Happy 2013! My resolutions are to write, breathe, and drink soda.

...SUCCESS!


Needles in My Eyes

Chapter 1 – Blood Runs Red


The fireball exploded on the man, sending him to the ground in a heap of mystically fueled flames. The other armored men around him skittered away, only to be run through with various weapons held by familiar shapes. One was cut down by an axe, and two others took lances to various body parts. As they fell, I could see blood fly about.

It was terrible.

I pulled my head back in and shut the door, not wanting any of it to be real. Those men had been wearing ebon black armor. Those people fighting them had faces, and I'd seen them. I knew their names. Boyd, Oscar, Nephenee, and the fireball had probably come from Soren. It could have been Ilyana, I guess, but that wasn't really important. What was important was that I was there. I had no idea why or how, but I had definitely seen and heard that fireball turn that man into charcoal.

Something was not right. Of that I was positive. Everything else was like Calculus. It just didn't make sense to me. Was I hallucinating? The only way I could think to prove that was to do something painful, so I brought my hands together, balled them, and punched myself in the gut. There was pain, followed by more heaving. Nothing around me changed.

Once I was done with that episode, my mind had officially had it. I walked over to the table and started putting the equipment on. Maybe that punch and all of the puking had knocked some wires loose in my head. I barely thought about it as I put the quiver on like a buckled guitar strap, slid the knife into a slot on the belt I didn't even know I was wearing, mounted the shoulder guard like I'd worn one before, and then picked up the bow without hesitation.

If this is going to actually happen, then I'm not going to sit around with my thumb up my ass, I thought for whatever reason. It seemed like a pretty badass thing to think at the time, so I rolled with it. Holding the bow, however, I noticed the piece of cloth as it was the only thing left on the table. What was it doing there?

Unable to spare my curiosity, I picked the fabric up. It was smooth, black, had little strands on each corner, and was amazingly opaque. It kind of made me think of a facemask when I held it up for a closer look. I don't know why, but I put it up against my mouth for a test. Much to my surprise, I could breathe through it without any trouble. That cemented it in my mind. It had to be a facemask. But why would I need a facemask? The only reason I could think of was to protect my identity, not that I really needed to. But, then again, what if those guys in black saw me and I couldn't get away with those people? Then it might be useful to have a hidden face.

I was just about done tying on the mask when a small crowd of characters went zipping past the window. I caught sight of their features, recognizing the three from earlier, plus Soren, Rolf, and someone on a flying white horse. Marcia? It had to have been. Hot on their heels, however, was another troop of guys in black armor. This, I felt, was not going to end well. The urge to help overrode every ounce of caution in me and made me pick the bow back up and go straight outside.

Unfortunately, I failed to expect there to be a soldier guarding my door. It was a pull door, so I got a face full of him rather than him getting a face full of wooden fury. He looked pretty mean as he swung around to face me, but not necessarily tough. Probably just a private, relegated to 'guard this house while we go find the enemy' duty. Well, this guy got set in front of the wrong house.

With my bow being not really made for bludgeoning, I quickly reared back my right hand for my best rendition of the Falcon Punch. His lance came up, but I had the presence of mind to angle my bow in its way so that I wouldn't get kebab'd. My fist shot forward and, with a fine crunch, turned the sap's nose into pulp. It was a fine punch, if I do say so myself. I'd always had a good right straight. Probably knocked a few teeth out, actually. He didn't fall over, though, but I wanted him upright. While he was stunned, I took a hold of his arm and swung him headlong into the doorframe. His helmet made a loud clunk before he collapsed to the ground like a bag of blackberries.

Passing some quick looks around, I found that this side of down was mostly quiet now. I could still hear fighting, but where had everyone gone? The smell in the air was a mix of burnt something and what I assumed to be blood. I looked over to where that guy had been smashed by that fireball, seeing him still there for the physical part of things. The earth around him was scorched, and there were still a few embers going in certain spots. Then, as if on cue, I heard another whoosh of fire from around a nearby corner in the direction everyone had run by in.

