Hello, everyone, and welcome to my first foray into the world of fanfiction. Before we get underway I'm fairly sure I'm legally obliged to say I do not own Fire Emblem as a franchise. That honour goes to Nintendo. And it's probably for the best. And while this fic will not use any characters or places from the Fire Emblem games, the concept of a trinket known as the 'Fire Emblem' is also the property of Nintendo, so I have to give them credit for that.

Now that's out of the way, I just want to say a few words before we get started. This fic does not take place in any established Fire Emblem universe. For all intents and purposes, it is unconnected to any entry in the series (much like how all of the games were considered separate universes before Awakening showed that they aren't). As such, I will make no references to the games (with the exception being the existence of a medallion known as the Fire Emblem). We're in my territory here.

Don't expect updates to this fic to be regular, or even good. I'll write whenever I have both time and inspiration, but for now, just sit back and enjoy (hopefully) the prologue.


Fire Emblem: Altar of Eternity

Prologue: The Strategist

An empty void. That's what it felt like at first. No light to penetrate the darkness, no sound to cut through the silence. It only lasted a few moments, but it felt like forever.

The silence was the first to break, as a voice rang out, crisp and clear, "She'll be fine, sire. She just needs some rest." The voice was female, with a gentle yet confident tone that implied that whoever it belonged to knew what she was doing.

"Thank goodness." This voice clearly belonged to a young man, and was riddled with a mixture of both anxiety and relief. "Thank you so much for your help, sister."

"Milord," came a third voice, also male, but deeper and far more composed than the second. The owner was clearly older and more experienced at whatever he did than the other man. "Might I suggest we leave her in the care of the clerics? We have been gone for a long time. Everyone will be wondering where you have gotten to."

"No, Xand," replied the second voice. "I will not leave until I see with my own eyes that she is okay."

"As you wish, sire," sighed the third voice.

A sudden realisation came to her. She could open her eyes. It took a lot of effort, but she managed to do so. As she did, she allowed whatever sound she could to escape from her lips. Unfortunately, all she could muster was a small groan.

"Welcome back," came the second voice. She could see its owner clearly now, as he was watching over her. He couldn't have been more than nineteen or twenty years old, standing about five foot ten. His most prominent feature was his hair. She had never seen someone with blue hair before, but it seemed there was a first time for everything. "Are you okay?"

She tried to answer, but once again, all that came out was a groan.

"Can you understand me?"

"Where am I?" she finally managed. "What happened?"

"You're in a clerics' house," replied the female voice she'd herd earlier. The woman it belonged to was wearing white robes and holding a staff. Clearly she was a healer. "As for what happened, you'll have to ask the two gentlemen that brought you here."

She turned to the two men, the question so obvious that she felt no need to ask it.

It was the older man who spoke. Looking at him, she could see that his features were rugged, but he kept his appearance tidy, and exuded a calming aura of confidence. Whatever his job was, it was clear he took it seriously. "You were collapsed by the side of the road. You were very badly injured, bleeding from several different wounds. My lord and I discovered you as we were passing by. He insisted that we take you somewhere you could be treated. I believe that had we not done so, you wouldn't have survived."

"You saved my life?" she replied, her voice still weak, although she could feel her strength gradually returning. "Then you have my gratitude. But if I might ask, where are we exactly? I don't even know which country I'm in."

"Really? You don't?" replied the younger man. "You're in Idon, the capital city of Parolt."

That came as a surprise. She didn't realise she'd gone that far. She thought she'd have reached western Natar at best. She couldn't believe she'd had the stamina to go any further.

It seemed that her thoughts made themselves obvious in her facial expression, because the older man picked up on them immediately. "Are you surprised to be here?"

"I guess so."

"Do you know much about Parolt?"

"What I do know comes from books and conversations with others. I've never actually been here myself. Until now, I suppose."

"In that case," started the younger man, "allow us to introduce ourselves. My name is Loren, and this is Xand."

"And you're a lord?"

"Not just," explained Xand. "My lord is no minor noble. He is our country's prince himself."

She looked the two men up and down. Indeed, they did exude an air of authority, the kind one would expect from nobility. She noticed Xand was wearing some sort of armour, as would be expected of a royal guard. It was blue in colour, matching the prince's hair.

That's when it clicked. She remembered a book she had read when she had been researching the country. It had said that in Parolt, blue hair was the mark of a royal, passed down through the generations. Since no-one else on the entire continent had this unique feature, it made members of the Paroltean royal family very easy to identify.

"Oh gods, I... I'm sorry! I didn't realise..."

Xand's expression hardened. "No Paroltean would have made that mistake," he said harshly.

"Peace, Xand," said Loren. "I'm sure she meant no disrespect." He turned towards her. "What about you? Might I ask your name?"

"Amy." She paused, before remembering that nobles were usually addressed by less directly than that. "Uh… sire."

