Fire Emblem Awakening: Defying Destiny
Future past
"Hyaaaaaaaah!"
The blue haired exalt's battle cry rebounded off the sides of the sacrificial altar as he and his companion made towards their quarry, weapons brandished. The young exalt's name was Chrom. He was a skilled warrior who was an expert in sword art. He wielded the legendary dragon slaying sword, Falchion, the blade of the hero king, Marth which he used to defeat the fell dragon, Grima centuries ago.
His companion was his tactician and closest friend. The tactician was one of the rare few who dared to use both tomes and swords. What's more he was extremely skilled in using both. He currently had in his possession a Thoron tome and a steel sword. His tactician's cloak hood covered most of his face. The two had been through so much together they were practically brothers. It seemed that nothing could break their bond. The sorcerer they were fighting was known as Validar. He was a tall and skinny man wearing a dark sorcerer's robe. He was wielding the dark tome Grima's Wrath. Dark magic was erupting from his fingertips.
Chrom engaged Validar first. Dark magic flew as Chrom swung Falchion at Validar, each time being blocked by the dark wizard's magic. The tactician ran to the side, pooling his mana, charging a blast of Thoron ready to shoot Validar when there was an opening.
All of a sudden Validar disengaged the young exalt and leapt several feet into the air
"Up there!" cried Chrom, pointing to where Validar was floating above them, a large ball of dark energy forming above his head.
Validar gave both men a snake-like smile and sent with the ball of dark energy crashing down towards the ground between the two friends, sending them flying across the altar away from one another. As the tactician was thrown he sent the bolt of Thoron he had been charging towards the dark wizard. Unfortunately Validar teleported away from the blast just in the nick of time. The Thoron spell struck the ceiling leaving a scorch mark where the spell had dissipated, sending rubble flying to the ground.
The tactician looked up from the ground just in time to see Chrom blasted into one of the pillars supporting the ceiling. He stared in horror as dust cleared to reveal Chrom struggling to stand up against Falchion. The tactician cocked his head towards the laughing figure of Validar who was once again creating a sphere of dark energy ready to finish off Chrom.
"DIE!" the sorcerer screamed launching the sphere of dark energy towards the injured exalt.
Faster than he knew he could the tactician rose to his feet and sent a blast of Thoron to intercept the sorcerer's attack. The two spells collided causing an explosion that resulted in dust flying everywhere. When the dust cleared Validar stood tall eyeing the tactician.
The tactician looked at Chrom who was still struggling to get up across the floor from them. He needed time to recover before he could fight again. It was up to him to distract Validar while Chrom got his breath back. "Chrom's going to owe me for this." the tactician thought, putting his tome back into his robe's inner pocket and unsheathing his sword.
"It's time to tip the scales!" The tactician cried rushing forward holding his sword in both hands. Validar merely sniggered and engaged his quarry. Despite not being nearly as skilled with a sword as Chrom, the tactician managed to hold his own against the dark sorcerer. Both were giving it their all, neither fighter giving in. Every time the tactician's sword struck Validar's magic it seemed a small shock wave would pass through the area. However, as the battle went on, Validar began to gain the upper hand on the tactician, who was beginning to lose his stamina. "This can't go on much longer." he thought blocking another one of Validar's blows. "Chrom, I swear you'd better get over here and help or-" the tactician's thoughts were cut short as Validar finally broke his sword with a slash of magic that the tactician had only just been able to block.
Briefly looking at what had once been his sword, the tactician began to reach for his Thoron tome only to be stopped by a heavy boot that had been thrown on top of his chest, pinning him down preventing him from reaching it.
"Such a disappointment" Validar sneered, looking down in disgust at the tactician. "You could have been. So. Much. More. You had a great purpose, THE GREATEST PURPOSE!" The last words he practically screamed. With that he raised his hand and dark magic began to materialize above him. "It doesn't matter what I do to you, He can repair anything that I break."
Validar's words scared the tactician more than he could say. He knew who Validar was referring to. He knew what purpose Validar was referring to, his destiny, his terrible destiny. The tactician closed his eyes waiting for the final blow. But it never came. Instead he heard Validar cry out in pain and felt a weight lift from his chest. The tactician opened his eyes to find Chrom standing over him, Falchion in hand, sweat rolling down his brow. The Tactician looked towards the figure of Validar, who was now standing in front of the altar clutching his side where Chrom had clearly slashed the evil sorcerer.
"Let's finish this"
The tactician turned to his friend standing at his side. "Right" the tactician replied with a smirk. He prepared his Thoron tome, but also pooled his mana together ready to be released as a massive blast of electrical energy. "Ignis" the tactician thought.
All of a sudden purple flames seemed to manifest themselves from the tactician's body. He could feel his physical and magical strength increase dramatically. Channelling all his remaining energy into one last attack, the tactician sent the spell crashing towards the injured Validar.
The spell hit its mark, striking Validar in the chest. The smell of burning flesh filled the room as Validar looked to his bloodied, seared chest and then back to the two friends looking at him with cautious eyes.
Suddenly Validar's body burst into flames. He sank to his knees, then, falling to the ground he outstretched his hand as if trying to reach for them, only for it to collapse along with his burning body.
Chrom turned to his closest friend and gave a tired smile, which the tactician happily returned. The moment came to an abrupt end when a final shout came from the burning corpse of Validar.