"Good morning, Vietnam," I muttered to myself as I started moving that way, pulling an arrow out as I went. I remember thinking that it seemed like a strange motion, retrieving the arrow from behind your back, but it really wasn't. As a guy who'd had to wear a wool suit for five years of his life, I was accustomed to scratching the back of my neck, which required similar motions. Thank you, marching band.

I pressed the arrow between my gloved index and middle fingers, noting how I could actually feel the arrow through the leather. It was like I'd been wearing the gloves for a while—like they were worn in. This revelation was downplayed for me, though, seeing as I'd never actually used a bow before. I clutched the arrow as tight as I could, letting it sit on my bow hand while also pulling the string back. It was harder than I expected, but my arms felt like they could get used to the motion.

Then, as I stood there with my bow cocked, I realized something terrible. I had no idea how to aim this thing. Instantly, little alarms started going off in my head. I didn't know what I was doing out here with the sounds of battle raging around. This was nuts, I was stupid, and there were Fire Emblem characters running around.

Of course, when you put it like that, it just becomes all the more surreal when you realize that it's not going away like a dream should.

Before I could even think to uncock the arrow, there came footfalls from around the corner. I instantly backed up to the wall, expecting the worst. Instead, I got two fumbling black armored soldiers running for their lives. They didn't even notice me and kept running past, headed for what I believed to be the village gate. Their backs were to me before I knew it, and an evil thought came to mind. I could try out my aim on these two.

The bow seemingly leveled itself off as I considered the thought. I found my body in position to shoot, a position I didn't even know I knew. I could see down the arrow, its apex in line with the bow string. Was that where the arrow would strike? My fingers did not even need the question to be answered to take the chance. They released the string, and the arrow flew.

My heart skipped a beat when I realized what happened. I flinched heavily, watching the retreating men in shock until something small bounced off of one of their back plates with a tiny spark. That actually surprised me even more. I had hit! Even if it was a completely worthless effort, I had still hit the target!

Maybe I know what I'm doing after all, I complemented myself before shaking my head and letting the two guys go. I watched them jump over the burnt guy's remains and keep running. Up ahead of them stood something I thought I'd never see: goddamn dragons. I could see that one of them was green, and on it sat someone in red armor. That would have been Jill, which meant I definitely didn't want to go that way. Jill meant Haar, and all I could remember about Haar was that he was a mean mothertrucker in Radiant Dawn.

So I grimaced and backed off around the corner where everything sounded like it was kicking off. Just like that, the fighting went from the being elsewhere to right in front of me. The small group of characters I had seen earlier was engaged a little further down the way. There was Oscar on his horse, fighting two other mounted knights at the same time. Boyd was close by, trying to lop off the arms of what seemed to be another axeman. Nephenee was there dueling with a soldier close behind the rest, and off to the side I saw what I believed to be Rolf pulling an arrow out of Soren's shoulder. There were also quite a few dead people, all of them appearing to be of Daein orientation.

My eyes went wide as my mind finally, after so many minutes of floundering with the situation, admitted what I'd been thinking.

I was in Path of Radiance. My heart skipped another beat.

Just before I could back away and starting thinking about finding a place to commit suicide, a loud swish caused me to duck. It was a good thing I did, too, because there was a steel lance where my head had been just a second before. Marcia landed before me as I rose back to full height, and I could see her ready to strike me down if I set so much as a foot towards her. Hell, she might have struck me down anyway if I wasn't so quick to think of something to say.

"No!" I put a stopping hand up at her. "I'm on your side!"

It was a simple, but effective statement.

"Wha- Really?" the pegasus knight looked at me like I was crazy. I was inclined to agree with her.

The exchange between me and Marcia didn't have a chance to stay active, as I saw Nephenee hit the ground not too far behind the white winged horse and its pilot. I instinctively moved so that I could get a better look at what was going on, only to see the soldier that she had been fighting was getting ready to deliver a finishing blow.

You'd think I'd have pulled an arrow and shot the guy. Heh… Some bowman I was.

