Fire Emblem: Path of the Branded
Act 1: Of Wyverns and Brands
Chapter 1
I sigh as we pull up in front of our destination, a large, two-storied Tudor. The street is packed with cars, trash, and students. I can hear the pounding music playing within the house from here, and it isn't even music I liked.
"Looks like the turnout is great," Casey says from beside me.
I glance over and see a grin on his face. "Yeah, great," I echo sarcastically. "Why did I let you drag me here again?"
"Because this is the only way I'll let you borrow my 3DS and Fire Emblem Awakening," he answers chirpily, as though I wasn't being rhetorical.
I look back at the swarmed house. "Those reviews better be right about it," I mutter, still not wanting to really get out.
"You need to get out more often," Casey says, beginning his usual lecture. "You've been at the college for over a year now, and this is the first party you've gone to. And I had to bribe you here on top of that. How do you think you'll ever find a girl that way?"
"You know I don't like parties," I reply, ignoring the verbal slap he gave me. Way to bring up a sore subject, dude!
Casey's smile drops as he sighs. "Fine. If you really want to go to the dorm, let me know, and I'll take you."
Perfect. I know Casey was being serious, and I could probably work out a different deal later. But on the other hand, I had promised him to go, and he was my closest friend. Plus, he had been trying to get me to one of these lively parties since we came to college, but I had refused to budge an inch. Shoot, I'm convincing myself in the wrong direction! I open my mouth to speak, but my guilty conscience decides to take a stab at my stomach, making my decision for me.
"Let's just go in," I finally force out, making Casey instantly perk up.
"You'll love it, trust me," he says. I'm sure I won't, actually, but I decide not to force the issue.
As I get out of the car, my foot kicks a glass bottle that rolls into a sewer drain. It was out of sight quick, but the green-tinted glass made it easy to identify. "I thought you promised there would be no liquor!" I cry out, casting an accusing glance at Casey.
Casey holds up his hands and shrugs his shoulders. "Hey, I was told there would be none. A lot of the students here are under twenty-one."
"Which makes this a perfect spot for a cop-bust," I mutter. I didn't think Casey heard me, but I must have spoken too loud.
"Listen, if the cops show, head for the bushes in the neighbors' yards, not out back, or in front. They always send someone to the back," Casey tells me in a serious tone.
Just how much experience do you have with these things? I don't voice my wonderings as I simply nod. Casey leads us into the house, the noise rising exponentially once we get past the doors.
Okay, I think I might actually get a migraine. No, correction; I will get a migraine. Why in the world is the music this loud? How can it get this loud?
I see Casey's hand wave at me, so I turn to see him trying to say something. Not a word is getting through, but it is slightly humorous to watch him trying to compete with the music. Then Casey turns and heads on through the house. Wait! Where are you going! What am I supposed to do!?
I hold in an irritated groan as I weave my way in Casey's general direction. I don't really feel like being ditched in such a hostile environment. Hostile to me, at least. He's already out of sight, but his height and signature hairstyle will make him an easy target once I close in. I unconsciously move through the sea of college kids without bumping into anyone. Despite this being my first party, I do have a lot of experience in crowd wading. High school taught me that, if nothing else.
After going through a few rooms, I give up on finding Casey so easily. This place has become a maze of junk. Maybe I should just…um…what do I do at a party? With no idea of what to do, I decide to continue on through the crowd to try and find a quieter area. I might be able to think easier there.
Despite the large amount of people, I don't see anyone I know. I guess only I can manage to be all alone in a crowd. I thought I would recognize someone here. I might be horrible at names, but I can at least recognize faces easily enough.
"Hello, good sir."
Chills go up my back at the voice. A clear, strong voice that seemed to brush all other noises aside to be heard. That raspy, clicking voice honestly sounded like the witch from Sleeping Beauty or something. I turn around to see just that: an old woman in a black robe. I'm pretty sure I'm making a weird face, but come on! What in the world is someone like this doing here? Her whole attire screams creepy. Was there some kind of costume contest here or something?
