Prologue: The portal

In one of the many condominiums of Italy resided a boy. He had light blond hair and blue eyes and had been living in Italy ever since he and his family had moved there from their home country.

The school year had just ended 4 days prior, and the boy found himself in his room, downloading something called an emulator on his computer, which served to allow him to play video-games from older consoles.

The reason for this is that he wanted to try and play video games that he had never even touched before (not that it was that difficult to do since all those he had some modicum of experience with were some Super Mario and Pokémon games for the Nintendo Wii and DS).

He could vaguely recall seeing a Let's Play on Youtube of some game called Fire Emblem Path of Radiance two years prior, but he had soon forgot all about it. The boy could vaguely recall it being a strategy game, and that he had liked the story and characters immensely (from what little he had seen).

He had tried with all of his might to download the game, but alas, he had been unable to set up his computer for the Gamecube emulator appropriately.

In spite of this, years of wandering on Youtube, trying to find good Let's Plays, had taught him not to give up on such occasions, hence why he currently found himself downloading VirtualBoy Advance instead.

Now he only needed a Rom, so he started looking for a Fire Emblem game on that console. He didn't know how he knew there would be one of those games for the GBA, and not for the GameCube. He just had a feeling.

The boy found a Rom almost immediately. Its name was simply "Fire Emblem". He went ahead and downloaded it without even looking at the image.

Sure, there might've been viruses, but the boy had faith there wouldn't be. It was as if that feeling from earlier refused to leave him.

He was so excited! He was finally going into a new game all blind by himself and not by watching another Youtuber do so!

Ooh boy, download complete! Now to start!

-O-

With the ROM booted up one minute late, the boy was greeted by a shaky image of humans alongside some beasts appearing on the screen. The text below read:

"Once dragons and men coexisted"

All right, that's cool

"They shared a peace forged in wisdom, a peace that lasted many generations."

The image had now become a fiery red, and the music, which until now had been mystical-sounding, had become a little tragic.

"All that was lost when mankind disrupted this balance in a sudden onslaught."

At this the boy found himself rolling his eyes: of course, it was humans, they never seemed to know how to just cope with what they had. Sure, he liked to see the best in people, but they could also be very bad. The news on TV proved it.

"Man fought dragon in a savage war that shook the foundations of their world. This war was called the Scouring. Defeated and humbled, dragons vanished from the realm. In time, man rebuilt and spread his dominion across the land and on to the islands beyond."

Oh no, that's tragic.

All of a sudden, the image became bright and the text now read: "A millennium has passed since those dark days ended" and the music started to pick up, the computer also started to shake violently, along with the mahogany wooden desk it was standing on.

The boy was at a loss as to what to do when, all of a sudden, he found himself getting sucked into the screen.

The last thing he recalled before entering his computer was his mother's distant voice, telling him to lower the volume.

Now, all he could see was a space with a melody that sounded as if it was a mere echo in the background.

Could this be the title screen theme?

If so, it's bloody awesome!

All around him was a blue kind of wall with some mysterious writing on it.

It felt as if he was going down a big slide: he could not stop, nor could he control his movement.

In front of him were the words "FIRE EMBLEM" with a sword and an axe going through them.

After a while those two words disappeared into thin air, leaving the spotlight for a blue bar on which "New Game" could be read.

"What now?" he asked himself, not knowing how to move in that vortex that had now stopped moving.

Ooh, maybe I can try and swim like Mario did to enter the Dream World in the game that came out earlier this year!

What do you know? It worked!

Slowly he swam through the air towards the bar and went ahead to touch it with his right hand, when, all of a sudden, a female voice resonated and said:

"Good afternoon, young man. Welcome. Your role will be that of a tactician, do you understand?"

The boy slowly nodded his head, unsure of what was she was going on about.

"Good, now please tell me your name."

"My name is... Johnny."- the boy slowly answered.

"Why the hesitation? It's not as if the name is fake, right?"- the voice questioned in a curious tone.

"Wait, how would you even know that?! Who are you?"

"I fear I cannot give you the information you seeketh as of yet."- the woman-like entity answered in a mock-serious tone.

Why can I totally imagine this woman winking at me right now?

"Excuse me, lady, but I don't recall signing up for this. Last time I checked this wasn't a virtual reality game. Why are we even... standing (?)... here (Where even is this?)... discussing on our identities? I just wanted to play a new game and-"

"I merely came here to help you grant your wish an-"

"W-wait. What wish are you talking about? What about my world?"- Johnny asked shakily. She couldn't possibly know about his deepest secret, could she?

"Oh, don't you worry. It will be as if you were gone for just a second. Moreover, during your stay in Elibe, you will not age at all. It wouldn't do to worry your family over your wish, now would it?"

"Oh, all right."- the boy replied, relieved that his absence will not be considered long.

"Wait, why do you keep going on about a wish of mine? I'm telling you, I only wanted to play a new game!"

"Do you really want me to voice it out loud for you, Johnny?"

"Please, could you tell me more about this Elibe place?"- he asked, eager on changing the subject. Despite this personal invasion, he really couldn't wait to get started! He would be seeing many new places, just like his favorite teacher had done in her eventful life! And maybe, just maybe, the voice would forget about his "wish".

Wait, was that a chuckle in the background?

"Oh, my dear boy, I think not. Where would the surprise be, after all?"

"B-but but... you can't just plunge me into this willy-nilly! Please tell me something at the very least!"- the boy demanded with his hands in a prayer-like position.

"Ok, fine. Catch this!"

The next instant Johnny had in his hands a dark green robe with a hood attached. Along the outer areas of the tunic were some lines of a lighter green.

"Wow, neat!"- the boy said, sporting a grin. He couldn't wait to see how he looked in it.

"Glad you like it! Now, I believe you are ready to enter my world."

"W-w-wait! I don't even know your name! Where are you even sending me?! "- Johnny asked frantically, beginning to panic.

The voice's response was: "You will find out sooner or later. As for your second question, let's see... yeah, they should do. Ahem! Johnny, prepare to enter Elibe via... The Plains of Sacae!"

"N-no. W-wait!"

But his cries fell on deaf ears, as the vortex around him started to blind him with a bright light. The next instant the boy knew no more...