Ok, I admit it. Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance consumed my life. I even started writing an FAQ for it. I just needed some time to work on something else. I've learned that forcing myself to write something I'm not in the mood to work on only results in low quality chapters. That may seem obvious, but it is an important thing to keep in mind. Either way, I'm back in action and more than ready to continue this arc. Hopefully, it will be done soon.
John: Um… ok. Other than Switch fun, yes, you must BEG. BEG I SAY! …Yeah, that was a joke.
Captain Obvious: Imperial Decree seems to have been… paid for. Go figure.
Chapter 7: Trial of Courage: Miles
Dreading what he was about to see, Miles slowly opened his eyes.
The area was not nearly as threatening as he had feared. Instead, it was merely a small, stone room. The wall in front of him had two wooden doors. The one to his left was closed, but did not have a lock. The one to the right did.
"What is this supposed to be?" Miles said out loud, looking at the doors warily. There was no response to his words.
"…Well, this one seems to be unlocked…" Miles went up to the left door, and touched the handle lightly. When nothing happened, he carefully pulled it open.
The sight that met his eyes was completely unexpected for him. Instead of being in another room, he found himself staring at several trees. The area was carpeted with emerald green grass, and the trees had matching leaves. Sunlight seeped in through the foliage, leaving few shadows, none that were threatening. It was completely silent, but in a tranquil manner.
The forest looked like a sanctuary, especially when compared to the room he was in. Miles was tempted to step outside at once. But something held him back. He frowned, trying to put a finger on what was bothering him. Eventually, he came to the conclusion that although the forest appeared to be safe, it certainly did not… feel that way.
"I must be losing it," Miles muttered. The uneasy feeling did not fade though, and he reluctantly closed the door. Then he looked at the other one. The metal lock was old, and the keyhole was fairly large.
Miles considered his options. "This wouldn't be hard to open… but maybe I should be going the other way. It wasn't barred from me, after all." He thought for a moment, and then reached to his pouch and took out a lock pick. "I guess I can at least take a look inside before deciding."
The lock turned out to be much harder to pick than he expected. Although it certainly seemed worn from use, he could not seem to open it. But Miles kept working at it, feeling slightly frustrated at the time it was taking up but determined to make sure he was not missing anything important.
Finally, the lock clicked open. He removed it from the door, setting it by the back wall. He slowly opened the door.
It revealed a dark hallway, barely lit with a torch a distance away from the door. It certainly did not seem as appealing as the forest. Miles tried to see beyond the torch, but found it impossible to penetrate the darkness.
"…I don't like the looks of this…" Miles said. He took a short step forward to try and see farther.
It was his instinct and good reflexes that saved him. Before he could even realize what the noise he heard was, he had thrown himself back into the room, narrowly avoiding a huge gray switchblade that crashed into the floor where he had been standing. It slowly rose back into the wall as Miles watched it with wide eyes.
"That thing nearly killed me!" Miles exclaimed, trembling from shock. After a few deep breaths, he was able to calm himself and rise. He looked down the dark hallway again, and shook his head. "No way. No way am I trying that path again."
Yet he was getting another feeling from the hall, as though that was the right way to go. Miles turned to the door leading to the forest, but did not open it. When he raised his hand to do so, the forbidding feeling he had had returned with full force.
"Why do I want to go down the obviously more dangerous path so much?" Miles said. When he still got no answer, he sighed. "I should try the left door. It'd be a lot easier to get somewhere without worrying about being split in half…"
Miles trailed off as he realized what he had just said. "…It's easier. I remember the last time I thought that, and it certainly didn't end the way I wanted it to." He shook his head slowly. "I wanted to have my memory erased, so I could take the easy way out of what I had done… and look how that turned out." Miles stared at the door that lead to the forest, and suddenly kicked it. "Screw that. I'm not falling for it again!" Before he could change his mind, he ran into the other door, which was still open.
Knowing that speed was essential, he forced himself to keep running, right past the flickering torch, as he heard the clatter of blades hitting the stone floor. Even as he entered the darkness in the hallway, he did not slow.
If I run into a corner, or a dead end, I'm finished, Miles thought as he went on. Stupid as always, huh?
At that moment, Miles crashed into something solid. He fell onto his rear, wincing from the painful collision. …Like that. I went and jinxed myself. Go me. Then he braced himself for another blade to come down.
However, nothing happened. He heard the blades from down the hallway slowly rising, but nothing more. He breathed a sigh of relief. "Talk about… a close shave…" he managed to say, laughing weakly.
When Miles finally felt ready to move on, he stood up and felt the surface in front of him. It was wood, and he soon found the handle for the door. "Let's see if I chose the right path…" Miles said. Then he hit himself lightly over the head. "Duh, I chose the right path… not like I went left… ok, let's see if I chose the correct path. Why am I talking to myself, anyway? And here I thought Rue was weird." He paused, and then said, "Because I'm nervous. People talk to themselves when scared, right? Well… maybe… but does it really matter? I'm just stalling by doing this." He forced himself to fling the door open.
