Flora

She ran and ran until her breathing went shallow and her heart was racing, until her feet ached and her muscles felt aflame, yet no signs of advancing were noticed, as if the forest was in a constant state of being looped like a cassette

Holding her pained side she dropped her backpack on the dirt of the forest and leaned against a tree with her arm that helped resting her head, slowly but loudly regaining her breath but her mind was clouded with the events that has just transpired in the past dozen minutes

Was she dead, Is this the afterlife?

If not, is this all just a sick joke that is dragging on for far too long?

Or is she merely in a dream that gave her far too much control for her own good

Thoughts that quickly dispersed into the void of her mind as she put her own hand on her mouth to muffle her breathing, back against the tree with her ears on full alert as they were set on the noise of footsteps beyond the wooden refuge she was against

Gently taking a peek, she saw a steel silhouette akin to the Knight she met first, yet the state of this soldier seemed far worse

The armor he had that she imagined once glinting under the light of the sun was battered and bloodstained, bent and scarred worn as much as it's owner that could barely walk, using his sheathed longsword as a cane that helped take a bit of his weight off his weary legs, a helmet hiding his pained face was on his head, a giant Scar was across the vision port going all the way down, the knight she laid her eyes on was definitely some sort of survivor

Fae wanted to try and make contact with him, she wanted to help him and tend to his wounds or at least help him get to his destination, but the words Archard told her previously still resonated inside her mind, words to not trust anybody in this region

Her life wasn't the only thing she'd be losing if something awful would've happen, she had a duty to execute, the wish of a dying man that she promised to fulfil

Looking at the injured knight not leaving, too tired to move from his place anymore she decided to take the advantage and leave him be, gently stepping away from her cover

But unfortunately for her, finesse wasn't her strong suit as she stepped on a branch that made just enough noise to give away her presence

"Of course..." Biting her lower lip and hoping to whatever god that the knight didn't hear the noise she made, Fae's heart skipped a beat when she heard the sound of a blade leaving it's sheathe

Keeping the longsword at the lower ready, the man slowly approached the source of the suspicious sound, but as he checked behind the tree nothing was there, anxiety ramping up and the pain of his wounds increasing he could feel his consciousness slowly fading away, holding it only by spearing the tip of the blade into the soil and helping himself stand tall, but alas his consciousness escaped his grasp with the help of a heavy impact right in the back of his head

"Sorry" Dropping the heavy rock into the ground, Fae let out a deep inhale as she examined the unconscious soldier, getting to one knee and pushing him to roll over

Laid on his back and breathing slowly, Fae took a keen eye to the emblem of a red rose on his chest, a withering rose with blood seeping from the flower's center and dripping down the crimson petals

"Wait a second..." That emblem was exactly the same one that Archard had on his chest, and it didn't take long for Fae to remember that and make the correlation

"Ahhh, I really did it now" Chuckling nervously on attacking the friend of Archard, she bit the nail of her thumb thinking of a solution of this conundrum that she summoned

Leaving the problem wouldn't set right with her, she was the one that struck him from behind and there was no certainty that he would be hostile, and if she does just that it might just result in his death

Letting out an exhale, she grabbed his sword and slid it into the blood stained sheathe, tying it around her waist before grabbing the knight by his collar

"I hope you're not one to hold grudges, or I'm fucked"

....

Warming herself next to the campfire she made, Fae thanked the lords her plastic lighter still had some fluid inside

She let out a frosted breath as she covered herself with her jacket hoping to get a bit of warmth from it, around her was a forest dominated by a pressuring silence that was only broken by the drifting of stray winds

Looking to her right the knight was still unconscious, the blood that was all over his once-glistening armor made Fae get closer to the man, she really hoped that the blood that he seemingly was bathed in wasn't his own, or else she might just be dragging a soon to be dead body

Starting with his helmet, she gently moved her hand towards it to relief him from it's weight, but her attempt to help the man was met by the opposite

Wrist held tightly, Fae stopped in her tracks as she widened her eyes, looking at the sharp green eyes that she saw through the vision port of his helmet, the now awake knight that had her wrist grabbed tightly

"I- sorry, I thought that it would be better with your helmet off" She said, giving him a small smile that was hiding a bit of fear for her own life, but after a couple of silent seconds he let go of her

Letting out an exhale of relief Fae slowly backed away and gave the man a bit of space, he grunted as he got himself to sit down on the soil of the forest, his head slowly spinning around and aching

