The Dream World

Summary: Rin "wakes" up in a renaissance era world and must fight unnamed forces that stand in her way from rescuing Prince Brian.

Rin worked herself up to her feet. Her body felt like lead as she got up. The sun shined down on her face for the first time in weeks. She knew today was going to be good. She got out of her sleeping garments and into a clean dress and headed outside. She walked outside and into a busy walkway; plenty of people that didn't know her greeted her, and she was confused by how real everything was. The air was crisp, and the grit in her fingernails felt like she had lived in that world since she was born.

"May I ask for today's date," Rin said to an unknown person.

"My, it's May 15th, 1567, miss," he said. Tin looked around; the place was like a scene from a fairy tale. There were knights that walked around in suits of armor. Men and women dressed in renaissance attire. She was even dressed in that fashion as well.

She walked down the pathway and reached the central plaza. There were vendors all around the open space, and she walked around and bought items from the merchants. She saw a bunch of men looking at something in the middle of the plaza. When Rin stepped nearer, she saw clearly it was a bulletin board with a heading that said, "Today's Quests!"

"Hey young lady, I don't think you should be here," one of the men said, "little ladies shouldn't be out in the wild on their own."

"Have ye no faith," Rin said. Oddly, she somehow gained the ability to speak in a more or less ancient accent. "Can't a woman be able to do the same things a man can."

The man shook his head, but Rin continued into the crowd of men.

She made her way closer, shoving the men aside, and she looked at the headline quest of the day, "Prince Brian Missing: Collect him alive and receive the reward of a single wish granted."

Rin smiled, and thought that would be a quest worthwhile in this world.

Rin soon left the plaza and made her way back to her "home." She packed whatever she thought she needed: a map, food, water, clothes, flint, and steel. She looked at the toy foil on the ground; Rin remembered that had been Yuna's gift to her in the real world. When she picked it up, the foil shined and turned into a full size rapier, complete with its own scabbard. She tucked the sword on the left side of her hip, and headed on out the door and out to the city gates.

As Rin walked down the pathway, the people looked at her oddly. They remained silent as she walked into the plaza, and everyone even stopped what they were doing. Bakers stopped baking. The merchants halted transactions. Even children stopped playing. They all set their eyes on Rin.

When Rin was 50 yards away from the city gate, a kid her age ran up behind her and ran into her.

"Ow," he said. The kid fell onto the floor and looked up at Rin.

"Who are you," Rin asked.

"My name is Adrian," he said, "I want to help you on your quest."

Rin thought about it; she wouldn't mind having the company with her since it was at least a two days journey to the place where Prince Brian supposedly was kept.

"Fine," she said, "you can come."

"Yes," he said. They walked out the gates together. Much of the town was watching them as they exited, and all of them still remained silent as the two of them headed out into the woods.

The two talked to each other while they hiked down the trail in the woods. They discovered a lot about each other, and the two became friends as they traveled the lonely road together.

The sun was going down, and the two of them managed to walk all the way through the woods in a single day. They were now standing on a cliff overlooking a valley; the next part of their journey had to be through that valley and up Mount Bek. There they will most likely find Prince Brian and rescue him from his captors.

Adrian and Rin set up camp on the ridge; while Adrian prepared the tents, Rin started the fire.

"Rin," Adrian asked, "what brought you to go on the quest?"

He didn't ask that question at all on the hike, Rin thought.

"Um, I guess, I just wanted to get away from the city," Rin said.

"I see," Adrian replied. He sat by the fire, and Rin sat next to him. "I can tell you are not from this world."

"How," Rin asked.

"Just your demeanor," he said, "women from this time, are nowhere as near free-spirited."

"I see."

Something rustled in the bushes.

"Something's coming," Adrian said. He pulled out the long sword he was carrying. Rin unsheathed her rapier.

Bandits jumped out of the bushes and attacked them. Adrian charged in began wildly swinging his sword. The bandits frightened by his technique still fought him, and he was able to slay a few.

Rin backed off just a bit, carefully examining the situation. She was surrounded by three men. One jumped up from behind her she ducked and ran her sword through him. Another bandit jumped on her, but she threw the dead one off of her back, knocking the one that jumped on her to the ground. The last bandit slashed at her, she parried the attack and countered with a flurry of fatal slices, eliminating that bandit. When the other guy recovered, she lunged at him and ran her blade through him.

The bandits, losing too many men to two supposedly easy targets, retreated into the darkness.

"Rin, I think they might come back when we're asleep," Adrian said, "I'll take the first watch, and I'll wake you up in a couple of hours."

All of sudden, in the middle of the night, Rin was awoken by hands grabbing her and stuffing her in a bag. Outside, she heard Adrian talking with one of the bandits. She wanted to say a bunch of unmentionable names to him, but she was muffled by the bag placed over her head.

She was hit in the back of the head and was knocked out.