"NO, THIS ISN'T OVER!" he cried, his body suddenly rising up from the ground. "DAMN YOU BOTH!" Just as Validar disappeared he sent out a wave of dark magic aimed directly at Chrom. Chrom's reaction was too slow. He was still looking at the tactician. In what would be his final act of bravery, the tactician pushed Chrom, his best and closest friend, out of the way of the blast, taking on the full might of the attack, sure that he would die. "Still there are worse ways to go out." He thought. "Saving your best friend slash exalt isn't a bad way to go." With that he closed his eyes and waited for death's embrace. Instead he felt himself strike the floor after flying several meters away from Chrom.
The tactician looked up from the floor to see Chrom running over to him.
"Hey, are you alright?" Chrom said helping his friend off the floor, smiling slightly to see he was alive. "That's the last of him." They both looked towards the altar as the last few cinders of what had been Validar dissipated.
"Thanks to you we carried the day" Chrom happily told his friend still looking towards the altar. However something was happening to the tactician. He could feel a powerful force invade his mind, forcing him to do its bidding, his vision turned red and he could barely hear a thing.
He managed to make out Chrom saying "Hey Robin, are you alright, hang on, we'll get you to- uh"
Chrom's eyes suddenly widened in surprise, betrayal evident in them and took a few steps back, enough for the tactician to see a spear of electrical energy piercing Chrom's body, blood dripping from the wound. The tactician looked from the figure of his dying friend to his own bloodied hand that still had electrical energy sparking, permanently staining the evidence of what he had done on his gloves forever.
Looking back towards his friend, the tactician found himself in shock not even able to apologise for what he had done. Chrom looked towards him and said, his voice now nothing but a whisper. "This is not your-your fault. Promise me, you'll escape this place, please go." With those last words Chrom shut his eyes and collapsed on the hard floor.
The tactician stepped back still looking at the corpse of his friend, horrified at what he had done. Tears formed in his eyes. What had he done? He was the murderer of the exalt, his best friend. What would the others think of him? Chrom's family was never going to forgive him; Sumia would have to raise their children alone. He could only imagine the sadness on the faces of Lucina and little Cynthia, when they found out that their father had died.
"HAHAHAHAAAHAAAHAAAHAHA"
The sound of laughter brought the tactician out of his thoughts. He looked around for the source, but there was no one there.
"OH HOW THE MIGHTY HAVE FALLEN, KILLED LIKE THE PATHETIC DOG HE WAS" the voice boomed, reverberating off the walls, striking at the tactician's heart.
"Who's there!" the tactician called. "HHHow dare you speak of Chrom like that!" His voice was a mixture of rage and sorrow.
"I AM WHO YOU WILL BECOME, WHO YOU WERE ALWAYS MEANT TO BE." The voice replied mockingly "THE MARK ON THE BACK OF YOUR HAND IS PROOF THAT YOU BELONG TO ME."
"NO!" The tactician shouted out "I will never be one with you!"
"OH, BUT WHAT CHOICE DO YOU HAVE? YOU ARE NOW ALL ALONE. WHEN YOUR FRIENDS FIND OUT WHAT YOU HAVE DONE, THEY WILL RESENT YOU, HATE YOU, FEAR YOU!" The voice was practically giggling with glee sensing the Tactician's resolve breaking. "THIS QUEST YOU CAME HERE TO ACCOMPLISH WAS FRUITLESS. YOU COULDN'T EVEN KILL VALIDAR."
"What are you talking about? I watched Validar-" The tactician stopped mid-sentence, turning back towards the altar to see Validar standing there smirking at him.
"YOUR FRIEND IS DEAD FOR NOTHING, AND. NOW. YOU. HAVE. NOTHING!"
"No, you're wrong!" And yet he was unsure.
"BUT I'M NOT." The voice simply replied. "COME ROBIN, JOIN WITH ME. YOU WILL BE ALL POWERFUL, YOU WILL BE A GOD!"
"But-." The Tactician said, thinking of Chrom's last request.
"BUT NOTHING!" The voice shouted back, causing the room to shake. "YOU WERE MEANT FOR POWER, FOR GREATNESS! NOW JOIN WITH ME AND FULFILL YOUR DESTINY, JOIN WITH ME AND BECOME WHO YOU WERE ALWAYS MEANT TO BE. THE FELL DRAGON, GRIMA!"
The tactician sank to his knees utterly defeated. There was nothing he could do. His life was effectively over. He looked in to what he thought would be his future and saw only hatred and loneliness. That was no life to live. But was giving himself to the fell dragon any better? Was becoming Grima really the answer?
The tactician rose to his feet, his decision made.
"Fine." His voice was quiet and dead in defeat. "I'll do it. I'll become Grima."
The voice suddenly burst out in victorious laughter. It was deafening.
"GOOD CHOICE. NOW PREPARE YOURSELF BECAUSE, THIS IS GOING TO HURT."
A dark mist formed around the tactician snaking its way over his body. The tactician sank to his knees in agony. His mind burning as he felt himself slipping away. Losing control of himself. His eyes turned red and pupils turned in to dragon- like slits. His body began to emit dark magic scorching the ground beneath him. As the last of the tactician's mind began to disappear, his last thoughts were.
"I was tricked, I am not becoming Grima, Grima is becoming me."
With that, what was left of the tactician finally died.
The tactician, Robin was gone. The Fell Dragon Grima was reborn.