Welcome to your new world

“Ow, my head …”

Reyna’s hand went straight onto her forehead, her mind throbbing with pain as she slowly came to. She felt coldness underneath her head; resting against something solid, and uncomfortable. Her eyes opened, greeted with a large, grey ceiling. As she started to sit up, the yell of a male voice shocked her into attention.

“She’s awake! Perfect, now we can save Layla!”

She sat up and spun her head, seeing that she was in a spacious throne room, with all walls coloured grey, light seeping in from a couple windows and glowing from interspersed candles. What was more important though was the person she heard speaking; a man covered entirely in black armour standing on one side of the room.

“Patience, Zayden; the chosen one doesn’t know anything yet.”

Hearing another, deeper voice, Reyna’s head flipped round to the other side, eyeing a large, entirely black throne with an armoured figure almost just as large sitting upon it. The smaller man strode past her as she sat on the floor, passionately addressing the man on the throne.

“It doesn’t matter, does it? We have her, let’s use her! Layla could be dying this very minute!”

Despite his outburst, the man on the throne remained still, unflinching, and spoke with absolute certainty.

“If she is, I’m afraid we must let her. If we choose to attack unprepared we’ll just be throwing away our own lives as well.”

“No, if there’s even a chance she’s still alive, we need to take it!”

As the smaller man’s pleas grew louder and more desperate, the man on the throne still didn’t move. However, something did change about him; Reyna saw a dark glow surrounding his chest, almost like black smoke pouring out of it. A bright red flashed through the slits in his helmet, and he spoke with a voice that echoed throughout the hall, causing every hair in her body to stand on end.

“I have made my decision, and now you will stand down.”

She felt terrified, completely and utterly terrified, even if she wasn’t the one being spoken to. As for the smaller man, he fell silent, backing away and tilting his head down, most likely struck by the same wave of intimidation. The man on the throne watched as he walked back against a wall of the room, then turned to Reyna as the dark glow around him faded, putting on a slightly lighter tone; as much as a voice as gruff as his could manage.

“Apologies, chosen one. We suffered a loss on our mission to retrieve you, and it’s … hitting some of us harder than others, but please, it’s not for you to worry about.”

Reyna jumped straight up, with all sense of intimidation replaced with frustration and confusion.

“‘Retrieve me?’ You kidnapped me! I saw you; you attacked those people in white robes and took me away. I don’t even know who they were, either! The last thing I remember was going to bed in my room, and then I woke up in that coliseum place; I don’t know what’s going on!”

 As she poured her heart out, the man waited for her to finish, then spoke as if nothing had happened.

“‘Those people’ are from Hakiria, the kingdom of light, and are the true reason you’re in this situation. To be specific, they summoned you; you’re on an entirely different planet from the one you know.”

Reyna scoffed as he finished speaking; she wasn’t sure what she was expecting, but it certainly wasn’t an explanation so ridiculous.

“Hah. Come on, that’s stupid. You don’t really expect me to believe that, do you? Tell me what's really going on; this better not be a screwed up reality show or something.”

“Magic; you don’t have that in your world, do you?”

Another voice chimed in, a woman’s. Reyna turned to locate another figure in armour, feminine in appearance, and scoffed at her just the same.

“Of course not; magic isn’t real.”

The female figure crossed her arms, turning her head to face someone besides her; another female figure in armour, slightly taller.

“Show her.”

The larger woman stepped forward, holding her hand to her chest as it started glowing with the same dark glow as the man on the throne had. Slowly, she extended her other arm, and a black gooey substance started to leak out from under her armour. Drops fell to the floor, and Reyna’s eyes widened as they gathered together into a large blob with two beady eyes, beginning to bounce up and down with life. Then, with a swift flick of the woman's wrist, the creature disappeared into nothingness. She stepped back, allowing the first woman to resume talking.

“It is real, and it’s the reason you’re here. What about the flying creatures we captured you with? You don’t have those on your planet either. The faster you accept your situation, the easier it will be.”

Despite being amazed at what she saw, that comment in particular flared Reyna’s emotions all over again.

