Discord's Emblem by InfinityXanadu
Chapter 1- Hero of the Blue Flames
Important: This story assumes some basic knowledge of Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn.
Click the link for some basics. Or play the game... it's really great!
"Argh, will these mountains never end?"
Ike grumbled as he and Soren crested the snow-clad summit of yet another craggy peak. He and Soren had left Tellius behind many days ago, after the Crimeans, Begnion, Daein, and the Laguz nations all fought to defeat the fallen goddess Ashera, but all they had seen north of Daein was a seemingly endless range of icy mountains.
Soren shook his head slightly, wondering how often Ike would keep at his kvetching. No-one, not even the mighty eagles of Phoenicis, or the hardy dragons of Goldoa, had ever ventured north of Daein. For all anyone knew, the mountains simply went on… forever. He shuddered marginally, horrified that they could be wandering into the midst of an endless frozen expanse.
That night, after they had journeyed almost up the slope of yet another crag, and sat at their sputtering fire, shielded from the bitter cold, Soren brought up his fears to the only person he had ever trusted. Ike, far from sharing his feelings, however, merely laughed and said,
"Then we'll have had a good life. There must be something beyond these mountains."
Soren drew closer to the fire. Although his rational mind shared Ike's belief, he couldn't help but wonder if they were journeying in the right direction.
They continued like this for several more days, until their meager food supply was almost exhausted. Finally, just when they were about to turn back and return to Tellius, Soren's calculating eyes and sharp ears picked up something other than the snow and howling wind.
He gestured at Ike to listen, and focused his senses on the stimuli. It was… the sound of flowing water! They followed the faint sound a little to the west, and the landscape suddenly changed.
Behind them lay the vast mountain range, and before them was a desert, of all things. A river flowed through the beginnings of a gorge, and around it grew foliage and animals. But the strangest thing Soren and Ike saw was directly behind them. The whistling winds and snow abruptly stopped right where they were standing, to be replaced with the sandy soil of a desert.
The two travelers made their way to the river, and, after consuming their fill of water and fruit, began to cut down trees for a lean-to.
Although Ike had left his father's axe Urvan and the holy blade Ragnell back in Tellius, the sharp steel axe and silver sword he carried, along with the short axe Haar had given him cut easily through the stout saplings on the river's edge.
Soren, by contrast, had taken several of his most powerful magic books, and effortlessly blasted several trees down with a blade formed of wind.
Once they had amassed enough trees, Soren began binding them into a semblance of shelter while Ike settled into the comfortable routine of hunting game.
Hunting came so familiarly to Ike that he almost forgot he was days away from anything he had ever known before, and Ike reveled in his honed forestry skills.
In contrast, Soren could not shake a feeling of apprehension from him. No matter how hard he focused on the task at hand, his mind kept wandering: back to the days when Ike first befriended him, before the blood and violence of the Mad King's War, memories of the temporary peace that followed, controversy at the Crimean court, conflict between Begnion and the Laguz, and the world-shattering business of Ashera's destruction.
He hoped that this new land would not share Tellius' history of bloody conflict, and that Tellius' era of peace would be bolstered by the discovery of another, peaceful neighboring land, like that of Hatari to the east.
Soren, however, noticed no signs of life remotely similar to himself, and slowly his bright hopes changed to fear that this land was nothing more than an extension from the icy range he and Ike had just traversed.
Ike crept slowly through the sparse vegetation, senses alert for any hint of prey. A flash of dusty brown caught his eye, and he released his short axe in the direction of the anomaly. The axe buried itself deep into the heartwood of a stout tree, and pinned beneath it was the dead body of a large field rabbit. Ike smiled. With a mighty heave, he dug the axe out of the wood, wiped it on the grass below his feet, and tied the game up with a bit of string. Ike then slung the rabbit across his back, and repeated the process until he had obtained enough food for him and Soren.
His hunting complete, Ike returned to his and Soren's encampment to find the fire burning low. Soren was gazing into it with a melancholy expression unlike his usual grimness. Ike wondered what could be amiss, and as he stoked the flames back to meat-cooking temperature and constructed a spit, he prodded Soren and asked to know his troubles.
"How're you holdin' up there, Soren?"
Soren glanced at Ike and saw his concern. He shrugged with the words,
"Fine, I guess… What should we do tomorrow?"
