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Jugdral stories

Summary:

A series of stories set on the continent of Jugdral for the Fire Emblem Compendiums Secret Anna event

Chapter Text

The scene unfolding before them looked grim, the battle against Granvalle was looking grim for Issach and Ayra bore witness to countless innocents being killed by the blades of houses Freege and Dozel. It was at that point Mariccle appeared. “Ayra you have to flee with Shannan to Verdanne it's the only hope Issach has left”. She desperately wanted to say no, she wanted to believe they could still win the fight but she knew the chances of victory were slim. She simply replied. “Understood”.

She knew time was of the essence and packed lightly with only her sword, some dried meat and some gold in case they needed to rest at a church if any injury should befall them. She decided carrying the prince on her back would be her best bet, that way she could still move relatively fast and wield her sword with one hand if need be. Luckily the fight had only reached the front of the castle and with the help of some brave Issachian soldiers causing a diversion for them, they were able to escape unnoticed without any injuries at all.

Travelling to Verdanne was no easy task, however, they'd have to pass the Yied dessert and then pass through Grannvalle. She decided that going South through the country would be the best route. She had heard stories of Lord Byron and lord Ring being good men whether those stories held water or not she did not know but compared to passing the capital, Freege and Dozel she felt the outcome of success was much higher.

Travelling there was actually simpler than she initially thought to keep a low profile and stopping by local villages kept them fed and healthy and before she knew it she was at Verdanne and seeking refuge at Genoa castle. It was there she worked as a mercenary to help earn money to support them both as her previous funds had now run dry.

As for Shannan, he was keeping optimistic, he was still young so he likely couldn't comprehend what had happened is Issach yet but he got on well with the other kids and she fought to keep him in good spirits. She was his guardian after all not to mention the hope of Issach and there was no way she would let her brothers death be in vain.

However, things started to take a turn for the worst when news arrived of Grannvalles march onto Verdanne's soil. Initially, Ayra was shaken with fear and anger. She feared word leaked out about Shannan's whereabouts and worried about what could happen to them if they came to invade. Fortunately, it turned out the reason was much more justified than she thought. The invasion was due to the kidnapping of Lady Edain of Jungby and they were simply here to take her back.

It was at that point that Ayra reminded herself that Verdanne was a country full of barbarians and that whilst it was simply the best choice to flee to from the empire and wasn't a place to set down roots. She was considering moving to Agustria due to them having some political unrest with Granvalle at the moment.

Cimbaith, however, caught wind of this and decided to kidnap Shannan to keep him as a hostage to ensure Ayra's loyalty to him. When she found out about this she was tempted to remove his head right there and then or bust out Shannan with brute force but she knew she couldn't risk Shannan's life he meant too much to both Issach and her.

A few days later Lord Sigurd was attacking Grannvalle in order to get back Lady Aideen and Ayra was forced to deploy in spite of how she felt. Little did she know that the battle there would lead to a domino effect leading her to become part of Grannvalle history.

Chapter 2: The Tragedy of Ishtar and Julius

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It was a rainy day that the meeting in house Edda was held. Ishtar always hated meetings like this, she was too young to understand what was going on around her and was forced to sit with the other noble kids in a separate room. However, the other kids always seemed to ignore her ever since she was deemed a magical prodigy when the mark of Thrud had appeared on her body. It had caused the other children to become cold and ignore her due to their parents telling them not to associate with her in fear that they could potentially harm her and they would be deemed responsible.

Today, however, was different a young boy with red hair approached her “H-h-hello, m-my name is um Julius”. Needless to say, he seemed shy.“Hello Julius” she decided to respond in kind he was after all the first person to actually speak with her in a long time.

“I uh wanted to talk because well you looked lonely and I heard you had a mark on your wrist and wanted to see it for myself”. She showed him her wrist with the mark of Thrud on it marking her capable of wielding the legendary thunder tome Mjolner as well as having amazing magical potential.

“Wow that's so cool you must be pretty amazing”. Such a response was unexpected and actually brought a smile to her face she had never been complimented like that before. She had always viewed it as a bad thing given how she was treated coldly by a lot of people around her. “Thanks, I'm Ishtar by the way”.

