Ylisse Island

"There you are, Robin! What are you doing sleeping on the job?" said Chrom, his face right in Robin's. Robin's eyes fly open.

"Chrom!" he exclaimed. He goes to sit up but accidentally headbutts Chrom making the Ylissean prince stagger backwards, holding onto his forehead in pain. Robin crashes back onto the warm sand in pain as well.

"Sorry!" apologized Robin.

"It's okay. I was the one standing too close." said Chrom.

Suddenly, Lissa comes out from around the other side of the island.

"You two better not be fighting. We've got a ship to build anyways. There's no time for distractions." she said.

"Sis, our ship literally looks like a raft right now." said Chrom.

"I know, but with a little more work we could conquer the seas with it!" she exclaimed.

As Chrom and Lissa were both talking, Robin stands up and brushes the sand off of him. This place. It wasn't what he'd expected it to be. Ylisstol didn't look like an island with a giant maze of a tree house on it.

"Where are we?" Before he realized it, he'd asked the question on his mind aloud. Chrom and Lissa stop talking and look at their friend with concern.

"Are you alright, Robin? You do know that this is our island, one of the many islands of Talys." said Chrom.

"We call it Ylisse." chimed in Lissa.

"It's Ylisstol, Lissa." argued Chrom.

"No, it's Ylisse!" argued Lissa back. They continued arguing, completely forgetting the clueless Robin who eventually trudged off to explore the island.

•••

A while later, Lissa finished arguing with her brother and found Robin on the other side of the island making seashell charm bracelets.

"Hey Robin?"

"Hm?" He looks up from what he was making.

"I was wondering if you could help me gather some supplies for our ship."

"You mean this raft I'm leaning on?"

"It's not gonna be a raft for long if you help me!"

"Alright. What do you need me to get- On second thought, I made a list." He takes out a piece of paper with lots of stuff written down on it. "How about I gather supplies for the ship's body and you find something to make some sails with."

"Okay! Leave it to me! I'll make some good sails!"

Lissa was ready to head off but something still bugged Robin.

"Hey Lissa?"

"What is it, Robin? Do you want me to do another task as well?"

"No. If we're making a ship, then why are there three separate boats docked on the front of the island?"

Lissa laughed at that.

"Silly. Did you think we live on this island? This is our little island we hang out together on. We live on the mainland with our parents."

Strange. Aren't Lissa and Chrom's parents dead? And Robin didn't have any parents, not that he could remember them or anything. Now the next question was truly unbearable for him.

"Are we really going to leave Ylisstol?" he asked.

Lissa stared out to sea, ignoring the mainland that could be seen in the distance.

"There's a whole other world out there and it's waiting for us. If you don't believe me, that's fine. We've already settled on venturing out to that world together. There's no backing out now." she said before trudging off to make sails.

Robin was left to ponder everything that he's been told. Maybe Chrom would have a different answer.

•••

Robin found Chrom whacking away at thin air with a wooden sword near the shack. Chrom sees him and smiles.

"Wanna practice with me?" said Chrom.

"Why?" asked Robin.

"We don't have any idea what we'll face once we set off so I'm practicing my sword skills to protect you and Lissa."

"What about you, Chrom? Someone's gotta look out for you."

Chrom picked up an extra wooden sword from the ground and tossed it to Robin.

"Then practice with me so we both can watch each other's backs and protect Lissa together."

Robin caught the sword by the blade end. Lucky for him the thing was made of wood and not steel or he wouldn't have a hand right now. Not having anything else to do after he'd collected enough material for the ship, he decided he'd have a little duel with Chrom after all.

The fight ended with Robin receiving many bruises on his arms, legs, and chest. How had he become so weak? Chrom had pushed him to the ground many times during the fight but it shouldn't have happened. It should have ended with both of them exhausted after taking one another's blows. Or maybe that was Robin's wishful thinking. He just wanted to stand at equal strength with Chrom because they were partners in battle after all.

"Let's go get Lissa and hang out by the star fruit tree." suggested Chrom.

"You two go ahead. I'm gonna call it a day and head back to the mainland." said Robin.

The mainland was a lot different too. It didn't look anything like Ylisstol and there was no castle in sight. However, Robin learned that they did have parents in this world and the three of them were no older than teenagers. Whatever happened to the real Talys, Robin would find some way to bring it back.

🌴🌴🌴

Tonight was the night a thunderstorm hit the island. Robin bolted to the window of his room, being stirred from sleep. He'd hoped that tomorrow all of this would be a dream and he'd be in the real Ylisstol capitol but seeing that he was still here in the strange Ylisstol disheartened him a lot.

