Chapter 1: The awakening of the hunter
"Ugh…" A groan reverberated throughout the empty room. There was nothing but darkness in the room excluding the person who let out the groan. The person, who was lying on the floor, slowly and agonizingly pushed himself to a sitting position and opened his weary eyes to examine his surroundings.
A fog of darkness greeted him and there was no hint of any living or non-living things in the place he was in. The darkness he was not afraid of, after all it had always being his companion, but the unnerving silence that his senses took note of caused him to be wary.
He then examined himself. The familiar overcoat was draped over his lean frame and his white dress shirt and black trousers were still on him. A pair of black gloves appeared in front of him as he examined his hands but there was a feeling he was missing something. A thing of great importance that defined who he was.
Shaking his head to try to clear the cobwebs in his mind, he then stood up and in a heartbeat, pain and aches assailed his body. Letting out a grunt of pain through his clenched teeth, he slumped back to his sitting position. Such feelings was not foreign to him after all the experiences he being through but pain was still pain and he was not in the right condition to endure it like in the past.
"Hunter, you have finally wake up. Don't move your body unnecessarily." Damm it, this warning could have come earlier, he thought as he relaxed his body. The disembodied voice continued, "I know that you have a lot of questions in your mind but all of them will be answered in due time. Now, rest and recover for you will need it."
"Wait a moment. At least answer me this." He said it out loud and taking the pause as a cue to continue, he continued his question. "Where am I?"
"A world where dreams and nightmares do not exist." A tone of amusement accompanied the reply before the fog of darkness rushed into his mind and he knew no more.
_
"…derick, flank the two bandits at the back! Chrom and I will take the ones at the front."
What is with all these dins, the man growled in his head as he opened his eyes and instantly regretted the action as rays of sunlight pierced his eyes.
He slowly stood up and wait for the inevitable agony but surprisingly, there was none. Instead, he felt as though he was trapped in the old burnt town long ago when he was on his journey. When he looked around him, burnt buildings greeted him and shouts and screaming from all directions hit him. Then suddenly, a muscular man with a big moustache appeared in front of him with a confused expression.
The expression then promptly turned to a malicious expression and with a sneer on his face, he hefted his axe in preparation to hack him. The man promptly side-stepped him and leapt back in order to ascertain his situation.
He was suddenly threw to an unknown place where he was surrounded by flaming buildings and an ugly man was attempting to kill him. He was quite sure that he did not recognize this man in his short life and he wondered why this man was attempting to kill him as though he just raped his mum or something.
"DIE, YOU YLISSEAN SCUM!" The man roared at him and charged at him with his axe held aloft.
Slow…
The man then leapt over the charging brute and dashing forward, he gave a strong punch to his back. The brute gave a surprised grunt and fell forward promptly.
Stick your hand into the body and claim the sweet echoing of blood. For that is how you hunt…
Obeying the mysterious words in his mind, he stabbed his left hand into the assailant body then pulled back just as forcefully. Blood spurted out from the wound and showered both the victim and the man. He felt invigorating and strength was rushing back to his limbs as he looked up to the sky and laughed.
Stick out your right hand and claim the tool for the hunt. For that is your birthright and your destiny.
The man obeyed unquestioningly and did what the words told him. A cleaver with jagged edges materialized in his hand and he clenched his fingers over the handle. It felt right, as though this tool was a part of his hand.
He then turned around and noticed four large men, who looked similar to the man he killed, advancing towards a white hair man with a large coat and a blue hair man wielding a sword. Behind them, a girl with an unique hairstyle not seen in his time, namely two pigtails, was standing behind them and holding a stave.
Looking at the girl who was trembling and having a nervous expression on her face, the man suddenly rocked back as an image struck his mind.
An innocent girl giving him a sad smile while holding a red brooch.
Nobody… nobody will ever show that expression to me ever again, the man swore to himself and he then ran towards the four brutes.
"Who the fu-", before one of the muscular man could complete his sentence, the man swiped his cleaver at his throat, causing the man to choke on his words. Taking advantage of their shock, he twirled around and did the same thing to another enemy.
Blood gushed out from their wounds and some of them splattered on the man. He could feel the sweet tinge of the blood echoing in his mind as vitality rushed through his body. But before he could indulge himself in the sensation, he must deal with the other two enemies.
Now that the surprise advantage was gone, the two men jumped back and looked at him warily with some horror and anger in their eyes and he loved it.
"Jack! Grant! Damm you Ylissean dog. I, Dan will personally rend your limbs apart for their death!" One of them roared at him before charging him with a similar axe.
At that moment, a steed-riding knight burst from the side and ran him down with a spear then pulling the horse, he promptly charged at the remaining enemy and speared his heart with cool precision.
"Milord and milady, are both of you alright?" The knight then turned around and asked the people behind the man back.
"We are fine Frederick. Stranger, we must thank you for your timely aid." The blue hair man walked towards the man and nodded his head in gratitude.
"May I know your name? I am Chrom."
The man hesitated for abit before replying, "I am…. Vendrick."
"I am Robin, nice to meet you." The white hair man with the coat with strange engravings on it bowed to Vendrick.
"And I am Lissa. Thank you so much for helping us!" The girl grinned at him then did a curtsy.
"I am Frederick, proud knight of Ylisse who served the Exalt. May I know where do you hail from?" The knight glared at him.
Vendrick looked at Frederick and replied, "Before I answer your query, may I know where is this place and what has just happened?"
"This place is Southtown and a part of the kingdom of Ylisse. You mean you do not know this?" The knight's glare turned to a suspicious glare and he advanced slowly towards Vendrick before Chrom placed his hand on the knight's plate and chuckled softly.
