Prologue: Two Worlds Too Similar
"C'mon, Big Brother Iggy! Pick up the pace! Hahahaha!"
"Fei! Don't wander off! Agh, crud! Lord Hawkeye's gonna kill me later…!"
Somewhere in the peaceful continent of Elibe, a land where humans and dragons once lived together in joyful harmony until the great Scouring, a pair of Nabatan inhabitants got permission to explore the mysterious island that sealed all the dragons away: Valor, the Dread Isle. One is a jolly and playful divine manakete named Fei; and her current overseeing guardian, an adolescent manakete of the earth element named Ignis, nicknamed as Iggy. After the civil war amongst the lords of Lycia and the defeat of the vengeful villain Nergal, the Dread Isle has been barren and uninhabited by civilisation as a terrible relic from two terrible wars.
"Fei, get back here, or else you won't get any sweetened coconut milk when we get back!" Ignis warns and urges as he hovers down and conserves the power of his dragonstone by dispersing his transformed wings.
"Awww boo! I just wanna see what the battle was like in this old creepy place! Can't you feel the excitement!?" Fei gleefully replies back while flying and exploring around the dark old rugged temple-like structure from every nook and cranny to the rooms and trails that speak well of the battles in the place.
"Hm, you made a good point somehow…" Ignis reluctantly agrees, partially curious about the recent battle as well that took place on the Dread Isle.
"Ooh ooh! Brother Iggy! Look, I found a spooky-looking stairwell over here!" Fei excitedly hops with excitement, pointing toward a tall dark stairwell.
"...Uhmmmmm, I know what you're thinking, and let's not do it, okay Fe—" Ignis nervously paused, noticing Fei no longer standing beside him before spotting her take off on her wings and fly into the dark with her glowing dragonstone lighting the way. "Fei! No! Don't!"
"Why!? You scared, brother Iggy?" Fei laughed before going deeper inside.
"Fei! Don't be overbearing and come back here right now!" Ignis angrily scolded before reforming his huge wings and then floated up from the ground, going into the dark stairwell to chase after Fei and her glowing dragonstone. "Oh St. Elimine, please appease Lord Hawkeye with a little empathy if you could hear me now…!"
After minutes of hovering over the dark and eerie stairwell with ease on flapping wings, Ignis stops and drops to the floor as soon as he reaches the top before looking up with eyes wide open from the huge ancient chambers and the giant halls that are hidden in an old rugged temple that could possibly tell more than a hundred years worth of history.
"Woahhhhh, what is all this…!?" Ignis awed at the magnificent interiors, sightseeing the many chamberooms in the area and then going deeper into what almost seemed like a small pedestal of sorts. "This place… this must be where Master Athos the archsage battled Nergal to aid the heroes of Lycia… saving not just all of Elibe, but our kind from the other side…"
"Wowwwww! Hey! Brother Iggy! Look at this ginormous hole!" Fei yelled from afar, getting his attention deeper inside the room.
"Fei! There you are!" Ignis snaps out of his piqued curiosity and responds to her call, running to her direction and finds her standing close to some huge opening in the center of the chamber. "I've been looking all over for y—"
"Brother! Check this place out! It is really vast, and spooky!" Fei gleefully looks around the opening.
Ignis then walks up to the opening and recognizes the appearance from the books he read back in Nabata while under the tutelage of Lord Pent's wife, Lady Louise.
"Wait a second, Fei… do you have any idea what this place is… ?" Ignis thought out loud, touching the ground before looking at the gilded corners of the opening and a space that's almost like a giant fireplace.
"Ummm, no, I haven't, why?" Fei cluelessly and cutely answered while looking around the other smaller chambers before flying behind him.
"Because… I think I've seen this place in the old codex and books Lady Louise showed me… they were here too, with Lord Athos, and the other heroes too!" Ignis exclaimed with awe, touching the floor beneath the opening. "This place, I think this is the Dragon's Gate…"
"Wait wait wait, the Dragon's Gate!? …What's the Dragon's Gate again?" Fei cluelessly asked with a cute and curious face, making him facepalm in disappointment.
