“Gæ New Worlds” by Nik Chrissanthos

Art trade with Miku

Art by someone

Chapter 1: Be-gæ-ning

It started with a promise for food. The young Soren was helpless, alone, and completely

incapable of speech. But none of that mattered to the young man who fed him that day. It was at

that moment that Soren met the man he would spend the rest of his life with.

Soren looked off to the side of the ship. The only home he had ever known was slowly

fading into the horizon. But it did not bother him much. Sure, there were some people in Tellius

that Soren might consider friends on a good day, but they were not what made living in Tellius

such a poor experience. One need only look to the brand on his forehead to know what has

plagued every waking moment of his life. So when Ike decided to leave Tellius, it was only
natural that Soren was right there at his side. Fighting as mercenaries, then as part of Crimea’s

army in the Mad King’s War, and then alongside the Laguz Alliance only three months ago from

the day had built a bond stronger than any friendship between Ike and Soren. Or perhaps… it

was more than that. It was something Soren could not help but feel deep down within himself. It

was not a feeling he was familiar with. Not an invasive feeling either, it was rather pleasant

actually. The thought of him and Ike together for the rest of their lives was nice to him.

The heavy footsteps behind Soren alerted him to the presence of the man in question. It

was a strange experience for Soren to watch Ike grow from a moderately sized young man to

the battle hardened goliath that stood before him. Soren himself had not grown much in the

three years since they had been journeying together. But Ike had not changed much beyond

that. He was a simple man with simple pleasures, and Soren knew that. He likes to train, he

likes a nice steak from time to time, and he really REALLY likes his friends.

“Ike, I’ve been… meaning to ask you about something,” Soren shyly admitted to Ike,

trying to instigate a conversation without feeling too awkward. He had failed.

“What is it?” Ike responded, clear as day.

“I want to come clean about something.” Soren began, “We’ve known each other a long

time… and…” Soren froze. It was not in his character to open up to anyone like this, even Ike

most of the time. It was something he was still getting used to. “I wanted to say how much I

appreciate you… for all you've done.”

“Well thank you Soren, but that’s ok.” Ike said with a smile. “We’ve known each other a

long time, like you said. I appreciate what you did for the Greil Mercenaries every day of my life.

Without you, I have no clue where we would have ended up.”

Soren was a bit caught off guard. “Oh, well…”

“But, that’s what I’ve always liked about you.” Ike reached for something in his pocket.

He pulled out a simple silver ring. “I’ve wanted to say this for a long time but uh, never got a
quiet moment to ourselves to do so. You’re more than a friend to me Soren, will you spend the

rest of your life with me?”

“YES!” Soren shouted excitedly, leaping onto Ike the moment he finished talking. Ike

caught him in midair and spun him around. Ike put Soren down, who accepted the ring and

placed it right onto his finger. The two looked deeply at each other, and as the sun set behind

them they pulled each other in and kissed. Then the boat began to shake, the kiss was abruptly

broken. Ike and Soren looked up to see that their boat appeared to be sailing through a tube of

neon lights. The lights were eventually blinding, and Soren passed out.

Soren slowly woke up to the sounds of crashing waves and a crackling fire. He panicked

as he looked down at himself and his hands. The ring was still there, he sighed in relief. Then

he noticed his leg was in a splint. Then he looked up. Ike was tending a fire from a safe distance

with the Ragnell as a raw bird grilled on a spit.

“Ike…” Soren said.

“Be still Soren. Your leg got banged up pretty bad in… whatever that was.” Ike

instructed. “Do you have any idea where we’ve ended up?”

Soren took a look around. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but this place they washed up

appeared to be vastly different from Tellius. The sand, the nearby trees and grass, even the

water itself seemed very…muted? He wasn’t sure how to describe it himself, the color of the

aforementioned scenery seemed off.

“Hello there.” Someone said just to their right. Ike stood in front of Soren with the Ragnell

drawn. “Whoa, easy there. I’m nothing to be afraid of.”

Ike lowered the Ragnell. “Who are you?” He asked calmly. Soren eyed this man down.

He had long, kind of wavy green hair that covered his eye, his neck wrapped in a scarf with a

blue and white pattern and a feather at its tip. The color scheme applied to everything else this

man was wearing, including his simple robes.

 “I am nothing more than a wayward bard. Call me Lewyn.”

To be continued…

Chapter 2: Time For a Holy War

“So, where should I begin?” Lewyn asked Ike and Soren.

“Where are we?” Soren asked.

“This is Ganelshire in the Kingdom of Isaach. Or… whatever’s left of it, anyways. Just

look for yourselves.”

Soren looked further inland to see that the town in question was in ruins.