Looking out towards the island he sees Lissa and Chrom's boats docked on the small island. What were they doing out there? It was dangerous.

He then remembered the ship they were building and all the supplies they'd collected.

"Idiots! You could've waited till the storm dissipated before going to the island! We could've salvaged what we could and collected more!" he said before leaping out the window to come to their aid.

Once he got to the island, Lissa and Chrom weren't anywhere in sight. It made Robin question if they were really here or not. Their boats told him they were definitely here on this island. He wouldn't go back to the mainland until he got them back too.

On his way towards the shack, Risen appeared before him but he didn't have a tome or blade to deal with them so he ran as fast as he could into the shack where he discovered that no Risen were inside. Could they even open doors anyways?

He heads upstairs and outside where more Risen appear.

"Damn it! I thought you couldn't open doors!" he yelled.

"Robin!?" cried out the voice of Chrom.

A bridge stood before Robin and on the other side of that bridge was Chrom.

"Chrom!? What are you doing here!? Are you nuts!?"

Both sides were being attacked by Risen. One tried grabbing Robin but he dodged it and pushed it off of the terrace-like bit of land they were on. He then crossed the bridge, shoving the Risen that appeared off of it to get to Chrom.

"Stop, Robin!"

Robin stopped just a few feet from him. The rain kept pouring nonstop on top of them.

"Why!?"

"Take Lissa and leave this island!"

"What about you!? I'm not leaving without you either, Chrom!"

"The gods are angry, Robin! Surely, my sacrifice will keep you and Lissa safe!"

"Stop saying crazy things! I'm not gonna let you sacrifice yourself! You, me and Lissa are gonna make it off this island together!"

A dark portal suddenly appeared behind Chrom.

"I have to go, Robin! Promise me you'll keep Lissa safe!" said Chrom.

Tears filled Robin's eyes but you couldn't really tell with all the rain.

"Don't go, Chrom!" Before his words could reach him, Chrom stepped through the portal and vanished.

"NO, CHROM!" Everything went black for Robin and then a mysterious voice spoke.

[Your goal here is to find your friends, but you're not sure if they're your real friends.]

Was the mysterious voice telling him that the people he wanted to protect right now on this island were imposters? Whatever the voice meant, it would have to wait. He had to find Lissa.

The island returned to him in a flash of light and he found himself holding that tome he held before in the strange dream.

A key grimoire. A Keymoire? Nevermind about it's name. Let's find Lissa.

It was a pain in the ass to find Lissa but he was able to find her with the help of the storm. When he went toward the back of the island, a bunch of debris blocked his path and made him turn around to try going a different route. The ladder on the treehouse broke so he couldn't search up there. The Risen weren't much of a problem now that he had a weapon but he couldn't understand this strange feeling like he was being led to a specific area by some unknown force, which led him deep into the heart of the island where he found Lissa.

She was staring at a strange door at the back of the cave.

"Lissa!" Robin called out to get her attention. She turned to him with a smile.

"Look, Robin! We could hide our supplies behind that door. We just have to figure out how to open it since it has no handle and pushing it has no effect. Where's Chrom?" she said.

Hearing her ask about Chrom brought tears to his eyes. He didn't want to lie to her but he didn't want to tell her the truth either.

"Chrom's fine. He'll meet us in the other world soon." he said.

"Really? But we haven't finished building the ship, unless you mean to tell me that this storm's gonna bring a portal that'll take us to another world."

"Um, yeah. That's exactly it."

"Then we must hurry and gather as much food and water as we can before the portal comes. Let's go, Robin! We gotta get enough for Chrom too! He probably didn't take anything with him, knowing him."

Before they both could leave the cave, the door before them bursts open and Robin is blown out of the room by a strong gust of wind while Risen charge out from the door that burst open and grab Lissa, taking her back through the door with them.

⛈⛈⛈

Robin was laying face first in the sand of a large part of the island that seemed to be floating in midair. Getting up, he steps into the center of the area and when he looks back he sees his shadow once again come to life as the Fell Dragon.

"Really? This again!"

Maybe that dream he had before was a premonition for this. Forgetting that he was on a floating island, he quickly runs towards the edge to get away from the dragon and catches himself just before he'd fall completely off it. Looks like he had no choice but to fight it again.

It was at times like this that having a grimoire that appeared and disappeared at the user's will was quite convenient. It was a pain he couldn't use magic without using a sword.

His weapon out, he charged the beast he never wanted to become.

At the end of the battle, the wind seemed to pick up more speed as a huge black hole in the sky swallowed everything.