"Did you not read the books given to us from Lady Louise? The Dragon's Gate is the very entrance that sealed away all of the known dragons and banished them from this world to another where they could live independently away from humans. A place not exactly like Arcadia, where we could roam and frolic around with few humans in peace," Ignis explains.
"Ohhhh, so that is the Dragon's Gate… I don't get it though," Fei cluelessly thought out loud, making Ignis sigh and shake his head in frustration.
"Agh, forget it. In other words, we should get out of here before we trigger something bad— really, really bad," Ignis urged as he activated his dragonstone and reformed his wings, preparing to fly out of the chamber. "Come along now Fei, let's get out of… here?"
"Oooh! I see some words carved—over here!" Fei pointed towards a certain stone plate that's coated with moss.
"Say what?" Ignis asked as he went to Fei, checking whatever was written on the stone plate as he rubbed the moss off of the inscription. "I can't read this language. It is one that I'm not familiar with. Well, at least based on my studying with Lady Louise and Sister Igrene."
Suddenly, after Ignis touched the inscription, the words carved on the stone plate started glowing bright like gold, causing a tremor inside the temple that scared the both of them and knocked them off their balance.
"Fei! I got you!" Ignis grabs Fei close and then shields the both of them from the falling rubble with his huge wings before flinging the debris off as he spreads them out. "Argh—whoo! Are you alright?"
"Yeah, but your wings!" Fei cried with a worried look on her face.
"I'm fine. They're just stones," Ignis assures before looking at the hole, seeming to create a huge portal with a strong gravitational pull. "By the archsage's beard—you've got to be joking!?"
Without hesitation, Ignis quickly transforms into his humongous brown earth dragon form, covered in stony skin from head to toe that's tougher than even the strongest steel, growing up as big and tall as the opening of the Dragon's Gate. In his dragon form, he inhales deeply and then breathes out his molten magma breath to the floor, making a protective wall of cooled molten rock over Fei before slowly stomping over to the Dragon's Gate to close it. However, what he realized a bit later is that the portal's gravitational pull is strong enough to slowly drag him closer to itself, even in his huge dragon form.
'Oohhhh, I did not think this through enough,' Ignis thought to himself, freaking out in his huge dragon form as he tried to back away from the portal.
"Brother Ignis!" Fei cried out as she watched him get slowly pulled into the portal, peeking from behind his wall.
Ignis could only look back at Fei with a loud roar while trying to float off the ground before he stepped on a brittle stone plate, losing his balance and his grip on the floor, with his tail caught by the portal until his head was left. Soon, the portal closes and vanishes, leaving Fei alone in fear of what may become of Ignis.
"Oh dear, what do I do!? Sister Sophie's not gonna like this!" Fei hysterically thought out loud, panicking crazily before flying out of the isle to return to Nabata.
'Whoaaaaa, this is going to be roughhhhh!' Ignis thought to himself, roaring hysterically while falling down from the atmosphere and coming like a heavy meteor.
After being forcefully transported into the Dragon's Gate, Ignis finds himself crashing into an unknown world— a world that is dominated by the seas and oceans, littered with only pockets of nearby islands, one of which where he makes a rough landing. There he startles a couple of what appears to be dragons of various species that were around the vicinity of his crash site before reforming back into his human form and slowly crawl out of the hole, only to be greeted by the spooked inhabitants surrounding the crash site with curious and confused looks on their faces.
"Uhmmm, ehehe, hi?" Ignis nervously greeted before getting off of the crater and meeting the dragons, who seem to be either skeptically on edge or greatly intrigued by a human who just came down crashing from the sky.
The dragons then looked at each other in amazement as they could see a human before them, and yet smelled a scent of familiarity as if he was a dragon.
