A Summoner's Journey

Paralogue 3: Blazing Shadows

Team for this chapter: Eliwood, Nino, Lyn and Klein

Fire Emblem: Blazing Sword was the game I last played before I came to Askr. It was also my favourite Fire Emblem game in the series, along my all-time favourite of the Gameboy Advance library. So you could imagine my joy once the Sibling Bonds postcard expired and a new one floated in. Depicted on the new banner were six characters I knew very well. In the center was the beautiful dancer Ninian and surrounding her were Karel, Lucius, Priscilla, Jaffar and Rebecca. The top of the banner, written in black ink, was the words "Blazing Shadows". Nino got very excited when she saw the banner in the morning.

"Ooh, Jaffar's on this banner. Are you going to try to summon him Lucian?" Nino asked excitingly.

"Of course Nino. I'll try my best" I ruffled Nino's green hair and she grinned, blushing.

But before I attempted to summon, I knew there were orbs to be gotten. Anna reported to me soon after the banner arrived that Embla has attacked the World of Blazing again, enslaving new heroes we haven't seen before. I decided to go in with a Elibe-themed team with Eliwood, Nino, Lyn and Klein.

"Good luck" Robin said as we departed, his eyes telling me that I won't have his strategic guidance while we were in there.

Going through the World of Blazing portal with the Blazing Shadows postcard brought us to a castle with a cracked wall in front of us.

"Oh, I remember this" Lyn snapped her fingers "This is Castle Caelin. I remember going in here with Eliwood and Hector to liberate it from Laus's troops"

As we were formulating a strategy, a monk with long blond hair walked over Raven, who was unclasping his Brave Axe from his waist.

"Now it's time" Raven said.

"No, Lord Raymond! You mustn't follow the likes of them. Please, I beg of you, don't do this!" the monk, Lucius begged.

"Shut up Lucius" Raven growled "If I fight for them, they'll give me the power I need to get my revenge on Ostia. That's the contract and that's what I want. Stay here and be quiet. I'll return for you"

Raven pushed Lucius into a broken Caelin cell and closed the door. Then he turned to his sister, the red-haired elegantly dressed Priscilla.

"Ready to fight Priscilla?" Raven asked.

"Of course, Lord brother" Priscilla nodded, her Panic staff glowing with low red light. Raven turned to the Emblian Lance Fighter next to his position and nodded. The low rumbling of the cracked walls grew louder. A long crack spread through the wall like a fissure and then, it exploded, sending bits of rock towards the enemy.

"Go, go!" Raven called to the Lance Fighter and the Emblian charged through the debris with her Killer Lance. She thrust her lance towards Eliwood and the cavalier countered with a swift double strike to the head, slicing off parts of her armor and long white hair. Nino finished the Lance Fighter off with a single Gronnblade. Meanwhile, Lyn dueled with Raven, sword to axe. Despite the triangle disadvantage, Raven held his own for a long time against Lyn. Clearly, his skill as a fighter hasn't diminished despite using an unfamiliar weapon. Raven landed a Brave Axe strike on Lyn's stomach and she countered, striking Raven's bicep and nearly making it explode in blood. Raven growled in anger as a white aura began pulsing from beneath his feet. Defiant Speed.

"Sol!" Raven's axe glowed with golden light and he dashed at incredible speed, smashing the Brave Axe onto Lyn's chest. The light drawn over to Lyn's wound and healed Raven's own injuries. Lyn fell back, but rapidly dashed behind Raven with Galeforce and stabbed him in the back with her Sol Katti. As Raven staggered forward, Eliwood finished him off with a quick slash across the shoulder. Priscilla tried to attack Lyn with her staff, but two arrows sailed over the wall and took the troubadour down. All was left was Lucius. Suddenly, Lucius's cell door crumbled to pieces and the monk stepped out, holding a Pain staff. Hold on. A staff?

"Wait a minute, I thought you were a monk" I pointed out "Shouldn't you be using light magic?"

