A brand new life.

Reyna’s eyes opened slowly, blinking rapidly as the light of the morning sun invaded her eyes. Normally, she would just dig her face into her pillows and block it out, but this time, her pillows were nowhere to be found. Instead, her hands pressed against something more rough. As she regained awareness, she soon realised it wasn’t just her hands; her entire body was pressed up against hard stone. She pushed herself up as she came to, standing up as her eyes widened with shock at the architecture that surrounded her. She was standing in the centre of a gigantic stone structure, circular in nature, similar to one of those old coliseums she would see in books.

“What- what in the world is this?”

Her voice shook as her mind spun, completely unsure of where she was or how to feel. As she wrapped her arms around herself, she felt something strange about the material she grabbed onto. Instead of her pyjamas, she was cloaked in a large white robe, covering her entire body, and adjourned in several golden symbols she couldn’t recognise. In the distance, she spotted a figure wearing the same robes as her, slowly approaching. Once in front of her, they lifted their hood, revealing an elderly woman with grey hair, and a warm voice.

“Elhio, sochen noe.”

What came out her mouth, however, were words that Reyna couldn’t even begin to parse. She tried her best not to sound rude, but couldn’t help but question what she’d just heard.

“... I’m sorry, could you say that again?”

“Ealpes, keat hist.”

As she continued to speak more undecipherable words, Reyna noticed her dig under her robe, pulling it out to reveal a dazzling crystal the size of her hand, with beams of light shining out from within. Reyna flinched slightly as the woman held it out towards her, but soon steadied herself. As she stared at it, the woman remained still; doing so for several seconds before Reyna realised she was probably supposed to do something. She cautiously moved her own hand towards it, touching it gently before it began to flash rapidly.

“Woah! W-what did I do? Did I screw it up?”

The robed woman smiled, holding her hands together and stepping back as the crystal began to float out of her hand, hovering in the air in front of Reyna, leaving her slightly worried as it started bobbing towards her.

“H-hey, is it supposed to be doing that? It’s coming towards me and you aren’t saying anything!”

Her voice squeaked a little as it arrived right in front of her, but continued to keep going. Just as she thought it would bump into her chest, she closed her eyes, only for it to phase right through her cloak and skin, going straight into her body. She stayed still with her eyes closed, with the only thing in her vision being a black void, until a calm voice graced her ears.

“It’s okay, you can open your eyes now.”

That was strange; this voice she could actually understand. She did as it instructed, flickering her eyes open to see only the old woman standing in front of her, smiling away as she walked back towards her.

“I trust you can understand me now, chosen one? If it is working properly, that crystal should be translating my words into a language you can understand.”

“Oh, it is? How did it even go through me; what kind of crazy technology is that?”

“Oh, that’s right, you don’t have magic in your world, do you? Well, rest assured, it’s not harmless; the crystal rests inside you and will only help you in the world.”

“Wait, wait, what do you mean ‘in this world’?”

“Ah, I apologise, this must be a lot to put on you at once. You see, you’ve actually been transported to another plane-“

“My lady, I’m sorry to interrupt, but it’s urgent!”

Before she could finish her sentence, the only woman was interrupted by a different voice in the distance. Looking behind her, Reyna could see four figures with identical robes running towards them. They all stopped in front of the pair, with one in front pulling down their hood, revealing a relatively young female with short red hair and exhaustion on her face.

“The barrier has been broken! The dark suns are on their way!”

“What? They must be coming for the chosen one; everyone get around me!”

Without any hesitation, the woman with red hair and the other three figures gathered around. They all looked up, with Reyna soon following, peering up into a clear blue sky.

Soon enough, shadows began to engulf the group as several black dots blocked out the sun, seeming to be some sort of winged creatures, at least as far as Reyna could make out.

“Cecilia, get the chosen one out of here!”

“Right!”

Before she could say anything, the red-haired woman grabbed Reyna’s hand, pulling her away as they broke into a run. A large crash exploded into Reyna’s ears, accompanied by several screams from behind, and various pieces of rubble flying past her face. As she ran, she couldn’t help but turn her head, laying her eyes on the chaos.

The ground she had just been standing on was shattered, split into various jagged pieces rocketing into the air. Amongst them were the white-robbed figures, thrown off the ground and each flying in a separate direction, and in the center, was a bulking figure covered in black armour, more than twice the size of everyone around them, with harsh red eyes glowing out of narrow slits in their helmet. Even from a distance, Reyna could feel her skin crawl with anxiety. She stopped dead in her tracks, completely paralysed as the white-robbed figures landed on the floor, and the large armoured figure spoke with a deep voice, cold and callous.

“Chosen one, you are coming with me.”

Four other figures in black armour landed in front of the larger one; all five radiating what looked to her to be some kind of black smoke, each giving off their own frightening aura. The largest of them all took a step forward, the clanking of his armour echoing throughout the coliseum; the white-robbed figures pulled themselves up, and the red-haired woman pushed herself in front of Reyna.

“Chosen one, keep running; we will not let these cretins anywhere near you.”

Reyna could feel unease creep into her throat, too nervous to say anything, but did as she was told, turning and running off. As she ran, she began to hear several loud blasts and explosions, with flashes of black and white engulfing the area. As she got further away, a large winged shadow soared overhead, and a gigantic creature resembling a dragon landed in front of her, causing her to yelp as it leant forward and swiped her up with its mouth.

“Oh no, oh no, no, no, let me go!”

Despite her panicking, the beast continued, clutching her tightly in its jaws, and taking flight. Reyna closed her eyes as it flew, swooping past the large armoured figure as he jumped on. He rangled the reins around the beast’s neck, steering it upwards as he commanded his allies below.

“We have what we came for; everyone fall back!”

With his words, several other dark winged creatures landed next to the other armed figures, with all four of them hopping on and taking off. As the wings on the creatures spread and they proceeded to fly off into the distance, one of the white-robbed figures in particular stepped forward, holding his hand up into the air and shouting out as a light shone from his chest.

“I will not allow you to get away!”

The light from his chest began to travel through his body, reaching his hand and shooting out in a large beam of light, scraping the side of the largest figure’s beast, causing it to howl as its rider yelled.

“Argh! Look out for the light!”

The white-robed man continued to blast beams of light at the creatures as they weaved and dodged out of the way. As they kept flying, he kept going, blast after blast, until eventually, he hit one. The creature squealed as it was struck from the sky, with its rider, the smallest of the armoured figures, clinging onto it tightly as they plunged towards the ground. As they did, another one of the riders took notice, immediately turning their creature around.

“No!”

With a crack of their reins, they soared down towards their falling friend. As they flew closer and closer to the ground, the white-robbed man took aim, sending out another blast of light directly at them, only just missing as the largest creature swooped in grabbing them with their claws and pulling them out of the way, much to the rider’s dismay.

“Let me go; I need to save her!”

The armoured figure watched on as the smallest of them landed on the ground, and was surrounded by the robed figures, unable to do anything to help. In contrast, the largest rider turned away, determined to press onwards.

“There’s nothing we can do now; I’d rather we keep the losses to a minimum.”

With that, the largest of the dark creatures flapped their wings with as much force as possible, going faster and faster as they dodged more beams of light. With all the chaos, thrashing about, and wild movements, Reyna felt her head spinning from being within the creature’s jaws.

“I … I think I’m gonna be sick …”

As they flew higher and higher, she felt the air thin, and found it harder to stay awake. Her head began to pound as her eyes fluttered, and eventually, she fell unconscious, and the world turned to black.