"What is this 'thing'?" One blue Monstrous Nightmare whimpers as it nudges Ignis to the others from behind with its snout.
"Ow hey, watch it!" Ignis barked back as he backed away from the fiery horned dragon.
"He's a human, isn't he?" One brown Gronckle grunted as it sniffed him from behind, catching him off guard.
"Whoa, that's a bit too close for comfort!" Ignis screamed as he backed away from the stony beast before being close to tripping into the crater he just created, all the while being cornered and pushed around by curious dragons. "Okay, this has gone far enough…!"
Immediately in a fit of showing intimidation, he activates the magic of his dragonstone to magically reform only his wings to get off the ground, shocking the dragons in the process of his partial transformation.
"Whoa! Can a human do that?!" One pink Deadly Nadder crowed out loud and raised her wings hysterically in response.
"Hold on, dragons? But… Why are they so… distinct from one another? What is this place?" Jake thought out loud, estranged from the place he's in. "Wait, nevermind the place— what is this world!?"
"Who goes there!"
All of a sudden, loud beating of wings in the air are heard and a large shadow from above covers the area around the young manakete, revealing itself to be a large green Timberjack, perching on a tall cedar tree.
"Whoa, those are some really huge wings," Ignis thought out loud in awe, flying up high close to the giant perching dragon.
"A human?! Here?! Wait, a human with wings?!" The green Timberjack roared in an exclaiming and surprising tone, floating off of the treetop.
"Wait, first off: I'm not human! I too am a dragon! Like the rest of you here!" Ignis assures, looking down on all of the dragons gazing at him.
"Impossible! How could a winged human like you be a dragon, and understand our speech!" The Timberjack roared.
"Because I really am a dragon! I just—"
"Danger! Humans have come again! Close to our shores!" Another green Deadly Nadder warned from afar.
"Humans huh? Great," Ignis deadpans before being startled by the Timberjack roaring furiously. "Whoa!"
"Those accursed invaders are coming back for more of us! We shall take them out and protect our island!" The Timberjack roared with a war cry, rallying the available dragons that volunteered to protect the island.
"Um, would you mind if I try to assist?" Ignis offers before being growled at by the Timberjack. "...Look, I don't like humans as much as you do, so will you please trust me? Or even better: let me deal with them on my own for now."
"Hmmm. How are we assured that you won't hand us all over to them?" The Timberjack growled.
"...I won't betray my kind," Ignis assured with a straight face before looking at the green Deadly Nadder. "Show me where those humans are coming from."
After he was taken by the green Nadder high on a cliff, he looked onward to where a small fleet of three ships and boats anchored near another island, loaded with cages, were seen and occupied by armored aggressive-looking men.
"Armored men with angry faces. Brrr! Reminds me of those terrifying berserkers," Ignis shivered from the thought before noticing the tension of the Nadder as it raised its spiky tail. "You stay behind as you look out for any other strange things. I'll take care of them."
"Wait, what?!" The Deadly Nadder crowed hysterically as it watched Ignis clutch onto some gemstone glowing brightly orange in his hands and then backed away out of fear.
Activating his dragonstone to its full potential once again, he transforms into his huge dragon form in midair, being covered in armor-like skin with a head that's shaped like a ship's sharp bow, appearing buff and as big as the size of the green Timberjack with gleaming green eyes; giant brown wings; four thick strong legs like pillars; and a thick tail that's half the size of a full-grown cedar tree, surprising the Nadder watching him transform.
"Enjoy the scenery," Ignis grunted and huffed with a smile before beating the air loudly with his wings as he flew towards the direction of the ships. "Here I come, little fiends!"
"Hey, what's that in the sky!? It's huge!" One of the armored men yelled, pointing to Ignis in the sky and pulling out his crossbow to point at him. "Ready your weapons!"
As soon as Ignis came down upon one of the ships, he nearly sank it as he rested on its starboard and made the men lose their cool and balance.
"Whoa, what a magnificent find we have here, don't we, boys?" says a bald-headed man in scale mail.
