When the conflict was resolved, she left her comrades to set off on her own. Peace had returned to the land, so a warrior like her was no longer needed. Sure, they could expect trouble from bandits, but it wasn't anything she was required to solve.
Princess Tana had asked her to stay with them, but she knew spending her days in a castle would only cause her skills to deteriorate. The battle against those demons showed Marisa that she still had room for improvement. Clad in a thick white cloth wrapped over her normal attire, she set off in the mountains to continue her training.
As she climbed through the mountains, she found herself enveloped in a thick fog. Every direction she looked, visibility was nil. It was too late for her to turn back. She wasn't quite sure which direction she came from at this point. She continued forward, hand ready at her side to draw her sword should the need arise.
As she traveled further into the fog, she couldn't shake the feeling that everything felt…still – lifeless, perhaps. The wind had stopped moving and the sounds of birds and other creatures had long ceased. She couldn't help but question if she was still in her world; nevertheless, she remained stoic and continued to traverse the mysterious fog.
Marisa no longer had a proper grasp of how long and how far she had walked through the fog. She felt the surface below her feet change from a rocky hill to a flat surface. Dirt? Unlike the mountainous terrain that she should be on, Marisa now found herself on leveled ground. As she advanced, the fog in her path seemed to thin out.
Clink.
The sound echoed when Marisa's foot made contact with something light and metallic. The fog before her dispersed, revealing a large clearing of what appeared to be a long-forgotten battlefield. Corpses littered the ground in all directions. The bodies had long been decayed and the bones seemed as if they would turn to the dust if she touched them. The armor they wore was unfamiliar, but they were so old and worn that she couldn't make it out anything truly distinctive on them. The weapons that were scattered across the ground were rusted, completely unusable. Her hand instinctively went to her own blade. She didn't know where she was, but any fool could tell that staying her was unwise. As she turned to leave, the sound of movement caught her attention.
"This place is creepy. Aww man…Soren is going to yell at me for getting lost again." She could hear an unfamiliar woman's voice from across the field. Against her better judgment, she approached the woman. If someone else was lost in this fog, it would be wiser to stick together. What she was wasn't quite what Marisa expected. Kneeling before her was a blue-haired woman wearing orange armor. The woman was poking some rusted armor with her blade's sheath. "This place is a wasteland." She mumbled, completely unaware of the fellow swordswoman's presence.
The blue-haired woman was armed, but she didn't seem too dangerous. Despite their situation, the girl was calmer than she was – almost carefree, even. "Who are you?" Marisa asked, causing the kneeling woman to spring up and away from the voice that suddenly called out to her.
"Huh?" She turned to face Marisa, smiling when she saw that someone else here was still among the living. "I'm-" Her voice trailed off when she stopped to actually look at Marisa. "You're…" She took a few steps back and readied her sword, grinning. "I've finally found you! That fortune teller was right after all! I've finally found you, my destined rival!" As Marisa watched the strange woman before her, she couldn't help but think that this girl was an…
Idiot.
Despite that, the woman was still armed. Marisa threw off the heavy white cloth, barely noting that the temperature around her was much too warm for them to still be in the mountains. She took her stance and waited for the blue-haired warrior to attack her first. To her surprise and disappointment, the woman before her simply charged straight for her. A part of her was actually hoping that this woman would be a challenge and-
Marisa quickly jerked back, barely avoiding decapitation from the incredibly swift strike made by her opponent. She quickly put distance between the two of them and drew her sword to block the next strike. She silently cursed herself for underestimating an opponent, no matter how simple they seemed.
The clashing of swords echoed across the battlefield. She didn't know how long this battle had lasted, but her opponent wasn't letting up. No matter how hard she pushed, no matter how quick she struck, this girl was able to take it and continue to fight back. Marisa had never encountered someone so eager to fight that could actually last this long against her. The strangest thing was that this girl who challenged her was most likely, no, most definitely having fun. To her surprise, Marisa felt like she was enjoying the battle as well.
