5. Disgusting Delusions
This city isn't home, but there's that same sense of familiarity in the air. Probably has to do with the park I'm sat in, closer to a garden seated at the center of the walled city cutting out its place amongst the woods surrounding it. Pages littered with indecipherable diagrams, runes and reflective metallic lettering lining the book laying at my side. An opened tome being left splayed out on the grass to some randomly picked section, where I was instead nibbling on a piece of toasted bread.
Just watching other people enjoying a windier day than usual, and some kids had chosen to pass the time by flying kites. Custom designs occupied some of them, some plain while others displayed more complex shapes and sizes.
A lump in my throat formed, and I swallowed a bite whilst turning away from the scene playing out before me.
Despite the sun being drowned out by silver fluffy clouds, the visage of papier-mache kites of dragons and pegasi both remained seared into my eyes to whichever side my gaze shifted to.
I can't ignore it anymore, there's no more excuses or blind ignorance. Not to say that I knew for certain before, not everything felt fully real at first after all. But, as I got used to handling my magic there was more time for me to think on things.
My hyperfixation had petered out, moved on, and details in the world around me became glaringly obvious to take note of. I'd always suspected that I wasn't in just a 'ancient' world, or simply a slightly 'fantastical' one, but I'd never really had much proof to figure out which one specifically applied to my case. The fanboy in me had hoped for the Witcher.
While the sensible part of me smacked it over the head.
Simply put, the honorable mention placement that I'd placed Fire Emblem under turning out to be accurate had thrown me through a loop. Course I was still right to do so, there's like 20 games in the series. How was I supposed to predict that I'd end up in the seventh or twenty fifth installment?
Personally my money was on Skyrim, or one of the other Elder Scrolls?
Wrapping my metaphorical hands around magic felt too . . . easy? For it to be anything else but the bonkers logic that dictates the instant mastery of casting magic in that setting.
On the other hand, I guess that it also applies to FE.
An oversight to be sure, but nothing deadly on its own.
It doesn't help that my main source of reference is Fire Emblem Heroes. . .
Look, I know that I'm a hopeless gacha whore, but it was either that or poker, and I haven't resorted to bankruptcy yet. This though? This is not that, or if this is the heroes universe I clearly haven't been paying as much attention to the lore as I thought I was.
Eagles weren't exactly what I was expecting from Embla or of any of the others factions in Heroes, but then again I rather not get stabbed by some summoned hero of legend. Then I noticed that local soldiers didn't wear their style of uniform or armor, and that made me hesitant. All in all, I had been holding off on counting my chickens before they hatched.
I-
I'm not sure which game I'm in.
What a terrible game of roulette. Marth, female marth, incest, or Valentia. I'm not familiar with much else besides those four games. Let it not be true, I do not want to go treasure hunting for an outrealm gate or something equally absurd. I'll settle for the summoning gun.
Not buying a switch is starting to really bite me in the ass now, dammit Nintendo.
"Fuck this," Sitting up with a huff, crumbling up a napkin and brushing a few fallen leaves off of myself. Small light green buds torn away from the recovering trees standing tall against the harsh winds whistling past through their branches. Grabbing the ice tome, snapping it shut as I stretched my lazy limbs.
Leaves and small broken off branches throughout the groove blew past me after a particularly nasty gust of wind. Many cheers of delighted children and shouts from parents could be heard around me.
A deep part of my gut clenched uncomfortably.
There's no point in beating around the bush, either doomsday is on the perverbable horizon or continent scaling war is, and I for one am intent on getting the fuck out of dodge before that bullshit kicks off.
Now I just gotta. . .
Find god, I guess? This has to be considered blasphemy of some kind.
I've got what, a 80% chance that I've ended up in a reality that Naga also inhabits. Catching an interdimensional cab should be manageable, that or I could find the right Anna. That, that option might take a while to complete. Oh what am I kidding!
Learning the language is going to take ages, and I need to do that if I'm going to get home with any sense of efficiency. Unless I can find a stargate or something this is going to take a few months at minimum.
"Ugh," Groaning as I meandered my way out of the city, passing both medieval store fronts and personal houses displaying various levels of wealth within the city. Grand brick, mortar, and metal buildings littered the sides of the road I was traveling down before slowly being replaced by houses featuring wood in place of those materials. Some had visibly chosen to combine their storefronts into the homes themselves, the family's living in a section of the building a floor above the store itself. "Is it too late to ask for salvation, Lord?"
. . .
The air around me had stilled, the jiggling from wind chimed uncharacteristically quiet for such a windy day.
"Yeah," My voice trailed off.
"Sounds about right."
My pack smacked against my shoulder blades as I readjusted the weight that had settled onto my back. The steel spear loosely hung off a tied strap located across my chest, looped to align straight upright with my pack. The guards manning the city gates waved me through.
It all wasn't bad news, just mostly bad news, like I have no one to catch a ride with anymore. And I'd just gotten used to not having bruised feet from hiking for days on end.
I need to get a horse
Well. . .
I do have a grand to spare for such a thing, getting the message across would be a different issue.
While my mind was occupied by such musings I wasn't as focused on the world around me, primarily fiddling with the gifted tome currently in my hands.
