Okay here we go, I'm officially back on the site after a way too long hiatus. If anyone's interested in my old stories, I'll probably get round to them in time. For now though, I want to concentrate on new ideas, starting with a fanfic of my favourite new videogame: Fire Emblem Awakening. Had this idea for ages, and just want to get it done.

So without any further ado, BlackFalcon269 presents…

A Sentinel's Awakening!

Chapter 1: One of Those Days…

You ever wake up and know it's going to be a long day? Like, you really get the feeling that things will be heading downhill pretty quickly? Yeah that's pretty much how my day has been. Which isn't surprising if you put yourself in my position.

Okay, a little back story first: I'm a born and bred gamer, and I've spent most of my life gaming. I recently bought a 3DS in order to play the new Pokemon X and Y, which was a great advance to the series, but I digress. After I finished that, I was looking for something to take my interest, and managed to find a copy of Fire Emblem: Awakening second-hand. I started it up and I was instantly hooked. I've been playing the game non-stop ever since I got it, some might say to an unhealthy degree. Anyway, I'd been out on the town with my mates and I was pretty out of it when I finally staggered in the door. All I could remember was playing a little Awakening before crashing face first onto my couch. What happened next, was something I still can't explain…

The morning after...

I moan as consciousness begins to fade back into my mind, bringing with it a splitting headache. I keep my eyes closed as my hands come either side of my head, attempting to push myself up from the couch. It's then that I notice the couch seems to be a lot damper than usual, as well as a lot harder, and a lot greener. It takes me a few minutes to realize I'm face down in the grass

"That's weird, I could have sworn I got home last night. Ugh, if this is Joey's idea of a joke, I am going to kill him."

I roll over and force myself into a sitting position. It is then that I notice two things. Firstly I notice that I have at some point in the night acquired a new and peculiar wardrobe. Instead of my usual shirt and jeans combo, I'm decked out in some kind of tunic, silvery grey with a red trim, and black trousers with leather boots. I'm also wearing a crude set of leather armour, including a breastplate, pauldrons, greaves and fingerless gauntlets. Secondly and more importantly, I notice that I am nowhere near my apartment.

In fact, I can't see a building for about half a mile.

"Well this should be interesting"

I brush some stray hair out of my eyes. My hair has always been a rather shaggy mess of dark brown, but I don't remember it ever being this long. Fishing in my pockets, I find a red piece of cloth and tie it back into a short pony-tail. I also find a pouch stuffed with pieces of gold. I'm starting to think this might not be too a bad a situation. I finally pull myself to my feet, and try to take stock of my situation.

"Okay, I'm stuck in the middle of nowhere in some weird getup, and I have no idea what to do. Might as well find civilization."

I take a look around and see one more thing that catches my eye; a long staff of dark wood, lying a few feet away. I walk over and pick it up. The weight feels good in my hand, not so heavy that it's cumbersome, but heavy enough to do damage if needed. At least I knew I had protection, as well as a helpful tool for a lot of situations. You see as well as gaming, I'm also interested in combat, especially for stage and screen. As such I had taken multiple courses in both stage combat and basic martial arts, including a course in the use of quarterstaff. A lot of people brush it off as a sloppy and slow weapon, that's only ever used by people doing Robin Hood movies, but it's actually a much more refined weapon than people give it credit for.

Taking the staff in hand, I begin the walk to the buildings I can see in the distance. It doesn't take too long to reach it, but I can instantly tell something is off. The buildings are very, well, primitive, so to speak. Not a sign of brick or pavement, just wooden houses and cobbled streets. Old styled market stalls line the street, a lone horse drags a carriage in next to a larger building, what looks like an inn. If I didn't know any better, I'd say I landed in a completely different timezone. I walk over to the inn and stagger through the door. The people are suitably surprised but still welcome me in with hospitality. I use my gold to buy some food and a strong ale which takes me a couple of minutes to get used to. I eat as much as I feel like before calling on the serving girl, who's also dressed in medieval style dress, including a dangerously low cut top which threatens to overflow herself into my face. I wouldn't complain if it did, but other people might.

"Excuse me miss, but where exactly am I? I'm not quite sure"

"Oh, well you're in Southtown sir."

"Southtown? Why does that sound familiar?"

"Help! Bandits! They're attacking the village!"

Instantly I'm fully woken by those words. I'm in a village called Southtown, that's styled like medieval times, being attacked by bandits…

"It's official, I've gone crazy from some kind of weird drug and booze combination, and I'm hallucinating that I'm in Fire Emblem."

And as it would happen, people look to me for help just because I'm new.