The battle raged on for minutes, then hours, and perhaps even days. Well, probably not that long. Both women were exhausted and fatigue was starting to set in. "You're really good." The blue-haired woman spoke up. "I would expect nothing less from my rival." She wasn't sure what this woman was babbling about, but her opponent's skill was undeniable. She took a deep breath and readied her sword. She planned to finish this fight before they both collapsed.
She could see her opponent getting into a defensive stance, but she was too exhausted for it to do her much good. In an instant, a blurred after-image of Marisa brought its blade down on her opponent. The orange-armored woman brought her sword up to counter, but image passed right through her. "What?" Before she could completely recover from the shock, a second image came straight at her. She moved to defend, but it passed through her again. While she was trying to process what just happened, Marisa brought her blade down on her from above. She moved to defend with her blade, and their weapons clashed again. The blade should have been knocked out of her hand, but she was too stubborn to give up, and that stubbornness caused the blade to shatter under Marisa's strike.
Marisa held her blade up to the throat of the blue-haired woman, who just sighed. "I guess I lose." She said in disappointment. Marisa could see no other weapons on the woman, so she sheathed her sword. When she did, she was caught by surprise when the girl suddenly grabbed her hands. "How did you do that? You have to teach me that! It was amazing!"
Marisa sighed softly. This girl really was stranger than anyone else she had met. "Who are you?"
"Huh? Oh, right. I'm Mia! You?" She introduced herself with unneeded enthusiasm.
"Marisa." She answered calmly. "How did you get here?"
Mia put a finger on her chin and thought for a moment. "I'm not really sure. I went into the woods near our camp to do some training, but I got lost when the place suddenly got covered in fog and I ended up here. Same for you?" She asked, to which Marisa replied with a nod.
Marisa looked back over the battlefield and saw something she hadn't noticed before. There was something odd about the way the corpses were scattered, and she just figured out why. "The corpses are in pairs." She noted as she knelt down to study the armor. As hard as she studied, she couldn't find any armor that matched another set.
"This is creepy. Did someone else bring us here to watch us fight?" Mia asked, looking strangely scared. Or maybe she was disturbed.
"Most likely." Marisa answered. She didn't recognize any of the emblems on the armor that was still somewhat intact. "If we were brought here to kill each other, there probably isn't an exit."
"Seriously?" Mia's eyes widened. "Aww man. This sucks!" She suddenly realized she didn't have a weapon and laughed nervously. "You're not going to kill me to try and get out, are you?"Marisa gave her a blank stare that only made Mia more nervous.
Marisa shook her head. "You're unarmed." She looked around the battlefield again. The most logical thing to do would be to go look for whoever summoned them here. Mia was a skilled fighter, but she was far too airheaded to pull off a spell that could bring her here. Judging by the corpses, the mage could very well be hundreds of years old, or a demon, or both. She would prefer to avoid a fight like that in her condition and just find an exit instead.
"Marisa!" Mia's voice called out. She turned to the other woman, who was standing next to a strange, swirling vortex of magic. Before she could question what it was, voices called out from within it.
"MIA! Are you there?" Voices that the girl apparently recognized called out to her.
"Ike! Soren! I'm here!" Mia shouted back into the magic.
"You can see the portal, right? Jump inside and it will bring you back here." Soren explained from the other side.
Marisa looked back in the direction that she came from. Mia's comrades had come to her rescue so quickly, but no one knew that Marisa was out here. She had set off on her own, and as far as anyone knew, she was still in the mountains. "Come on!" Mia called out to Marisa. "You're coming too, right?" Marisa looked around. Everyone here came from different kingdoms, and it was likely that they came from different worlds all together.
"That world is your home, not mine." Marisa answered calmly.
"Nonsense!" Mia grabbed Marisa's arm and pulled her to the portal. "The world is just as much mine as it is yours. Besides, you still have to make up breaking that sword by teaching me that technique!" Mia smiled innocently and walked into the portal, pulling Marisa in as well.
Marisa didn't know what awaited her in this new world, but at the very least, she had an interesting person to spar with.
A/N: This is just a little story that popped into my head and I figured 'why not?' and just went with it.