Disclaimer: Fire Emblem and Kid Icarus do not belong to us. They belong to Nintendo.
Chapter 1: Lontano Overture
There were reports of something in the skies of eastern Ylisse.
"What is it?" Cordelia had asked.
"Our scouts are not sure," had been Commander Philia's answer, "There have only been sparse glimpses of it, moving at high speeds around the area. Whatever manner of beast it is, it has been upsetting the villages in the area. Her Grace has asked the Pegasus Knight's to look into the matter."
"Is that why you've called for me, Commander?"
Philia had crossed her arms behind her back, nodding stiffly.
"Indeed. With the recent uptick in bandit raids along the Plegian border, I can not in good conscious deploy a squadron to inquire about the problem. However, neither would it be wise to ignore this situation."
"You think this might be related to the bandit attacks?"
Commander Philia had given her a small smile, the barest twitch of the lips, at that.
"It may just be coincidence. However, should it not be, I don't need to tell you how disastrous it could prove."
"So..." Cordelia had already known what the Commander would ask of her.
"I want you to got investigate, Cordelia. Find out as much as you can. Do not needlessly engage. I expect you to be back in Ylisstol in four days."
That had been three days ago.
Cordelia tried to take the job with pride. That Commander Philia gave her the task alone meant that she trusted Cordelia to be able to do it. Right?
She can't help but doubt that as she flies all in the skies, alone. Her senior knights had seen it differently. No one had said anything to her face, but she'd heard the whispers. A dummy assignment for the youngest member of the corps, to keep her occupied.
The wind picks up, and Cordelia's pegasus, Ganymede, shakes her head a bit. Cordelia soothes her mare, keeping an eye on the skies. The day at least had started in high spirits, the sky a deep blue with nary a cloud in sight. Now, as the sunset approached, that was quickly changing. Steely clouds crowded the horizon, merging and shifting, racing to cover the sky. At this rate, it would turn dark even before the sun fully set.
'Best to land,' she thinks. Even still she keeps an eye out for the unidentified flying object. The villagers of the area insisted that it existed. This part of the kingdom was normally placid, far from the borders as it was. The villagers Cordelia had questioned were anything but calm. All were spooked, the atmosphere already dour because the stories of bandit raids to the west. Nearly everyone she had spoken to agreed that it, whatever it was, existed.
That was the only thing that they could seem to agree on.
"Great big red eyes, that stare into your soul!"
"Big shaggy wings, feathers that fly everywhere!"
"Its got silver claws that drip blood, they say."
"Some sort of wyvern, I reckon."
"It's headless!"
"Its body's covered in black fur!"
"It steals livestock! And children!"
That last detail had been easy enough to disprove. No children had gone missing at all. What few livestock that had gone missing sounded far more like wolves than any flying boogeyman. Despite days of searching, Cordelia hadn't found any tracks. No nests, no prints, not even feathers or refuse. Nothing to indicate any large flying creature had taken roost anywhere nearby. Or at all. If it weren't for the certainty of the villagers, she'd have dismissed it as a hoax. Hysteria, perhaps.
This was her last day in the area, and Cordelia was loath to return to the commander without anything meaningful to say. She knew logically that the absence of evidence itself was something to report on. The Commander didn't need proof that the creature existed anymore than proof that it didn't. Really, proof that it didn't would be better, wouldn't it?
But it still felt like failure.
'Just some sign,' she wished, 'Any sign that this hadn't been a waste of time.'
So lost in her thoughts, she almost misses the creature. The only reason she doesn't was because of her pegasus, whose ears prick up. Ganymede blows air through her nose, catching Cordelia's attention in time to see it.
From this distance it is barely more than a dot against the dark horizon. Impossible to see, were it not for the purple aura around it. And it is fast. It streaks through the air like a shooting star, and Cordelia watches open mouthed as it breaks its dive, rising back into the air with a speed that should've snapped its bones were it a bird.