"Sir you must help us! Please drive out these bandits! We can pay you if you prefer, just please help us!"

So now I'm left in a bit of a pickle. I can try to help these people, and maybe become a hero in the process. Problem is, I don't really want to BE a hero; I just want to get home. Plus Chrom and the others should show up soon enough anyway. But I can't just sit here. For one thing, it's the quickest way for me to get killed. So I simply nod, not really sure if I should say something and stand, grabbing my staff. I'm offered a sword from nearby, but I pass it off, though I'm not sure why. I guess I didn't want to be stuck with such an obvious weapon, or maybe I subconsciously knew that I was better skilled at something else.

I come out to chaos. People are running away from the church, which has caught fire. Many bodies already lie on the streets. I feel bile rising in the back of my throat and quickly swallow it back down, this is no time for weakness. I see a young woman trip just down the street, falling to the ground. She gets on her hands and knees, scrambling away from the approaching barbarian. He's taking his time, obviously confident in his ability to kill unarmed defenceless innocents. The sadistic grin on his face just makes my blood boil. I'm moving before I even realise what's I'm doing.

"No please, have mercy!" she screams, unable to conceal her terror.

"Sorry sheepie luv, but mercy is something I've just ran out of." He sneers, raising the axe. She screams, but the blow never comes. Before I even think I've taken my staff and brought it up, blocking the axe underneath its head. The bandit is more shocked than the woman, his face satisfyingly confused.

"That's funny, I could say the same to you." I say as step forward and push, forcing the brute back a few steps, giving the woman time to scramble to her feet and run. I fall into some kind of basic stance, holding the staff equally distanced between my hands, horizontal to my body. The big lug roars and charges, obviously angered by losing his easy kill. He swings vertically, and I step to the side. His swings are wild and erratic, betraying his lacklustre training, and are easy to dodge. Though how I'm dodging them I've no idea. I've been in a few fights in my life, but I've never been a nimble fighter, and I've certainly never had a lunatic swinging an axe at my neck. I take a step back as another swing hits air, and the fool stumbles, having overstepped and lost balance. I see my chance and take it. Bringing my left hand back, I swing the end of my staff over my shoulder and drive it down, connecting cleanly on the top of his head.

Another thing that a lot of people say about the staff is that it isn't an effective weapon, and is unable to kill or seriously injure people. However, those people never seem to think of one thing; except for maybe a big rock, a big stick would have been the first weapon that prehistoric men used to kill either food or each other. A big stick was most likely the first ever murder weapon. Also even with the advent of metal and swords and axes and spears, clubs and hammers and other blunt weapons still persevered as useful and dependable tools of death, and staffs wielded in the right way are just as good.

The immediate crunch I hear on impact lets me know I've crushed his skull. He crumples forward, face down in the dirt. I know he's dead, and the fact of that starts to sink in as I stagger back. I just killed someone, without even thinking about it, like it was almost second nature. However, before I can really start thinking it through, I notice more bandits approaching. Taking my staff in my hands I prepare for a real fight.

I see two myrmidons approaching, what looks like a mage skulking in behind them. The first myrmidon swung his sword in going for my right side. I barely had time to move my staff to the side and block it before his friend is swinging downwards for my neck. I duck a little as I bring the staff up, the sword almost embedding itself in my staff. I kick him in the stomach to force him away, while the first myrmidon is charging back in. I step forward and power my staff forward, catching him in the gut midswing. I don't know how many ribs I've broken, but it should put him out of commission at least.

The second myrmidon is attacking my head again. This time I block a little easier, and notice he's left his legs open. I know my next move is a terrible manoeuvre and one I wouldn't wish on anyone usually, but right now, I was just willing to do anything to survive. I pull my right shoulder back, throwing his sword to the side, before I snap my staff up in between his legs with ruthless speed. His expression is almost comical, though I feel sorry for him as I step past, putting him out of his misery with a quick strike to the back of the neck.

Suddenly, I feel a searing hot pain shoot up my leg. I cry out and collapse to one knee. Looking down, I see that the mage was waiting for his chance while I fought his friends. His fire magic was a direct hit, and my leg now looked pretty badly burned. I looked up to see him preparing another spell. I knew this one was probably aimed for my head, and I knew I needed to get closer to attack.

Trying to forget the pain in my leg, I break into a run, charging at the mage, who frantically scrambles to fire of his next spell. His aim is off and I dodge the fireball as it rips past my shoulder, feeling the heat on my face. I waste no time, sweeping my staff into his right leg as I stop. The sudden sharp shot dislocates his knee, and I follow up with a diagonal strike downwards, catching him on his jaw. His head snaps violently to the side and he crumples at my feet. The danger is, for now, averted.

