As I woke up I was surprised to see I wasn’t in the comfort of my warm bed. As I looked up I saw two faces, one man with dark blue hair and one woman with light blonde hair and a staff in hand. “There’s better places to sleep than on the ground, come on, get up.” The man seemed nice but I kept my guard up in case he tried to attack.
“Where am I?”
“The Halidom of Ylisse, there’s not too much time for talking, we are on the border of Ylisse and Plegia. It’s dangerous around here. We’ll take you to Ylisstol, the capital of Ylisse. It’s safer there and we can talk about all of this.”
“Thank you Chrom.”
“How did you know what my name?”
“I don’t know it just came to me. It’s strange and hard to explain but I just knew.”
He had a suspicious look on his face. He wasn’t sure he could trust me but despite that he still helped me. We didn’t travel far until we nightfall came and we set up camp. Frederick went in search of firewood with Lissa and Chrom and I went to find anything else we’d need. I don’t know why but I felt like we were being watched. Like a strange shadowy presence was looming over us, stalking his prey and waiting to strike.
“So who exactly are you?” Chrom asked.
“Well I really don’t know much. I have no clue how I got here. The only thing I know is my name is Robin.” I replied.
“Okay… well my names Chrom as you somehow knew, Frederick, Lissa, and I were scouting the borders just incase Plegia wanted to attack and then we found you.” He took off his glove to reveal this mark on his hand. “I have the Brand of the Exalt. My ancestors were blessed by the power of Naga, our goddess, and as a sign of that, we get this brand. Technically that makes me royalty but I really don’t like telling people that because I don’t like all the formal stuff.”
As we were gathering some wood, a blinding light appeared in the sky. I couldn’t make sense of what it was. It was like it was a portal. I watched as two things crawled out of it. Two pairs of red eyes appeared where they fell. Suddenly they came out charging at us. I unsheathed my sword and Chrom did the same. They didn’t seem like the type to talk so it was a fight or flight situation. We made the horrible decision to fight. It was only a matter of minutes before they started to swarm us. We knew this was the end. The hordes wouldn’t end and we were tiring. I noticed something jump out from the portal. I wasn’t able to make out any details besides the fact that he wore a mask. We both started fighting our way to that person. The man did the same and we soon joined. I was able to make out more details. The person was a woman with dark blue hair like Chrom.. “We have to run, they’ll easily take us over,” she said as she started backing off. None of us hesitated. We bolted out of there with the monsters in pursuit. We got the others and kept running.
“We have to get to Ylisstol and warn them of this threat!” Chrom said. With this new worry we started running faster. We kept going until we found someone from the Ylissean scout team. We told them about these monsters that we’ve named risen due to their dead like appearance. We finally bought some time for us to get some rest. The stranger had followed us which I found a bit odd. We set up a fire and sat in silence around it. Finally the stranger broke the silence.
“None of you are going to believe this, but I come from a horrible future filled with war and violence. You are all in danger. You will all suffer the same fate if we don’t do anything to stop it.” The stranger took off her mask and revealed her identity. She revealed her eye and there was something odd about it.
“The Brand of the Exalt… then you must be Lucina,” Chrom said shocked. “How is this possible?”
“I had to perform the forbidden ritual. The same one that led to this ages ago and the same one that saved us. Father, you must be careful, I wasn’t able to hear much but I heard rumors of you being murdered by the person closest to you. I guess I should tell you all about what is to come. A group of people called the Grimleal have been sacrificing people to the Fell Dragon Grima. As all of you know, our ancestors slaid Grima with the very sword Chrom and I have. They called upon the power of Naga and managed to kill him. Well he is beginning to rise again and much more powerful than ever. The sacrifices the Grimleal made rise back to life without a soul. They will slaughter everything in their path to further power Grima. Rumors have it that they sacrificed a young child, but something very strange happened to him. He didn’t die, instead he became a vessel for Grima. He collected more people to sacrifice. They say that one day he gained consciousness and the his possessed side and his pure side split and became two separate people. No one really knows what happened to his pure side, he just vanished from existence. As of now they are gaining power and the Risen are beginning to spread fast. We have to get soldiers and end the Grimleal before Grima comes back to life.” We all sat in silence. Out of nowhere I started hearing voices in my head, the world started spinning and my head was hurting. I couldn’t understand anything the voices said, and then I blacked out.
