Heyo people of all ages and sizes! This is the Fox Empress here giving into temptation to start my own Fire Emblem Fanfic! I've only recently joined the Fire emblem community so my knowledge is improvised, oh well this is just for my friends so I don't mind if it's kinda shitty on a shit stick.
*Cough*
Anyways, I hope you all enjoy this Gamer fic wanna be and crack as smile at Luna's failures~ Regal! Disclaimer!
Regal: *Sleepily* Suney-chan does not own Fire emblem or any other references that may be present. Only her original Characters are hers and her buddies, happy reading~ *Falls asleep*
The time was 5:00 pm and the sky was covered with murky dark clouds, heavy rain poured down from the sky onto the small stretch of land called The Weeping Forests, as the name suggested, the land was occupied entirely by large, towering weeping willow trees that covered the land so thickly that many creatures can hide in it's thick masses and never be found by outsiders. This secluded land rests deep in the small island of Utolio, isolated from the rest of the world by powerful magic from deep within it's earth.
This undisturbed land has been free from the war and dangers that has shaken this realm for centuries, its lush environment untouched by the outside world. Not to say that no humans live in this land, because they do. The humans that live in Utolio live together in small communities, built within the natural lands as not to disturb it's natural beauty. The people here are generally peaceful and quiet, fighting amongst each other is minimum and war is unheard of. These people were never given a reason to fight, and prefer to stay isolated in each of their chosen lands.
The population of Utolio is small, barely reaching 1000 people, the animals and creatures that live in it's lands far outnumber the people. The weather of the island is generally murky, the skies would clear occasionally to let in the sun, but more than often the skies are blackened by clouds and heavy rainfall follows all year round. The island has few land types, the lands that cover most of the mass are rainforests and plateaus, with plains has the smallest area. In the center of the island is where the land starts rising to form mountains, with the peak piercing the sky line. Many rivers and lakes crisscross through the forests, occasional caves and deep caverns can be found, the roots of some of the oldest weeping willows are so large that 10 people can live comfortably under it's protection.
Many types of plants and minerals can be found in Utolio, though the most abundant would be weeping willows and clay respectively. Edible goods can be found all over and it truly is no struggle for the beings living here to survive.
Despite the fact that the people living in Utolio are closed off from the rest of the world does not mean that they are too uneducated. The people have advanced slower yes, but simple things such as coffee machines, normal beds, heating, and electricity is still used and harnessed. People dress depending on what the environment throws at them, but they still have clothes that are normally found in the realms of Fire Emblem.
Utolian people aren't ignorant to the world existing beyond the barrier, all across Utolio you can find tall pillars of solid crystal, these mysterious pillars act as one of the few connections to the world beyond. The crystal pillars act as a crystal ball at times, showing the world outside to the Utolians and allowing them to view and study the ways of other people. The magic within the crystals are strong, so strong that some of the bigger crystals can empower everything around it, making things grow bigger, better, and stronger in it's radius. These are usually the areas where things will gather to live, surrounding the great crystals. These crystals can reach as far as the outrealms and can even be used as a unlimited energy source to power anything the people make requiring some form of fuel. The energy from the crystals comes from deep within the island, at it's very core where a great power rests peacefully.
At the very peak of Mount Yallou, the tallest mountain on the island, there is a special red crystal that can act as a portal to the outside realms. Around that crystal a small group of Utolians called Utopia's Fate guard and watch over the crystal. These people have lived near this special crystal for all of their lives, as such, the developed the power to harness some of its energy to control a small amount of how and where you would teleport, and how to get back as well. Like the special crystal, normal crystals help the beings of Utolio develop more powerful, the longer they have lived and grew in it's radius, the more potent their power can grow. Even though it usually takes generations before any noticeable power ups.
Due to the lack of battle that most Utolian avoid, they aren't the best fighters around, most have little experience in the true art of combat and/or war. Even though there are time where they attack each other for one reason or another, the times are few and far in between. Living with the threat of disease, landslides, rare earthquakes, and even rare tornados, has toughened Utolian beings up, so they are generally very good at survival.
Life in Utolio is fairly good, not bad, not great, but everyone has learned to adapt, and carry on their lives. Never to step foot anywhere beyond the great barrier. Well unless you were apart of the small group of Utolians living in the deep forests of Weeping.
OoOoOoO
The rain pounded heavily against the shelter's thick wooden ceiling, the water visibly running of the edges into the small ravine that was quickly filling with rain water before it ran down it's body to the real rivers. This part of the shelter was not closed in, allowing the young lady sitting on a small stool to take in the beautiful scenery around her without walls to block her view. She brought the small teacup full of it's namesake to her full pink lips and took a long drink of her favorite tea. Her soft ginger hair swayed lightly in the passing wind, part of it's short locks covering the left side of her fair skinned face. Her pale pink eyes watched the mini-show that nature was putting on for her with a calm, happy glow.
The woman was wearing a modest brown sweater and a pair of plain trousers, a thin pair of flip flops on her bare feet. She hummed softly and took another sip of her ginger tea, before setting the teacup down on the small round table and instead picking up the small book she acquired from a friend in the west lands via messenger falcon.
The soothing sounds of rain drops caused the woman to smile, listening to the songs of her home while enjoying a good read of the latests events in the lands of Archanea from outside the barrier. Hearing about the various events and history of the outside world always piked her interest, from the battles of the great Hero-King to the common day happenings in the lands Ylisse. It all seemed fascinating to her, a girl who lived in the uneventful island of Utolio, unbothered and untouched by the outside lands. At least that's how it used to be.
The woman frowned pensively, recently there was word that a young man has been found at the Great crystal of Connection, high up on Mt. Yallou's peak. The word from her cousin once he reached their home told of the man appearing in an unusually bright flash during one of the worst storms of Utolio in the past century, how the Crystal of Connection glew with unseen ferocity and how the man floated down in a light aura to rest softly at the Crystal's feet. It was a spectacle that she wish she got the chance to see, such unusual occurrences was something she thrived for in her normally calm life, living in the Weeping didn't promise much in the ways of action and excitement, so the young scholar thrived off the stories she heard no matter the source.
