First of all I should clear up that I actually posted a version of this at the beginning of last year, but after a lot of delays, I eventually gave up after three chapters. I'll admit that I don't really like writing but I've always wanted to see this story fnished, so I've decided to try it again. This chapter is a re-edited version of the original chapter.
This story is essentially a novelization of FE1/11. I originally thought of this while playing Total War, when I wondered what Fire Emblem would look like with battles on a Total War Scale. It developed from there and I eventually added a few other details to flesh out the world of FE, especially portraying realistic medieval warfare. There will be some very minor OCs mainly for the body count and to prevent faceless minions. Also, characters have been redesigned somewhat to have realistic armour and stuff. Helmets are heroic now.
Note that the Akaneia portrayed here is based more on real medieval Europe and so is not in medieval stasis. Because of this, Awakening does not necessarily follow this.
Since its founding over a century ago, the kingdom of Altea had enjoyed peace and prosperity, and before the events of the past few years, it showed no signs of stopping. For most people life continued peacefully although for a few, the absence of most of the knights and the news of war that was continually brought by travelling merchants, was a cause for concern. Yet most people doubted that what was happening in the wider world would ever reach Altea. Anyone who dared to stand against them would surely be defeated in no time, and life would continue as it always had.
As a mere vassal of the holy kingdom of Akaneia, Altea was hardly the largest or most powerful nation on the continent, yet its knights were one of the largest and most prestigious military forces in the known world. For many reasons, Altea was the envy of many other nations, yet its real treasure was in its legacy, having been founded by the great hero Anri.
From the years 493 to 498, the entire continent of Akaneia had been devastated in what became known as the War of Liberation, when under the last earth dragon Medeus, the manakete dragons of the Doluna Empire and their human slaves attempted to take over the entire continent, and to enslave and exterminate all of humanity. At that time, the holy kingdom was the only major power on the continent, hence why the kingdom and the continent shared the name: Akaneia. The holy kingdom, along with all the other people of the continent fought back, yet Doluna swept away all resistance and it was not long before the Akaneian capital fell and the royal family of Akaneia was almost wiped out. Many more died in battle, from sickness and famine, and under the tyranny of Doluna. Fortunately, mankind was never entirely defeated, and even after the fall of the holy kingdom, the people continued to rise up and fight against Doluna in any way they could. While it started off as what seemed like a lost cause, this changed when princess Artemis, the last surviving member of Akaneia's royal family presented Akaneia's national treasure: the Fire Emblem, to Duke Cartas. Wielding the Fire Emblem, Cartas rallied the people of Akaneia, and led them on a campaign to destroy the Doluna Empire. Despite some initial success, progress was slow and the war soon became a stalemate that dragged on for almost a year. This changed however, when the slave Iote of the Doluna occupied Macedon region, led his fellow slaves in revolt, by learning to tame the wyverns that were wild in the forests of Macedon. With the forces of Doluna fighting on two fronts, the forces of Cartas continued to retake territory that had been lost until after years of fighting, they laid siege to Doluna Keep, knowing that victory was finally within reach. It was at this moment however, that Medeus himself joined the battle, and turned the tide single handedly, decimating his enemies and almost killing Cartas himself. It was when all hope had been lost, that Anri, a young man from the remote town of Altea, appeared wielding the divine blade Falchion, and with it fought and slew Medeus, bringing the war to an end. It was after the war that Anri returned to his home town and founded the kingdom that stood to this day.
Everyone in Altea had heard this story and the proof was there for everyone to see. The divine blade Falchion, which had for a long time been kept in the Cathedral of Saint Anri, was now seen as a holy relic and attracted pilgrims from far and wide. According to legend, Falchion was forged many centuries before the war, by the divine dragon Naga from one of her own fangs. While this was the traditional story, many were sceptical about the sword's alleged divine origin, yet no one could deny that the material it was made from was something completely unknown. However, at this time Falchion was no longer in its chapel and for the first time since the defeat of Medeus, had been taken to war once more.
