Invisible Ties | Fire Emblem Awakening (Novelization)

Chapter 36: Awakening

Robin

I stumbled down the steps of the temple, almost falling flat on my face as the ground shook beneath me. The roaring of the earthquake drowned out my approach, and the Shepherds kept their backs turned, staring up at the monster in the sky. Chrom and Lucina stood at the rear of the crowd, clutching each other's shoulders.

As I drew nearer, my husband pulled away from our daughter and began to gesture with his hands, trying to shout over the noise and bring the rest of the Shepherds to order. Morgan pushed through them all towards him, Gerome hot on his heels like a nursemaid.

Chrom did more frantic gesturing. The Shepherds slowly became still, finally listening to their leader. No one noticed me as I slowed to a walk and stopped behind him.

"If only we still had the Fire Emblem," he was saying regretfully. "Then at we'd have a chance."

I smiled wryly. "What, you mean this Fire Emblem?"

Chrom whirled on his heel, his eyes widening. "Robin! Is that -- the Fire Emblem?"

The shield was blisteringly hot, and I'd had to pull the sleeves of my coat over my fists to hold it without burning myself. Even with that precaution, the heat still seeped through the fabric. Yet Chrom lifted it from me without so much as a wince, cradling it against his chest like a baby. He gave it a quick examination, and once he was satisfied that it was all right, he attached it to his arm again with a smile. "Thank you, Robin."

"I stole it from you once, remember? The least I could do was steal it back."

"You weren't harmed in the process?"

I thought of the violent tremors, dying now, that had brought part of the roof crashing down just an inch from the altar. In my mind's eye, I saw myself duck behind the holy table, my hands over my head as shards of tile and stone flew around me.

I brushed my fingers over my forearm before remembering myself. "No."

Chrom watched my movements, his eyes narrowing. But he turned away. "We must complete the Awakening before Grima catches on! We'll return to Ylisse to pay tribute to Naga where the first exalt once did upon Mount Prism. Shepherds, quickly, now!"

And quickly we went, back through the town that had once been filled with people but was suddenly deserted, back to our carriages.

Once we had boarded once more, Chrom rolled up my sleeve to examine the nasty cut the debris had carved into my arm. He gave me some cloth to stop the bleeding and took my hand in his own. Then he turned to the window to brood in silence. 

***

The eight hours it took us to get to Mount Prism were the longest eight hours of my life.

It was worse than it had been to retreat from Plegia Castle after Emmeryn's death. It was worse than it had been to travel towards the Dragon's Table, chasing after the Fire Emblem.

The Risen were everywhere. For years, they'd been kept under control by the Shepherds and the army, and a sighting had only been reported every few weeks. Now they filled the streets we rattled through and the country fields we passed. Every five minutes, if we were lucky, we drove by a group of them. Sometimes, it was every two or three.

They were the only life we saw for hours. The streets of Plegia should have been littered with the bodies of townspeople – there were plenty enough Risen residing there. But it was like a ghost town. Only black, decaying bodies with stitched-skin masks were in sight. No one was being hacked to death. No one was fighting. Most of the houses didn't even have their doors closed or their curtains drawn as if the people were hiding inside. It was like they had simply vanished into thin air.