Mt. Bek: Dungeon

When Rin awakened, she had a painful migraine, and she was shackled by her hands and feet to a wall. Next to her was someone she didn't recognize.

"What's your name," she asked.

The man coughed, "Brian. What's yours?"

"Rin," she said.

"Rin, what a nice name," Brian said.

The dungeon door opened, Adrian walked into the room.

"Adrian," Rin said angrily.

"What, my sweet Rin, why are you so down," he said with a smirk on his face, "if all you wanted was to get out of the city, here you are now, far away from it."

"That's not what I meant," she said.

"Of course," Adrian said. He caressed his hand over her face. Rin spit on his hand.

"As for you, Brian, my brother," Adrian said, "where is the treasure? Where is it?"

"You'll never find it," Brian replied. Adrian punched him in the gut. Brian spit out blood.

"No, don't do that, Adrian," Rin pleaded.

"You'll shut up woman," Adrian commanded. He slapped her across the face. "Now, I'll be in my room, and if in 15 minutes neither of you satisfies my wishes, both of your heads are coming off," he said. Adrian stormed out of the room, and left Brian and Rin by themselves.

"Rin," said an angelic voice, "remember, this is your dream, you have the power here, not him."

Rin heard what the angelic voice said, and thought about how they could get out of the dungeon. She closed her eyes and imagined herself out of the chains, and when she opened her eyes she was free of the shackles that bound her. Then she imagined a key and unlocked Prince Brian's chains.

They walked over to the door, and Rin used the key to unlock the door. The guards startled by their sudden escape, tried to herd them back into the cell using their lances, but Rin materialized her rapier in her hand and quickly eliminated the two guards.

Prince Brian and Rin went up the stairs and through several hallways and ended up in the throne room. A single chandelier lit the gloomy area, and in the throne was none other than Adrian.

"Congratulations, Rin," Adrian said, "you escaped, but I don't think my brother will."

He pulled out a knife and threw it at Brian, but Brian pulled out a katana and deflected the knife.

"Not today, brother," Brian said.

"Gyahh," Adrian cried out. He pulled out his long sword which this time was much larger than it was when he used it in the forest. He swung the gigantic blade at Brian, but Brian blocked it. Rin jumped on the blade and lunged at Adrian. Adrian step back and blocked the attack.

He swung the giant blade again, this time at Rin.

"Riposte," Rin said. She deflected the attack and counterattacked with a jab at Adrian's shoulder.

"Eek," Adrian cried. His shirt was beginning to be stained with blood. He slashed again and this time Rin ducked under the blade, and used "Burst of Speed." She repeatedly jabbed and cut Adrian when he was recovering from swinging his giant blade.

Adrian jumped back and began to focus his attacks on Brian. Brian managed to block all of Adrian's attacks with his katana. Brian then followed with a slash that cut through the wind and sent a burst of air at Adrian. When Adrian was distracted, Rin jumped into the fight, and quickly landed more hits on Adrian.

Adrian enraged by his inability to attack his opponents went into a blind rage. He swung his blade violently. Each swing packed the force of a speeding car. Brian attempted to deflect one of the slashes but was knocked against the wall.

"Hahahaha," Adrian said, "you're all alone now." He lifted his gigantic blade into the air and swing it downward at Rin. She put her blade up and with one hand on the handle and the other on the blade; she blocked the gigantic long sword. However, her own blade was now cutting into her hand.

Rin gritted her teeth as she pushed the giant blade off of her. Stunned by Rin's strength, Adrian fell backwards and attempted to recover.

Rin looked at her left hand which was now covered in blood. She cut off the piece of a nearby curtain to wrap around her hand. As she carefully tied the cloth together, Adrian stood back up and once again blindly swung his long sword. Rin dodged the attacks as she ran to the other side of the room.

She then remembered the words of the angelic voice, "This is your dream, you have the power here, not him."

She imagined herself with great speed, and she flew across the room at lightning quick velocity. Adrian slashed at where she was, but by then she had gone to a different part of the room or had completely dodged the attack.

"Time to end this," Rin said. "Blade Waltz!" She soon dashed across the room several times, each time landing a deadly laceration upon Adrian. By the end of her attack, Adrian fell to the ground and turned into ashes.

"Whew," Rin said. She quickly ran over to Brian, who had regained consciousness.

"Well you rescued me," he said gladly, "What is your wish?"

"I wish to free from this world," Rin replied.

"Very well," Brian motioned his servants and they opened up a door with only darkness ahead. Then several lighted steps led out of the door. "Here is your ticket out," he said, "but beware, Adrian is only the beginning of the nightmare."

"I'll remember that," she said. She walked through the door with her rapier back in its scabbard.

The door shut behind her, and the lighted pathway led to a portal she with which she had become familiar. These were the same portals that brought into the real world the minions and monsters, what lay beyond this portal, who knew.

She walked into it, hoping for the best.