Perhaps she'll get a chance to see this man, Sola usually finds ways to get around his tribe's rules of 'Do not give out sensitive information', especially with her. He'll find a way to get her in on the action, she just knows it.
"Luna! Come in dinner is ready!"
Oh Goodie!
"Coming Ma!" The woman stood up and picked up the items scattered on her table, before grabbing her tribe's poncho and throwing it over her head, it was a dark maroon cloth with brown leather trims. On the cloaks body is the symbol of the Lunaelsca tribe, which is a diamond shaped pendent with a upside down heart inside. This symbol is also the body of the earrings she wore, Lunaelsca is a tribe of scholars, intelligent people who share Weeping Forest with the Rouosco Tribe, a group of people who practice dark magic and have a great affinity for it.
The Tribes of Utolio are numerous, each usually containing at least 50 members, they span across the lands, even in areas where the environment is almost actively fighting against them. Lunaelsca's relations to Rouosco are fairly good, as both tribes have shared this forest for centuries. Each tribe has their own symbol to serve as recolonization during the once in a decade Tribe meetings, thankfully it's only once a decade, some tribe leaders obviously don't get along, so minimizing contact is for the better.
Luna entered into her decent sized house, a one story building that was built under one of the great weeping willows. Though the outside is plain and lackluster, the inside of the building was warm and cozy, with hand stitched bear fur carpet covering the floor and fairly modern (For the times) furnishing.
In the center of the room Luna just stepped into, a tall woman dressed in a plain black dress set plates onto the large table, her ginger hair was pulled up into a clean bun, a few strains of hair falling into her slightly wrinkled face. Two younger kids was already at the table, a ginger boy of 14 years and a dark-haired girl of 9. These people are part of Luna's main family, Her mother, Jroot, and her only younger siblings, Lordas and Orita.
Jroot glanced up at her daughter and smiled peacefully, "Enjoying your books out in the rain again dear? Mind telling your old mother what has caught your interest this time around?" She walked over to the stove and started transferring all the good gooooood food to the plates.
Luna smiled widely, pulling up a seat next to the head of the table, "Well Ma, the book I just recived from Yachic this morning has been my current fancy, it details the great battle against the Fell Dragon by the Hero-king in the lands of Archanea, I have recently gotten to the part where the great king lead his army to do battle against the forces of Grima. It truly is fascinating to read about the tactics his army fought with in such great detail!" She gushed, gesturing excitedly as she continued her break down of the history book, "I believe that in the time that I have read this wonderful piece of history that I have learned new ways to get around enemy defences even if they are skilled in magical assault! And one that does not include brute force!"
Lordas shared a look with Orita as they listened to their older sister's spiel, The ginger boy propped his elbow on the table and leaned his chin into the palm of his hand. "Well that sounds all fine and well Love, but I don't think going over historical battle texts will help you much in tactics, you never was the best at strategy and sticking your nose into books all day won't help if you get no real experience." Luna threw a glare over at the haughty boy, who met her pink gaze with his own half-lidded pale pink eyes, a smirk playing at the boy's lips.
"I'll have you know that reading battle texts have helped me plenty in learning the art of strategy!" Luna defended herself, "I'll show you that I've improved!" Lordas finally let a full smirk show on his face, his curly hair bouncing lightly when he tilted his head slightly. Orita sniggered into the oversized sleeves of her sweater dress next to Lordas, but like always, said nothing about what she was thinking. Luna glared at the girl anyways, face flushing in annoyance, "Are you doubting me too? I swear…"
Her brother shook is head as Luna focused on their youngest sibling, "Well I you're so sure that you got better, how about you play me in a game of chess?" The woman grimaced inwardly at the challenge he just issued, no matter how much she think she improved in the art of tactics, Lordas was an extraordinary tactician and gifted in the art of battle, more so than she could say. Although she was stronger physically than the teenager, he was more skilled in almost every other area. It was embarrassing, and a little flustrating, but it was reality, for now. Luna was determined to get better than Lordas at something that he wouldn't grow out of, since it was a given that once he hits 16 he will probably become equally as physically powerful as he is smart.
"Uh, well... " she stuttered, trying to find a way out of the inevitable defeat that awaited her if she accepted her brother's challenge.
"Lordas, stop bullying your sister so she can finish telling me about her studies." Jroot interrupted as she filled the table with platters of venison steak, boiled vegetables, fried fruit, and one other side dish. Luna wafted the smell of the delicious food, breathing in deeply as she completely forgot about her little sibling screwing around with her mind. If it is one thing this woman loved, it's the smell of food, the taste of food, and food in general. She could eat anyone under the bus with her high metabolism minimizing the chance of weight gain, and as long as her metabolism is kicking calorie ass she can stuff her mouth all she wants with Jroot's home cooking.
"Where is everyone else? I'm starving!" Her mom never lets anyone eat until everyone in their home is at the table, so that means they have to wait for 2 more people, Luna's older brothers. 'So they better get in here, I can't be kept waiting for long, most definitely not when food is sitting in front of my face.' she thought, crossing her arms under her cloak.
The thankfully didn't have to wait long before two men entered the room, they looked as different as night and day, despite the fact that they are twins. U'tori and Toriu are both 25 years old, 3 year older than Luna. U'tori is a tall dark haired man, body built from years of labor, and a wide grin on his handsome face. His hair was styled like a spiky bowl cut, which disturbed Luna for reasons she never found out, and he was a tad darker than everyone else in this Tribe. His brother was his opposite in almost every way, instead of tall and muscular, he was short and wiry, his hair was a soft pale orange and his face was sharp but soft. The only thing that was the same for the twins was that they have both have the Lunaelsca tribe's signature pink eyes.
Luna eyed her older brothers' wardrobes, which differed from what they typically wore. U'tori was dressed in an open (split up the middle) poncho, underneath that was a black tunic with a brown belt, and he wore his thick leather trousers that was touched into fur-lined reinforced boots. He also had his sword sheathed on his belt, so he is either going out soon or training. The same can be said for Toriu, he wore basically the same thing as U'tori, but without the sword belt and the pancho wasn't split, instead he wore is crystal necklace and had a barely visible tome stuffed under his cloak.
