Episode 2: Mercenaries, Part 1          Episode 4: Dragon’s Breath

Righty, this one is lacking in action but it doesn’t matter so much, gotta keep moving forward, gotta get to the end, and anyway it’s just bandits and we all know they’re the least of challenges, right? End of the episode was hard. Non-dramatic plotty stuff + work day = brain mush. Actually it feels more like fuzz than mush. But anyway. Pent’s little jaunt there is kind of wasted. I might edit it later. Tomorrow, perhaps. When my brain is less mush.

This story is basically an excuse for me to get all my absolute favourite characters together and have them all be awesome. You realized that, right? : P And yes, the other characters who I’m not even using eventually are also great, and everyone does deserve some spotlight, but I can’t have EVERYONE be my favourite. (yesican) But I do have to say Rath was a bit of a surprise – he was vastly helpful beyond the little role that I had originally envisioned for him. Also that Isi guy? Totally out of nowhere. Added some nice drama. For some reasons drama’s been easy to write in this story even when I’m not even trying. Weird.

Sacaean party music: voila. At least to the end of the fantastic crazy part (about 4:40).

EDIT: Changed Rath’s parting, because he’s a quiet man but not so quiet that he wouldn’t have talked about his girlfriend in all this time, and his friends would be terrible friends if they didn’t ask about his home life once in a while.

Continue reading →

Episode 1: Exiled         Episode 3: Mercenaries, Part 2

Right, here’s Episode 2. I was just going along, wondering how I’d get Ceniro his first merc job (much the same way he himself was) and Roger was like “oh hei I’m just passing through” and I was like “dude! You’re perfect!” I mean, now I don’t have to create a whole new character that no one will care about since he’s not an integral part of the story. So here’s Roger, the young Duke of Deis in Etruria, and hopefully he resolves a few questions you may or may not have had after reading about him in The Tactician and the Jewel.

…If anyone even reads this stuff. : P

Names are the biggest hang-up I have in this story. All these new names, people names, place names, they all have to have the Fire Emblem feel while not being too horribly exotic – or not exotic enough. I suspect that from here on, while Sacaean culture is going to be primarily Mongolian, place names will be Native American – I get both vibes from the hints the game drops. Continue reading →

Prologue: Alive         Episode 2: Mercenaries, Part 1

I think this might have been both the hardest and also the most dramatic thing I have ever written. Dang I love Pent. I might be taking him a tad into OOC territory, but you know what, he’s under a lot of pressure that he wasn’t under in the game; I think it’s fine. Also I wish to draw artwork. Lots and lots of artwork. But first, here’s the two chapters for tonight. If I can upload two chapters per night, I’ll be done this story by the end of the week, a.k.a. the end of NaNoWriMo, and I will never have to write stories in the Elibe universe again, unless I get the desperate urge to, which I might because it is my most favouritest Fire Emblem game. Darnit.

But my logic is that I will be less tempted if I have no unfinished stories lying around asking to be finished. : P *writes furiously*

Eliwood and Hector won’t be around for a while yet. This is just a teaser to let you know they’re still important-ish. Continue reading →

Episode 1: Exiled

And so it begins… The alternate universe in which A) (*SPOILERS*) Ceniro lived (*END SPOILERS*) and B) Pent and Louise didn’t get away as cleanly as they did in the game. Funtimes ensue!

This prologue sort of assumes that you’ve already read the entire Tactician and the series, since basically in the final battle the same stuff happens but with Ceniro. I may add detail but I didn’t want to bog down in things that people presumably already knew. Also I have a new title for the story, huh? I suppose that since this is set in Elibe, that technically makes the Tactician series a quintology, but… I decided I wanted to go with a different formula for a different type of story. (A blatant actual anime series in text, lol.) So. This chapter will get you caught up on things you already knew. Working on Episode 1 and Episode 2, if all goes well it will be done in a couple hours. Although my cat is demanding attention today so we’ll see. I’d like to write two episodes a day until the end of NaNo, that should get me finished this, but of course I can’t promise anything.