“What happened to it?”

“It’s a long story… but we’ve got time.” Lewyn said, sorrow evident from his tone and

then his expression. “It started 20 years ago with the Battle of Bellhalla, when a man named

Arvis started the Grannvale Empire. He appointed those loyal to him to govern the Empire’s

conquered territories. They’ve seen to it that the people of Isaach know no freedom…”

Ike let out a heavy sigh. Him and Soren were unfortunately no strangers to the politics of

Empires. The last year especially had seen them in direct conflict with the Begnion Empire, but

it had fortunately all worked out fine thanks to the intervention of the Goddess. Well, the

Goddess did intend on destroying Tellius, but she did provide the circumstances necessary for

the people of Tellius to stop fighting each other and to start fighting her. Ike walked over to

Soren and helped him to his feet before swinging his arm over his shoulder.

“We’re gonna go help them.” Ike said.

Soren could not help but smile, it reminded him of when he had met Ike. And of course,

he was happy to help Ike as much as he could. He tried to put some pressure on his leg, it hurt

a bit.

“Gah…” Soren muttered. It was a pretty deep wound.

 “Hold still a moment.” Lewyn said. He grabbed a small staff from his robes and healed

Soren. He tried again to walk, and it was good as new.

“Hmm, thanks.” Soren said.

The two began the long walk over to Ganelshire. The sensation was weird to Ike and

Soren for a very strange reason. The terrain appeared to be just regular grass, but it felt

impossibly slow to cross. Soren examined the surroundings a bit more as they crossed the

plains. Even a cursory view of the landscape was enough to tell that this country appeared to

have a lot more open space then Tellius. Besides Ganelshire itself, the only other objects or

places of note were more towns way off in the distance. Upon arriving in the town, they were

immediately met with the squalid population of the town. As the three walked down the streets

they huddled in their homes watching the streets with bated breath as the strangers passed.

Their homes were dilapidated and sad, the only house that did not reflect this was a ways down

the street closer to the gate. It was well maintained, and was practically lavish compared to the

surrounding homes.

“They’re afraid.” Ike mumbled.

“Not of us.” Lewyn said. “The appointed King is coming to town today, Dannan. That’s

who they’re afraid of.”

Almost on queue, a man rode followed shortly by a small entourage of cavaliers. He was

a bit of a filthy looking man himself, greasy mid length hair and a scuffy soul patch made this

man look anything but kingly. But he was dressed the part. He wore a suit of black armor

accented with a green cape. From the well maintained house came another man dressed in

similar black armor, but with a yellow cape. The green caped man looked furious with him.

“Harold! What’s the status on your hunt for the rebels? Exactly how long were you

planning to sit there and let the rebels live?” The green caped man shouted for all to hear.
 “A thousand apologies, Your Highness, but everything is already under control. The

rebel hideout has been found, and even as we speak an army is on its way to crush them.”

Harold responded.

Lewyn’s expression grew worried. He pulled Ike and Soren into the nearby allies. “I’m

sorry to ask this of you so suddenly, but you two are clearly experienced fighters.”

“Say no more, we’re in. What’s your plan?” Ike said.

“Oh! That’s a relief. That rebel base that the general mentioned is just west of here in the

city of Tirnanog. Go there and look for a young man named Seliph. Warn him that the army has

found them. Now go, quickly.”

To be continued…

Chapter 3: In Search of a Radiant Scion

Ike and Soren quickly set out for Tirnanog. But progress was still slow, as the village was

several miles away. Soren reached inside of his robe and pulled out his signature wind tome.

Ike held the Ragnell close. The two were not necessarily expecting to fight anyone, at least not

yet, but it never hurt to be ready. Such values had been instilled in both of them due to their

lives as mercenaries. About an hour of hasty walking later and they were roughly a third of the

way there.

“Hmm. This is taking a while.” Soren noted.

“Yeah.” Ike responded simply. “Wherever we’ve ended up seems more rustic than

Tellius.”

“Rustic…” Soren pondered. “I think I understand. This kingdom is mostly open space

from what we can tell.”

“But, I’m glad we’re here together.” Ike said. Then Soren realized something, almost like

waking up from a daze. He and Ike were together! The thought alone made him happy beyond
words. Granted, he was not exactly a “happy” person, but he was happy despite it. Ike chuckled.

Soren looked up, he had realized he had been visibly smiling.

“Is something the matter?” Soren asked.

“No, I just like seeing you smile. I mean it,” Ike said.

“Thanks…” Soren said. His face grew warm.

“We’re here together, helping people out. I couldn’t ask for a better way to spend my

life.”