"Are you two going to be going out? You both look as if you are both going to go into battle or at least expect to be fighting something soon."
U'tori sat to Luna's right while Toriu took the seat across from him, the smaller twin promptly opened his tome and started reading, a frown plastered onto his softer face. U'tori leaned back on his chair and focused his attention to Luna, "Yeah," he started gruffly, "Me and Tori are heading over to the eastern lands to Tartaina tribe lands, we're going to be participating in the new tournament there to test our combat skills."
'Tournament?' Luna frowned thoughtfully while she started filling her plate with the various foods on the table, 'I didn't know that they was invited, but If I remember correctly they have a friend who is one of the more influential members of Tartaina.' "When did you two get invited? Are you prepared to face the other tribes in battle?" she asked, before popping a piece of steak in her mouth.
"Please, I was born ready for battle!" He boasted, before pounding his chest, "I can take on any of them! With Tori as my partner, there is no way we can be defeated!"
"Sounds like somebody is overconfident." She grumbled, but since the man was sitting next to her he heard every word, so she shouldn't have been surprised when he jabbed his elbow into her side.
"Ow! Watch it!" Luna glared at her grinning brother, 'He better be thankful that this food is too important for me to waste shoving it down his shirt.'
"Don't worry about us Luna." The other twin spoke up, surprisingly enough, he was the one with the ridiculously deep voice. Seriously! U'tori has the voice of a typical young man, but Toriu? He has a deep bass, which doesn't fit him at all. "We can take care of ourselves, so don't let us being away distract you from your studies."
The young scholar sighed, before throwing all her attention to the dinner.
OoOoOoO
"Checkmate."
"Dammit!" Luna sighed in defeat, staring at the chessboard with disdain. The teenager across from her smirked over at her, looking at her in amusement as she racked her brain trying to find out how she lost...for the 6th time in a row. The woman groaned and let her head fall and smack into the table, jousting the chess pieces harshly. Her ginger hair scattered across the table, hiding her face from her brother's rising form.
"As I said, reading all of those history texts does nothing for your tactics, you still fail at your class Luna." He stood next to the woman and looked down at her, the woman muttered something into the table before lifting her head up slightly to look at her little brother. The teen frowned down at her, before brushing some of the hair out of Luna's face, the 22 year old closed her eyes and huffed lightly. Lordas finally spoke what was on his mind, "You're not the type who can learn from only books Luna, somebody like you needs real experience to get better, real battle to learn from your mistakes. You need to get more active and start training more actively, you need first hand experience leading to grow."
When he saw that Luna didn't acknowledge that she heard his advice, he shook his head and leaned down to place a soft kiss on her cheek before leaving without another word. Nothing happened for a few seconds, then Luna sighed again and buried her face in her cloak, 'First hand experience huh? And just where am I going to require that in Utolio?' The scholar sighed and pushed off the table and onto her feet.
"Maybe I'll go visit Lurthic and Lana, it's not too late at night." Except the fact that the Rouosco tribe lands is miles away and would take 2 hours to get there by foot, and while the night is beautiful, it was far from safe. Her skills as a Tactician isn't the best in the tactic part, but she is good with a sword and magic, but even that won't get her through the two hour long walk, maybe more if she encountered enemies or interruptions. "I'll just have to go tomorrow then…"
The trip to her bedroom wasn't to long, she lived in farthest room to the west of the center of the tree. Half of her room was the thick protective back of the willow, the other a auburn colored stone that didn't clash with the greyish brown bark, it actually looked quite nice. Luna closed the door as she tossed her cloak onto the stand by the door, she slipped out of her sandals and set them in front of the same stand. The room was a decent size, with the normal furnishing in any middle class bed room.
'I'm not too sleepy, so maybe a good read shall do me good.' she thought, approaching the large bookcase full of tomes, books, novels, and such. She carefully pulled out a old scripture she had yet to finish decoding, and pulled out the historical battle book that had all the hints she needed to finish the process.
Luna sat down at the foot of her bed and scooted fully on it, she drew up her legs and crossed them. "Let's see now.." she mumbled, flipping open to the place holder in the old text.
She spent the rest of the night working on the scripture, at least until Jroot poked in to tell to go to sleep or, 'I'll find a way to send all of your studies into the underworld.'
~ Next Day 6:30 am ~
"Sword, Crystal necklace, New Elthunder tome to study, Vulenary, Basic survival supplies in inventory. Okay I'm ready."
Luna finished checking over her inventory while she stood at the door in the front room, making sure she didn't leave anything behind before she started the trek to the Rouosco tribe lands. Jroot walked into the room after the other woman was finished, holding a small box in her hands with a raised eyebrow.
"And you think you're going somewhere without eating breakfast?" Luna grimaced, before smiling sheepishly at her mother. Like her, Jroot was an early riser, always up and moving at around 6 in the morning everyday. Honestly the younger woman didn't expect to out beat her mom in that aspect, the woman has eyes on the back of her head and is usually awake at the earliest and asleep at the latest.
"I was hoping to just eat a ration bar while I was traveling ma, I'm not hungry right now."
She shook her head, "You won't be saying that in a while, after a few minutes of traveling you will be starving and wishing you had more than one ration bar. Now sit down and eat breakfast."
Luna sighed, "Yes Ma." She took the box she was handed and sat at the nearest chair. The ginger popped open a box and fixed her gaze in the relatively simple breakfast packed for her, two long sausages on top of a bed of scrambled eggs with thinly sliced celery on the sides and one slice of toast. "Looks good."
"I know you want to hurry to your friends, so eat fast but don't bite off more than you can chew. Here," She set a small cup of tea on the coffee table next to Luna's seat and left the room, probably to plan dinner for the rest of the family, the ones that were still here at least. U'tori and Toriu both set off yesterday for Tartaina, so she won't be seeing them for awhile. Her older sister, Monica, is off somewhere on the other side of the island doing who knows what, only her two little siblings are still home.
Luna took a long sip of her fairly hot tea, humming in appreciation of it's taste. "Earl Grey, yum~" It didn't take long for her to finish her breakfast, so she packed the box up and set it on the coffee table, she knew that Jroot would be back to get it as soon as she leaves, that woman has honed instinct.
