Fire Emblem: Onyx

It is now the 41st year of the New Era. The war between the three nations still continue, though the tides of conflict has changed to a different course. A year has passed since the unfortunate town of Larton was ruined by dragonfire - the incident that sparked a chain of events to the favor of the Kingdom of Grawen.

After having proven the effectiveness of an experimental strategy, the Grawenian forces have taken over the flow of the war. By knowing when and where the Black Dragon would strike and capitalizing on such information, they swiftly conquered several territories of the Vanate Empire and the Auranian Theocracy - building new bases over the ruined towns and cities. Their grasp over the lands grew, so did their strength and ambition, and it didn't take long before they pushed onward to defeat the two nations hindering their path to the Fire Emblem.

The Auranite armies remained steadfast with their arcane prowess, and was able to keep the advancing Grawenians at bay, gradually retaking their lost territories one by one. However, it was not the same for the Vanate Empire. Their heavily expanded territory had caused them great losses, and was gradually pushed back - eventually falling to an impasse, unable to retake their lands and forced to hold off the Grawenian's relentless advances towards the Empire's remaining borders.

You are Calvin, a survivor of Larton's fall. Your family, along with your home, was consumed by the fires - leaving you with nothing for the rest of your days. With the help of the Empire's border patrol, you escaped the first Grawenian invasion, though such a lucky instance came with at a cost - the death of a friend, and separation with another.

Initially the plan was to have you evacuated to another town, much closer to the imperial capital. But after seeing that you had no means to fend for yourself, a few soldiers from the border patrol decided to sign you up for the military instead. If things went well, you would be assigned to a town or city, giving you a means to live without making you head to dangerous situations.

However, nothing is guaranteed to go according to plan. After you finished training, you were immediately assigned to a military outpost, luckily enough, it wasn't one of the many outposts located on the front lines and instead was within close proximity of a city. Camp Acris is the name of this outpost, and you have spent about three months in it.

So far, things were quite alright - the people in Camp Acris aren't terrible, and you get to live a pretty mundane life - away from all the conflict. You even though to yourself that you wouldn't mind it if things were to stay the same until you've passed away of old age.

---

After another day of work, you rise from your bed with a yawn. You casually did your morning routine, and eventually put on your clothes as you left your quarters and went to the outpost's mess hall to get some breakfast. The travel was short, and it didn't take you more than a few minutes to reach your destination. After you finished eating breakfast, you were off to the armory, just in time for you to pick up your gear and prepare for your shift in patrolling the areas in the outpost's vicinity - which usually included sending some punks back into the city proper and cleaning up the mess they made, or traversing through the nearby groves to ensure no wild beasts would come raging to the city.

It didn't take you a while to get your gear ready - which included some rations for the road, the standard uniform for the Vanatean military, and a weapon to protect yourself from hostiles, should you encounter any.

However, before you were able to go on to the scheduled patrol, you were called upon by a higher ranking officer, who gathered you and several other soldiers similar to your rank. Some of them seemed older, some of similar age, and some looking younger than you. You were already used to seeing such sights, especially with the ever-growing shortage of soldiers in the three nations due to the wars, both the young and the old being drafted was inevitable. Once all the called units were gathered, one of the highest ranking soldiers in the outpost stood on a platform and began to explain the incoming situation.

Apparently, some notorious bandits were reported to be seen near the outpost's vicinity, and it falls upon Camp Acris's forces to search for them, and bring those ruffians to justice. Once the officer was finished talking, the gathered soldiers were sent out in groups. You would have preferred to be sent with a group you were more familiar with, but orders must be followed. You, along with three other soldiers, left the outpost and began your search in one of the nearby groves.

As the you and the three approached your destination, introductions were made. The first to speak up was a rather confident one, flashily introducing himself as August. You followed suit after him. Then came Fred's turn, who seemed to be quite stoic and dutiful. Last but not least was the only female in the group, Ruth, whose hearty mannerisms reminded you of a certain someone that you haven't seen since you left Larton. Once all that was done, you began to do as your were instructed.

About an hour in, the four of you saw what appears to be a group of bandits running off deeper into the groves. You all prepped your equipment, reacting to the sight. However, before you could all give chase, something felt off - as if something was different from those bandits that you saw. Perhaps it was their looks, maybe it was their mannerisms. Or maybe it was their numbers - they looked fewer than you knew. None of you could tell exactly what it was that differed from the officer's description - as the information was pretty vague.

"Let's go.", August said. "If catch them before the others, we'll probably get promoted!"

"I think we should report what we saw to the camp.", Fred said.

"Scared, Fred?", August raised an eyebrow. "This is your first actual combat if we were to fight them after all."

"It would be a first for all of us, you know.", Ruth commented.

"Not for me.", August answered with confidence.

"Mock battles don't count, August.", Ruth shook her head. August clicked his tongue in response.

Fred turned to you. "What do you think, Calvin?"

"We should chase 'em!", August smirked at you.

It was strange that this three people who have just met each other relied upon you for a deciding factor. Perhaps its just the natural compatibility between the four of you. Or maybe you just resonated that much of a leader's presence to them. Regardless, you answered.

[] "Let's go catch some bandits."
[] "I agree with Fred. Let's go back and report what we saw."
[] "I'll go with whatever Ruth agrees to do."