Author's Note: So I'm finally back to bring you that special cross-dimensional goodness known as Seven Stars. Hope you enjoy this next entry of the story.
Chapter 7: Good Advice and Gladiator Deathmatches
The night before the big day was a very strange on for me. Well, more like the dream I had that night was the thing that was strange. It started with floating around in a large expanse of darkness.
Man, is this going to be a thing?
Suddenly I start hearing a loud, booming voice.
Like, ear-bleedingly loud.
"The fate of everything rests on seven stars," calls the voice.
As I hear that one line, what I begin to see is a random cycling of images. Most of it appears to be images of my friends, while some of it is of things I don't remember seeing, faces I do not recognize, places I've never been. The cycling starts to intensify, now only giving me blurry glimpses of something to interpret.
I really have to stop eating before bed...feeling a bit nauseous.
The cycling finally reaches its stopping point. Where that giant Risen from before takes a giant downward swing at me.
I wake with a start, just like before, back in my tent. I figured it to be an hour or so before sunrise. But seeing as that confusing yet utterly and terrifyingly vivid dream I just had, I wouldn't be going back to sleep. So I decided to get up and at 'em.
I left my tent, groggy yet alert, to mentally prepare myself for such an extreme day. Although, given the circumstances, an "extreme day" may be a bit of an understatement. I took small stroll around camp, eventually making my way to a tree to catch a good view of the sun beginning to rise. Despite the anxiousness of participating in a fighting match that is at most "to the death," or at least "to the maiming," just watching the light of the sun crescendo into a warm spectacle helps lighten my apprehension.
"Hope you had a good amount of sleep, dude," a voice calls out.
I nearly jumped out of my skin when I heard that.
"The Hell...?"
"Up here, buddy,"
I look up to find, to complete surprise, Karl sitting up on one of the tree's branches.
Well, that's a little strange.
"What are you doing up there?" I inquire.
"Eh, never was one for sleeping at night."
"So where's the cold-blooded lizard beast?"
"Uh, Cole's still in his tent to my knowledge."
"No, you smartass! I mean your wyvern, Clank!"
"Oh, well he's probably looking for something to eat, I guess."
That thought, along with the image it presents, disconcerts me to no end.
"So what's on your mind, Niko?" Karl begins to pull leaves off of a branch next to him.
"Well, contemplating the situation we all found ourselves in."
"You mean you guys paying homage to Gladiator?"
No, I mean the whole ' showing up in a world different to our own, fraught with danger, with no hope of returning home' thing."
"Right."
"But whenever a situation like this happens, there's some kind of rhyme or reason to it."
"Such as...?"
"I dunno, like some sage telling us why we are here or something, or mirrored versions of ourselves that want to kill us."
It took him a few seconds to respond, then he looked down at my face.
"You might be overthinking this a bit." He shoots me a grin, chuckling the whole time.
I sigh, admitting defeat. "Yeah, I guess."
He's right, though, loathe as I am to admit it. It wouldn't be good to think of worst case scenarios that might not even happen to us. We have to focus on the more immediate matters. I take in a deep breath to signal the change in topic.
"Any advice on how to get through fighting other people rather than just zombies?"
"Well, it would take less to kill a person than a zombie."
"You know what the Hell I mean."
"I'm serious. These are battle-hardened warriors, a far cry from those mindless creatures you seem to enjoy burning to ashes."He drops all the leaves he was gathering in his hands. " And if you don't want that sweetheart princess of yours safe, you can't afford to hold back."
"She'll probably have Frederick protecting her, anyway."
"So you admit you're sweet on her?" He sounded real intrigued at that.
...Dammit. I could feel my face start to curl into a frown. ...Fell right into that. Gotta play this off smoothly.
"I'll admit she has been the nicest to me since we all joined." As smooth as silk.
"Don't worry about it, Niko. I won't tell the guys." Karl then stretches his arms out, then returns to his regular seated position. "I'll probably forget about it anyways."
"...Thanks...?
Any reply I would have expected by then never came, as I start to hear Karl already snoozing.
I decided at that point to get out from under the tree and prepare for the main event.
As I put on my cloak, I think of how all of us came to be here.
As I wrap the scarf around my neck, I think about the secrets I have to keep from the other Shepherds, especially Chrom, Robin, and Lissa.
And as I take the scarlet fire tome from my pack, I think of fighting other human beings. Could I continue without taking a life? Would I even survive that long to make that choice?
A couple hours later, the Shepherds arrived at the Arena Ferox. The members who will not participate in the fight will be in specially arranged seats, and since they are not partaking in the fight both Karl and Sumia have to have their flying creatures retire to their respective stables. Meanwhile, the participants, myself included, to focus upon the the gameplan. Robin explains thusly.
"Alright everyone, we can as quickly as possible as long as each of us is partnered respectively. It shall go as such: Chrom and myself; Niko and Zaine; Frederick and Lissa. Each pair was chosen to assist each other and maximize efficiency."
