get to. A statue of Eirsir with his arms open as though to welcome someone, the inscription on the pedestal read simply: “For all those who gave their lives, and those who had theirs taken from them.” For many months afterwards, there was not a day that passed without flowers being laid around the base of the memorial.

The Winged Ones and those who went with them returned to their homes, bringing lots of food, hope, and stories to those who had stayed behind. There was an extra among their number; Mikhail, as he had promised, went back with Salína to the Anthro’s settlement.

And as for Darkmark…

 

The lush foliage and the trees it grew between seemed much less annoying this time. As though a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders, Darkmark found himself quite calm, even though thorny plants still pricked at him and burrs still stuck to his saddlebags; but he brushed them aside uncaringly. He had a destination to get to, and he wouldn’t be stopped by anything.

It didn’t take him long to find it. He’d been able to survey the area by air and spot the clearing containing the feral encampment he was looking for; he had made a detour to approach on foot for the sake of it being a surprise. His keen nose picked up the scent of cooked meat somewhere up ahead, and he followed it, eager to arrive at his destination – and get some food – before the night fully settled in.

The sentries who first spotted him gave a wave and a smile as he entered the camp, recognizing him immediately – after all, a brown Yoshi with wings, illusory eyebrows, and shining red eyes was one-of-a-kind. He returned their waving gestures, looking for who he wanted to meet. It didn’t take long, either.

“Marcus!” he heard her cry, as she, too, spotted him. Getting up from where she had been sitting, relaxing after a meal, she ran over and pounced on him, pulling him into a tight hug. He staggered a little, maintaining his footing, and put his arms around her to hug her back.

“I’ve come back, just as I said.” He told her, closing his eyes and remembering the feeling of her against him from before. “I’ve made sure this place is safe… I’ve done what I needed to do to protect it.”

“I know… all of a sudden, the bounty hunters stopped coming for us. I knew you were behind it, somehow, from what you told me when you left.”

The entire camp was watching him, but he didn’t care; he’d done what he had to do, and it was time for him to relax, and vanish from the public eye. To find new love with the rest of his life – after all, he had a couple hundred years left, and he couldn’t spend them being reminiscent.

“As soon as possible,” she whispered to him, her tail swaying back and forth in her apparent happiness, “I want us to have a child. We’ve all been given new hope, a new chance at life, and a wonderful world to bring new life into.”

He nodded softly, wrapping his wings around her affectionately. “I agree. I’m going to stay here, and stay with you, and settle down… also important, but not so much so, I have to write down my story, to have it join the others already in the Fayen, my story as a Saviour. I have a lot to tell, and I’ll have to write a book about it.”

“Oh? What are you going to call it?”

Darkmark recalled the first title he’d been given, the prophecy about him Vachez had read to him when he was still Marcus.

“Cursed Yoshi.”

 

 

 

“What a strange turn of events.”

Karlo-Shin, along with the other Dark Gods, minus Klashkna, was reflecting on the events that had recently transpired. A peace treaty? He hadn’t expected that outcome.

“Things aren’t over yet.” He mused, glancing around the five gathered around him. “The future has been changed once again by the Fabled One. We’ll have to see what happens in the human kingdom, and if the new king holds true to his word.”

“However…” he said, looking up at nothing in particular, “For now, he has fulfilled his destiny. For now.”

 

The End