"elWl, elwl, elwl, hawt do we avhe erhe!" A myrmidon popped into view in front of me, pointing his curved blade in my direction as he shouted. Incidentally blocked my path just beyond the city limits. "itLlet erho lla loane, ivge up ouyr asch nda we igmht etl ouy go itwh ouyr hisrt tisll on ouyr acbk!"
Oh great, it's Tweedle Dee-
"atHe to uirn hatt reptyt itllet acfe of ouyrs." Another more burly man wielding an axe slung over his arm, shared the same mocking tone as his partner. A warrior and swordsman pair, deciding to corner me on either end of the road.
. . . and there's Tweedle Dum.
"Don't you guys have anything better to do?"
I recognized them, a pair of idiots that had tried to follow the old man into some shifty looking establishment inside the city. There were a few words said, and a spear waved in their direction to encourage them to look elsewhere for an easy mark. It was a short, forgettable interaction, nothing worth losing sleep over. Such was my train of thought at the time. No robber wants to risk their life for profit, not when there's more vulnerable prey to choose from.
The sensible ones at least don't try it.
"Fuck off."
I barked out the words at them, even if they couldn't decipher what I'd said. The meaning should be easy enough to grasp. Course, even if they got the memo. . .
"I asw'tn akmngi a eqresut!" The swordman's seemed to reply, completely brushing me off. Grinning from ear to ear as he reeled his sword arm back to deliver a decisive blow.
Such things are never so simple are they now?
My vision unblurred, the moments before receiving the impending strike stretched out for a period of time. An exhale released from my lips, briefly accompanied by a puff of white smoke leaning more on the side of silver than gray. Slight chills crawled down my spine, with my hairs standing on end. The Blizzard tome in my offhand fluttered open, trailing through a dozen pages every second as the spell was cast,
An all too familiar dread settled into the man's eyes as my hand extended out forth as if to block him.
I don't get the mechanics behind frost magic, but the spells don't much care about how much I understand. In place of comprehension and a true show of effort, my mana instead simply took the decision for me, flooding the book and causing the runes inscribed inside to light up. Forcing the signature ritualistic circles to form around my outstretched hand, not quite humming like it would with fire or buzzing sensation I'd come to associate with lightning.
A part of me recognized, pulled on the feeling till the shards of icy glass in the air flung themselves into the man who'd decided to rush directly towards me.
"!" Thankfully, there was no scream this time. Only grit teeth as my opponent pushed through the sheer white spikes sticking out of their chest, weakly swinging their sword in an attempt to cut into me.
Feeling more like I'd been hit with a baseball bat than a weapon of war.
My heartbeat thumps in the midst of my hand, a sudden burst of energy springing forth to bathe the myrmidon's face with ice at point blank. A numb, clammy feeling stuck around in place of where my mana had lingered. Ice covered the man's upper half, pockets of skin and leather poked out from under a slew of conjured frozen knives. He stumbled back and forth for a second before tipping over to fall dead silent as he came to land on the floor.
His partner in crime charged me next, but being fully prepared now, he failed to even get close enough for his first strike. Immoblizing him by impaling his knees with a dozen spikes of solid ice, plenty to expose the perfect opening to finish him off in the same manner I'd done with his compatriot.
LEVEL UP!
[9]
HP: 33 + 0 | Mv: 4
Str: 11 + 1 | Lck: 9 + 1
Mag: 18 + 1 | Def: 11 + 0
Dex: 9 + 1 | Res: 15 + 0
Spd: 15 + 1 | Cha: 8 + 1
They didn't carry much on in terms of loot, a bit of gold besides the weapons that they wielded. Maybe if I wasn't already carrying so much, I would've taken them with me to be sold. By comparison moving their corpses off of the road was far much more troublesome of a task to complete. Bend with your knees and all that. Perhaps it's fitting, that I'd been given a tome for ice considering how things have gone.
To think I'd been so squeamish whilst dissecting a frog.
I can't say that the rest of my trip was very eventful. Another two of three weeks of wandering, just hitchhiking my way over to the capital that I was finally hoping to arrive at. There were plenty of opportunities to practice my magic, with the most common case to come up being to scare off animals with a bolt of lightning.
More wolves wanted a piece of me than I'd previously thought, but thats just the risk you take when you travel alone.
You'd think setting up a campfire would be a simple enough security measure for warding wild animals off. Most critters know to stay a good distance, others have to be reminded.
The process became easier after I learned to control my strength, my bolts of fire serving to light gathered stacks of wood and tinder rather than blow the pile to bits. Had to snuff out a few burgeoning forest fires before they got out of hand. Not much luck with figuring out wind, I was probably missing an important step between convection or humidity. Strangely wind magic seemed to be the most temperamental of all the magic at my disposal, I should be able to make blades out of air
Traveling alone, I obviously didn't have much in the way of practicing any form of white magic, and I didn't really have any clue on where to begin with dark magic.
Even if the specifics of warping cold to my will still elude me, it wasn't like I was under much pressure to learn it all too quickly. I had time to spare. And, there weren't many more periods of time that I had to make use of my ice, tossing a rod from god usually did the trick. Apart from unobservant thieves or ignorant animals that got too brave, and close enough for me to effectively use it on. The results of such occasions are nothing to scoff at, becoming quite tired quite quickly and the environment coming at the very seams around me.
It's why I generally prefer to keep such power in reserve.