She saw him put his hands around his head to ease a bit of the pain, deciding not to stare too much her eyes went back to gaze at the crackling fire in front of the two as she warmed her hands

Seeing the man squirm slightly Fae gave him a curious side look to see what he was up to

She saw in his hands the likes of a water pouch made with leather, taking the cap off in disappointment with how light it felt in his hand, a disappointment he expressed with a sigh as he tossed the waterskin to his right

"Here" Bringing out a water bottle out of her backpack to hand it to the man, Fae gave him a polite smile to accompany her little gift, might as well be nice to the man with the sword she thought

Staring right into her eyes that couldn't see his own through the holes of the helmet with how dark it was around them, the man reluctantly grabbed the bottle as he eyed it for a short while, whether in curiosity or distrust Fae was none the wiser

Trying to take off the cap by pulling it alike to how his waterskin worked, Fae scoffed and approached the confused knight

"You do it like this" putting her hand above the plastic cap, Fae quickly turned it and took it off before sitting back down towards her side of the campfire, leaving the knight to eye her suspiciously

He then slowly looked inside the water bottle, bringing it close towards his face to take a whiff out of it seeking anything malicious, but much to his surprise there was none

Giving Fae a sharp gaze that made her gulp, the man then gave her his back and slightly took his helmet off to take a gulp, Fae could see a strand of blonde hair coming out of the back of his helmet, for reasons unknown the man was trying his utmost hardest to not let her see his face

But not giving her much time to inspect him further, the man fixed his helmet and turned around handing her back her bottle, giving her a slow nod that for once Fae could immediately discern that it was one of appreciation

"You're welcome" She took her bottle out of his hand and took a gulp of her own, letting out an exhale as she looked at the campfire, what a situation she was in

Clearing her throat and putting on a small smile, she turned her head to look at the knight

"So, I guess you're from uh... Flora?" she asked him, receiving no words but a slow nod of affirmation, breaking eye contact she looked away

"And I imagine you're heading there... Would you mind my company then?" Raising an eyebrow and looking back at the man hoping that he would accept, Fae smiled as her request was met by a silent yes in the form of a slow shake of his head

"Thank you, you're doing me a favor" She smiled brighter before turning back to look at the campfire

Having an escort albeit injured made her quite relieved, the man even though not very social didn't have the aura of a bad person and that was at least a start for the woman

She thought about telling him of the fate that met Archard, but should she?

It was a mission that he gave her, and even though he told her not to trust anybody in this land she went ahead and is at blade's length away from the knight next to her

But he still wore the emblem of Archard's country, would it be so bad to tell him about the scroll she was carrying?

"I'm from a far away country that's why my outfit looks weird to you" She smiled and addressed her new acquaintance's staring

She then looked down at her body to see black jeans, boots bearing the same color, a white buttoned up shirt and a dark jacket, not very fashionable but she wasn't one of fashion either way

"What about your injuries though?" The sharp green eyes of the man that could barely be seen immediately turned sour, sorrow all over them as they slowly looked away from her eyes turning towards the campfire for some solace

Fae pursed her lips as she thought that she might've hit a landmine with that question

"W-well, if you think you're fine then you should go to sleep, I'll be on overwatch" Looking at her with a stern look, Fae scoffed and waved her hand

"Don't worry I'm used to sleepless nights, besides if anything happen I doubt I'd be of help so let me at least do this" With a confident expression to deter him from declining, the man stared at her for a couple of seconds before yielding, stepping slightly away from her and lying down on the soil, back given to Fae

Taking in a deep breath Fae leaned her own back against the tree behind her, folding her legs and putting her arms around them as she finally could get a moment of respite to wonder about just what the hell happened

For starters she put a big red X on the possibility of this being a joke played on her when she lifted her hand and saw faint stains of blood that carried on from the knight's armor into her hands as she dragged him to a better place

Letting out an exasperated sigh she lowered her hand and switched her gaze into the slow burning campfire, if it's not a joke then what is it? this place wasn't the likes of a heaven or hell, let alone purgatory

The only resemblance it had was surprisingly to normality, a normal world with normal people

Whether that was comforting or more anxiety-inducing she didn't know much, only thing she knew right now was to get to Archard's home nation, she had a duty to perform

....

