Corrin had a knife to his throat.

He swallowed slowly, careful not to disturb the wielder's concentration. He grimaced as the blade was dragged slowly down his neck, almost to his collarbone. The process was repeated several times, each pass making Corrin more and more uncomfortable. The blade, dulled beyond belief, blazed against his raw skin.

With a final hum, Azura brought the knife back and cleaned it on a rag. Corrin breathed out heavily and ran a tentative hand over his freshly-shaved neck.

"Dusk Dragon..." He cursed. "I'd rather deal with an itchy chin than go through that again."

Azura smiled and slid the shaving knife back into its sheathe. She stood from the side of the river and began to load their few supplies onto the stolen pack horse. She hummed as she tightened a few straps, securing the food and blankets.

Corrin peered into the river beside him, unable to see his reflection clearly among the raging waters. He wished they had camped an hour back, where they found that small creek. The water was slow enough for him to see his reflection, at least. That way he wouldn't have had Azura shave him.

"East?" Azura asked as she took the reins of the horse in her hands.

"East." Corrin nodded.

They marched in silence for a time, side-by-side as the horse trotted dutifully behind them. They had been following an old trail of some sort, long overgrown in disuse. The path varied from tight, dark sections of forestry to wide open plains, still never drifting from a due east course. They ate lunch while they walked, a handful of dried meat and some bread.

By the time dusk rolled around, Azura spotted a collection of pine trees that provided some cover with their low-hanging branches. The horse was once again tied to a tree and given food and water. Corrin and Azura shared a small fire, both huddling close for warmth. They roasted a small bowl of stew and shared it, passing it back and fourth.

When dinner was cleaned up Corrin laid on his back and stared upward, examining the features of the tree's bark. The pine's bark was peeled back, revealing its light-coloured trunk. He imagined small faces in the knots, faces of his friends they left behind.

"Azura." Corrin said quietly. The bluenette wiped her hands on her travelling pants and sat down beside him on the rough blanket.

"Yes, Corrin?"

"Did we make the right choice?"

Silence fell over the two, the only sounds that of the crackling campfire and the occasional whinny of the horse nearby.

Azura opened her mouth slowly. "I think we made a choice that is right for us, not for them." She said carefully.

"Do you think they are mad at us?" Corrin asked as he rubbed his hands together for warmth.

"I have no doubt Xander and Ryoma are furious at you for shirking your duties." Azura said with a coy smile. "Though they would no doubt be even more enraged at me. They must think I spirited you away on some fool's errand. I wonder what Camilla must think..."

Corrin rolled over to her and looked at Azura with concern. "You were very distant, Azura. There's no doubt in my mind had you spoke to them, come to dinners more, they would have easily embraced you as a friend. As family."

It was true. Azura was distant from most others in the army. Even when she tried to connect with her Nohrian siblings, there was nothing of substance. She simply found a friend in Corrin, and a little in Kaze, and stuck to them. Azura knew she was far too aloof for her own good. But that was her nature, ever since she had been kidnapped by Hoshido.

Corrin placed a calming hand on her arm. "Do not worry, Az. We will return when we feel ready. I bet they'll throw a huge celebration when we stroll back into the castle. For now, let's just keep moving forward."

Azura looked away form Corrin quickly, her breath coming in fast gasps. The though of such a large group of people, all focused on her...Anxiety gripped her as she felt a wave of nausea pass over her.

She swallowed hard and fell to the blanket beside Corrin, finding comfort beside her friend. She shifted closer, shaking slightly. Corrin thought it to be the result of cold and spread his cloak over her shivering frame.

Azura felt herself calm at his touch, if only slightly.

()()()()

The days that followed were no more exciting than the last. Walking, camping, hunting, and foraging. Corrin, during times when he couldn't sleep, read one of the few books he had brought from Nohr by firelight. During the day, he tried to search out signs of any civilization. So far, the only thing they had found was the hardly discernible path they followed. It may have been an old hunting trail, or some sort of abandoned trade route. Corrin could only guess.

They didn't even know if they were in a kingdom. There were hardly any signs of humanity. When they arrived in this land, from a portal connected to a secret room in Valla's treasury, there were no signs of life save for the ruins of a castle.