Ike still wasn't satisfied with Soren's ambivalent answer, but he knew they both needed time to rest. He spread his cloak on the ground, muttered a quick "Good night" to Soren, and dozed off.
Soren spent some more time staring into the flickering flames of the fire, and eventually drifted off into the welcome embrace of sleep. His chin sank until it touched his chest, and his chest rose and fell slowly with the soft breath of sleep.
Morning came all to soon to Soren, and the harsh daylight filtered through the hastily erected lean-to. He sat up bleary-eyed, and realized he had dozed off in front of the fire. Joints aching with stiffness, Soren rose, stretched, and turned around to face the sun. He could tell it was still early, but the air temperature was beginning to rise alarmingly fast.
A moment of temporary confusion followed his strange discovery, until Soren realized that he and Ike were in a desert. Mentally slapping himself for being so slow, Soren fashioned a breakfast out of the meager supplies they had left and the remains of last night's dinner.
His hunger sated, Soren shook Ike from his deep sleep, dismantled the lean-to, and, when Ike had woken himself fully, set off with him down the relatively cool river.
By now, the temperature had risen to an uncomfortable level. It reminded Ike of the time he had met the Laguz Kings, and he remembered the scorching heat with a grimace. Staying close to the river, to stay in the thin-woven shroud of shade cast by the sparse trees, he and Soren traveled far, taking few breaks and not stopping until the sun began to draw near the horizon.
Eventually, Soren collapsed with exhaustion. Although he had kept up a stoic face all throughout their trek, Ike knew that the hard journey they had had so far had tired Soren out far more than he would care to admit. Shaking his head at Soren's stubbornness, Ike planted his weapons in the ground, threw down his pack, and laid Soren out, before flopping onto the ground himself. The day's travel, on top of all the hiking he had done so far, had taken a lot out of him. Sleep came quickly to Ike, and within minutes he too had fallen into dreamland.
Ike's dreams that night were pleasant, but at the same time painful. He dreamed of his sister, Mist, and the rest of the former Greil Mercenaries. She had gone off to live with, and later marry, Boyd, but at night Ike sometimes imagined her beside him, full of smiles and laughter. Ike knew he had made his choice in life, to leave Tellius behind and search for a more peaceful place to live the remainder of his life, without Crimea's petty nobles, Gallia, Phoenicis, and Goldoa's laguz…eccentricities, Begnion's constant squabbling, and Daein's wars of succession, but Ike dearly missed the beautiful countrysides, bustling towns, and cheerful faces of the lands of his youth. Sighing in his sleep, Ike rolled over and struck his head on a stone. Cursing at his rude awakening, Ike rolled back and settled into sleep once more.
Soren's night was far more troubling. Although he was deathly tired from the strain of travel, he woke up several times, shivering with an unnatural, cold fear. He could not discern any source of danger in his vicinity, but a strange aura lingered in the air around him. Spine tingling with apprehension, Soren cast his senses about, trying to determine the source of the malignant aura. Finding nothing, he settled warily back to sleep, and slept fitfully for the rest of the night. Everything in Tellius meant nothing when compared to Ike, and Soren dreamt nothing, content in his companionship with his dearest friend.
Daybreak came without further event, and Ike and Soren, after preparing food for the day, set out once more along the small river. By and by, they came to the beginnings of a vast gorge. Tentatively, Ike and Soren set out along the base of the foreboding gorge, seeing if there were any signs of life within. They had not traveled far when Soren's acute hearing picked a strange sound out from the ambient noise. It was a squelching, rustling sound, and hearing it made Soren's memory of the malevolent aura rush back into focus. He and Ike whirled around, searching for any sign of danger. Something glinted in the half-light, and an instant later, Ike disappeared with a loud yell.
Panicking, Soren levitated a book of wind magic in front of him and caused a spiral of wind to slice through the air, towards where Ike had gone. A cry of pain somewhat similar to what Soren had heard when Prince Rajaion was defeated echoed through the dank gloom, and a few seconds later, Ike flew back out of a gaping hole and crashed into Soren with an audible thud.
After the two of them had gathered themselves up, Soren shot another blast of air into the cave where Ike had been flung from, while Ike charged behind the wind, axe at the ready. Ike entered the maw of the cave at a brisk run, and saw in the shadows a burgundy snake-thing that looked like a cross between an eel and an old Red Dragon. The eel lunged, and Ike instinctively buried his axe in the creature's scales. The creature withdrew with another cry of pain, and Ike lost hold of the axe.
