Prologue
A forest West of Ylisstol, early morning
The forest was lit by trees burning around the two young nobles as they ran.
It had seemed to be a simple day. Chrom, his sister, an old friend, and their bodyguard had gone on a patrol, finding nothing of note on their meandering route around the Southeastern border.
Their route to Ylisstol through Southtown had kept them on schedule, though the headsman's report of seeing bandits to the west had caused some worry. A brief search of the woods turned up nothing aside from a few scorched clothes which, while odd, was not any sign for alarm, and the old friend had been left to check for more signs of oddities.
Then they set up camp for the night, and everything went to hell, almost literally.
The earth shifted, masses of ground being pushed into the air as flames belched forth to the surface. Large runic circles and rings appeared in the sky above the now burning forest, bodies falling from them and shambling to their feet around Chrom and Lissa while they tried to regroup with their bodyguard.
"Run!" The man yelled, pointing his sister towards a clear path as he drew his sword. taking a swing at one of the shambling corpses as he too took to that route.
"What ARE these things? Z-zombies?!" Lissa shouted back, clutching her staff as she jumped over a fallen branch and kept moving, avoiding a vicious swing of a claw.
"Whatever they are, they aren't natural!" There's a pause, as Chrom catches one of the things' attacks with his sword, twisting and making a slash to remove its arm. "We need to get back to Frederick! If we stick together, we can take them."
The siblings keep running, the wave of flames behind them catching the undead they stalled and roasting them.
==================
'This is all going horribly wrong.' The masked girl thought as she sidesteps a Risen fighter and removes its head, dread slowly growing in her gut.
The plan had been to leap back and change the events that had led to her- their- future. The Divine Dragon had opened the Outrealm gate, letting her and those with her through to their past.
Evidently, the gate also let the plague of her future through. Dozens of Risen had fallen from the same portal as she, and during her drop, she saw many more portals appearing across the land, shapes falling from them as well.
Slashing through the last of the zombies in the clearing, Lucina took a moment to catch her breath.
"By the gods... What have I done?" She whispers, looking at the scattered bodies. "We were supposed to return and save this world, not doom it..."
A rustle in the bushes catches her ear, followed by a spark that she can tell bodes ill.
The ground where her feet had been a scant second ago explodes as a bolt of lightning strikes it, a hooded figure stepping into the clearing the one responsible.
"Well well. What have we here?" He says, looking over the girl closing the yellow book in his hands as he does so. "A lost little lordling, surrounded by the bodies of the twice dead."
"You-" The blue haired lord starts, pulling her sword to a defensive position, ready to parry whatever came her way.
"Me! And I'll take great pleasure in repeating history with you, my dear. Just like with him."
With that, the hooded man flaps open his book and snaps his fingers, three bolts of electricity flying forth to impact on the girl.
The first bolt is deflected with a slash from the Falchion, causing most of the energy to fly off into the woods while the rest pools on the blade. The second firmly strikes the girl in the side, driving her down, and the third slams into the sword, sending its power squarely through to electrify Lucina.
Her world goes dark as she slumps to the ground, Falchion at her side.
"Well, that's one annoyance removed." The hooded man says, a chuckle echoing around the clearing as he looks at the crumpled body. "Don't worry. I'll be sending your surviving friends to meet you soon enough."
He starts to turn away, and pauses for a moment.
"Say hello to Chrom for me, would you?" He calls back to the lordling, before finishing his movement.
And with that, he leaves, fading into the underbrush in a westward direction.
After a short time, a crunching sound comes from the north, as though something large was approaching...
===================
Yeah, start of a fic. Butterflies will spread, ect.
Feel free to offer criticism/corrections.
Thanks Wata, for being a sounding board/idea bouncer on this.
Fell changes...
A forest West of Ylisstol, early morning
The forest was lit by trees burning around the two young nobles as they ran.
It had seemed to be a simple day. Chrom, his sister, an old friend, and their bodyguard had gone on a patrol, finding nothing of note on their meandering route around the Southeastern border.
Their route to Ylisstol through Southtown had kept them on schedule, though the headsman's report of seeing bandits to the west had caused some worry. A brief search of the woods turned up nothing aside from a few scorched clothes which, while odd, was not any sign for alarm, and the old friend had been left to check for more signs of oddities.
Then they set up camp for the night, and everything went to hell, almost literally.
The earth shifted, masses of ground being pushed into the air as flames belched forth to the surface. Large runic circles and rings appeared in the sky above the now burning forest, bodies falling from them and shambling to their feet around Chrom and Lissa while they tried to regroup with their bodyguard.
"Run!" The man yelled, pointing his sister towards a clear path as he drew his sword. taking a swing at one of the shambling corpses as he too took to that route.
"What ARE these things? Z-zombies?!" Lissa shouted back, clutching her staff as she jumped over a fallen branch and kept moving, avoiding a vicious swing of a claw.
"Whatever they are, they aren't natural!" There's a pause, as Chrom catches one of the things' attacks with his sword, twisting and making a slash to remove its arm. "We need to get back to Frederick! If we stick together, we can take them."
The siblings keep running, the wave of flames behind them catching the undead they stalled and roasting them.
==================
'This is all going horribly wrong.' The masked girl thought as she sidesteps a Risen fighter and removes its head, dread slowly growing in her gut.
The plan had been to leap back and change the events that had led to her- their- future. The Divine Dragon had opened the Outrealm gate, letting her and those with her through to their past.
Evidently, the gate also let the plague of her future through. Dozens of Risen had fallen from the same portal as she, and during her drop, she saw many more portals appearing across the land, shapes falling from them as well.
Slashing through the last of the zombies in the clearing, Lucina took a moment to catch her breath.
"By the gods... What have I done?" She whispers, looking at the scattered bodies. "We were supposed to return and save this world, not doom it..."
A rustle in the bushes catches her ear, followed by a spark that she can tell bodes ill.
The ground where her feet had been a scant second ago explodes as a bolt of lightning strikes it, a hooded figure stepping into the clearing the one responsible.
"Well well. What have we here?" He says, looking over the girl closing the yellow book in his hands as he does so. "A lost little lordling, surrounded by the bodies of the twice dead."
"You-" The blue haired lord starts, pulling her sword to a defensive position, ready to parry whatever came her way.
"Me! And I'll take great pleasure in repeating history with you, my dear. Just like with him."
With that, the hooded man flaps open his book and snaps his fingers, three bolts of electricity flying forth to impact on the girl.
The first bolt is deflected with a slash from the Falchion, causing most of the energy to fly off into the woods while the rest pools on the blade. The second firmly strikes the girl in the side, driving her down, and the third slams into the sword, sending its power squarely through to electrify Lucina.
Her world goes dark as she slumps to the ground, Falchion at her side.
"Well, that's one annoyance removed." The hooded man says, a chuckle echoing around the clearing as he looks at the crumpled body. "Don't worry. I'll be sending your surviving friends to meet you soon enough."
He starts to turn away, and pauses for a moment.
"Say hello to Chrom for me, would you?" He calls back to the lordling, before finishing his movement.
And with that, he leaves, fading into the underbrush in a westward direction.
After a short time, a crunching sound comes from the north, as though something large was approaching...
===================
Yeah, start of a fic. Butterflies will spread, ect.
Feel free to offer criticism/corrections.
Thanks Wata, for being a sounding board/idea bouncer on this.