Ike was interrupted, by the sound of cavalry approaching from the rear. Ike and Soren

turned to face them. They were quickly surrounded by five riders. Even more continued on

towards Tirnanog.

“Hold travelers. Submit to inspection or be tried for crimes against the Empire.”

“Excuse us, we were just heading west. We’ve done nothing wrong as far as I’m aware.”

Ike explained.

“Likely story. We happened to spot you eavesdropping on Lord Dannan. You're no doubt

heading to Tirnanog to warn the rebels.”

Ike and Soren took a quick glance at each other. Ike nodded. Soren blasted the first rider

with a strong gust that blew him off his horse. Ike lunged for two more, striking them off their

horses. The remaining two fled back towards Ganelshire. Soren closed his tome. Ike looked off

towards Tirnanog.

“Welp, odds are they’ll get there before we can,” Ike said.

“But not by much longer,” Soren said. Ike turned around and saw Soren had hopped

onto one of the now-vacant horses. Ike smiled, and then followed suit.

Scathach looked off towards the east. Soldiers were fast approaching. He booked it back

towards the Liberation Army’s hideout.

 Kicking down the doors, he shouted “We’ve got trouble! They discovered our hideout!

Subjugation forces just moved out of Ganeishire and are heading this way!”

“Scathach,” his twin sister Larcei said, “what are you so freaked out about? We knew

they’d catch onto us sooner or later. Let ‘em come! At least we don’t have to waste our time

going to them.”

“Larcei, you’re crazy! Prince Shannan is still at the Yied Shrine and Oifey hasn’t made it

back either. How do you expect us to take them on by ourselves?”

“Scathach! You’re not scared, are you? This is our chance to see a little action. I’m sick

of running! Those animals out there have killed too many of my friends!”

“Larcei, I know what you went through was horrible, but we-”

Scathach was interrupted by the other occupant of the room, “Scathach, you don’t need

to hold back for my sake, regardless of what Shannan may have ordered you to do. But I agree

with Larcei, we can’t turn our backs on Tirnanog after all the people here have done for us.” He

drew his sword. Seliph was prepared to meet them on the battlefield.

Chapter 4: Light Inheritors and Ike/Soren are There Too

Ike and Soren rode off towards Tirnanog. It was a bit jarring for the two to be riding on

horses, especially because they had never ridden them into combat before. But it was

undeniable that they were moving so much faster with them.

“There it is,” Ike said. The two approached Tirnanog. Only to find four young adults

standing in front of the gates and on top of several corpses.

“Reinforcements!” The boy in purple said.

The boy in blue ran up to Ike. Ike’s horse bucked him off. Ike recovered quickly. The blue

boy swung his sword and Ike blocked. Ike swung his sword once and sent his opponent’s sword

flying into the air. He fell backward.

“Seliph!” The two purple people shouted in unison.

 (for added flavor listen to this next part with music)

“Wait!” Soren shouted. “Seliph is the one Lewyn told us about.”

The boy in blue stood up, “Lord Lewyn sent you?”

“He told us to warn you about the soldiers coming from Ganelshire.” Soren explained.

“I see, you have my thanks.” Seliph extended his hand to shake Ike’s. Ike took it and

shook it.

“I’m Ike, and that’s my husband Soren. We’re travelers from Tellius. Lewyn helped us

after we were shipwrecked here.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. I’m Seliph.” Seliph said as he looked back at his friends. “These

are my friends. Larcei, Scathach, and Lana.” They were then interrupted by three approaching

horsemen. Two of them were young like Seliph and the rest, and one had an impeccable

mustache.

“Your highness, you’re alright!” The one with the mustache said.

“Oifey, you’ve returned!”

“And not a second too soon from the look of it,” Oifey said. “You two must be new here.

I’m Oifey. These two are Diermund and Lester.”

“It’s nice to meet you all, but I believe there are other matters to attend to,” Soren said.

Heading west from Ganelshire was another round of enemy soldiers.

“It would appear so,” Oifey said. “Everyone, prepare to attack.”

“Hold on a moment,” Soren interjected.

“Is something the matter?” Oifey asked.

“We have the terrain advantage. I think we can take advantage of it.” Soren said. He

examined the terrain closer. Tirnanog was flanked by hills. “Yes, I’m sure of it.”

“You have a plan?” Seliph asked.

“We’ll need someone to draw them in towards that opening right there,” Soren pointed

towards the path through the hills they would take. “Can anyone here use magic or bows?”
 “I can,” Lester responded.

“You’ll join me on the hillside to ambush them. From there, Oifey and Diermund will lead

the charge to finish them off.”

Oifey seemed a little amazed that Soren had come up with all that so fast, but not in a

bad way. “Understood, let’s move!”