Eventually, I bought myself another badge. Or seal I should say, and even later it finally came into use. Humming, vibrating in my grip like it once had done before. My sense of well, everything, was shaken for a moment. Leaves disturbed along the length of my lean frame. Holding my spear felt like more of a chore, while wielding my tome was made comparatively less strenuous of a task to maintain.
I don't think I would have noticed the difference had this occurred earlier.
Course, I still didn't really know what to make of the actual changes, but I did notice that I felt different. More. . . finely attuned in a sense, as if every waking moment after the fact was spent with the benefit of exercising beforehand. My clothes weren't lighter or heavier persay, and the case wasn't that I straight up couldn't wield my spear anymore. A part of me was expecting a magical girl transformation, but I didn't end up getting one. Truthfully, it makes sense in hindsight, it'd be a bit odd to just be locked out of melee options at this point. 'Preciate the fact that I'll get to keep my coat, I don't have many pieces of clothing that I can afford to lose, let alone feel nice to actually wear.
Still no clue as to which class I specifically ended up with.
While conjuring magical flames did become far simpler, it's not much to go off of. Not even daring to flicker in the morning when my mind's still stuck in the process of waking up. My body still lags behind in other aspects. Coffee would still be welcome, but I'll take what I can get.
God must've finally heard me because I'd basically gotten my wish after a few weeks.
It's. . .
Fucking huge if I'm being perfectly honest. Considering the twilight of the evening, it was probably smaller in reality.
I was too tired to reach the place on the same day I caught sight of it, and instead chose to camp out in a cave by the road overlooking the colossal settlement. To call it a city would be an insult of inane magnitude, it's far more fitting as the capital of a nation than a mere state or territory really.
Between adding additional logs to it so as to balance my own warmth against the light . Tiny lit up squares peppered the countryside, casting a muffled picture of the metropolis I'd yet to fully experience. A section of the city where the land should've been dotted with man made stars never flickered on, that stretch of land had cut an off center line through the entire megalopolitan area.
I was suddenly reminded why I don't travel often.
The TSA is annoying no matter where you end up traveling to, but more people lined the exit than the trail of those that seemed intent on entering the city proper.
Admittedly, the sight once I passed through the gates was on to behold. Despite seeing a fair bit of the city from outside, the explorer in me wanted to take a look up close and personal. The architecture in every village, town or city that I'd passed through always happened to confuse me. Scrambled mess of assorted features in a mix matched pattern for every I'd come across, though for the most part it resembled the Renaissance era paintings of Europe most of all.
Vast, great, and cluttered.
I'll gladly admit that I spent an hour or two wandering the streets, and in an odd twist of irony the same feeling that had overcame me in Italy appeared just as strongly as it had then. So much of it reminded me of a vacation I'd once taken to visit Rome, and the time I wasted went on into the afternoon. It should've been buzzing with life in every corner, a mixture of those visiting and native residents.
And it was, in a sense.
Entire neighborhoods boarded up, but even if that would be a drastic exaggeration, it wouldn't exactly be inaccurate. Guard detachments patrolled the streets, that alone wouldn't be enough to put me on edge. I'm not so much of a radical to piss myself at the mere sight of authority, but after witnessing parents not so discreetly dragging their children back inside. People couldn't seem to get out of their way fast enough.
That-, that's not how people are supposed to react.
People laughed, and chatted with each other, but I could never catch anyone do so freely without looking over their shoulders soon after. Of all the sensations that could be coating the air surrounding my skin, rapt attention was unexpected. Hair ran upright all along my back.
Officers were never this common a sight at the worst of times back home, you'd be hard pressed to match the same level of policing even using the excuse of city wide riot. Like a game of pretend, questionings done in broad daylight that lasted too long that seemed to be done for no reason even to me. Merchants weren't calling out, less inclined to attract attention for their wares as much under different circumstances. While I wasn't really out to buy souvenirs at the time, but you can still notice there's a distinct lack of vendors when you walk down a side street.
Maybe the whole city just has a case of the Mondays.
I got tired of wandering after a while, grand cathedrals aren't worth admiring when even the birds seemed to be waiting with baited breath for the preverbal bomb to go off.
This wasn't a simple itch that I could simply scratch at to get rid of, and I'd started to sweat bullets from having to keep an eye on my surroundings. .
"Bork, barkbarkbark!" A couple stray dogs greeted me when I entered a sidestreet, scarring me half to death as the muscles in my shoulders relaxed a moment later.
"God! Agh, you are lucky that you're not human shaped," I muttered the words under my breath, bending down at the knee as I beckoned them closer releasing the pressure that had built up in the palm of my hand. The sight of mischievous puppies had managed to alleviate a certain pressure that had been stuck in my chest, even if a different melancholy feeling took its place at the sight of them. "You guys need your flee shots I reckon, so I'm not petting any of you. Unfortunate, I know, but I do have some spare food on me. Assuming that you guys find bread agreeable, that is."
A few of the younger ones scampered closer at the food held in my hands, the elders more wary but still close by. Strange assortment of mutts with no particular breed present, not that I could ever be certain of that, and a trio with similar snouts suggested otherwise. Just within the range of months to years old in the single digits, with none of them showing signs of being on the brink of starving.