"Okay, now I'm ready to-" A second box was promptly shoved in her face, "Lunch, right, thanks ma." Luna smiled over at the retreating woman and stuffed the box in her bag, and since she is fairly sure she has no other setbacks-
"Luna." Nevermind.
"Yes Lordas?" she peered at her younger brother quizzingly, using one of her free hands to brush some of the orange hair out of her face. The teenager stood at the doorway across from her, hair flipping off in every direction in a messy bedhead. He let go of the door frame and walked up to the older woman with long strides, stopping directly in front of her and looking up slightly. He didn't say anything for a moment, pink eyes staring intensely into Luna's own, before stepping forward to draw her into a powerfully hug.
"Urk!" 'Gods! He has gotten more stronger!' Luna didn't pull away though, she didn't have a chance to even try since the teenager let go only seconds later. Lordas frowned up at his sister through his bangs.
"Come back safe, okay? Don't stay out too long."
"Ah..Okay, thanks." The teenager left as quickly as he came, leaving the failure tactician confused at his behavior. She shook her head and hurried for the door, ready to get out of this house before even more interruptions reared their ugly head.
Luna looked up at the grey sky as she walked swiftly, it wasn't raining for once, but it could start up at any time. Hopefully nothing exciting happens on her trip, exciting means bad, dangerous even. 'There shouldn't be anything too strong on the main path, maybe boars, and occasional wolves,' Luna rested her hand on the hilt of her sword as she left her home perimeter, "But there also could be bears and rarely monsters, I need to be ready for anything."
Luna walked and walked, brushing back large vines, stepping or climbing over roots and branches, and sneaking past any creature that wasn't a common rabbit or small animal.
The woman climbed up on a large rock, before standing tall on its top face. The wind blew her hair across her face, to which she used her free hand to hold it out of the way. She peered at the scenery, the dark green vegetation covering almost all of her sight, the flowers and plants sprouting from rich soil of Weeping. Vines draped over all of the weeping branches from great heights, while the great breadth of the heads of the trees block the dark grey sky from view. The luminous light from the small crystals scattered everywhere gave the dark area a bright, mystical feel. Crystals were growing from trees, the ground, and some rose lowly from the ground, other jutted high into the sky, at least 20 ft high. Not as high as most of the supersized trees, but higher than other vegetation. This forest was truly a beautiful place.
Life was everywhere, insects flying about in the moist air, bird cries singing from the treetops as animals scampered to and fro on the well worn path created to guide travelers, not to far along the path was a moss covered sign telling the current distance and directions to the nearest settlements.
Not that Luna needed the help, she knew this forest like the back of her hand, she could never get lost in it thick area she has been traveling and studying her entire life. She had left Lunaelsca lands 10 minutes ago, and it shouldn't be too long before she entered Rouosco lands, once she get there it will be a high chance of one of the Rouosco people coming to 'meet her at the gate' so to say. Those people are secretive and like monitoring everything in the lands, their knowledge of these land may even surpass her knowledge of her own lands.
But she won't be getting any closer if she doesn't stop standing on this boulder and get a move on.
Luna jumped off of the boulder, land softly on the wet ground, also disturbing a group of insects drinking nectar from a patch of centranthus ruber flowers in bloom. She brushed her hair back and started back on her trek, thankfully not dealing with any- scratch that, the boar that just came crashing through the bushes look particularly menacing. The thing with boars in Weeping, is that they are the most aggressive boars in all of Utolio, they attack just about anything and possess a pair of wicked tusks, no to mention that they are practically twice the size of normal boars.
They also taste amazing, a bit tough but very filling.
Luna drew her sword and held it at point to the boar, before summoning a ball of lightning in her hand the instant it started charging and blasting the giant boar right in the face. The boar slowed down from the hit and Luna stepped to the side to avoid its charge while landing a slash along it's side as it passed her by. Her iron sword didn't break through it's thick hide, only leaving a shallow slash on it's skin, this didn't deter the woman too much, she has fought this type of boar a few times and know she will have to rack up damage to beat it. Now if she had a lance to pierce its hide she could take it down much faster but two issues with that. One, she has no lance, Two, she doesn't know how to use a lance efficiently.
The boar reared around and tried to gore her with it's tusks, Luna danced away from it's attack and cast another Thunder on the beast, followed by a Fire once it managed to break through her first spell. The tactician dodge out of the way once more, using her own speed combined with her knowledge of how the creature fought to minimize damage to her person and give her maximum opportunity to rack up her own.
Luna grimaced as she slid out of the way again, letting the monstrous animal crash into the boulder she was standing on a minute or so ago. 'I'm starting to backtrack, dammit.' She cast another Thunder, the crystal necklace tied to her left hand glowing brightly with each spell she cast. Normally boars wouldn't be too much of a problem by themselves, but this one was definitely stronger than the average Great Boar. But these random stronger types aren't unheard of, like the people who live within the crystal, all living beings in the crystal radius grow stronger physically and mentally, and there is always a chance of something being born with extraordinary power. So yeah, monsters and animals can be born extra powerful thanks to the crystals. Utolians like to call these monsters 'Rare'.
The woman dodge rolled to the side of other charge, but this time she slashed at the Rare Great Boar's legs, managing to get a clean slice on it's front leg. The resulting cry and feeling the massive form crash into the ground let Luna know that he split second decision to take out it's legs was a great one! See world? Her tactics wasn't THAT bad!
Luna grinned and turned to look at the struggling beast, since now was a perfect opportunity, the woman dashed at the boar and started attacking it while it was down with precise sword strikes. One final stab (It took a lot of power to get through that skull AND skin) through the head, and the beast was down for good.
"That wasn't too bad," the woman said through heavy breaths, "Now I'll just have to see what scavengable and what I can afford to take."
She came out of her victory with 2 Great Boar Tusks, Plenty of boar meat, and after a good 20 minutes, a nice boar hide to sell. For now she will leave the rest of the boar carcass here for other animals to scavenge, it would probably be completely gone once she comes back through. The only negative for this situation is that… the smell of the boar's blood is now clinging to her clothes, she will definitely attract attention from all the other predators since she smells like an injured animal.