Five years ago, rumours had spread that Medeus had returned and was gathering an army, to rebuild the Doluna empire. While this was almost universally dismissed as pure nonsense, the reports of spies and military patrols soon made it clear that Medeus had indeed been resurrected, through the means of a dark ritual that was undoubtedly the work of Gharnef, a dark sorcerer who had gone rogue long ago, and stolen a forbidden artefact -known only to a handful of people - from the magical city state of Khadein. Since the last war however, the royal court of Akaneia had become corrupt and decadent, and the king, believing his kingdom to be unconquerable, refused to take action. A year later King Osmond of Macedon died mysteriously and when his son Michalis ascended to the throne, his first act was to sever all ties with Akaneia and instead, declare an alliance with Doluna. Grust was the next kingdom to fall as for unknown reasons, King Ludwik declared that Grust would join the Doluna alliance. For another two years, an uneasy peace remained, yet thoughout the continent, kingdoms prepared for the inevitable war. Finally at the turn of the century, a huge army of manaketes and many more fallen humans from Doluna invaded the holy kingdom. In the meantime Grustian forces started engaging the Altean knights in a number of skirmishes near the Altean border.
Now in the year 602, the Akaneian capital had been under siege for three months. King Cornelius of Altea wielding Falchion was leading an army along with his closest ally, King Jiol of Gra, against the Grustian forces at Fort Mennedy. From there they would break through into Akaneia and attempt to break the siege, or so they had hoped. Even if everything went according to plan, the king knew that the war would not end until Medeus was dead once again and as the heir of Anri, it was up to him to do it. Only then could he return to his kingdom, his wife Queen Liza who ruled in his absence, his daughter Princess Elice, and his son and heir Prince Marth.
Cole hurried along the dark and seemingly endless corridors of Castle Altea, wishing he had some idea of what was going on. He had been nearing the end of another dull night shift, guarding some deserted corner of the castle while trying not to fall asleep, when he received new orders from Princess Elice. What she or anyone else was doing up at this hour was a mystery to Cole, until he overheard some other passing guards saying something about news arriving from Fort Mennedy, yet even that left endless possibilities open and he now regretted not asking them when he had the chance. Whatever the case, he just hoped that he would find out soon, and that it was good news. In another few months, he would be sent out to the front where he might get some action instead of endless hours of patrols and guarding the castle from non-existent intruders, although he did admit that it was better to be posted here, rather than some backwater fort that was hardly worth guarding. Unfortunately, there were very few Altean soldiers here and the garrison mostly consisted of soldiers from Gra, and Cole wondered whether some of them were even soldiers. While he was not one to question the king's decisions, to him the soldiers from Gra didn't exactly look trustworthy, indeed some of them looked more like hired thugs than anything resembling professionally trained soldiers. All he could do was ignore his suspicions and continue his duties.
He eventually reached the outside of Prince Marth's room where he knocked on the door as loudly as he could several times. Soon he heard the prince asking him to enter and he stepped in.
"Your royal highness. Sorry to wake you but the princess wishes to see you," He continued, "She wants you to meet her in the throne room as soon as possible".
"I see." said Marth, although he didn't look like he expected to be summoned at this time. "Has something happened?" he quickly asked.
"I do not know for sure but I think it is to with our forces at Fort Mennedy," replied Cole He quickly added "Whatever it is, it must be urgent if you're being summoned at this time".
Marth nodded "Then I'll be there soon. Thank you".
"Sir." Cole acknowledged as he left.
Now that that was done he started on his way back to the barracks as his shift was finally over by now. He had already heard that some of the other guards knew more than him, so maybe some of the now off duty guards might be able to explain to him what was going on, and he would also finally be able to get some sleep. He didn't get very far before he found the last thing he expected within the castle: An Altean soldier lay dead at his feet, covered in blood which poured from what looked like a stab wound to the back of the neck, and also with some damage to his armour which looked like the result of a clumsy bludgeoning. Initially horrified at the sight, Cole stepped back, trying to think what could have happened and what he should do, before realising that whoever had done this was probably after the prince, who he had a duty to protect.
After getting dressed, Marth started on his way to the throne room, hoping that the news from the front line was good news but at the same time suspecting that something could have gone wrong. On the way out, he made sure to take his arming sword which he should have returned to the armoury earlier, as well as his dagger which he carried at all times, not knowing that he would be needing them very soon. As he left his room, he failed to notice the two soldiers who were ahead of him, hiding in the darkness and trying to stay as silent as possible. Their orders were to take the prince alive and it was proving much easier than they had expected. The time of day made it easy to hide, and now the prince was alone, heading straight towards them. Once he came past, they could easily take him by surprise and capture him, hopefully getting a reward for doing so, yet little did they know that it wasn't just the prince they had to deal with.