That didn't mean that they were healthy though, a mixture of scarred faces, torn ears or the few actively limping told an entirely different story. A crooked tail from the oddest looking dog worried me, gray hairs peppering his as limped forward for his own piece. While the puppies nipped at my fingers when I fed them, his attempts to take the bread from my palm went slower. Far gentler than I had anticipated.
Hmm.
"Y'all would happen to know any nice places I could rest at? I'm a bit lost if you'd believe it," My muttering was mainly pointed at myself as I tore pieces off of the bread that I'd bought. Patting their greedy snouts as many tried to grab a second biteful while they were at, and scampered off with their winnings. A few of the more gaunt looking dogs licked at my hands, searching for leftover crumbs once I was finished handing out what remained of my ration. "Maybe get you some Scooby snacks while I'm at it."
Some lingered by my side, hoping to get more scraps out of me before they realized that there was nothing more they could beg for. None of them could offer answers to my questions, but that hardly mattered to me at this point. It's not like there's any useful that I could learn from them if they could, and to be entirely honest? I need a place where a human can stay.
A hotel, or an inn more specifically I suppose. A sufficiently homeless friendly bench would suffice. My feet hurt from walking all day, any excuse to sit down is a good one.
Took me over an hour of wandering to come across a place to stay, far too many buildings in the city look the same. I swear that half of the places that I checked that should've been available were either practically locked shut, a tavern, or fully booked already.
The being closed part is probably my own damn fault, I only managed to find a place to stay as the sun was going down. I wasn't sure about that last issue that came up during the hotel search, the case may have been that I failed to offer enough cash.
I got a room belonging to a three story house, ditching my things to relax and take a nap. Speaking with the apparent owner for a short time, a younger blond woman who'd been surprised to see me.
The following week wasn't any better, and while the streets along with the people who lived on her streets did become more familiar to me. . . I was still unsettled. Some part of me was hoping that I'd come at a bad time, or on the bad side of the city to live in.
Good news is, while I was wrong the situation wasn't getting steadily worse. Not dealing with the medieval SS it seems.
Maybe the King has no chill, wouldn't put it past them if it is the case that I'm in a video game or generic fantasy world. I am once again praying that this is Skyrim or some other media that I know a lot of. God can afford to throw me a bone, assuming he is merciful enough.
Anything but the hardest battles, I'm still sore from the last one.
. . .
My back thudded against the brick wall behind me, a spike of pain ringing through my body as I tried to push myself into a dark corner of the alley. The light pattering of rain pooled at my boots, and I moved my feet away from the puddles forming.
"ouY're eesngi hitgsn leAanxerd," A voice chided, a pair of footsteps slowed to a stop with the last step kicking a stone enough to tap my bent form. A pair of guards had split off the pursue deeper into this side street. My heart sat pounding in my ears, the rapid thumps nearly overshadowed the conversation that I was solely privy to. Along with the rats that is. "It asw ropabbly usjt a amdn ogd or rudnk."
"Oh hust up lraadey," The second voice bemoaned, taking on a more exasperated tone compared to his partner leaning off to the side. The first of the pair, moved closer to me and waved his arms about at the other's words. My legs and arms curled deeper into my hunched over form, desperately trying to keep my breathing as steady and quiet as possible. "heT apcaitn is oigng to be on uro ssa if we ond't eekp eoplep in inle, ouy nokw hawt aphenped in het aslt iort."
The rain picked up, going from a soft mist from a bottle to a light spattering seeming to warn of a worse downpour yet to come. I gripped at the hood of my cloak, grateful to have some form of protection even as limited as it was.
I could use an umbrella.
"haWevter, etl's usjt inlk acbk up itwh het thorse. heT apcaitn is oigng to elyl at us iteerh ayw if we akte oot onlg," The one speaking shrugged as he spun on his heel, despite moving closer to where I was hidden my presence went unnoticed. Hairs on the back of my neck sprung up as what I swore must've been his gaze passed over me. More of their attention remained on each other than bothering with doing a thorough search of the alley, a small mercy. "loBdyo aswte of imte."
That was too close.
This hasn't been my best idea, but. . .
Well-
I got bored for lack of better words, and I may have decided to tail the one of the local guard patrols back to wherever they're stationed. There's no leads to go off of, and I can't exactly just ask the local for a way home, so I'm sticking my nose in other people's business. I have to make a move eventually, waiting around for an opportunity to present itself will take too long.
Can't say that it's been a particularly fun time.
Lots of harassment happened right in front of me, I should've done something, but I also need to know why things have become so tyrannical. Felt like I was watching a gang stake their claim and bleed shopowner's of everything they were worth, evictions in some cases when visibly smaller bags or chests were handed over.
On second thought, this is probably my worst idea to date. Right up there with smoking questionable weed and shrooms that got me here in the first place.
My face temporarily scrunched up as an internal wave of cringe overwhelmed me for a moment.
I returned to follow the squadron of soldiers soon after the pair turned a corner and reconnected with the rest of their comrades. After the hassle I'd gone just a moment ago the thought went through my mind to maintain a greater difference from my targets. This isn't a police chase, I can afford to put a few traffic light's worth of distance from myself and them. Where the final designation ended up being was far easier to spot than I'd thought it would be.
Turning the corner after trailing behind at about a mile behind them, the sight stunned me to my core. My attention snapped from keeping track of the merry band of idiots to the eminence structure blocking out the sun ahead of me.
How did I never notice the fucking castle?
