It was a stressful night for Edward. Perhaps it was the upcoming Psychology midterm, that he spent the night cramming for. Maybe it was his part time job, that his sadistic manager ordered him into even though he knew he had exams. But working at the pizza place provided the income he needed for the half of his tuition that his parents weren't paying for, and it was better than a job at McDonald's, so despite all the troubles he still went and worked himself silly. Those two factors alone made him physically and mentally exhausted. At the end of his shift, Edward was stumbling around and barely able to take off his uniform to leave in the store. He fumbled into the parking lot and slowly removed his car keys to a small used Sedan. The boy took two tries to get the car running and then slowly started the drive home.
The roads were clear. There were no jerks who changed lanes quickly without signaling, no drivers blaring at each other loudly with horns, no cyclists riding in the middle of the lane to get riled up about.
It was peaceful.
And for a tired driver, peaceful meant dangerous. The more relaxed a person was, the easier it was to nod off. He had been making a simple turn onto a local road. Edward blinked, once, then twice and never opened his eyes again.
"Wake up..." A gentle voice whispered.
"I'm waking up mom, five more minutes." Edward grumbled. His mind processed the statement. He was in college. Why would his mother be speaking to him?
"Awaken young child... We have not a minute to spare."
The voice, although gentle, was definitely not his mother's, it was smoother and more refined. Edward opened his eyes and backed away as he saw the form of a lady. Her hair was forest green, and her skin as pale as snow.
"Who... Who are you?" Edward asked, partly from fear, partly out of awe.
"Do you not recognize me?" The lady said quietly. "I am Naga..."
"The great dragon lady from Fire Emblem?" Edward replied, his hands clenched into fists. "Is this some kind of messed up dream?"
"I assure you, this is no dream." Naga smiled. "to speak the truth I need you. I am well aware that many of the people of your world know the story of Chrom of Ylisse, and his eventual destiny of dying by the hands of the fell dragon. I am requesting that you come, and become my emissary in changing that fate."
Edward shook his head and covered his face with his hands. This dream was already going in a strange direction. "What about Lucina? Can't she come back and save the world? Wasn't she supposed to be the one to do that? I don't understand... I think I might only drag her down, Miss Naga." The boy said politely.
The divine dragon sighed, and gently touched Edward's shoulder. She waved her hand and the scenery around the two of them changed in the blink of an eye.
Edward now saw himself standing in the midst of ashes. It was in a dark cell hidden away under the earth. Lying in the various prisons were Severa, Laurent and Gerome, all in various states of decay. The game did not give the Risen justice. Edward could see the living corpses wandering the halls. They were handsome in a manner, their skin was taught against their muscles, and their face was symmetric. But those only provided a bitter contrast to the horrors the risen possessed, watery crimson eyes and ash colored skin that flaked off piece by piece. The boy gasped in horror, and backed away slowly as he got used to the sight.
"Do not be afraid Emissary, they cannot harm you. I showed you this vision for a reason, let go of your fear and look. What do you see?"
Edward looked left and right, seeing only the corpses, both fallen and still moving. Then his eyes focused on an object hidden all the way back in the room. A golden shield with a long crack running down the middle, and a single gemstone placed into its face. Even in this state he could still feel the power flowing through it.
"That's... That's the Fire Emblem."
"Perhaps that was the way time flowed in another Ylisse, another world... In mine... The children were unable to recover the fire emblem. They obtained the Gemstones but without the Fire Emblem they could not form even a partial awakening. My power could not be used to grant that girl the strength to destroy the fell dragon, nor could I even provide a method for her to escape to the past." Naga looked regretful at the images of the fallen. Edward looked at the divine dragon's crestfallen face, and the full scope of what he had to do came on him.
"So you asked for me."
"I begged the lord of your world to have you. He accepted on the condition that you choose this path for yourself."
"I see."
"You are strong enough." Naga promised. "But you will feel pain. You will suffer. And those close to you will die. Do you have the heart to accept my contract? Will you become my Emissary of my will? If you wish, you make return to your world. But know this... If your reject me, this world will die once more. You may not care at all, as you know nothing of this world, but I pray you are compassionate enough to come and suffer anyways."
"I will." Edward said. His resolve had never been stronger before in his life. The journey of a lifetime was approaching and if he wanted to succeed, he had to be strong.
"Then let it be so..." Naga breathed. " The contract is established and will be sealed the dragonic way. Take off your clothes, if you leave them on, it can get messy." The dragon said while peeling off her mantle.
"Dragonic way?" Edward flushed as he backed slowly away from Naga. With his ears feeling like they were on fire, the boy slowly dropped his pants and removed his shirt. He shivered as he stood naked before the deity, every curve of his body exposed.
"Dragons do not seal deals with words or treaties but rather physical experiences." Naga gave Edward a playful grin. "With fire."
"I'm not sure I want to do this." Edward groaned. "How much will this hurt?"
"Plenty." Naga said, as she transformed. The dragon had reformed, her body had stretched out into a long snakelike form, her scales was a pure bright white, more lustrous then the sun itself and two pairs of pale yellow wings stretched out along her body.
It would have been beautiful if it wasn't so terrifying.
