User blog:GamerNerd i/Trial by Fire - Book I: Preface

If you're new to my writings, start here. If you don't need the exposition, start here. If you just want to see all the stuff, then it's in my user page.

//Here's a new project of mine. This is going to be a long and ongoing thing. I hope you guys enjoy it! There's another half to it, but you need not concern yourself with it for now, mortal.

The Summons

I remember nothing.

Well… Almost nothing. Where I had a biography, I now have a Wikipedia infobox. And not even that, really. At least about myself. I could probably recite the whole Kanto Pokedex in order, but it’s not like that’ll help much. Isn’t that strange?

Isn’t it also cliched as heck? Unknown protagonist appears out of nowhere without any memory of his or her past… Oh, I haven’t told you about my appearance, have I? I’m getting ahead of myself.

The last thing I remember was a vortex transporting me somewhere. (Why is it always a vortex?) I remember neither where nor why I was traveling. But the next thing I knew, I was sprawled on the ground. A woman with blazing red hair and white and gold clothing was stooped to my level, trying to come face-to-face with me.

“You’re here?” She stands up, pacing in excitement. “Ooh! You’re here! The ritual actually worked!” I must have looked confused since she glanced at me and attempted to regain her composure. “Ahem… Oh Great Hero from another world! Thou hast come so far to fulfill your role in our leg-“

Now, I'm a very polite person. But I really hate overdramatic and pre-scripted speakers, so much so that I don't mind being slightly rude. “I apologize for interrupting, but I don't quite understand why I'm here,” I say, with equal parts confusion and sternness. “You've already shown yourself to be capable of normal English, so kindly cut the Shakespearean dialect and get to the point.”

She stops and puts her finger on her chin; an odd but somehow familiar pose. “I was about to say that you don't look like the thee-and-thou type. I'm not quite sure whether you're this Great Hero our legends talk about. You want to know where you are? And how you got here? Fair enough. You're in--“

A man with an axe approaches quickly. His dark armor hides his eyes and has green highlights.

“FOUND YOU!” He yells. I mean, obviously, he's right, but… Really?

The red-haired woman mutters under her breath. “Drat! How did one of those Emblians get here already? Stand back! I'll take care of him!”

She hefts an axe over her shoulder and charges the other soldier. The duel is short, but her skill with an axe so outmatches the soldier that I was surprised that he stood a chance at all. I approach as she knocks him out with the flat of her axe.

“Whew! I took care of him!” She says. “Oh, how rude of me, I haven't introduced myself,” she offers her hand and I shake it. “My name’s Anna. I'm the commander of the Order of Heroes.”

Both names ring a bell. Unfortunately, it's one of those lame service bells that are so old that they don't exactly ring anymore. “Well met,” I respond, before chastising myself. Why did I say it like that? I could have just as easily said “Nice to meet you” like any other normal person. Something told me that I was alluding to something… But what?

“We believe that Heroes should live free. Our enemies, however, enslave them — the fiends. This realm has gateways to the worlds where Heroes come from. Have you heard of the World of Awakening? How about the World of Birthright? Or the World of Conquest?”

These names also stir memories. Awakening, Conquest, Birthright. They're really vague, but at least I can pin them. Kinda.“I… I feel like I've heard those three somewhere before. Subtitles of some… Series. I wasn't too familiar with it I think. But I can't remember anything right now.”

She looks skeptical but nods in understanding of my predicament. “There are so many more! The Emblian Empire invades those worlds and binds their Heroes to service. We fight for their freedom! That soldier was from the Emblian Empire, which will soon invade our neighboring kingdom Askr.” The more she talks, the more I get the feeling that I've heard this banter somewhere before. But where, dammit? “I was desperate for help. I performed a summoning ceremony. And you just appeared out of nowhere. Lucky us! But there's no time to rest. We have to act fast if we're going to save our kingdom!”

“Our?” I ask. “Don't you mean your kingdom? I just got here, I still don't quite know what my purpose here is.” I shake my head. “Either way, I guess that I'm with you now.”

Anna nods her head. “Come on, let’s move. I don't doubt that more Emblians will show up soon. I’ll explain as we go.” She starts a brisk walk and I follow.

“I just realized that I haven't told you my name yet,” I say. The reason for that was still my amnesia, but I guess my recovery was starting. “I’m Aidan. I’m not quite sure about what it means, but… I’m a Recreator.”

Living Legend

I’m not sure how athletic I am, but I was glad that we were walking and not running. All this stuff takes a toll on your mind, you know? I’ve spent barely five minutes in this place and I’ve already been told I’m a “Great Hero” and that I’m the key to saving an entire kingdom. No sweat, right? I need a slow pace to sort things out.

Although… It feels like it’s not the first time that I’ve had this mind-breaking revelation. How would I know? My memory can’t even extend past my name and a title I know I have. And yet, that Mario+Rabbids song is still stuck in my head… Why that and not who I am?

Anna tries to give me some background as we go. I try to process it while struggling to remember details — anything. “First thing’s first. I summoned you here with the divine Breidablik.” She waves something that looks like a white and gold version of Star-Lord’s weapon. “That’s the name of this relic I’ve brought.”