"I remember you not wielding staves until you used the Guiding Ring to become a Bishop" Lyn said "What happened to your Lightning tome?"

"I… I'm sorry that I can't explain this to you, my old comrades" Lucius said sorrowfully "The contract commands me to attempt to kill you, so please… either surrender or cut me down"

"Lucius…" Eliwood shook his head "You're clearly against this contract"

"Yes… I really wish I don't need to fight you. But the only way I can be freed from the contract is to be slain in battle" Lucius clutched his Pain staff to his chest, his hands shaking.

"Then I'll make your defeat as painless as possible" Lyn lifted her Sol Katti "Nino, cover your eyes"

The green mage covered her eyes.

"I'm sorry Lucius" Lyn said, then stabbed the monk through the chest with her sword. Blood oozed from both sides of the wound as Lyn pulled her blade out. Lucius dropped his ivory Pain staff and clutched his chest with his hands. Without a word nor smile, he collapsed to the ground and faded away.

"Even though I know he's going to be alive, it stills hurts to cut him down" Lyn said, her eyes hard, as if trying to stop her tears from flowing.

"Let's move on. There must be more enemies around here" I said at last and we left Castle Caelin, travelling far into a mountain range until we ended up in a snow-covered fortress.

"Ah, the Black Fang fortress" Eliwood stared at the cobalt building with a neutral expression "I remember coming here with Lyn and Hector to search for Bern's royal crest, the Fire Emblem"

"And this was here where we met one of your father's knights, Harken" Lyn continued "Along with that swordsman, Karel"

"But the fort looks to be abandoned" Klein said "Did this "Black Fang" desert it?"

"Jaffar told me that after Eliwood's army found this fortress, the Black Fang abandoned it and relocated to the Water Temple" Nino said "I remember that I had to gather up all my belongings and supplies in my room"

"It's not as abandoned as you think" Lyn turned to a small patch of trees "I see the gleam of a Silver Bow in that thicket"

"Oh, hello there!" the Pharaen archer Rebecca came out from the thicket, holding the Silver Bow Lyn noticed in her hand.

"Rebecca? What are you doing here? I thought you returned to your village with Lowen after our fight with Nergal" Eliwood asked.

"Yeah umm, there's this contract you see? And the darn thing says we have to fight you now" Rebecca said sadly "But I think if you prove you're powerful, that will make everything right as rain again. So try your best to beat us, all right?"

"Silly girl!" a rough sounding voice came from our left and Karel entered the scene, with his signature Wo Dao katana.

"Never speak for me" Karel said sharply "Though I also demand they fight no less than their best. My sword is my life. I long to cut down the strongest. This contract changes nothing for me. We will fight, and I will win. It's as simple as that"

Klein stared at Karel with a look of surprise "Karel? You're the Sword Saint?"

Karel turned to the archer general "Sword Saint? Boy, have you seen anything that I've done?!"

"Sword Demon would be a better title for you" Lyn said.

Karel turned to Lyn "You there… Lyn was it?"

"What is it Karel?" Lyn gripped her Sol Katti tightly.

"I sense that you are stronger than back when we first met" Karel said "Yes… it is time for our duel. Do you accept my challenge?"

Lyn looked at me for approval.

"Summoned heroes don't die if they are defeated, so you aren't at any risk of death" I said "Go ahead if you want to"

Lyn turned back to Karel and stiffened "I accept your challenge Karel"

"Very well. Let us duel in the side entrance of this old fort. I'll make sure nobody from my side interferes. You do the same" Karel instructed.

"Alright" Lyn turned to us "You heard him. Nobody interferes with our duel until one of us dies!"