"Ya hear that, Niko?" Zaine raises a fist and points it at me. "We get to show them the dynamics of our unstoppable combination!"
"If you say so." I return the fist-bump as the gate on the opposite side of the coliseum. The soldiers filed in to the uproarious applause of the audience. Heavily-armored knights, sword wielding mercenaries and myrmidons, a couple of mages, and at the back of this large group is, no surprise (to me at least), Marth. I try to feign surprise as they tell me who he is and how they were saved from a giant Risen attack because of him.
"Really now? He must be pretty stro-"
I trail off as real surprise takes hold of me.
From behind Marth comes what appears to be an additional contender, brandishing a long spear, wearing a cloak with a hood, and riding a black horse.
What the Hell? Who the Hell is that?
""Who's that?" Zaine asks me.
"I don't know!"
Before he could reply, a shouting voice breaks through the cheering stadium. Oddly enough, the uproar dies down almost immediately, leaving it as silent as a cemetery. The announcer starts up again.
"People gathered here today, this match will determine who will be the head that controls the might of Regna Ferox! The moment the captain of the team goes down, their team is defeated. So without any more delay, let the fight begin!"
A loud gong goes off to signal the start of the battle. Almost just as it does, the swordfighters spring into action, charging straight for our group.
Here we go. Into the breach once more!
We start by breaking up the charge with magic casting, leaving Chrom, Zaine, and Frederick to clean up from there.
"Try to keep up with me."
"Aren't we confident today, Zaine?" I say this as I hurl a fireball right into the torso of a mercenary getting close to us.
Zaine doesn't reply and instead rushes up to the next guy, dodging a blade swing, and embeds a knife into the large man's sternum.
As a consequence of me watching this take place, I didn't notice an enemy spellcaster toss a blast of cutting wind at me, knocking me to the ground. I angrily and painfully return the favor, instead my pyromancy happens to render him unconscious.
Ahhhh! Why does wind hurt so damn much!
I then feel a blunt force had tossed away the tome from my hands. I struggle to turn my head and see a myrmidon towering over me.
"I saw you hesitating, and knew you were the weak link here." He raises his sword in a familiar way. "You have no place on the battlefield, but I hear there's a new opening in Hell for you!"
Time seemed to slow down for me as the blade of his sword went downward. There was no way to defend myself. Zaine was busy fighting someone else to notice I was in mortal danger, as were probably everyone else.
I'm definitely gonna die, aren't I?
Just as quickly as many times before, fate seems to find some kind of miracle to save my life a third time. A giant lance went right through the swordsman and launched him a good five feet away from where he was.
I then start to feel my pain recede from my body, allowing me to turn my head to see Lissa finishing up a healing spell. Frederick next to her, goes to retrieve his thrown javelin.
Dammit. Smooth move letting her heal you for the umpteenth time.
Frederick seems to have read my mind, since he says, "You'd best be more careful. Can't have you pass out on us every battle we have."
The snark is strong with this one.
"Not sure how many times I can fix you up before your luck runs out." Lissa chimes in with. She seemed somewhat pissed, but also relieved at the same time.
Nevertheless, the wound has been healed. I get up quickly, fetch my tome off the ground, thank Lissa and Frederick as they leave, and start getting back into the fight. I rejoin Zaine as the armored knights make their way around us.
"What kept ya!?" Zaine exasperatedly inquires.
"The usual," I reply coyly.
I start rapid-firing with the tome, trying to keep the behemoths at bay. Surely enough, it's working, although the book does feel like it is getting warmer. Zaine starts tossing some his knives at the ones who are surviving the onslaught. We might not be as graceful or as skilled as Chrom and Robin, but we're still pretty damn effective where it counts.
Speaking of whom, Chrom and Robin seem to have made their way through to the area where Marth and the guy on horseback was.
This was where things got weird.
Chrom and Marth begin duking it out, clashing swords and performing what I'd call "combat acrobatics," with neither giving an inch, like partners in a frenetic dance. While Robin tried to cut in on the duel, he simply could not keep up with the advanced swordplay.
Just as the enemy knights were all taken care of, the guy on the horse started to gallop at us.
Then something clicked in my head as it was getting closer.
That's…not a horse.
The "horse" started to unfurl what appeared to be wings and took off into the air.
Well, shit. Why does this happen to us? Of all things, THIS had to happen?
The Pegasus rider starts to divebomb at us, although we barely roll out of the 's too high to hit wit weapons, and it sees magic coming a mile away, leaving plenty of time to dodge.
Robin, finding that he is needed elsewhere, decides to help the rest of us in taking down the flying warrior. He advises to attack when the rider divebombs, leaving an opportunity to get a clear hit. And as according to plan, we managed to get a hit off that. Unfortunately, she had a vulnary on her to heal the damage caused to her. She prepared another divebomb when the gong from before went off. Again, the announcer called out.
"The captain of the West team has just been defeated, which makes the East team the winner and gives East Khan Flavia the control of Ferox!"