Soon after the servants came back into the room to bring the children back to their parents, many of which went home but Ishtar's family being a high ranking and important one were typically asked to stay over. It was then that she saw that Julius' parents were none other than the emperor and empress themselves.

Over the next few hours Julius and Ishtar got along rather well playing games and such in the castle. He even introduced her to his sister Julia who also joined them in on the fun. By the end of the stay, the three were sad to say goodbye by vowed to stay friends forever.

A few weeks later Ishtar was handed a letter written by Julius stating he had fallen ill and to occupy his time decided to write to Ishtar and because he really liked his time with her and wanted to get to know her better. This would lead to them becoming penpals sending letters whenever they could which just made the meetings despite how brief they were all the more fun when they got to meet in person.

It had been a few years since they had first met and now Ishtar and Julius were both eleven years of age and were currently having a meeting in Velthomer. They were having a good time as usual even if the games they played changed when they got older. As night-time fell, however, something felt off to Ishtar but she couldn't put on a finger on what exactly. Just then she heard the door open and heard someone slowly move with each step sounded closer than the last. Before she knew it one of the maids appeared over her bed with a sharp kitchen knife with a look of bloodthirst in her eyes. Ishtar tried to resist but the effort was futile she was pinned down effortlessly and when she tried to scream for help she couldn't, she concluded she must have been under the effects of a silence staff.

Just as Ishtar expected to pass from this world and onto the next however her attacker collapsed backwards. The last thing she saw that night was Julius clutching a fire tome and breathing heavily. In the coming hours, everything was brought to light. The maid was actually an Issachan soldier who had survived the war years ago and to get revenge on house Freege the ones she deemed responsible she was going to kill Ishtar (and later murder the heirs of Dozel Luchar and Lucharbar of house Dozel as well).

Julius witnessed the maid carrying the knife when he was going to his usual spot to stargaze late at night but after seeing her he decided to pursue in case she did anything else suspicious. When he saw her trying to kill Ishtar he decided to grab the nearby tome from the bookshelf and acted in order to protect Ishtar. When Ishtar awoke her silenced condition was healed and she was left with no injuries. When Julius entered the room she lept into his arms and thanked him so much for what he did. At that point, they both knew even without saying anything that they had an unbreakable bond.

The year now is 776, Julius and Ishtar continued having a strong bond and they both felt in the coming years it would likely result in a marriage between the two. Ishtar was now an incredibly powerful mage yet she continued training to improve herself constantly. It was at that point she had received a message from a guard that Julius was currently in grave danger. After hearing this she dropped her training and requested to be warped to his side. In truth, Julius had begun changing recently becoming colder and more standoffish but that didn't change how she felt as she still loved him all the same.

When she arrived Julius was screaming in agony with dark energy radiating from him. She had a terrible feeling about was happening and immediately went out to seek the aid of bishop Saias. She didn't trust any of the lopto sect bishops with his condition as she thought they were likely responsible for Julius behaviour changes since their numbers around Granvalle especially Bellhalla had increased tremendously as of late. The reason she sought Saias specifically was due to his abilities as a bishop being unparalleled, not to mention his relation to Julius. He got to work right away using all of his knowledge to reverse whatever dark magic was possessing him. Meanwhile, Ishtar clutched his hand tight and tried to reassure him everything was going to be okay and that she would never leave his side.

In an instant, it all stopped. Julius got up just fine keeping his cold demeanour that had built up as of recent but this time even worse. He simply asked, “Ishtar how are the plans for the child hunts coming along”. Such a response made her freeze how could he think about that now? He had just recovered from such a brutal experience and he goes to such a dark and horrific topic. It was at that point she knew that the Julius she loved was gone forever and she made a choice to stand by him no matter what happens.

Chapter 3: Employee of the month

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“Uhhh another boring day” Kempf muttered under his breath. It was another slow Thursday in Freege restaurant. “Kempf quit daydreaming and get back to work”. “Yes, line manager Ishtar”. He always hated her she always acted so stuck up and he hated it. Lucky for him a customer had just ordered his favourite meal they served there the “In America”. It was a beautiful burger made with Beef, BBQ sauce, fresh lettuce and tomato all of which were fresh American sourced ingredients of course.

