Author's Note: Hey, thanks for checking this out. I mainly wrote this on a whim after recently discovering FoxwolfJackson's Spellbinding Radiance about a week ago and binge reading it most of the way through. I'm also hoping this will help me deal with the writer's block I have about a major fight scene in another story of mine. Even if you don't like this, please review anyways and tell me what you don't like. In fact, please include as many things in your reviews as possible that you didn't like and point out my mistakes. I would really appreciate the help to grow as a writer. And so…it's disclaimer time.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of this except myself and the OC that will be mentioned in this chapter and in most if not all of the later chapters. I also own all of the unique twists that I'll be putting on the laws of nature later in the story, unless someone else already thought of them and put them up, in which case I apologize but was unaware of it. So, without further disclaimerism…which isn't a word…here you go.
Before I really get into the story, I need to explain how I got to where I am when things really got moving. Three months ago I was just like you. A fan fiction reader, fire emblem fan, etc., etc. Then the strangest thing happened. And no, it wasn't some mysterious voice calling me to another world or some such mystical event. No. My version of Earth ended. Yes, my world ended. At first I thought I would die and go to whatever afterlife existed. And yes, for the first five minutes I thought that I was in the afterlife.
Then one General Petrine of the Four Riders of Daein came along with her troops and took me prisoner, leaving me in an overtaken Crimean prison with a lot of other POWs. You see, after my world ended, I woke up in what was apparently the northernmost reaches of Crimea dressed up like a Crimean soldier. I don't know exactly why Petrine took me prisoner instead of killing me, but I have yet to decide if I'm grateful for it or not. If the end result is not, then I know why she did it. If I am...well then that won't have anything to do with her since all she did was delay me from living my apparent new life.
Now, I was not the prime example of physical fitness when I became one of the first POWs of the war. But it's a prison. So, stereotypically, the people imprisoning us felt the need of provide us with outlets for exercise. Breaking rocks, for no real reason, with pick axes; somewhat surprisingly advanced weights in the prison's exercise yard; making us march around the perimeter of the prison dressed as Daein soldiers with our hands and feet bound by well concealed shackles...in hindsight, I realized that they were making us act as bait for anyone who wanted to try and free us. Luckily, no one did.
And then there was the guards' favorite: The Pit. The Pit was this big circle dug out in the middle of the basement of the prison, surrounded by torches. Every day the guards would each pick a prisoner and they would make us fight. Whoever won got an extra piece of bread for each fight they made it through. Of course, the others started to distribute their wins amongst the rest, and then Petrine found out...I thought we were going to die when she showed up and declared that Crimea had lost.
That was one week into the war. ONE WEEK. I couldn't exactly remember how long the initial invasion took, but one week seemed a bit too fast. Then again, a suspiciously large number of nobles were perfectly fine after the war, so I figured they had turned traitor in hopes of getting high positions in the new regime or something. Idiots. I had come to realize by then that the differences between this world and the Tellius of Path of Radiance was great. As hard as it was to believe, I had little doubt that Ashnard had killed them all.
Petrine stuck around for a while after that. She watched us closely. Her eyes reminded me of a predator seeking fresh meat. Then, a few days into my third week on Tellius, she singled me out. Among the other prisoners I was, and this was actually blatantly obvious, the least broken. I smiled at her and told her to kindly shove it and get on with killing me already since there was no real reason to keep me alive. Two hours later I was in The Pit, grappling with one of my fellow prisoners.
They all hated me after that day. Petrine made the 'exercise' a lot harsher on everyone else to try and break me to her will. As bad as I felt about it, I had actually planned that out. It was a gambit, sure. There were far greater odds of my being skewered on her flaming lance than things going my way, but it worked out in the end.
Phase one: take advantage of how well Daein feeds the POWs. They gave us more than enough food for every soldier to be in top shape. This led to phase two: increase the exercise to make sure every single one of my fellows was in great physical shape, and to get into it myself. Phase three: win over some of the guards. Phase four: riot. A simple four step plan. And The Pit was a great place to practice fighting people barehanded.
Over the course of the next two and a half months that was exactly what I did, slowly gaining the understanding of my fellow prisoners...who, in turn, still treated me like a pariah because they didn't want to give anything away. Then, eventually, Petrine left after a red haired archer showed up outside with a Daein battalion that was to return home to shore up the defenses on the Daein-Begnion border. I knew exactly who that archer was. Shinon of the Greil Mercenaries. I figured out that meant Greil had died already.