Why'd I never-? Shit!
Oh god, how am I going to get new prescriptions for my long-sighted lenses? Is that why I can't read the gibberish in that magic book, everyday it's a new headache.
Ugh, this is not the time, future me will deal with that issue.
I shook my head free from all of the idle distractions flooding my mind. This was important.
Calling the thing a castle would be the understatement of the damn century, while in some sense it did future great stone walls and towers. Gigantic even from the vast distance I stood away from the building, stained glass and chiseled marble covered the structure's pillars. A veritable royal palace straight out of the history books, resembling a cathedral more than the white house in all honesty.
Even with my limited vantage point, with the twilight sun dying down it cast a shadow on my approach. Four empty flag poles littered the tips of the palace, utterly absent of any eagles that I'd been expecting from the soldiers patrolling the streets. Probably explained why I never noticed this place.
The city's been built in a valley, low ground and a fair distance from the mountain range that I'd been traveling to get here. A river cut through the city center where the palace lay just beyond it, crossing over one of the bridges here was a significantly more stressful endeavor. Additional groups of guards passed by me, kept me busy for a good while looking for a quiet moment to go unnoticed. Avoiding the lamplit main streets as much as possible, unfortunately steel plates capped the metal poles holding the fires lighting up the streets as best they could.
Abandoned boats lay in the many diverging paths of the river.
Paris always seemed overrated to me, but a part of me wished that I'd visited if only to see if it lived up to the hype. If not for the oppressive feeling leaking into everything, and everyone within the city it may as well have been just as lovely as that city of love. Another part of me wondered if their city had always been such a depressing place to live.
Being closer to royalty, I assumed that the neighborhood here was appropriately just as rich or notable at least. Very nice place, lots of mahogany and granite, with smoother paved roads that crunched less under my feet. Reminded me of older sections within London, all that was missing from the scene was Big Ben.
Who knew that rich people liked living in lit up areas too? Shame that the rain ruined any chance of getting a good look at people.
Figuring out whether the local royalty were the benevolent or tyrannical sort comes with the territory, better to know now than later I suppose. Can't say that I'm not biased, more concerned about what it all means. But, it certainly ain't looking good from where I'm standing. Turns out the barracks or whatever people used to have for a medieval police station doesn't exist, and in its place has been taken up by the palace itself.
Many groups of soldiers had returned, presumably due to the worsening weather, and while it helped me get here the rain had presented different issues. Practically a revolving door of the kingsmen, even with it being so late in day the mansion was buzzing with activity. The land leading up to the palace barren of buildings to hide behind, part of the aforementioned river split off to circle the building. With the addition of the river, the makeshift moat posing a challenge for anyone trying to approach what it had been made to defend.
What I could make out painted a grim picture, either trying to pass over one of the few bridges connecting to the mansion or swimming would leave me in the open. The palace was no fortress, but the garrison would be pain in the ass to avoid let alone deal with directly. Time was not on my side, it's not like I can predict the next time it would rain this much.
I could set off a distraction?
Something that they can't afford to ignore. . .
From my perch on an unlit rooftop to a two story house, my gaze shifted to a small patch of buildings grouped together. One of the man made islands where homes had been built that split housing between streams of the river to reconnect further down the line.
Fire came to mind first, if it was anything like the building I was standing on, a few of them would still have wooden roofs. Even if it was laid with brick shingling. The rain made me anxious, slate roofing would ruin my plan if this is a richer side of town. A bolt of lightning would have to suffice, let them chalk it up to the storm than a saboteur for a bit longer. I'd need all the time I could reasonably get.
I should have looked for other spell books while I had the chance.
Shaking off idle thoughts I sucked in a breath, drowning out the sound of the falling rain with the rhythmic tempo coming from my heart. A numb feeling spread out from the palm of my hands, crackling static causing my hair to stand on end as I held onto the spell for far longer than I normally would. Sensing, feeling, and tasting the metal in the air, pulling the pulsing static toward the direction I'd wish it to cling onto. Had I been watching I would've noticed the darkened clouds clinging to the sun's last bit of light, the heavens shook and rumbled with the rainfall altered to something closer to turbulent waves of water falling from the sky.
ffBOOM!
"Fuck!"
The flash of lightning briefly shook me out of my concentration, being dragged back into reality after going through being used as a springboard. Every part of my body was stuck in a spiderweb of pain criss crossing across my entire nervous system. The familiar ache of lacking proper blood flow left my form in short order, stretching out despite the overwhelming numbness and bringing back circulation.
Well, I did hit my target.
I also basically hit everything else in the vicinity of the patch of building, and the actual center of my attack had been mostly as I intended. Something I could not say for the rest of the . The roofs of several other buildings had been caved in, flashes of light from the newly born storm revealed the rest of my unintended carnage.
ING ING ING ING ING ING ING ING!
Just on time a set of bells rang out, the sound calling for help cutting cleanly through the rain and thunder. The traitorous thought crossed my mind as I glanced up at the thunderstorm in full swing above me, a bit more than I'd likely bargained for. I'd have to have faith that people could handle a little bit of fire, the rain should help temper the worst of it to a degree.
"Time to break a leg I guess."
Squads of soldiers raced past me, boots splashing as they hit the ground, likely more focused on containing the fires I'd caused further into the city. A regiment of them split up once coming across two paths after they passed me, and I continued on avoiding the main bridge into the palace's premises.