The rider withdraws as quickly as possible, albeit rather clumsily, with the steed flapping its wings wildly, trying to buck its rider off of it. It finally manages to land at the opposite side of the arena.
Huh, well then. That was a thing.
After bathing in the applause of the audience, I started to make rounds with my teammates, celebrating our victory the only way I know how. Bro hugs for everyone.
Zaine was right with me in this regard, and returned it without a second thought.
Chrom and Robin politely refused, but they did accept a fist bump.
Frederick just shot a look at me before I could get close to him, stopping me immediately.
Him aside, I was still very charged from the victory and from the crowd. So much so that, when it was Lissa's turn, I had a lapse in judgement and lifted her clear off the ground. Granted it might not have been so bad, but I still had the lack of sense to stop until seconds later.
After having my sensibilities kick back in, I put her back down. From what I notice of her, she is giggling, her face a flushed pink.
I hope that's because she's exhausted from the the fight and not that she's embarrassed I did that.
"You good there, Niko buddy?" Zaine asks as he pats me on the shoulder.
Just as I was about to snort in derision, a large and imposing woman strides up to our group. I could tell that this was the now-ruling Khan of Ferox, Flavia herself.
After congratulating Chrom on the victory and having Feroxian troops be at the ready to defend Ylisse from any more Plegian encroachments, the amazon of a woman made her departure. That was when a man came over that was larger and more imposing than even Flavia. With his eyepatch, he had a very strong resemblence to Nick Fury. You know, from the Avengers?
Anyway, the large man introduces himself as the previous ruling Khan, Basilio.
"Gotta hand it to you guys, didn't think all of your men would get through that." He then looks at me, which unsettles me immediately. "Especially this guy. Sure he's bulky and looks tough, but he hit the ground pretty hard right out of the gate." He then laughs like it was really hilarious to him.
Well, your men lost, so screw you too.
"Before you guys head back to your country, I'd like to give the victors a prize."
He called out to the distance, and out came the quiet yet rough-spoken master of the sword known only as Lon'qu. The reason I like this guy so much is that even with all his skill and badassery, put him next to any girl and he'll be a nervous mess. So just as he was doing exactly that by distancing himself from Lissa, I was enjoying every second of it.
"Lonny here's a good fighter; wont complain, gets jobs done quickly, all the good stuff." Basilio crosses over to him. "Even so, he's only one part of the gift."
...Wha?
He calls out to the distance again, and wouldn't you believe it, the freaking black pegasus from before, with the same cloaked figure from before, comes galloping over and stops on the other side of Basilio.
"In addition to Lon'qu, I am giving to you a new recruit that shows extreme promise, besides being almost completely wet behind the ears."
"Hey! I'm telling you that wasn't all my fault!" The cloaked figure's voice, as I figured, was a girl's. But what I didn't expect was that the voice would be so familiar.
As if on cue, the girl dropped the hood of her cloak to reveal her face, along with her shoulder-length black hair that is interrupted by a sudden streak of violet. And that's when I realize who it was.
She must no have noticed Zaine nor I from the following battle until this point, but when she did, she made it abundantly clear.
"Holy shit, guys! I can't believe you guys are here too!"
"Not the only ones," I reply.
Basilio seemed amused that we already knew who she was, Frederick audibly groaned, Chrom facepalmed, Lissa was fighting back laughter, and Robin was less than amused.
"We have been in the Shepherds for what I believe has been quite a while now. So don't take this the wrong way when I say that are you seriously kidding me right now!?"
"Afraid not sir," Zaine answers back to him, giving me a nod to give the explanation.
"Lady and gentlemen, allow us to introduce our friend Arianna. Arrianna, these are a few members of a rapidly growing militia known as the Shepherds."
"Very nice to meet you all." She waves to the others. Chrom then gives the regular formalities to her and Lon'qu that he would do normally with any new recruit.
"Now as much as I'd like to get to know yoi both, we have to return to Ylisstol as soon as possible."
And with that, we all left the Arena and returned to camp to prepare for the journey back.
Since all she has is already on her person, Arianna just waits with others and I as we get ourselves ready. She's a good friend; hung out with our group from time to time, likes horses a lot, and is one of the most energetic people I have ever met. Let's just hope the extra energy doesn't get on our nerves for the time it'll take to make it back to Ylisse.
I'm sure it won't be too bad, hopefully.
A/N: And the seventh contender finally reveals herself! But what is the meaning behind Niko's strange dreams? Will the Shepherds' newfound allies be enough to fend off Plegia? Will Niko ever learn how to read women? Find out answers to some of these questions when we return to Fire Emblem: Seven Stars!
P.S: Due to being struck by inspiration, my friend ConceptX, who you guys probably know as Zaine, has decided to throw his hat in the ring with his own take of the story with his own expertise. So be sure to check out his story Old Republic: Seven Stars and see if it's up your alley.
Please don't forget to follow, review, and favorite, now.
-ACV