The New Alliance

Mayumi’s bow was taut and aimed high as this knight approached cautiously, stepping forward as slow as she could. Arata too was wielding his weapon, the one that was as intimidating as a cuddly toy.

“A pen?” The Spear questioned. “I don’t remember that in the information.”

“It’s a sword, actually” He replied sarcastically.

“Arata, shut it.” Mayumi snapped, and her arrow fired from the bow, hitting the stones below the Spear’s foot. “Not another step, unless you want an arrow in the eye.”

“I just want water.” The Spear admitted, pointing to the waterfall. “I drank it all on the way here. Once I’ve got a refill I’ll be out of your hair.” She tried to reason with the duo but with Arata so close to the falls, Mayumi knew she couldn’t fire before the stranger skewered him. “Drop the spear, then you can get your refill.”

Her eyes narrowed, her spear still in her fierce grip. “You and I know that isn’t going to happen.”

Tension filled this small space like a mist thick enough to cut through. The slightest movement was watched like a hawk, preyed upon and a step too far was paramount to a war.

“Uh…” Arata uttered, breaking the silence. “Maybe we started off on the wrong foot here. The announcer before said that we needed to survive, there was no mention of us needing to fight so, y’know… lets be friends?”

His mistake was taking a small step forward. Mayumi noticed it as the Spear had, and she had also seen the Spear quickly push her blade forward. The arrow was let loose and flew directly at its target, but she moved under its trajectory quick enough to only feel it cut her face shallow. In the same motion, she threw her spear, connecting with Mayumi’s bow and splitting it in half. That was her intention. Now she only needed to deal with Arata, and she kicked him to the ground, sitting atop him with a fist aimed square at his forehead.

“I said, I only wanted water. I didn’t want to hurt anyone.” She could see Mayumi slowly creeping towards her with an arrow in hand. “If you think you can hit me with that before I stop his breathing, be my guest.” It stopped the archer where she stood, clicking her tongue quietly. “Throw me the arrow.” The Spear demanded. Of course, Mayumi was not thrilled to follow the order but Arata looked her way, his eyes telling her it would be okay and so she complied.

This Spear maiden collected the arrow and held its edge to his throat, just barely touching his skin. “Now, this is how this is going to go. I’ll let you up. You and your… lover?”

“Daughter” Arata corrected.

Mayumi made sure he knew that an ass whopping of biblical proportion would be coming his way if they survived, enough for him to shed a tear. The Spear looked rightfully confused but just shook it off. “You will leave this hill. I will get what I came for, and I will then go the other way. If I catch you trying to sneak back up here, or following me as I leave, my generosity will be thrown to the wayside.” The arrow closed the distance a little, not enough to draw blood but enough for him to feel its sting.

And yet, he didn’t give it much attention. “This girl, the Sword, the Knife, the Hammer… why do they all look so familiar?” It was sort of like a stranger in a crowd that you are certain you have run into before and yet, you can’t pinpoint where and when. A name was circling around in his head, like an annoying gnat that wouldn’t go away no matter how much he swatted at it, and eventually, he felt as though he couldn’t contain it anymore.

“...Are you…” He stuttered, “...Elara?”

The arrow fell back, her eyes shot open with pure surprise. But the second she reacted was the second she pushed the arrowhead deeper onto his flesh, this time breaching the skin and bleeding the red. She got closer and more aggressive, she continued with her words barely able to seep through her teeth as her jaw grinded. “How do you know that name!?”

Arata was terrified, the feel of red draining and the gaze of the devil himself pulled out his voice before he could use it properly. “She’s gonna kill me! She’s gonna kill me!” He chanted in his head.

Before another syllable could be spoken, the world erupted with the sound of a distant blast that caught the trio completely off guard. They could see it, like a firework in the sky above the centre of the forest, and above, an image of the knight Arata had seen earlier on. His image was faded, a red cross covering it and his name to the side began to crumble away. Following it was an ear piercing chime that forced them to cover their ears.