Let’s go! Continue reading →

Chapter 11: Light

Well, it’s finally done. Not necessarily well, but it’s done. I had to take a break for various things (Trigun! <3) and now it’s occurred to me that Sinterklaas is coming up, so I should probably devote some attention to that. Also my brother and his friends are diverting with their multiplayer games. Also it’s freakin’ snowing now.

…Expect the AU sequel to start coming out soon.

Epilogue

Eliwood stood in the little cemetery of Dorborough, the tiny village where Ceniro’s family lived. Behind him stood the rest of the group, including Eliwood’s mother Eleanora, the pirate captain Fargus, and Ceniro’s Ostian friend Renee. Lyndis, Hector, and Ninian stood at Eliwood’s left, and Ceniro’s family, his father, mother, sister, and brother stood to his right. All around him was the sound of muffled sniffles. Hector’s face was like stone, and Lyndis’s face was white but composed. Continue reading →

Chapter 10: Victory or Death          Epilogue

Today’s soundtracks: Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto #2, 2nd movement for Ceniro’s… brief… memorial thingy, Aldnoah/FE7/FF7 for the morph/Nergal fight, and Archangel by Two Steps from Hell for the dragon fight. (Shout-out to my friend Tricia for introducing that one to me.)

This chapter gave me more trouble than the others… I basically had to write the Nergal fight twice. Again. 😛

ONLY THE EPILOGUE LEFT COME LET US PRE-CELEBRATE THE COMPLETION OF A DECADE-LONG PROJECT

I hope not too many of my other projects take this long. : P

…I’m already starting the AU sequel and I haven’t started the epilogue yet. : P Continue reading →

Chapter 9: Sands of Time         Chapter 11: Light

~*SPOILERS*~ So, just to get you up to speed here… I drew this in May 2004. It’s now 2014 and I’m putting a version of it into print. How unbelievable is that!?!? XD This is actually really, REALLY satisfying. Although maybe that’s just the badass music I’m listening to (see below).

Also… Chekov makes an appearance. The literary device, not the Star Trek character. ~*END SPOILERS*~

This chapter owes a lot to Aldnoah’s No Differences and other bits – AZPV, A-0pictures, MKAlieZ, AZ-Kat, and R0B0T. Also I should point out that I do listen a lot to the FE7 (and bits of 8 and 9) OST(s) to get the right tone, but when it comes to getting pumped for drama and/or fighting, I need other resources to fully unlock my abilities. : P

These chapters are getting longer again. The last chapter will probably be long. I don’t know how long the epilogue will be, but I hope not too long. ONE MORE CHAPTER AND EPILOGUE. I’m so close to victory I can taste it. …Although maybe that’s the butterscotch chips I’ve been eating. But I’m ON. I want to talk more about my excitement but it must be getting dull by now and you probably just want to read the dang story, no? GO READ IT it’s not terrible!

Anyone looking at my NNWM wordcount today and wondering why it’s so high, it’s because I included a bunch of in-character roleplaying that I did with a friend on Skype the other day. Hey, it’s fiction writing, ja? : P Continue reading →

Chapter 8: The Berserker and Valourous Roland           Chapter 10: Victory or Death

This chapter should be a bit shorter. Whoops. Anyway, Renee decided to make an appearance, even though I was saving her for the AU sequel. And I would like to draw a picture of her and Ceniro sometimes, looking tactically badass if such a thing is possible. Again for this chapter I really have to thank You Will Know Our Names, because I was meandering around the battlefield for a long time until I had to take a break to drive somewhere and I put that song on repeat for like 10 times and by the time I got home again I KNEW HOW TO WRITE THE BATTLE it was great. So it doesn’t totally suck. A lot of the things in it, I came up with the first time, just they weren’t connected in any sort of way. Continue reading →