So, Voices was my first true foray into Fire Emblem fic writing... and I gotta say, I liked it a lot!

So much, in fact, that Fire Emblem: Three Houses is going to be the second fic of the Tales of the Nintendoverse series.

Enjoy!

Byleth Eisner was dreaming once again.

When she opened her eyes, she saw that she had a bird's-eye view of what appeared to be a blood-stained battlefield, with armored knights and barbaric ruffians exchanging blow after blow, the amount of corpses on the ground from both sides slowly beginning to increase.

Suddenly, a glowing blade shot down from the sky and embedded itself in the ground, unleashing a roaring wave of fire that incinerated most of of the knights in its general vicinity. The blade's wielder touched down in the epicenter of the flames and opened his eyes, while the pouring rain gradually quenched the flames that the sword had emitted.

Nemesis, the King of Liberation, pulled his sword out of the ground, and stared down the knights, one of whom let out a battle cry and led a charge towards him. The weapon in Nemesis' hand, the Sword of the Creator, flared with a bright red light, and across the battlefield, several other crimson flares came to life, those belonging to weapons wielded by Nemesis' allies, the Elites.

Amongst the raging battle, some of Nemesis' men charged towards a figure in white with green hair, in an attempt to strike her down, however, one of the woman's knights blocked the oncoming sword strike, while another called out, "Lady Seiros!"

Seiros ignored her knight's call, with her eyes focused on Nemesis, who was brutally slaughtering her knights with a sword crafted from the bones of her mother, while at the same time, Nemesis noticed that Seiros was staring right at him.

At that point, the sun rose over a mountain, revealing Seiros' unwavering glare that radiated nothing but unbridled hatred for the man who stood in her path.

Snarling, a hideous grin came across Nemesis' face as he split the Sword of the Creator into into a whip sword, slaughtering a large number of Seiros' knights.

However, Seiros' glare did not falter, and she pulled out her own sword in response before charging at Nemesis.

The fallen king changed the Sword of the Creator back into its regular form and attempted to bring it down on Seiros' head with an incredible amount of force, but Seiros raised her shield just in time to block the blow.

The two exchanged a series of fierce strikes, neither being able to gain an advantage over the other until Nemesis landed a blow that barely grazed Seiros, forcing her to retreat via a backflip. As her heels splattered in the fresh mud, Seiros grit her teeth and struck back with a renewed energy, the resulting flurry forcing Nemesis to remain on his toes, lest he be cut down.

Another clash of blades forced Seiros and Nemesis to retreat back to neutral positions, and with a smirk having edged its way onto his face, Nemesis extended the Sword of the Creator into its whip sword form, giving himself a tremendous advantage in the range department.

Nemesis swung the blade in Seiros' direction, but he had aimed too high, and she rolled underneath the next two swipes. Yelling, Nemesis swung the Sword of the Creator right at Seiros' head, but she held her sword out in front of her, and the blade coiled around Seiros' sword. The fallen king's eyes widened in alarm as Seiros disarmed him with a single pull, tossing her own sword to the ground while the Sword of the Creator flailed around it like a makeshift mace.

Running towards Nemesis, Seiros threw a fierce right hook that staggered the fallen king, followed by a jumping kick aimed at his chest, which felled him.

As Nemesis struggled to get back to his feet, Seiros forced him back down before putting a dagger at his throat and snarling, "Tell me, Nemesis. Do you remember the Red Canyon?"

Seiros noticed a flash of fear race across Nemesis' eyes as she raised her dagger and plunged it right into his throat, all while screaming, "I promised that you'd die for that! Die, die, DIE!" Stopping to catch her breath, Seiros, her voice having run completely ragged, continued, "You took... everything and everyone that I loved..." driving the dagger into his neck one last time for good measure.

Standing up, Seiros' expression turned oddly serene when she looked right at the rising sun, her knights cheering on in the background, but she heard none of it, an odd ringing noise having manifested in her ears. Walking back to the bloodstained sword that was wielded by Nemesis, she picked it up and softly hugged it, whispering, "He's gone, Mother... you can rest easy now." Removing the sword from her face, leaving a bloody imprint on her right cheek, she serenely walked back to her troops while wielding the Sword of the Creator, raising it in triumph, to which her soldiers let out a cry of victory...

The scene rapidly shifted in a flash of color before turning into a pitch-black void.

Slowly, a shape began to take form in the distance, settling into what looked like a young girl sleeping on a throne. Byleth stepped closer, and her footsteps slowly stirred the girl awake from her slumber.

As the girl rubbed her eyes, yawning as she did so, she saw a young woman standing in front of her and murmured, "Oh my... what could've brought you here?"

Byleth said nothing, and the girl continued, "It is quite rude to interrupt one's moment of repose, very rude indeed." To Byleth's surprise, however, the girl beckoned for her to come closer, saying, "Now come closer to me. I wish to get a better look at you." As Byleth stepped forward, she could only watch as the girl inspected each and every one of her features, her eyebrows raising and lowering occasionally. When she was done, the girl remarked, "Most peculiar... I have not seen the likes of you before. What are you, anyway?"

"A ghost."

An unamused look came over the girl's face as she said, "If that were the case, we would not be having this conversation. Tell me what you really are!"

"I'm a human."

Slowly nodding, the girl said, "I see... then you must have a name of sorts. Go on, tell me what it is."

"Byleth Eisner."

The girl murmured the name underneath her breath, as if she were trying out the name for the first time, before sitting up in her throne and saying, "Byleth, was it... huh. I do not think I will ever get used to the peculiarity of human names." After a slight pause, she continued, "As a human, you surely must possess a date of birth as well. Beneath which moon and on what day were you born into this world?"

