Hello followers, I've decided to upload and ironically on the day the new Fire Emblem game comes out. Sadly I won't be playing Fates until next week since I'm busy with work. Either way here's chapter two. Keep an eye out for chapter three because I might upload it later today or tomorrow.
Guest: Thank you for reviewing I really appreciate it. Don't worry the male avatar is not going to end up with Lucina. Honestly I can't see myself having the avatar itself pairing up with one of the future children...it feels weird. Another thing is that I don't see it as a chore to have the Male Avatar being named Reflet. Yes it is usually used for the Female Avatar but that doesn't feel right to me. It's actually easier for me to have Reflet male and Robin female.
Chapter 2
Chrom woke with a start, the momentary panic of waking in a strange new place setting in until he remembered where he was.
The fire had long since burned itself out, the embers offering little illumination to the night. Moonlight pierced through the leaves, illuminating small patches of the forest floor around them.
Frederick was lying on his back, the most comfortable position he could be in and still wearing his armor. The man was nothing if not dedicated; Chrom could hardly stand sleeping in his leather training gear. Lissa was curled up in her sleeping roll, using his own as her pillow.
The two newest members of their little group was resting on opposite of their sides, arm being used as a pillow, facing each other. Reflet nudged Robin if she was warm, she had insisted that the night had been warm enough, and even then she had her thick coat to keep her warm. Reflet still bothered her though, Chrom understands when it comes to protecting your siblings, after all he's sometimes like that when it comes to Lissa.
Interrupting Chrom's musings on brother complex, something in the forest caught his attention; a sound, almost like ripping fabric.
Quietly so as not to wake the others, Chrom stood and took up his broadsword, Falchion. Chrom squinted into the dark as the sound repeated, louder and closer this time. He took two steps before Lissa stirred, mumbling sleepily.
"Chrom? Where are you going?"
"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you, but...Something is amiss."
"Define "something."
"I'm not sure...I'll think I'll have a look around."
"Not alone, I'll go with you." she said.
Chrom sighed inwardly; once Lissa was set on something she won't take no for an answer.
The brother and sister moved quietly out into the forest, away from where the group was still sleeping and in the general direction of the noises Chrom had heard. Lissa was looking around, taking in the unfamiliar sights and sounds of the forest in the predawn hours. Night birds were calling to each other quietly as the other animals slept.
Lissa was completely oblivious, though; simply enjoying what she obviously assumed was just a stroll through the woods, stretching and yawning, her back popping as she did.
They walked a few more feet to a large clearing before Chrom stopped, shaking his head. Aside from the Shepherds the forest was abandoned; completely abandoned, even the night birds had gone silent.
Wait, Chrom thought, his tired mind catching up. Birds silent is bad.
"Chrom? What happened to all the animals?" Lissa asked, looking around warily, the atmosphere finally sinking in on her.
Before Chrom could answer, the he heard the sound again; a ripping, tearing sound more like flesh being torn rather than cloth this time.
From the look on Lissa's face she obviously heard it this time, too. The ground suddenly shook violently, almost managed to throw Chrom flat. As Lissa grabbed hold of her brother to avoid falling over the trees waved wildly, some even falling with loud crashes, uprooted completely by the was wrong; Chrom looked up, his eyes widening as he beheld the fiery light of ruin.
"Lissa," Chrom said, his voice calm but firm. "Run."
The girl looked up at him, confused, before she saw what he saw; dread settling in the pit of her stomach as her face became illuminated in the darkness.
Racing towards them was a wall of fire, tearing up the ground and burning the forest as it went. Trees twice as big, went flying from the flames, as smaller fireballs fell from the sky ahead of the wave, causing destruction where they fell. The earth itself groaned and split as the fire reached it, huge cracks forming and massive slabs of ground heaving upwards meters into the sky, the landscape altering around them in seconds.
"Run!" He shouted again, giving her a shove to accentuate his point.
They raced as fast as they could through the forest in an almost blind panic, Lissa doing her best to keep up with her much faster brother as he charged ahead. He turned to the left suddenly as a tree fell across their path, and Lissa stumbled, catching herself quickly and pressing on.
With a great crash the ground beneath Chrom and Lissa jumped up, sending them sprawling in a clearing at the base of a newly formed cliff.
Reflet snorted himself awake, looking around as he wiped the drool away from the corner of his mouth. A strange noise had woken him from another dream…
He looked at his side to see Robin still asleep. Looking around he noticed both Chrom and Lissa gone.
"Chrom?" he asked.