"Was anyone else with you, Amy? Might they still be in danger?"

"No. I was alone."

"Alone?" inquired Xand. "Is it not dangerous for a lady such as yourself to travel on her own?"

"It wasn't intentional. And just how surprised are you that a lady can take care of herself? I'd never have gotten far in my line of work if I couldn't."

"And that line of work would be...?"

"I'm a mercenary… of sorts,"

"A mercenary? I've never heard of women doing such a thing, certainly not in Parolt," said Loren.

"Then you have a lot to learn," replied Amy. "Where I'm from, such a thing would receive no surprise whatsoever."

"Where are you from?"

"Phenia."

"Xand," said Loren, turning to look at his vassal, "do you know anything about Phenia?"

"Only what I've heard, milord. I've never been there myself, but I have had to deal with envoys once or twice."

"What can you tell me about it?"

"Phenia is a very different country to our own, sire, and indeed to any other on the continent. Rather than being governed by a king, it is instead run by a group of individuals elected into power by the commoners."

"Actually, to be precise," interrupted Amy, "Not everyone in a position of power in Phenia is elected. Rather, we elect our political leaders, who then appoint others into lesser roles. This ensures we don't end up with people in positions they are not qualified to fulfill." She quickly realised she'd put her foot in her mouth saying that to a prince. "I apologise. I did not mean…"

"No, it's alright," he replied. "Just as our country has its own customs, so does yours." He turned back to Xand. "Is there anything else you can tell me?"

"Of course, milord," replied the knight. "Phenia is a young country by the standards of the continent, and it seems to have come into existence entirely without a glass ceiling."

"Really?" asked Loren, "Then Amy being a mercenary suddenly makes sense. And that explains the sword we found on her."

The realisation came to her straight away. She looked down at her belt, but sure enough, neither her sword nor sheath were there.

"I'm afraid I had to confiscate your weapon," said Xand. "It is all too common a trap for a person to pretend to be injured to get close to their target. I had to make sure you would not harm the prince."

"And now?"

"We still know little about you. And you did just admit to being a sellsword. My guard is not easily lowered."

"Would it help if I shared my story with you?"

"Perhaps. We shall see."

"Okay, then." She took a deep breath. Her strength had returned now, and she was feeling far more able to speak than she had been just minutes ago, when she first woke up. "Why am I here? The answer is simple. I had no idea how far I'd run."

"Running?" asked Loren. "From where? And more importantly, from who?"

"Gryor," she replied. "I had just completed a job there that involved an attack on a group of bandits to recover some stolen goods."

"Someone in Gryor hired you?" asked Xand, disbelief now in his voice. "I thought they treated women as little more than domestic servants."

"That's true," replied Amy. "However, my employer was not from Gryor. I'm afraid I cannot disclose too much information about them, but they live in eastern Natar, close to the Gryoran border. It was easy for the bandits to cross the border back into their own country once they had stolen the goods.

"Anyway, it seemed the bandit leaders noticed us, because we were followed. After the other members of the group I was working for had retired for the night, we were attacked. That's how I got those wounds. I knew I stood no chance in a fight, especially after my comrades were killed, so I just ran. That was a few days ago, but I didn't stop moving, because although it is unlikely I was followed this far, I wanted to put as much distance between them and myself as possible."

"You travelled all this way with those wounds?" asked Xand. "You must have travelled the entire length of Natar. How did you manage?"

"I had a few supplies with me, so I was able to form makeshift bandages to cover the more serious wounds, at least for a while. But I didn't have much food, and eventually I ran out of material for bandages. By that point, I must have been close to where you found me, because without the bandages, I wasn't able to stay conscious for very long. As you said, those wounds would have killed me had you not shown up."

"So you were on the run," said Xand, summarising everything he had heard, "and now you may have brought bandits to our city?"

"No, they won't have followed me this far," replied Amy, her voice sounding more confident than Xand believed was warranted. "As you said, Gryorans don't treat women with any respect. If the bandits' leader found out that a woman escaped from them, or even managed to evade them for this long, they'd be executed on the spot. They'll have gone back to their leader and told him they had taken care of me."

"In that case, why keep running?" asked Loren.

"As I said, I had no idea how far I'd gone. I didn't know whether I was out of trouble or not, so I just kept moving."

"Your story sounds plausible," said Xand. "However, my trust is not easily won. Were I to return your weapon to you, I cannot be certain you would not immediately strike out at the prince."

Amy found Xand's distrust annoying, but understandable. "So what then? Will you take me as a prisoner? Or will you throw me out onto the streets?"

This time it was Xand's turn to smile. "My actions at present serve no purpose other than to keep my lord safe. Once we have left, that will be assured no matter what you do. I see no reason to take any further action." He turned to Loren. "I believe we have stayed here long enough, milord. We've seen that Amy is alright, so we had best leave. I'm sure everyone at the palace is worried about you."