“Oh, really? Nothing is ‘easy’ about this! Summoned or not, those ‘light people’ took me from my home, and now you’ve taken me here, wherever ‘here’ even is! And again, I don’t even know why!”

The female figure was about to speak again, but stopped once the man on the throne held out his hand. Once she bowed her head in recognition, he took off his helmet, revealing a mature face with a sharp jawline, long black hair, and dark red eyes.

“My name is Xander, I’m the king of Kurenia, the kingdom of darkness; the light kingdom and ourselves aren’t exactly friends. For the most part, we’re evenly matched, except for one particular advantage they have; summoning magic. For the past couple of decades they’ve been able to take people from other worlds and bring them here to fight against us, such as yourself.”

Once again, Reyna disregarded his seriousness, spreading her arms out and presenting her body with an irritated tone.

“Well if they wanted someone to fight for them, they made a huge mistake; look at me.”

Reyna was always self-conscious about her figure; she wasn’t too overweight, but she wasn’t about to appear in magazines any time soon either, and her diet of energy drinks didn’t exactly do her any favours. As she lamented, the female figure who spoke earlier chimed in.

“Your physical ability isn’t what’s important; it’s your biology. They gave you a crystal, right? It should be within you at the moment; think about it, and you can summon it.”

Although she wasn’t exactly thrilled about taking orders from these people, she was certainly curious. She closed her eyes, concentrating on the moment she received that crystal from the elderly lady, and the moment it went into her body. As she focused, a light flashed in front of her, and a white, dazzling crystal entered the palm of her hand. Although she tried to hide it, a subtle smile graced her face at what she accomplished. As she did, Xander responded with his own before elaborating further.

“On this planet there are different continents brimming with the power of the elements. Each living being contains a type of organ called an 'elgrima'; it contains elemental energy specific to each continent, and helps preserve our lives. The catch is that people born with one element can’t enter the domain of others, otherwise it drains from their bodies; that’s what happened when we, beings of darkness, entered the light kingdom to retrieve you.”

Reyna’s mind flashed back to the battle at the coliseum. All the armoured figures were radiating a black substance, most likely this 'elemental energy' leaking from their bodies.

“People like us can’t enter another kingdom without the very thing that keeps us alive slowly fading; stay too long, and we’re done for. You, however, are from an entirely different planet; you weren’t born with an elgrima, therefore you face no such consequences.

Xander gracefully lifted his hand and pointed towards the crystal in hers.

“That crystal is an artificial elgrima; you can still use elemental energy, but since it’s not tied to your biology, draining it doesn’t affect you. These ‘chosen ones’ that the light kingdom likes to summon have been a thorn in our side for a while now, but this time, we decided to interrupt the summoning ritual, and snag one for ourselves.”

That last part rubbed Reyna the wrong way, immediately raising an eyebrow and snapping back.

“Oh, so that’s it, then? I’m just a tool for you to use.”

“No, I apologise, I didn’t mean it like tha-”

“Of course you are; that’s how these people view you, and that’s exactly why you should come back to us.”

Out of nowhere, a foreign voice sounded around them. Everyone froze, each of them darting their eyes around to locate who was speaking. The crystal in Reyna’s hand started to flash, and then, appearing within its reflection, was the face of the old woman in a white robe. Xander immediately stood up, demanding answers.

“Juliana! How are you speaking to us?”

The woman, Juliana, smirked with satisfaction, eagerly laying out her business.

“You don’t know everything about artificial elgrima, Xander. Chosen one, I’m glad you’re safe; don’t worry, you’ll be returned to me soon.”

Julian’s reflection gazed up warmly into Reyna’s eyes. Reyna herself didn’t know how to respond, but she didn’t need to, as Xander let out a boisterous laugh.

“Hah, we would never give up the chosen one!”

“Oh, you will …”

Juliana grinned as her arm reached out beyond the view of the crystal, pulling towards her a small girl in pure black armour, dragging her up by her long black hair, her face distorted with tears.

“... if you value this girl’s safety, that is.”