Before she realizes, she's urged Ganymede to follow it. Faster and faster, till they were galloping straight into the storm. The air was thick with unshed rain, the skies above rumbling and writhing. The wind howls, Cordelia's hair flying behind her. Ganymede shies in the wind.
"Easy girl!" Cordelia has to yell to be heard above the wind. Absently patting her steed she scans the skies, lips pursed in frustration. This had been a mistake. There was no way to see anything. But she couldn't just retreat, not after having finally seen-
Lighting flashes overhead, illuminating the skies. Ganymede shrieks. In that brief flash of light, Cordelia sees it hovering in the distance, unminding of the storm winds. In that flash of light, Cordelia sees black wings.
It dives, just as the heavens unfold and release its flood. Seconds later Cordelia dives after it. She stares at the black body, vision tunneling. Without slowing, the creature flies through the forest canopy, and Cordelia tugs on the regins with a curse. Ganymede might as well be cursing too, with the sounds she makes, coming to a stop just as her hooves skim over the tree tops.
Cordelia brushes rain plastered hair out of her face, watching intently. After a long moment of nothing, she urges Ganymede down into a nearby clearing.
Ganymede begins to stomp as soon as she touches the ground, churning mud in her displeasure.
"Easy, easy," Cordelia whispers, "Good girl. We'll get you something special afterwards."
The stomping ceases, but Ganymede doesn't relax. Her ears still stand up, flicking this way and that, and Cordelia watches them.
"You know where it went, don't you girl..."
After a short march through the forest, raindrops thumping against the canopy, they find the cave. Cordelia dismounts, rubbing her arms. The uniform of the Pegasus Knights were proofed for the cold. They had to be when they spent that much time in the air, but the rain made it miserably chilly. Ganymede is equally displeased, eyeing the cavern mouth with flared nostrils and her front leg lifted.
"Shh, shh," she soothes, never looking away from the cave, "Stay here. I'll be right back."
Ganymede stomps, shaking her head, but doesn't follow as Cordelia makes her way into the cave. Carefully avoiding the slick stone at the cave mouth, she soon finds the rest of the small cavern drier. She moves slowly, probing each footstep and wincing when her boots echo softly. The cave is silent, the storm outside muffled and far off.
She doesn't have to walk far before she finds the first feather. It's as large as her forearm, and she can't recognize it from any bird that was native to this part of the Halidom. In the gloom of the cave, it is as black as ink.
When Cordelia stands back up, red eyes glare up at her, a scant three feet away.
It's wings are black as ink, flared out to make it look as big as it could. It's furious eyes are ruby red, and its teeth are bared. In both its hands are silver and blue blades, sharp and lethal. It is wrapped in black robes, bands of gold around its arms and right leg.
It would've been intimidating, if it wasn't for the fact that it was a child.
Cordelia stares down at the child, mouth opened. The winged child looks up at her, scowl deepening.
"What are you looking at?" the winged child demands. His voice is not naturally deep, something that he is clearly trying to mask. Behind him, his wing are flared, feathers puffed out. It reminds Cordelia so much of young foals trying to look larger that she almost misses the child pointing those silver blades at her.
"Answer me!"
"Are you lost?" It take Cordelia a moment to fathom how asinine a question she's just asked. It had been automatic, drilled in by months of greeting the occasional starstuck lost child on patrols in Ylisstol. The child frowns, crossing his arms.
"Is that a real question? Besides, I asked first!"
Cordelia frowns, resisting the urge to cross her own arms.
"I am Cordelia, of Ylisse's Pegasus Knights," she says. She isn't terribly surprised when the child makes no sign of recognizing her words.
"Alright then, Cordelia. Tell me, do you usually follow strange people into caves?"
Cordelia grips her lance a bit tighter, relaxing when she sees the child's eyes dart towards the movement, his wings twitching. The Commander's words echo in her mind.
"What is your name?" she asks, keeping her voice gentle.
"It's Pi-" the child immediately shuts his mouth.