Quickly however, the adrenaline wears off, and the pain in my leg flares back up immensely, I drop to my knee, and this time I cannot stand. I hear the clatter of feet, surely more bandits approaching. I feel a shadow over me and look up; another barbarian. He doesn't say anything, just raises his axe. I look down and prepare for the inevitable. My senses start to fog as a sudden tiredness sets in. Almost muffled in my ears, I barely hear the approaching hooves storming up behind me.

Wait, hooves?

As I look up the barbarian is almost lifted up the ground as the armoured horse shoots by me, a long lance tearing its way through his chest. He flies back and lands a few feet back, not moving. The sun glints off the horses armour, blinding me from seeing my saviour's face, but I know already who it is. I glance up to see another bandit rushing the horseman. As I'm about to shout a warning, a bolt of lightning shoots past us both and strikes the bandit, bringing him to his knees as he dies. Finally, I'm pulled up by someone on my right, my arm hoisted over their shoulder.

"You alright?" I hear him ask, the voice instantly recognisable. I look over to see the blue hair, notice the legendary blade Falchion in his other hand. Chrom. He finally made it.

"My leg." I grimace, looking down. He looks too and nods.

"Robin, keep us covered while I take him to Lissa" He orders the figure to my left. I look over to notice that it is indeed Robin, the male version, in his default design. He nods and resumes firing off his Thunder tome as I limp back with Chrom's help.

We find Lissa nearby, healing a wounded villager. Chrom calls her over and she rushes to us. I see her appraising me she arrives. I obviously don't look like another villager. I tell her about my leg, and she sets to work quickly, the glow of her staff casting my leg in an odd greenish colour. The feeling isn't painful so to speak, more uncomfortable. The feeling of burnt skin returning to its normal state is a little disturbing, but afterwards there's no evidence I was even hit, save for the singed hole in my trousers which I remind myself to try and fix later. I thank Lissa quickly before rushing back into the fray, not wanting to leave the others without help.

With everyone else here it didn't take too long for the rest of us to take down the bandits. After doing one last check of the area we met back up in the central square.

"Well sir, I must thank you." Chrom says amicably. "You seemed to have done a fine job holding off these scoundrels before we arrived."

"I just did what anyone else would." I say simply, shrugging. I've never been too hungry for praise, and I thought that was a simple fact.

"Commendable, if a little optimistic." The armoured giant Frederick replies. He seems just as stern and quiet as in the game. I have a feeling I should try to stay on his good side. "You'll find thinking like that rare these days I'm afraid."

"Oh lighten up Frederick." Lissa says, bouncing on her heels slightly. "I'm just happy we had some more help."

"Indeed, the more help the better." Robin said thoughtfully, looking me up and down. I feel a bit uneasy, but shake it off and look back to Chrom.

"Hmm, you may have a point Robin." He agreed. "What's your name, traveller?" He asked. It struck me that I had indeed not indulged my name yet. I didn't know if I should give my real name or not, but it's not like that would affect the narrative of the game that much I decided.

"My name is Kieran, sir, and I am most grateful for the help. If not for you, I am not sure I'd still be breathing"

"And if it weren't for you, many of these villagers would not be too." Chrom replied. "You have both their thanks and mine. My name is Chrom. This is my sister Lissa, my deputy Frederick and our newest recruit, Robin" I nod to them each in turn. Frederick and Robin simply return the nod, but Lissa waves happily, making me smile a little. "Kieran, I see you are a capable warrior, and that you wish to protect those unable to protect themselves. Therefore I would ask that you join our group. We're willing to take any man we can find, so what do you say?"

It's a no brainer really; either walk around this world with no idea what to do with myself, and risk dying, or join up with the Sheperds and embark on a journey to save the world. I still risk dying, but at least I'll know what I'm doing.

"Chrom, I would be glad to join you, and help in any way I can." I reply, holding out my hand. Chrom smiles and shakes my hand. As the rest of the group goes through their dialogue about camping out in the woods I remain silent. I'm pretty sure I won't be able alter the main course of the story, so I let my own thoughts wonder. So I'm now stuck in the world of one of my favourite games, joining up with a group of warriors, and I'm soon gonna be killing zombies and fighting in a war to save the world. And that first zombie attack is scheduled to happen a few hours from now.

"Ungh, it's gonna be a long day…"

And there we go with the end of Chapter 1. Have any questions? Spot any spelling errors or mistakes? Just want to give an opinion? Leave a review and I'll get back to you in the next chapter.

This is BlackFalcon269, signing off