"Look out!" I pointed in a panicked fashion. Not one of my better moments, I'll admit, but Marcia reacted on my call. She twisted around and, quick as lightning, sent her lance sailing through the air and into the Daein soldier's chest. It pierced his chest plate without a fuss, sending him to the grass with a thud.

I didn't realize it at the time, but I had just saved Nephenee's life. Think about it.

The skirmish finished quickly after that. Boyd offed his opponent with relative ease, and Rolf managed to put an arrow into one of Oscar's attackers so that the horseman could take care of the other without distraction. Things were not set to be relaxed, however, as it was now time to check on Soren. Everyone who wasn't mounted—sans Nephenee, whom was still getting up—instantly moved to check on the downed mage. He looked alright enough, with that scowl on his face. He jerked a satchel out from his robes and quickly started applying its contents to where the arrow had gotten him. It was a vulnerary, I suspected. I don't know why, but had always thought that vulneraries were liquids. In actuality, they're salves. How about that?

I tentatively approached the group as they all stood on the path, being wary about their surroundings. Marcia had already bounded over to them to pluck her lance out of her kill, and was the first to notice my approach. She didn't look very trusting, making sure to alert Oscar as soon as she could.

"Stop!" the green knight pointed his lance at me. "I suggest you walk away!"

I almost facepalmed. It never occurred to me that my black and grey clothing was going to make people think I was Daein. If anything, I decided to go ahead and get one thing straight with these people.

"I am an enemy of Daein, which makes us natural allies," I went ahead and stated what was obvious to me. By this point, I was close enough to them where I could see their features. They all looked amazing. It's difficult to describe…

"I don't know," Boyd stood forward, his axe pointed at me as well. "You look awful shady to me."

Yeah, I thought. And you look awful dim witted to me, but I'm not judging you by it.

"We don't have time for this!" Soren stated loudly as Rolf tugged him to his feet. "We need to move before the enemy surrounds us!"

Now, I'd never been a fan of Soren off the battlefield. I can appreciate bluntness right up until you're going out of your way to be offensive. Of course, 'blunt and offensive' was exactly the way to describe Soren's personality. The guy was a total prick, and the odds were he didn't care who knew it or what they thought about it. This stood in contrast of how I preferred to act in public. I didn't talk a lot, but I always tried to be polite. That was how I worked, and it always managed to keep people from being against me. Soren didn't need nice acts, though. He had wicked talent, and plenty of it.

Incidentally, one of those talents was the ability to predict what the enemy would do. Not a full second after he mentioned something about the enemy surrounding us, a line of riders came around from the deeper part of town. Horse knights, all armed with bright swords and adorned with Daein's signature ebon plates. It pissed me off, much to my ever-growing surprise. We all recoiled at the sight as they blocked our progress, with our weapons continuing to be raised. They outnumbered us, however. My memory was struggling for some reason, but I couldn't help but feel like this line of horses existed in the game. If they were, then with them ought to be…

"General Mackoya! More this way!" one of the riders called. That's right. This was the unit under their leader.

Sure enough, out from behind a house strode a diligent white horse with a man on it that seemed to hold a big more regality than the rest of us. He had green hair, a large nose, and facial hair that looked like it really didn't belong there. This was General Mackoya, the boss of this map and underling to the Black Knight himself.

The Black Knight… Actually, he was probably marching around not too far behind us.

"Should we run?" I heard Marcia murmur to anyone listening.

"They've got wyverns at the gates," I remembered seeing Jill. "We're sandwiched."

"Crimean dogs, your bravery is to be commended," Mackoya spoke, his voice reminding me vaguely of an Imperial officer from Star Wars. Actually, no. Imperial officers weren't so well-mannered when addressing rebels. "Lay down your weapons and we will make your ends quick."

We all stood defiant, including myself, even if I was standing behind everyone else. I don't know why, but I seriously felt the need to say something sassy at the general. I knew that I didn't have the nerve to speak up in this kind of situation, but now I really wish I had. It probably would have done wonders for my self-esteem.

"We will not surrender to you, Daein scum!"

