Hello again! First of all, special thanks to TheLaserAggron for being first reviewer! Secondly, I've decided that I will update every Friday from now on. If you guys want more frequent updates, drop a review and... well, I'll try. But I digress. The next chapter awaits, so...

Onward!

Chapter 2

The crackling, glowing flame squatted in the middle of the ragged circle of travellers. Kit was ravenous, attacking the chunk of bear meat in his hands viciously.

"So, Chrom." The blue-haired tactician asked, between mouthfuls of bear. "I was wondering... Could you tell me more about the land of Ylisse?"

Frederick shook his head bemusedly.

"I still do not think I believe your story. How could a resident of Ylisse not know... Anything?"

"Believe me- I'm just as confused as you, big guy." Kit answered honestly.

"Maybe tomorrow." Chrom said. "It is dark, and late, and we all need rest. It's been an eventful day. For all of us."

Chrom threw the new tactician a spare sleeping bag.

"Here. I'm guessing you'll want this?"

"Oh. Yeah. Sure." The amnesiac quickly was asleep in the sleeping bag.

"My lord, is this wise?" Frederick muttered in Chrom's direction. "Can we trust the newcomer?"

Chrom laughed. "He shot lightning at a man's face to stop him swinging an axe at me. I think we can trust him, Frederick."

Frederick frowned back at him. "Plegians are not above trickery, my lord. Or even killing their own kind."

"There is that." Chrom admitted. "But I sense... I get the feeling that he's just as lost as he says he is. Emm's always telling me to trust my heart. My instinct. And I think that Kit is on our side."

"Of course, my lord." Frederick conceded. "Whatever you say, my lord."

"Now go to sleep, Frederick."

Lissa's eyes snapped open. She was breathing heavily, her chest heaving. She was panicking. But... Why?

It took her a moment to realise. She could smell something... Something strange, something that did not belong in a forest. Smoke.

"Fire!" She was on her feet and yelling before she knew it. "Chrom! Kit! The forest! It's ablaze!"

Chrom's eyes were instantly open, and he was quickly on his feet, sword in hand.

Kit was slower to wake, but no slower to get into a fighting stance, tome in hand. Frederick was already on horseback wielding his lance.

"We need to put out the fire!" Frederick called, before riding forwards towards the blaze.

"Come on. Come on!" Chrom yelled to Kit as they both rushed forwards.

After only a few seconds of confusion, they staggered into a clearing. When Kit saw what was in the clearing, his eyes widened and he took an involuntary step back. The warriors here seemed to be... Dead. And yet they walked.

It was a scene from a nightmare. The acrid smoke stung Kit's nose and eyes. The forest was burning all around him. And worst of all... The enemies before him were corpses. Walking corpses.

For a horrible second, Kit actually considered turning tail and fleeing. Then he noticed that all eyes had turned to him.

"You all trust me that much already, huh?" Kit grimaced. "Fine. Here's the- holy crap!"

With identical looks of confusion, Lissa, Frederick and Chrom looked towards where Kit shakily pointed, as a large blue eye opened in the air, spitting out more of the monsters. Then, another figure- not one of the red-eyed creatures, but a swordsman in blue.

"Damn..." Kit breathed. "Is today special, or is this kind of weirdness normal here?"

"Normal?" Lissa stared. "Does any of this look NORMAL?"

"I dunno." Kit replied. "I can't remember what's normal. For all I know, this could be an everyday kind of thing." He looked around. "But okay. The plan. Frederick!" The mounted knight saluted. "Cover us from the south. There's more of them there, so keep that side covered. Chrom! Try and find out if that swordsman's on our side or not. Lissa, if you see anyone injured, do your healing thing. Okay?"

"Yes, sir!" They all called.

"Go!"

Before they could do anything, however, they were interrupted by the presence of two others. Kit spotted a flamboyant-looking man with a bow, and a red-haired woman on a horse shouting at him.

"Really?" Kit asked no-one in particular. "More chaos? Thanks." With a small shake of his head, he dashed towards where the two were. As he arrived, he saw the man down on one knee- as if he was proposing. Just before Kit could make a remark, the woman kicked him squarely in the face. The archer collapsed backwards.

Kit arrived at where they were. Out of breath from the smoke, he asked:

"Are you- gasp- two people- pant- on our side?"

They both nodded.

"It is I!" The archer said. "Archest of Archers, noblest of lords, the great Virion! This lovely lady was about to accept my marriage prop- ow!"

The- apparently- great Virion was interrupted by another swift kick to the head.

"The name's Sully." The red-haired woman said. "One of the Shepherds. And it looks like you've found yourself some Risen."