I wouldn't have noticed the smaller bridge had it not been rained, even now I was uncertain about using it over simply testing my luck against the guards still manning the main gate. Earlier on water had been sliding away from a line in the moat, pushed off to either side because of something hidden just under the surface. My feet found purchase on a solid surface, my boots catching nooks and grooves with every step forward.
It was an odd design choice, if it was intentional that is. There was too much rain and not enough light for me to figure out what exactly, the thing was crooked, stuck alternating between keeping my feet soaked or going so far as to drench my knees.
CRACK!
Whatever I'd place my feet on buckled under my weight, a shot of adrenaline flooded my body as I moved with more cautious steps.
"Oh my fucking god," I half sobbed the words out, tensing my legs once I was but a few feet from reaching the other side of the moat. Pulling myself onto solid and relatively dry land compared to the depths surrounding me but a mere moment ago. Taking in thankful gulps of air. "I'm never doing this ever again. . . and if I have to. We do it with Russian stealth, not Metal Gear stealth."
The place turned out to be a god damn maze, and had I known beforehand, this would've remained a pipe dream of an idea.
Most of the rooms inside were shrouded in darkness, and not a single one above ground level even looked to be occupied. A small village that I passed through seemed abandoned to me, homes set side by side for servants or storage maybe. With every small detail that I noticed only served to unnerve me more, I had expected to be caught by now.
I stumbled onto the barracks, of all the buildings that provide support to the palace before me. Part of me was hesitant to actually enter and preferred finding some more immediate cover from the rain, looking for a key seemed like a good excuse to build up my nerve at the time.
The front door squeaked far too loudly for my liking, pushing through regardless with my switchblade at the ready hidden in my offhand.
Aside from the pattering from stray water spilling off of my soaked frame, the dead silence that followed my entry was maddening. Meandering my way through, I pushed my ear against various doors before opening them and soon came across what I considered to be the dormitory for the standing garrison. Several snores could be heard even standing there in the doorway, shutting the door once I realized this.
Finding where uniforms were stored was remarkably easier by comparison, and I stripped off some of my outer articles of clothing to exchange them for a makeshift disguise. Slotting my snowflake themed tome inside of a satchel that appeared to be standard issue for mages, patting it securely against my side. Swapping out my padded cloak for a set of robes with an image of a black eagle depicted on the back, an odd unidentifiable sensation seemed to emanating from it,
I ignored it, instead choosing to grab a pointed wizard's looking hat located on a higher shelf before I departed.
The front door was unlocked, which isn't ominous at all.
"inFllay!" A light but loud voice boomed off to my left, echoing throughout the room, the clacking of heels sounding against the marble floor during her approach. I was half ready to lunge for the woman's jugular, waiting to see the realization that she didn't recognize me. "heT thorse avhn'te urtedn ety so it oolks ikle t'ill usjt be us orf het ignht. I hotghut hatt I asw oigng to go hrtugoh iadnogtisc xaeinmtianso by my onlsoeme gaain."
It seemed like she may have mistaken me for someone else, perhaps a colleague? Waving me forward to join her for a destination down the hall that she'd been walking to reach before I'd arrived. Shaking off the mud on my boots, I joined her. The two of us headed deeper into the palace, and I kept my gloved grip firmly around the knife hidden by my long sleeves.
"ooGd icpk orf a umhan orfm, itfs ouy elwl. . . ueGss hety ovmed ouy ffo of ouyr rioingal ropecjt oot. enMiotinng it ecbusae I ussecpt hatt ysMon iddn't eltl ouy nyahitng boaut hawt ouy'd be oidng erhe. igRht?" There was a question in those words, a curious tone added to her voice that trailed off as she turned to get my response. I merely nodded twice, which seemed to do the trick as she simply rolled her eyes in expiration and continued speaking. Picking up the pace to keep up with the irritation that seemed to speed up her movements as her voice became significantly more curt. "haWt I ouwld otn ivge orf hatt anm to ate ish wno wosrd. . . No atmert, etgintg ouy up to pesed hosldun't akte oot onlg. We usjt eend to hecck het ropregss on plsciing recsts nda ovme on rofm het rugnt orwk."
"hoTghu we igmht avhe to etg uro anhds on ewn estt ubsecjts. heT neos e'vwe adh to orwk itwh so arf avhe etdrieraoedt orf het osmt arpt," Sighing as we approached a tilted duel iron doors wrapped in metal chains locking them shut, she took out a set of keys attracting my attention. Once the chains came loose, falling to the floor I helped her pry the entrance open and in doing so releasing a horrid stretch into the air. "heT esrltus avhe eebn tasict so we igmht be blae to infshi areielr hatn xpecteed. ivGngi us leptyn of imte to lecan up to hetn urbn or urby het esrt of het vieendce elwl efbreo het odGesds' hicdrlen veer atcch inwd of us.
A set of stairs leading us down into what must've been the mansion's basement, utterly void of light except for a torch that rested against the wall from where we started. Taking it in hand, the wild eyed woman led the way, gesturing with her spare hand as we made our way into the depths below. Down to a dead end, or what appeared to be one until two alternate paths in each direction revealed themselves.
