(Authors note: I did not expect the sudden and positive reaction to this story! Thank you all so much for reading it. As I had finished this chapter earlier today, I decided to go ahead and post it. Bear in mind though, that I will not add chapters this quickly in the future. Also, if I need to make quick notes like this in the future, I'll try to keep them short. So, without further adieu...)

The Lost Chronicles: An Awakening

Chapter 1

I was blinded by a white light as I exited the Dimensional Highway. As I tried to regain my vision, I was met by a sudden and unexpected blast of cold air. I blinked and my vision returned just in time for me to realize I was falling very quickly towards a sea of trees that I could only assume was a forest.

Before I could shout with surprise, a bubble of energy with the same rainbow coloring of the highway formed around me. It slowed my descent and floated slowly towards the ground. I realized that there was something solid that I was standing on and looked down to see what it was. I seemed to be standing on solid air, as there was nothing below my feet.

We are getting close to the ground now and "Waaagh!"

I am now on the ground, sprawled on my back. The weird energy bubble popped without warning a few feet above the ground. I sat up slowly, getting a feel for my body as I stretched out. I could feel sensation again, and it thrilled me to no end. The cold night air and the feeling of dew on my hand have never been more welcome! I stood up and looked myself over. I was wearing an interesting assortment of clothes and equipment. My clothes were all black, with black boots, pants, and belt. I was shirtless with a hooded cloak, which was black. Wishing there was a splash of red or blue with my thematic outfit, I realized there was some weight on the back of my belt. I felt around and found something awesome! I had a blade sheathe on the back of my belt.

I drew the blade and looked at it. It was a black, double edged short sword with a button on it. I pressed the button and the whole blade glowed a faint blue, then split into two single edged short swords. I pressed them together in an attempt to remake the blade, and they glowed again before reforming into its original form. Neat!

"Why is all of my stuff black, and why am I shirtless?" I muttered as I drew the cloak around me and shivered. Realizing there were more important questions to ask, like where I am and how do I find food, I laughed at my own complaints before standing up and properly looking around.

There was nothing of note nearby, with the exception of the forest all around me. It was night, as I saw no sign of the sun. Deciding that there was no point in camping out where I was, I began walking in a random direction, and found a river. Knowing that cities or at the very least trails can be found along rivers, I began to follow it downstream. As I walked, I familiarized myself with locations. I have always been good at memorizing paths and locations, and apparently being dead can improve that. I shuddered slightly, remembering the fact that I was in fact dead.

"Ok, so if I'm dreaming, I can't feel pain right?" I pulled out my blade again and lightly nicked my arm. The slight pain that resulted informed me of the truth.

"Ok, so I'm definitely alive. This information doesn't help much. Where did that voice send me?"

I began trying to think of ways to survive in the event that I couldn't find civilization or at least a path, but my mind kept returning to my old life before the accident. I had family, I had friends, I had a decent future ahead of me. And all of it is gone!

I actually started to tear up at this line of thoughts, but the Boy Scout in me knew it wouldn't do anything useful, like surviving.

"Get a grip Dan, you can't change it, so you might as well get over it." I scolded myself. Dismissing any thoughts of home and family for now, and wiping the tears from my eyes, I continued my trek through the forest in silence. I soon arrived at a stone road. I could tell it was made recently, but it was made crudely, as though no machines were used to make it.

"Ok." I quietly muttered to myself, "So I am probably in a less developed world. The architecture of this road indicates that, not to mention the fact that I have a sword. This information definitely helps, but I'm still lost." I pondered briefly where I should go, then shrugged, knowing that the road had to lead somewhere in both directions. I decided to continue in the direction I was previously heading, following the road.

The sun began its trek through the sky as I exited the forest, still following the road. I found myself on a hill overlooking a great plain. I could see many villages dotting it, with farms all over the place. I began walking to the nearest one, when I suddenly saw smoke rising from it. At first I dismissed this, but then I saw that the smoke was black, a sure sign that it wasn't a campfire. I began to pick up the pace, and started running when a building suddenly lit up.

I made it to the entry gate, and what I saw there horrified me. As far as I could tell, a group of what were probably bandits were attacking the town, taking goods and people with them. I could see a force fighting back on the other side of town, so I decided to help out. I drew my blade and was about to join the fray when I heard someone scream behind me.

POV villager

"Ok, just calm down, you can do this." I said.

I calmed myself down as much as I could and made sure my family was safe under the stone stairs. I then grabbed a spear and held it towards the door. I didn't wait very long before 3 bandits came through it.

"Well look at this lads, a little farm boy playin' hero! Well ain't that just cute." They chuckled to themselves menacingly as I gripped my spear tighter. I was shaking uncontrollably, and sweat had begun to drip down my face, but I held my ground as they approached.

"Where's your family, farm boy? They hidden under the stairs like the last family next door?" They got the neighbors? Oh this is bad! I inched closer to the stairway, in a protective manner as they approached. The apparent leader of the group laughed at my actions.