"Risen? Is that what they're called? Okay. You say you're a Shepherd?" Kit grinned slightly. "Good. We needed some more forces. Sully, can you go support Frederick? He might need some help."

"That guy?" Sully snorted. "If he needs help, we're all screwed. But okay! Hyah!"

Kit turned to Virion. His slim build and lack of armour gave him away as an archer, but some of his clothes and demeanour made him seem slightly... Regal.

"Okay. Virion, stay near Chrom. Defend him. Keep as many Risen away as possible."

"Certainly." Virion bowed flamboyantly.

"Kit! The swordsman's on our side!" Chrom yelled. "He says his name is Marth!"

From the way Virion's eyes widened, Kit guessed this 'Marth' person was renowned.

"Okay Marth!" Kit called to the swordsman. "I need you to go to that cluster of trees there"- he pointed- "and take out the Risen inside. One has climbed a tree, though! Watch out for him!"

With a tiny nod, Marth sprinted towards the cluster of trees, despite not being able to see the Risen Kit mentioned.

Out of the corner of his eye, Kit suddenly noticed a group of Risen converging on Lissa. He sprinted as hard as he could towards the healer. Without even slowing down, he brought his sword down hard on the first Risen, cutting through armour like paper. As that one fell, Kit snatched its axe, smashing it into the second Risen's face and kicking it away as he retrieved his sword. The next Risen made a lunge at him with a spear, and Kit simply sliced the handle in half, gripped the now shorter spear, and impaled the Risen through the eye with it before it even had time to be confused. The final Risen tried to attack from behind, but Kit ducked under the axe's swing to dodge it. As he ducked, though, the Risen with the spear kneed him in the face and Kit tasted blood. As the tactician came up, he slashed that Risen in two vertically. Now only the axe-wielder left. Kit stepped back, uncertain of how to attack it. He carefully analysed it's weapon and stance.

Long-handled axe. Superior in range to the sword.

Held two-handed. More strength.

Lack of armour. More speed. Less protection.

Only weak spot: left shoulder. Not protected by the axe's range or his stance.

Suggested tactic: ranged attack to gap in armour.

All this zipped through Kit's mind in less than a second. He quickly took a step back, then without hesitation, threw his sword straight into it's shoulder. As the Risen recoiled, Kit took two quick steps forward, retrieved his blade, then turned that motion into a fluid spin. As he came back to face the Risen, he brought his sword down with all his might, the extra momentum giving more power. The Risen crumpled, turning to an acrid purple smoke as it fell.

Lissa stared at him with wide eyes as he sheathed his sword.

"How... Did you do that?" She breathed.

"Uh..." Kit said sheepishly.

"That was so cool!" Lissa smiled widely.

"I don't actually know how I did that..." Kit admitted. Lissa deflated.

"Dang. If you could do that all the time..." Lissa mused.

"Yeah." Kit agreed. "I did just take out four Risen and not even get hit."

"Risen?"

"That's what Sully said they're called." Kit shrugged. "And about not being hit..." He spat blood.

Lissa flinched.

"Oh Naga!" She yelled. "How badly are you hurt!?"

Kit smiled slightly. "I got kicked in the face."

Lissa sighed with relief.

"That's good." She said. "Easily fixed. It's just... When people spit blood, I kind of panic. It's hard to tell how much they're injured." She pointed the staff toward him. "And... Sana!" The end of the staff glowed green, and Kit's mouth slowly stopped hurting.

"Thanks." He grinned, then noticed Chrom. He was up against the largest Risen of them all, its massive axe's range keeping Chrom back, and Virion's arrows were just being batted away.

"Looks bad." Kit muttered.

"Well..." Lissa looked at him. "Can't you do your whole... Whatever you just did?"

"No." Kit shrugged. "I don't know what I did then, so... I have no idea how to do it." Lissa deflated again.

"Well... Do something! Or Chrom's gonna..." She appealed.

"I... Might have something." Kit mused. He pulled a yellow tome from a large pocket in his tactician coat.

"Is that... Your magic tome?" Lissa enquired.

"Yeah." Kit focused on his target- the largest Risen. He flipped open the book, and some runes slowly lifted from the page, swirling into a point of light. Kit focused; if he lost control, this lightning could go anywhere- or explode. He pointed his hand towards his target, feeling the magic flash down his arm. The point of light blasted into a lance of shining lightning, slicing into the Risen Chief and knocking it straight to the floor, turning to smoke as it fell.

Chrom turned to him. "Magic?"

"Yeah." Kit replied as casually as possible. Then: "Wasn't... Quite prepared for that. This magic stuff... Has some... Kick..." He gasped. He fell backwards, vision turning black.