When I woke up, I noticed that we weren’t in the woods anymore, but in a bed. “Hello Robin, it’s good to see you are alright. I was very worried,” I heard a strange voice say. I looked around the room but found no one. “Do not worry Robin, soon we’ll meet, very soon.” With that the voice went away, but I had a killer headache. “Glad to see you are okay, you had me worried sick,” Chrom said as he walked into the room, “You started having a seizure and saying things we couldn’t understand. Come on now, we are going to go see the my sister, she’ll be able to help us out with soldiers.”
We walked in and everyone was already there waiting for us. Everyone had a grim face, I knew nothing good would come out of this.
“Chrom I’m sorry, we can’t give you any soldiers. You know that we are at war with Plegia. If it weren’t for that, I would give you all that you needed. There is one small thing I can do for you. Head to Regna Ferox, Basilio owes me so he may be able to lend you some soldiers.” the queen said.
“Alright, we’ll head straight to Regna. Robin, follow me.” Chrom said. I followed Chrom through another maze of hallways. We finally arrived to our destination. “This is the armoury, grab anything you think you’ll need in order to fight. I’ll get the others.”
I was astonished by the amount of weapons they had. There was all sorts of stuff. Lances, naginatas, javelins, spears, katanas, swords, all sorts of axes, and the largest stack of spell books I’ve ever seen in my life. I grabbed a silver sword and a couple spell books. There were all sorts of spells. Simple hexes to life stealing spells. Even one of the most powerful magic spells, Thoron. I walked out and followed the directions Chrom gave me to get to the meetup spot. When I got there, I saw Chrom and this orange haired man arguing.
“Come on Gaius, we need someone with your skill and speed on the front lines,” Chrom was begging for him to come with us.
“Until you sweeten the deal, I ain’t going,” the man retorted. He had bright orange hair and seemed to be very agile.
“Fine I guess this candy will just be for me and the others” Chrom had a plan and I could see it.
“The front lines you say? Deal.” With just that Gaius grabbed his sword and a huge sack of sweets and he was ready to go. I was surprised at the amount of candy and other junk food he carried with him.
We finally met Basilio, but they were fighting their own war. He could give a lot, but he gave us some more money and some stronger weapons. As we left to head back, a horde of Risen appeared, but much stronger. “If the Risen are this strong, Grima must be close to being awakened.” Lucina said.
“We can’t run from this fight, we are completely surrounded. Grab your weapons and get ready.” I said. Just as I said that, a strange shadowy figure appeared, he was surrounded by veil of crows. “Cut him down, he might be with the Risen.” I ordered. Just as Gaius was about to strike, he revealed himself. He had light hair that almost looked white. “No need to kill me, Basilio sent me here to help you guys out. Over there is the other person he sent, Lon’qu. Now if you guys would stop messing around and fight, we might actually win,” he said. The talking ended there as we started attacking. The Risen aren’t very skilled and were easily taken down. Lon’qu was able to cut down hordes of them and come out untouched. Even if we all were killing them one after another, it still wasn’t enough, there was no end to this. A blinding light appeared just like what started this. Except Risen didn’t start pouring from it. I got distracted and one of the Risen lunged at me with a lance, almost piercing my chest. I baited another lunge, leaped the the side and counterattacked. With that he fell. I had to resort to magic in hopes that it’d be able to kill more Risen. I was never good with it and usually ended up hurting myself. I channeled the flow of magic to my hand concentrating on the spell I wanted. I hesitated and the spell dispersed. I spotted someone on a pegasus flying in circles in the dark cloudy sky. She did a quick loop and dove to rescue us.
“The Queen sent me to help you out. I brought other pegasus with me so we can escape.” she said. We each chose one and left there. Most of us have never ridden a single flying animal in our life, but they were experienced and made it very easy on us.
“We can’t stall anymore, we must attack the Grimleal, if we wait anymore, Grima will awaken,” I said. Everyone agreed. We headed straight to them. Lucina remembered hearing where they hid their base of operations. “We may not have a lot of people, but we can do this,” I said.
We arrived a bit too late. The process has already started. Pure darkness was spreading across the land, Risen began tearing everything in their path. We stormed the Grimleal base. They were very weak and easy to cut down. They weren’t fighters, the real army lied deeper inside. We entered the room where they did all the sacrifices. I spotted a man who was about to kill someone.