The twin found himself seeing a slumbering Frederick, the knight's breathing calm and regular in the darkness.
Reflet stood, stretching his arms above his head and letting out a little groan. 'I wonder where they went-'
Reflet fell flat on his back as the earth shifted and bounced beneath him, Robin was instantly awoken, Frederick's horse whinnying and doing its best to escape the rope tying it to the tree. The horse's owner was on his feet instantly, even before the ground had stopped shaking.
"What's going on!?" the knight shouted, looking around. "Where is milord and lady!?"
"How should I know!?" Reflet shouted back, waiting for the ground to stop trembling so he could stand again.
As the shaking stopped Frederick dashed to his mount's side, already hefting the heavy saddle back into place. Robin was about to say something else, but stopped when the scent of smoke reached her.
"Frederick, Reflet, we need to find Chrom and Lissa now," she said, standing and looking towards the forest.
The night sky was ablaze, literally, as flames danced through and above the forest. Just above them Reflet was the only one that notice two vaguely human shape, but he couldn't see more through the smoke and heat-haze rising from the burning forest.
"Both of you, get on!" the knight shouted, already in his saddle.
Robin shrugged, jumping up onto the back with little effort and gripping the back of Frederick's plates. Reflet went after her and gripped on his sister's shoulders. Without further warning the big knight kicked his horse into motion, racing off towards the flames.
Reflet looked up again, straining his eyes to see if he could spot the human-shaped figure again, but the sky was empty. He could have sworn that he saw body shape figures falling from the sky.
"What's going on!?" Lissa cried, getting unsteadily to her feet.
Chrom didn't answer, instead looking in horror up to the sky.
The sky looked back; a giant, crystalline blue eye with a slit pupil like that of a snake or other reptile stared balefully down at the two Shepherds.
As the two looked on speechless, forms began to coalesce in the eye, taking vaguely human shapes, before reaching through its surface, and falling twenty feet to the forest floor. With inhuman slowness and malice, the two dark forms picked themselves up. They were wearing identical dark leather armour and masks, glowing red eyes staring and black miasma leaking from joints in the suits. To Chrom's further dismay, they both held large, wickedly sharp axes.
"Lissa, stay behind me," Chrom ordered in a voice much calmer than he felt.
Falchion was reassuring in his grip as he rushed the first of the creatures,his war cry escaping his lips as he slashed horizontally in a blow that should have neatly bisected the creature. It simply grunted, more black fog pouring from the wound, and swung its axe with impossible strength and speed. Chrom caught the weapon on his blade, grunting with the effort. Acting quickly, he transferred his weight, throwing the monster back and striking its head with Falchion, before beheading it with his back swing. The monster turned to purple ash and smoke almost instantly, dissipating on the night wind.
All of this had only taken a few seconds, but as he turned to face the other foe, Chrom heard his sister cry out. The other thing had crossed the distance faster than he had, and held its axe above its head, ready to strike. Lissa had fallen back, and held her healing staff in front of her defensively. Chrom's gut lurched as he realized that he'd never cross the distance in time.
"Lissa!"
Lissa screamed as the creature brought down the axe. Chrom wasn't sure how, but instead of his sister, a new man had come between her and the creature, holding the axe away from his back with a broadsword balanced on his shoulder. In the second Chrom stopped to process this, the new man turned his head and shouted for help as the creature pressed on the blade with all of its inhuman strength. Chrom acted instantly, slashing horizontally again, beheading the creature as the other man rose, slashing the opposite direction at its waist, making it disappear into purple mist like the first had.
The new man steadied himself, sheathing his broadsword, turning slightly as he did. Chrom was surprised to see the man wearing an ornate blue mask with slits for eyes.
More growls and grunts were coming from behind Chrom, and as he looked he saw more of the creatures beginning to converge out of the woods, but above the sounds of more of the strange creatures Chrom could hear the welcome sound of a horse at full gallop charging through the trees.
"Captain Chrom!"
Chrom spun his head and was met by a woman in white-edged red armour, large muscular arms bare, swinging a lance left and right like a madwoman, the strange shadowy creatures recoiling from her wrath. The silver-blue haired, absurdly well-dressed man behind her was clinging one-handed to her waist like a drowning man to a life preserver, his bow held out in the other hand in an obvious attempt to try and maintain balance, all semblance of his usual dignity gone.
The knight in red reigned her horse in close to where Chrom, Lissa and the masked stranger stood, allowing the archer to dismount. Another mysterious stranger who looked a bit shorter than the first, had the same ornate mask but purple, appeared behind them and gave a nod to the other that saved his sister. Chrom suspects that they must know each other, but now is not the time to ask questions.
