Fire Emblem: Night of Tales

By Kingdom Rider92

A/N: Well, this is quite the predicament we have come to, isn't it? I'm once again doing something NOBODY asked for. And that's making a Fire Emblem story with themes of the 1,001 Arabian Nights. It takes a kind of crazy to look at the former, and say, "This s**t needs genies". This maybe my most bizarre undertaking, and I'm sorry in advance if it sucks and the fact that it's an original setting and heavily OC-centric instead of an established location with an established cast. And that there is a surprising lack of Marth and Falchion... and if my limited experience to this series being the 3DS titles and Heroes turns off people. At least I plan to use Anna.

...That counts for very little.

Anyway, I'll try to make this feel like an actual Fire Emblem game. Also, warning in advance, the "Argelian" language is actually Turkish... poorly Google Translated Turkish, but since Argelia is based location-wise on the Ottoman Empire, I felt that it fit. I am sorry to the people of Turkey for butchering your language.

Finally, before you ask, YES, I will probably try to incorporate a SYOC thing in. I actually have a character form I plan to use, so while you CAN try to create characters based off of other Fire Emblem character creators you have (are there really any?), I have a form for you if you're interested. The link is in my Author Page.

Alright, I think I have delayed you all enough. Let's get started!

DISCLAIMER: THE FOLLOWING IS A FAN FICTION. FIRE EMBLEM IS OWNED BY NINTENDO AND INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS. 1,001 ARABIAN NIGHTS WAS TRANSLATED BY ANTOINE GALLAND. PLEASE SUPPORT THE OFFICIAL RELEASE.

Summary: Weeks ago, Argelia's Imperial Navy launched an unprovoked attack on the nation of Ustros' port town of Nourdari. The Argelian Empress has invited the Queens of Orobia's five nations to seemingly discuss and apologize about the attack. Meanwhile, an Argelian Janissary is keeping an eye open for any signs of retaliation by the Orobians...

Prologue: "A Slaying of Queens"

"Oh great dragons and djinn of old,
Are you truly there?
If your presence yet remains,
Please listen to this child's prayer.

"Guide our people to the light,
Away from this forsaken grave.
Release us from our dark plights,
And break the shackles of this slave..."

The desert continent of Orobia is home to many secrets. Some of these are great treasures who could turn a beggar into a king in a single night. Other times, the sands were the graves of various people, from famous nobles, to notorious outlaws, to entire armies. There are even lost ruins still being looked into from the Great War between the dragons and the genies that ravaged the land over 5,000 years ago over the hybrid genie-manakete, Rerci.

But the one thing Orobia always had in the desert was a story.

Each day and night in Orobia is filled with many, many tales. Probably over a thousand stories, some true, some false, lie in the sands. Nobody had to look far for a story. And the best part about stories is there is no right or wrong way to tell the same tale.

This is just one of those stories… the story of a second great war. A war for the fate of Orobia began five years prior with a simple meeting gone awry...

The Aquarius

A large royal galleon had docked in a simple port late at night. Inside a large cabin, a lavishly decorated room, gathered around a long table was a group of six regal-looking women. The first was a brown skinned brunette with slightly pointed ears, dark blue eyes, and medium length hair wearing a red and purple blouse over burgundy pants, a gold fragment of some kind around her neck with a white gemstone in the middle, a gold circlet with a light red gem in it, and flat shoes. The second was a red headed woman, her hair into a long mid-back ponytail, with merely tan skin wearing a white and blue dress with toeless heeled shoes. The third was an olive-skinned woman with blue shoulder-length hair wearing an orange dress, a gold fragment on her own necklace with an empty hole on hers, an orange ribbon tied to the bracelets around her wrists, and simple sandals. The fourth was the oldest, a faded green-haired woman with tanned skin, a pair of silver rimmed glasses adorning her nose, and wearing a simple green coat over a dark blue shirt and brown pants with heels. The fifth was easily the youngest, a tanned, short, blonde woman about 20 with bright blue eyes wearing a simple white and pink dress concealing her pregnant stomach, elegant sandals, and a simple white and gold tiara. The final woman was a mid-back length, pink-haired woman with calm brown eyes, wearing an elegant bright red and yellow dress, a gold crown atop her head with a long red veil.

