Hello, beautiful people that is my fanbase!
This is LoneTaker, and against all dredges of sanity, I'm uploading a brand new fanfic into the Fire Emblem community!
Before we begin with anything, allow me to address a few things.
I got into the FE franchise ever since FE Awakening, and upon falling in love with its cast of colorful characters despite the admiringly bare-bones story, I got hooked.
Ever since, I've played Fates [Conquest] & [Birthright] (The [Revelations] DLC wasn't worth it at this point.), Shadows of Valentia, and the fic's main setting, Three Houses.
I would count Heroes, but I'm a filthy casual who's more invested in F/GO, and let's leave it at that.
So with my credentials of the games I've actually played (I've watched GreenScorpion64's entire LetsPlay of Blazing Sword, not played it myself.) out of the way, I'd like to introduce my brand-new brainchild ever since I've got and finished the damn game...
The Dustbin
Day 1: Tardy Sweep
22nd of the Great Tree Moon, Tuesday, Sunset
A hooded man with a large backpack walks through a bustling village's dirt road, his steps slowly becoming a tumble, a sign that he was wary from his supposed-long journey.
"Umm, good sir?" The hooded man asked an elderly villager. "Does this place have an inn?"
"... Over there, I suppose." The elder replied. "But I reckon it's full house, since the Blade Breaker and his lot are here for the night."
The hooded man sighs out in response.
"How unfortunate."
The hooded man then walks around the old man, continuing down the road towards a nearby bustling tavern.
The hooded man opens the doors, tries to squeeze through the gap with his massive backpack being caught in the doors, before entering and finding himself right in front of a large gaggle of mercenaries (From the swords and packs around their waists) and the residents, clanking their mugs and toasting like no tomorrow.
"... Worth a shot." The hooded man spoke to himself in mild disappointment. "I'll see myself elsewhere-"
"Hey buddy!" One of the tipsy residents of the tavern cried out to the hooded man.
The hooded man sees a bearded man, grizzled, middle-aged, wearing bits and pieces of orange and silver armor plates, no doubt one of these Blade Breaker mercenaries, but unlike the others, he seemed to attract some sort of presence that commands a certain kind of authority.
Either that, or the hooded man was already getting wasted from the fumes alone.
"Hey hey hey hey..." One of the helmeted mercenaries spoke out in a drunken slur. "The capt'n is talking to ya-"
"I heard. I don't need to be spoken twice over."
The hooded man walks towards the bearded mercenary towards one of the tables with an open seat.
He sits down, sets down his backpack next to his seat, and faces the man.
"So..." The man spoke out. "... What brings you here?"
"When I heard the inn was full house, I thought I can find a roof over my head for a night before I continue onwards with my travels."
"Where to?"
"... Can't say." The hooded man replied. "Private matters."
"Aw c'mon." The man prodded. "Loosen up a little. It's not like we're getting any younger, amirite?"
"Sir, I'm 33." The hooded man replied. "I'm at the prime of my life and tomorrow is a big day for me."
"Then come on!"
The man takes out a bottle and two small tin cups.
"What do you say, Mr. Big Shot?" The man proposed. "Care for some shots?"
The hooded man looks around, seeing that the mercenaries and the villagers alike are waiting in anticipation.
"... I really don't have a choice in the matter, do I?"
"Eh, you can quit if you like-"
The hooded man snatches the bottle and tin, pours one for himself, and downs it in one gulp right before setting down the tin cup.
Everyone else in the tavern looks at the hooded man in silent awe.
"... Your move, old man."
Roughly Several Shots Later...
It was no contest.
The hooded man walks out of the tavern doors victorious, leaving the bearded mercenary behind in a wasted stupor.
The hooded man looks out at the sky, seeing that it's already turning dark.
"*sigh* Not my first time sleeping outside, but damn." The hooded man muttered out. "My tent had to rip just last night..."
He then walks by a brown-coated, wolfhound-like dog digging through the trash outside of the inn that he was supposed to stay at, at least, until he'd heard that it was full.
He then lets out a sigh, sets his backpack down onto the floor next to himself, and curls up against the tavern building to settle in for the night.
As the man lulled himself into slumber, he begins to recollect his past adventures.
A sea of emerald-green grass with gentle wind caressing his skin.
A snow-covered mountainside, the rocky crags sitting still in sentinel.
A world of golden sand, the sun's rays mercilessly beating down upon him.
The worlds that Fodlan is surrounded by, with no one but himself daring to venture towards it.
The hooded man was the only one that dared, and he became stronger for it-
The man's slumber was then interrupted by the sound of the stray dog's barking.
