[Spoilers] Fire Emblem Engage: A Dragon’s Tale

AN: I am very very very sorry for the long wait. Writer's block is beyond annoying, but I appear to have finally overcome it (again). I'm glad, at least, that I managed to include the critical choice I wanted to in here. More on that in the post update AN.

---

Aster. Right. Your name was Aster. Gripping that truth with all your strength, you rise to your feet, keen eyes taking the snow-covered forests of Elusia. You seem to have appeared near the mountainous upper half of the country, given the absurd amount of snow covering the ground and the species of trees you'd noticed. Breathing a minute sigh of relief as you realize that you aren't that far from where you fell, you begin to rapidly scout the area, primarily for food and a source of water.

Thankfully, it doesn't take you too long to find a water source, nor does it take you that long to track and kill a snow rabbit. Quickly butchering and cleaning the kill with your knife, you quickly move to another location before gathering firewood and creating a small campfire. As you rapidly cook the meat, not yet ready to relax until you gather intelligence on where you are, you briefly muse on what you'll do if Sombron won his war.

'I'll probably have to completely go to ground. No way I can survive if daddy dearest rules the world.' You think morbidly, before you are rudely roused from the (non)comfort of your own thoughts by the sound of leaves rustling as someone or something passes through them. Suddenly alert, you conceal yourself in the foliage as a pair of humans, dressed in local garb that you barely recognize as Elusian, not obviously armed, carefully stalk into the clearing, eyes rather obviously alert and scanning for what has to be you.

"Aurora," One voice, clearly female, began, and you quickly shift your attention to the speaker, "Whatever we've been tracking is here. Are you sure it was one of the corrupted?"

"I'm sure Borea." The other says, her tone chilling, "Unless you have another theory on why we found a suddenly extinguished campfire."

You wince. Ah, you had rather intentionally made it look like something had interrupted your dinner, hadn't you? It was supposed to make tracking you harder. Apparently, it had not. Irritating, that. Considering your options as the pair of girls continue to search for you, you come to the realization that you don't really have a way out of this situation besides them leaving-

"I found tracks Borea!" The one that must be Aurora calls firmly, and deciding that you'd rather not be stabbed, you step out into the open, adopting a rather sheepish expression. Both girls freeze, before their eyes widen, "You aren't corrupted!"

'I'd hope not.' You muse to yourself, opening your mouth to respond before you think better of it and close it, waiting for the pair of humans to react further. And react they do,

"Ah, you were trying to throw off people if they somehow tailed you, correct?" The one that must be Borea asks, eyes narrowed slightly in suspicion, "Why?"


"Habit," You answer honestly, keeping your hood up and concealing your face as best you can. Red eyes are a dead giveaway to being one of Sombron's brood, and you would rather not deal with either his followers or whatever the hell is sending corrupted Elusia in this day and age. "I washed ashore recently, and haven't been able to get my bearings quite yet." You continue to lie, smoothly crushing the flicker of guilt with practiced ease. It was a matter of survival-

"I see. We can lead you to our village then!" Aurora chirped, completely throwing your train of thought off the rails. At the long-suffering groan from the aforementioned girl's sister, this must be a regular occurrence. At least, you think that's what that sound means. You had-

Hey, big sis! I won!

Lorenzo you idiot! Be more careful! Stop underestimating humans! They've killed several of our siblings!

But I won Aster! So it's okay~

Blinking away tears, you force your mind out of the mire of grief you found yourself in, thankfully having managed to not give any visible tells. Returning your attention to reality, you plaster a smile on your face and make small talk with the pair of girls on your way to their village, talking about inane things such as the recent weather and the state of the world.

You learn that the Kingdom of Brodia has been warring with Elusia for several years now, though the state of the war is mostly stalemated, and only truly exists on paper outside of frequent raids across the border by both sides. You also learn that a significant number of lunatics worship your father in Elusia, and after a few probing questions, learn that Sombron lost the war all those years ago, but had to be sealed rather than killed. The pair of human sisters don't seem to know more than that. Silence falls briefly as all three of you run out of things to talk about, and after about another ten minutes of walking, Borea taps your should and points to the hill ahead of you.

"We should be able to see Dragon's Rest, our village, fairly soon, traveler. Once we get over that hill, in fact." She states kindly. It seems despite her outwardly prickly nature, she does actually think kindly of you-

Wait, Dragon's Rest? That was a rather odd name for a village…

You freeze, eyes dilating as a disturbingly familiar smell is carried to you by the breeze and the familiar sensation of fell energy wafts towards you from beyond the hill.

How are they here?! The Corrupted shouldn't be here! This was… this was supposed to be a safe place! Nononononononononnonon-

"Borea! Quickly!" Aurora's call briefly breaks you out of your flashbacks a heavy wheeze escaping from your lungs as you force yourself into the present, reaching into your cloak and grabbing Lumière Déclinante in a death grip to reassure yourself it was still there. "Our home, it;'s under attack!"

You hear Borea's sharp intake of breath as she rushes up the hill, casting a quick glance at you before shaking her head and drawing her weapon, an obviously well-maintained longsword of the steel variety. Automatically, you feel your feet take you to the top of the hill, and immediately, you can see what you had smelled. Dragon's Rest is on fire, though only a few buildings have caught ablaze so far. You can see, quite clearly, a small group of townsfolk desperately holding back the tide of corrupted in the streets, each militia member doing their utmost to hold the chokepoints they held.

You've seen things like this before; when you were the one putting towns to the torch under your father's command, and the sight still disgusts you as much as it did back then. Yet this time, you could actually… do something about it…

Time seems to slow down as you consider your choices. With you are two obvious members of the town militia, Borea, armed with a Steel Longsword and wielding it with a grace that spoke of rigorous training, and Aurora, armed with a Steel Handaxe that was quite obviously well cared for. Given that you also see a flash of steel from beneath her traveling cloak, you guess that she has a sidearm as well.

You could save the townsfolk. You know you could do so. You have the experience and ability to win on your own, despite the atrophy you've experienced from your long healing slumber. And even if you couldn't, revealing your draconic form would be more than enough to save this small town.

Yet another part of you roars that this isn't your problem, that the return of the corrupted means that you need to flee, to go to the ground, and never think about this world again. Because it means father has returned, and he will ensure you stay dead next time he tries to kill you.

This choice will send you down the first steps of the Path of Pragmatism or the Path of Refutation. Chose wisely, oh questors.

[] Abandon them to their fate. It's the pragmatic choice, and the affairs of humans aren't really your concern, especially those that fought against you in the past, no matter how distant that connection appears to be. Besides, the fact that the corrupted are around is never a good sign, despite the fact it seems the Divine Dragon won the war. (Path of Pragmatism)

[] You refuse to be like your father. You won't let these humans die to the corrupted like you almost did! You'll save these people and their village because that's the very antithesis of what Sombron would do! (Path of Refutation)

---

Welcome to the end of the update! I've had this one half finished for two weeks now, and finally managed to push past the block I was stuck on to complete it today! As I said above, I am extremely sorry to make everyone wait, and can't apologize enough for it.

That said, this vote is a vote of critical importance. As Aster makes her choices, certain doors will open and close within her fate, and perhaps the fate of others. Additionally, votes such as these will shape Aster's character, allowing me as the QM to flesh her character out with your input. Will Aster be a pragmatist who, while she regrets her past, has no intention of risking herself for others? Or will she take that regret and begin on the road to redemption? Her choice is yours, questors. As I said above, choose wisely.