Uraina's chosen one

“Serio…! Th… ho… up… ing!?”

“W… … …em?”

“What’s …!? The… … a… d! I… on’t kn… ag… that… world… girl… like… 10… something!”

“At least… is… Our… problem… be a lot… if… a male instead.”

“Hush you two, I think she’s waking up.”

Mina was incredibly confused and disoriented as she woke up. The last thing she remembered was jumping into a pile of leaves. She didn’t even remember falling asleep, yet for some reason she was waking up on something hard and weirdly bumpy. She could vaguely hear some men talking in the background, but she couldn’t understand what they were saying with how disoriented she was.

Opening her eyes, the first thing Mina saw were the men who were talking. There were three of them, all adults, and all of them were wearing something that was a weird mix between priest robes and armor, except it was sky blue with a sun and clouds on it, and they each had a long blue cape. The second thing she realized was that she was on the floor, and all three of them were standing above her.

“Greetings young lady, it is our honor to have you here.” The one in the middle, a tall man who for some reason had long dark blue hair, said.

Given her circumstance, there was only one response Mina could have.

“AHHHHHHHHHHH!” She screamed in terror and backpedaled away from the men as fast as she could, only to quickly hit her head against a wall behind her.

“Ow.” The man on the right, who was also tall but had bright and spiky red hair, winced at the volume of her scream, but did nothing else as the dark blue haired man took a step close to her.

“Calm down my lady, be at peace, we mean you no harm.” The blue haired man said.

“Calm down!? How can I calm down! I don’t know who you guys are or were I am!” Mina screamed, making the red-haired guy wince again. Mina’s eyes then went wide in realization. “Oh no, you’re the people that have been kidnapping people all over the world, aren’t you!?”

“Kidnapping? Oh no, hardly. It’s actually quite the opposite. You were the one that came to us.” The blue haired man said.

…

“HUH?!” Mina exclaimed.

“Indeed. But forgive me, where are my manners. Allow me to introduce myself and my companions first.” The man said. “My name is Athan, and these are my compatriots Elias”

The red-haired man nodded while rubbing his ears.

“And Lefteris.” Athan continued.

“Pleasure to meet you, destined savior.” The third man, a comparatively short man with brighter blue hair that was pulled back into a tight ponytail, said with a small bow.

“Destined savior?” Mina questioned, her heart slowly calming down and allowing her fear to be replaced by confusion.

“Indeed.” Athan said with a nod. “You are our destined savior. Might we know our savior’s name?”

Mina didn’t answer his question, instead opting to keep staring at him silently. She may not be as scared, but she wasn’t stupid enough to trust him with anything yet. Athan frowned for a moment, clearly not exactly pleased by her silence, but his lips quickly turned back up into his friendly smile.

“I see, you don’t trust us yet.” He said. “Though entirely unwarranted, I suppose it is understandable given your abrupt change in circumstance. But believe me, we mean you no harm.”

“Then why am I even here? And what do you mean by ‘destined savior’?” Mina questioned.

“It is exactly as the words suggest, you are the one who is destined to save not just us, but our entire kingdom from the hands of one who would do us wrong! Help us deliver the glorious kingdom of Chamiloran from those who wish destruction upon our land!” Athan declared proudly. Mina remained visibly confused, so Lefteris stepped forwards.

“To explain what Athan is forgetting to, our kingdom is in an unfortunate situation.” He began. “I won’t get into the complicated story, but in short, some villains have recently taken control of our kingdom from its rightful ruler. We’re among the few who are actively fighting to protect the kingdom from the villains, but we aren’t strong enough to fight them on our own.”

“And that is where you come in, young lady.” Athan came back in. “Just when we were fearing the worst for our country, we discovered this ancient magic that allowed us to summon a great hero that would help us save our country.”