"We avhe to ovme asft efbreo het hiCdrlen of het odGesds atcch on," Her rambling ended as we finally came to a stop once a few flights down from the ground floor to the basement level. The smell of rot had gotten significantly worse, and I'd taken to smaller, more brief breaths to bear with it. The lady standing at my side waved to the left as she spoke, her voice warping as she paused and took in a breath.
The limited light from the torch in her hand flickered across her face, she seemed paler than I'd first thought her to be. I'd thought it a trick of the light at first, and my hair stood on end as the ink lining her veins gradually became more visible as the seconds passed. At odds with her change happening right before my eyes, her tone took on a lighthearted joking tone as she addressed me. "onD't eekp me aiwintg own, we avhe orwk to do."
Her eyes swung down, tracking my hand as the metal from my knife flashed under the glare of the torch in her grasp.
"aiWt a ecs-!"
Everything with sight flickered, red blood splashed through the air from the same arm that had been holding the only source of light in the room. The witch's expression shifted into a snarl as she skipped back away from me, wet air from the storm outside brushed past me to reach her outstretched hand. A small cyclone, gusts of turbulent winds condensing from invisible strings into glowing light green shards of glass. A slew of thorns of hardened air cut into my side at her command, the areas that were struck erupted in bursts of pain. Newborn bloody cuts lined my arms from where I'd brought them up to protect my face.
Releasing a brief hiss from the pain, I adjusted my ironclad grip on my knife waiting for the moment that the torrent of wind would abate. My arms ached from being drawn taut whilst lunging for her once she was done with her counterattack, my offhand slamming into her bare throat against the wall. Green wisps of wind streaming instantly faded, the sound of a book banging off the floor rang throughout the hall, and her hands shifted toward relieving the pressure on her throat.
With her nails digging into the skin of my fingers, while she left her other arm up to block any strike coming from the knife held in my other grip. The mage sprung into action at the opportunity, pulling herself closer to me and finally connecting a kick she'd been attempting to my groin.
!
Keeping her struggling form steady proved difficult as her legs kicked at me from where she was pinned, causing me to loosen my grip for a second. Adrenaline going in full force doing it's best to numb the worst of the pain, my face came down against hers in a desperate headbutt. Her skull sent crashing against the stone wall behind her, and saw the thoughts behind her eyes spiral upon contact.
My forearm slammed against her neck, tilting her head up and throat open for a finishing blow.
CRACK!
There's a crunch that echoes down the hall as my blade sinks into her smaller frame, and misses her jugular, insteading scraping directly against her collarbone. Despite the low amount of light available to paint the world with color, her scowl remains apparent even as the hit landed. Flickering between rage and desperation, trying to decide on what to focus on.
With dying efforts clenching at her own throat, the blood pooling and spilling forth from underneath her fingers wrapped around her neck. Her eyes tight with barely disguised rage led her other hand to reach for me. Heat starting to emanate from her bloodied fingertips.
Slow choking breaths partially scraped against the blade lying in her trachea, and I elected to speed up the process before she could get another hit in. My hand swapped stances switching from a backward to a forward grip, pulling the significantly lighter switchblade free from her inhuman flesh.
Something inside snapped and the last vestiges of burning strength blinked out of existance, her broken form collapsing against the wall behind her. Erratic bouts of steaming blood dripped down from her wound, sinking into her clothing below the cut.
Even with such a troublesome source of light burning in the corner, the blood pooling under her painted the floor with something closer to an inky black than a dark crimson. Crackling in the open air as if the liquid were boiling under a saucepan, and stayed the same shape once it left her body.
"Fucking vampires," I tiredly muttered to myself, groaning in pain as I bent halfway at the waist once the ordeal was over and down with. Directly facing the dead woman's corpse head on, but with my head down far more preoccupied with my own pain, I decided to push past the unnerving feeling squirming deep within my gut. Electing to simply believe it to be a trick of the light. Fuck my life, seriously, what did I even do?
God, I'm going to piss blood ain't I?
Ugh. . .
Once my legs no longer felt like they were made out of jello, and the pain had transformed into something approaching an ache as opposed to pure agony, I finally made a move.
"Fu- shit-"
And immediately canceled any steps that I had planned, a spike of pain from inadvertently shifting my waist in the wrong way. A sharp huff, almost splitting into a manic giggle crept out of my chest. A hint of delirium dripped from my pained words leaking out of my mouth.
Letting another minute or dozen pass uninterrupted, the swirling daze I'd been stuck in faded away, and looked up just in time to notice the damnedest thing.
Her body was melting.
The corpse of the strange woman that I'd killed had slugified in the time that was spent recovering. Spots in the floor were marked with singed holes in them, and the same effect that ruined my knife when I examined it closely. A damn shame, and waste of a fifty dollar knife. The paint job has definitely been ruined, but from what remained something could probably be recovered.
I'd have to get home to do that first.
Just great news to know that my knife got melted by some xenomorph wannabe bitch, but on the other hand. . . The victor claims his spoils.
Such were the thoughts that crossed my mind as I grabbed the strangers tome off the floor, a part of me regretting not turning towards using a spell earlier. The need for discretion had outweighed that benefit at the time, and I didn't want to risk losing the upper hand. Things got a bit dicey at the end.
My head turned to gaze down the dark hallways to either side of me, considering my next move. Glancing at the sides to both ways, revealed vertical steel bars marking various prison cells. The sight gave me a bad feeling considering no one heard the commotion caused during our fight, but while I still needed to know more. . . it was starting to worry me.