Miles found himself staring at a beach. He blinked a few times. "Ok, that wasn't what I expected…" He stepped onto the sand. The doorway behind him vanished, leaving no trace of having ever been there.
"Um… why exactly am I here?" Miles said, looking around. As he did, he caught sight of a building that caused him to freeze.
He recognized it instantly, even though it had been over a month since he had last seen the house. Still shocked at what he was witnessing, he walked to the front of the house.
Just as he came in sight of it, he saw himself run out of the front door. The other Miles glanced around quickly, and then quickly locked the door. He retreated a safe distance away from it, watching the house.
After a few minutes, smoke began to come from it. Miles saw his past self staring at it with glittering eyes, and could vividly remember how he had felt at that moment. He had realized what a fool he had been, thinking that the best way out would be to betray the only friends he had… How he had thought of nobody but himself, and his own cowardly wishes…
Miles was torn from his thoughts as he heard a chilling voice say, "Admiring the results of your actions?"
Both of them turned to see Thanatos, who had walked up to the other Miles. That Miles said, "Not admiring. Regretting. I wish I had never even considered doing this."
"Wishes… they are merely a small spot of light, of hope, in a dark room that soon consumes them. Wishes are pointless." Thanatos stepped towards the past Miles. "Now… my part of the deal." He activated his Duel Disk.
"What are you doing?" that Miles asked.
"You wanted your memory erased, correct? Then I will get rid of it for you. Once you die, you will not care about what you have done here," Thanatos smirked.
"I should have known it would come to this…" Miles sighed. "If you were going to kill the whole group, why not me too? But I won't take it lying down. If I defeat you, maybe I can at least save you, Max…"
Thanatos cut him off. "Max is dead. Why do you act as though he still exists?"
"I thought the real Miles was dead, until I saw the truth of my past. And now I'm what I was before-a coward that tries to earn what I want through the most dishonorable ways! Maybe this time I can act as the alternate persona I had though," Miles declared. Yet his eyes now betrayed his fear. And Thanatos knew it.
"All the more fun for me. I prefer to play with my food before I eat it, and the only food I consume is death," Thanatos said with a sneer.
But before the duel could begin, both Thanatos and the past Miles faded away, leaving Miles alone on the beach.
"Why… why did I see that?" Miles stammered. "I thought… I was going to see my village… burn down again…" He trailed off as he watched the fire in the house slowly grow, greedily devouring it as it spread.
"…They said they faced their worst memories. And they're right. Although I didn't realize it until now… this is my worst memory," Mile said softly. "It's like Gen said. What I had done that night was unintentional. What I did here was consciously done. I knew what the results would be." He shook his head. "Never again… I promised I would never betray them, never run away from my actions, never try to hide them again… and I will keep that promise."
"How do you know that?"
Miles turned to face his reflection, which had appeared behind him. "Because I am now content with who I am. I made more mistakes than most… and I regretted them. I still do. But I admit I made those mistakes, and I will not make them again. I know the consequences for failing to uphold my words, so I will not fail."
"Can you really do that?" his reflection asked. "Do you think a coward such as yourself can really do that?"
"…I was a coward. I was always afraid, and tried to run from my fears," Miles said. "But now I face them. Courage is when you have fears, but you act regardless of them. I have learned that." He turned on his Duel Disk. "I know that now, and I will live up to the definition of that!"
Dark Miles smirked. "How… motivating. Let us see if you really mean that." A Duel Disk appeared on his left hand at his words. Without another word, they both drew five cards.
Miles: 8000
Dark Miles: 8000
"You should know by now that you go first," Dark Miles stated.
"Yep. I lay a monster face down and two other cards," Miles said. "Your turn."
"I will gladly take it," Dark Miles said with a sneer. "This hand is actually quite good. I summon Troop Commander. (1200/400) Using his effect, I special summon Century Thief. (1000/1000) I lay one card down, and attack with Troop Commander!"
Miles watched the Troop Commander slice into his monster. "You've destroyed my Falcon Knight." (1000/700)
"Then my Century Thief attacks!"
The thief, grinning wickedly, was in front of Miles before he could react. The Century Thief landed a hard blow on his stomach, causing him to stagger back, coughing as he tried to regain his breath.
Miles: 7000
Dark Miles: 8000
"As for Century Thief's effect, I will call… Demon Axe," Dark Miles said.
"…Was that from cheating or from pure luck?" Miles grumbled, showing him his hand. It had Demon Axe, another Falcon Knight, and Force.