My eyes widened as I saw Soren step forward and raise his hand. He had been the one to speak, and I was almost certain that the general was about to whip out that bow he had at his side and just waste the sullen mage, but something completely unexpected managed to occur before anything regretful—towards us, that is—could happen.

"RRAAAAAWGH!"

The roar came over the path like a slam of thunder, cueing a massive blue blur to sweep in from around the corner and smash into one of the knights. It didn't stop with that man, though. It used his horse as a platform and launched at the general like a missile. Mackoya was off his horse with a tiger at his neck before he even had fully turned around.

And just like that, all hell broke loose. Another force of our allies swarmed in from the same way the tiger had and started to cut down the knights without mercy. I could see many more familiar faces, but none of them caught my attention. What really got me was one Daein rider who didn't seem to be quite all there. He was just sitting there, cowering. My arm moved on its own, retrieving an arrow and loading the bow. I pointed, saw his neck down the arrow, and let go.

The bolt hit him almost harmlessly in the arm, much to my great disappointment. Not a full second later, another arrow struck right where I had aimed. The man flopped off his horse, and I shot a look to Rolf. I couldn't believe that I was actually worse than him. Him! He couldn't have been fourteen years old! Then again, I'd never actually touched a bow before, and he was already somewhat seasoned. Compared to me, he was a veteran.

"Everyone! To the ship! To the ship!"

The call was loud and clear. The group was leaving this place and with haste. The entirety of them started running in a line except for Marcia, who was flying straight there like someone who flies should. It wasn't too far away. I could actually see it from where we had been waylaid by Mackoya. It was a large vessel, and for good reason. These people weren't going on a pleasure cruise, and, as my legs enticed me to follow them, it was starting to look like I might be joining them. I wasn't thinking about that at the time, though. I was more focused on the fact that I didn't want to stay in this war-torn burg anymore.

As the group started filing up the gangplank, a few of the last Daeins made a late run at us. Being last in line, my hair climbed on end when they ran at us. I wasn't alone, though. Rolf was still there, as was another man with grey hair. He moved in front of us, and this time I forced myself to draw the arrow. The grey haired man drew out a sword and started fighting against a more fleet-footed swordsman. Rolf shot an arrow, and I pointed mine out to try and focus. Instead of relying on just aiming down the shaft, this time I tried to put my extremely limited understanding of physics to work. I had the string in a little notch in the back of the arrow, so I knew that it was going to fly straight, I just had to figure out where 'straight' was.

An imaginary line extended out from my arrow, causing me to blink for some reason. Then, just like that, the line was touching an incoming soldier's neck. I let go virtually without meaning to, but the man's sudden jolting and keeling over with an arrow in his neck was all the indication I needed that something had been done right. Suddenly, another soldier dropped in time with Rolf's shooting, and the grey haired man defeated his target with a swift slice. There were three more soldiers still coming, but they skidded to a stop at the heels of their dead comrades. They stared at us for only a second before turning tail.

It was an amazing sight, actually. I'll never forget it.

It was a tugging on my arm that reminded me that we were leaving. I snapped around to find that it was Rolf, and we ran up the gangplank together behind the grey haired man whose name was eluding me. I turned back once we were up, seeing that we were the last. With us aboard, the sailors immediately pulled the plank up and someone called for us to depart straight away. There was a massive flapping as the sailed unfurled, and then the boat started to chug its way along the shore.

Just like that, the battle was over. The town started to drift by, but not before I'd caught another sight of that soldier I'd managed to kill. He was face down in a pool of blood. He was dead. I had killed him.

It was about here that I first heard my bow creak. I looked down, seeing my white knuckles gripping the wooden piece very tightly. I drew in a breath, held it, and the breathed it back out.

What the hell am I doing?


Ain't moral conundrums grand?

Thanks to all of the readers, followers, and reviewers! I appreciate all of the kind words and gestures.

Oh, just to say, the "anyone can die" rule is in full effect. Expect losses. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but they will happen.

Review... or don't. It's your life. You can do whatever you want.