This all maybe fit for Skyrim, or perhaps Oblivion more closely now that I gave it some thought, but so much didn't fit neatly with one franchise. Not discounting the fact it could still be a fever dream, a very painful coma or something.
It didn't matter.
From the corner of my eye the woman's body had begun to fall apart into smaller pieces, purple boils littered the ground where her corpse should've been. The only parts that might have suggested she even existed were charred bone fragments, but even I was sure of that.
The abandoned torch now in my grasp hummed in a manner where you could feel the heat leaving my bones as the light it produced expanded after a moment of concentration. I'd managed to snag a few unmelted keys from her person while I was at it. More of my surroundings came into sight, bones and dried blood staining the interiors for some of the cells I'd only been able to see part of. I snorted at the sight, growing tired of the needless and never endless cruelty that I'd been helpless to do anything about ever since the day I'd arrived here. Only disappointment remained in place of the horror that should've been.
I doubted the reason why they were left in such a state was all too interesting, and part of me insulted on their behalf. The rest clung to that shred of humanity for fear of not caring at all.
Little more could be felt, a bit of me sorry for how many that were surely long dead by now managed to end up in this horrid place. To the deceased, it must've been an unimaginable hell, and they had my sympathy, but this was the sort of atrocity that my modern self was more accustomed to. Ashamedly so.
A section of my gut still rolled in disgust, even in turn with the comforting sense of familiar detachment one would be swept up by while hearing word of war or disaster on the news. I was unsure if that made me more or less human, but without a doubt homesick. Much of me wished that that feeling of homesickness had struck me for any other reason under the sun. Regardless, there would be time for such regrets once I'd left this god forsaken place, and in the end I finally chose a path forward.
"In for a penny. . ."
Note;
This chapter covers a fair few things, so I'll start from the beginning. The SI version of me is at the point where the odd things has officially gone from 'weird' to 'strange' in his opinion, tomes full or gibberish that clearly serve some purpose and magical creatures in the sky in the form of kites tend to do that. Course, lots of fantasy properties have both of those things and Fire Emblem isn't exactly a game franchise I play on the regular. I did play Heroes for a while, so that were my SI's current level of understanding comes from, and I didn't play 3 houses until well after I dropped that gacha hell. Tis a tale for another time.
I don't want every chapter with conflict to turn into 'SI murders half a dozen people due to the fucking language barrier, and lives to tell the tale despite being beaten within an inch of his life'. I do have plans to address the habits our beloved murderhobo, but it's better if just write the story than explain it here. All I will say is that I do not have much patience for people who refuse to listen the first time in real life, and I believe that would make for a deadly combination in the scenario should I get beset upon bandits or thieves. I hold a grudge like a motherfucker, and I don't believe in mercy for those that would likely not give me the same luxury if I were at their mercy. Those are thing personal quirks of mine that may encourage ready disregard for human life. I helped butcher live animals on my grandfather's farm for a while, so death and injury aren't foreign to me.
In oh so few word are the background details that reader's would have never known, that is how I feel on the matter. Maybe if I gave it another month of thought I'd find a non cringe/edgelord/tryhard way to explain that in universe rather than in this author's note. (I read something similar years ago, it was very forced and strange on my end) I hope you do not think of my as too callous for phrasing it in such a way, it's just the way I am.
Wish I spent more time exploring the city, and the clever cookies amongst you might have noticed the writing on the walls. Should've included more symoblism, but I'm re-writing lore as I speak in the same breath that writing these chapters is happening. More iconigraphy needed to be mentioned now that I think about it, might've helped foreshadowing and setting the scene. Then again, fe3h didn't really give me many details to work with when it came to worldbuilding so I was reluctant to lean too heavily into a particular tone.
Then again.
This is probably the longest I should dance around the topic of FE3H canon, enough words have been said and tension set in motion for the right mood. I've been very paranoid about doing this section correctly, the foundation for further chapters that to line up with so I don't end up fucking myself later on. Some parts have been left intentionally vague (mainly because I haven't decided one way or another about it, or because I need to double check the lore to see if a different idea I had would serve my story better) Some to keep you guessing and other parts just coincidence that went unnoticed until people pointed out expectations that I've accidently set up. All done in the hope that even if it doesn't mean anything now, tiny overlooked details might come together to reveal something later.
A realistic story this is not, but that doesn't mean I have to exclude any and all believability/rationale. I want this to be reasonable, even if it's far fetched. To feel real, even if it isn't. Such is my intention, isn't if isn't not the end result, and I thank everyone for their little comments to figure out the areas where I've fallen short.
Of course, it's about time that this prologue section comes to an end. Could've padded this out more, but this is fanfiction, not a fucking novel. If I ever do, it'll be after I've figured out what does and doesn't work, maybe once this story is finished.
I wanted to include stats, but barely any back in forth happened in this chapter, so why go into the nitty gritty numbers when I never had really to use them in this chapter. The guys in the beginning were like level 6~7, the average guard ranges from 5~10 depending on class or combat role, and the basement lady is whatever level you think she is. Not enough for a level up at least.
Follow this story on Questionable Questing if I'd like to receive updates sooner or whatever, same name for both story and author. Again, thank you for reading.
