Fire Emblem: Path of Wyverns

Chapter 3

"Get up."

I groan at the voice trying to wake me. I couldn't have slept long. I still feel too stiff. "Ten more minutes, Stacey."

"Get up."

"Go away," I call out. "Why did Casey even let you in here?"

"Get up!" A loud clang followed the now irritated voice.

I curled up and try to pull my pillow over my head, only to find straw instead. What? Wait…

"I'm in Fire Emblem!" I exclaim as I suddenly sit up. I pat the ground around me, as though feeling the world of Tellius for the first time once again. So…it wasn't a dream?

I hear a groan from outside the cell. Jill is waiting, and she looks as unhappy as her voice indicated moments ago.

"Sorry!" I exclaim as I shoot up from the ground. I'm usually a morning person, but without light, I guess I must have just slept in, which is kind of surprising with the stone floor and all.

Jill walks away, so I quickly follow after her. Like before, she doesn't appear to be in a talkative mood, but now I feel more prepped to talk. Maybe it's the fact that I came to terms with being here…for now. Or maybe it was the sound of wyverns sleeping above me while I tried to sleep on rock.

During the time in the cell, I had been planning out my question for how to gauge the timeline. With Jill, it will probably be easy with this question. "So I hear Crimea have tried negotiations with those sub-humans," I prompt.

We're walking past the wyverns, but I'm pretty sure the growl I hear is from her. "Those cursed beasts. It sickens me that those Crimeans would tolerate them, let alone negotiate," Jill says.

So, the first war hasn't happened since Jill is sub-human hating, while Crimea and Gallia are not official allies yet, but negotiations are starting. So the war is imminent. I can use that, especially since the fact that the war was so quick and unexpected meant that it was, or rather will be, a secret until then.

With my guess confirmed, I try to continue the suddenly talking Jill. "Have you met a sub-human, yet?"

"No. I have not been out on the field yet, as fa-the General desires me to train more," Jill says.

"How long have you been training?" I ask.

"Twelve years."

I barely stop myself from blurting out her answer. Twelve years? I've had one or two months of swordfighting, but she can't be much older than me, if older at all.

"You seem to disbelieve me," Jill states, giving me a hard look.

"N-no, not at all," I insist. "It's just…well, I've only had…a month of training, myself, so…" I will choose to also leave out the point that I've never actually held a real sword.

"I can tell," Jill states, facing the way they were going once more. Burn. Such a big burn. They don't even have a staff that can heal that bad a burn.

I hold in what manly pride I still have as we go into the 'keep' of the castle, or is this a fort? I think this was called a fort in the game, not a castle. What is the difference between the two, anyway? I mean, does it involve size, position, or importance? I'll look that up in a dictionary when I can. Wait. Does Tellius have a dictionary?

"I'm here with the spy for the General," Jill says, bringing me to the present.

You were just talking to me like any other person! Or, how I think you talk to other people, at least. What gives?

The guard at the large double doors opens them, revealing a large audience room, though not nearly as large as in the Hollywood versions, or my imagination for that matter. Then again, this isn't a throne room, and General Shiharam didn't seem like the person to splurge on something like that.

Two men were talking, but stop as we enter. General Shiharam was easy to identify, at least with my previous exposure to his…pixel image. I refuse to dwell on the quandary that is these people's existence.

General Shiharam dismisses the other man and turns his focus onto us. Jill stops in front of the General and salutes, which I quickly copy. "Jill, here with the spy captured yesterday."

"At ease, Jill," General Shiharam says. "Now, let's here the report."

"Yesterday, Dylan's riding attempt quickly failed, in which we went out to retrieve Midnight again. As Midnight soars in front of the dam, the spy leapt out of a dam vent onto Midnight's back with obvious mounting skills in the speed and skill in which he got on. He then proceeded to try and escape with Midnight, managing to last through a wrangling and even a minute of the way back to the fort before Midnight threw him. Commander Haar managed to grab him in time to capture the spy." Man, I don't think she took a breath in that whole report. In fact, I don't think she blinked.

General Shiharam nods at her words. Despite her rather biased and eschewed view on my appearance, I had this all planned like a game. My chips were on the fact that General Shiharam would give me a chance to speak, which was baseless outside of a sense given by a video game cameo.

"And what were you doing out there?" General Shiharam asks me.

I quickly run through my explanation in my head. While I can usually come up with good explanations and things in my head, I have a tendency to misspeak what I actually want to say. "I am called Drake. I was on the run, got swept up by the river, went out of the dam and randomly fell on a wyvern that I clung to for dear life," I summed up, hoping the river was actually accessible upstream.

"You were on the run?"

"I have special abilities that people would extort me for otherwise," I answer. If they knew I knew the future, at least.

General Shiharam let a pause ensue for, as if to let me continue. "Do you have any alibi? Any proof? Everyone around knows that the river is off-limits and dangerous."

"I can try to demonstrate my abilities, but how can I be sure you wouldn't try to use me like the last time I showed someone?" I say, calculating my response. I know it's risky, but it was all I could come up with that wouldn't sound like an outright lie, which includes the actual truth.

I can tell Jill wants to say something, but she stays silent.

General Shiharam narrows his eyes for a moment before gesturing at Jill. "Leave us."

Jill made as if to protest, but stops herself and walks out, the doors closing behind her.

General Shiharam clears his throat and addresses me once more. "Drop the wordplay. I've had quite enough of that in King Ashnard's court. Your choices are simple. Being in the dam area brings punishment enough by itself, but being found in the dam's structure is forty lashes at the minimum. Even if the rest is an oversight, your lies will carry a far greater punishment as an actual spy against Daein.