The man opens his eyes, to find himself surrounded by several men in pelts, all holding axes and swords with sneers on their faces.
"Oi little man." The roughneck sneered. "Hand over what you got there, and no one has to get hurt."
"... And what will you do with them?" The hooded man asked.
"Dunno. Sell it, keep it, pee in it, I honestly couldn't give a damn." The roughneck sneered as he fiddled with his blade. "But bossman told us to take whatever ain't nailed down while he and a few others raise hell around this damn place."
"Well, then with that, I now know the next course of my action."
The dog next to him pounces onto one of the roughnecks in front of him, snagging him by his leg with his maws.
"ARGH! WHAT THE BLOODY HELL!? GET IT OFF OF ME!"
The hooded man then gives the same roughneck a swift kick between the legs before swinging his massive backpack over his head, knocking him out before he makes a run for it.
"Wha-WHAT THE HELL!?" The other now-identified bandit cried out. "DON'T JUST STAND THERE! GET HIM!"
As the hooded man ran through the village being raided by the same bandits, with the mercenaries from the tavern fighting back against the oncoming horde of ne'er-do-wells, he evades a stray swing from an axe, grazing his hood.
The man keeps evading the axe's clumsy swings, with each arc edging closer to his face, until he finds his back against a dead end.
"Slippery dastard..." The bandit scowled. "DIE-"
The bandit's axe arm was then snagged by the same dog before, causing him to drop the weapon as he prioritized to get the dog off of him.
The hooded man picks up the axe, and swings the blunt end unto the bandit's head, knocking him out cold.
"... Good boy." The hooded man thanked the dog as he dropped the axe.
The dog barks in response.
"Now let's get the hell out of here before it gets really ugly."
The hooded man and his dog companion make a run towards the village outskirts, and sees the following.
A white-haired female youth in a black uniform with a red cape, fighting back against a few of the bandits with an axe, of all things, as vanguard.
A blond young man in the same black uniform but with a blue cape, driving back the coming horde of bandits with a lance with relative ease in tandem with the female.
A slightly-tanned young man also in the same black uniform but with a golden cape, supporting the other two youths from the rearguard with his archery.
The same man back he met back at the tavern, now on a white steed, assisting the youths in their defense with his lance atop from his mighty steed.
And finally, a dark-teal haired young woman in a piecemeal-looking black armor, leading the the three youths as she also cut the bandits down with her sword.
"OI!"
The hooded man turns his head, only to find soldiers.
"WAIT! WAIT! WAIT!" The hooded man cried out as he wildly waved his hands. "I'M NOT A BANDIT!"
He removes his hood, revealing a slightly-pale, but youthful-looking face with amber-red eyes and wild tuft of snow white hair cropped on top of his face.
"Oh, sorry." The soldier with the lance apologized. "And you are?"
"Karna." The white-haired man replied. "Karna Yuga? The applicant for the position for Professor to Garreg Mach?"
"Wait, you're the guy?" The other soldier cried out.
"Where the hell were you?" the soldier asked. "You were supposed to rendezvous with us as soon as you got here!"
"I dragged into a drinking game by some of the mercenaries that are fighting in the village right now, and your letter never specified the location now, didn't it!?" Karna cried out in annoyance.
"... We apologize, but right now, we bigger issues going on!"
Behind Karna, the same bandit that he whacked with his backpack jumped towards him with an axe over his head.
"GIVE ME THAT!"
Karna snatches a lance from the Church soldier's grip, right before skewering the bandit mid-jump with the spearhead, killing him dead as he threw off of the body with an overhead swing.
The other Church soldiers looked in silent awe as Karna handed the soldier's lance back.
"... Well what are you waiting for?" Karna spoke to the soldiers. "DO YOUR DAMN JOBS AND PROTECT ME!"
The soldier in the front then rallies his fellow men.
"Let's go!" The soldier cried out. "Hold them off until Captain Alois arrives with the reinforcements!"
With those words, the church soldiers charged towards the bandits, clashing blades with them as Karna and his companion ran towards the safety.
"... Damn, I forgot to ask them where I needed to go." Karna muttered to himself. "Well, we're going to have to wing it, my friend."
The dog barks in response.
"Alright." Karna replied. "Cover me!"
The two continued to run towards the foliage, evading bandits patrolling the area as he and the dog sought out for potential shelter to stay in until this whole chaos blows over.
After long minutes of running, the two find themselves in the clear, with the full moon staring directly in front of their faces.
"Alright..." Karna heaved out. "I... I think we're in the clear-"
The dog then begins barking towards the bushes behind him.
"... Oh damn." Karna cursed. "How the hell did you find us here!?"