"Pi-?" she coaxes.
'Pi-' scowls, turning his head to the side and moving his arm as if swiping away her question.
"I don't need to tell you anything."
Cordelia feels her lips twitch. Keeping her expression neutral, she decides to try a new tactic. Moving with exaggerated care, she places her lance down on the cavern floor.
"There's no need for that," she says as she stands back up. The look 'Pi-' gives her was one normally reserved for particularly slow animals and Cordelia resists the urge to scowl.
"I've come here because we've been receiving reports of an unidentified flying object in the area," she explains, hoping that if 'Pi-' understood why she had followed him he'd be less wary. 'Pi-''s brow furrows.
"I haven't seen any flying saucers, if that's what you're asking."
Cordelia sighs.
"I'm talking about you."
"What about me?" 'Pi-' scowls once more. It seems to be his favorite expression.
"The local villages have been sending complaints about a monster roaming the area," as she speaks, both of 'Pi-''s eyebrows climb towards his hair. It was very messy hair, and Cordelia suddenly feels the urge to comb it into something neater.
"That's dumb," he scoffs, "I haven't even been bothering the humans."
'The humans'. Cordelia mentally takes note of that.
"If that's all you're here for, then you can go," 'Pi-' jerks his head towards the cave mouth. "I promise I won't be sticking around for much longer."
"Will you be going back to your family?" Cordelia tries to imagine a whole group of winged people. She's never heard of anything like it before, and she wonders perhaps if 'Pi-' was from across the sea.
This turns out to be the wrong thing to ask.
"I don't need anyone else!" Cordelia takes a step back as 'Pi-' stomps towards her, seething. "These wings take me wherever I want to go! So get out of here, before I make you!"
Cordelia can't help the scowl that tugs at her face, and that only serves to make 'Pi-' angrier. The silver blades flash as he twirls them, before 'Pi-' slams the handles together. The click echoes through the cave, and before Cordelia knows it, the twin blades have been twisted into a silver bow. An arrow made of violet light is pointed straight at her.
"Get out," 'Pi-' growls.
Cordelia backs away, not turning around till she is out of the cave. Outside, the rain has stopped and Ganymede is mad, her ears pinned back to her neck and her jaws open.
"It's okay girl," it take a moment for Cordelia to soothe her mount, a moment where she is painfully aware that 'Pi-' could come out of the cave at any time, angry that she hadn't left. As soon as she manages to calm Ganymede, they soar into the sky. It is only when they were high above the forest below that Cordelia lets loose the string of curses piling up on the tip of her tongue.
"At the very least I have something to report to the Commander," Cordelia sighs. The feather is still in her pouch. If only it was enough for people to believe her. She can already hear her peers mocking her-
It is at that moment that the ground below her shakes, the very earth groaning and buckling. Trees shatter like matchsticks. By the time she gets her mount under control, smoke is rising in the distance, where the nearest village is.
Once again, Cordelia races through the air, heart in her throat.
The villager's descriptions hadn't at all been accurate, when applied to 'Pi-'. But applied to the nightmare unfolding below?
Monsters trudge through the mud, shambling corpses given an unholy life. Stitched together flesh, marching with a single minded purpose. From sunken eyes glow dread red pinpricks, like dying embers. From yawning mouths spew forth a litany of unearthly shrieks and groans, and noxious purple miasma. Each monster is armed with weapons and a burning purpose: to destroy and kll.
Just as an undead in the shape of a brigand raises its axe to cut a screaming woman in two, the hooves of a pegasus slam into it. At the speeds they're going, the hooves end up shearing the top of its head, sending it to the ground, lifeless.
"Go!" Cordelia orders the terrified villager, who scrambles to their feet and runs off. Keeping a steady hand on the reigns, she watches the other undead monsters. While some remain focused on the villagers, a large majority of them have turned towards her. Ganymede shrieks, the whites of her eyes showing, and it takes all of Cordelia's power to keep her from bolting. Not that she can do much to the monsters – she had realized halfway though their flight that she'd forgotten her lance in the cave. It is too late now, and she can't let the monster's slaughter the villagers.
