Slowly, the world came to her. At first, her mind seemed like a haze, much like when one wakes from a deep slumber. She wasn’t quite conscious enough to recall her name or much about herself, her eyes were still closed and all she could perceive was the slow breeze blowing over her and the tall grasses brushing her body all around her.
Where am I? Twilight thought to herself as she sat up with a groan.
Gingerly, she began to open her eyes: the sunlight being too bright to open them at once. She raised an appendage in front of her eyes, letting out a gasp as her vision adjusted and focused. She sat in the middle of a vast plain that stretched out in every direction to meet the shoreline of an ocean. Twilight was so stricken with the beauty of her surroundings that she almost forgot about the foreign appendage shielding her eyes. She let out a loud scream as she began to panic, leaping up from her sitting position to find that she only had two legs and lost her balance and fell on her rear.
Twilight breathed rapidly as she felt her hair, almost screaming when she looked at her hands, she stood up on her wobbly legs and inspected herself: she was in a bipedal body that seemed strange, yet somehow familiar, she wore a long blue cloak that covered most of her body that was open in the front, underneath she wore a black tunic, leather boots, and a leather wizard cap.
What am I!? where’s my horn!? Twilight thought, her head beginning to spin. She slowed her breathing and took some deep breaths, as she placed her hands on her knees.
Once she was certain that she wasn’t going to faint she straightened up. Twilight looked around, the sun looked like it would be setting soon and she needed to find a settlement of some sort. Luckily, she spotted a small castle to the north and judging from the distance it looked to only be an hours walk at most. Mustering up her courage Twilight took a breath and her first step. Only to fall flat on her face.
“This is going to be a long walk,”Twilight groaned bitterly as she picked herself back up.
Behind her a sharp growl resounded.
* * *
“There, that ‘oughta do it!”AJ stated with pride as she stood up and brushed off some dirt off her tunic. She admired her her handiwork, the wagon’s wheel had broken when it had hit a bad bump in the road about a mile from Castle Cornelia. “Ya, sure you can handle yourselves from here?”
The merchant who owned the wagon stepped toward her, bowing and clasping his hands in gratitude, “Yes, M’lady. Thank you, very much for your assistance.”
AJ felt a slight blush growing on her face, very rarely did anyone bow before a simple farmer’s daughter such as herself. It almost felt like it was out of place and that she should be bowing to him. She nervously rubbed the back of her head, “It wasn’t nothin’, we have to fix our wagons a lot back home.”AJ said with a chuckle. She glanced out to the plains, the gentle breeze from the sea making the emerald grass roll like the sea. A content smile spread on her face, it was nice to gaze at the horizon, all she knew was the orchard she maintained, absently she wondered what lie beyond the horizon. Treasure? Heroes? Villains? Who could say. Her family used to take trips on merchant caravans to other kingdoms to sell their produce on occasion, but it didn’t help sate the feeling that there was something bigger out there. That she had a destiny out there waiting on her.
“Excuse me,”A voice said from behind AJ, snapping her from her trance. The merchant sat looking down at her from the front of the wagon with the reigns in his hands, “Would you like a ride back to the castle?” He asked motioning toward the setting sun. “It’ll be dark soon and the monsters will come out.”
“Sure, thank-”
“Help!”A voice screamed from behind AJ, cutting her off.
Quickly, AJ wheeled around to see what was going on. Down the road she spotted three wolves, their fur shaggy and unkempt, eyes glowing like embers in the evening sun. Snarling and practically foaming at the mouth, the pack was chasing a woman in a blue cloak and a pointy leather hat. A mage of sorts by the looks of it. Without wasting a second, AJ wheeled back to the cart, after rummaging through a few things she pulled a steel sword from its scabbard.
“Hey!”The Merchant yelled after AJ
“I’m just borrowing this.” She called back as she sprinted down the road toward the wolves.
* * *
Twilight’s heart was pounding, her legs burning as sweat dropped into her eyes. Just inches behind her, mangy red wolves chased relentlessly, almost seeming to enjoy the thrill of the chase. “Help!” She called again, the wolves drawing near enough that she could feel their hot breath on her ankles. Summoning another burst of speed, she pumped all she had into gaining a few inches before a sudden tug on her cloak dragged her to the ground. Twilight shakily scrambled to her feet, huffing and holding her side as the wolves circled her. The ember eyes smoldered with hunger as they drew in closer. Twilight froze, her muscles wouldn’t respond, her mouth wouldn’t move, she could only close her eyes when one of the wolves lowered its head and prepared to lunge at her.
Please..someone. Save me.
“Look out!” A voice shouted from behind.
Twilight opened her eyes in time to see a sword fly by her face and a wolf yelp as the blade was buried into its shoulder. In a flash, a blonde woman ran past her brandishing a small dagger and leaped onto another wolf. The blonde shouted and grunted as she wrestled the wolf’s snapping jaws to the ground, with a shout the woman plunged the dagger repeatedly into the wolf.
Suddenly, a large force plowed into Twilight’s side knocking her to the ground. The third wolf pinned her to the ground. Twilight screamed as the wolf sank it’s fangs into her shoulder and viciously started jerking and tearing into her. Twilight kicked the wolf off of her, she held a hand on her wounded shoulder and staggered to her feet. Her mind was fuzzy, not seeming to be able to form a coherent though as her vision slowly started to blur.
The wolf snarled, and leaped at her. Within an instant, she raised a her hand up in defense. Twilight noticed her mouth moving, muttering an unintelligible word. In an instant, an orange bolt of flame shot out of her hand and engulfed the wolf in flames.
Then, with no energy left, her knees buckled and her vision darkened. Distantly, she heard a voice shouting something, but couldn’t make out what it said. Twilight felt her consciousness ebb away as the world grew distant.
* * *
A bowl of soup, crashed to the stone floor of the castle. Agatha looked down at her wrinkly hands that trembled. Moments ago, she was carrying her meal back to her study so she could pour over her tomes and search for ways to locate the champions the prophecy spoke of, or clues as to where they might be. Then, it hit her like a punch to the gut. An invisible force struck her inner-crystal with such force she physically recoiled. A grateful smile formed on her face, the was hope for the world yet!
"Agatha!"A guardsman called as he burst into her chambers, "We heard a bit of commotion are you alright?"
Agatha smiled and turned to the guard who relaxed a bit, "Tell the King, a Champion has awoken!"
