Fire Emblem: Rise of the Red Dawn

[RedxXxDawn]

Part One

A warm spring breeze swept over the kingdom. Its people were happy most of the time, except for when they would hear of more and more terrorist attacks. No one knows a lot about the terrorists or why they even oppose the kingdom, but they have never been reported to harm other nations. Sometimes they would attack in pack raids, sometimes they act as snipers. Some have even used explosives to blow themselves up just to take innocent lives with them. Those are the ones that are usually feared the most. That and knowing that the terrorists hate the kingdom and its people so much that some of them would even go as far as deliberately throw their lives away just to cause them trouble. Border guards have been stationed at all corners and gates of the nation, and are all required to be sharp enough to spot any potential threats.

King Feldon paced irritably back and forth in his throne room. He had yet to decide on his new orders for the royal knights of the kingdom. He needed a tactician among them, for he simply had too many other important things to tend to. Zaphikel volunteered for the position, but Feldon had to decline. He knew she was smart, but felt she was too lacking in war experience to be able to properly lead or make important decisions. Considering these were the tough times of war, he would need somebody with experience. Somebody sharp. Witty and imaginative. Someone who was able to make quick logical deductions and avoid enemy traps or ambushes. Someone who could lead the knights to victory.

******

Meanwhile, the royal knights themselves had been assigned guard duty outside the castle walls for the time being. They knew they would be summoned by one of the king's messengers soon, but for now they were to help keep and maintain the peace of the kingdom. And it seemed peaceful enough so far. Too peaceful, in Zaphikel's opinion. Too quiet. Looking into her open tome, the sorceress sighed. "Those terrorists have been rather quiet these past couple weeks, haven't they?" she said to her fellow knights with a hint of boredom. "After that last suicide bombing in the lesser nobles'-class village of Malqui, nothing else has happened." Not yet, at least, she mentally added. All of this silence put Zaphikel on edge, but none of her feelings about it showed. Instead she looked bored, like she was expecting tedious work rather than a terrorist attack. The country was due for one eventually.

[ChrisShuzen]

Young Shuzen was at the guild to collect his pay. Soon after a messenger came into the guild. The messenger was tired and pale as if he saw a ghost- or a monster. Christopher Aurea Shuzen identified him as a messenger due to the facts of the city knight's uniform armor was grey - Yet his was yellow as a palace knight. " Quite the trouble you seem to be having. Not from here - Edelius. Considering your kingdom is northeast of here and your looking for some by the way your eyes beem back and forth, that lead to my assumption." Chris said somewhat quietly as he rose a brow at the reaction of the messenger.

" You - Christopher Aurea Shuzen !? - Tactician !" The messenger was clearly on edge. Chris stood up to recieve a message. He opened it up to read it.

Christopher Aurea Shuzen. I have heard a many tales of your travels and how well fruitful your outcome have been for not just you but your companions assumeing you have any. We believe the terrorist may be plotting a full scale attack and infultration on the palace. Come immediately. This letter seemed urgent seeing as the messenger was in full retreat. This only raised question. The terrorist have yet to be named. What if it was his own country trying to attack him? The Fesarian Kingdom seemed so peaceful through Chris's eyes. But seeing as the message was dated from three days ago, he saw it was possible the country was already going into shambles.

He quickly but quietly exited the guild to see the messenger on the ground dead as there were bandits surrounding the area, this irradiated Chris.

[VanceXentan]

Without a single care for what was happening with the kingdom, Zwei sat in his dimmly lit study in the castle's interior down near the dungeons. There were no windows and thus the crude oil lamps were the only things keeping the dark away. But Zwei never once feared the dark it was just...irritating to deal with when reading. His entire magical arsenel was centered around the dark. Thus the Dark Hand, some called him a dark messiah for his brutal and merciless deeds, had made it a number one goal to capture all he could and turn it to his will. What he lost in charisma he gained in the ability to lie, cheat, and manipulate others. He was a good enough actor to fool anyone he needed to and who would ever expect him, a blonde haired and blue eyed man in his teens, to be the infamous advisor to the king. His power was without limit...well it would eventually be but not at the moment. He turned the page in the book as he sat on an ornate chair and read ancient runes dictating to that of ancient heros studying them and their adverseries was key to understand what made them strong. Friendship, loyalty, honor, and kindness were all well and good but true power lied in manipulation, cunning, skill, energy, and intelligence only a fool would think otherwise. He read the story of an ancient warlord name Chao Si from a far away land and the man named Hak Horis who defeated the warlord with only a wooden stick. It proved his point that arrogance also was a fault for many a man and woman. He grinned, a very eerie and creepy moment for anyone who would see it but there was no one around. His hand brushed over his mask that hid his identity in public and thought of how affective it was in actual symbolism. It represented the part of him that would commit sin, cause death, and lie to his lover if he had one. He chuckled in amusement, a low and dark tone like that of a villian, as he read how the kingdom fell apart and that it was eventually annexed into a bigger one just because Hak Horis refused to take control of Chao Si's army afterward. It figured....good guys....they just caused more trouble then they were worth...Because in the end they caused trouble if they screwed up. He turned the pag eand coutinued to read, alone in the dark...