"Would you like some star dust, sir?" the woman asks me, holding out a handful of glittering sand. Despite the noise, her voice travels easily to my ears.
"Uh, no, thanks," I reply, taking a step back as her hand entered my personal space. So not only do they have alcohol here, but also drugs. Great.
The woman cracks a large, wicked smile, before her large eyes seem to bulge out of her head as she cackles, "No, I insist!" The next thing I know, a cloud of the strange, sand-like substance is blown right into my face. My usual fast reflexes aren't enough to close my eyes in time. It burns; it burns so bad.
I scrub at my eyes to clear them, but I don't feel any of the sand at all. I open my eyes, and though they still burn, I can't feel any grains and my vision is completely clear, somehow. I take a quick look around, but the lady is gone. At least I won't be attacked again. When I get ahold of Casey, he's going to get an earful, though.
"There you are!"
The only reason I turn is because I know that's Casey. I don't think I'll be able to turn toward someone's voice easily for a while. Maybe I should get some new sunglasses. My old ones broke a few months ago. I could picture me just walking everywhere with glasses on. People would probably start thinking I was blind, especially with my coordination at times. I wonder what it would be like to actually be blind.
"Hello~" Casey drawls snapping me back to the present. "Stop spacing out, man. Come with me."
Before I can reply, Casey grabs my hand and drags me through the crowd, not caring who he pushes by. In a few moments, I find myself outside in the backyard. Just as large a crowd pervades the yard, though only a few are in the huge swimming pool. I avert my eyes from the scantily dressed women who were deciding to take a dip. I may be a man, but I've got my morals. Correction, because I am a man, I know I need to look away…and maybe not because of moral reasons.
Casey rolls his eyes at my noticeable action and continues to lead me on. "I've found the perfect girl for you," he says at a normal speaking level. The music is thankfully much quieter out here.
"Are you really trying to hook me up again?" I complain, though only a little. Honestly, I'm reserving judgment until I actually meet them. Casey may not have the same likes as I do, but he wouldn't try to hook me up with someone bad; at least in his opinion.
Casey stops and points toward a table next to the pool. "There she is," he says.
I'm pretty sure I can see who he's pointing at, or at least I see a pretty girl over there. She has long brunette hair, and is surprising modest in her apparel despite the common style among the partiers.
I look back at Casey, and he raises his eyebrows at me a couple times. "Well, what do you think?" he asks.
Pushing past my usual reserved nature, I admit, "She's cute."
"Then go talk to her," he orders. "I'll be your wingman if you need one."
"I'll just talk to her on my own," I retort quickly. Wait, did I just say that? I wasn't planning on talking to her just yet!
"I'll be watching!" Casey replies, pushing me forward.
I can feel my face heating up already as I realize my predicament. Calm down. I can do this without flipping out. Just take a deep breath and go. Nothing to it right? Man, I'm such a loser.
Following my orders, I take a deep breath and begin walking over to the girl. "Uh, hey," I say as I reach her.
She turns to me and hesitantly replies, "Hi."
Smile! Remember to smile! Trying to smile as naturally as possible, I continue. "I don't think I've seen you around the campus before." I could probably give that statement to most of the people here, though.
She smiles a little back at me. "Actually, my friend brought me here. I don't go to the college. My name is Rosa."
I can't believe I forgot to introduce myself! Backtrack! Backtrack! "My name is-"
A loud pop interrupts me. We both look toward the other end of the pool where the sound came from. Someone is holding some kind of party item above their head while steamers fly into the air.
I look down at the pool as I suddenly realize that no one is in it. Something glittering seems to be on the water close to us, but it's too indistinct to make it out. Why did everyone get out?
Something hard shoves me directly in the back. Taken completely unaware, I fly face-first into the pool. With my eyes tightly clenched, I scramble through the water, trying to get to the surface quickly. I can hear water roaring all around as a current pulls me away.