"I must thank you all, Orobian Queens, for meeting with me," the pinkette began while a maid came in with a cart full of food. As the maid served them, the pinkette continued her greeting. "Consider the Aquarius Argelian soil, which I humbly welcome you to."

"It's not everyday that any of us would meet the Argelian Empress," the green-haired woman replied while the servant walked out of the room. "And the circumstances have been… rather complicated, haven't they, Princess Najiyya?" She turned to the youngest, who seemed rather uneased. "Speaking of you, why is Queen Kalia not present? No offense to you, child, but you're pregnant with the future heir of your kingdom."

"I'm not too far into my pregnancy to travel, Queen Tabia," the blonde Najiyya replied. "Queen Kalia, however, has fallen ill long before the incident in Nourdari… and this does not ease her nor me, as we were both born in Nourdari. I'm still not sure if my parents or older brother survived. My husband and father-in-law are tending to my mother-in-law and her deteriorating health. Things are not good in Ustros right now… but I have to stay strong and heed this call for all of our sakes."

"So young, yet so firm with your words," the burgundy clad queen smirked. "You have the makings of a future queen, Princess Najiyya."

"See, why couldn't you be Uprilian?" Tabia asked. "Someone with a tone like that and wise with her tongue could have whipped my Khai into shape ATOP of baring his child." Najiyya blushed at the praise and implications.

The blue and white clad woman said, "I pray Kalia endures… she, Farah here, and I were good friends, once."

"Thick as thieves," the burgundy clad queen added.

"Perhaps we owe our hostess here an introduction around the room before we actually get down to business," the orange-clad bluenette suggested, looking at the Empress. "She seems quite confused." She pointed at herself, and began, "I am Nakia, wife of Pharaoh Ammon of Rusnad."

"Queen Tabia of Upril, my husband being King Baruti," Tabia said.

"I am Queen Minoo of Cruibia, wife of King Darius Madani, the Storm Lord," the blue-clad woman said. Pointing to the burgundy clad woman, she said, "This is my life-long friend and fellow queen, Sutlana Farah Nejem of Poswa. Her husband is Sultan Mecca… you may know him by the moniker, 'the Sand Komodo'."

"Argelian Empress, tanıdıklarınızı tanımanız için bir zevk (Argelian Empress, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance)," Farah said.

The Empress replied, "Argelian'la konuştuğunu bilmiyordum, Sultana (I did not know you spoke Argelian, Sultana)."

"Yarı cin olduğunuzda, birkaç püf noktası öğrenmeye eğilimlisin (When you are a half-genie, you tend to learn a few tricks)," Farah answered.

"Bu adil değil, Sultana (It's not fair, Sultana)," Nakia protested with a playful smirk. "Argelian'ı gençliğimin geleneksel tarzında öğrenmek zorunda kaldım (I had to learn Argelian the traditional way in my youth)." The three women then laughed.

"(What are they saying?)" Najiyya questioned the other two queens. Both of them shrugged. Najiyya then introduced after the laughter died, "I am Najiyya, Princess Consort of Ustros, and my husband is Prince Rifat. My father-in-law is King Usman."

"And I am Empress Chitra, ruler of Argelia," the pinkette Empress said. "My husband is Emperor Consort Nika, and my daughter is Princess Kadri. Both of them are waiting for me back in Argelia. And Princess Najiyya, sorry about the sudden speaking of Argelian there. I was merely humoring the other queens for my delight of them speaking my native tongue. I will try to speak Orobian more often. Now, about that attack…."

While the six women talked, the rest of the ship was abuzz. In the mess hall, a young man about 17 leaned on the wall, away from the dinner being served, wearing a white turban over his brown hair and ridged ears, gold eyes, red and yellow medium armor. In his hands was a closed scroll. He watched as a servant about 24 walking through the mess hall, putting back a cloth-covered cart. However, he didn't exactly recognize her light blue hair. Not to mention that even for armed escorts, there were too many Orobian soldiers for reasonable, and many of the extras seemed too lax in this situation where their queens were present. His instincts told him something was amiss.