The two hear a man's cackle, revealing himself to be the same bandit who got bitten by Karna's companion.
"Heh heh heh." The bandit cackled as he walked towards the two while drawing his sword. "I never forget a person's smell, let alone, a damn mutt's."
Karna grimaces as the dog growls at the bandit.
"That's why I'm bossman Kosta's number two!" The bandit cackled out. "They don't call me 'Bloodhound' Doug for nuthin'!"
In a moment of reluctance, Karna's right hand begins to emit a faint, purple wisp of flame.
"Now first, Imma kill the mutt for it did to mi leg, then, I'll take my sweet time guttin' ya, and maybe I'll let the crows feast on ya body." Doug threatened.
"And you know what I'll do, Mr. 'Bloodhound'?" Karna replied in a snide tone.
"Hit me with yer baggy again?" Doug taunted. "Ain't gonna work twice, buddy-ol' pal. I'm wearing protection."
"Yes, that rusty pauldron that's over your crotch is going to protect your from my magic."
The violet wisp in Karna's hand becomes a cloud of pulsating and electrifying energy.
"Magic?" Doug spoke out in confusion. "Gotta kill ya before ya shoot!"
Doug then runs towards Karna, axe raised over his head and blade arcing towards the white-haired man's head.
Karna extends his hand out, ready to shoot.
... But not before the dog next to him pounces towards the bandit, maw wide open, teeth bared.
In that sudden turn of events, Karna misfires his magic, causing the three of them to be sent flying from the explosion of the magic's impact.
Karna opens his eyes mid-flight, only to find himself falling down.
Made even worse, his backpack was acting as an anchor, pulling him down towards the bottom at an even quicker rate.
Karna tries to take off his backpack in hopes of lessening the coming impact.
But the only thing he feels is a blow to his head, right before his field of vision goes completely pitch-black.
His entire body goes ice-cold, as every fiber of his muscles are lessening in strength.
The moonlit nocturnal sky above shone into his waning vision, as the sounds of a distant struggle drew to a close.
Then, nothing.
A field of burning sand.
A sea of swaying grass.
And a land of frozen rock.
Karna has walked through these landscapes, both in real life, and in his dreams.
"Odd, I always seem to find myself here."
He continues to wander aimlessly throughout these landscapes, without intention or purpose in mind.
Karna simply enjoyed his aimless journey for the sake of it alone.
For that was his sole pleasure in life.
IS THAT SO
A booming voice echoes out throughout the world, stopping Karna in his tracks.
ARE YOU ENJOYING YOURSELF
"I don't have to answer you if you're not here to face me, coward."
SUIT YOURSELF
BUT ALWAYS KEEP ONE THING IN MIND
AS ALL GOOD THINGS
THIS WORLD
THIS PEACE
THIS PLEASURE
WILL COME TO AN END
FOR THAT IS FATE OF ALL THINGS CREATED
23rd of the Great Tree Moon(?), Wednesday(?), Early Afternoon
In a sudden shock of consciousness, Karna opens his eyes and sees the sunlight.
The same sunlight that begins to sear his face like fresh meat upon a pyre.
"AH! SUNLIGHT! NEED SHADE!"
He hastily throws his hood back onto his head, all the while scrambling about and flailing his whole body like that of a crying baby's.
"Haah... haah..." Karna heaved out. "Where the bloody hell am I!?"
Karna then finds himself sitting on a shallow stream, his black robes soaked to the brim, covered in loose reed, and his backpack missing.
"... No no no no no no nononononononononononoNONONONONONONONONONONONOOOOOOOOO!" Karna panicked. "MY APPLICATION FOR GARREG MACH WAS IN THERE-"
Next to him by the shore, he heard a familiar dog's bark.
He turns his head, to find the same wolfhound-like dog barking at him.
"... You again?" Karna sighed out. "Regardless, glad you're doing all right for yourself..."
He picks himself off of the damp stream and walks towards the shore.
"Ugh... how unfortunate." Karna muttered to himself. "First the inn was full, then a bandit attack, then I fall off a cliffside after a misfire from my magic, and now, I wake up, find myself drenched without my backpack..."
He looks down at the dog, now sitting and wagging its tail.
"... Damn, no one can get mad at that face." Karna remarked. "Come here, you."
He then pets the wolfhound as compensation for his streak of bad luck that he had since yesterday.
"... Ugh." Karna sighed out. "Now if only I knew where my backpack went-"
Something suddenly catches his eye.
A wooden fetish of a warrior with a winged helmet.
He immediately rushes back into the river to retrieve the fetish, only for another object, a bronze toy carved into a shape that of a man riding on horseback with a burlap thread at the front end was also bobbing down the river.