The prince nodded, then the two men left the room. As soon as they had, Amy slipped out of the bed she was in, and onto the floor. "I should be going too," she said.

"But…" began the cleric, who was still in the room.

"I appreciate the help you've given me," replied Amy, "but I can handle myself from here. I've recovered from injuries before, in some cases without anyone around to heal me."

The cleric realised she wasn't going to win – Amy was too determined. "Very well," she said, not stopping Amy from walking towards the door to leave. "Just be careful".

Amy smiled back, saying, "I'll be fine. Don't worry about me. And once again, you have my gratitude for your help."


The breeze rushing through her long black hair reminded Amy how nice it was to be outside. She wasn't a fan of staying cooped up in a room for long periods of time, nor did she enjoy sitting around doing nothing. She was glad she'd had the energy to get up and leave, because it meant she could become active again.

First thing's first, she thought to herself, I need a new sword. Luckily, while her blade had been taken by Xand, her pouch, which contained, among other things, her money, had not. She set out immediately to find an armourer, where she hoped to purchase a new weapon. However, she'd barely taken three steps outside when she heard a scream.

"HELP!" shouted the voice.

Amy instinctively started running toward the source of the scream, which turned out to be coming from one of the clerics. In front of her were a group of muscular men, each one carrying an axe. They didn't look like they wanted to harm the cleric, but rather that the weapons were merely to be used were they to be attacked themselves.

Bandits, thought Amy. Nothing but thieves who've come to steal from the hospital.

Her train of thought was interrupted as she heard the sound of a horse neighing, before seeing it appear before her. Xand and Loren were riding the horse, though as it came to a stop, Loren jumped off it, unsheathing a sword and pointing it towards the bandits.

"I won't say this twice," he said. "Step away from her."

One of the bandits (who was clearly their leader), chuckled at this comment. "Who's gonna stop us? You?"

As if to answer, Loren sliced downwards with his sword, cleaving the arm of the bandit nearest to him clean off. The man screamed as blood started pouring from his shoulder, writhing on the ground in pain.

"So, it's a fight you want, is it?" said the bandit leader, his tone mocking and snide. "Then it's a fight you'll get! Men! To arms!"

At his word, not only did the three remaining bandits ready their axes, but two more appeared from the shadows, stepping out of two alleyways behind the group.

Xand turned to Amy. "Your name was Amy, correct?" he asked. When he received a nod in response, he continued with, "You said you were a mercenary earlier. If I return your blade to you, will you help us fight off these barbarians? As you can see, we're quite outnumbered."

"Looking to hire me, are you?" asked Amy. "Well, if it's martial skills you're looking for, I'm not exactly the best person to help. I can wield a sword, yes, but I'm no expert."

"But I thought you said you were…" began Xand.

"A mercenary? I did say that. But I also qualified it with the words 'of sorts'," replied Amy.

"Care to elaborate?"

"I'm not a fighter. Not really. I sell my skills as a military strategist."

"A mercenary tactician? That's rather… unusual."

"For you, maybe. My profession isn't particularly well known, so finding work can be difficult at times. But I never let an employer down."

"So will you help us, then?"

"Of course. Just hand me my sword and listen to my instructions."

"Very well." Xand reached towards the sword with his left hand, handing it to Amy, who quickly unsheathed it. In his right hand, she noticed, he was holding a lance of some kind – it looked rather well made, but also quite heavy.

"Let's get to work!" shouted Amy.

Let's see here… thought Amy. There are six enemies, but only three of them are close enough to be a threat. We can't let the others get close enough to join up, so the best plan would be to rush forwards and attack as quickly as we can.

"What's your plan then, Amy?" asked Loren.

"I say we eliminate the three closest to us before the others catch up and we have to deal with all of them at once," she explained. That'll give us the best odds."

"Okay. I'll trust you on that."

As one, the three of them ran forward, charging towards their opponents. Being on a horse, Xand naturally arrived before the other two, and was the first to engage in battle. He swung his lance with impressive physical strength, first knocking the axe out of the bandit's hand, then tearing it through his flesh, opening up a wound in the man's chest that blood poured out of, before the man fell to the ground, dead.

Loren and Amy were close behind, and each engaged one of the other bandits. Loren managed to parry an axe swing with his sword, before thrusting directly towards the man's chest. The bandit crashed down with his axe at the last second, pushing away the sword so that it only managed a glancing blow. Loren quickly recovered, however, following up with a horizontal slice that dropped his opponent to the ground.

Amy, on the other hand, wasn't faring so well. Her sword skills were noticeably worse than Loren's, and it took all her strength to keep parrying her foe's axe blows. She eventually managed to land a cut, but her sword hadn't gone very deep, and her opponent continued to fight. That is, until Xand's lance appeared behind him and impaled him, causing him to send out a scream that could be heard several streets away.

