It’s been five years since the fall of Nergal and the Black Fang. Eliwood and his wife are living peacefully in their home of Pherae. It’s been years since any real conflict has occurred and the townspeople are living peacefully. Everyone is getting ready for a major event that will take place soon: the birth of Eliwood’s child. Eliwood has invited as many of his friends and former comrades as he could. Of course, the first person to arrive was his long time friend, Hector, along with his wife.

“Sire! Lord Hector and Lady Florina have entered!” a Pheraen soldier announced to Eliwood.

“You don’t need announce our presence,” Hector said as he pushed his way passed the guard. “Eliwood! Come on now, you should know better than to hold a party without a sparring ring! What kind of party is this?”

“Haha, it’s good to see you again, Hector!” Eliwood laughed as he approached his friend.

“Yeah, it’s good to see you, too, Eliwood,” Hector chuckled. “I believe you know Florina.” Hector brought his wife in front of him.

“He-Hello, Milord Eliwood,” Florina stuttered.

“Still as shy around men as ever, huh?” Eliwood asked. “Though I can tell you’re getting better.” Eliwood looked down. “Wait… you’re not expecting too, are you?”

“We are,” Florina answered. Florina’s stomach looked visibly pregnant. “Four months.”

“That’s amazing!” Eliwood responded. “We’re going to have to make this party for the both of us, then!”

“I have no problem with that! You can’t hog all those gifts to yourself, Marquess Pherae!” Hector laughed as he slammed his hand down on Eliwood’s shoulder. “Speaking of which, where’s your wife?”

“She’s sleeping. I’ll introduce you to her when she wakes up,”

Eliwood and Hector began talking about how they and their towns have been since they last met. Soon, the party started, Hector was introduced to Eliwood’s wife, and more of their friends showed. Once Hector announced that they were having a child as well, the entire kingdom cheered. The party went for hours before the townspeople started leaving. Hector and his wife were the last to leave. Eliwood noticed that it was getting dark and decided it’d be best if he and his wife went to bed.

Eliwood sleepily awoke in the middle of the night to noises outside his castle. Groggily getting out of bed, he walked to the window saw the town was on fire. Eliwood let out a yawn and started headed back to bed…and then it registered. The town was on fire! Jumping out of bed, he grabbed his armor and sword then headed out.

Once he stepped outside, he could see the townspeople fleeing town as the soldiers were being overtaken. He noticed a bright light from above and looked up, seeing monsters drop out of some kind of portal in the sky! Giant spiders, horse-men, skeletons… what was this? Deciding he wasn’t helping much by standing there, he headed into town and took care of the enemies he could. Eliwood soon found himself surrounded by monsters within minutes. Fearing more for his wife and child’s life than his own, he charged forward and thrusted his sword into the enemy, then proceeded to the next. Soldiers were falling, the monsters continued to come out of the portal… Eliwood knew he couldn’t give up, but he was feeling helpless.

“I’m gone for six hours and you’re lighting your town on fire? Pull yourself together!” a familiar voice yelled out. Eliwood saw an axe cleave through a line of enemies and a figure stood above them as they fell. “You should know better than to tackle an army alone, Eliwood.”

“Good to see you again, Hector,” Eliwood said, nearly breathless.

“What is that thing?” Hector asked, pointing to the portal. More enemies continued to fall.

“No idea, but it’s not welcome. I don’t care if it’s 10 enemies or 10 armies, they won’t get passed me!” Then the portal closed suddenly.

“Well, I guess you scared it off!” Hector laughed. He and Eliwood readied their weapons to take on the remaining hoard of enemies. Once all the enemies were taken care of, the remaining soldiers did their best to take out the fires. Eliwood noticed a figure in the midst of them, a young boy with red hair. He looked like he was looking for something, completely ignoring the town. Eliwood told Hector to follow him as he walked to the boy.

“You alright, lad?” Hector asked. The boy turned and nearly gasped.

“It’s alright, we’re not with those monsters,” Eliwood reassured. “My name’s Eliwood, I’m the Marquess of this town of Pherae. This is Hector.” Hector waved and greeted. “You look lost. Are you trying to find your parents?”

“Those monsters took something from me, I’m trying to find it,” the boy responded.

“Oh? What did they take?” Hector asked.

“An emblem of sorts,” he answered. “They raided me in the middle of the night, stole what they could, and escaped through the portal. I’ve been trying to find it since I arrived here.”

“You mean to say that you came from the other side of that portal and that you’ve been fighting these monsters since before they arrived here? And that you’ve been fighting this entire time?! You could get yourself killed, boy!” Eliwood was confused at that outburst. Why did he care so much for this boy? He appears to be a fighter, but still…

“How are you going to get home?” Hector asked.

“No idea,” the boy answered. “I hope my friends on the other side will be alright without me.”

“Sire!” a solder yelled out as he ran to Eliwood. “A report!”

“Out with it!”

“Several monsters have been seen falling out of the sky all over Elibe! They’re attacking the villages! We’ve never seen these creatures before!”

“Then we must help them!” Eliwood responded.

“Hold on!” Hector said. “What about our families? Or our towns? We can’t leave them here.”

“But I can’t leave people to die, either,” Eliwood responded. “Have you seen these monsters before?”

“No, never,” the boy answered. “But if there are more gates open in other areas, I can use one to return home.”

“That is if they didn’t close like this one,” Hector said. “…Fine, we’ll get you home and we’ll help the people.”

“Lord Hector!” a paladin came out of the castle.

“Marcus? What is it?”

“Ostia is under attack! You can see the fire from the mountains!”

“What?!”

“Come on, we have our first priority,” Eliwood ran ahead. “Ready our horses, we have to leave!”

“I’m coming with you,” the boy said. “There could be a gate there I can use.”

“Whatever, just hurry!” Hector ran to catch up with Eliwood. The boy looked back at where the portal he came from used to be.

“Monsters from another land, a portal that sent me through time… what in the world is going on?” Roy put away his thoughts for the moment and ran to catch up with the others.