[Solace]

Solace flinched at the clanking of the chains baring his hands together, avoiding the curious glances of the other prisoners and guards as he was freed from the cell. It really had been a foolish idea to migrate to the capital of Fesaria, he had been arrested and detained upon arrival. They'd kept him locked up in a cell, and up until this moment, he had not seen the light of the sun for three years. Instead, he spent those three years of his life inside a dungeon cell under constant watch and mistreatment from both prisoner and guard. How was it possible for people to be so cruel to others, just because of the difference in ethnicity? He was Branded, which meant that he had Beorc and Laguz parents, but he was incapable to shifting into anything. Half-breed, parentless, all of those names that they called him burned into what memories lingered and tore at the humanity that remained. Rumor went around in the dungeon that a war had broken out in Fesaria, and from what he could hear, they were true. Solace had been offered to assist in the efforts of the Fesarian Royal Knights, raising the question as to why they had given him the opportunity and not any of the other prisoners. Not that he was complaining about it, though. The rusted metal chains making contact with the dungeon ground produced a sharp knocking sound; the dungeon itself would be pitch black had it not been for the occasional torch hanging against the wall between the cells.

When the offer was raised, Solace hadn't hesitated to accept; he wanted to ascend from the darkness and see the light once more. Straying behind a knight, three more soldiers flanked his other sides as their armor reflected the light given off from the fire of the torches. On their way up to the palace's ground level, he absorbed every detail of the maze-like dungeon that he possibly could for future reference. Moments of walking and small chatter passed until he found himself before the King of Fesaria, Feldon. Solace nodded quietly, abiding by his commands and directions. He was to seek a woman named Zaphikal, who was somewhere outside of the castle. His old weapons, having been confiscated and taken away by the soldiers right before he was thrown into the cold cell three years ago, would be replaced with weaponry supplied by the Kingdom itself. Sheepishly thanking King Feldon for offering him his freedom, Solace brisked into the armory located in the western part of the castle and observed everything closely. Certain swords and blades would weigh him down, while other weapons such as spears and axes were difficult to conceal. His robe flew back as he selected a good number of throwing knives, a pair of twin serrated daggers, and a sword that was different than the other ones in the armory. The sword, sharing a striking resemblance to a katana, almost radiated an air of death as he found it to be perfect in his hands; the only problem was that it appeared to be less durable than the average sword. Regardless, he carefully organized the weapons he'd taken and took a step through the castle gates for the first time in three years.

[RedxXxDawn]

The four bandits had killed the messenger quickly, and were just as quick in their attempt to rob his dead body. Two of them were already ruffling through his pockets just before they saw Chris there. The other two bandits looked at him and smiled greedily. "Hoi!" one of them said. "We'll take care of this one, you two just take the loot offa the dead one." With that, the two bandits lifted their weapons and charged in after Chris at once. One of them was armed with a bronze axe, the other had a rusty dagger. The one with the axe would attempt a horizontal swing at Chris' neck, hoping to lop off his head. The second bandit used his dagger to try to go for his chest, or abdomen. He wasn't really aiming anywhere in particular, just to shank him in any place on the torso.

But the other two bandits were still ravaging the messenger corpse. They assumed their friends would be able to take care of Chris, and they would be ready to search him for valuables after he was killed. Or so they had assumed he would be killed.

[ChrisShuzen]

Chris sighed as he ducked and rolled behind the user. He placed his had on the Axemen's shoulder and froze it with concentrated magic. " Sorry to give you the cold shoulder." Just like that his arm broke off as blood sprayed out. He saw the man go down as the dagger user attempted to throw his dagger at Chris. The dagger user smiled. Chris simply drew his rapier to deflect it off course. He than impailed the bandit in his heart and kicked him off the end of his sword, the bandit fell to the ground dead. He quickly picked up the dagger, walking to the looters as he impailed the dagger into his forehead, killing him instantly. He than impailed the other man's head, light from the engraved like runes of the rapier flooded the others head, causeing it to crack and explode. He retracted his blade as the blood just slided off, looking new as was. Supriseingly hd had no blood on him. He proceded to leave Edelius to be en route to the kingdom.