Corrin had settled on travelling east, with the rising sun. Hopefully they wouldn't end up in some desert. Corrin hated deserts.

"Corrin, look!" Azura gasped. Corrin followed her outstretched hand, to a range of distant mountains to the north-east. He squinted against the morning light and raised a hand to shade his eyes.

The mountains were grey and bleak, topped with snow. About halfway up one of the mountainsides he could just make out the general shape of what looked to be some sort of temple-like construction.

"Good eyes, Az." Corrin complimented with a wide smile.

Azura bit her lip as she smiled as well, trying to ignore how her stomach fluttered at the comment.

Corrin spoke quickly, guiding the horse off the path and through the loose underbrush. "C'mon! I bet we could reach the base by nightfall."

()()()()

They didn't.

Rain had fallen hours later, a sudden storm. They took shelter near a small formation of rocks. The stone hung out over the ground, leaving just enough room for the two to crouch in and light a tiny fire. The belongings that couldn't afford to get wet were crammed as close to the rock wall as it could get. The horse, metal tools, and extra gear was left with the horse in the cold rain.

Corrin lay with back to the freezing rain, facing inwards in the small confines of the outcropping. Azura lay with her back to his chest, both shivering violently as the rain pelted down. The fire did little to warm them, and soon it died. With all the wood soaked outside, they could only pull the extra blanket out and hold each other close.

Corrin breathed out shakily as his teeth clattered together. "H-hey...Az?" He asked in a shaky voice.

"Y-y-yes?"

"I don't suppose you learned h-how to use a fire tome, did y-you?" Corrin smiled, knowing full well she had become a kinshi knight in the war, a unit focused on lance and bow training.

"None o-of us know h-how to use magic..." Azura cried with frustration.

"Wish I took Leo up on his offer..." Corrin muttered to himself, recalling the time his younger brother offered to teach him in the ways of magic.

Corrin managed to fall into a half-awake trance, not quite asleep yet not quite awake. It gave him little rest. When morning came, finally free of rain, they shook out the water from their packs and dried what they could, delaying travel until they could stand to walk in their own clothes.

Corrin thought he spotted something skitter away behind the rocks, but his bleary eyes didn't aid him in his search. He shrugged and resumed trying to get the water out of Azura's quiver of arrows.

When they finally arrived at the base of the mountain in mid-afternoon, Corrin was disappointed to find the temple looking half-destroyed. From what he could see, it appeared that portions of the structure had decayed and fallen down the mountain, leaving piles of old rubble. Grass grew between the fallen stone. The collapse happened some time ago, if he had to guess.

"It's a ruin..." Corrin sighed.

Azura tied the horse to a tree and began to feed it grains. "We could climb up and investigate." Azura offered. "We might be able to find more signs of people..."

Corrin nodded. "It's a good idea, but there's no clear path. The horse wouldn't be able to follow us."

Azura remained silent as she looked up at the temple. From her angle it seemed a sheer climb at points, and she could faintly spot what looked to be some sort of handholds carved into the stone. Maybe it was some sort of ritual to climb the rock? A secret entrance?

"If we climb up, and we find nothing, we could come down and get the horse, continue on." Corrin thought aloud. "But if we do climb, find people and enter the temple, the horse starves to death tied to a tree." He grimaced.

Azura patted the horse a few times as it drank from a puddle. "Well...we don't quite own the horse." She said.

Corrin grinned. "You're right...we took it away from its royal carriage pulling in Hoshido. I'm sure it enjoyed being here much more than paraded around Hoshido." He came to stand beside Azura and looked at her seriously.

"What should we do?" He asked.

"Why ask?" Azura said, her tone soft. "I'll follow you anywhere. There's no need to ask my opinion. Just speak the word and I will follow your every command."

"And I you." Corrin replied in kind. "But, Az, this is a serious situation. We could end up in trouble if we choose wrong." He paused for a moment. "And I value your opinion. Greatly."

"So we choose what to do together." Azura said as she unclasped a blanket from the horse. She spread it on the driest part of ground she could find. There would be no fire tonight, everything was still wet.