A voice interrupted, "Selam, çaylak. Dinlenebileceğini biliyorsun değil mi (Hey, rookie. You know you can rest, do you not)?"

"Orobians bir şeyler yapabilir (The Orobians maybe up to something)," he replied. "Söylentiler doğruysa, bu olay bizim hatamızdı ve İmparatoriçe şimdi İmparatorluğumuzla birlikte yaşayan beş insanın bulunduğu bir odada. Ya birisi ya da hepsi Empress'imizi öldürmeye karar verdiyse? Ya Orobianlar bir saldırı düzenlemek için kullanıyorsa (If the rumors were true, this incident was our fault and the Empress is now in a room with five people who are livid with our Empire. What if one or all of them decided to kill our Empress? What if the Orobians are using this to stage an attack)?"

The captain scoffed, "Sen paranoyaksın, çaylak. Yeniçerilerin kuşattığı kraliyet amiral gemisine saldıracak kadar aptalca veya cesur kimse olmazdı (You're paranoid, rookie. Nobody would be foolish or brave enough to attack the royal flagship surrounded by the janissaries)."

Before the two could argue more, a few of the off-duty soldiers suddenly slumped forward, their cups clattering to the floor. The younger of the janissaries smelt the liquid in the cup, and grimaced. Sleeping potion. He looked around, and noticed those asleep weren't just his fellow Argelian soldiers, but even some of the Orobians. However, there were now more awake Orobians than Argelians. While a good amount of the non-asleep Orobians were surprised and worried about this development, there were those who frowned in mild annoyance and those who grinned in sadistic glee.

"Well," one of the annoyed Orobians said, "it seems not everyone here took their medicine. How naughty."

"That's alright," one of the others grinned, pulling out an axe. "I hate it when it's too easy, anyway. We get to hear their screams… so more fun for us. Still, we can get started!" He then turned towards one of the sleeping Orobians, an Ustrosi pegasus knight, and pulled her up by her hair. He was seconds away from slashing her throat with his axe, when the blade was intercepted by a sword. He looked to see the young janissary's sword. The young janissary then pushed the axe away, and stabbed the rogue barbarian in the chest.

"So, little soldier thinks he can be a hero?" another of the rogue Orobians grinned while the young soldier let the villain's corpse fall, and held the unconscious girl he just rescued. "Too bad… there's more of us in the Thieves Guild than you can handle!" The loyal Orobians still awake scrambled for their weapons while the Argelian Janissaries quickly drew their blades. The young man and the unconscious pegasus knight were then shoved to the side by his superior.

"Çaylak, (Rookie)," the superior explained, "biz bununla ilgileneceğiz! Onu ayağa kaldırın ve İmparatoriçe gelin (we'll take care of this! Get her on her feet and get to the Empress)!"

The rookie nodded, and picked up the unconscious Ustrosi woman, hauling her out of the mess hall, which descended into a mess of violence rather fast. It only got worse when smoke exploded all over the Aquarius, filling the interior with smoke. The young janissary ducked himself and the woman into a side room, where he got a good look at her. She was about 16, and had long teal hair, a rather thin build beneath her light red breastplate over her white and gray minidress that she wore over a pair of tan tights and thigh-high red boots. She was beautiful, but that was not what he focused on. The rookie pulled out a small bag of smelling salts, and rubbed it underneath her small nose.

The pegasus knight fluttered her green eyes awake, and looked around. She laid eyes on the janissary above her, and then looked to see she was in a room with just him. She then did what any confused young woman would do when confronted with such a situation, especially when it came from a place she thought was an attacker. Scream at the top of her lungs, and kick her attacker, not knowing he was her savior, in the stomach to wind him. She scrambled away from the stunned janissary, and feel around for a weapon. She found a spare broom, and quickly pointed it at him.

"STAY BACK!" she yelled, whacking him with the broom. "Not enough to attack Nourdari, was it!?" She whacked him again. "You drugged me, kidnapped me, and now you're trying to have your way with me!?" Each crime she accused him of, she hit him again and again. "Well, over my dead body!" The janissary caught the broom before she could hit him again. His gold eyes seemed to gleam in rage.

