//------------------------------// // Calling Reinforcements // Story: Fire Emblem: Waking in a New World // by Bishibosh the Shaman //------------------------------// Fire Emblem: Waking in a New World Chapter Ten Dan opened his eyes to find himself standing on the white fluffy clouds of the strange world. As he turned his gaze around, he noted the vastness of the sky, how it infinitely went on and on. The sight would have truly stunned him, except for the fact that he could not see the one thing he needed to see. Anna was nowhere to be found, and in the vastness of the sky he would have little time to cover such a large area. Grumbling under his breath, the tactician lept from cloud to cloud, taking a moment to marvel at how he could walk on them but excusing it to Twilight's magic. After what seemed to be an eternity, the tactician found something that brought a feint shimmer of hope to him. Several clouds away from him stood a shimmering blue portal. A rift gate, the same gates the merchants used to appear all over Tellius. Anna must have taken the opportunity to return to their home world. Dan sprinted across the white fluff, leaping from cloud to cloud till he stood before the gate. Before entering, which he knew he must do soon, he noticed a sound emanating from the portal. Screaming? Clashing of steel? A dark light hit the tacticians mind as he lept through the portal with haste. "Watch your head!" Priam shouted at the farm hero across from him, who in retaliation rolled behind the hill as a crystal spine planted into the ground where he once stood. "Ah jeeze! Thank ya Priam! I'da been skewered fer sure!" Donnel shouted back. "Now what did you have to go and say that for!? Now I'm hungry for some kabobs!" Priam bellowed with a laugh, still ducking from the crystal shards. Chrom watched from a distance with Twilight and Morgan as the two revenants successfully suppressed his army by themselves. The Exalt groaned as he watched his men scatter around the hills for cover, watching them nearly dodge death every minute. Twilight also watched, her face covered with an analyzing gaze of the battlefield. Chrom knew the face, Morgan and Dan bore it all the time. The unicorn's eyes darted back and forth, observing the battlefield and taking in every aspect of the fight. "Chrom... You need to spread your forces out more" Twilight stated as she stared at the battlefield. "Spread out my men? Twilight I understand you are smart, but that would be..." "Just do it Chrom! If they are clustered together like they are for too long, eventually their cover will fail and then one concentrated fire will wipe out half your forces. Spread them out and you make a dozen small targets rather than one large one!" Twilight explained hastily as she turned to face Chrom. "I don't know..." Chrom thought, ever since Dan joined the shepherds he didn't need to worry about tactics. Now that he is gone, the burden is heavier. Still, maybe Twilight knew what she was talking about... "Ok Twi, it's your game now. Do what you think has to be done, just keep my men alive until Dan returns with reinforcements." Twilight's gaze sunk a little as she realized just what Chrom was saying. Nervously she nodded as she stepped forward. Her legs began to shake as she thought of every possibility, but after a brief moment of weakness she gathered up what remained of her confidence and shouted across the battlefield, giving orders to the strange humans before her. Dan watched the blue rift slowly pass by him as he approached the exit portal. The sounds of battle fading, but sounds of movement replacing them. He saw the doorway in front of him, and as he gazed out of it he recognized many of the faces passing by it. They were running away from something, Dan had an idea as to what. He stepped out the door way just in time to see the last shepherd retreat into the Outrealm Gate. Before he could run after however, he turned his head to face the hordes of grimleal laying siege to the gate. Vastly outnumbered, the tactician ran towards the gate himself. Jumping over ruins and holes, hoping they would slow down his pursuers, finally Dan made it to the top of the gate way. Turning around, he then ignited the stairwell beneath him flames. The hordes of grimleal before him fell into heaping piles of smoldering ash. Dan turned back to the gate, in hopes of finding the other shepherds. Before he took his first step, a sudden battle cry of a charging berserker exploded the otherwise silent halls. The hulking man quickly closed the distance between him and Dan, and had his axe raised skyward to cleave the tactician in two. Dan raised his sword to block but... *CLING* The berserker exploded into blood, and as the dead corpse fell another figure stood behind him. The mask resting on his shoulder revealed him to be one of the Dread Fighter's trained in the Outrealms. Dan dusted off his coat as he approached the fighter. The fighter sheathed his blade, and took a moment to run a hand through his short black hair. Turning around, the sword flew out of it's sheath once more and the tip was thrust right at Dan's neck. "Woah! Easy Owain! It's me!" Dan backed away a step, raising both hands in alarm. "Yeah, mmhmm. That's what you WANT me to think! I saw you with Dan and them just the other day you foul twin! Face Owain's blade! SHADOW STRI-" "OWAIN! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Another voice shouted through the gate. "Stay your blade! He is our Dan!" Inigo ran out as fast as he could, also clad in his dread fighter armor. The look of worry on his face indicated just how much they had actually been through, especially considering Inigo's usually calm tone. "Inigo? How can you be sure!? We watched him change before our very eyes!" Owain protested. "Yeah we did! Which is reason enough to believe this is our Dan, also why would the fel dragon just freeze up with a sword to his throat? He would simply kill you now and be done!" Inigo shouted in anger, watching Owain's face drop as his words sunk in. "Oh... uh... Yeah, that makes sense I guess... Sorry Dan, my sword hand is... on edge lately..." Owain gave an apologetic look. "It's quite fine, really. Get me to everyone else. We don't have much time" Dan rushed his words to emphasize the weight of the matter. "Uh, well ok. Everyone else is waiting in one of the portals. The gateway is locked to keep the grimleal out but we can get in" Inigo explained as the three of them made it down the path. "So I'm assuming the hostility of the grimleal is some... side effect for whats going on in that world you went to?" "I don't know... We ran into risen, but they seem to be in every world we go to. Why are the grimleal attacking here?" Dan asked, genuinely curious. "They were protecting you! Er... the other you... The first hit was the hardest, scattered us out really bad. I saw you, him, walk in. Didn't see him walk out. That's why I attacked when I did..." Owain smirked a little as he spoke. "Against my better judgement mind you... Queen Sumia sends us out to scout, and the first sign of enemies you leap into the fray! I swear Owain, you will be the death of me..." Inigo commented. "Anyways, we have reason to believe the other you went into the portal behind you. This all happened shortly after you left mind you. The past week has been constant attacks from the grim-" "Wait... Grima is... oh no... Get us to every one NOW! We need to hurry!" Dan and the two dread fighters ran down the endless hallways, but in the back of the tacticians head he could only imagine the horrors Grima was concocting in that peaceful land. He only hoped he could save Equestria as well.