The day was coming to a close and once again Kempf was reprimanded for slacking and his rival, that godforsaken Reinhardt was highly praised for his efforts yet again and was awarded another employee of the month award. He hated Reinhardt above all else and it was at that point he vowed that next month he would humiliate him by usurping his spot as employee of the month and establishing the new Kempf movement.

The next day the new month has begun and Reinhardt was caught up in a phone call with his sister Olwen. She used to work here in Freege restaurant but she decided to take her own path and work in the Thracian restaurant chain serving Italian food as oppose to Grannvalles American. Regardless of that Kempf seized the opportunity to get everything set up in the meantime to show up Reinhardt and get some extra brownie points.

“Ah, Kempf you've already done all the work, thanks a lot”. Such empty praise clearly Reinhardt was just taunting him and trying to get him to lower his guard. Kempf wouldn't be fooled by such tomfoolery he was the best there ever was, of course, he wouldn't let the likes Reinhardt beat him.

Later that evening Ishtar arrived with her fiance and heir to the company, Julius. He was busy doing his regular check-ups around the restaurants he was a kind-hearted and good person although being engaged to Ishtar gave Kempf a disliking of him by default.

At the time Reinhardt got to show off preparing his signature cocktail the dire thunder and impress everyone there. It was a lemon flavoured drink said to have an electrical taste enhanced by taking two sips at a time instead of the usual one. He thought it sounded like a dumb gimmick and naturally never tried such junk for he was above such a beverage.

At the end of the day Reinhardt was praised as per usual but to Kempf's surprise, he was highly praised as well. It seems his efforts were already paying off. “Ha if I keep this up employee of the month is in the bag for sure” Kempf muttered to himself as he left the building home.

A few weeks later things were progressing well as Kempf was getting praised more and more and he felt great receiving such positive feedback but tonight was a big night. The son of the head of the Agustrian chain of restaurants Ares was going to visit tonight representing the whole company. Not to mention all the other higher-ups were coming along to eat too but worst of all Kempf and Reinhardt had to work as a team.

It was a frantic evening they were all working as hard as they could in order to make the brand look the best. The young new recruit Tinni was especially putting on a good to try and show her potential in spite of her inexperience. Kempf himself gave it his all not just because he wanted to upstage Reinhardt and become employee of the month but also because he was starting to enjoy his work and was even finding it enjoyable.

Unfortunately, during the frenzied rush Kempf must've been lax on his laces as he ended up tripping up on them and was about to knock over the ice statue made especially for the event. At that moment he thought It was all over the dream was dead he was never going to be employee of the month he was only meant for failure after all.

But just as he resigned himself to such a fate then Reinhardt caught him before he fell saving his reputation. “What, Reinhardt? Why would you save my reputation, I hate you”. “I do what I do for the great of the company and I've seen your effort the past weeks it would be awful to see it all crumble down now”.

After everything was over the night was a resounding success. Everyone was given a sizeable bonus as a result of their hard efforts too. At the end of the night though Kempf decided to make amends. “I'm sorry Reinhardt”. “Whatever for?” Reinhardt replied. “For being a jerk to you for no real reason. These past few weeks I realised hard work pays off and tonight you showed me how valuable friends can be”.

Before they closed up shop they both had some dire thunders and shared some laughs together. Becoming employee of the month no longer mattered to Kempf because now he had something much more valuable. He had a strong friendship and felt good about his work.

Chapter 4: Resolution

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It had been a few years since the liberation army defeated Julius and restored peace to Jugdral. Of course, things didn't magically fix themselves overnight and there was much work to be done but peace was being restored all the same.

However, for Finn, there was a personal matter he wished to take care of instead. After he had seen Leonstar returned to its former glory and even assisted in restoring Granvale and Thracia he decided to pursue his own happiness and help out someone who needed it.

He was searching the Yied desert for his long-lost wife Lachesis after she went missing many years ago after she went out in search of her son Diarmud. Under normal circumstances, he would've assisted her without a doubt but he was bound to his duty of protecting Leif and their daughter Nanna and seeing Thracia restored. Of course, she never held it against him but he always blamed himself for her going missing thinking if he was there or if he stopped her from leaving things could've been different.

At least now he could work towards fixing that by finding her and giving her a wonderful life. He was searching the Yied desert after hearing rumours that she was sighted there and believed that if she had made it beyond there she would've either completed what she had set out to do or be killed by the empire but since there was no evidence to suggest these conclusions he felt his best bet was to search in the hear.

