The Lady of the Blades

Chapter One

From Tellius to Tyseria

What does one doing after lending their aid in the Mad King's War and contributing to the stop of the evil goddess, Ashera? For Mia, sword master with long blue hair and passionate green eye, the goal had always been to continue to strive to be the best sword master of all. Participating in the quests with Ike and the Greil Mercenaries, Mia had grown much as a warrior. Her daily sparring with Ike, perhaps one of the greatest swordsman she knew, had been particularly helpful to her quest to be the best.

So even after the great wars, Mia stayed with the Greil Mercenaries and trained with Ike. As time went by, their jobs became increasingly small and mundane. It was very easy tasks for rich regals in Crimea that paid the bills, but were not very challenging. It seemed that many of the members of the Greil Mercenaries were losing their fighting edge, as they were settling down in life. This could be said for all the mercenaries, except Mia.

Mia still lusted for adventure, and bettering herself as a woman of the sword. She felt that somewhere out there she still had a great destiny to fulfill. Many would argue that based on her previous adventures she had already fulfilled said great destiny, but in Mia's heart and soul she still felt there was more to be done.

The idea for leaving the Greil Mercenaries came to Mia when she was fighting in an arena during some time off after a particularly boring job several weeks ago. While facing challengers, Mia met a particularly challenging opponent named Stylez. The crowd went wild as the two battled, for many none had ever seen a sword fight this intense.

Mia stepped out into the arena with her steel sword, ready to take down any opponent in her way. She didn't care if it was a man or woman, if someone entered a fight with her, they'd soon learn she was better. Her opponent was a slender but muscular man with short green hair, and an eye patch over his left eye. She was instantly intrigued with him because be wielded not one but two steel swords.

"Perhaps he is an amateur." Mia thought to herself, "Because it is impossible to have good sword form while wielding two blades."

How wrong Mia was, when the battle started and she ran at the man who became a whirlwind of danger. He moved so quickly, twirling to the left and then twirling to the right, slashing at his opponent from every which direction. Mia's impressed the crowd with her incredible speed as she blocked each slash, parried, and moved around the swordsman. It was nearly impossible to find an opening to strike Stylez the strange swordsman, as with two swords he covered not just many but all his potential openings for attack.

Mia played defense for a while, learning this bizarre strategy her opponent wielded til she realized a very risky strategy which may serve to her advantage, if done perfectly and quickly. As the Stylez continued to slash at her, Mia began moving backwards until she had the opportunity to jump backwards and then run to her enemy, launching a full force attack.

Stylez, as any swordsman would, expected her to slash from his front as it was her most logical move. Never one for doing the most logical, Mia took this opportunity to leap high into the air to slash down at her opponent's head. With both his arms extending far, Stylez blocked the blade, which was exactly what Mia was hoping for.

As his swords were aimed high, the swordswoman landed on the ground and did a spinning low kick to trip Stylez, making him drop both his blades as he fell to the ground. Catching one of the flying swords in the air, Mia pointed it at her opponent's throat. It was now his choice if he wanted to concede defeat, or potentially lose his life.

"Alright, you got me!" Stylez said to Mia, raising his hand in surrender. "I was just seeing how I faired against warriors on your continent, and I see now there is much to offer here. I have a great deal to learn, before I return home to confront my own demons."

As Mia stood so close to her adversary, she noticed a very interesting pendant around his neck. It had a silver chain and a green emerald, but one that was unlike any other type of emerald Mia had seen before, with one exception. Mia's own pendant, that she had since birth, looked exactly the same. In all her travels she looked at vendors to see if such pendants were sold, or she would often look at those she met hoping to find a similar amulet, and she never ran into anyone with the same kind of gem as she had. Years ago she stopped wearing the pendant because everyone always asked her where it came from. The truth was, Mia had no idea where it came from, and if she was honest, she had no idea where she came from either.

Her green eyes noticed the unique emerald and chain, and she looked back into the eyes of her opponent. "Where are you from?" She asked, "And where did you get that pendant?"

"Ahh yes," Stylez chuckled, not at all fearing the sword at his throat, "A woman with an appreciation for jewelry. I imagine you have never seen anything like this green rock here in Tellius. I'm from a far away region called Tyseria. It's a disgusting place really in comparison to your home. Wars plague the entire continent, mercenaries rule over small countrysides, militarys are violent and tyrannical….and there are even tales of demons that, terrorize the land….though I personally have never seen such activity. This place is heaven compared to Tyseria."

"That is where you learned your unique fighting style..." Mia thought out loud as she removed her sword from his neck, as the battle was over and the crowds were cheering wildly for her.

"Yes…" Stylez spoke, as he got up, "Compared to the others I am usually around though….I am a mere novice with the blades."

Those words stuck with Mia even after the battle of that day was over. She returned to the Greil camp with the thought that this great swordsman that she barely defeated was considered a novice where he was from.

"Can I truly have that much to more to learn?" Mia wondered as she went to bed that night. "I have spent my entire life striving to be the best. And lately it has seemed like I have achieved that goal! Even battling with Ike has become less of a challenge. His warrior instinct has began to fade, as mine continues to get sharper...and yet, there could be a whole continent out there with greater warriors then what I have seen. I must see it for myself! If I am compared to a novice on any continent then that simply won't stand! I must be the best, and I will be the best!"

Several weeks had passed since Mia's duel with Stylez from the distant continent. She had saved her wages from several jobs in the past few weeks, and decided to use it to pay for a trip to Tyseria. It was incredibly difficult to find a boat captain willing to go so far away to such an intimidating continent, but she finally found one who seemed crazy enough to go that way. He was was very much over charging her, as this particular sailor knew he was the only one willing to travel to Tyseria.

The night that Mia was about to board the boat in the small docking town of Orso, she heard a familiar voice behind her.

"Mia, you didn't think you could leave here without me noticing, did you?" Mia turned to see her friend and fellow Greil Mercenary, Ilyana.

"I….I figured you'd all understand." Mia said frowning, as she had done her best to avoid saying good byes to her friends. She hated all things involving sappy sentiments, and did best when not having to be around them. "You know, life around here's getting to boring and all."

"So you are leaving on a new adventure then?" the light blue haired mage asked.

"Yeah, I guess so." Mia replied, "The place I am going is said to be far more dangerous then Tellius. I mean, we have made Tellius a safe place so I don't think I'm needed here anymore. But maybe in Tyseria…."

"If you are leaving everything behind," Ilyana spoke, "You will need at least one friend to go with you."

"Ill..." Mia gave her friend this nickname because she often became sick from being to hungry, though she was almost always seen eating. "This land I am going to is supposed to be really dangerous."

"Then you will need someone to watch your back." Ilyana recited advice Mia was always giving the rest of the company about working together, "And I will need you to watch mine."

"Fine then." Mia said with a smile as the two got onto the boat. "Let's go to Tyseria together then!"

A/N: Well, that's the first chapter...what are your thoughts? Please take a minute to drop me a review! Thanks for reading!