"So while those two are fighting, we have to handle Rebecca and anybody else in the fort" I said to Eliwood, Nino and Klein "Hmm… Klein, try to draw Rebecca from the trees over there. Then, Eliwood can sneak in and attack from behind"

"Got it" Klein walked over to the thicket Rebecca was hiding in and began to nock an arrow. As Rebecca sprang from the trees, arrow in her Silver Bow going loose, Klein shot his Brave Bow. The two arrows sailed right past each other and hit their targets, Rebecca's shot landing in Klein's waist and Klein's arrow striking Rebecca in the shoulder. Despite Klein getting hit though, the plan executed perfectly. Using Klein as a decoy, Eliwood galloped behind Rebecca and skewered her with his sword. Meanwhile, Lyn and Karel began their sword duel.

"Hm, I haven't seen a sword like that before. May I ask for the name?" Karel arched his Wo Dao over his head in a fighting position.

"It's the Sol Katti. It's a spiriti-inhabited blade that's the sister sword to Sacae's Mani Katti" Lyn said, her grip on the golden blade growing tighter.

"The Mani Katti… I remember" Karel continued "I visited its shrine in Sacae. The spirits… they rejected me"

"Well, I'm not very surprised" Lyn hid a small smile under her hand "But anyway, shall we get started?"

Karel pointed his Wo Dao at Lyn "At your ready"

Lyn readied herself and charged at Karel, blade first. Their gold and red blades clashed together, both forces pushing at each other, attempting to get the upper hand. They eventually broke away, slashing and cutting at each other in different directions. Both of them couldn't land a single hit on each other. After a while, the two broke away from each other, trying to catch their breath.

"As I thought. You're stronger than before" Karel brushed his sleeve with his hand "But is it enough to best me?"

Karel dashed with lightning quick speed and leaped into the air.

"Moonbow!" he shouted and the image of a crescent moon burned into the air above Karel as he slammed the Wo Dao down Lyn's chest. Lyn was able to raise her sword in time to offset the damage, but Moonbow cut through her defense easily. As Lyn stumbled away with her chest bleeding, I realized that Karel's Moonbow cut Lyn's defense more than it should. I examined Karel closely and brought up his skill page.

"Adds +10 damage to special triggers" the Wo Dao+'s description read. I looked up and saw Lyn rapidly evading attacks from Karel with Galeforce. The white and red auras of Defiant Attack and Galeforce mixed together, creating a swirling pool of light like vanilla strawberry ice cream.

"Lyn! Don't let him activate another Moonbow! His Wo Dao increases the power of his specials!" I called.

"My blade unrestrained!" Karel attempted another Moonbow attack, but Lyn dodged it and darted behind him, impaling the Sol Katti through Karel's back.

"As if I'd lose!" Lyn whipped her sword out from Karel's back, cutting him in half. With the duel finished, an Emblian red mage along with the dancer Ninian came out from the fortress.

"Bolganone!" the red mage commanded and a wave of intense lava erupted out of the ground and over Lyn. The swordswomen dashed backwards to dodge it while Eliwood cut down the mage in two swings of his sword. Ninian was prepared to transform into her ice dragon form when she saw Eliwood.

"Lord Eliwood…" Ninian's dragonstone was glowing blue in her hand, midway between transforming the young dancer "What are you… doing here?"

"Ninian… Ninian, I didn't think I'd see you again" Eliwood's sword arm dipped as he got off his horse and walked towards Ninian to embrace her, but suddenly, Nino's voice cried from behind him.

"Gronnblade!"

A circle of swords surrounded Ninian and exploded, taking out the dancer in a single hit. Eliwood was lucky enough to backup in time to not get hit. As Ninian faded away, all of us except for Klein stared at Nino. The green mage awkwardly put her tome back in her pouch on her waist and clasped her hands together.

"Umm… I thought that was an enemy soldier…" Nino stammered.

Eliwood sighed and got back onto his horse, sheathing his Silver Sword "Well, she was technically on the enemy's side. I just wanted to see her again… even if she was our foe"

I silently made a mental note to summon only on the colourless and blue orbs when we got back. I needed Ninian and Jaffar to be with Eliwood and Nino. But before we left, Ninian reappeared in a flash of light.