"Um... the nineteenth day of the Blue Sea Moon?"

The girl's expression morphed into that of frustration as she snapped, "I did not ask for you to answer my question with another question! Is that your day of birth or not?"

"Yes, it is."

A trace of surprise flashed across the girl's face as she exclaimed, "Well, wonders never seem to cease! It appears that we share the same day of birth... how strange!" Before she could continue any further, however, the girl let out a yawn and rested her head on her left hand, drowsily saying, "Hmm... this all feels so... familiar. However, the hands of sleep appear to be calling for me to fall into their grasp... but this will not be our last meeting, I promise you..." The girl then fell asleep, though not before Byleth heard her murmur, "It is almost time... to begin..."

Byleth watched as the throne and the girl faded into a green haze, and that too slowly faded away until she was left in the black void. After several moments of silence, a stern, yet gentle voice said, "Hey, kid. It's time to wake up."

Byleth rose from her bed in a small house in Remire Village, grabbing her coat and draping it over her shoulders as she walked into the main room, where her father, Jeralt Eisner, the famed Blade Breaker of Fódlan, was packing traveling gear for the two of them to head off to the next location that called for their service as mercenaries.

Jeralt heard his daughter step into the room and turned around, asking, "Did you have a dream again?"

Byleth nodded, answering, "It was about a war this time... I saw a green-haired woman and her army facing against a man wielding a glowing orange sword and his army."

Once Byleth had finished, Jeralt cupped his chin in thought and muttered, "I see... massive armies clashing on a vast field, right? There hasn't been a battle of that scale in over three centuries..." Putting a hand on Byleth's shoulder, Jeralt advised, "In any case, just put it in the back of your mind for now, the battlefield is not a place to be idly thinking, given how as a mercenary, a single slip up, be it physically or mentally, is almost certainly going to cost you your life."

Byleth nodded, and Jeralt hauled up a knapsack of supplies before saying, "Okay, time to get moving, kid. Our next job is in the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus."

"Faerghus... that's quite far up north."

"That's why we're leaving at the crack of dawn."

"Right..."

Letting out a good-natured chuckle, Jeralt replied, "Heh, good grief. The others are already waiting for us outside."

Turning towards the door, Jeralt was about to step outside until he saw one of his fellow mercenaries run inside, saying, "Jeralt! Sir! Sorry to interrupt, but your presence is needed outside."

"What happened?"

"Well... I'm quite sure that the three teenagers outside can explain their current situation to you and your daughter."

Jeralt thanked the mercenary before dismissing him, and he turned to Byleth and nodded, saying, "Let's go."

Byleth, upon walking outside, was greeted by three teenagers; two boys and one girl. One of the boys, who was dressed in blue compared to the yellow and red of his peers, took an apologetic bow and said, "Please forgive our intrusion at this time of morning. We wouldn't have bothered you if our situation were not as dire as it is."

Sighing, Jeralt asked, "What do a bunch of kids like you want at this hour?"

The boy answered, "We're being chased by a group of bandits. I can only hope that you and your mercenaries will be so kind as to lend us your support."

The answer had piqued Byleth's attention, and she asked, "Bandits? Here at Remire Village?"

The girl, who was dressed in red, nodded, confirming, "They ambushed us while we were in our camp."

Finally, the other boy, who was dressed in yellow and of a darker skin color than the other two, said, "We've been separated from our companions, and the bandits have us outnumbered six-to-three. They're after our lives... and the gold we're carrying on hand is acting as an extra incentive."

A minute smile of approval made its way onto Jeralt's face, and he said, "I'm impressed that the three of you are reasonably calm, considering the situation you're in." Taking a closer look at the three's attire, a flash of recognition appeared in his eyes as he muttered, "Wait a second, that uniform... the three of you couldn't possibly be from-"

The mercenary who had alerted Jeralt and Byleth earlier came up and reported, "The bandits are just outside the village! It appears to be a party of six..."

Jeralt's face darkened, and he looked at the three teenagers before saying, "I guess they followed the three of you here... we can't abandon Remire Village at this time." Turning to Byleth he curtly said, "Come on, let's move. You ready?"

Byleth nodded, unsheathing her sword and walking to the outskirts of the village, while the three teenagers stared at her in awe as she passed by them.

The boy in blue breathed, "That's the Ashen Demon..."

The boy in yellow playfully nudged the other boy's ribs with his elbow and teasingly asked, "Aw, does His Princeliness have a little crush? I didn't think you had romantic interests, Dimitri!"

The boy in blue, Dimitri, flushed with embarrassment, and the girl in red chided, "Claude..."

Dimitri, having recovered, turned to the girl in red and asked, "Tell me, Edelgard, why is it that you're so calm about all of this?"

Keeping her lavender eyes fixed onto the woman who accompanied the Blade Breaker, Edelgard replied, "It is important to keep a level head on the battlefield, as even the slightest distraction can make you pay with your life. I in particular do not intend to meet my end in such a fashion."

Claude injected himself into the conversation with, "Admirable sentiment, Lady von Hresvelg, but I think that those two over there may be requiring our assistance right about now." Taking an arrow out of his quiver, Claude twirled it in his hand before walking over to the two mercenaries.

Edelgard and Dimitri lifted up their own weapons, an axe and a lance respectively, and joined Claude at the outskirts of Remire Village, where he was already talking to Jeralt.

So... in case you're wondering why I, a Smash writer, am here, well... it's complicated.

To keep it short, I was getting sick of the fandom, and then someone plagiarized my Smash fic, which was the last straw.

Hopefully you'll enjoy my take on Fire Emblem: Three Houses!

I can't give away too many details on the opening chapter, haha