Invisible Ties | Fire Emblem Awakening (Novelization)

Chapter 1: The Verge of History

Robin

"We have to do something!" a high-pitched voice exclaimed in the darkness.

I moaned quietly as a wave of pain crashed around my head. All I could see in every direction was blackness, and there was a loud ringing in my ears. I was dimly aware of the certainty that I had not long collapsed.

"What do you propose we do?" a deeper, masculine voice replied. Both were coming from above me, and the darkness behind my eyelids was starting to flicker. At least one of the voices was anxiously shifting around, blocking and unblocking the sunlight as they did so. I wanted to tell them that I was okay, but my lips were frozen in place.

"We could take her into town and see if any of the healers know what's wrong."

"Can't see for yourself? You've not long completed your training."

The first voice did not sound familiar, but the second did. It was only in a vague sense, however, as if this man's tone was similar to someone I knew. If only I could make my brain co-operate and work out who exactly it was that he sounded like. At the moment, I could not bring the face nor name of any friend to mind.

"That's the point, you idiot! I'm not as experienced as many others."

My eyelids started to flicker open, but it was a great struggle to move them more than a millimetre apart.

"It looks like you will be getting some experience now. She's waking."

My eyes opened further and I fought to keep them that way, desperate to see the face that belonged to this voice. Perhaps everything would become clear to me if I did so.

The shapes standing over me were blurry for a moment, but my vision soon focused. Both figures were bent over at the knees so that they could look at me closely, and their two pairs of eyes were almost all that I could see. The first were wide and green, belonging to a girl in her late teens, and the other set belonged to a blue-haired man who could be no older than two-and-twenty. His were the greyish blue of a stormy sea in turmoil, yet though the colour itself was breath-taking, it was what lay behind them that stole the air from my lungs. His soul spilled out of them, reaching for mine and connecting with a gentle pull. It felt like a habitual thing, but I did not recognise his face and the look on it suggested that he did not know me. He had never felt this connection before.

I racked my brain again, trying to dredge up some memory, but I still had nothing. I could not remember the people above me or how I had come to be here. In fact, I couldn't remember anything about myself at all.

The man shifted backwards, breaking our fragile bond and visibly relaxing.

"I see you're awake now," he said softly, a hint of a smile touching his chiselled features. "There are better places to take a nap than on the ground, you know. Give me your hand."

He offered me a gloved hand. I groggily lifted mine up to meet him, my arm heavy and weak. My eyes ran over the pink, six-eyed brand upon my skin, but as soon as the man's fingers wrapped around mine it was forgotten. A surge of electricity pulsed through my veins, startling me into alertness, and I felt my cheeks flush as my eyes clashed with his again.

He held my gaze for a moment, his expression unfathomable. Then he hauled me to my feet. The movement made my head spin and my stomach curl, and I almost fell down again. His other hand fastened around my shoulder, steadying me. Once I was aware of which direction was up and which was down, he let go again.

"Are you all right?" He eyed me uncertainly.

I paused to mentally survey myself, and I was surprised to find that the pain in my head had vanished without me noticing. Now that my body had adjusted to its new position, I was no longer dizzy, and I felt nothing more than a little weak.