A World Anew
Chapter One: Where Is Everyone

Disclaimer: Well, it would appear that I've finally decided to kick the ball off on A World Anew, and this time I don't plan on looking back with my story! I'll avoid the terribly long speech and just let you know that here it comes, ready for all of you readers to receive! Enjoy!

(A World Anew: Chapter One)

Rose opened her eyes slightly. "Where am I?" It was dark, but not pitch black. As though it were night time, wherever she was. Rose lay there for a while, on the dirt ground. It took her a while to remember everything. But when she did, it made her sit up quickly.

Everything came back to her quickly, almost painfully. She now knew where she was. Still in Death Frontier. Near the now dead Divine Tree and the crater that the Moon that Never Sets made.

Rose looked around with some effort and an uncomfortable pain in her neck. She seemed to be alone in the waist land. But then she saw the twinkle of something off to her right. It didn't seem to be that far away and Rose felt compelled to go to it. But she wondered if she could even walk.

She was, after all, supposed to be dead. At least, that's what she thought. But she felt very much alive. Very weak, but alive nonetheless. Rose attempted to stand. She was shaky and reached out as if to receive support from some unseen hand. Instead, she stumbled over and fell to her knees.

"Okay, let's try this one more time," Rose said to herself. She tried once again to stand. She was still a little shaky, but she could stand on her own two feet. Then she began to make her way to the glinter in the distance, whatever it was.

Every part of her body ached like she never knew it could, but she knew that she had to keep going. She knew that if she was alive, she couldn't linger here in the Death Frontier. She would then surely die. But first, she had to reach whatever it was that was glowing. Rose didn't know why she felt such a strange need to go to this strange light, just that she had to reach it.

As Rose grew closer, she could see that what she saw was more like a light that had color. A sort of dark purple glow. Instantly, Rose knew what it was and picked up her pace only to stumble to the ground again. She wasn't well enough to run. She knew that, but she had to reach that glow. It was her dragoon spirit calling to her!

Rose continued on, resisting every urge she had to break out in a run. But even at her wobbly, shaking walking pace, Rose quickly reached the resonating stone. But when she did, she was more than surprised to see what else was with it.

Rose had found her dragoon spirit. But it was clutched in the hand of the Wingly, Lloyd. Rose knelt down next to him not only because she was surprised but because the trek wore out what little energy she had. Lloyd was lying on his back, the dragoon spirit in his hand. He was breathing, but unconscious. The dragoon spirit was resonating lightly. Rose reached out to touch it, and when she did, it burst with purple light. Rose could feel the energy from it and could feel it feeding her.

Then the spirit bade her to rest and she did not resist. To be more to the point, she could not resist. Rose was soon in a deep sleep.

(Break)

When Rose awoke, it was still dark. But not as dark as it had been before. It was dawn and the sun would be up soon. How long had she been asleep?

"I see you're awake," said a voice. Rose then realized that Lloyd was awake, even though he was still on his back. Rose sat up and tensed.

"You can relax, I'm not going to harm you," Lloyd said, sensing her tension.

"How long have I been asleep?" Rose asked, still feeling suspicious.

"Don't know, I just woke up ten minutes ago. But I do find it a bit odd," Lloyd began as he passed Rose a quick glance, "that the Dragoon of Darkness would choose to lay next to me. There wouldn't perhaps be anything you want to tell me?"

"I merely fell unconscious," Rose said quickly, disgusted that he would even think something like that. Lloyd shrugged.

"So why haven't you left. You've been awake for ten minutes, that's plenty of time to get up and go," Rose asked, trying to change the subject.

"Trust me, if I could I'd be long gone. But my legs are broken. I could heal them with my magic, but I'm too weak to even make a small light. I got this far by the grace of my wings. But I'm too weak to use them now too. And even if I wasn't, one of them is damaged and I couldn't get further than a few yards with just one wing," Lloyd explained.

"So basically, you're stuck here," Rose said, summarizing it all for him. Lloyd nodded.

"Your dragoon spirit is what's been keeping me alive this long," Lloyd added. "It's been sustaining me."

"But why did my dragoon spirit react to you?" Rose asked as she looked at the purple glowing stone that was still in Lloyd's hand.

"I don't know. Dart's dragoon spirit didn't react to me at all. But when I picked up yours, it started to resonate slightly, and began to heal me to the point where I could live. But that is all it has done," Lloyd answered.

"You have the Red Eyed Dragoon Spirit?" Rose asked with obvious surprise.

"Yes, I found it along with yours." Lloyd reached into his pocket and pulled out the fiery red stone. He let Rose take it from his hand. Dart's dragoon spirit did not react with her either. But it shouldn't have. Just like Rose's dragoon spirit shouldn't be reacting with Lloyd at all. Something very strange was going on, something very strange indeed.

"I'm surprised to see you alive," Lloyd said, breaking the silence that had fallen over the two.

"I'm surprised to see you alive," Rose replied.

"So just how are you going to get out of here? If I'm correct, you don't really have that much strength either. You said you fell unconscious after all, didn't you?" Lloyd asked.

He was right, as much as Rose didn't want to admit it. She was just as stuck here as Lloyd was. There was no way that she could hope to get to a town or city on foot. Not in her condition, she could just barely walk.

"Have you seen Zieg?" Rose asked suddenly.

"Still wondering about him?" Lloyd asked with a slight smirk. "I suppose it would only be logical. You were in love for 11,000 years, only to find out that he became your mortal enemy in that time. I'm curious about your feelings towards him. Last time I saw you, you were still with Zieg when the moon was going down. And if I'm correct, weren't you going to stay and die with him?"

"Just answer the question," Rose said coldly.

"No, I haven't seen him. I took him for dead along with you and Melbu Frahma." Then the two fell silent as the sun finally began to rise over Death Frontier. There were a great many things that were running through Rose's head at the moment. So much that she had trouble holding on to one thought for more than five seconds. Suddenly, there was a horrible rumbling sound that shook the ground beneath them.

"What's going on?" Lloyd asked as his eyes darted around, looking for any possibly source to the shaking.

"Trust me, if I knew I'd tell you," Rose answered as she equally looked around for any possible explanation to the rumbling. But what they didn't know was that the source was nowhere on the surface.

Just then, I giant worm rose up from the ground a small ways off from them, causing a crater at least 20 yards wide. The worm shot up into the air. Then it arched in the air so that its head would be facing the ground. The worm descended to the ground; its mouth was wide open so its three rows of sharp, rotating teeth were very visible.

The worm came down on the very spot where Rose and Lloyd were, took them in, and continued to tunnel into the desert dry waste land of Death Frontier.

(End Chapter)

So this ends the first chapter. My first chapter of A World Anew. Please review and tell me what you think. This is the land of the starving author and I wither away into the abyss of forgotten vigor and imagination without feedback for how I can improve this story for your pleasure. In short, don't forget to review!