"Are you okay?" asked Xand, noticing a small opening in Amy's shoulder where the man's axe had glanced, blood seeping out of it.

"I'll be fine," replied Amy. "I'll patch this up once the fighting's over."

"Are you sure?"

"Part of being a tactician means knowing everyone's limits, including my own," said Amy. "I'm sure."

"Okay. What do you propose we do next?"

She looked down the street to where the bandit leader and his two remaining underlings were, one on either side of the road. "I think we should split up to take down the two remaining lackeys," she said. "Loren and I will take one while you take the other."

"Wouldn't it be better to go straight for their leader?" asked Loren.

"No," replied Amy. "These aren't military men, they're common thieves. They'll keep fighting even if their leader falls. It'll be easier for us if we can remove any obstacles before we take him on."

"Alright. Let's do it," said Loren.

He and Amy ran towards one of the bandits, swords drawn. While Loren kept the man distracted, parrying his axe swings, Amy circled around him and kicked him hard in the back. Having lost his balance, he fell over, and it was then a simple matter of Loren driving his sword into the man's chest.

The two of them glanced over to Xand, who had already dispatched his adversary. The man was lying on the ground, writhing in the pain caused by the hole in his arm made by Xand's lance.

"Excellent work," said Amy, as the paladin rejoined them. "Now there's just the commander left."

"What do me do now, then?" asked Loren.

Amy smiled. "There are three of us, and only one of him," she replied. "Let's end this together.

The three of them began running towards the bandit leader, their weapons held high. Having seen them dispatch his minions with such ease, the leader was feeling nervous, but he didn't let it show. "Come on, you fools!" he shouted. "You'll soon find out that it was a mistake to challenge me!"

"The only mistake here," shouted Loren, "was when you decided to attack this clerics' house. Now you will answer for your crime!"

"I won't be answering for anything," shouted the bandit, "because you're far too weak to stop me!" As he said that, he pulled an axe from his belt, then threw it directly at Loren.

The throw was both well-timed and accurate. The axe sliced through the air, hurtling towards Loren with such speed that he wasn't able to raise his sword in time to block it.

"Watch out!" shouted Amy. As she did, she leapt towards Loren, eventually coming close enough that she was able to knock the axe out of the air with a blow from her sword.

"Grr… You'll pay for that, you miserable wench!" shouted the bandit leader. Unfortunately, he had failed to notice how close Xand had gotten to him, and as the lance crashed into his leg, he lost his balance and came crashing to the ground. All three of his foes were upon him now, and he realised the futility of his situation just moments before Loren's sword tore into his body, killing him.


"Is everyone okay?" asked Amy, more out of instinct that genuine worry. She had been watching her two allies the whole time, but she made if a point to always make sure that everyone was alright at the end of a fight.

"Thanks to you, we're fine," said Loren. "We couldn't have done that without you, at least not without sustaining some injuries."

"How about you?" asked Xand. "That cut on your shoulder looks painful."

"I'll be fine, as long as I get it bandaged," replied Amy. "Speaking of which, I ran out of medical supplies while I was on the run.. Could I trouble you to lend me a bandage and some salve?"

"Of course," replied Xand, reaching into the pouch on his belt and handing Amy the items she requested.

By this point, the commotion had been over for long to enough for the clerics inside the hospital to have calmed down, and now their matron had come outside to talk to the three fighters.

"Thank you so much," she said. "I don't know what we'd have done if we had been raided. If we'd lost our supplies, we may even have had to shut down completely." Her words were fast and still slightly panicked, making it obvious that she had only just gotten over what had happened.

"It's not a problem, sister," replied Loren, "Those bandits were going to rob you, so we had to stop them. We need no thanks from you."

"They won't trouble you again, either," added Amy. "The couple who survived ran away to lick their wounds, but not only is their leader gone, but they'll take a long time to get over their injuries."

"I don't know how to repay you," said the matron.

"There's no need to do anything, sister," replied Loren. "Knowing that we did a good deed is reward enough."

"Th-Thank you, sire," she replied.

As she turned and left, Amy turned back to the two men she had just fought with. "And what about me?" she asked. "A mercenary can't work for free, you know."

"Of course," said Loren. "Why don't you come back with us to the castle, and I'll see about paying you for your work."

"An invitation to the royal castle? I would be honoured, sire," responded Amy.

"In that case," began Loren, "we should get going."


Next time:

Amy is taken to the palace in the centre of Idon, the castle in which the royal family lives. There, she meets the nation's princesses, as well as the group of warriors who serve as the prince's own personal army. When Loren and his warriors are called to deal with a disturbance in a nearby village, she goes with them to showcase her true skills as a tactician.

"Chapter 1: The New Recruit" is up next.