...not even two days later Haar (yes, Haar was there), left the prison with his Wyvern Riders, following Petrine. They suspiciously broke off their supposed course and turned southwest. I knew it had to be to set a trap at Port Toha. I knew it was now or never. The word went out during the march around the prison. That night, once the moon was directly overhead, all the prisoners with a guard walking past their cell grabbed them, pulled them up against the bars, and silenced them with either shanks or by crushing their necks. Then they took the keys, freed everyone else, overwhelmed the guards with numbers, and took what they could before scattering to find some place to hide until they heard about something they could use as a beacon to gather around. I made a mental note to do everything in my power to get Ike to burn that prison to the ground when the army came through the north after taking Daein as a signal to all those soldiers that there was hope.
That night though...it still hasn't come back to me completely, I kind of repressed the memories. It was my first kill. It was probably a lot messier than the others. I didn't look to see. After bashing a guy's skull in against my cell bars repeatedly and holding his corpse up as my cellmate - Zihark, believe it or not - picked the keys off his waist. If it wasn't for Zihark getting caught nearby after deserting the Daein army, I don't know if I could have made it out of that place alive.
Unfortunately, Zihark and I got separated while we were trying to escape a random patrol we'd run into. I hoped he'd gotten away as I had.
How did I escape you ask? Well, too much free time and Assassin's Creed would be where the credit lies in that particular skill set. I'm not anywhere near as good as Volke or Sothe, but hey...as someone wise once said, people seldom look up. And yes, that was a reference to Will Treaty's, the protagonist of the Ranger's Apprentice series, favorite saying.
When I woke up the next morning I found two steel bucklers, those round shields soldier class units carry, and a cell phone lying next to me in the abandoned barn I had taken refuge in.
The shields were plain metal, no markings or paint, nothing. The edges were all very sharp though, very sharp. Except for the part that would be touching me. The shields were dulled on those bits.
The cell phone though...that was unexpected. It was something that didn't belong in the world of Tellius, just like myself. It was a black, sleek and thin flip model with no brand name on it. The surface was smooth and had a finish on it that was clearly meant to minimize any glare the sun could reflect off it. After I flipped it open I found two things: first, a text message on the screen and second that there was only a single button. The button was somewhat large and in the middle of the rectangular cell phone's usually button filled space. In the center of it was a glowing red dot.
The message went something like this: "I hope you like the new toys. I'll send instructions on what to do every so often when you're alone. If you ever find yourself in a tough spot, ask for time to think alone. Make sure no one knows of this just yet. If you encounter any...personal problems, push the button. And tell no one of your background. Things are too different in reality from the fiction you know. They cannot depend upon you. Too much is at stake. Tell them that you're the illegitimate son of a high ranking Begnion nobleman, but that you can't say who due to the good he does for his country. And if anyone does see the phone, tell them it was a gift from him, something very experimental and extremely costly to make that allows a form of long distance communication. It's true enough. Good luck and use that Assassin's Creed stuff you were a bit too enthusiastic about."
"P.S. Hope you like the new threads."
I glanced down, almost afraid of what I might find. I was understandably relieved to see it was just a dark blue breastplate over an equally dark blue tunic and some white pants and brown boots.
After inspecting the shields I found a leather gauntlet held in each shield's straps, clearly meant for me. They were fingerless and I had a brief moment of wishing my tunic and armor were green and that I had an annoying fairy following me around. In a way though, I did. After strapping on of the shields on my back with a bit of rope I found (I ran it through the straps so the sharp edges wouldn't dig into me), and settled the other onto my left arm, I took note of the leather pouches hidden beneath my tunic, which also hid some pretty badass chain-mail.
I checked the phone again before I put it in one of them and was greeted with a simple timer counting down ninety-six hours by the second. Probably the amount of time before my next set of instructions.
After tucking the phone away and finding a compass in one of my utility belt's pouches (how can I not call it that?), I paused and thought for a moment. Why was I trusting this mysterious gift-giver? Was it the same person who brought me here? In the end, I decided to take advantage of my solitude and brought the phone back out.
Flipping it open with my right thumb I pressed the button with a quick and experienced jab before the flip was even finished. And they said hours of video games dulled the reflexes.