"I try save you!" the janissary replied. The teal-haired pegasus knight blinked at the rather abysmal Orobian, and let go of the broom. Suddenly, the door flew open, revealing a rogue soldier holding an iron lance, but before he could attack them, the janissary flipped the broom around and smashed the handle across the man's temple, knocking him down. The janissary rolled over the top of the stunned man, and slammed the broken handle by the splintered wood into the man's throat, killing him.

He grabbed the now dead traitor's lance, and looked it over, before looking back at the now shocked pegasus knight, who realized this man could have killed her at anytime with a flick of his wrist. He then surprised her by flipping the lance around, and handing it to her by the handle.

"My Orobian… not good," the janissary explained to the pegasus knight. "I speak little, but here is what happened. Traitors in Orobians. The food drugged. One try to kill you. He dead, now. Empress in danger… as are your queens."

"Well, that's simple enough," the pegasus knight said. "And you saved my life?" The janissary nodded. "I should apologize. It's just that… well, I thought you were a rapist."

"No time for apology," the janissary replied. "Empress Chitra in trouble."

"As is Princess Najiyya," the pegasus knight realized. "These must be the Ustrosi Thieves Guild! They're no Orobian traitors. They're the biggest criminals in all of Orobia! Our princess consort is with child, meaning she's an easy target!" She then whistled. As a couple more traitors were closing in, a pegasus smashed through the side of the ship, and kicked one of the traitors. "Good girl, Dandra!"

"...Huh," the janissary said while the pegasus knight got on her steed. He then drew his sword, and looked at the woman before seeing the remaining living traitors. "We clear hall, and secure the meeting room."

"Agreed," the pegasus knight nodded. "By the way, I'm Zainab."

"Kiral," the janissary replied.

The two moved ahead to get in range of the Ustrosi Thieves Guild. Seeing that he was the bigger problem, a rogue ran at Kiral, and slashed at him. Kiral blocked the blade, and slashed him, but not doing enough to take him down. Zainab, however, finished the criminal off with her lance. Kiral and Zainab worked together to clear the hallway, dealing with the Ustrosi Thieves Guild.

"Kiral," Zainab said after the last of the Thieves were dealt with, "these men don't represent all of Orobia. The Thieves Guild has been causing Ustros nothing but trouble for the past fifteen years. I lost my father because of them. I've lost knight-sisters because of them. But what happened in Nourdari… I thought Argelians were the same, if not worse."

"We are," Kiral answered. "We have good AND bad in Empire. Just like good and bad Ustrosi. Conflict gray. What happen in city not Empress' doing."

"...So the Empress didn't order the attack?" Zainab asked while they approached the meeting room. "Then who did?"

Kiral didn't answer, instead kicking the door open, and spotting the confused six women, all facing the door, and bodies on the ground. Sultana Farah had a ball of fire in her hands, Queen Nakia had a dagger, while Queen Minoo had her hand to her sword, all three sporting wounds. "İmparatoriçe Chitra (Empress Chitra)!"

"Kiral!" Chitra breathed. "Ladies, please stand down. This is one of my janissaries… he's not one of these traitors."

"Traitors, you call them..." Tabia scowled.

"Hainler?" Kiral asked.

"Gitmeden önce bizi içeri girip öldürmeye çalışan bazı Argelians vardı, Kiral (Before you came, there were some Argelians who broke in and tried to kill us, Kiral)," the Empress explained. "Sultana Farah, Kraliçe Minoo ve Kraliçe Nakia, katiller karşısında çarpıcı bir mücadele kabiliyeti sergiledi (Sultana Farah, Queen Minoo, and Queen Nakia showed remarkable fighting skill against the would be assassins)."

"But we're wounded," Farah said in Orobian. "We were barely able to get our weapons when this happened."

"Add to the fact I'm old, Najiyya is with child and even then not trained in combat, and our hostess here is unarmed except for supposedly a staff," Tabia added, "I don't think we'll last much longer."

"Are you sure, Empress Chitra, we can trust him?" Najiyya asked.