"You have revealed the true measure of your power, and you are strong indeed" Ninian complimented "I give you my thanks. Sadly, I am unable to join you for the time being"

"What? Why Ninian?" Eliwood asked, flabbergasted.

"In only a few minutes, I'll be returned to the original timeline. Right before we were married Lord Eliwood" Ninian explained "If we ever meet again... and will we, I wonder? Then I will dance for you. A dance of gratitude"

Eliwood smiled, a tear falling down his face "We will meet again Ninian. No matter what"

"I hope so too Lord Eliwood" Ninian smiled and then disappeared into the air.

The rest of the fortress was devoid of enemy soldiers, so we continued on, hiking down the snowy mountain towards a royal mansion in a valley.

"The Bern Manse" Nino said, gazing at the high stone towers and elegantly-designed banners decorating the front entrance "I remember coming here with Jaffar to assassinate the prince of Bern, Zephiel"

"And you instead ended up fighting the Black Fang for Zephiel's life along with Jaffar" Lyn continued "Good thing we were able to come to your aid"

"I'm still thankful for that even now" Nino grinned "Jaffar was fighting so many enemies alone that I wasn't sure even he could last that long"

"Let's poke around the manse for a little. Just to check if there are any enemies" Klein suggested and we moved into the dark mansion.

"Nino… stay here" Jaffar instructed to the enemy Nino "I will eliminate the enemy"

"But, Jaffar! Are these people really and truly bad? Maybe if we try to talk to them first... " Nino pleaded, but Jaffar shut her down quick.

"If talk fails, we are as good as dead. It's too dangerous" Jaffar drew his twin knives, the Deathly Dagger from their sheaths "I must keep you safe. I will exterminate all of them"

Jaffar ran off into the darkness with Nino calling after him. Hiding behind a cracked wall, Jaffar heard footsteps and words. His enemies have arrived.

"The end is near" Jaffar tossed one of his Deathly Daggers over the cracked wall with expert precision, striking Klein in the bicep.

"Gah!" Klein managed to pull the dagger out from his arm, but faint purple poison oozed from his wound. The dagger was stained with poisonous toxins.

"It's not just the dagger that's poisonous" I warned "Whoever the attacker is, they have the skill Poison Strike too"

"Ghurk…" Klein fell to one knee, struggling to keep his Brave Bow in his hand. Another dagger sailed over the wall, but Lyn managed to strike it down with her sword.

"Hmm…" Klein turned to the direction of where the dagger came from and shot two arrows from his bow. Footsteps shuffled through the empty mansion and the sound of two arrows hitting the ground echoed.

"There's a person hiding behind this cracked wall here" I pointed out "They're probably the ones throwing those daggers"

"I seem to have the best defense out of all of us, so I'll break the wall" Lyn went over to the cracked wall and slammed her Sol Katti into it. The wall's cracks spread, but it didn't crumble just yet. Nino helped Lyn out with a quick Gronnblade and the castle wall peeled away, revealing Jaffar and a Blue Mage Cavalier.

"Time to go" Jaffar rapidly threw three Deathly Daggers with Glimmer, each successful hit causing a Poison Strike to knock a victim down for a couple seconds. One of these daggers impaled Klein, causing the weakened archer to collapse on the ground and fade away. Lyn managed to deflect one of the daggers, but one of them ended up in her ankle. She didn't let that stop her from slashing her sword over Jaffar's shoulder. The assassin fell back as the blue mage cavalier approached, casting Blarraven from his tome. The spirit birds slammed into Lyn and smashed her to the ground, defeating the swordswomen. Only Nino and Eliwood were left. Eliwood galloped as fast as he could towards the retreating Jaffar and stabbed him in the back before he could escape, ending the assassin's life. Nino easily dealt with the mage cavalier using two Gronnblade attacks. Realizing that Jaffar was slain, Nino rushed out from behind a wall, opening her own Gronnblade.