[RedxXxDawn]

King Feldon sent a messenger into the study room of his Dark Hand Zwei. The young man took a nervous breath before being on his way. When he got to Zwei's room door, he hesitated before gently knocking, then entered. "Uhmm.. excuse me, sir?" he called softly, nervously. "Th-the king wishes to see you," he squeaked. He cleared his throat, then repeated himself in a more understandable tone. "He wants to see a report on the last terrorist attack, and how the nobles' village is faring in the aftermath. The one that happened a couple weeks ago." He gasped at his own words. "I-I mean- I'm sure you remember, of course!" the young man stammered, already sweating. "A great and powerful devoted wizard such as yourself, yes, of course, yes, yes!" Already he feared his heart would be torn from his chest by the darkest dark magic and shown to him, and he would somehow live to register seeing it before dying. But that would be not before being tormented with shadows of his worst nightmares come to life; already the man imagined he would suffer a fate worse than he could ever imagine. Never did he think he would be the one to incur the wrath of the king's Dark Hand. He was afraid of Zwei more than he was of the king. Which was reasonable. While the king had more authority, he was very understanding and would forgive many sins against him where many of the kings before him would throw a tantrum and cause an uproar.


Meanwhile at the capitol front gates stood two soldier guards. Firmly holding their lances as straight up as they stood, the armor they wore was of fair quality and would not restrict their movements. When they saw Chris approach, the crossed their lances before the gate. "Stop right there!" one of them demanded.
"State your name and business here," the other said. The country was under alert from terrorism, so national security had tightened ever since. The last thing the people needed was another terrorist in disguise going at the rooftop of a large shopping market shooting at people. Or another terrorist to walk into the center of a big town square and blow themselves up, taking a hundred score innocents with them.


Zaphikel leafed through the tome, not even taking in her actual surroundings anymore. That was one of her weaknesses. She was focused, but would sometimes become focused enough to block out some of her surroundings, or even the big picture sometimes. Noticing that she was zoning in a bit too far, she looked up from her tome. She looked away just a bit, but it was enough to notice Solace walking by. He matched the description of the person who was supposed to meet with her. Was he the one? Zaphikel mentally asked herself. "...Hi," she said to get his attention. "...Solace, was it?"

[VanceXentan]

"I have no interests in such mundane and trival affairs however I did have the captain of the guards make a report. Go report back to his majesty I will be overjoyed to be in his presense and will tell him what me and the captain have come up with. That is all go now I have to get myself ready for public." He said all of that like he was simply checking off something from his to-do-list and was mindly annoyed with the fact that he was being summoned. As he got up from his chair inside his study he grabbed his mask and put it on giving him a ghoulish apperance and pulled down the black lenses where the eye sockets would be. They were see through on the inside but on the outside they were jet black. He wondered how many times he has worn the mask and then shook his head because it was to many times to count. He closed his book and then searched through some papers to get the petty report the captain had given him. He had made notes on the side but for the moment he could care less about the notes he just wanted to get this over with. His royal majesty was expecting him after all. It was ironic in the fact that an orphan was now the main cause of fear behind the emperor's throne.

[RedxXxDawn]

The messenger wasted no time leaving the chamber, feeling lucky to be alive. That was a close one, he thought. I must have been out of my mind. He climbed up a spiraling staircase, went down a couple of hallways, made some turns, and eventually made his way back to the king. He repeated to Feldon everything Zwei had said, word for word. Even the parts where he had no interest in the matter, and that he had to get ready for public.
Lord Feldon easily dismissed the bits he did not care or need to know. He knew the messenger was a bit too meticulous for his own good sometimes. It was annoying, but he always meant well. His first response to Zwei's words was a nod. "Good," he said, "I'll wait for him here. And go take a break. You look like you've been running around all day. Or like you've seen a ghost." Knowing the advanced dark magics Zwei was capable of, it was possible that the messenger had.
It took a moment for the man to realize that his king was referring to the sweat on his face. "Oh.. r-right, sire. Thank you!" And off he went, out of the frying pan, in and out of the royal throne room, and now to buy himself lunch.
Sitting in his throne, the king waited. He scratched his beard in amusement with the decoration of the stained glass windows. No matter how many times he had seen it, he always had the urge to compliment the designers of his castle and those who kept it neat. He was always a patient man, quick to forgive and let things go. Some have even said that he is too laid back, or too lenient.

[Solace]

Solace took a deep breath of fresh air, seeing that the capital had hardly changed. He stretched out his arms as far as he could; being confined to an enclosed, cramped corner of a prison cell for those years had ensured that he wouldn't feel claustrophobic ever again in his entire life. While observing the booming activity of the city, he was met by notable looks of disgust by other commoners as they carried on with their professions.
'Nothing has truly changed...' Raising the hood of the robe over his messy brown hair, Solace decided to look for Zaphikal. Truth be told, he could have simply made yet another brisk escape from the capital and not keep to his word of assisting the kingdom's crusade against a notorious terrorist group, but that would result in a life full of constant danger. Plus, his bounty wouldn't be removed, his name wouldn't be cleared, and he had enough of being imprisoned. The looming design of the illustrious palace impressed him, the architecture itself was brilliant. Its steep walls looked like it would make scaling attempts a living hell. Solace began his search, but he was stopped by another hooded individual. He couldn't determine whether the person was a male or female, only knowing that it was a woman from their timid voice. "Yeah, that's me." He replied, looking to the ground.