“Stop right there!” Chrom ordered.
“How very nice of you to join me. You are about to witness the greatest thing mankind has ever seen,” the strange man said. As he grabbed a dagger and killed the man lying in the sacrificial ring, he turned around looked at me. He laughed maniacally. “Hello Robin, we finally meet. I’ve been waiting for you. It is time for you to fulfill your destiny. You are destined to host Grima and strike chaos upon the world.”
I was shocked. The man who was split into two, was me. If I was trying to stop it, then who was all for the idea? Just then a rush of pure darkness blurred my vision. I fell the the ground. I could see someone walk out from the shadows. He looked like… he looked like me. “Well Robin, what do you choose? Rule the world with me, or die,” he said. He unsheathed his blade. Darkness radiated from it.
“I won’t join you, I came here to stop you and I will follow through, even if I die,” I said. He walked towards me menacingly, he raised his sword, but didn’t kill me. He started chanting some words, and I blacked out.
As I woke up, I was surrounded by darkness. I was floating in an empty void. I then heard my other side speak, “This is your last chance, join me or die. You can’t win, it’s over.” Just then I heard a faint voice. “What’s this? No it can’t be happening!” Robin that is soon to be Grima said in shock. He picked up his sword and charged at me. I was enveloped in a blinding light and warped out of there.
“Hello Robin. I am the Goddess Naga, I heard the cries of your friends begging for help. I have rescued you so you can stop Grima. Here, take this,” she gave this strange looking artifact, “Give this to Chrom, he should know what to do. The only way to stop Grima is either for Chrom to kill your other side that has embraced Grima, or for you to kill your other self. If you land the final blow, you will die, but Grima will never threaten this land again, if Chrom lands the final blow, he will be put to sleep for the time being. I shall now take you back, they need you.”
As I reappeared, everyone was on their knees in defeat. As I looked up, the Fell Dragon had resurrected. “I thought I could change the future, to save all of you, I have failed.” Lucina said in despair. Suddenly a bubble of pure chaos surrounded us. We couldn’t escape it. Then all of our energy was sucked out of us and we all fell to the ground.
“PEOPLE OF NAGA, TODAY IS YOUR LAST DAY ON EARTH. YOU HAVE FAILED TO STOP ME, AND NOW YOU GET TO WATCH THE FALL OF THE WORLD YOU TRIED TO PROTECT!” Grima roared. Just as Grima was about to take off, Naga appeared before our eyes.
“Stand up children, the fight isn’t over yet, I can not bless you with magical powers, but I can teleport you all up there on his back. Grima’s host is the only way to stop him. Kill him and Grima falls. I have bad news though, if Chrom kills his host, Grima will be put to sleep for a long time, but if Robin kills his host, he’ll die forever, but so will Robin. If his ties are strong enough, he may live.”
I gave Chrom the artifact. He stared at it in shock but he quickly recovered. He did a simple ritual and blessed his sword. In a flash we were teleported on Grimas back. “FOOLISH PEOPLE, THE FUTURE IS ALREADY WRITTEN, JUST GIVE UP.” he roared in anger.
“No, anything can change! I challenge my fate!” Lucina said with new hope. She charged at Grima dodging blasts of darkness flawlessly. As she got close enough to strike, she got low to his feet and slashed upwards. Grima parried the attack without any trouble, he kicked Lucina out of the way. Both Chrom and I charged him. When we got close, we lunged at Grima at both sides. He jumped back, but Lucina was already there and kicked him forward. Chrom smacked him with the hilt of his sword. I saw him going for the finishing blow. I pushed him to the ground.
“Robin what are you doing, we need you, you can’t die now,” Chrom asked
“I'm sorry Chrom, I can’t put any of you in danger of another attack,” I explained. A tear rolled down my cheek. I wasn’t sure I could leave them. I picked up my sword and walked to Grima’s host who was on his knees, unable to attack. “I’m glad I’m Grima now. I can finish this forever.” I picked up my blade and pierced his heart. In a blinding light, Grima’s host disappeared. I was expecting to die, but nothing happened. Then I remembered what Naga said. I turned to Chrom and said “Guess my time isn’t now, I’m here to stay.”