He had been searching for around 2 years now travelling by foot as moving across the desert by horseback was much slower and he thought his steed had more than earned his rest. He made sure to stay stocked up at local towns when necessary and set up camp when the sun set and night fell.

It felt like any other day with heat beating heat down upon his neck as he searched for any sign of his long lost love. All of a sudden he felt the ground giving way before him. It took Finn a few seconds to realise it wasn't the ground falling apart he had just walked into quicksand and he was falling in at a rapid pace. Finn knew in this situation it was best not to struggle and he kept still while trying to think of a plan to escape. But then his feet fell through the sand into an empty space but before he could ponder the idea any further he fell through the hole entirely into what appeared to be an underground cavern.

It took a few seconds for Finn to get his bearings straight he hadn't lost anything falling through although his provisions were all sandy now but he didn't care about that now and decided to look around. “What is this place” he silently muttered to himself as he looked around. There were dark tomes and all sorts of staves lying around and some food that had clearly seen better days. Suddenly he noticed a strange looking stone structure and decided to investigate.

Upon inspection, the structure had tons of Loptyrian marks on it. Finn then deduced this must've been storage facility used by the Lopt church during their reign. Luckily for him, it seemed that there were stairs in the building which lead to what he assumed would be a castle or a fort which he could use to get above ground.

But just as he was about to climb to stairs he noticed something covered in cloth next to the stairway. Normally Finn would've just left it and continued on but he thought it couldn't hurt to look and besides he was just a little curious. To his amazement under the cloth was something he had never anticipated it was none other than Lachesis who had petrified.

Even as a statue he could never forget what her face looked like and the way she dressed the day she left that day. It even brought a tear to his eye seeing the person he had been looking for for so long finally being found. Of course, he'd have to return her to normal but Finn remembered the staff used to bring back Briggid from petrification. He would have to ask Sara to help even if he didn't want to ask someone so young to use the energy required of the Kia staff but there was no other option to save the one he loved.

Moving both himself and the statue up the stairs was no easy task especially ensuring it didn't break along the way but after a few hours of heavy lifting, he managed to get to the top. He then found himself face to face with a stone wall and noticed a brick sticking out strangely and after pushing it in the wall moved to aside revealing a library.

It turned out the Library was a part of Darna castle and naturally, the people within the castle were shocked when a man carrying a life-sized statue appeared before them. After Finn has explained the situation to the people they decided to investigate the lower floors to see if his claims held true. After they saw the vast depths before them Finn was given a room to stay in for the time being due to him being recognised as a hero to Thracia.

During the initial investigation, they found quite a number petrified people that had most likely been enemies of the Lopto sect and as such were petrified and kept underground like some sort of twisted museum. There were About six in total all of which must've had families worried about their well being.

Afterword news reached about the discovery reached King Leif and he decided to formally request Sara for help with the petrified people and he would even pay her handsomely for the service. Sara agreed but declined the money as she was happy enough to bring joy to people by doing what she could to help in whatever way she could.

After Lachesis was returned to normal Finn couldn't help but hug her instantly. She was shocked that the first thing she saw was someone she thought was in a different country altogether but was happy all the same in spite of the confusion. Later on Finn told her everything that had happened, about how Diarmud and Nanna and Leif were doing, about how Jugdral was a fully liberated continent now and what he had been doing before finding her. She was shocked so much had happened in her absence but was glad to see everything was doing so well now. That last part however caught her the most off guard the fact that Finn spent so long looking for her with little to no hope made her heart skip a beat. It caused her to remember why she fell in love with him in the first place.

In the coming months it was decided that only the royal families were to be told of Lachesis' revival. They thought Agustria deserved a new start and Lachesis returning would cause too much confusion and political unrest. And after everything that had happened Finn and Lachesis wanted to have a quiet and easy life together with no more fighting and no more politics.

They decided to open their own bakery. As for why exactly they had no idea why but they both loved the idea and they couldn't wait to make their own bread, pies, cakes and so much more. One thing was for certain though, for the first time in a long time Finn felt he was truly happy and he couldn't wait to spend the rest of his life as a baker and vowed to never raise his lance again and to never leave his wife's side again.