"On the other hand, I am willing to hear you out and give you fair trial should you require it, possibly even sanctuary. Trying to play words games with me will only lower my view of you and weigh against you, since the truth never takes games to come out. Now speak, and speak plainly."

Well, that was certainly to the point. I can feel my palms starting to sweat from nervousness. I'll give the truth, but my selection of it. "I'm a seer," I state.

General Shiharam doesn't look impressed. "Many people ply future telling tropes around the countryside. Why were you in the restricted area?"

"I'm no common fortune teller," I say. "I have the ability to see the future clearly and react to it, though I can't just use the ability at will. I was in the river because I was running from those who sought to use my information, or at least snuff out my ability."

"'Can't use the ability at will,'" General Shiharam echoes. "Convenient." He glances down at my wrapped hand for a moment, though he doesn't mention it.

He doesn't sound convinced, which isn't good. I didn't have much more than that planned out. "I can prove it, though," I quickly add, running along with a thought. "The reason I ran from the others, was that I did see what would happen, and I knew they could use it for evil purposes. What I saw was the Daein marching in black armor on Crimea's capital, taking it with ease. Ashnard plans to make war with Crimea soon."

General Shiharam still doesn't react. With a quick step, he grabs ahold of my right wrist and holds my hand up. A quick pull had the cloth off, revealing the dark blue mark. "The mark of the Branded," he states, still holding my wrist in a tight grip. "That's why you were on the run. Instead of trying to find mercy, you deceive and twist like any other of the Branded, a living violation and abomination of the Goddess."

Shoot. He doesn't sound happy. That's it for me I guess. I really, really don't want to be whipped.

"Jill!"

Jill instantly came in the doors at the call.

"Take him to Midnight's cell and let him save us on some meat tonight," he orders, still holding my wrist. Save some meat? Are you planning to feed me to a wyvern? That's inhuman!

Jill pauses only a moment as she sees my mark before grabbing my other wrist and marching off with me. The whole fort feels several degrees colder as we leave.

As we exit the chamber, I hide my hand under my arm. I didn't think I would feel so ostracized so easily, despite the fact that only two people knew so far. We march back outside and toward a smaller stone building right up against the corner of the fort. I felt like a condemned man on the green mile or something. I only just got here! I didn't even get to meet Ike! Or Mist! Or Elincia, and Greil, and Gatrie, and all the others!

Wait…is that really my only regrets right now? I want a girlfriend too! And a good job, instant piano skills, actually being able to use a sword correctly, maybe even getting a kid or two. I can't die yet!

I could feel myself beginning to panic, but as I look at Jill…I…I don't know. I can feel the coldness, the hatred. It's almost as if those feelings are keeping me from fleeing. Well, that, and the Superman-well, Superwoman-grip she has on me. It's almost like those feelings are trying to convince me that I deserve to die.

But I refuse to give in to defeatism! I will not-oh, who am I kidding? I'm going to die!

As though reading my mind, Jill's grip tightens on my wrist. I hadn't even tried yet, woman! I've got to think of something. Maybe she'll listen to reason.

"Look, Jill-"

"Do not speak to me as if you know me," Jill immediately says in a flat monotone.

Well two can play that game. "Look, strange woman I don't know, I-"

"Do not speak to me as if your words matter, worm."

Wow. Harsh, much? You are now no longer in my top five fighters. You know what, if you feed me to that creature, I will never use you again, and flame every fanfic that ever gives you a positive light! Take that! My inward retort helps me feel better, despite not saying it out loud.

We reach the building, and I wait my doom as Jill unlocks a small door to the right of the much larger door that was on sliders. When she opens the door, a growl comes from inside. Not the best sound for someone trying to build up courage. Inside, stairs led up to the flat roof, which Jill promptly takes me up to.

On the roof, a small grate covered a hole, next to a much, much larger grate that covered a hole big enough for a wyvern…I'm guessing, at least. With a single hand, Jill lifts the metal graft off and pulls me close to the hole. I think I can see the wyvern waiting down there, as if it knows what is going to happen.

I catch Jill's eye. "Jill-" Her grip tightens slightly, but I repeat myself. "Jill, listen-"

"Listen? Listen to what?" she snaps angrily.

The words I was about to say dry up as I stare into those hate filled eyes. I just…I just don't understand. What is so wrong about being Branded or whatever? I wasn't even this way until I got here. So, without real thought, I just let some words tumble out. "I'm sorry that I had to be like this. I can't control it, just like you and your dad's past."

Okay, definitely not the right thing to say. I think I just made her angrier. Why do I open my mouth sometimes?

Jill drops the grate and lifts me off my feet with the front of my shirt, which is quite a feat with its condition. "What would you know about my family, filth?"

I flinch as she spits in my face, which makes my sudden drop into the pit that much worse.

-o-

AN: No! Deadly cliffhanger! I just don't get much luck in Tellius, do I? I may seem to be giving Jill a hard time, but you'll see how this works out soon enough. No spoilers, though! Let me know how the thought processes and stuff is working out, as, like I said before, this is my first work in first person present tense. I think I'm getting a little better, and I even partially went over this chapter being sending it out.

I've put up a poll on events in Tellius, just to see what you guys would change if you had the opportunity (this won't be influencing the story, just a fun little pole to take for now). It's up on my profile page, so check it out.

Thanks bunches for the reviews!

So, will I survive the wyvern, or will this be the shortest complete self-insert ever?