"No signal... I don't know what was I expecting" Fae mumbled to herself with a disappointed exhale as she put back her phone into her pocket, realizing that she really wasn't on earth anymore didn't send her into a panic as she expected, perhaps it was her feet aching that distracted her from panicking

She wanted to ask the knight walking in front of her whether they were there yet but he didn't utter a word ever since they met and she doubted he would open up now of all times

But it was unnecessary as past that man was the exit of the forest, a wave of wind hitting her right in her face, no leaves to protect her eyes from the sun as it struck her forcing her to lift one arm to shelter her eyes from the rays of light

And she could see over the horizon stone walls that stood tall and seemingly unfaltering, Fae presumed that this part of land wasn't victim to much war, a comforting thought that took some of the travelling pain away

As the two got closer to the town's gates she could notice two guards in thick leather armor immediately fix their posture as they noticed the knight

Putting a hand on their chest as a salute to the knight, the latter returned it with pride before he took out a small paper alike of a document and handed it to the guard on the right, Fae anxious at what was happening stood behind the knight as she received quite the stare from the other guard that was much younger than the one handling the document

It was a stare of both curiosity and distrust that pushed Fae into crossing her arms and looking to the other side away from his gaze, as a new face around this part she decided to not have a direct confrontation with the authority and just play along

"I'll send a messenger to Murkwell at once!" The burly guard talking with the knight exclaimed, receiving a slow yet appreciative nod from the knight that looked back to look at Fae, giving her a relieving nod as both of them entered through the gate

Within the stone walls the town was as medieval as it could get, loud banter around the duo with children running around and carts transporting different merchandise from place to place, on her right was seemingly a market bustling with activity, yells of prices and what of kept resonating inside Fae's head, although so many voices at once sure made it hard for her to understand which one was of which

But it seemed that none of that interested her travelling partner as he kept moving further down the road and Fae wishing not to be split away from her guide quickly caught up to him

Opening doors leading to some sort of bar the knight entered followed closely by Fae who immediately heard a child's yelp

"Ow!" Looking beyond the knight she realized that he accidentally pushed a little girl to the ground as he opened the door, lifting her eyes to look at the new customer the girl immediately had a scare as she noticed that it was a knight with blood stains all over his armor with a sword to his waist to add to the fear

"I-I'm sorry!" The child exclaimed in fear yet Fae saw that the knight was in just as much of an uncomfortable position as she saw him raise his hands to try and explain himself but she doubted that he could achieve anything of the sort without actually using his words

"My friend is pretty scary eh?" Fae butted in, getting to one knee as she gently got the child to her feet

"Don't worry he didn't want to scare you, he's not mean at all just not much of a talker" Patting the child on the head Fae gave her the most comforting smile she could muster to give

"A-ah its okay it was my fault too for standing next to the door" Fae laughed as she was overwhelmed by the adorable kindness of the girl in front of her

"Well well if you're that that much of a nice girl let me just" Getting her left hand into her pocket and rummaging around, she smiled as she found out what she was looking for

Showing an empty hand to the confused yet curious child, she then got the same empty hand behind her ear

"Aha! you're such a sweet girl that I've found this behind your ear" Showing the same hand to the child, now the empty palm had a white little piece of candy in it

"Uhm, what's this?" the child inquired much to Fae's enjoyment

"It's candy of course" And with those words the little girl became more flustered that she already was

"C-candy? are you a n-noble miss?!" Realizing that her world and this one was much much different yet again, Fae smiled and ruffled the girl's hair

"Don't you worry I'm not a noble, I'm just like you" She then pushed her gift even close to the girl

"Now take it, it's a gift" The child, reluctant to displease what seemed like a noble woman listened to Fae as she took the piece of candy, putting it into her mouth and biting it softly, her eyes widened as all the sweet aroma of the candy got the best of her taste buds

"This is so sweet!" Fae laughed as she had a slight aura of pride around her

"I know right, they're my favorites" Happy on how she handled the situation Fae stood on her feet, turning her head to look at the knight behind her that his only visible green emerald eyes had the expression of impression which didn't help sooth down Fae's smug side

The man walked over the two not before briefly patting the child as an obvious way of apologizing before he headed towards the empty counter

"See, I told you he wasn't a bad person" Fae told the child who nodded quickly before smiling and grabbing Fae's wrist

"Let's get you a table miss!" Fae chuckled and decided to play along with the kid, but more importantly if the knight came here then he most probably wished to stay for a bit

Pulling a chair for Fae, the child smiled brightly making Fae's heart feel warm as she returned the bright smile and took the offer

