"Long ago, the War of the Magi reduced the world to a scorched wasteland, and magic simply ceased to exist. 1000 years have passed. Iron, gunpowder, and steam engines have been rediscovered, and high technology reigns. But there are some who would enslave the world by reviving the dreaded, destructive force known as "magic." Can it be that those in power are on the verge of repeating a senseless and deadly mistake?"
"There's the town..." Roy sighed tiredly.
He really didn't want to go on this mission, especially since it was happening so early in the morning and the sun hadn't even risen yet. Roy had just wanted to sleep that night, but Emperor Ganondorf sent both him and Wolf to find this supposed "Esper" that's somewhere deep in the Narshe mines. Now here they were sitting on a cliff riding Magitek Armor overlooking the town itself.
"Hard to believe that an Esper's been found intact here 1000 years after the War of the Magi," Wolf said, his voice sounding much deeper and harsher than Roy's more laid-back, young voice. Judging by his enthusiasm, Wolf was definitely more excited than Roy on this mission and had always wanted to see an Esper up close and personal and this was his chance to do so.
"Think it's still alive?" The redhead asked, stretching his arms.
"Probably," his superior replied, "Judging from the urgency of our orders."
Roy turned to the woman named Corrin behind them, she was also riding Magitek Armor. Her silver hair was kept neatly with an intricate black headband that blew in the icy wind. She wore silver and black armor with a blue cape while staring at them mindlessly.
"This woman... This sorceress, why is she here? I heard she fried at least fifty of our Magitek Armored soldiers in under three minutes."
Wolf chuckled as if to assure his fellow soldier that she wouldn't be a threat to them, "Not to worry, the slave crown on her head robs her of all conscious thought. She'll follow orders." He then walked away from the drop in the cliff, crushing a log as he did so.
"We'll approach the town from the east. Move out!"
After a long trek that seemed like hours through a snowy field, they finally made it to Narshe.
"Let's put her on point, no point taking any risks. Forward!" The one-eyed man barked before he and the others moved through the small, mining town with the silverette in the lead. The three soldiers tore through the city, taking down anyone who got in their way then stopping at the mines behind Narshe.
Wolf turned his head to the entrance, "According to our source, the frozen Esper was found in a new mine shaft. Maybe this one?"
The soldiers went into the mine shaft which was a dark, damp cave illuminated by lamps. The mine cart track sat at the center of the path, leading to the back part of the shaft. They walked all the way down to the end of it, occasionally stepping on a Were-rat and scaring themselves. Eventually their progress was halted at an area blocked off by a wooden gate.
Roy said in a casual tone as he rolled his arm, "I'll handle this. Stand back."
He stepped back a little then rammed into the gate, knocking it down. Just as he, Wolf and the silver haired girl were about to proceed a guard stopped them.
"We won't hand over the Esper!" The guard shouted at them. "Whelk, get them!"
What came out at them was truly horrifying to look at. It was a giant snail with beady blue eyes, a full body and a spiky lavender-colored shell. The whelk roared at the Imperials as if challenging them to a fight.
"Hold it!" Roy said, interested now that there was some action, "Think back to our briefing..."
"What about it?" Wolf asked.
"Do you remember hearing about a monster that eats lightning..."
"And stores the energy in its shell!" he finished, now remembering that they were now facing the whelk, which Emperor Ganondorf had told them to be extremely wary of.
Roy warned, "Right. So whatever you do, don't attack the shell!"
"Alright already!" Wolf replied, wanting to hurry this up so he could see the Esper.
The whelk then lunged at them, trying to bite at the redhead but received a missile to the face courtesy of Corrin. It roared in anger, furious that it was hit. Just as Wolf shot a Fire Beam at it, the snail growled and retreated into its shell. Wolf's Fire Beam hit the shell, and he just stared at the whelk, scared of what was to come next.
A giant bolt of lightning came at him and hit his Magitek Armor, zapping him.
"Dammit!" Wolf yelled. Luckily for him, Roy used a Heal Force to save his comrade from imminent doom.
"Be more careful next time!" The redhead yelled as Corrin shot another missile at the whelk, causing it to flinch. The two men saw their chance and both shot Fire Beams at it simultaneously while the beast was staggered. It gave out a mighty roar as it lifelessly slumped to the ground dead.
"Alright," Wolf said, "let's see this Esper."
They walked a short distance away and found the Esper encased in a solid block of ice sitting on a rock right in front of them. A blue light illuminated the room, bathing everything in its azure glow.
"Hey, what's the matter?" Wolf asked the Esper, "Do you know something we don't?"
The Esper shined and Corrin walked up to it without being ordered to. It began emitting an eerie light.
"Where's that light coming from?!"
Wolf didn't have much more time to think as he quickly disappeared. Roy looked over to the spot that his partner had just been standing in moments ago. A sense of fear washed over him.
"H-hey!" He stuttered, "Wolf... where are you? W-what's happening?"