Luna's internal clock ticked on, "Curses! I'm behind schedule, I'll have to move double my normal pace if I want to get their before 8:00." She didn't bring up the fact that she wasn't on a set time limit, but if you don't set goals for yourself, how would you improve?
It was only 10 minutes after she started jogging to make up for the time lost fighting, she had a small scuffle with a two other boars, normal ones (For weeping anyways) this time so it didn't take nearly as long as the Rare Great Boar. The increased amount of boar blood and the small time spent scavenging from them cause more attention from the stronger predators, since the weaker ones now acknowledged her smell as a stronger predator and won't attack her unless they are particularly gutsy. And curse that woman's scholar blood, every time she came across something interesting like rare flowers or rare insects or animals, she just HAS to stop and do a quick study on them, get a sample or two for further examination later. This consumed more time than she wanted it to, her tendency to stop and examine anything that caught her eye is exactly why she gave herself so much time.
On a straight path with no stops, the trip takes an hour and a half to cross, for groups it takes 2 hours, and for little scholars? Usually three, plenty of time to examine everything and anything. Over the past month Luna has decided to try to be more time wary, it's been working...a little.
Luna slows to a stop just before the clearing that is the border of Rouosco lands, why? Because a black eagle just swooped past her head, a black eagle of all things! "I've never seen anything like that before," She mumbled to herself, looking curiously in the direction the odd black eagle flew in, "What in the worlds could that have been." Luna scowled suddenly, shaking her head violently,
'No! No you can't do this Luna! Stop getting sidetracked!' The responsible half of her mind yelled!
'But it's a creature I have never seen before! I must hunt it down to collect samples, to see how that creature can exist! To see how it lives in this forest!' The scholar half pleaded.
'No! We have to get a grip! We can't waste time studying the unknown!'
'But it's the unknown! It must be studies, it has to be a wealth of unheard knowledge hidden! Knowledge! SCIENCE!'
'That may be true but… you can't give in to temptation, even if it is to do what you was born to do, to study the entrancing, mysterious, unknown…' The responsible half silenced, starting to sound unsure in its argument…
"Oh who am I kidding? I must collect data on that creature!" The woman finally yelled out, rushing into the unpathed forest to follow the eagle, pink eyes shining like a beacon in her excitement to discover new things. Leaving behind her goal of getting to Rouosco on time.
Luna hurried deeper into the forest which, truthfully, she has never been this area of the forest, she has always sticked to the path when near the border to avoid causing any trouble by crossing over without permission. It wasn't too hard to follow the bird's trail, other than all the experience Luna has tracking stuff down, the bird was visible flying through some of the trees...which should be impossible since most of the tree tops was dark with dim glows from the few high crystals, but despite that whenever the bird went into a crystal's radius it glew with a startlingly powerful light, making it like a beacon in the air.
And as a result, Luna wanted to immediately figure out what makes it glow, how, and if it's any use. She followed it deeper and deeper into the glowing forest, weaving around, under, and over tree roots, boulders and the like. Surprisingly enough, life as they run deeper seems to have become more scarce, no encounters with any creatures of hostile intent, no smaller animals scurrying around, just the luminous glowing forest in all of its silent beauty.
'This...isn't normal, the life in this forest has always been sturdy and beaming, if there is nothing here, there has to be a reason why? But what?' she pondered, leaping over a fallen branch. As she ran, she could just feel the magical energy in the area. It was intense, the crystal's glows was blinding, the power they always radiate flowing threw her made her feel energetic, stronger, like she was near one of the Great crystals. 'Is a great crystal in this area? It certainly feels as such, but it seems...different than I usually experience.'
She glanced up in time to catch the currently glowing bird swooped down and through the underbrush, muffling the bright shining coming from it's body. Luna slowed to a stop in front of the thick bushed, frowning and placing her left hand on her chest, 'I feel...odd.' She looked down and saw her crystal necklace glowing just as brightly as the bird was before it disappeared. Pink eyes widen when she finally realized that SHE was glowing as well! Just less than her crystal. 'What sort of reaction is this...well, I must continue onwards if I'm ever to find out, no turning back now.' The ginger steeled herself mentally, took a deep breath, and pushed herself carefully through the thick bushes.
Luna stared at the thin, spiralling blue crystal bursting out of the earth, catching her attention as soon as she emerged from the bushes, it was glowing brighter than every crystal in the area, while spinning up to height far out reaching the other towering crystals...but yet, 'It's still smaller than all of the other great crystals i've seen, it's also thinner than the others, something is not right here.' Luna took careful steps towards the crystal, hearing the soft, moist grass crunch lightly under her footsteps. The clearing was large, with the 'Great Crystal' sitting in the middle, all around the edges aside from where she entered was perfectly placed blue crystals, and from them was tinier crystals trailing to the great one, and in other directions cycling the center. It was almost like a summoning circle of some sort, like the ones Luna sometimes saw in her tomes.
As soon as she got halfway to the center, the black (but still brightly glowing) eagle flew down in front of her, locking it's glowing white eyes to Luna's glowing pink ones. The glow encasing the woman had done nothing but increase as she moved closer, her energy thriving off of the incredible power in this area.
"You.." she started, but before she can finish saying whatever she was going to, the bird erupted in a purely blinding light, making covering her eyes a much high priority. A sudden wind rises in the area, tossing every loose part of Luna's outfit to and fro, finally the light died down and Luna got a strong feeling that if she lowered her arms, she would not like what she is going to see.
Reluctantly, she lowered her arm to see what was making her fe- "Oh my…"
Luna gaped at the very much here, very much large, and extremely deadly looking dragon staring down at her, it's very body taking up half of the clearing. It was massive, with slick black scales with glowing blue crystals lining it's side. It's wings consisted of three black frames with glowing blue crystal blades as the body of the wings, three on either side of its body. It's back was lined with crystal spikes trailing all the wad down to its spike ball like tail. And the horns adorning it's head was large and curved outward, made of the same crystal as the rest of her body. It lowered its long neck near the ground, leveling its giant head with the frozen human, it stared at the glowing woman emotionlessly, cold blue eyes staring straight through her.
