Words cannot describe how excited I am for Fire Emblem Fates! I haven't been so excited to play a game since… Honestly, either I can't remember or I've never been this excited! Read my author's notes for some words on it. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy!
The Shepherds had almost reached Plegian Castle. Within their sights as they could make out what looked like a giant dragon skull right next to the capital.
"There it sits…" Lucina's entire body tensed up upon seeing the skull.
"What's wrong, Lucina?" Lissa asked.
"That skull… I saw it once before, when Emmeryn was sentenced to death." Lucina stated. "Even then, it reminded of… it…"
"You mean…" Chrom was about to ask.
"Yes." Lucina answered with a hint of fear in her voice. "Grima, the fell dragon. A cataclysmic war ushered his return. It's said he feasts on the souls of the fallen before turning upon the living…"
Chrom, Robin and Lissa could tell that Lucina was recollecting a memory involving the fell dragon. To say that it was unpleasant would have been a grave understatement. However, she eventually managed to compose herself a little.
"Whether these are his bones or simply an effigy, I cannot say." Lucina said. "Regardless, we cannot allow that monster to come back to life."
"We'll stop him, Lucina." Chrom assured his daughter. "I promise. You've already proven that the future can change. And with all of us together, we WILL turn the course of history."
Lucina looked at her father's smile and smiled herself. "Thank you, Father." *I want to believe that… More than anything…*
Chrom then turned around to face the Shepherds behind him. "Shepherds, Robin, Lucina and I are going on ahead to meet with Validar! After our skirmish with the Risen back on Carrion Isle, we can't fully trust him! Stay on your guard and keep out of sight until I give the signal!"
Robin, Chrom and Lucina were making their way through the corridors of Plegia Castle, remaining vigilant in case of any possible ambushes Validar might be keeping up his sleeves. The tactician confirmed their suspicions when he noticed something moving in the shadows at the corner of his eyes. He kept close to Chrom and kept his voice quiet.
"Chrom…" Robin whispered.
"Trouble?" Chrom whispered back.
"I caught something in the shadows. They seemed to be armed. No doubt Validar is up to something."
"Then we have our answer…"
The three of them were let in to the main chamber where they were to meet with Validar. Shortly after, Validar walked up to them with his subordinate, Aversa.
"Well met, milord." Aversa greeted.
"Welcome, Prince Chrom." Validar said. "I heard your campaign in Valm was a success."
"Yes, thanks in part to your contribution." Chrom said. "My knight informed me that you have something for me?"
"My, how impatient." Validar retorted. "Not very becoming of royalty. Do you really want Sable so badly? This concerns me. The gemstones and the Fire Emblem are certainly… Well, greed can be quite a demon. Plegia and the Grimleal know this all too well, sadly."
"'Sadly'?" Lucina asked. "You speak ill of when the first exalt used them against the fell dragon?"
Validar turned his gaze at Lucina and leered at her. "Yes, I do… Intruder!"
"Intruder?" Lucina gasped.
"You are not supposed to be here! Guards, kill her!" Validar shouted.
"Don't you dare!" Chrom yelled.
"Give me the Fire Emblem." Validar demanded. "Give it to me!"
"You're mad!" Lucina said. "This is a declaration of war!"
"I will only ask one more time…" Validar said. "Give me the Emblem… Now!"
"Never." Chrom replied with resolve.
"Then this parley is over. Guards! Seize them!" Validar ordered.
"Chrom, this way!" Robin turned to ready to make a break for it. "Hurry!"
Robin ran off with Chrom and Lucina following him. After running for almost half a minute, an assassin came out from behind a statue and lunged at Chrom.
"FATHER!" Lucina screamed.
"Chrom, look out!" Robin shouted.
Robin hastily pushed Chrom out of the way and the assassin quickly readjusted his sword so that instead of swinging it down on him, he pierced through his shoulder.
"Gragh!" Robin groaned in pain.
"Robin!" Chrom shouted.