"Figured you'd push the button soon. Wondering how you ended up alive, in this world? Well, see, the thing is...I had to make you into a Branded to revive you. And the reason would be that this world, Primus, is the version of things where all the adventures of the Fire Emblem games, excluding those of Awakening and the kids of other protagonists, are taking place at the same time. And Grima...well, he kind of corrupted the nature of the world a bit. So I need you to deal with the fallout. Think of me as that Time-Guardian concept you made up a while back. You can even call me Garm. Oh, you should introduce yourself as Bahamut. It'll fit the heritage I gave you, don't fret.
"As for why you should trust me...well, I am you in a sense. I'm one of the millions of alternates you made up in your head. Bet you can't guess which one has the resources, brains, and abilities to pull this off, right?"
"Umbreos..." I groaned. Umbreos was the name of this eccentric god-like white furred Umbreon I invented as a kid and used in my early teens in RPs on online forums. He acted as the plot lines' Deus ex Machina. If something needed fixing, making, or doing, he did it in the blink of an eye. Literally. His arch-nemesis was a concept. He was way too overpowered for me to even consider using as anything but comic relief. Or, had this been a fan fiction I was writing, a plot device. A very capable one at that. And as I had expected, another message popped up as soon as I deleted the last one.
"Bingo. I can't interfere in anything real any more than I have. I live in a fictitious world, unlike the one you're in buddy. So, I'll do my best to help you. You know better than I do how much like yourself you made me personality wise. I'm the expression of the true self you liked to keep buried back home. So enjoy this new life I gave ya; it was the least I could do after all. You gave me my brother and my nephews back. You made me a kindhearted person. I owe you a lot. And you owe this world a lot since your power to create such things stemmed from the moment Colm silenced the Demon King with an Iron Sword in your first attempt to beat that huge ass final boss in Sacred Stones. That really was a condition for unlocking your Emissary thing, seriously. Anyway, that isn't important. What is important is that you get a move on to Port Toha. That countdown is the timer to how long you have to get to the ship and help save the day. Ike and them will need all the help they can get.
"And one thing I forgot to mention: you can use the sharp edges of the shields as weapons," something I had already realized, "but I doubt you need me to remind you. Now get moving. I have a grand-nephew to babysit. See ya." I stood there for a moment, grinning like an idiot. My only thoughts were about how Enigma had finally had a kid. Or perhaps it was the other one. It's been a bit too long to remember the names too clearly now.
I shut the flip phone and tucked in away in a pouch and carefully made my way out of the barn. It looked to be about noon, which wasn't a surprise given how hard my old sleeping habits had died, and I was starving. I started to walk, wondering about where I might get some food when I realized that my ever-prepared plot device would have thought of that too. After some rummaging and nearly slicing the back of my neck with the shield strapped to my back, I found some beef jerky in one of the larger pouches. There were about ten in all, all squarish and differing in size.
I chewed on the jerky, content, and realized I had never had jerky before. It wasn't that bad, considering that it was actual real dried meat rather than the preservative packed kill-me-slowly stuff from back home.
Home. Home was gone now. Family, friends, all of it. Gone. Gone were my piles of notebooks filled with random ideas, gone were my hard earned completed games...but more importantly gone was everything I had ever thought I could be, would be. I'd wanted to make video games, write novels, inspire a new generation. As I walked, suddenly realizing how careless I was being, I began to think about the future, putting aside those depressing thoughts for later. There was no point in thinking about it. If Umbreos could have saved my world, or even restored it, he'd have mentioned that and promised to send me home if I wanted once my work here was done. I crept into the woods and went in a ways before continuing on southwest.
I thought about what I could do in the future. I could still write, after all the sheer number of magic tomes in the world indicated that there was at least a printing press level of technology in circulation. Or perhaps there was magic I could use to write...no, after a second or so of thought, I didn't think magic would suit me all that well. I'd probably make a ton of stupid references like 'Tri-Attack' or steal spells from the Tales series. But I knew that someone else might be able to help mass produce novels and the like. If I was supposed to be a Begnion nobleman's illegitimate son, maybe Umbreos had set me up so that they thought I was their son. He did say that I should claim that I couldn't tell who since it was a good guy...so many possibilities, well...not about who my 'father' was, that was something that there were extremely few candidates for. You know how the Begnion Senate is.
I paused for a moment and marveled at how well I was taking all this. Then I realized that Umbreos probably modified my brain chemistry slightly to help with the process. And I had never been one to dwell on the past for very long, or the negative memories at least.