"Your Majesties," Zainab said, quickly bowing, "this man saved me. The Ustrosi Thieves Guild infiltrated the summit, and he and I worked together to find you."

"We don't have a lot of time to debate this man's trustworthiness," Nakia said. "We need to escape!"

The six followed their two soldiers out of the room, and saw the ship having erupted into fighting. The Orobian and Argelian loyalists were giving the Ustrosi Thieves Guild and the traitors their all, but there were just too many members of the Thieves Guild and not enough loyalists awake or left alive. Regardless, Kiral led his Empress and her guests (plus Zainab) towards the deck… only to find themselves far from the Ustrosi shore, a merchant ship even passing by them heading towards the shore late that night.

"I never approved of setting sail!" Chitra assured the Orobian Queens.

"And I don't have enough power to return us back to shore, in time," Farah replied. "We may be trapped… unless any of you learned how to sail?"

"I do, but I doubt we'll be able to do so safely while on the same ship as the traitors and the Thieves Guild," Tabia frowned. "We may be doomed!"

SHING. SHING.

The eight looked to find themselves vastly outnumbered and surrounded. Some of the supposed Argelian turncoats, and members of the Ustrosi Thieves Guild. The Empress had an unreadable look on her face, but gripped her staff.

"We actually maybe doomed, after all," Nakia chimed in, looking more annoyed than in despair. "(Tawni… I never did see you again….)"

"(Aladdin… Sulaiman,)" Farah whispered, brandishing her tome. "(Your mother may not be coming home….)"

"(My dear Yasmin,)" Minoo sighed, raising her sword, "(please don't let Janiya follow down this path, should I not survive tonight….)"

The merchant ship, meanwhile, had a man standing in it's crow nest, looking down at the helmsman. The man called down, "Howe! Be careful with those turns! We nearly hit that Argelian warship!"

"Sorry about that, captain!" the helmsman, Howe, said. "But something felt… off about that! Should we turn around?"

"No!" the captain replied. "If there was something wrong, we'd only be killed either by the Argelians who'd mistake us for enemies or their enemies to avoid witnesses! If there's nothing wrong, the Argelians may just kill us for nearly scuffing their ship! Now, sail to Ustros on the double!"

"But captain…."

"That's an order, sailor!" the captain roared. "Question me again, and you'll find yourself with more problems than just losing the job you 'desperately needed'!" Howe frowned, but obeyed the order, sailing towards Ustos.

Something told him, however, that had he turned around, he could have prevented tragedy.

One single night can change the lives of so many people. This Orobian night, billions of lives were changed. The five Orobian queens did not see the sunset. The Argelian Empress was not seen again by Orobia, her fate unknown, nor the exact truth of that night revealed. But both continents did not take this meeting too well, not knowing about the traitors on both sides involved.

A war the likes that had not been seen since the dragons and genies clashed over 5,000 years ago began that night. And four souls who had not taken a part of that struggle aboard the Aquarius would be driven onto the same path.

Which of their stories do you want to explore, first?

Kingdom Rider92's Notes: And that's a wrap with the prologue, and how the war between Orobia and Argelia began. Due to the lack of clear details reaching the late queens' husbands (and the Argelian Empress' fate being unknown to Orobia and how likely it was a trap), it was inevitable. The truth is just the first casualty in this conflict, and we won't be getting clear answers for... at least a while.

Anyway, part of me wanted this chapter to be something of rather vague with certain details. In the original Arabian Nights, which inspired this story, there were times where Scherezade connected the stories she told King Shahryar with other stories. As the story of Night of Tales progresses, things are supposed to become clear, and stories are meant to intertwine. Hopefully in less than 1,001 chapters.

As for the question at the end of the chapter, also in the author page (alongside the link to the form if you want to use that, yes it's Google, I'm sorry to anyone who hates Google forms) is a poll. There are four protagonists to this story who will have a minor campaign. The gypsy storyteller, Tawni; the spare Poswali prince, Sulaiman; the Cruibian swordswoman princess, Janiya; and the Giussean privateeer, Howe. I will be, over the course of the next few chapters, releasing the first chapters of the four, so you can decide which one you like the best.

Alright, so I hope you have a nice day! Farewell, my subjects!