Suddenly, a blade came down on the assassin's sword arm and sliced it clean off. Whoever wielded the sword followed up with a stab to the chest and kicked the assassin to the ground. Robin looked up and saw that his savior was Severa.
"Dad, are you okay?" Severa asked with worry in her voice.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Robin answered. "Thanks, Severa."
As he stood up, he felt intense pain surge through his left shoulder and couldn't move the corresponding arm.
"You're definitely NOT okay!" Severa said. "We need to get you a healer, pronto!"
"Severa, please take us to the others." Lucina said.
Severa guided the three of them to where the other Shepherds were fighting with the Plegian guards and assassins.
"We have to get out of here now!" Chrom ordered the Shepherds. "Cut down anyone in your way!"
Say'ri, who had just finished off an enemy guard, looked over and saw Robin's wounded arm.
"Robin!" Say'ri shouted and ran over to him. "Your arm! What happened?"
"An assassin was about to attack Chrom and I took the blow for him." Robin replied. "Have you and the others secured our escape route?"
"Aye." Say'ri nodded. "We must get you to a healer immediately!"
In the midst of the fighting, Kellam had speared one of the guards in the gut when a green glow appeared underneath him.
"Father!" Laurent, one of their Dark Knights, came riding in and grabbed Kellam's hand.
Despite the weight of his armor, Laurent managed to pull Kellam out of the way in time as the green glow turned into a puddle of acid.
Robin noticed the acid and looked over all of the guards to see if there were any sorcerers among their numbers, but there weren't any to be seen.
"They must be keeping sorcerers in hiding." Robin informed the others. "But there are too many guards. We can't leave them alone."
"Perhaps send me to search the nearby rooms for them?" Say'ri suggested.
"There might be more than one, so I'm going too!" Severa said. "Dad, you get yourself to Lissa, Maribelle, Brady or Libra. I… I don't want to lose you…"
As Severa's expression started to look more depressed, Robin slowly nodded.
"Don't worry, Severa." Robin said. "I don't intend on letting anyone die."
Severa and Robin just looked at each other until Robin gave her a warm smile, which she returned with a smirk and ran off.
"Be careful, Robin." Say'ri said before dashing in another direction.
"… I hope they'll be okay…" Robin looked in the directions his lover and daughter went off in.
"Say'ri's a strong woman, Robin." Chrom said. "There's nothing to worry about."
"And Severa's too stubborn and cares deeply for everyone here, despite her somewhat unfriendly demeanor." Lucina said.
"How would you know that, Lucina?" Robin questioned. "Didn't she come from a different timeline?"
"Perhaps, but after having a fit with me about how her mother always obsessed about Father, we got to know each other better." Lucina answered.
Say'ri was cutting down any guards coming her way as she continued to hunt down the sorcerers. Once the flow of enemies seemed to have stopped, Say'ri kept close to the walls to hear any signs of breathing or magical incantations being cast. She continued checking until there was a sound coming from one of the rooms. With the confirmation of something within the room, she barged in and saw about six guards still in the process of grabbing their weapons.
"If you value your lives-" She was about to threaten as she pointed her sword at the guards.
The guards immediately dropped their weapons and raised their hands up.
"We surrender." All six of them said in unison.
Say'ri raised her eyebrow. "None of you are going to put up a fight?"
"You took out all the men in the hall." One of the guards stated. "Fighting against you with just the six of us would be a death sentence."
"Perhaps you can tell me where I can find your sorcerers." Say'ri said.
"There are four of them in the castle." Another guard answered. "Two on this side and two on the west side."
*Severa is searching on that side.* Say'ri thought before speaking again. "Thank you. If any of you follow me…"
Say'ri kept her blade pointed at them as she backed out of the room and closed the door.
The Shepherds were managing to hold their own against the Plegian guard, despite the fact that some of them were suffering from fatal wounds and had to be protected by the ones still able to fight. Robin was watching the fighting as he was being healed by Lissa with Morgan standing right next to her.
"Lissa, doesn't something seem off about the guard?" Robin asked.