The tactician gulped, 'I've never…' she raked her memory for anything detailing what in the realms this… Beautiful beast could be… 'A Crystal Beast maybe? But there is nothing detailing them in Utolio's history, does any of the tribes know of this?' A powerful blast of wind immediately knocked the woman to the ground, snapping her attention back to the dragon whose… snout was literally inches away from her… "Gah!" she scrambled back and got to her feet, grimacing as the dragon slowly rose it's head again.
"Qui autem scrutatur qui novit. Unus qui natus es de the crystallo. The Crystal est iudice, exitium vel faucitas."
Luna shivered as the deep, rebounding voice echoed in her mind, confusion covering her entire expression. "What?...I do not understand." She moved to step back, but found that she couldn't, it felt like something was keeping her feet glued down to the ground. The pure power of this Dragon was weighing the woman down, twisting her insides in a oddly painful way. The dragon was still staring into her soul, unmoving, unnervingly so for something so massive.
"Qui autem scrutatur qui novit. Unus qui natus es de the crystallo. The Crystal is the judge, Destruction and Prosperity. Thy fate lies on thee Crystal of Substantialitas."
''The Crystal is the judge…? Does it mean the great crystal!?' As soon as that thought passed through her mind, the Crystal dragon roared, shaking the very island with it's intensity and deafening her with it's volume. Like it was planned, all the crystal's of the shined with a bright light, Luna as well shined, and in that blinding light a rift opened, and down Luna fell disappearing into the depths of Utolio's Weeping Forest.
~ Deep in the core of Weeping, 8:10 am ~
A muffled pained groan came from the prone form lying face first on the cold hard ground, the scholar slowly placed on hand flat under her chest, then the other. With more trouble than she thought possible, she pushed herself up to her knees and struggled onto her feet. She stumbled forward a step, gloved hand holding her head, 'What in the world happened?'
She opened her eyes to the sight of a large stone cavern, small puddles of water on the ground from the constant dripping on the roof of the giant cave. The cave was brightly illuminated, light reflecting off the stone faces and the various crystals lining the entire cave.
Luna stepped back from the admittedly beautiful cavern, before feeling a pulse of power from behind her. The woman whirled around and stared ahead in shock, before looking up, and up, and up, and up until she was greeted with the sight of the tip of the largest Great Crystal she had ever laid eyes upon, it reached and spiraled all the way up to the ceiling, which she quickly estimated to be at least 2 miles high, its width spanning the entire section of the cavern it rested in.
"By the Gods…" she looked on at the electric blue Great crystal in awe, feeling the massive energy it released flowing into her still glowing body. 'That's right I am glowing,' she looked down at her hands, at the blinding light still coming from the necklace tied on her left hand, 'It this because of the power of the crystals in my body? Beings don't glow unless they are blessed heavily by a great crystal and are in it's vicinity. But maybe this crystal is so powerful that anything with the Crystal's kiss (Pretty much everything in Utolio is touched by the crystals various powers.) glows, no matter the amount? That's certainly a possibility.'
Luna observed the Great crystal again and began noting differences in it than other Great crystals, 'All of the Great Crystals, actually every crystal in Utolio, are a clear color. But this one is such a vibrant blue, the only other Great Crystal of color is the Great Crystal of Connection, which is bright red. No other crystal has been found of color, except now.' Luna started walking closer, 'If this is a Crystal with power like the Great Crystal of Connection, than it must beyond special! Just what sort of secrets could it be hiding? What is it's connection to that amazingly powerful Beast on the surface? How does it affect the beings around it, what kind of powers can it possess!?' A large, slightly crazed grin stretched across her face, "MARVELOUS!"
The Scholar reached one of her hands out to touch the Great Crystal, and studies the way visible energy seemed to spark from her hand to the surface of the Crystal and back. "Simply marvelous." Inwardly the woman squealed in happiness, this was like a dream come true! A real discovery! As soon as her hand and the crystal made contact, her entire body started and her widened pink eyes glew a startlingly bright blue.
Words began to echo in Luna's head, words that made no sense to her mind, yet she understood all the same. The power from the gem coated her very soul, reaching and touching every part of her entire being, after a few intense moments, the power detatched from the crystal and flowed into her, before the glowing of her body finally began to subside and a feeling of both peace and incredible strength settled over her. That too subside until the woman felt completely normal, she checked herself, "No glowing, just what happened?"
"The Crystal of Substantiality has blessed you. You have passed it's test and it has granted great power upon you, but to what that power may be, you will not have true access to."
Luna whipped around to see a tall man standing behind her, staring at her with familiar soul piercing blue eyes. The man stood at at least 6'04', his hair was pulled back into a low ponytail, blue streaks lining his silky black hair. His skin was olive, face sharp and angular with a straight nose, evenly spaced sharp eyes, and thin eyebrows and lips. He wore a sleeveless black v-neck robe with silver belts crisscrossing along it's sides, his robe stopped just above his knees and was trimmed with electric blue markings. Visible under that was a skin tight black turtleneck, also sleeveless and he wore black pants that was tucked into fancy looking black boots. He had elbow high fingerless gloves on, and she could see that he also had...claws? And his ears where pointed and long, two silver earrings in each ear. Overall he looked nothing like anyone she has ever seen before, and it looked like all of the blue on his body was glowing, dimly but still glowing.
"Who are you?" 'Yes who are you, you very mysterious good looking man of questionable origins.'
The man tilted his he forward slightly in a nod, "I am Dragus. Guardian to the Great Crystal. By the Crystal's will, I shall answer any questions you may possess about your enhancement but first." The man took long strides towards the shorter woman, who tilted her head while watching him in curiously. Normally Luna would be much more cautious with people she didn't know and was a powerful as the man in front of her felt to be, but something in her was telling her that he wasn't a threat to her being.
He stopped at arms length from her, holding out his clawed hand palm up. Blue energy gathered in his hand, condensing into a small blue ball before forming slowly into a odd shape. Luna watched in amazement, drawing her face closer to the solidifying energy to study it closer. "Fascinating."
The man humphed lightly, "Indeed. Take this." Luna lifted her hand to take the… watch? Yes some sort of a watch, that floated into her hand. Luna inspected the object, it had a simple leather wristband, but what was connected to it was what interested her. It was some sort of box, a dark blue with a black screen that took up most of the object.
