Foreword

This chapter is simply an extended author's note, as I don't intend to include a separate author's note with each chapter.

This story is the second segment of my retelling of Fire Emblem: Awakening. The first segment represents the first arc of the game's story, and has already been published under the title, "Fire Emblem Awakening – Reign of the Mad King." Reign of Mad King remains reasonably faithful to the original story, with only minor deviations, mostly centered on dialogue and character personalities in the later chapters. If you are already familiar with the story of Fire Emblem: Awakening, reading Reign of the Mad King is not necessary toward being able to enjoy this story.

However, the third story / arc will be a little bit different. The changes I've made are minor, but the gradually accumulate to create new characterizations. That, in turn, will dictate different decision-making from the characters. Though the story with, in general, remain true to the game's original plot, there will be sufficient deviations by the end of this segment that I would highly recommend reading the second arc, at least, before the third.

As this is a retelling, it will spoil all of the major plot points for Fire Emblem: Awakening, despite the changes I've made.

I do not own Fire Emblem. Fire Emblem, its characters and setting, and any official artwork I've used belong to Intelligent Systems. I do not own Intelligent Systems. This story is rated T for violence, alcohol use, and minor sexual themes (nothing significantly more than what was in the game already). The genre is listed as Adventure / Family, but will encompass many other themes: Fantasy, Romance, Angst, and Friendship.

Trigger warning: There will be themes of suicide and self-sacrifice, and/or references to past events relating to such themes.

At this point, you are welcome to skip ahead to the prologue and begin reading. Past this point of the foreword, I will assume you have played Fire Emblem: Awakening already, or are otherwise familiar with the story, and that you have already read Reign of the Mad King.

First of all, thank you all for your feedback so far. I'm glad that it's been mostly positive, and that you've all been reasonably accepting of my deviations from the original dialogue and story, especially since there are still many changes on the way. As I mentioned earlier, the farther I get into this story, the more the dialogue begins to resemble an original work altogether.

Some reviewers asked about whether I will continue writing the rest of the story. I'm afraid I didn't quite make that clear in my first foreword – all three arcs of the main story have already been written. This is the second arc, of course, focusing on Valm and Emperor Walhart. The third arc focuses on Grima the fell dragon. Since both of them are already complete, I'm simply editing the chapters as I post them, and once I finish posting Rise of the Conqueror, I will move on to the third story.

I'm sorry if the epilogue of Reign of the Mad King wasn't exactly the Robin x Cordelia hurt/comfort scene that it seems some people were expecting. It's a slightly different interpretation of my own, derived from my belief that Cordelia is certainly clever enough to differentiate infatuation/idolization from genuine love, even if it takes her some time. There's a few reasons I chose to pair Robin with Cordelia for this story, one of them being that I love the dynamic that the sisterly relationship between her and Sumia. But I didn't want the story to get bogged down in relationship drama with a love triangle between Chrom, Robin, and Cordelia. They've got enough problems already, I feel. On that note, I feel this interpretation still remains reasonably true to the original work, since the few snippets of dialogue that do change after Cordelia is married indicate quite clearly that she has long since gotten over Chrom. Okay, I guess it's really just one conversation, which occurs in a DLC map.

Also, I did squeeze a Tellius reference into the last story, where Cordelia begins fighting as a Halberdier. That's mostly just me wishing Halberdiers / Sentinels were kept in the game. There'll be a few more minor Tellius references ahead for those who've played Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and/or Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn.

One reviewer commented on the impending two-year gap between the first and second arcs, so I thought I should address this, too. Honestly, the game handled the gap rather awkwardly, in my opinion. They needed two years in between, so Ylisse could start rebuilding, and so that Chrom and his wife could have their firstborn child. But the game doesn't explore this two year period, and in fact, it almost feels like all the Shepherds just sat around doing nothing for two years. I hinted a bit at this in the epilogue of Reign of the Mad King, but that's not the case in my story – I wanted something to fill this time period, so that the characters may feel a bit like actual characters.

However, I also didn't want to bloat the story unnecessarily. Each arc in the game happens over a time period ranging from a few weeks to few months, depending on how you interpret it. With the gap, we're talking about two years, and while there's no urgency in their lives during this period, there's still plenty of room for growth and development. So much can happen in two years that I quickly realize it's impossible to try to cover the gap comprehensively, and do it justice, without overshadowing the rest of the second arc. So, in the end, I settled on including a few snippets and references to this period, but still skipping ahead.

Personally, I thought the effect worked out well for this story. At the same time, though, I was a little bit disappointed, since I had quite a few ideas floating around that had to be trimmed. On a similar note, there's at least one story I wanted to write out for my interpretation of the Fire Emblem: Awakening universe, which I couldn't fit anywhere into any of the three arcs.

So I'm writing them down now separately, now, as short stories meant to accompany my retelling. My current plan is to post them after I've finished posting the three arcs. On that note, if I'm posting a collection of short stories anyways, I can take requests. I have at least five short stories planned right now, but if there's anything in particular you would like me to explore further, or any scenes you wish to see more of, feel free to let me know either through a private message or review. I won't make any promises, though.

As I mentioned in my first foreword, there won't be too many pairings. Trying to pair off the characters in-game has given me enough headaches already. Trying to establish strong relationships between all of the characters seems downright impossible, and I've chosen to focus on a few deeper relationships, than trying to squeeze in as many as I could, leaving them all feeling rather shallow in the process.

Chrom and Sumia are married already, of course. Robin and Cordelia have been paired off, as have Virion and Olivia. There are a few more ahead (which you will learn of shortly), but that's pretty much all.

Thank you for following my story so far. If you're still reading, I hope you've enjoyed my writing so far, and that you continue to find this story to your liking. Please do not hesitate to offer me any feedback, positive or negative – I'm not much of an author, and if you can think of anything that would improve this story, I will certainly take your thoughts into consideration. I often reply to reviews through private messages, and even those that I forget to respond to, I promise I read thoroughly.