"We are bound by fate." Corrin said with a chuckle. Azura let out a nervous giggle. She wondered why the lame statement had made her heart flutter.

"So what shall we do?' Azura asked as she shed her travelling cloak and wrapped it around herself like a blanket. Corrin followed suit and lay across from her.

"Let's think on it." He said. "We shall speak in the morning."

Corrin dreaded making the wrong decision. They simply had too much gear to carry themselves, not without slowing them down significantly. While they had no exact location or time frame to reach it, slowing down meant a less chance of contacting civilization. More time hunting and foraging. More time lost in this new world.

Corrin rolled over and frowned, staring into the gathering darkness around camp.

That night, he had nightmares of Azura's death.

()()()()

Azura woke quickly, her hand flying to the dagger at her waist. Behind her, she could hear the wails of an animal in pain and a strange chittering. She opened her eyes to find herself facing a strange, gold-eyed creature. She panicked silently as she trashed and kicked at the thing.

It reeled back far enough for Azura to stand. She pulled her knife from her belt and held it in front of herself defensively. She noticed out of the corner of her eye Corrin was still asleep. She kicked him in the stomach, hard. This was no time for him to sleep in like usual.

As Corrin scrambled to his feet, irritated, Azura got a good look at the strange creature. It was short, only about to her waist, and hunched over. Its skin was sickly green, or so she thought in the pre-dawn light. It wore sections of tree bark like armour, with cloth smallclothes. Finally, she noticed it held a small tree branch with animal teeth stuck on one end.

"What in gods..." Corrin muttered before finally spotting the creature. "GODS!" He yelled as he pulled the sword out of its sheathe. He pointed it at the strange creature, breathing heavily. Behind the two, the horse whined and snorted, drawing Azura's attention.

The horse was surrounded by more of the small creatures, at last half a dozen. They poked and slashed at the horse, screeching and hollering in their gurgled voices the whole time. "Corrin, there's more." Azura hissed, taking a step closer to the man.

Corrin slowly knelt down and felt around with his hand. He never took his eyes off the green thing in his blind search. Finally he found his pack and threw it over one shoulder. All the rest of the gear was still attached or piled up around the horse, where the rest of the things were.

"What should we do?" Corrin asked as he tightened the strap of his pack.

Azura watched as the horse kick one of the creatures square in the chest. The thing simply took a step back, a hand flying to its bruised chest. She grimaced. A hit like that would have broken her ribs.

"Climb." Azura said quickly. She tucked her knife into her belt and ran towards the sheer mountain wall. She climbed quickly, ignoring the horse's terrified cries. Corrin kept his back to the wall as the single creature that had woken Azura growled and stalked towards him.

He raised his sword in warning, but the thing kept advancing. Corrin grunted as he thrust outwards, the tip of the blade easily breaking through the tree-bark armour. Instead of slicing through flesh, however, the blade met what felt like steel. Corrin's arm shook at the sudden impact.

"Dusk Dragon..." He muttered before spinning on his heel and jumping up on the rocks, quickly pulling himself up after Azura in fear. They climbed as fast as they could, the jeers and calls of the green monsters echoing after them.

It was not until after the sun had risen did they stop. Their hands and bare feet raw and freezing, they could only slump against each other on the small rocky outcropping they rested on. The forest beneath them was just a sea of green. Looking up, Corrin couldn't determine how far they were from the temple.

"Sleep, Az." Corrin said softly. "I'll make you you don't fall."

"I don't think I could sleep, Corrin."

"Me neither."

"What were those things?" Azura asked, knowing full well that Corrin wouldn't have any idea. They were in a strange land, literal dimensions away from their home. Those...things could be, well, anything.

"They looked like small people, like dwarves from old Nohrian legends, though in the legends they didn't have green skin." Corrin mused. "I wonder if they are the ones who built that castle we came from."

Azura shook her head. "Those things wore tree bark like armour, held wooden clubs and wore skins. I doubt they have the technology to create a castle."

"What if..." Corrin's imagination took off like a Nohrian race horse. "What if those were the people who made the castle, but they were cursed or something, then twisted into that race."

Aura blinked.