Star-Lord… That’s not from any game. That’s from a book. And books… I feel like half of me is missing now. But why? I was never much of a reader…

“It fires something out of it, according to legend, but Breidablik doesn’t look like any bow I’ve ever seen.”

So guns don’t exist in this world, huh? I thought to myself. What time period am I in?

“The legend also calls it ‘the true key,’ which, if raised high, will summon the Great Hero who can fire it. That’s what I did.”

“And now I’m here,” I pick up. “So I assume I’m left to my own devices to figure it out?”

“Unfortunately, yes. Nothing tells us h-“

“THERE SHE IS!” These guys, man. It’s another axe guy, and this time he has a friend. They’re giving minions a bad rep. “GET HER!”

“Drat!” Anna swears under her breath. “More of these Emblian soldiers. I can’t defeat them all by myself, and you’re not equipped to help me,” she says, glancing at my casual clothing. I mean, I can probably throw a few punches, but that won’t do much against two guys with armor and axes. “You run while I hold them off. Take Breidablik and get out of here, Aidan!” She hands the weapon to me, and suddenly the area is engulfed in light.

For a moment, I’m in a different place. It’s all white, like limbo. I don’t see anyone, but I feel a presence. “Now, I can’t see you, but I know you’re there,” I say out loud, trying to sound tough.

“Heh, a subconscious reference to McCree’s reaction to Sombra,” a voice responds. It’s casual and slightly mocking, as if it were a friend that you would talk trash with. And McCree and Sombra… Aren’t those Overwatch characters? “That’s a good sign that everything worked out well, at least on the memory side. Alrighty, kiddo, you’re back at noob level right now, and it’s a long climb back to Ultimate. I’ll be watching, but I GTG for now. GLHF!”

The presence leaves, but briefly someone else is in the room. A blonde-haired girl, holding a sword of what looks like bronze. We stare at each other, Breidablik in my hand and the blade in hers. We recognize each other. I know I do, and I can see that she knows me in her eyes. But I can’t place the name…

The light of limbo fades, and I find myself in front of Anna again, holding the weapon like a gun. Briedablik is glowing with the same light as limbo was. The Emblians stopped dead in their tracks, and I could feel the weapon’s mechanical parts working.

“What’s that?!” Anna exclaims. “That bright light, coming from-“ There’s a flash and a gray-haired man with a bow appears in front of Anna and me. He turns around with a slightly confused smile. “Oh, my. That was interesting. I am Virion, the finest archer of the fairest of realms.” He takes a small bow. “Delighted to be of service. Now,” he says, drawing his bow, “shall we, fair lady?”

Anna is still in a bit of a shock. “How'd you do that?” She gasps. “You summoned a Hero, Aidan! You just picked up Breidablik, and you're already able to use it!” “I, uh, thanks?” I stutter. Poetic of me, I know. My assumption is that they didn’t see my brief talk with… Whatever was in that limbo. I kept quiet about it. “I don’t know how it happened either, but you two should probably go.” I pointed at the two advancing Emblians.

“You’re right,” Anna nods. “There's no time to chat now. This Virion and I need to get to fighting. Cover me!”

Virion starts shooting. Impressively, Anna manages to hold off the two soldiers at once. (That really tells you something about her skills.) Virion manages to shoot one of them down.

Meanwhile, Anna glows with power. “This one’s on the house!” She exclaims. The sky nearby turns dark briefly. Stars are visible as she strikes down the other Emblian, her axe seemingly drawing power from the dark of night around her.

At this point, something weird happened to me. I was watching in amazement at this show of skill, but when the stars showed up… Something tugged at me from within. Something about that artificial night sky stirred up emotion. I can’t pin exactly what it was. It felt like a moment of fear, my heart skipping a beat, before a second of intense anger. Even as I write this, I don’t understand what it was or why it happened.

Either way, my head was spinning when Anna came back to check on me. “We won!” She says excitedly. “And its all thanks to you-“ At this point I lurched and fell to the ground. “Whoa! Are you okay? What happened?” Anna helps me up as I lean on her.

“I… I don’t know.” I mumble. “That moment of artificial nighttime… My head…”

“It’s a trick I learned somewhere. No one has reacted to it like that, not even my opponents,” she says. “It must have something to do with summoning. Fatigue, maybe?” She shakes her head.

“Anyway, cheer up! We’re out of danger for now. And we even made a new Hero friend!” She gestures to Virion, who looks bored now. “Why, none of us in the Order of Heroes can actually summon these Heroes,” she laughs. “I never doubted for a second that you were the Great Hero.” I’m pretty sure she told me the exact opposite of that a few minutes ago, but I was still dealing with a headache so I didn’t respond.

“I know this is a lot to put on you, but you're the one who will save our kingdom. Our order is small, Summoner, but welcome to our ranks. When you’re recovered, please, help us find more Heroes to assist us. Now that you're here, I just know that we'll win our fight against the empire, Summoner.” With that, I limp alongside Anna as she takes me back to her base. Virion follows close behind, looking around absentmindedly.