"Peace Frederick. This man had just save our lives so I doubt he meant any harm to us. But strange is this day isn't it. First, it is Robin and now Vendrick. Next thing you know, King Marth will appear in front of us."
Robin gave a rueful smile while Lissa laughed but Frederick did not look placated by his lord words. Before he could say anything, shouts interrupted their conversation.
"Hey scums, how dare you all kill our brothers then have a nice chit-chat among yourselves! Now, let Garrick the Strong make you all repay those lives you have taken!" A giant muscular ugly brute shouted at them, causing them to look at the incoming enemies.
"More bandits. Vendrick, may I ask you to help us to deal with the enemies. Looking at how you deal with the bandits just now, you will be a great help to us." Chrom asked Vendrick who was staring at the enemies.
He shrugged and nodded his head to show his assent to his request. Chrom then smiled and clapped his back. "Great! Robin, now have you devise a tactic to deal with this threat."
"Ahem. Alright, Frederick you will charge at them and take the brunt of their assault. Chrom and I will take on that Bandit Lord while Lissa, you stay at the back and prepare to heal whoever is injured. As for you Vendrick… I do not yet know your full capability so can I ask you to guard Lissa? Just in case any of the survivors managed to break through us." Robin gave out his commands then looked at Vendrick with an impassive look.
Vendrick nodded his head then turned to Lissa who had a dissatisfied look on her face. He gave a small grin before patting her head, causing her to give a questioning look to him. "Don't worry princess, I will make sure nobody will even touch you."
She gave a shy smile and nodded her thanks.
"Alright, men! Now, FOR YLISSE!" With a roar, Frederick charged forward and clashed with the three minions while Chrom and Robin ran towards Garrick who was still taunting them.
Soon enough, a bandit who survived the charge from Frederick chose to divert his attention away from the knight and instead rushed towards Vendrick and Lissa. "I may not be able to fight the bloody knight but I will definitely be able to deal with a small girl and a weak man like you!"
The bandit shouted at them while running towards the both of them. Vendrick gave a small chuckle before dashing towards the lone bandit who was foolish enough to underestimate him.
The bandit swung his axe at him as he came within range of the striking distance and he quickly sidestep away from the axe. Due to the momentum generated from the swinging axe, the bandit needed some time to recover which proved fatal for him as the cleaver slashed at his throat several times, severing his connection to speak and causing blood to gush out from the wound. With a widened look on the bandit face, he dropped to the ground and quickly try to cover his wound with his hands futilely.
"Pitiful human. Let thou blood bless the hunter in the hunt."
Vendrick then turned back towards Lissa who had a shocked expression on her face. "I apologize if that is a bit too gory for you." She shook her head but gave a sorrowful expression at the fallen bandit. Vendrick then gave a sigh and looked up to try to locate both Chrom and Robin who were facing the boss.
"Foolish prince, do you think you can best me? The strongest chief in the whole world!" Garrick growled as he parried Chrom's strike before leaping away from Robin's thunder spell. He then followed up with a few slashes at Chrom who quickly parried them but it was wearing him down as Garrick was stronger than he is. With a mighty shout, he put all his strength into his axe and swung at Chrom who tried to block the blow but instead, he was threw back by the force.
"Chrom!" Robin cried out and quickly looked at his partner to determine whether he is alright or not. He then glared at the bandit chief and chanted the words in his tome with his mind mentally pinpointing the location where he wanted to strike with his spell.
There! He casted the thunder spell but the ball of lightning instead hit the location where seconds ago, the chief was standing. Garrick was an experienced fighter and he had his fair share of his fights with mages. Against an inexperienced mage, there was no way he would lose to him. Taking advantage of that few seconds of opening, Garrick quickly rushed at Robin with the intent of striking him down with his giant axe.
"Now DIE!" He slashed at Robin who barely managed to roll away but with a few strides, he managed to reach the tactician who was still recovering from the roll and hefting his giant axe upwards, he gave an ugly grin at the white hair man.
"Gurgh…" Garrick let out a choking sound as Falchion stick out from his chest. In his excitement to kill the tactician, he had forgotten about the prince who was fortunately not knocked unconscious from the blow although it took the wind out of his body.
"Damm you. This is not the end yet!" With a shout, he turned around and punched Chrom in the face, causing him to lose grip of the sword. He then heard chanting behind him and knew that the tactician was chanting the spell which would certainly kill him. Knowing that he had a few seconds to live, he intend to make them regret ever challenging him.
He gripped his giant axe tightly then threw with all his might at the girl who was standing with the mysterious man that had killed a few of his underlings. He knew that neither of them would be able to block his axe and that even so, he doubt that they would be able to react fast enough to the axe.
Thus he was surprised when the stranger managed to grab the girl and roll out of the spinning axe direction. Then the stranger grinned at him and mouthed the word to him.
"Checkmate."
He then felt a ball of electricity slammed into his back and then darkness enveloped his mind.
AN: Hello guys! It's being so bloody long since I have write something on fanfiction but hey, a student life is busy especially for a university student. This is the first time I wrote a FE fanfic despite being a loyal fan of the series so I decide to try it out. I don't really want to rewrite the whole Awakening story so I decide to insert an OC and see how far my imagination can go and viola, this chapter appear. I don't think I will pair my OC with anybody but hey, things will change in the future so we shall see!
Now I can't guarantee a regular update of this series and I will try my best to check out my other MGLN fanfics and update them but no promises. Cheerios mates and please reviews.
P.S: Kudos to anybody who notice the background of the series (It's a game!) I based the OC on.