"How kind of you" Fae's words made the little girl's smile even brighter as the former was hit with waves of remembrance of when she had a part time job as a baby-sitter

"So, what's your name?" She asked the child as she rested her cheek on the palm of her hand

"Ysabel, what about you miss?" Fae smiled

"Fae Walker, nice to meet you Ysabel" Ysabel chuckled as she replied

"Nice to meet you too miss Fae!" The knight, finishing interacting with the inn keeper walked towards Fae as he attracted both of their attention

He stood tall as he looked at Fae, handing her an open hand

"I guess this is where we part ways" She smiled and pushed herself up before shaking his hand

"It was a nice trip together, stay safe mister...?" Fae said hoping to get the name of the silent knight

However, taking his hand away and putting it on his chest as a knightly salute, the man just left without a single word

"Hah, still not much of a talker..." Taking an inhale, he turned around to see a man with a light beard and slightly long hair tied into a ponytail walk towards both Fae and Ysabel

"Hey, your knight friend already paid a month's fee for your room here, here's your key missy "The man slid the key on the table towards Fae, who sat down and took it

"Ah... how nice of him" She smiled as she looked at the key, mysterious and cold on the outside but soft on the inside, she knew a lot of her friends that would fall head over heels for him

"Anyway, welcome to the Red Lily's inn, you can find your room upstairs with the number 016, I'm Ulfgan and this is my daughter Ysabel" He smiled as he patted his girl's head

"Nice to meet you Ulfgan, I'm Fae" She felt a sense of comfort as she saw the parent and his child being so close to each other

"Fae huh, that's a nice name though I don't think you're from around here are you?" He asked with a raised eyebrow while rubbing his chin

"Uh... yeah I'm not" Fae then saw Ysabel pinch Ulfgan from his arm

"Daddy you're not being nice to the customers!" Ulfgan laughed out loud before he looked at the smiling Fae

"I apologize missy I won't pry any further" Fae gave him a polite and appreciative smile

"Though it's nice to have new faces once in a while, welcome to the town of Freesia" He said with a small smile accompanied by another smile coming from Ysabel

"Thank you, it's nice to have such a warm welcome" Ulfgan nodded and crossed his arms

"You're welcome, since you're not from here I imagine you have some questions no?" He asked her with a tilted head

Fae remembering that she knows nothing about world took the opportunity of a friendly and finally talkative adult to get some information

"We're in the Flora kingdom, correct?" She asked him with slightly furrowed eyebrows that were replied by a slow nod

"Alright, and how far is the capital from here?" She inquired again, Ulfgan rubbed his chin and hummed under his breath

"Rose is on the other side of the land lass, you've got weeks of travelling before reaching it" He replied to her

A capital named rose for the Flora nation, at least the names won't be hard to rememeber and that thought brought her some much needed relief

"And how dangerous are the roads?" Ulfgan grimaced as it seemingly was a sour question

"Very dangerous, the nation is still in recovery after our independence so bandits and cutthroats run amok between cities and towns" Gulping, she hoped to the lord above that she would never have to meet one of those kind of people

"But don't worry, the circle of knights are doing a really good job at cleaning up the filth" He added on at the sight of Fae showing some slight anxiety

"Oh, you've mentioned an independence, could you tell me more?" Ulfgan laughed with his deep voice as he took a seat down and looked at his daughter

"Bring us two pints of ale Ysabel" She smiled and happily complied to her father's demand

"You really are far away from here if you don't even know what's going on in the bigger scale" He told Fae, a smirk accompanying the content of his words that she couldn't help but laugh nervously

"Anyway, we're in the Flora kingdom, to our west is the Devil's ocean, beyond it are lands that none are familiar of really" Ulfgan stated, Fae shuddered as she heard the word devil, in her previous world it would be something mundane but since she's in a brand new world the existence of actual demons wouldn't be far off

"To the south is the Vael desert and the kingdom of Yashul, Not a place to be if you can't handle the heat haha" Ulfgan had the expression of fond memories all over his face, he must have had quite the number of tales to share from his youth

"To the north is the curtain of ancient trees and beyond them is the Galyu kingdom, governed by Elves" Fae chuckled at the thought of elves being a reality, popular in pop culture she couldn't wait to see how accurate was her world's depiction of this race

"And finally to the east is the human kingdom of Aralia" Wanting to speak more but attention caught by his daughter that came to the table, Ulfgan smiled as he took his pint of ale