"I use the same deck as you," Dark Miles pointed out. "I figured a magic card would be a safe pick, and since you have three Demon Axes, I chose that. You don't have three copies of any other magic card in your deck."
"True," Miles admitted, discarding his Demon Axe. "Anything else?"
"No. It is your turn," Dark Miles decided.
As Miles drew, Dark Miles said, "But now I will activate my trap card, Mind Crush. I call Force."
"…You know you suck when you're getting owned by your own deck," Miles stated, discarding the Force from his hand.
Dark Miles smirked at that. "Will you be doing anything this turn?"
"I'll place a monster in defense mode. That's it," Miles said.
"Acting to my nature, I'll copy you," Dark Miles sneered, laying his own monster face down. "Then I attack your defense monster with Troop Commander."
"My second Falcon Knight, as you probably guessed."
"Then I attack directly with Century Thief, and call Cyclone."
Miles: 6000
Dark Miles: 8000
Once Miles recovered from the second brutal blow, he showed Dark Miles the Magic Box of Death in his hand. "Tough luck."
Dark Miles shrugged. "Oh well. I am done."
"Good. Now I can go on the offensive," Miles declared after he saw what he had drawn. "I summon Surprising Matasa! (1300/800) Then I flip over my trap card, Thieving Goblin. Matasa attacks Troop Commander, and then he attacks Century Thief!"
Both of the monsters were cut to pieces by Matasa's blade, leaving only the face down card on Dark Miles' field.
Miles: 6000
Dark Miles: 7600
"That forces you to discard two cards from your hand. So get rid of your left and right cards," Miles said.
"I am forced to discard my own Falcon Knight and Gravity Bind," Dark Miles stated. "Not like either matter. Falcon Knight would be destroyed easily and Gravity Bind would have no use on you. Now, is it my turn?"
"Yes," Miles replied.
Dark Miles eyed his hand, looking slightly annoyed. "I lay one card face down and end my turn."
Miles drew, and then grinned. "You're going to hate me for this. I play Cyclone, destroying the card you just set."
"I hated you before that," Dark Miles said. "I still do. You destroyed my Tidal Wave."
"Awesome. I attack your face down monster with Matasa!" Miles declared.
"It is my Soul-Hunting Spirit," (300/200) Dark Miles announced, flipping it up.
"Darn. I'll need something to get rid of that," Miles sighed. "I'm done."
"…I pass," Dark Miles growled, glaring at his new card.
"Then I'll take this opportunity to deal a good amount of damage," Miles said. "I equip your Soul-Hunting Spirit with Theft, destroying it. Then Surprising Matasa attacks you directly twice! Thieving Goblin forces you to discard the two cards in your hand."
Miles: 6000
Dark Miles: 5000
"…I lose my other Troop Commander and another Gravity Bind," Dark Miles stated.
"Ok. I'll end my turn," Miles decided.
As Dark Miles tried to draw, Miles said, "I will now activate my other trap card, Lost Property."
Dark Miles glared at him. "…My Attack Nullification is gone. I pass."
Miles looked at the card he had drawn. "Hm… I attack you directly two more times with Matasa and end my turn."
Miles: 6000
Dark Miles: 2400
"…This is a feeble last effort," Dark Miles said. "I lay one card down. That's it."
The card Miles drew now caused him to smile. "I'll summon White Thief." (1000/700)
"It looks like I'll live for another turn," Dark Miles stated. "I activate Destruction Ring on your Matasa, destroying him!"
Miles: 4700
Dark Miles: 1100
"Hate to break it to you, but I was ready for something like that," Miles said. "I equip White Thief with Power of Teamwork, raising his stats by 800! (1800/1500) He attacks directly!"
The White Thief sped forward, punching Dark Miles in a manner similar to how Century Thief had attacked. This attack actually tore a hole through Dark Miles though, showing how much the previous attacks had weakened him.
Miles: 4700
Dark Miles: 0
"How… could I lose… to you?" Dark Miles groaned, falling to his knees. Then he was gone, leaving Miles alone on the beach.
"…Because you suck?" Miles said, even though he knew his reflection was not about to hear him. "They always say the original is better than the copy. Most of the time, anyway."
Miles would have probably continued to talk to himself, but the land around him was beginning to fade away.
He soon found himself in a completely unfamiliar area. It seemed like he was in the ring of a coliseum. That was the assumption he made from the appearance of the place, at least. The design of the location was similar in many ways to pictures he had seen of them. The stands were empty though.
He was about to walk to the stands to explore the new area when he suddenly heard someone say, "Do you need something?"
Miles turned to where he had heard the voice come from. He had been wrong about the stands being completely vacant. A short distance away, a boy sat on the last row of stands. Miles tried to see what he looked like, but could not make out any details. He was out of focus; that was the only way Miles could describe it.