Smoke fills the air, houses burning as several of the risen undead torch them. Grip on the reigns white knuckled and her heart fluttering, Cordelia yells a wordless challenge. A shambling mymirdon darts towards, sword flashing as it moves with inhuman speeds. Ganymede rears back, hooves lashing.
A violet missile slams into the monster, punching a smoking hole into its chest. It stumbles but doesn't stop, till a lance pierces through it. Cordelia stares at her lance, sticking out of the ground like a pole as the impaled monster lets out a death rattle before turning limp. The screams of the other monsters ring out as violent arrows met their marks, and the smoke clears to reveal a familiar figure.
The first words out of 'Pi-''s mouth are, "Are you stupid?". This is followed by, "Grab that spear of yours unless you wanna die!"
Cordelia rushes forward, snagging her lance and cutting the impaled corpse clean in two as she twirls it. With a wordless command Ganymede charges and Cordelia goes into action. The first of the undead she faces has but a second to react before she buries her spear into its head. Stitches pop as the momentum of her charge rips the head clean off, and just as she hopes, the corpse crumbled.
"Aim for their head!" she bellows, twirling to rid her lance of the impaled head before charging at the next monster.
"Uh, duh?" Despite the tone of his words, 'Pi-' is grinning. He twirls that silver bow of his and for a moment Cordelia thinks that he will split it into those twin blades. Before a word of chastisement can escape her lips, the bow disappears in a flash of light. In its place is something that looks like a warped healing staff. Purple and black, with golden metal on its ends and gold wings in its middle. Small red jewels, like 'Pi-''s eyes, sit at the middle of the staff. It doesn't look like a healing staff, and for a moment Cordelia thinks that it is perhaps a strange lance.
That notion is disabused as 'Pi-' points the staff at a risen undead scant feet away from her. A flash of purple light blinks from the staff's point, and the next second the monster's head is gone, its ashes drifting away. As Ganymede rears and Cordelia swears, 'Pi-' laughs, eyes gleaming in the fire light as he meticulously shoots at the monsters.
"Boom! Headshot!" he crows, "Stay down!"
The risen undead have completely forgotten her and the villagers, all converging on him. Cordelia scowls, descending upon the horde from above, and takes out any that get close to the reckless child.
"Careful!" she snaps as one monster throws an axe at him before she can fell it. 'Pi-' steps to the side, purposefully slow, grinning all the while as his next shot kills two enemies.
"Relax," 'Pi-' laughs, "These are small fry! Is this really the best the Underworld can do?"
The horde has thinned out. Moments later, its is finished. Cordelia watches, panting, as the dead stay silent. Placing a hand to her heart she sends a prayer that the dead would remain that way.
"That tired you out? It wasn't even a work out," 'Pi-' scoffs. Cordelia leaps off Ganymede, whirling around. The acid on her tongue dies and the blood from her face drains. 'Pi-' hovers before her, wings beating as he sneers at her. Behind him, lost in the chaos, an undead archer points its arrow at his back.
"Watch out!"
'Pi-' turns. The arrow hits his wing instead of his heart. The violet light haloing his wings shutters, and 'Pi-' falls to the ground with a scream. The undead archer is nocking another arrow when Cordelia's spear buries itself into its neck.
"Hang on!" Cordelia slides next to 'Pi-'. His wings thrash, one of them slamming into her and almost sending the wind out of her lungs. Holding back a curse, she reaches out, speaking as she would to an injured pegasus.
"Easy there, easy there…"
Miraculously 'Pi-' stops thrashing after a long moment, instead curling up on himself. His injured wing twitches and he reaches out shakily towards the arrow.
"Stop it," she orders. 'Pi-' stops, glaring at her. It is ruined by how pale he is and how he keeps wincing. The glare doesn't grow anymore potent, though not for lack of trying, when Cordelia brushes a hand through his hair.