Athan gestured down at the floor when he said that, prompting Mina to look down to see that the bumps she’d felt on the ground earlier were in fact a magic circle that was inlaid into the ground with all sorts of gems and metals. While she had absolutely no idea what any of it meant, one thing she found interesting about it was the fact that it was full of all sorts of letters. Not just English letters, but Japanese and Chinese symbols, Russian letters, and a bunch of other things that looked like letters in other languages she’d never seen before.

“We utilized this magic to call a hero here to save us, and you were the one who answered the call.” Athan finished.

“But, why me? I don’t even know… anything.” Mina finally asked.

“No idea. I would have preferred someone who wasn’t a kid, but we ended up getting you instead.” Elias said with a scoff, prompting Athan to turn on him.

“Hold your tongue, Elias. Though she may be young, she was chosen personally by our goddess, thus she deserves our respect.” He scolded.

“Chosen, by the goddess?” Mia asked, now intrigued, and slowly growing excited.

“Indeed.” Athan confirmed. “You have been chosen by our beautiful goddess of the sky, Uraina. The guardian of all who exist under her sacred sky.”

As he said that, he pulled out a piece of paper from his cloak, and unfurled it to reveal a depiction of Uraina. She was a beautiful goddess, clothed in robes of sky blue and white, a pair of wings adorning not just her back, but also her head and each of her arms and legs. Her hair appeared to be a mix of golden hair and bright red feathers, and she had one eye closed, but one eye open to reveal a sun within it. Mina was in awe of the picture.

“Woah, pretty.” Mina exclaimed, and behind the picture Athan chuckled.

“Indeed, and you too can achieve such beauty thanks to her blessing. Through her blessing, you have been empowered, and you will achieve greatness. So, will you use this power to help us reclaim our country, our goddess’s country?” Athan asked, putting a hand out to her.

“You may not have much power now, but ancient magic like the stuff that brought you here is always reliable, and goddess Uraina even more so. I’m sure you’ll become more than strong enough to help us soon, so long as you’re willing to help us.” Lefteris said.

Elias then let out a sigh, allowing his frustration to leave his body, and brought a smile to his face as he looked at Mia.

“I may not be happy about your age, and I doubt you’re happy to be here, but it’s true we need you. Without your help, we’re in serious trouble. If you choose to help us though, then I’ll do my best to make sure you succeed no matter what. So, what do you say?” He asked.

Mina looked at all 3 of them, all looking earnestly at her, all wanting her help. She didn’t really understand what was going on, and in the back of her mind there was a voice telling her not to trust these people, that this was suspicious, but that wasn’t what she was focusing on. After all the explanations, after all the time she had to calm down and take everything in, there was only one thought that filled her mind.

‘I’m, a chosen one? Like, one of those people from the books?’ She thought to herself excitedly.

“Alright, I’m in, I’ll be your destined savior!” Mina proudly declared, standing up and taking Athan’s hand.

“Excellent, I’m happy to hear you’re on board.” He said as he shook her hand. “Now, may we finally know your name?”

Mina opened her mouth to answer that question, but stopped as a thought came. She was going to introduce herself as Mina, just like always, but did she really have to? This was a whole other world, one where the idea of Cree people probably didn’t exist. And that meant there also wasn’t the negative stereotypes her ancestry would bring. For the first time in her life, she might actually be able to be ‘Mikwan’ outside of her home and the traditional gatherings her mom brought her to. She could embrace that side of herself that she wasn’t allowed to for fear of being looked down upon, she could be who she really wanted to be for the first time ever.

But, before she could introduce herself as Mikwan, that voice in the back of her head got louder, the one that still didn’t trust these guys. Sure, she could be Mikwan, but did she really want to be? Could she really trust these people enough to take down the mask that is Mina? Sure, they might not know what Cree was, but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t look down on her for acting like a Cree person. One of them already clearly looked down on her for being a kid, so why take the chance and risk opening up like that and let them mock her for being Mikwan?

Seeing Athan begin to frown again, she realized she was thinking about this maybe a bit too long, so she quickly shook herself out of her thoughts and spoke up.

“Mina. My name is Mina.” She said.