"It's on the house for this time" Fae smiled and gave Ulfgan an appreciative nod, his daughter went away leaving the two

"Anyway, back to where we were" He added as he took a sip

"The kingdom of Flora was once part of the Aralia nation, though after many unneeded wars and unruly dictatorship an insurgency sprung wanting to make their own nation led by Aralian General Sofia Yuri DeSilver" Ulfgan took a big gulp out of his pint before putting it gently on the table as he let out a joyful exhale

"The reasons were like I said, unjustified wars, dictatorship and also slavery of beast folk" He said with his eyes locked with Fae's who was overwhelmed with the existence of so many races

"Though between you and me lass, i feel like the last one was an excuse to get the support of the beastmen" Taking a slow sip of his pint, Ulfgan resumed shortly after

"Ah, that general is a cunning woman it wouldn't surprise me that she did that on purpose to gather more support" He then looked back at Fae

"But anyway, the insurgency started on the 12th of the cloud month 1258, and lasted, well" he took a gulp out of his pint and continued

"24 days" Fae raised an eyebrow before slowly lowering her pint

"24 days and she defeated a whole empire?" Fae asked him, Ulfgan chuckled and replied

"Not so much as defeated, though true the first ten days were filled with blood, Sofia knew exactly what to strike and when to strike, she was the right arm of the Aralian king after all, she knew everything about the country's infrastructure and military" Fae pursed her lips as the sour feeling of betrayal made her aware of the taste of the ale that she was drinking, it didn't taste good at all but for some reason she couldn't stop drinking

"Betrayed huh? that must've stung" She said, Ulfgan chuckled

"Very much so, Sofia's plan worked without much problems as she had both a quarter of the military at her hand and the people's support" Ulfgan sighed and looked inside his pint

"She then won the civil war by forcing the Aralian kingdom to accept her demands, which were to split the nation in two" Ulfgan concluded, Fae smiled and added to the conversation

"You don't sound like you're much of a fan of hers" He laughed

"Not really no, she is way too cunning for me, nobody has no idea what goes in her mind behind that smile of hers" Fae chuckled and kept her opinion about her to herself, hopefully she won't have to meet her to deliver the scroll, but then again Archard specifically told Fae to deliver it right into the queen's hand

"Ah... so much trouble..." Fae whispered to herself with her eyes sunken into the her pint

"Though whether I like her or not, I'll have to admit she made life more enjoyable" He then said wtih a small smile before raising his eyes away from his pint to look at Fae

"She reformed the military and made them much more serviceable, made roads much more safer than they were and also made many supply chains, gave funds help towns affected by the civil war and made a memorial for the soldiers that were never found, so she's not that bad of a gal" Fae laughed nervously, if the current roads are already dangerous she didn't even imagine how dangerous they were before the Queen

"Anyway enough history, what about you missy what will you be doing from now on" He asked her with a smirk

"Well I'll have to know how much it'll cost to go to the capital, that's first, and then raising that much money" Fae let out an already tired sigh just thinking about what thing she'll have to do and the amount of work she'll have to put it to achieve her goal

"Hm... you could try your luck at the adventurer's guild, it's dangerous but fast coins" Fae laughed at the idea

"I'm not the strongest as you can see" She said, Ulfgan tilted his head to the side

"But you don't need to be, you can work with a party, though I don't presume you know magic do you?" Fae pursed her lips before shrugging

"Well, haven't tried yet" Her words made Ulfgan smirk

"That's a nice spirit lass, though you look really young, don't do anything stupid if you decide to go down that path" She smiled and slowly nodded

"Of course, Thank you for your worries" She said with a polite smile that made him laugh

"Ah if only more youth were like you, I tell you what" He leaned closer to Fae

"My little sister works at the guild as a receptionist, she'll get you a card and an admission and then you can choose whether you would like that kind of work, alright?" He asked her as he saw her smile warmly

"Thank you for your kindness Ulfgan, I genuinely appreciate it" The innkeeper laughed with his deep voice as he got up his seat

"Don't mention it, its my pleasure helping kids like you, anyway you go get settled down in your room and I'll go write that letter for you" He waved goodbyes to Fae and went on back to the counter, leaving Fae with a warm heart at the kindness that she kept receiving

Looking through the window and clutching her pint with both hands, Fae stared at the ocean blue sky, consciousness seemingly drowning in it's beauty with her face bearing a small smile