Then I thought about what I would have to do in the future. Things I couldn't avoid. Like killing large numbers of soldiers who had families waiting for them to return, worrying for them, fearing for them...I thought about the man I'd killed and was glad I had stopped traveling in the open to take to the safety of the woods along the way. That way no one heard the vomit that came down like a waterfall. My only thought on the matter was 'hey, there's that beef jerky from earlier'.
A hand held out a rag for me to wipe my face on, something I was grateful for, for the split second that it took to realize someone was standing next to me. Swallowing my fear with an audible gulp I looked up into the eyes of one Duke of Persis. Yes, I had somehow not noticed Sephiran appearing next to me. Then again, he did have access to warp powder...
"You must be the one then, hm?" And in that brief instant, his gentle voice filled me with fear. This man was behind so many of the events that had transpired in the games and I was instantly convinced he knew exactly who I was. Until he said "The one who orchestrated that prison break up in the northern regions, that was you correct? I ran into a swordsman on my way here and he asked me to keep an eye out for a youth with short black hair who had a brilliant mind and an iron will."
I was eternally grateful to Zihark yet again. "Yeah, that's me. I don't actually know how I held up this long after that...that man that I..."
"Calm yourself. This is war, you did what you had to-" Sephiran paused for a moment and stared at the back of my neck. "So that was why I felt such a strong presence..." he mumbled. I looked at him from my doubled over position, using the rag he had given me to dab at the vomit on my breastplate.
"What?" I was fairly certain I knew what he was mumbling about. Umbreos had said I was a Branded. That was probably my Brand he was looking at. This made me wonder which Laguz tribe I was related to. I really hoped it wasn't the dragons. I remembered distinctly that they lose themselves so much in battle that they keep killing until there's nothing left to kill.
"I have a talent for sensing the Branded you see. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. Here, as a matter of fact, let me conceal that for you with a simple spell. It should hold about three, four months. You can make it to Begnion by then, and I'll be more able to help you there. That is, if you don't mind?" No, no I didn't. Sephiran had always been one of my favorite characters of all time, Colm excluded, and being told he was willing to help me out was...well, incredible. Seriously. Sephiran is a badass.
Oh, in case you're wondering who my top ten are, and don't hate me for my opinions, here they are: 1) Colm, 2) Sephiran, 3) Nailah, 4) Jill, 5) Joshua, 6) Lyn, 7) Jaffar, 8) Tibarn, 9) Naesala, 10) Ike. Only reason Ike's at the bottom is because he forgot to bring Ragnell with him after his dad died. I was disappointed Titania didn't think to bring it either, really. Or Caineghis. Otherwise Ike would be number three. Colm, well, Umbreos mentioned why he happens to be my absolute favorite. And number eleven is Kellam, just to say that I will never forget...who was I talking about again?
Anyways, after that offer of help was extended I nodded dumbly. Sephiran smiled reassuringly at my expression. "I take it you can't believe some stranger from Begnion would help you? It's understandable. Now, I believe you were heading in the direction of Port Toha, correct? Let's get moving. Something tells me we'll be needed there." Sephiran didn't forget to cast that spell he'd mentioned on me though. I thanked him repeatedly for his kindness after the cool sensation that trickled down my spine went away.
I briefly wondered if Sephiran was the supposed parent of mine that Umbreos had alluded to. I grinned and shook my head, believing that even he couldn't pull that off. Oh how I would be so certain of many things being similarly out of his reach and be so very harshly proven wrong at the worst moments. I should have known better. I made him after all.
We began to walk, with me following Sephiran's lead. I would have asked him to make sure he knew it was the right way, but he seemed so confident of it that I didn't bother doubting him. I mean, it's Sephiran. The only more apt candidates for a Chuck Norris styled joke on Tellius would be Stefan or Tibarn. Speaking of which, Stefan and Tibarn were once asked which of them would win in a fight. Both merely grinned and said 'Death'. I kid, I kid.
"You seem to be in better spirits now. Your will must be even stronger than that swordsman thinks for you to shrug off the first life you've taken so quickly after it caught up to you." I cursed Sephiran's insight for a moment as the horrible feeling of my very premeditated murder of that soldier came back. Beforehand and at the time I hadn't hesitated in the slightest. In fact, I was more disgusted with my lack of caring than with the act itself. This in turn disgusted me further and turned into a spiral of self-loathing.