"Alright, ya freaks! Who wants to die first!?" she challenged, brandishing her lance at the creatures.
"Sully! Good timing," Chrom said in way of greeting.
The female knight turned to look at him sideways, grinning wildly.
"And you said 'stay at the barracks, this'll be a quiet mission.' Be glad that I didn't listen this time or I would have been missin all the fun."
"This is what you consider fun?" the archer Virion said, aghast at the number of the creatures advancing warily on them.
Chrom reevaluated their position as Frederick barreled through the crowd astride his warhorse, Robin and Reflet, leaping from behind him as they came closer.
"Sully, with me!" Frederick shouted, gesturing to the horde with one hand as he tossed Robin an iron sword to her with the other.
Without further adieu, Sully leveled her lance and kicked her horse into action at the same time as Frederick, the two of them charging back through the creatures, capturing their attention immediately as they tore through the enemy ranks.
"That'll buy us some time," Robin said, approaching Chrom and the others. "Are you hurt?"
"We're fine," Chrom told the female twin, sparing Lissa a glance to be sure.
She was standing her ground, staff clenched in shaking fists, but she nodded once to Chrom.
The two masked men were standing stock still behind her, facing away and obviously evaluating the battlefield. Both took off; obviously having a tactic plan ready.
"Right then," Robin said, turning to Reflet and both knew that they were thinking the same. "Fredrick and the other knight will clear the creatures and then hit their back ranks. We push through the front, and meet in the middle."
"Lissa, you and the archer stay back, but don't fall behind or let yourselves get separated from us. Chrom; you, me and Robin are in frontline. Everybody clear?"
Chrom nodded, impressed by the twins tactical minds. Barely a minute to evaluate the scene, even after all the destruction that had unnerved him so, and they had a plan.
Virion, however, simply couldn't resist making his introductions to Reflet, though.
"The 'archer'?" he asked, feigning insult. "Sir, I'll have you know I am the 'archest-of-archers'! I am Virion, the man who strides large across history's stage!"
Before he could continue, Robin interrupted him.
"Can we have the introduction later and make with the shooty-shooty." she said, keeping her cool.
Virion mumbled, but can't argue with the beautiful lady, he reached for an arrow from the full quiver on his back.
Chrom readied Falchion and forming an ad-hock line with Robin and Reflet. The creatures had come much closer now, the momentary distraction of Sully and Frederick's charge forgotten, close enough that Chrom could hear their ragged breathing and make out the details of their masks and hoods.
The world seemed to slow to a stop as the two opposing forces faced each other, the creatures seemingly unsure of how to deal with a group that had so quickly gone from separate prey to a serious threat. All thanks to twins quick thinking.
With shouted battle cries Frederick and Sully smashed into the back of their foes at full speed, scattering enemies or crushing them underfoot.
Two two mysterious strangers were having an easy time, demolishing the creatures, they fought within sync. One of them even knew magic, which made it easier for them to counter strike.
Robin shouted the signal, charging into the creatures, sword at ready.
Chrom and Reflet followed instantly, as Virion let loose his first arrow, dropping one of the creatures with a precision shot through the eye slit of its mask. At least the man wasn't all talk, Chrom grimly thought as two more arrows in quick succession found targets.
Lissa stayed close to Virion, trying hard to be inconspicuous as they passed fallen creatures.
Chrom hacked left and right, style and form quickly being lost in the general, creatures falling away from him as he went. Robin and Reflet were doing the same, slashing and hacking at creatures that came within range, both as well fighting in sync.
One of the creatures, bigger than the others, suddenly loomed above Robin, axe held high in challenge. Reflet noticed the creature, reaching into his pouch, producing the spell-book he had used earlier. With quick hand gestures he sent an elthunder at the creature, striking it squarely and piercing its leather armor, black mist pouring from the wounds.
With a feral roar the creature gestured his axe on Reflet instead. The tactician was too slow moving from its path, taking a glancing blow on his stomach.
Shouting in pain and shock he retreated a few steps, returning the spell book to his pouch and readying his blade in a defense.
Robin fought desperately to reach him, the dark creatures falling before him. She couldn't as more of the halted her in her tracks.
Three arrows struck the creature in the chest and shoulder, Virion giving a sound of success, before turning on the other creatures encroaching on him.
"Reflet, watch out!" Lissa shouted a warning.