Cursing and drawing his sword, Ike thrust at the creature experimentally, testing its defenses. It seemed the eel had no appendages, and thus could only lunge at him with his long, sharp fangs. Secure in his advantage, Ike drew in for the kill, flinging his sword in the air before jumping up himself and slashing at the creature with a powerful downstroke. The creature twitched, its head severed from its neck. Wiping his hand along his brow, Ike retrieved his axe and walked out of the cave, back to Soren.
At least, back to where Soren had been moments before. Ike heard a distant shout, and rushed in its direction, coming upon Soren, back to the gorge's walls. Surrounding him were two more of the burgundy eel creatures, and Ike saw Soren launch twin bolts of lightning in the eels' direction. One of the bolts found its mark, electrocuting the monster, but the other eel was crafty enough to dodge the lightning, coming away with only a singeing. Ike watched in horror as it lunged, moving impossibly fast. Its fangs sank deep into Soren's right arm, and Ike gave a guttural shriek as he saw Soren thrown bodily against the rocky face of the gorge's cliffs.
Ike saw red. Soren, along with Mist, was the most important thing in the world to him. Yelling in pain and anger, Ike flung his short axe at the eel, then drew both his other axe and sword, before lunging at the creature and mauling it ferociously. He hacked and slashed mercilessly, cutting the eel into ribbons. With Soren's attacker dead, Ike gasped for breath and rushed over to Soren's side.
Soren's shoulder was bleeding heavily, and his arm was lying limp on the ground, but there was no further damage. "Praise to Yune," Ike thought. If he could staunch the bleeding, Soren would live. He couldn't bear the thought of losing someone so close to him, not after all they'd been through together. Ike grabbed a strip of cloth from his pack, and bound Soren's wound tightly with it. Soren had passed out from the blood loss, and even with his makeshift bandage, Ike still feared that Soren was losing blood too quickly.
Fearful of moving Soren, Ike made a makeshift camp beside him and kept watch throughout the night, in case any more eels chose to make an appearance. Thankfully, nothing occurred throughout the night, and Soren's bleeding finally slowed, then stopped.
In the morning, Soren still hadn't awoken. Ike was beginning to worry. He picked Soren up, and ran with him out of the ghastly, monster-filled gorge. Ike returned to the river, Soren still in his arms. He bathed Soren's wound in the river, but even the cold water failed to rouse Soren. Ike re-tied the bandage, and set off, carrying Soren, to locate some source of medical help. Soren had a healing staff in his pack, Ike knew, but Ike had no idea how to use magic, and could only run with Soren through the beginnings of a forest, shouting for help.
After a short time, a sound distinguished itself from Ike's frenetic shouts. It was the beating of hammers on steel, and Ike sighed in relief, still running. Hammers meant people, and people meant medical supplies. Soren would be safe. Ike continued in the direction of the clashing metal, and slowly the trees thinned and a strange settlement came into view.
It was a cluster of drab, rustic houses, with a road running through the center. Ike squinted, trying to make out the town's inhabitants. His eyes narrowed in shock. Instead of people, Ike saw strange, brightly colored… ponies milling around the dusty town.
For a moment, Ike stood in place, too shocked to do anything. But then, he saw Soren limp and cold in his arms, and charged into the town, yelling for help. The ponies turned to face him in surprise, and Ike began to hear snippets of conversation. The ponies could speak! Moreover, they spoke the language of Tellius! This revelation obviously meant that these ponies were Laguz, right? Ike stopped, panting.
"W-wait… You can… SPEAK‽ You're a Laguz? Here?"
One of the ponies, a dusty brown one, presumably male by his stocky build and strange garments, with an apple tattoo-thing on his flank, trotted up to Ike and said,
"What's a Laguz? Are y'all all right? The heat get to that one?"
Ike suddenly felt exhaustion and delirium overtake him as the adrenaline from his fight and fleeing wore off. He managed to shake his head, in a feeble attempt to warn the creature that Soren was not, in fact, all right -- some strange non-Laguz snake-thing had attacked him -- then slumped down on the ground. His final thought before blacking out was: "Someone better explain all of this to me when I wake up."