"Well lad, you have guts, I'll give you that. Not many farm boys have guts quite like yours. We can't have farmers being brave, how on earth would we rob them if they did? Nah, we need to get rid of those guts of yours. How bout I spill em for ya?" Before I could react, he charged at me. I blocked the stroke of his axe with my spear handle, breaking it in the process as I was knocked back by the force. My sister shrieked as I slammed into the wall. My vision swam, but I stood up, now holding my spear tip like a knife.

"Now what the hell are ya goin ta do with that little thing? Don't you know when to give up?" Another bandit asked as he prepared to take a swing at me. I dodged just in time, but whacked my head in the process. I was down, and everything around me was blurry and spinning. When my vision focused enough to see the bandits, there was a hooded figure in black behind them. Without warning, he stabbed them both simultaneously and seemingly effortlessly pulled out his blades as the third moved in to attack.

POV Daniel

'I just killed two men.' I thought with realization and fear as the third bandit turned to face me, a feral smirk on his face as he leaped at me.

I closed my eyes, waiting for the blow. It never came. I opened my eyes and saw that I had thrown my blade through his chest. He spat up blood as he fell to the ground and breathed his last.

'You have done well for your first day. Grow stronger, because this is the only time I will step in and save you.' I heard the voice say.

I was unable to get rid of this feeling in my gut that I had done something terrible, and I retrieved my sword. I wiped off the blood and sheathed it as I left the household to check on the rest of the town. The group I had seen earlier had cleared up the town, and one of them was heading towards me in a combat stance. His pink hair was much longer than mine and he had brown eyes. Realizing his hostile intent, I got into a stance of my own with one hand on my sheathed blade and another balancing me in preparation to dodge. He leaped at me, and I could immediately tell he was as new to this as I was. I drew my blade and parried the first stroke, countering with a move that nicked his arm. It did no real damage, but it did serve to anger him. I separated my blades and began to edge towards the town exit as he chased after me, his allies following after me as well. I looked behind me and saw the forest, the only place I knew I could effectively hide. I turned and ran as fast as I could go.

As it turns out, I made it all the way to the forest in the blink of an eye. So fast in fact, that my pursuers seemed shocked and confused at my disappearing act. I replayed the event in my head, calculated the distance I just traveled, and came across a wonderful discovery.

I have incredible speed.

My immediate thought was cool, followed immediately by how I could use it. I could run from fights, or I could use it in a battle! I tried to use it again, but found I moved much slower than before. 'You have innate abilities within you, but they cannot be used often. Only by strengthening yourself, can you learn to harness them fully.' The voice said. 'So I have hidden abilities? Cool!' I found a tree and climbed it, deciding to sleep up there for the night. Before I fell to sleep, it occurred to me that the voice was watching me. I silently hoped, then immediately realized that the voice would not return for any logical reason. I am here, mostly able to survive, and I wasted my one save. With that happy little thought in mind, I struggled to resist the urge to roll over as I drifted off to sleep.

Meanwhile, back in the village

POV Robin

The man I attacked had vanished into thin air. I was confused, as were Chrom and Frederick. After waiting a few minutes to see if he would return, we relaxed and began helping the villagers. We began the task by helping to put out fires. I hadn't noticed during combat, a river seems to flow directly through the village, which helped greatly in this task.

We then buried the dead. We dug graves just outside the north exit of South Town.

Finally, we cleaned up the wreckage created by broken windows, doors, walls, and the entire market area. While I worked, I overheard a young girl telling her friends a story.

"-and then my brother attacked a bandit, but the bandit broke his spear. My brother fell to the ground, but before the bandit could kill him, Bam! This guy comes in and stabs two through the back, and throws his sword right into the third!"

"Cool! What did he look like?"

"I don't know, he was wearing all black, and he had a cloak on. All I could tell was that he was using two swords."

Filing this away for later, I continued my work. Now however, I had a nagging suspicion that the girl was referring to the guy I had attacked. The group I was with had finally finished cleaning up the destroyed market when a family and a young boy and the girl from before came up to me.

"Hey mister, are you the guy that saved us from the bandits before?"

I looked at them, then replayed the battle in my head. After a few seconds, I realized that I had not seen this family before. "Sorry, no. perhaps you have me confused for someone else."

They looked downtrodden. "Well, if it truly isn't you, do you have another ally cloaked in black? He saved us from 3 bandits shortly after your group showed up. We thought he may have been traveling with you. He was cloaked in black, like you are, but there weren't any patterns on it…"

Cloaked in black…

"I ran into someone cloaked in black shortly before the fighting stopped. He disappeared though."

The parents looked at each other, then back at me. "If you see that man again, can you thank him for saving us? If he hadn't shown up when he did, we would have been killed or worse."

As I thought over their story I realized what a phenomenally huge mistake I had made. I thought the man was a bandit, but nothing was further from the truth.

I dismissed it for now, walking over to Chrom and Lissa, who were talking with Frederick and the town elder. I needed to inform them of our mistake.