"What is this? Some sort of watch?"
Dragus stepped closer and took it carefully out her hands, "It's a DMW, Digital Mind Wave. It will help you monitor and take advantage of your new abilities." He unlatched the back of the wrist strap and wrapped it around her left hand, over her glove. Luna tilted her head as the man tapped on the screen a few times with his finger, a glow lighting up each time her made any contact with it. The screen lit up in a clear, bright light, before words that she didn't understand and tinier screens flew on the larger. "It needs to sync up with the Crystal's power inside you, that will take a moment. After that I will give you a short tutorial on how to use this, it won't be too helpful in the beginning, but it's worth will shine through very fast."
Luna nodded, "So this...DMW, how does it function? Is it run entirely on the Crystal's power? How will it effect me and my…'powers'?" Dragus tapped the screen a few more times, before moving to stand behind the Scholar and holding up the screen facing them. He pointed to the screen, where 6 rectangular boxes sat.
"Tap the button that says :Status:."
"Okay." Luna pressed her gloved finger against the box, before the entire screen shifts into a character page (Not that she knew what that was.). Luna's portrait was in the upper corner of the screen, with her name and numbers all over it.
Status
Name: Luna of the Lunaelsca Tribe
Class: Tactician Lv: 2 EXP: 25
HP: 32/32
Atk: 24
Hit: 93
Crit: 10
Avo: 13
Stats:
Str: 9
Mag: 13
Skill: 10
Spd: 12
Lck: 4
Def: 9
Res: 8
Points to spend: 5
Gold: 2000
"How...curious. Is this showing my actual abilities and experience in physical numbers?" 'That's simply amazing!' Luna scrolled through the various options presented to her, her convoy, her skills, her connections and relationships, it has everything she ever needed to know about herself and more! "Tell me, can I truly change myself using these...points'?"
"Yes. Everything on this device is connected directly to you, if you wish to use this to control your growth, then you may do so. Many things are available, many paths to take, what you take will decide the ultimate outcome." The man held out his hand, with Luna didn't hesitate to take, and he lead her over to a super mini version of the summoning circle she saw on the clearing. Luna looked up at the Man and raised an eyebrow. Said man nodded at her silent question, "Yes, I am the Dragon you saw in the clearing, I am also the Black Eagle that guided you to the Great Crystal. This circle will take you back to the surface."
The woman sighed and placed her hand on her chest, shaking her head, "So much in so little time. I just don't know what to think, honestly, I'm probably going to break down in a hour or so, once I finish processing everything that just happened to me." The man just grunted, activating the circle and blinding Luna with light and that now familiar sense of weightlessness.
~ At the borders of Rouosco lands, 8:47 am ~
Luna appeared at the border gates with a bright flash, startling the guards at their posts with her sudden appearance. As soon as the stars cleared from her eyes, Luna fell to her knees and let all of her breakfast out on the ground. One of the men approached her, he was wearing a black robe with the Rouosco symbol, and kneeled down to rub her back.
"Luna, are you okay?" The woman coughed, raising her hand to grip the man's strong arm. The man pulled a bottle of water out of his pack, which Luna gratefully accepted. "Was you testing a new spell again?"
Luna grimaced and stood to her feet, leaning heavily on the man, "You can say that, definitely need to get used to that feeling." She let go and turned to face him, a thankfully smile on her pale face. "Thanks for the water Luxure."
The man, Luxure, gave a small smile back, "Of course, though," He rubbed his head and turned to walk back to his post, where the other guards watched the interaction with varying degrees of interest. All of the guard where doned in robes with the hoods up, armor settled comfortably over the thick brown cloth. The symbol of Rouosco was worn proudly on their attire, like most tribes, the Rouosco always have to have their symbol somewhere, as a show of pride more than anything.
Luna scrunched up her nose at the smell of the vomit, and quickly went to follow the Rouosco through the gates before the rest of her stomach decided to come up. She fell into step at his side, allowing him to escort her through the outskirts of the lands as they conversed quietly. The border she crossed was a decent distance away from the village that Lurthic and Lana lived in, she will probably only be taken to the nearest camp before she was on her own.
The Rouosco half of Weeping was slightly different, though the amazingly thick towering trees was still present, the air and color of these lands are more grey than Lunaelsca lands. The dark cloudy skies was barely visible through the treetops, shadows was cast onto everything in the forest, drowning out almost all natural light. The days in these lands was more like constant night, while Lunaelsca never has clear sunny skies, they still have plenty of natural light from the sky, but not in this land. Like in her lands, these also have glowing crystals everywhere, of varying sizes and brightness. These crystals provide the only light sources throughout the land, most people might find it jarring to be in such a dark place, but for the people of Rouosco, the dark lands was a safe haven.
"So what are you visiting these parts for Luna?"
"I wanted to come spend some time with Lurthic and Lana, I haven't seen either of them much lately and I can use a break."
Luxure studied Luna closely, narrowing his golden eyes at her in confusion. He knew it was Luna, her energy is still hers, but something was off with it, something new. The Dark mage was interested in what this new development could mean. But he won't have a chance to ask her now, because the familiar energies gathering in the lands ahead was a sign that they was nearing a camp, and he would have to go back to border patrol.
Luxure stopped at the entrance of the camp, looking on at the small dark wood cabins settled in a circle around a campfire, it wasn't a small camp, it was able to fit at least 20 people, not that that many lived here. Her turned to the Scholar and nodded to her, "This is my stop, stay safe."
Luna replied as he turned to head back the way they came, "The same to you!" she shouted, waving her hand at the disappearing figure. Luna let her hand fall at her side with a sigh, rubbing her sides lightly. 'That fall from early has done some damage it seems,' she thought as she walked through the camp, waving at any of the Rouoscos she recognized, 'My back is sore and my right side hurts, not as much as I originally expected...actually.' The scholar frowned, scrunching up her eyebrows as she pondered on that particular fact, 'Why am I not more injured from such a fall? From a height like that I should by all means be dead.'
