Fire Emblem: The Lost Heir
by NinesTempest
The boy looks up in to the sky. His long, blue hair blends with the dark night sky, stars littering it up as one would expect. The only light is from the moon, full and high in the sky, and it paints the whole landscape a few shades more black than it would be in the day time. He loves this kind of view. Upon a hill he is, looking out over a valley and a small village, all dark with the night and empty, lifeless. He liked the sight, as it seemed to give a natural peace to the land.
His name is Rai, and he is 17-year-old Royalty on the run. With a stern hatred for his late father whose death was covered up, he left his castle and departs to the countryside, dispatching bandits and the like. Because he never appeared in the public eye, he is not known for being the prince, but that's bound to change. With disputes going between the neighboring country, it's only a matter of time before he's called to take the place of his late father, since advisors can't keep claiming to be going under the king's orders.
He wears a light blue cloak with black pants with brown boots built for comfort and dexterity, and keeps his long sword sheathed under a sash around his waist. It was a sword he bought with a lot of money, and he had requested it be made with amazing durability so he could keep it without having to spend money on other weapons. And indeed, for the past 4 months, he has not needed to get another sword, whereas his two friends have had to get a few replacements.
When he left his father's domain, two friends went with him, both children of lords of nearby lands. One was a female archer named Fiil, who has been friends with Rai since childhood. Her bright orange hair and piercing eyes of the same color give her an air of authority, as does her wonderfully slim figure. Her personality doesn't fit her body though, as she hates attention and often panics under stress. She is definitely more suited to a cheerleader and follower of orders, but she is an amazing archer, challenged only by snipers and marksmen of the country's main army. She keeps a green shirt with white pants, and leather armor on her left arm, and sandals that are strapped tightly to her foot to cause little sound. She likes to use steel bows, as she can put more pounds behind her arrow than most women her age of 19.
His other companion is a Shaman, and a know it all. Regnet has black hair, glasses, and always wears a maroon cloak, shoes of a similar color, along with his trusty flux dark magic book. He is shy and tries not to talk too much around people he doesn't know, but he will spout whatever knowledge he has whenever he can. He had woken up Rai earlier that morning to tell him about a certain constellation. For the sake of it. He was a counselor to Rai in the castle, but eventually earned hatred from the king, and left with him, and being the same age as him, he can be somewhat reckless, like Rai.
Rai decides it's too late to stay up and just be looking at the night sky. "I'm turning in." Says Rai. His friend Regnet is sitting looking through one of his books.
"To what?" He asks nonchalantly.
"Dunno, but I need sleep." He gets his blanket and decides to just sleep on it, over the cool grass.
--
He wakes up the next morning feeling like he overslept. He starts rummaging through his stuff and he hears someone behind him.
"It's sorta late Rai." Says Fiil.
"Yeah, I know. The sun kind of blinded me as I woke." He says.
"Haha, you're funny sometimes."
"Now now Rai…" Says Regnet. "Do you even know what you're going to do today?"
"First, we go to the bar and find someone to help us. I get really tired after a big fight, and it's almost shameful how easily we beat out bandits who have an entire fort on their side." He says as if planned out before hand. "Second, we hang out around town all day, find suspicious felons. Third, sleep in a real inn, and possibly buy some new clothes. This outfit is getting on my nerves."
"Rai, it has only been a week." Says Regnet. "I think our money-"
"We have plenty of money. Let's just go already." Says Rai, blowing Regnet off. He starts walking, his sword sheathed, held to his side by his sash. The other two exchange concerned glances, and continue after him.
--
The town is bustling with activity. On the side of a mountain, and with a mercenary base near them, they often have little to fear. The little no-name location has a bar, a great open-air market- which happens to sell various kinds of clothes- a fantastic inn that Rai visits a lot, a restaurant with great local game, and other qualities cities nearer to the capitol have. All the buildings are wood, and houses are smaller, on the other side of the town. These are all thanks to the fact that the mercenary base is on a steady pay check, and fights away bandits, and still gets regular work done. There is a swordsman and an axe fighter at the entrance, as guards, who recognize Rai and company on sight. They all wave to each other.
They first head to the inn, being only feet away from the town entrance, which happens to be an opening in the fence around the town. Walking, they're well met with hellos from all the townsfolk and the inn keeper, who hands them the key to the room they commonly use. It's kept open all the time for them, but the inn hardly gets a lot of business anyway.
Almost noon, and without a breakfast, Rai is quite hungry. They head to the bar/tavern for a quick snack.
"Yo, Marty." Calls out Rai. "Gimme something to drink, I'm starving."
A man behind the counter laughs, the bar tender, and motions for Rai to sit down, and does so. "Ahahaha, mah boi, that's the kind of logic all true warriors strive for."
"Um, Rai, I think we'll just go grab lunch." Says Fiil. "See you at the inn tonight, don't spend all your damn 1000 gold."
"Yeah yeah, whatever." He says, waving them away as they leave. "Okay, whiskey, now."
"You're kidding? You've never asked for that before." Says Marty.
"Yeah, well, I'm bored as fuck. Not ONE bandit has been giving me any trouble lately, even beat some hot-shot myrmidon back near the capitol. 'Twas easy as pie."
Marty pours his glass, his hardy laugh making him spill a little, and Rai grabs it up. He's about to take a drink, when someone barges in the bar doors. He puts it down in amazement and looks at the man who entered. Hot damn…
The man had the palest skin he'd ever seen, and magical, blonde hair. He was wearing a white robe, majestic in look and color, white with golden seams. His eyes were piercing white, and he looked at everyone in the room, until his eyes lay upon Rai. He looked back at him with a smirk, and brought a hand to his sword. The man walks in further, and everyone gasps. The man has large, white, bird wings, almost 3 times longer than his arm. He walks up to Raizu, motioning to stop with his hands. "Ah, my dear Rai, good thing I could meet you here. I'm sorry, but I had a cookie for you, but I had eaten it."
"What… are you?"
"Well, A heron of course." He bows his head. He looks around at all the people staring at him. "God damnit, stop looking at me!" He screams. "I'm sorry if you haven't seen a laguz in centuries, but god damnit we still exist!"
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