What happened next was the last thing Marth was expecting. As he got closer to the throne room, a soldier jumped out of the shadows and swung at him with the back of an axe. He appeared so quickly that Marth hardly had any time top react and just barely managed to step out of the way, and before either of them could do anything else, the attacker fell over with the end of a spear through his back, revealing the soldier who had informed him to head to the throne room.
"Look out" he shouted, pointing up as Marth quickly stepped aside and turned around, to see that another attacker had just missed him. Realising that he didn't have time to withdraw his spear, Cole quickly drew his sword and rammed into his opponent with his shield, sending him off balance. Before his opponent had time to recover, Cole used his shield to move his arm aside and then ran him through with his sword. Unfortunately, after this he let his guard down and another enemy, who had just appeared before he or Marth could notice, swung his axe directly into his neck, breaking through the weak armour and almost decapitating him.
While Marth had been trained in combat to some extent from a young age, he had never witnessed anything like the carnage that was before him. At this point he had instinctively drawn his sword and raised it into a high guard, knowing that for the first time ever, he had a proper fight on his opponent tried to keep his distance as Marth attempted a few feints. Seeing what he thought was an opening, the soldier swung his axe, hoping to catch Marth's sword, grab the blade with his free hand, and disarm him. Unfortunately for him, his timing was off and Marth managed to slice his wrist before dropping down and thrusting his sword through his chest.
Marth breathed heavily as he withdrew his sword and let his now dead enemy fall to the ground, trying to process what had just happened. He had trained in various forms of combat from an early age, often with some of the best knights in the country, but until now he had never been in an actual fight. Now he had come close to being captured and most likely killed, witnessed a real fight to the death and killed a man himself. While he knew that he had no choice, he could not shake off the feeling of guilt seeing the blood on his sword. He had always hoped the day something like that happened would never come. However, when Marth turned his head and saw the dead Altean soldier once again, he was reminded of his duty as prince. That soldier had died doing his duty to defend him and he could not let thoughts of guilt get in the way of his own duty. With that, he got up and continued on his way to the throne room, trying not to focus on what had just happened and as ready as he could be for anyone else who got in his way.
It was not long until he reached the corridor leading to the throne room, which was thankfully much better lit than the rest of the castle. He soon knew however, that he was not the only one there as he heard a shout from across the room:
"Over there. Get the prince."
Two more axe wielding thugs started to close in on Marth, to which Marth responded by raising his sword and getting into a fighting stance to which one of the thugs simply smirked in amusement, failing to notice the blood covering the sword. The other, quickly swung his axe repeatedly to force Marth back, but Marth knew how to recognise an obvious, clumsy feint and did not move, instead easily parrying each attack.
"Who are you?" he demanded, not expecting the answer he got. His enemy responded:
"We're soldiers of Gra," he answered while stepping back from the fight "and seeing as we now control this kingdom, it would be better for you to surrender". To Marth, this made no sense. What would allied soldiers, who were here to defend the kingdom claim to be in control. Was this a revolt by the garrison or worse?
"What? Why would I surrender to an ally?" asked Marth, feeling himself getting increasingly angry.
"So you still want to do this the hard way then," said one of the alleged Gra soldiers as both of them advanced. Marth, seeing that he was not getting any answers from these two, thrust his sword at the one he had been fighting, throwing a perfectly executed feint that caused the soldier to leave himself open, after which March sliced him through. Before he could withdraw his sword however, the other soldier tackled him from the side, threw him down onto the ground and used his foot to keep him down. As he attempted, to bring his axe down though, he had again proven himself less than observant. While Marth's sword was out of reach, he had failed to notice the dagger that Marth had been carrying on his belt and by the time he realised that Marth was still armed, the dagger had been driven through his leg. As he shouted in pain, Marth threw him off and after getting up, slashed his side and finally stabbed him in the temple.
After retrieving his sword, Marth headed towards the door to the throne room, once again trying to keep his mind off what he had just done. While he was shaken from the brutality of the fight, he was determined to find out what was going on especially after what the soldier had said. It simply did not make sense. Just as he reached the door, it was opened from the other side, revealing a Gra soldier who unlike the others looked more like a professional soldier although he was probably just a conscript, who wore some light armour and wielded a spear and shield.