"Not really." Lissa replied. "They're just out to get us."
"I'm talking about their numbers." Robin said. "The Plegian guard has more men than this. If the goal was to kill Chrom and Lucina and take the Fire Emblem, why not send the entire guard?"
"Now that you mention it…" Morgan looked at the skirmish once again. "Something feels off."
"I can't quite put my finger on it, but this ambush is highly suspect." Robin stroked his chin.
"Done!" Lissa said as she finished the healing. "You're good to go, Robin!"
Chrom and Lucina had taken down the last of the guards attacking them and there was a reprieve among the Shepherds.
"Robin, how are you holding up?" Chrom asked as he walked over to his friend.
"I'm much better, thanks to Lissa." Robin answered. "We should take advantage of this lull in-"
Out of nowhere, Validar appeared in front of them and blasted Chrom with a magic pulse that forced him to his knees.
"Father!" Lucina shouted.
"You can run all you want, but you can't run from fate." Validar gave a slimy smile. "Give me the Fire Emblem or I'll take it by force."
"Just try it!" Chrom dared.
"That can be arranged." Validar said. "But I won't have to do anything… Robin?"
A sharp pain surged through Robin's head and he clutched it.
"Robin?" Chrom asked out of concern.
"Robin, be a good son and give me the Fire Emblem." Validar politely ordered.
"N-no… I…" Robin groaned due to the pain.
Robin's body started to move on its own and he pulled the Fire Emblem off Chrom's armband, handing it to Validar.
"Robin, what are you doing?!" Chrom exclaimed.
Validar placed a gemstone into the last slot in the Fire Emblem and held it high. "Thank you, Robin! With all five gemstones and the Fire Emblem in my possession, Grima's reawakening is nigh! All that's left is to set the Table and perform the rite."
Validar then vanished into thin air, along with the Fire Emblem.
"Validar!" Chrom shouted. "Wait! Dammit!"
The pain Robin was feeling had stopped and he was panting heavily while looking at the floor in shock.
"Gods…" He said. "What… What have I done?"
"Robin, we have to go!" Chrom said.
"Chrom, I'm sorry." Robin continued. "I don't know… what came over me…"
"I know you are, but right now we need to get out of here."
"Wait, what about Say'ri and Severa?" Robin inquired.
"Robin!" Two female voices resounded from opposite directions.
Robin looked both ways and saw Say'ri and Severa running towards him.
"The sorcerers have been taken out on the east side." Say'ri said.
"Mine, too." Severa reported.
"Then we have a clear opening for an escape." Robin said. "Let's go!"
As all of the Shepherds were continuing their escape, Lucina just stared at Robin the entire time. Eventually, that stare turned into a scowl.
*… I know what I must do…* She thought.
A/N: Sorry this one took longer than I thought. I figured I would have characters suffer injuries to have a better sense of mortality to them and add more tension to battles. Next time is Lucina's judgment and boy do I have things planned. But enough of that, let's talk about Fire Emblem Fates! I, of course, plan on playing every path possible. If there's no special edition like in Japan, I'm going to buy a physical copy of Birthright and download Conquest once I reach the pivotal choice. In terms of marriage choices, I feel like there's plenty on both sides regardless of which gender I play (my only complaint with Awakening was that there were very few options for the female Robin aside from Chrom that were worth it) and am proud to hear they will allow same-sex marriage even though I won't partake in it. As a female Corrin, I'll have to play the game to get a better idea of the characters before I make a choice; as male Corrin (and a heterosexual male), I'm currently eyeing on the Birthright path Orochi and Kagerou and on Conquest perhaps Felicia, Azura or even big sister Camilla. All of this is speculation at this point and nothing will feel final about my marriage choices until I finally play the game for myself next year. In other news, I will be heading to a con next month and will try to get a confession recording from Karen Strassman as Olivia, who has replaced Cordelia in my Top 3 Awakening ladies. She's just so adorable and I actually relate to her shyness. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and my pre-release thoughts on Fates. Stay tuned for next time!