“Royal Guard Agnar, the Sword wielder, has been deleted.” The voice was mechanical, like an AI. Elara lessened the pressure on the arrowhead and Arata could see the slight tremble, letting out a slow exhale. “One down? Already?”

With her spear still tight in her grip she let Arata scurry away by Mayumi’s side without realising it. He squirmed, touching the new flesh wound on his neck and almost passing out at the sight of blood. “Ah, great, fantastic. I’m bleeding out. Mayumi…” He grabbed her leg, eyes closed and teary for dramatic effect. “Tell my story…”

“It’s barely a scratch.” Mayumi muttered, not even sparing him a glance.

Even Elara gave him a long unreadable look and then tilted her head to Mayumi. “... Is he always like that?”

“Unfortunately” She replied flatly.

*-*-*

The tension had died there and then. Arata survived his “ordeal” and was wearing a very unnecessarily large bandage while the adults stared each other down.

Elara was still curious however, she had dropped her guard slightly, feeling a little less fearful thanks to the drama queen in the corner. “Elara… how do you know my name?” She requested formally. Arata looked to Mayumi first like a child asking their mother for approval first, and Mayumi responded in a sort of “I don’t care” manner.

“We’re all from different worlds, right?” He asked, receiving a basic nod as a response. “That sword user, Agnar. Even Mayumi, you all have something in common. In my world, I was a writer, and Mayumi was a character from my story, she is my dau-” he was interrupted by a swift kick. “My character.”

“I don’t see how this has anything to do with me” She replied

“You aren’t from my works, but I have seen you in those stories before. I worked as an assistant to some big shot creator for about two years before I went pro, real scumbag guy… y’know he tried to-”

“Stay on topic, idiot.” Mayumi barked.

“Your world, your history and that Agnar’s was written by him. Two separate stories about a hero overcoming villains and saving their worlds. If I remember correctly, your world’s villain was… Dolos?”

The name stung, more than the duo would realise and she did well to swallow the pain. “That’s… right. He was killed by Elysian. The people spat at the name Dolos for days after his death.” She seemed to accept his story, exhaling the doubt away. “What else do you know?”

“I know you weren’t one of those people.” It was said bluntly, and Elara knew then he knew more than he was letting on. Her eyes narrowed, her spear rising. “No, I wasn’t.”

“Then what were you?” Mayumi asked, seemingly uninterested in the conversation but invested enough to loosely pay attention.

“She was his lover.” Arata added. “At the end of your story, Dolos was killed and his crimes were revealed to the world but you knew what he was under the mask. There was no redemption… so you threw yourself from the cliffs.” Arata paused, feeling the weight of her history but still pushing forward regardless. “I’m guessing that’s how you got here.”

She didn't need to even nod, her eyes gave him the answer. “Look, you want to get home, so do I. We were never told we needed to kill, just survive, and with monsters like the hammer guy taking every chance to kill, surely it makes more sense for us to stick together, right?” He proposed. She agreed with him, the trip up here was just for water, she would have been happy to fill her bottle and walk away but misunderstandings and bad timing got in the way.

Mayumi, on the other hand, did not like the idea as much. “Like she won’t slit your throat when you sleep.” She scoffed.

“If I wanted you dead, you’d be dead.” Elara snapped back. As much as she wanted to refuse, it made more sense to agree to the union. “He knows everything… If it means learning about your fate…” She thought. “Fine.” Lowering her spear to the ground and offering a hand. “A truce. Two heads are better than one, I guess. But, I want answer, I want to know what you know. Got it?”

Arata took her hand happily. “Got it.” He smiled brightly.

Meanwhile Mayumi just shook her head and muttered, “Yep… this is where I die…”

“Wait.” Arata noticed. “You mean three, right? Three heads are better than one, right?”

Neither of his guards bothered to answer.