A stream of white flame, with streaks of blue came shooting out of Naga's mouth, burning away at Edward's flesh and bone. He screamed in agony as his mortal self was destroyed and rebuilt from the divine dragon's breath. He collapsed to his knees, as his flesh charred to ashes, rebuilt itself, and got burned away again. As he twisted his head, Edward felt his left eye pop in his eye socket, the fluid exploding due to the heat. The boy collapsed, his hand grasping at the fluid that used to be his eye.
As he gasped for breath, he heard Naga's quiet voice. "Open your eyes..." She said.
"I... I only have one eye." Edward cried, he slowly blinked his right eye. "This one."
"Open your eyes, young one." Naga murmured. "Both of them."
"I... Can't." Edward sobbed softly. "How can I?"
"Rebirth and destruction come in hand in hand." Naga said. "My flames may destroy, but from the ashes rises something new. Open your eyes young one. Open your eyes and look."
With a gentle hand, she pulled Edward towards a small lake, and pushed his head towards the surface. Hesitantly, the boy opened his eyes. He blinked once than twice as he stared into a icy clear water.
His ears were pointed. It was funny how that was the first thing he noticed, as they were still hidden underneath a sea of hair. One would expect that he would notice his hair turning the exact same shade as the leaves in a pine forest before he saw some minor detail then pointed ears.
After his hair color, Edward then turned his attention onto the eye that was destroyed by Naga's fire. He gently closed his right eye. As he could still see, it meant his left eye had reformed somehow due to her magic.
Then he looked even closer into the water, and saw that his Iris had changed color, the eye that once was a dark brown now sported the same color as the ocean.
And when he looked even closer than he did before he realized that the iris had not changed color, but rather maintained the same shade. He had made that mistake because of something that was resting just on top of the iris. Emblazoned onto his eye was the azure mark of the Exalt in all of its glory.
"What happened to me?" Edward stuttered. "What did you do to me?"
"I marked you as my own," Naga said. "Now, you are branded to show that you are my child, and a possible heritor to my power. Whether you are worthy of wielding Falchion is based on my whims. Put your clothing back on child. There is much to be done."
Edward slowly put his clothing back on, and using a string tied back the mess of hair that now ran down his shoulders, and he did so a flux of energy surrounded him, causing his body to fade away from the world. His last thoughts before he landed in the world of Fire Emblem Awakening was the pair of gloves he left behind.
It was cold. White snowflakes drifted from the sky, tiny fairies dancing I'm the air.
"I'm in Ferox." Edward mumbled briefly to himself. "But where in Ferox? It looks like there's a village up that hill, maybe I should go there?"
"Go and do so Emissary." Naga's voice echoed in his mind.
"Eh!" Edward shouted out loud. You're in my head, why are you in my head? The boy thought miserably.
"You are my instrument. How would I manage you if I wasn't in your head?"
"I'll never be able to masturba- oh damn it all. You heard that didn't you."
"Yes." Naga thought back. "I am aware of the depraved desires of humanity."
"I apologize." Edward thought. "Where should I go?"
"North, though you may have to be on guard, my Emissary. The risen have appeared."
Edward looked around him. The corpse soldiers slowly dug their way out of the soil, swords and axes in hands. "How..." Edward grit his teeth. "Grima hasn't returned! How can there be Risen?"
"The fallen one is stirring from the echoes of my own power. He too, is slowly awakening. I refrain from acting as it may cause him to become stronger in return, but I will guide you in this battle, so you may be prepared for fighting in the future."
"What can I do? I can't swing a sword! Will you grant upon me superhuman strength of fighting ability? A few fist fights are all I've done so far! " Edward complained. "And half the time, my opponents were drunk."
"An old one gave me these cards in return for the favor of looking upon my divine form. He said that I invoked a sense of reverence and wished to see me with his own eyes. I grant them unto you. If these fail you, and you have no other choice take this pendent and raise it towards the heavens."
Edward raised his hand and suddenly, as if it had formed from the falling snow, a dark brown card fazed into existence. At the same time a necklace, one with pure white stone wrapped around in thin iron wires hanging by a golden chain, appeared around his neck.
"I do not understand." Edward thought to Naga.
"There is no time to understand. Raise the card into the air! Act swiftly Emissary! Go and shout-"
It seemed as though his voice was stolen away. The words came from his mouth, his voice, but he could not feel his throat nor could he control what he was saying.
"I summon thee, Hero King, Son of Cornelius, and Lord of Altea. Wielder of Falchion, the first of the Exalted blood, destroyer of Medeus, and Lodestar of mankind, answer my call." Edward said hypnotically. "Come forth MARTH!"
The card he had been holding slowly disappeared from his eyes. Azure energy spiraled from the earth and sky and came together forming into one figure.
"I hear and obey." A blue haired man said as he emerged from the vortex. In his hands was Falchion, the sacred tooth of Naga, and strapped to his back was a long thin rapier. "What do you bade me to do?" The man asked.
Edward collapsed to his knees. His entire body seemed like one massive piece of lead. "Kill those monsters." The boy groaned. "Protect me-"
Then he collapsed from exhaustion. Marth flipped Edward over so he wouldn't suffocate in the snow before raising his sword in the air.
"Very well."
A new Story! I may or may not work on this. My first story, The Butterfly Effect(Redux) is still my highest Priority when it comes to fanfic. And that is below my actual novel when it comes to Priority.
Alright, Obligatory disclaimer.
I do not own anything, Nor do I make any money off of this. This is only for the purpose for a little bit of fun.