Reflet heed her warning and duck below the creature's guard, stabbing upwards into its chest. The creature roared again, knocking Reflet back with its free arm, sending the injured man sprawling.
Chrom watched in desperate glances, these creatures just won't simply wouldn't die, or when they did they were replaced by even 's wild swings were rewarded when one of the axe-wielding creatures fell, turning to the familiar black mist, but the other sword-wielding creature before him pressed its attack with more of the inhuman speed and strength they seemed to possess.
The bigger creature had reached Reflet, who was desperately crawling backwards from his foe, holding the wound on his stomach. The bigger creature stomped down hard on the tactician's chest, pinning him as it raised its axe, Reflet crying out in pain.
Robin cried out as her brother closed his eyes, bracing for the killing blow.
Before the creature could land the blow, the second masked stranger, swung his sword vertical, defending Reflet from the final blow. The one that saved Lissa, swung his sword upwards at the creatures elbow, arm and axe falling to the side in a stream of black mist, before the other cut the creature's head clean from its shoulders, dissipating into mist.
The other creatures became slower and seemed confused without their leader, giving the Shepherds an easier time to finish them off.
Robin ran to her wounded brother, who had sat up, but was coughing violently.
"That hurt," he said between coughs. "That monster was strong."
The captain of the Shepherds couldn't help but laugh in relief at the tactician's poor attempt at humor.
"Just sit and bask in our victory," Chrom told the man as Lissa and Virion approached.
"Lissa, can you heal him?" asked Robin, still filled with worry.
Lissa nodded and was set to work instantly with her staff, healing Reflet's wounds.
"Yeah right," Reflet grumbled, forcing himself to his feet with the help of his sister and thanking Lissa. "You wouldn't be saying that if you were forced to be an insect under someone's foot." Robin helped her brother limp over to Chrom as Sully and Frederick pulled up.
"That appears to be all of them, milord," the male knight said, surveying the battlefield.
The only evidence of the creatures was the scattered and broken weapons lying about; the creatures themselves had turned to mist and vanished once felled.
The twins, Frederick and Chrom all turned to the masked duo, who were standing silently apart from the others; even with the masks, though, it was plain that they were staring at Chrom.
"So…" Robin started, drawing out the word as she held her brother. "Thanks you, for saving my brother."
The younger man nodded in Robin's direction.
"Me too!" Lissa said. "I mean, for saving me. Thanks. For saving me."
The older seemed to be trying to hide a smile at her words, and nodded again.
"You saved my sister's life, and the life of my friend," Chrom said after the silence. "Not to mention you stood by our sides and fought bravely against those things. My name is Chrom. May I ask yours?"
They both were silent at the moment, before nodding a third time.
"You may call me Marth."
"Anri."
"Marth? Anri?" Chrom repeated. "As in the hero-king and The first ruler of Altea?"
Another nod from both of them.
"Well, you certainly fight like heroes, I'll grant you that," Chrom said with his best easy-going smile, trying to be friendly. "Where did you both learn to handle a sword like that?"
The older man sniffed. "We're not here to talk about us. This world teeters at the edge of darkness; what you saw tonight was merely a prelude to the greater disaster yet to come. The warning has been delivered."It had sounded like the man's voice had broken slightly at the end of the sentence.
With his piece said, the masked man turned and strode purposefully into the dark forest, leaving the five confused Shepherds and the twins standing, confused.
"I'm sorry, please forgive my friend's disparaging. I hope you guys a safe journey." With a bow, he retinue after his friend.
"Well," Robin said after the duo had disappeared into the night. "That was… strange."
"You didn't see them fall out of the sky," Lissa said tiredly, her unshakable cheer returning slightly.
"They fell out of the sky, too?" Chrom asked his sister incredulously.
"Yep. It was actually incredible." Said Reflet.
"Not much for conversation, is he?" Robin said.
"Their skills obviously lie elsewhere," Frederick said, watching the forest where the mysterious masked duo had disappeared. "I don't doubt our paths will cross again."
Chrom nodded agreement.
"We should make haste to ensure that the capital hasn't befallen the same fate as this forest," Fredrick said after a moment.
Chrom couldn't help but agree. Now that the battle was over he realized that if the Capital had been affected by the same catastrophe as the forest had, then their skills would be sorely needed.
Chrom lead the way to Ylisstol, with the rest following in toe.
Did you guys notice any differences, cause I sure have.
I would love to have some more reviews to know if I'm doing something right or if I need to work on something.
My offer still stands about wanting to know the pairing right away. Unless you guys want it to be a surprise which I'm totally cool with.
See ya Later