Karna catches the toy, and comes to a certain realization.
"... My backpack is further upstream, isn't it?"
The dog barks as it comes into the stream with a splash.
"Careful now." Karna warned the dog. "Water might get a little deep from here-ARGH!"
The hooded man finds himself mired deep into one of the trenches of the water, likely left from when a loose boulder was removed.
The dog smirks at Karna.
"Oh ha-ha, very funny." Karna dryly replied as he picked himself back up.
The two companions continue to traverse upstream, collecting every loose relic, artifact, souvenir, and whatever stand-out object that floated towards the two.
Eventually, Karna finds his giant backpack hanging from an uprooted tree's branch.
"At least the paper isn't soaked to the brim." Karna remarked as he took the slip of paper from his open backpack and into his pocket inside of his robe.
He then unhooks the backpack from the branch before moving back shore to refill it with the contents that he'd recovered from his trek.
"There we go..." Karna remarked as he closed his backpack before putting it back on. "How about we stick to dry land, little one?"
The dog replies by shaking its drenched body, scattering water everywhere.
"Couldn't agree more..." Karna replied.
The two then make their way towards back uphill where they were rudely dropped from, all in hopes that he wasn't late for his appointment.
Several Hours of Trekking Later...
"At last... we made it before nightfall."
Before the two, the man and the wolfhound find themselves standing before the gates of Garreg Mach Monastery, home to the prestigious Officer's Academy, home to the renowned Knights of Serios...
... And the place to start Karna's new chapter of his life.
Eagerly, he approaches the gatekeeper. A youthful man in his early-to-mid-twenties in standard Church soldier armor and lance.
"Greeting sir!" The guard spoke out. "Welcome to Garreg Mach Monastery! How can I help you?"
"Uh, y-yes." Karna stuttered. "I'm here to see the Archbishop herself for an appointment. Here's my letter and application for proof."
He then hands the gatekeeper the papers, which then the young guard begins to read through.
"Umm.. sir?" The gatekeeper spoke out. "... Today's the 25th. The paper here says that the appointment deadline was at the 23rd."
All noise dies as Karna heard those words.
"... What." Karna flatly spoke out while unconsciously restraining himself from lifting the guard by his neck and strangling every ounce of oxygen out of the poor soul's lungs.
... Because he can and might.
"... Hm... now that I look at you for a moment, you look like you've might've been through some rough journey on your way here..." The gatekeeper stated. "Something happened?"
"... I fell off a cliff when the bandits attacked the village that I was in." Karna answered in a tone that restrained his pent-up rage. "And from the throbbing in my head might be coming from the fact that I FELL IN HEADFIRST!"
"... Yeah, that'll do it." The gatekeeper replied nervously. "I'll see to my superior officer and see it we can continue from there, okay?"
"Make it quick, for your sake."
The gatekeeper then asks one of the other soldiers to take his place as he relays the new message to his superior officer.
With a sigh, Karna crouches down into a ball, stuffing his cry of frustration into his knees.
The dog next to him whines in compassion as it cuddles against him.
"... Yes indeed." Karna groaned out. "How unfortunate."
He then sees the young guard accompanied by a large man in a caped white armor with a massive, spiked pauldron on his left shoulder.
"By the goddess!" The man exclaimed. "We all thought you were done in by those bandits!"
"... If it were, I wouldn't be here, would I?" Karna replied dryly.
"Ha! Guess not then." The man replied. "Call me Alois, my good man! As Knight of Serios, I'll be sure to answer whatever woes that you may be going though!"
"... Then do me a solid, and take me to the Archbishop." Karna spoke out.
"Did you spread the message?" Alois spoke to the gatekeeper.
"Y-Yes!" The soldier replied. "I've spread the word that the applicant survived!"
"Well now! There shouldn't be a problem then!" Alois confidently remarked. "Come now! I'm sure they're expecting your presence!"
With a sign of relief, Karna is then escorted into the gates with the Knight of Serios and his wolfhound as company.
"Well..." Karna muttered out. "... At least we're going somewhere today."
25th of the Great Tree Moon, Friday, Evening
And with easily with the world's worst first impression possible, Karna begins his new chapter of his life.
"... How unfortunate."
Author's Notes: Something I thought up for the New Years'.
Dunno, I should probably focus on my other fics, but hey, I control what I write.
By that, I simply let my impulses dictate what I prioritize. Sue me.
Anyway, my first attempt at an FE fanfic.
Let me know how I did it in the review section, and for this occasion...
... Happy 2020, for 2019 sucked for me.