"I'm a bit… lost," Miles said, unable to think of a better excuse.
The boy laughed at that, but not in an unkindly way. "I thought so. There really isn't any other reason someone else would come here when the fights are not happening."
"Fights?" Miles went over to where he was, looking up at him over the wall.
"Yeah. What, you haven't seen one yet?" the boy said in surprise.
"Afraid not," Miles replied.
"Huh… I thought everyone who went to Teknisk Wereld would at least know of them by now." The boy shrugged. "That shows how much I know." Then he indicated to the area next to him. "Want to talk for a while?"
"Sure. I've got nowhere urgent to be," Miles said. In a way, that was true. He got the feeling that he had to do something with this boy in order to return to the group. So Miles attempted to pull himself over the wall. However, he was a bit shorter than the wall. "Um…"
"Oh, sorry. Hardly anyone can get up here like that," the boy said, getting up. He went over to the wall and reached down with his right arm. Miles took his hand, but then let go of it abruptly.
The boy, noticing his reaction, backed away. "Ah… I didn't mean to…"
"What happened to your hand?" Miles asked. "It felt… weird."
"…It symbolizes something I did a long time ago," the boy said, looking away. "I… still haven't come to terms with it."
"Why?" Miles inquired.
"…Someone else is involved. He has not come to terms with what happened. Until he does, I'm caught in this too," the boy stated.
"Was this act you did… very horrible?" Miles said.
The boy slowly nodded. "Very."
"And you're blaming yourself for it?" Miles assumed.
"Yes," the boy replied.
Miles thought for a moment before speaking. "…Well, let me just say this. The fact that you're admitting you did it is a good first step. I have been guilty too… I killed many people that I did not want to, and betrayed my friends. But I tried to deny the fact that I was a murderer."
"Really?" the boy asked.
"Yes. When I had done my traitorous act, I finally came to my senses and accepted what I had done as fact," Miles said. "It took me some time to do that… but you already have. That's good. But remember this. Although you may feel responsible to what has occurred, do not place all the blame on yourself."
The boy gazed at him doubtfully. "Why do you say that?"
"I can tell that you would never do anything like you describe without good reason," Miles stated. "I highly doubt whatever you did was entirely your fault. Do not deny your part in it, but do not over exaggerate either."
"…That is good advice," the boy said, seeming intrigued by what he had just been told.
"Even I can come up with some once in a while," Miles replied with a grin. "I'm sure you'll come to terms with your problem. When you do, tell me about it. Until then… do well in your fights."
The boy smiled in return. "I will. Hopefully, we'll see each other again sometime soon, Miles."
As he said that, the coliseum was covered with darkness. As that happened, Miles was able to see what the boy looked like for a moment before he vanished too.
Miles blinked, thinking about what he had seen. Uh… who the hell was that? Then he shrugged. Oh well. He seemed like a nice enough guy.
…
"He lives!" Rue said as Miles emerged.
Gen was by him instantly. "Are you all right?"
Miles smiled at him reassuringly. "Yep. It went fine."
"Good," Gen said, looking very relieved.
"Hey, look at that. Even the mirror knows you're a thief at heart," Draken laughed, indicating to the mirror.
They looked at it and saw an opened lock, identical to the one Miles had picked to get into the right door.
"Very funny," Miles said, rolling his eyes. "But I can understand why that came up."
Then they faced the next mirror, waiting tensely for another reflection to appear. After a moment, Daine growled softly.
"…So I am to go," Fell stated, gazing at his dark self.
"Brother…" Larka looked like she wanted to say something to him, but merely said, "Be careful…"
"…I will," Fell said to her, before looking at Daine. "It will not take long."
"I hope to see you soon," Daine replied solemnly before sitting down on the floor.
"You will do fine," Zack said as Fell approached the mirror.
Fell paused, and gave a brief nod before stepping into the mirror, vanishing.
Larka's grip on Brandi tightened. "I hope he'll be ok…"
"He has grown stronger," Zack assured her. "I am sure there is nothing to worry about."
"Stronger? You can tell? This whole time, I just viewed him as a generally bad guy to tick off," Miles said.
"Physically, I would not know," Zack replied. "But mentally… he has. Very much so."
…
"So, my worries about him were unnecessary," Matt stated as Miles appeared, looking none worse for the wear.
"That's good. I was worried about what would happen with him," Claire admitted.
"They have all had time to face their problems," Sarius stated. "Except for Brandi, it seems. Even Miles was able to resolve what he had to."
"Yeah. I wouldn't be concerned with how the others will do…" Amy watched as Fell went into the next mirror. "…Especially him."
"Ah… now here is one I was waiting to see," Sarius said with a small smile. "I would be highly surprised if he does not make it."
"…We'll see," is all Claire said, watching the lake avidly.
To be continued…