…
Wait a minute.
This is a pool.
Opening my eyes, I continue clawing toward what I think is the surface. Only one problem; I can't swim. Doing my best not to panic and swallow water, I try vainly to learn on the go. My efforts only make it worse as I began to spinning around randomly, with no clue as to which way is which.
I can feel the strange current pulling me even faster. Where am I? Why is there a current? And why in the world was I shoved into the pool!? I don't think I'm going to another party again.
Actually, I might not be going anywhere again. Blackness is beginning to edge its way into my vision. I need air.
Something suddenly slams into me. Or rather, I slam into it. My head hits something hard, maybe concrete. I lose what breath I was holding, but I don't really pay attention as my head starts pounding from the pain.
The current suddenly draws me downward along the hard surface. I try to shake off of my dizziness as I attempt to not take in water. The concrete disappears as I'm suddenly thrust out into open air. I take a breath of fresh air and enjoy the taste it brings to my lungs.
Wind wipes past my head. Wait, I'm falling! I scream as I suddenly realize my worsening situation. This just isn't my day.
A hard surface breaks my fall before I start falling too fast. Something punctures my left shoulder, but I don't get time to process this as whatever I'm on keeps going in another direction. I'm flipped over onto something leather which I grab out of pure desperation and luck.
Forcing my eyes open more, I notice that I'm holding onto a large saddle. My ride jerks, and I almost lose my grip. Alright, first things, first. I need to get on this thing better. I step on a firm looking piece of the gear and use it to help level myself onto the saddle, trying to ride with the rhythmic bounce of the thing. Hooking in my feet, I grab the reins and hold on for dear life.
Taking in a deep breath, I finally let myself take in my surroundings.
Okay, I may have just wet myself a little. I'm fifty feet in the air still. A huge dam next to me is letting down a few torrents of water out a long drop into a river below. A small, strange town surrounds the river. I may be okay with normal heights, but this high off the ground on such a fasting moving…what am I on? Scales, a long neck…and…are those…wings…?
A dragon! I'm on a dragon!
-o-
AN: It's a self-insert! Unlike some self-inserts, this will be a more realistic one, as in the fact that, no, I have no official training, and only a month's worth of swinging a plumbing sword around with some friends. It's actually a lot of fun to do.
But anyway, there will be inevitable OC's in here, but I'll try to keep them extremely minor, with maybe a few that effect the plot, which is decided as the main character goes through his adventure. I've also taken the liberty of starting this in a different way, which you'll see more of in the next chapter. I will try to keep the canon characters in character as well as possible, using them as presented in the game, with my story probably affecting them in different ways than they would otherwise be.
If you have questions about my other work, well…my passion for it faded quickly as the effort to keep up with all the characters and storyline at the same time, having so little feedback after that much, while having so little creative thought in the process was killing me! And I wouldn't just finish it out with sub-par chapters, since I refuse to put up bad work. This is an attempt at a self-insert to fill in the one ingredient missing in my other story: imagination.
However, this is my first work in first person and in the present tense. A major change from my usual third person past tense works. Let me know if you see anything, as I have no beta right now, and I have a bad time forcing myself to edit…or even read my works over real quick (so that usual means raw material for you guys, sorry).
-o-
AN (8/5/17): With such a long time away, I'm going through the earlier chapters to edit and reorient myself with the story, so I'm be going through these and making small changes, though nothing major.
Update: Decided to do a title change since I've prepared most of the major plot points and know the generally direction and segments of the story. The story is now divided in three acts or books like in Radiant Dawn; the subtitles are: 1 – Of Wyverns and Brands, 2 – Of Dragons and Destiny, and 3 – Of Heroes and Kings. Those might be subject to change possibly, but for now, that's what they are. The title of this story is now changing from Path of Wyverns to Path of the Branded.