"I won't lose! Not me!" the enemy Nino blazed with a purple Draconic Aura and sent a spiraling circle of swords towards Eliwood.

"Sacred Cowl!" Eliwood rose his sword into the air and a thin orange shield generated over his body, shielding him partially from Nino's Gronnblade.

"You're finished!" Eliwood brought his Silver Sword down onto the enemy Nino, but an Emblian Sword Cavalier surprised him by stabbed an Armorslayer through Eliwood's chest.

"Don't worry Lord Eliwood!" my Nino ran towards the Sword Cavalier and sent down two volleys of Gronnblade, stunning him momentaringly. Eliwood recovered from the attack and finished the cavalier off with a swift stab to the face. The enemy Nino summoned a giant magical blade from the sky and launched it at my Nino, but Eliwood rapidly swung his blade to his left and slashed Nino's neck off. As Nino's body faded away, the manse became silent. No footsteps and no sounds aside from Nino and Eliwood's shallow breathing. We've won.

Like all defeated heroes, Jaffar and Nino reappeared in flashes of magic once the fight was over.

"You...don't intend to kill us?" Jaffar asked, surprised "I live only to protect Nino and now you are sparing us. Nino...and me. Hmm"

"Jaffar! You're alright!" Nino smiled with relief "Please, let's go home. Just the two of us, friends, forever and ever!"

"Just the two of us. Forever...and ever" Jaffar repeated "You people...I am in your debt. I repay my debts. Every moment Nino is with me is a moment more than before. It gives me life. You have our thanks"

"Well, looks like that completes the mission. Great job you two!" I grinned.

"Now would be a good time to head back to Askr" Eliwood said.

"Wait wait!" the former-enemy Nino came running back to us, pulling a letter out from her pouch "Please, sir, you with the black hair! Is your name Lucian?"

"Yes but, how do you know my name?" I asked.

"A man visited here one time. He said his name was Zacharias" Nino explained "He knew that you were Askr's new summoner and that you would come through here. He told me to give this letter to Prince Alfonse"

"A letter from Zacharias? Thank you very much" I said and Nino grinned, clearly happy with completing her job and she ran off with Jaffar. When we returned back to Askr, I gave Zacharia's letter to Alfonse.

"A letter from Zacharias?! Quickly Alfonse, open it up!" Sharena cried impatiently.

"Patience, Sharena. Here now, here it is…" Alfonse cleared his throat, then read the letter out loud:

"Alfonse, you must be worried about where I've gone. Sorry, but all this was necessary. I stumbled upon a secret about the Emblian Empire's royal family. I needed to see whether it was true or not, so I'm still investigating. But know this for now: Veronica is not our enemy. The true villain is a man named Bruno"

Sharena looked dumbfounded "Who's Bruno? I've never heard of him"

"The royal family of Embla is a web of relations, too complex for most to even begin to follow" Anna explained "But I think I've hear about a Bruno in their family… a prince who few have ever seen before"

"So Zacharias is trying to find out more about this Prince Bruno?" Alfonse asked.

"It seems so. He does have the skills to slip into Embla and investigate such things in hiding. Out of all of us, he'd be the best at infiltrating the empire, but what a lapse of judgement not to tell us" Anna sounded a bit angry for Zacharias disobeying her "I'm his commander, after all, so he must have known I would consider it a serious offense. But knowing Zacharias, I have to believe he'd have good reason to do all of this"

"Who knows what's happened to him?" Alfonse wondered "Maybe he's been taken prisoner by now. Though how did he get us this letter?"

"It's just good to know he's alive" Sharena said optimistically.

"I only hope that he'll make his way back to us somehow. He has much to explain" Anna said sternly "This letter is something to go by for now. A little hope when before we had almost none"

And that was Paralogue 3: Blazing Shadows! Next up is Paralogue 4: Spring Festival. Thank you for all the favorites, follows and reviews. Until next time!