"No?" Corrin glanced at her. He caught her deadpan stare. "Right, right. Sorry, just...it was a thought."

They sat in silence for some time. Azura played with a strand of hair. Corrin rooted through his pack, taking stock.

"Okay." Corrin huffed. "We have firestarter, matches, three books, a handful of berries, two strips of dried venison, a shirt, and my shaving kit." Corrin groaned. "Your knife and my sword."

"Nothing else." Azura put her head in her hands. "We...could go down and see if they are still there, if they left our gear?"

"I stabbed that thing, hard, in the chest. I don't even know if my sword broke through the skin. I'd rather not take that chance."

"So, we climb until we get to the temple, then what?"

"Hope for the best."

()()()()

Corrin gasped as he hauled himself over the sharp rock, the edges digging into his stomach. He pulled himself up and rolled to the side. He stared up at the sky as he caught his breath. Azura appeared a moment later, her pale hands grasping at the edge.

Corrin leaned over and grabbed one arm, helping her over the ledge. Azura fell beside him, both on their backs as they gasped for air. Corrin raised his hands to his face, scowling at the burning, raw skin. He blew weakly on his hands in an attempt to cool the skin.

After a few moments he sat up and looked around. They were on a wide section of flat rock. Towards the east, the rock met what looked to be an old staircase carved into the stone. The staircase connected to the remains of the temple, which stretched eastward along the side of the mountain.

The temple, fort, castle, tunnel, whatever it was, must have looked amazing when it was younger. Corrin could imagine the towering pillars, huge flags and tapestries billowing in the wind. He imagined collections of people praying, talking, living here as they looked out over the sea of green beneath them.

Azura placed a hand on his shoulder, startling him. She grinned at him. "Come, Corrin. Let's head inside and see what we can find."

Corrin nodded sheepishly as he followed the songstress. They climbed up the awkward, half-destroyed stairs and walls, making their way onto the temple grounds proper. It looked like they were a sort of courtyard, where grass and fountains once stood proud. What grass remained grew long and wild, poking through stone and rubble.

A great archway linked the courtyard to the inner portion of the temple. Azura and Corrin stepped slowly inside, their footsteps echoing off the high, curved ceiling. What was once vibrant colours and ancient paintings had worn away, leaving strange blotches of colour on walls that still stood proud.

The interior of the temple was a massive, massive, dome, ribbed with rough archways. Rooms and hallways branched off from the main room like a spiderweb. Some skeletons lay near on wall, long decayed. More rubble and stone littered the floor of the domed room.

On the far side of the dome, another archway, like the one Azura and Corrin had come through, teased light from the other side of the mountain.

"Impressive." Corrin commented, whistling for good measure. His whistle, a sharp noise, echoed off the walls and disappeared into the depths of the old stone temple. A few moments later, the whistle was answered by an earth-shaking roar.

Azura and Corrin shared a panicked glance, both nodding and sprinting towards the far end of the temple. They vaulted and jumped over piles of rubble, ignoring the sharp pains of stones stabbing their feet.

The ground rumbled and shook as something stirred to life. Corrin breathed heavily as he caught himself from falling, muttering curses the whole time.

Behind them, a thunderous crash shook the very mountain. Loose stone fell from the roof, crashing near the two.

"HALT!" A loud voice roared behind them. Azura felt compelled to obey, as if the voice itself held a magical force in the syllables.

Corrin and Azura skidded to a stop, the archway still a good hundred feet away. They turned slowly, Corrin fearful of what he would face. He gasped.

A great brown dragon. stood proud in the centre of the dome, its horned head almost touching the roof. It was like no dragon either of them had seen before, with brown scales and four legs. A set of impressive wings spread out behind it, the veins in the skin showing against the light. The creature grinned and roared, a pillar of flame scorching the ceiling.

"YOU." It bellowed, red eyes staring at Corrin. "YOU ARE HUMAN, YET SOMEHOW MY KIN." The dragon lowered its head, exhaling a burst of heated breath against Corrin. "HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?"

Corrin shot a fearful glance to Azura. She was simply frozen, staring up at the beast.

"ANSWER ME, OR YOU WILL BURN!"