Roy's fear disappeared along with him as he too was missing from the room as well, leaving just the silver haired girl and the Esper as the only ones left. Both of them glowed blue from the light emitting between them. An explosion happened and darkness soon encroached Corrin's mind, knocking her out.
When she came to Corrin awoke to find herself in an unfamiliar room of sorts, sitting up to rub at her red eyes before standing up. It wasn't long before someone entered the room to greet her, a man with short blonde hair aptly named Shulk who apparently found her and brought her to safety.
"Where am I...?" She asked the other person who just walked in the room.
"Whoa! And I only just removed the crown!" Shulk exclaimed.
Corrin clutched her head in pain as if she felt a headache flare up and muttered that her head hurts. Shulk went to the other end of the room to pick the broken headpiece that Corrin was wearing before showing the silverette.
"Easy! This is a slave crown. The others had complete control over you while you were wearing it."
She shook her head then looked at the ground dejectedly, "I can't remember a thing..."
"Don't worry," he tried to assure her, "It'll all come back to you... in time, that is."
Corrin frowned before her face changed as if a lost thought had come back to her. She managed to recover a piece of her memory which happened to be her name, then looked at the blonde before speaking.
"My name... is... Corrin..."
"Impressive! I've never heard of anyone recovering this fast!"
Too bad this cheerful moment didn't last long before a bark followed by a series of loud knocks sounded at the front door, alerting both occupants inside the house. Shulk moved quickly but quietly through his home to hear a second pattern of knocks at the door, this time much louder than the last. It was the city guard, demanding that he open up to give both Corrin and the Magitek Armor over to the local authorities since she was an Imperial soldier who raided the town earlier. Startled by the loud knocking, a curious Corrin unconsciously followed him out to the living room, wondering what was going on outside.
"Empire...? Magitek Armor...?"
Shulk narrowed his blue eyes at the door before facing the silverette, "Look, I have to get you out of here! I don't have time to explain!" He then led her back to his room towards the back door and handed her an elixir that she safely tucked away in a pouch. "Make your way out through the mines! I'll keep these brutes occupied!"
With no other choice, she nodded and left out of the back door behind the house. The amnesic girl didn't get very far on the bridge before the guards spotted her, gasping in shock then dashing across the bridge into a nearby cave. Once inside, Corrin had to fight off a few enemies with her sword and magic that she also used to heal any damage she sustained. Just as she made it through a narrow corridor, the guards had soon caught up to Corrin and cornered her, cutting off any possible route of escape.
Panicked, ruby red eyes wide as dinner plates, the silverette fearfully stepped back as they closed in on her. Unfortunately for them a piece of the floor gave way under Corrin's feet, causing her to fall to a lower level in the cave and hurt herself. Miraculously she survived but the pain was too much and she passed out after crawling a few feet from where she fell. As her consciousness began to slowly slip away, another memory appeared to Corrin and she found herself in a room filled with machinery.
Inside the room with her was a woman named Grima with white hair and eyes a much deeper shade of red than Corrin's holding something in her hands.
"My sweet little magic user!" Grima grinned, laughing like a madwoman. "With this Slave Crown I'll practically OWN you!"
Corrin's eyes widened in fear when she saw the other woman trying to put the crown on her, struggling vainly in her restraints and screamed at Grima to get away from her. All it did was encourage her more to put the crown on the silverette's head. Once she did so the light faded from Corrin's eyes as she now became a mindless puppet easily bending to Grima's will.
The scenery changed to a fiery one as Corrin was now riding Magitek Armor while being ordered by that woman to burn everything in sight, including the soldiers with Fire Beams. Horrible screams of pain, burning flesh and smoke filled the air as fifty Imperials with or without Magitek Armor were killed in less than a few minutes, thus making it a gruesome sight to behold. Anyone else who happened to get in the way became collateral damage and added to the body count. Although it was inside her mind it felt genuinely real, and to make matters worse that white haired female was laughing as she reveled in the chaos and destruction of an entire town being burned to ashes.
Grima laughed maniacally, "Good! Burn up everything!"
It made Corrin wonder if she actually did kill all those people and razed that city with all of its inhabitants to the ground.
The background soon changed again to what appeared to be the Empire's residence. That horrible woman was there along with three other people, one of whom was Emperor Ganondorf. He was giving a speech to a crowd of soldiers standing by who listened intently to him as he spoke in a loud commanding voice.
"We stand on the brink of a major breakthrough! In the days to come, we'll witness a total revival of magic! It is our destiny, and ours alone, to take this mystic force and claim what is rightfully ours! With our new-found power, nothing can stand in our way!"
"Hurrah! Long live Emperor Ganondorf!" The soldiers cheered.
The silverette didn't salute because she wasn't ordered to only stepped forward instead. Unable to understand anything, Corrin felt too weak do anything about it either as she was pulled back to the land of unconsciousness once again.