"I'm going to cut the arrow head and pull out the shaft," she warns softly. Normally she'd never do such a thing. It would only injure further, especially if the arrow head was lodged in deep, or broke off from the shaft. But the arrow had gone clean through 'Pi-''s wing, and it would be better to remove it and treat it with a vulnerary and bandages. 'Pi-' grunts, shaking his head free of her hand.
"Just do it!" he snaps.
Cordelia gives him this, he takes it like a champ. 'Pi-' is still conscious after Cordelia tosses the arrow shaft aside and staunches the wound with bandages, even if he is gasping like a drowning fish. Cordelia's slight admiration sours when that violet light flares into existence again with a low chime, 'Pi-' trying to take to the air before crashing with a scream.
"You imbecile!" she bursts out. 'Pi-' glares up at her with one eye shut close.
"Watch it..."
"Just hold still!" she demands, grabbing him. He nearly shrugs her off, stronger than she was expecting.
"Don't need your pity..." he grounds out.
Her patience runs out.
"If you don't stop moving I'll knock you over the head and treat your unconscious body!" she snaps. 'Pi-' glowers up at her, before folding his uninjured wing and sulking.
Before Cordelia can fully appreciate this, a stone hits the ground feet away from them. The village menfolk have returned, armed with scythes and pitchforks, angry. One of the braver villagers steps forward, raising his scythe.
"That's the monster that's done this!"
"You've gotta be kidding me..." 'Pi-' mutters.
"Get hi-!"
The man almost falls to the ground as Cordelia stands up, 'Pi-''s staff in hand. Though she doesn't know it, she cuts quite the figure at that moment, crimson hair haloed around her face, holding an unearthly weapon in her hand. It certainly doesn't help that behind her, her pegasus has flared her wings and is scraping her hooves at the ground.
Cordelia stares at the villagers, keeping her expression neutral.
"I'll be heading towards Ylisstol with a report of tonight's events!" she makes herself heard over the low din, "Expect reinforcements and help within a few day! Until then, create barricades in case of more attacks!"
With that Cordelia whirls around, grabbing 'Pi-' and gently hoisting him to his feet.
"Let go of me…!" he complains. She doesn't listen and pushes him closer to Ganymede, who takes one sniff of him before nuzzling his hair.
"Watch it!" he bats away the pegasus with much less strength than she knows he has. Ganymede, undeterred, keeps bumping into him, nickering. Cordelia climbs onto the saddle, before lowering her arm down towards 'Pi-'.
"Get on."
"Excuse me-?"
"Get on."
'Pi-' climbs on, grumbling all the while. As he does so Cordelia opens the saddle pouch and fishes out a vulnerary. Popping open the wax seal, the bracing smell of what she is told were herbs causes her nose to scrunch up.
"Drink."
"Will that be all?" Despite his complaints 'Pi-' takes the vulnerary, gagging as he drinks it.
"The hell is this?"
"It's medicine. It'll staunch the bleeding till we can get to you a proper healer. Now hold on!"
"Hold-!"
"Hyah!"
Moments afterwards, as they soar west, 'Pi-' stops yelling and relaxes his grip on her. She can feel him glaring at the back of her head.
"I don't suppose you'll let me go if I ask you nicely?"
"Fraid not."
"Fantastic," he grumbles. As 'Pi-' grouches behind her, she turns her head to glance at him.
"Will you tell me your name now?"
"Piss off."
Cordelia sighs, and wonders how she is going to explain all of this to the Commander.
This is, partly, the fault of the Palutena's Guidance on Robin from Smash Bros 4.
Ganymede is a figure from greek myth, but here its a reference to Rosalind from Shakespeare's 'As You Like It'. We thought it fitting that Cordelia, who shares a name with a Shakespearean heroine, should have a pegasus named after another.
Thank you for reading! Tune in next chapter!