-Doot! Doot! Doot!-
"Eee!" The tactician almost jumped out of her skin, whirling around to find out where the startlingly loud beeping just came from. Luna looked down at her DMW and saw the screen flashing, then sweatdropped, 'Ah, I forgot about this device, I didn't know it could do that.' Luna looked around, giving sheepish looks to the people who was watching her. She hurried out of the camp, and pulled up the DMW when she was fairly sure nobody was watching her.
Quest Update!
Quest: Meet up with your friends!
Objective:
Get to the Rouosco mainlands and meet up with your old pals!
Bonus Objectives:
Get there before 08:00:00 (Faliure)
?
?
Completion Reward: 200 exp
Completion Failure: 20 exp
"Oh my, this can show me more objectives as well?" Luna mumbled, frowning at the big fat failure on the bonus objective. 'That's right, I was supposed to get there at 8:00 am, but...it's 9:02 am now. Come on Luna, can't you finish any of your goals?' she betrayed herself, disappointed that she screwed up again with her own goals.
Don't be too hard on yourself.
"Eh?" Luna read the words appearing on the screen in suprise, 'I guess I shouldn't be surprised anymore, but this can actually respond to me, what other devices can do that?' she refocused her attention to the DMW as more words appeared.
A gift has arrived!
Received:
Crystal Earpiece x1
Gift has been transferred into the Convoy.
'A gift? From who?' "Don't know until you find out." she brought up the convoy and looked for the gift in the items section. "It's not here… What was it called again? Crystal Earpiece? Maybe it's under Crystal's instead of items." A few more taps and there it was, sitting innocently under the 'Crystals' section.
"How does this work…" she pondered, leaning against the bark of a tree she walked to during the search, she tapped on the item.
Put Crystal Earpiece into this Unit's inventory?
Yes/No
Luna tapped yes and blinked in surprise when the Earpiece materialised directly in front of her in a blue flash. The scholar reach out and held the crystal, examining it closely, it was a shape that helped it fit into a ear, a black object with blue cushioning, and blue crystal imbedded on the back. "Pretty." 'I suppose I need to put this in my ear now.' Ignoring the mental, 'no duh.' from the left half of her brain, Luna brushed her hair behind her ears and pushed the item in, wiggling it until it fit snuggly in her ears.
"So you finally put it on." Luna yelped again when that familiar deep voice spoke into her mind, sounding fairly amused at the situation.
"Dragus?" Luna rubbed her head, feeling a headache coming on after all the surprises that just keep happening today. 'One hell of a day I'll say…"
"You don't need to speak aloud from me to hear, just think what you want to say. This also applies for the DMW, because it is synced directly to you mind and body, you can control it entirely with your mind."
"Soooo… I could have just thought about the Crystal Earpiece and it would've taken me straight to it?" 'If so then I wasted a lot of time with tapping the screen.'
"Yes precisely. I'll monitor your progress and alert you when I have information. Now listen, I want you to go to your status and apply your stat points, and give me a moment to unlock the Tactician's eye skill for you."
New skill learned!
Tactician's eye (Lv: 1)
This unit can see the lv, equipment, status, and various other information on all of their targets. The can also see danger zones, hidden items, and potential allies.
Status
Name: Luna of the Lunaelsca Tribe
Class: Tactician Lv: 2 EXP: 25
HP: 28/32
Atk: 24
Hit: 93
Crit: 10
Avo: 13
Stats:
Str: 9
Mag: 13
Skill: 10
Spd: 12
Lck: 4
Def: 9
Res: 8
Points to spend: 5
Gold: 2000
'Okay...so I have 5 points to use…." Luna studied the screen, 'What sort of stats would benefit me? Well I am a Tactician, I use magic and swords above all. But my power lies in magic. So I'll put a point in that. I'll put one in strength, to make my swordsmanship stronger. Speed is another strong point of mine, so a point there. Resistance is a must, and I can use more luck in my life.
Status
Name: Luna of the Lunaelsca Tribe
Class: Tactician Lv: 2 EXP: 25
HP: 28/32
Atk: 25
Hit: 93
Crit: 10
Avo: 14
Stats:
Str: 10
Mag: 14
Skill: 10
Spd: 13
Lck: 5
Def: 9
Res: 9
Points to spend: 0
Gold: 2000
Accept?
'Yes.' The crystal parts of the DMW glowed momentarily, before the now familiar power of the Great Crystal flowed and the changes was made. Luna hummed at the feeling, it wasn't a really big change, but the power felt great just by itself.
"Time to move on, you're wasting time now."
"Okay fine, don't be pushy." the scholar rolled her eyes and started on the marked path towards the mainlands. It was 10 minutes into her walk when she was rushed by a boar charging from the underbrush. Luna dived into a roll to avoid the attack, rolling up to her feet and drawing her sword in a practiced movement.
Weeping Boar Lv 2
Hp: 20/20
Description: A wild boar born in the forest of Weeping, these boars are bigger, stronger and more viscous than any other.
Luna paused for a moment at the sudden information that popped into her mind, it's all info she knew but the numerical values are a new thing. Luna side stepped the boar and cast Fire at it's back, while watching the Hp bar curiously to see how much damage her spell did.
As soon as the fire blasted into the boar's back, it gave off a death screech and burst into blue light, leaving behind glowing energy that quickly flowed into Luna's body.
Gained 32 EXP!
Loot:
Boar Tusk (Uncommon): The tusk from a Boar. Can be used as a crafting material.
"Your Fire dealt 20 Damage on the board, in case you are still wondering."
'Thanks...I've never been able to kill with one hit before, I guess this power has affected more than I originally thought.' Luna held her hand to her chin and started walking again, letting her sword hand rest at her side with the blade still drawn. 'I wonder if there is a way I can take advantage of this. I see plenty of paths but which to take…'
And so she walked, killing the occasional boar or rare wolf if they come across her path, and to study anything that catches her scholarly interest for a few minutes. As a result, she ended up wasting way more time than she should of lollygagging around...typical.
~ Chapter End ~
This chapter was supposed to be short, I don't know what happened.
Anyways I hope you enjoyed this read, and be sure to review!
I might accept Ocs, but you'll have to ask me through Pm cause I use Stat sheets for my Fire Emblem characters.
Later Loves!