"Ah, so it was merely that you had pushed the thoughts away. You needn't feel guilt over that action young man. It was something that you had to do. If you could've done it without killing, all those who had escaped would likely now be dead or close to it. Daein is ruthless. You did what had to be done and will have to continue to do so. War is an ugly thing. But killing is a part of life just as much as saving is.
"You must shoulder that necessary sin. I know it is hard, but knowing that you care makes it easier for a soldier to fall to your hands. They trust any foe to understand the price of their own lives better than any other. It is the way soldiers think, the way soldiers feel. Believe me. Now, show the world how much you care dear boy. Fight for what you believe is right and make those lost lives worth it." Sephiran's words were far more comforting than I could have imagined. He had just reminded me that I had a reason to be there. I had to right Grima's wrongs. Counter what I heavily suspected might have been torn from my very own mind. A twisting of the laws of nature belonging to this world that specifically affected the Branded of Tellius, amongst other things.
"I...I understand." And then I realized we had never exchanged names. "I'm, uh, Bahamut by the way. It's nice to meet you...?" Playing dumb was easy. I was still dumbstruck by my luck at meeting him.
"Sephiran, Duke of Persis. But don't tell anyone, I'm not supposed to be here." Sephiran, I realized, was wearing a hooded cloak over his usual fancy garb to hide his identity. In fact, his usual garb was significantly less fancy. It was just plain white priestly robes. This reinforced my surety about him NOT being my illegitimate 'father'.
Eventually we made a cold camp in a clearing and just fell asleep on the ground after walking in silence until the moon had risen well into the sky. Woke at noon, fell asleep when the moon was right over head. Hehe...I don't know how to make that into a joke, but I'm sure that there is SOMETHING there. Ah well.
The two of us walked through the woods for another day and a half. He came much more prepared than I was and it was actually thanks to him that I even ate anything. Sephiran is also very good at cooking up rabbit. Yarne, I'm looking at you for being so delicious!
After that last half we'd caught sight of Port Toha. It was nearly disk and we could see a lot of soldiers guarding the entrance. I spotted some wyverns and a familiar redhead. Jill. Jill Fizzart, my fourth favorite Fire Emblem character. Which meant my hunch was right and Haar was here. And I had a sneaking suspicion that Petrine might even be here. She would do that, wouldn't she?
This wasn't too far from how things were supposed to go as far as I could remember. But any deviations could be dealt with. I had a day to figure out how to get in, and I doubted the Greil Mercenaries would have an easy time getting in either, even with the Laguz and that red armored knight guy...Kieran. Rather, they'd have a harder time because of it.
I knew that Zihark was around somewhere too. I knew it mainly because this was the battle he joined the mercenaries in.
"Looks rather difficult to get in, doesn't it...but fear not. I have a way in. Follow me." Sephiran cautiously stepped out onto the dirt road and started to walk towards the ocean, a ways away from the port. I followed; keeping an eye on the wyverns to make sure no one was coming out to patrol or to catch us if we'd been spotted.
Sephiran led me back towards the outer wall surrounding the city to protect against bandit raids. A port was a pretty juicy target after all. There was a vaguely door shaped crack in the wall near the water. "You have got to be kidding me. You have a secret door here?"
"No," Sephiran smiled at me, "I just have a few contacts here is all." The Duke pushed on the broken section of wall and I watched it slide in and then someone pulled it to the side, urging us through. It was Zihark.
"Hello again, cellmate. How are you holding up?" Zihark's casual referral to me by that nickname reminded me I hadn't even told him a name, any name, to call me by. I wasn't sure if it was a good idea to use my real name just then.
"Yeah, sorry about that. Name's Bahamut. It's nice to finally 'meet' you." I held out a hand for the white haired swordsman to shake (my right since the left had a deadly modified shield on it), and he did in fact shake it.
"Zihark. Nice to finally 'meet' you too." The two of us were grinning like idiots for a minute before Sephiran pulled me aside.
"I have a favor to ask of you..."
And that was a very, very big favor. It involved a very dangerous delivery of a very deadly and forbidden document. This was definitely NOT in the game.
Author's Note: And that's chapter one. I don't know how regularly I'll update or if I'll even keep working on this. I do know that I'll write at least a few more chapters though, and depending on the reader response, possibly more. I hope you've enjoyed what you've read so far though. And with that, I bid you adieu. Please review since you've read.