After Artoria Pendragon destroyed the Holy Grail under the orders of Rin Tohsaka, she returned to the hills of Camnlan, where she accepted her fate and died with no regrets. She expected to find herself in the Afterlife or in the Throne of Heroes, but instead she opened her eyes to find a room she'd never seen before, and a woman saying "Hello, my dear Artoria" -
Chapter 1: Life in the Empire

Hello, my name is Artoria von Pendragon, I was born in the 24th of the Wyvern Moon, Imperial Year 1162. I'm the most recent heir to the Pendragon house in the Adrestrian Empire and the first and only of my generation to bear our house's Crest, the Crest of Macuil. This time, since I was the first child, my parents had no need for other childrens and so I remained an only child. As such, my first years were a bit lonely, but then...

I remember it so vividly, like it was yesterday... My first visit to the Imperial Palace. All of the nobles were called for a meeting with the Emperor and my dad took me with him, but since I couldn't be there during their conversation, I stayed at the gardens of the palace with the heir herself, Edelgard von Hresvelg.

She was so beautiful, her light brown hair running down her back and her cute eyes nearly enchanted me the first time I saw her, it was like the Goddess used her best materials in order to create her.

We talked for hours and hours on the gardens, played with the animals and I got to meet her subordinate, a boy named Hubert von Vestra, a pretty nice boy if I do say so myself.

After that, Edelgard convinced her father to let me visit her weekly in the Palace and thus, we both developed a lasting friendship. Every week, I would go and we together would play until the night came. It was like that until we both had 9 years old, but then... Then it happened.

Edelgard's uncle, Lord Arundel, took her far away from the Empire to the Kingdom, I never knew why did that happened but what happened after also burned into my memory. My father, alongside many other nobles of the Empire started to gain more and more power, it even came to a point where they had more power over the Emperor himself. Could it be becacuse he was getting older and couldn't do his job as well as before?

At the end of the day, that wasn't really important for me, what was really important was Edelgard. I spent nights praying for the Goddess to return her to me, but not a single sighting of Edelgard. Eventually, the days turned into weeks, the weeks to months, and when I least expected it, 3 entire years had passed. I lost my faith about 1 year and a half early, I couldn't trust in a Goddess that would rip me away from my best friend without even lettiing me say goodbye!

But one day, I hard the news by Duke Aegir, she returned with Arundel. I was so happy, my friend was finally back! I couldn't resist and I ran awith my father to the Pakace to make sure that she was ok, and when I saw her...

Her brown hair was now completly white, the smile that she had when she was alongside her father was now replaced with a sad look. I was in shock... What happened to my best friend!?

But, when I got a chance to talk to her, I discovered that, even if her looks changed, my friend was still there. We still talked the same way that before, but I could notice her being a little bit... Distant at times. She also started spending a lot more time than before with Hubert, but I didn't cared about that, I just cared about having her back by my side.

The years passed and now, we're both 18 years old and ready to enlist in the Officers Academy in Garreg Mach thanks to Lord Arundel and my father. I can't wait! We of course, studied together in the Imperial academy where we met quite a few other nobles, but this is the highest ranking institution in all of Fódlan! The only downside, at least for me, it's that the Church of Seiros holds quite a bit of power in it, as they practically run the whole place. As long as I don't have to go to participate in any overly religious event, we'll have no problem.

/ Imperial Palace, Edelgard's room /

Right now, we're both getting ready, preparing our uniforms and what will we take to adorn our rooms at the Academy.

"You're in high spirits today Artoria" - she said while smiling at me.

"Of course, I'm exicted to go to the Academy, we're going to learn from the best!" - I replied with a smile.

"Yes, this year will be quite the one" - as she ended, I saw her gettingup from the ground and walking to her closet - "Before, we go, I have a gift for you Artoria" -

"A gift? Really?" -

She opened the closet and oulled out a large wood box. Inside, there was...

"Edelgard, that's..." -

"Caliburn, the Sacred Weapon of house Pendragon. It came into posession of my father when yours asked him to hold it until the time was right. Well, this is that time" -

I took it in my hands and felt the power coursing trough me as Caliburn reacted to my Crest of Macuil.

"Let's go Artoria, no matter what tries to stop us..." -

"We'll be forever together" -

With that, we finished packing and walked right out of the Palace, starting our journey to Garreg Mach, the location of the Officers Academy.