Chapter 1

I'd like to say that it started with some fantastical whoosh of wind or a deal with some magical entity, heck I could probably tell you that I had to shake hands with a car battery for this to happen. But sadly, these would all be lies.

Instead it was kind of like walking through a door, if you could play Borderlands 2 while walking through a door. And there is no door and instead walking or standing your sitting in an office chair minding your own damn business one minute and the next your sitting on a damp log at the foot of some kind of grassy knollish place.

To make things weirder, there was something very different about my immediate person. I was no longer wearing my normal black cargo pants or my usual green zip up hoodie. Instead I was wearing some kind of patchwork green tunic with brown trousers that were held up by a simple rope belt instead of the leather one I would wear on fancy occasions. The ensemble was topped off with a pair of brown, muddy leather boots that looked as though they had seen better days and if they could talk would would be begging and screaming for death. And then after all this I pulled my hair to make sure it was still the same color I was born with, it was, thank goodness for small miracles. I guess.

Oh yeah did I mention that I screamed, like a lot. Don't get me wrong it was all manly screaming not to mention that I think I scared a few birds out of their roosts so loud too I suppose.

When I did finally stop screaming I didn't know if it was because I was tired of it or because I finally realized that it was getting me nowhere slowly. What I did know is that when I finally stopped screaming my lungs out my hands were shaking like they probably had been for awhile now.

And since I definitely remember waking up today that means that whatever just happened must be real.

I wasn't sure how much time I sat there staring at my shaking self after that but I did eventually decide that in this case, sitting on a log all day wasn't healthy and that a better vantage point could be useful in locating rescue or at least some sign of civilization I started to make my way up the aforementioned incline. Although if I'm being honest my options were at least somewhat open since I essentially at the center of a directional blank slate since there didn't seem to be any kind of road or pathway.

The hill itself while never treacherous although there was some rather thick foliage in places but I was thankfully able to walk around that, not to mention it was steeper than I expected it to be. But that was beside the point because after what felt like an hour but was probably only 20 minutes at worst, I reached my hollowed high ground.

What I saw did not look promising, especially since it was a dark cloud of smoke and ash floating lazily above what used to be a small settlement of some nature that had recently been burned to the ground if the cloud was any indication. Thankfully the cloud was drifting away from me on account of a slight breeze that had started blowing against my back, though walking through the once upon a town would still prove to be problematic because of gravity.

And since I wasn't spying anything else of interest from my perch I decided to make my way down to the remains. Another ten or so minutes later I got to a place where I was able to see much of the ruins plainly, probably because it was the square. And for better or worse it seemed that my observation had been on the spot. This had indeed at one point or another been a small hamlet, and there didn't seem to be a soul around.

"Chrom, look!"

Or maybe I really needed to redefine my definition of solitude.

Around from an only partially burned house I was able to see that something yellow was pointing at me. Focusing on it I was able to determine that this something was actually a young girl wearing a yellow dress and high flying pigtails.

As you might have guessed, it didn't take me long to recognize the young lady. And had I not still been in shock from my earlier instant transition I might have sputtered something nonsensical in utter terror.

"YAAGH!"

Or maybe I did anyway as I turned on my heels, fully prepared to run away as far and as fast as I could get from this place and its band of two murderous protagonists and Lissa. Or I would have were it not for two things; 1 I'm terrible at running, not to mention that I have terrible hand eye coordination and 2 is that I tripped over what was probably my own feet.

Frederick was on me first before I could even start begging for mercy for what I'm not entirely sure since I had done nothing wrong he'd turned me onto my back to face the tip of his lance which was now dangerously close to my adam's apple and a glare that I was sure he used to give small game heart attacks and make grown men flee in terror.

"Why did you attack this village?!" The knight all but demanded.

"I-I didn't sir, I was just coming back from a trip when I saw our current surroundings and decided to search for survivors." I stuttered smartly.

"Then why did you run?" The knight whose name I was not supposed to know countered.

"Well I could see that you all had weapons and well I just thought that maybe it was you that burned the town." I replied, my nerves and the lance getting to me.

"And just what do you mean by that?!" Frederick howled indignantly.

"Easy there, Frederick." A third voice interjected.

"But Milord, he's just-"

"A scared man who was likely in the wrong place at the wrong time." The prince finished for his retainer. "Here take my hand." Chrom said turning to me with no shortage of charisma. And since I wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth I took the hand he offered to me.

"Sorry about Frederick, he's just a bit on edge on account of the brigands that did this to the town. We all are actually. Did you happen to see anyone before you ran into us, uh?"

"My name's Dylan. And no I didn't see anyone that wasn't already dead." I replied quickly to avoid breathing in too much of the odor of charred flesh and death.

"I see, that's quite the travesty isn't it Dylan, but tell me do you have anywhere else to go?

"No I can't say that I do." I responded honestly.

"Well if that's the case than you should ride with us to the next town at the very least. We can get your living situation sorted out tomorrow morning." Chrom stated helpfully.

"But I don't have a horse." I said weakly.

"Not a problem you can ride with Frederick. Now come on we should get going." He said as he turned and walked back the way he came, "You are coming with us aren't you?"

"Well it's not like there's much choice in the matter now is there?" I retorted sarcastically.