"You guys seem far worse than animals, I'll give you that," Ignis growled as he glared at them, standing on his legs and tipping the ship even more before snorting with a smirk. "Not even worth wasting my breath."
"Rghhhh fire!" The bald-headed man angrily ordered.
Without hesitation upon his orders, the men that were armed with their crossbows try to shoot him with tipped arrows. However, they seem to be useless as they just bounce off Ignis' strong skin and thick hide.
"Our arrows are not denting its skin, this is incredible! Waghhhh!" One of the men screamed as Jake nearly squashed him with his huge foot.
There another volley of strange green arrows were fired on Ignis, who managed to fling them off with a strong flap of his wings, scattering the arrows or pushing them back onto the shooters. And to further destroy the ship, he retaliates with a tail slam to the ship's bow and mightily shatters it into splinters.
"Leave… now!" Ignis growled and roared before stomping on the ship and making a huge hole in the middle of the deck, revealing several compartments that look like prisons containing chained dragons. "Oh you're so dead for chaining my kin…!"
"Get the other ships! Regroup!" The bald-headed man desperately ordered.
"But sir! The other ships are lost!" One man reported, pointing to the other ships that have been attacked and ransacked by various dragons from the island and the broken prisons.
"We have come to your aid! We are grateful for your display of bravery!" The Timberjack roared before blasting the ship around Ignis with a flaming breath.
"Ryker! We can't last long in this attack!" One man reported urgently.
"We must abandon ship and retreat!" Another man urgently advised.
"...Grrrrgh— abandon ship! Withdraw!" The man named Ryker reluctantly ordered, going to the smaller boats to withdraw with his men out of the area. "You have not seen the last of us, dragon! Your hide— will be mine to wear, you hear me, dragon!"
As soon as the humans started to leave their ships and their freed bounties, all the dragons roared with a victory cry from defeating them before rallying them all to return to the island. After they landed safely, Ignis reverts back into his human appearance and clutches onto his dragonstone hanging onto his neck like a necklace before meeting the giant green Timberjack, staring calmly in his eyes.
"So uhhhh, how did I do?" Ignis squeamishly asked.
The dragons stayed silent from his question and quietly bowed in reverence to him for his selflessness to fight and protect them, even though they alienated him out of fear. The Timberjack as well bowed to him while standing on its hooks found beneath its wings to show respect towards the young manakete.
"Ummm, what are all of you doing?" Ignis nervously wondered.
"You are truly one of us," The Timberjack replied in reverence. "We welcome you to stay with us, no matter how you appear to be in form."
"Whoa uh, gee…thank you," Ignis humbly thanked, weirded out from suddenly gaining their trust. "Ummm, let's start things over: my name is Ignis, an earth dragon. You can also call me Iggy. I am honored to stay and live here with everyone on this island."
—To be continued
A/N:
Hello guys! Welcome to read my first crossover based on two of my favorite childhood franchises: Fire Emblem: Blazing Sword/Binding Sword and How to Train Your Dragon.
Throughout the story, the bold and underlined dialogue won't be portraying dragons exactly talking, but rather the interpreted words that could be made up from the noises they make, understood by Ignis and (spoiler) other manaketes that could appear in the story.
Ignis is a young orphaned adolescent earth dragon manakete that looks like at most 12-15 years old, despite being possibly thousands of years old.
He learned a bit of archery and close combat from Louise and Hawkeye, though not exactly proficient at both since he could just transform into his dragon form when he could or partially transform parts of his body for efficient use without using too much mana or energy.
His dragon form is a brown four legged dragon with tough thick skin and hide; with giant wings that are found on his back—whether in his full form or proportionally shrunk to its partial transformation; with strong pillars for legs; a tail that's half the height of a full-grown cedar tree; and a head that's like a ship's thick sharp bow that could act as a heavy battery weapon.
That's all I could share and help for now. Hope you enjoyed reading, and God bless!