"Looks like the reward is ours," he shouted to another soldier behind him, and came forward blocking the doorway and taking a defensive stance, sometimes thrusting his spear at Marth. Now knowing that the men he fought earlier were indeed working for Gra, Marth attempted to attack the soldier, successfully dodging his spear but hitting his shield each time. The soldier, who had the defensive advantage stayed where he was, expected Marth to tire eventually and become weak, but Marth had been holding back, attempting to lure his opponent into a false sense of security. Remaining stationary while attacking was a mistake Marth made in his early days of training, which he had learned to stop the hard way but now he was back to making the same mistake, meaning that any movement would be unexpected by his opponent, who would not otherwise come forward. Eventually, just as the soldier was about to thrust his spear again, Marth stepped to the left, enabling him to cut the end of his sword his sword across the soldier's face. The soldier fell to the ground, screaming in pain, before Marth swung his sword right across his neck, decapitating him.
As Marth stepped into the throne room, he discovered that the other soldier, had been busy fighting an Altean soldier at the back of the room and had just killed him. Expecting his comrade to easily deal with Marth, he was slightly aghast. Marth noticed him muttering something to himself before turning and running towards the throne, which he stood on top of, hoping to provoke Marth.
"Get off my father's throne" Marth shouted as he charged towards the soldier.
"It's not his now." said the soldier as he jumped down and got into a defensive stance, ready to repel Marth. "Can't you see that fighting is now pointless. Your army is defeated and your whole kingdom has been seized."
"I will not surrender under my own roof," said Marth as he brought his sword forward and drew his dagger with his left hand. The soldier repeatedly thrust at him with his spear, managing to achieve a few scratches, but failing to deliver a serious hit. Marth, using his two blades, repeatedly moved the soldiers spear away from him but could not get past the shield. Getting impatient, the soldier attempted to ram Marth with his shield, thinking that it would give him the opening he needed to deliver a proper blow, unaware that he had left himself open to do so. Marth, seeing an opportunity, brought his dagger up and struck the soldier's jaw with the pommel, and trying hard not be overcome by the sheer brutality of what he was doing, then delivered a killing blow tthrough the side of the neck.
Now that the enemy soldiers were dead, Marth now felt exhausted, both physically and mentally after killing five people. He and his weapons were now covered in blood and there were still two dead soldiers in the room to remind him of it. What was even worse was that he did not know why the soldiers had turned on him and he dreaded to find out what had happened.
"Marth," he heard a familiar voice say. As he was in thought, his sister Princess Elice approached from the side door, stopping briefly when she noticed the three dead men in the room. "Are you okay?".
Marth snapped back to reality, "Elice, what is going on?".
"I see we don't have much time," she continued, "Our army at Fort Mennedy was defeated. Gra betrayed us and struck the army in the rear."
At this point, Marth was speechless, having just hear the news that he had been dreading after what the last soldier had said.
"Is Father..." was all he had managed to say at this point.
"I do not know what happened to Father. All the scouts said was that most of the army was crushed, fighting on two sides. The few who escaped are scattered and are probably being hunted down."
Marth was struggling to take all this in, but trying to regain his composure he asked:
"What do we do now?" adding "What is the situation in Altea?".
"As you have clearly seen, the garrison have started pillaging from the inside. If I had known that, I would have sent someone to warn you," replied Elice, "As we speak, the combined armies of Gra and Grust are approaching from the North and Altea is defenceless and in complete chaos. For the sake of the kingdom, we have no choice but to escape".
Marth, now realising just how dire the situation was asked "How can we escape the castle?".
Elice responded "Go and meet Sir Jagen at the west gate. It should be lightly..."
Before she could finish, Marth interrupted "Aren't you coming?"
Elice hesitated slightly before saying "Mother and I were separated on the way here. I have to go and find her before I go, but I will join you once you are out," with emphasis on the last part.
Marth quickly said "Then I'll do the same," but Elice objected,
"No. Go and meet Sir Jagen and gather any other knights you can find. Once you clear a way out, I will catch up with you as soon as I can."
The way she said it made Marth doubtful of whether she was really being truthful, but all he could do was hope. With that Elice, hugged him as if she would not meet him again, which was what Marth somehow suspected but kept assuring himself that it was not the case. After that he turned and left, trying not to look back and trying to think only of what he had to do now.
"Goodbye Marth," whispered Elice as he left, "May you live long".
Feedback is much appreciated. I don't have much time to update at the moment, but the next chapter will again, be a re-edit of the original. I will have to rewrite most of chapter 3.