Prologue

Disclaimer: Hello, all of you lovely people. Welcome to the first ever Chain Chronicle fanfic. I am your host, ArthurDragonpen. Just for the record, Chain Chronicle is not my creation and therefore, anything that is not an OC does not belong to me. Now that the pleasantries are out of the way, here comes the prologue. Enjoy!

"Rhys!" A somewhat melodic voice shouted off into the distance. "She's coming to"

"Yeah, I see that. Hey, you okay?" I feel a pressure on my shoulder as someone tried to nudge me awake. "Can you hear me?"

"Rhys!" A smaller female voice shouted out in anger. "Don't harass her. She's already been through a lot. Let her wake up on her own."

"I… um, right." The voice said hesitantly.

Moaning, I grabbed at my head and blinked open my eyes. The first thing I saw was a face. His eyes stared down at mine, a dark brown chocolate that brought me out of the darkness. His hair was of the same color but slightly brighter with a shine that caught my eye and his face was delicately curved and fashioned as though he were an Adonis. He wore chain mail armor and a white medieval jacket with an assortment of belts that held his sword and kept his armor in check. All in all, he was quite the pretty boy. But, I wasn't given much time to admire the scenery when a sudden agonizing pain wracked my body and I whimpered. I tried speaking but no sound came out. Could I speak at all?

Eventually, I was able to force the words out of my mouth. "W-What happened to make me feel this bad? It feels as though I was dropped off the side of a cliff."

"Black Troops will do that to you. Lucky we found you two before they could do too much harm." The small female voice was back and I found myself searching for the voice. "Where's that voice coming from?"

"What? You didn't notice me? I'm sitting on Rhys's shoulder." I quickly looked towards the boy I had described before and my eyes regarded his figure before widening in surprise. There had been someone sitting on Rhys's shoulder and my eyes had skated right over her. The girl was no bigger than my hand and that's saying something; my hand is pretty small. Her eyes were a bright emerald green and her hair shone like a scarlet fire giving off light and warmth. She wore a pink blouse tied with a small ribbon and a purple skirt with black tights. But what most surprised me was the set of dragonfly wings attached to her back.

I gasped. "A-Are you a… fairy?"

For a second, the girl's face was blank. But, then she giggled. "A sprite actually. But, I guess that's not the biggest problem. My name is Pirika. What's yours?"

For a moment, I did nothing but stare at her in thought. Pirika became nervous and she held up her hands in reassurance. "It's alright if you don't remember. Amnesia is nothing to be afraid of. Phoena's going through the same thing."

One of her words registered. "Fiona?" My eyebrows furrowed as I sounded the word out. No doubt about it. That name made me feel something. And yet… "Who is Fiona?"

"That would be me. I'm Phoena." The soft, peaceful voice was back and I turned to see another girl on my right. She smiled at me softly and something in me wanted to smile as well but I settled for staring at her eyes of opal, shining softly and her expression of compassion. She wore a light blue dress and a brown, winter fur coat, two intricately detailed armbands, and travelling boots. In her hands, she held a blue bag that looked rather strange, now that I thought about it. Actually, what she held was not a bag but rather a gold-encrusted ancient-looking blue book. As I stared, I realized that her voice was the first that I had heard upon waking up. That, and I knew her from somewhere.

"You look familiar." Phoena's eye grew wide with surprise but also hope. Hastily, I scrambled to amend my statement. "I mean, not really familiar but I feel like I know you more than I know me." Um, does that even make sense?

Phoena nodded, her smile becoming rather forced. "I see. Oh, well, I figured that you would know who I am since you were protecting me after I was knocked out. If Rhys, Pirika, and the others hadn't come when they did, we'd both be dead."

I looked to the three of them. "Is that so?" Frowning, I said, "Thank you for saving me. But, I… I don't own anything to give you for your troubles."

Rhys shook his head. "Don't worry about it. We're just happy to see you are alright."

Pirika fluttered her wings and took flight. "That's right. You don't have to pay us back."

She may as well not have been talking. All I could think about was how to repay these kind strangers for all their help. But, what did I have to give? I had no money to my name and only the clothes off my back, which I was sure they weren't going to accept. Then, it hit me. "Would you allow me to tag along with you and your group?" I asked Rhys.

Rhys looked at Pirika before fixing me with a questioning glance. "I think that depends on why you want to."

I lowered my eyes, downcast. "Well, partly it's because I figure this is the only way to pay you back for all you've done for me. But, to be completely honest, I wish to explore this world. I want to know what caused my memory loss and, if I can, somehow regain those scattered recollections." I hadn't noticed that my voice had grown more confident until I looked up and noticed them staring at me in silence. Immediately, I lowered both my head and my voice and begged, "Please, do me the honor of allowing me to accompany you."

For a moment, they were quiet. I refused to lift my head until they gave me some sort of response. Finally, Rhys put his hand under my chin and forced me to look him in the eyes. "If you want to join us, then we won't stop you. Just know that the road ahead will be dangerous. You still willing to follow us?"

Ecstatic that he had accepted my request, I jumped up and gave each both and Rhys and Phoena big hugs. I was just about to thank them strenuously but then I stopped.

All three of them gave me a long look. "Hey, what happened?"

I spoke suddenly, almost without realizing it. "Layla, yes. That's my name… it is Layla." The laugh that bubbled up inside of me in that moment was building but I couldn't stop. It wasn't long before I burst out in chuckles and giggles of glee, my smiling face radiating even the darkest corners. I knew I must have looked mad right about now. But, I could care less.

Rhys seems to understand my thought process and smiles along with me. He held out a hand which I gladly accepted. "Okay, Layla, welcome to the Volunteer Army. Nice to have you along!"

I looked to him and grinned. "Glad to be here."

And that's all for now. Sorry that it was short. I'll make sure the next chapter is longer. For now, this Chain Chronicle fanfiction is nothing more than an experiment. Depending on its reception, I will either continue or delete it. IF you don't want that to happen, you can send in reviews as well as OC requests. And I'll get to work on meeting your demands. So, I guess I'll see you later.

ArthurDragonpen, signing off!