Yeah, my first fanfic! Whooooo! Obviously about Riviera, if you haven't noticed the glaring sign. Please rate, review, ridicule or relish! ^_^ It's really up to any of you who were reading the previous sentence, because all of them are welcome anyway. Okay, I'll stop being a smartass now. Enjoy the story. =)
12.00 pm, 3/14/2009
The rain showered lightly outside my bedroom window. Rain, the most depressing time of the day, was perhaps the most exciting time of day for me, since I couldn't do anything else outside, so I played my games inside. I often like games with story, any story that compelled me. Stories were great ways to spend time on rainy days.
Sitting there, I tried comprehending the ending to the game I had just played. The portable console sat in my hands, its nearly blank screen showing one word – Fin. That ending was so awesome. I wonder if I could take another ending? Thinking that I should replay it again, I restarted the machine in my hands.
Suddenly, a frightening crackle sounded behind me, a roar of thunder. I stumbled from my bed as the lightning flashed behind my field of vision. Stark darkness began to envelop my eyes, then a brilliant cerulean light covered the entire world, if only briefly. Then the darkness came to welcome me…
::--==--::
Ugh, I feel really crappy. Did I hit my head or something? I feel slightly disconcerted right now. I still have my eyes closed. Maybe opening them would clear things up for me.
Lifting my eyelids, I saw my surroundings. Green forest everywhere I looked. Dirt under my hands. The smell of fresh dewy air, the kind that I haven't inhaled in a very long time, living in the city and all.
Response: "Where the hell am I?"
I was lying on the forest floor, so I guess sitting up was the logical thing to do. Looking at my surroundings, I saw the ground where I stood looked slightly charred. Huh. Wonder how that happened.
Then, a sharp pain embedded itself in my head. I let out a scream of agony and stumbled back onto the ground, writhing and holding my head, wishing it would go away. Go away, pain. Please? I can't bear to have you around.
In my pain, I had closed my eyes. But then, I heard voices. Ahh, human life. Help is on the way. I let my consciousness leave my grasp, only to recede into the recesses of my mind. I managed to hear a shard of the voices before I left the physical plane.
"He's wounded! Get help!"
"Oh dear! Someone, get the healer now!"
::--==--::
I rose from oblivion once more. Great, I hope this isn't the afterlife. I don't think I could handle the grave just yet. But when I opened my eyes, I saw a straw roof. Hmmmm, I don't think the afterlife has a straw roof. Maybe something more ominous would be better-fitting. Like perhaps oblivion. Which I just came out of.
So, I'm probably in some sort of village, considering that they use straw roofs. Or is it rooves? Not quite sure myself. Why am I concerning myself with grammar again? Never mind. Let's think about the situation I am in right now.
Okay, looking around. I'm in a bed, comfortable too. The pillow I'm sleeping on is.. non-existent. I am covered with a blanket. Soft, and comfortable. Looking under the bed, I seem to be wearing some sort of shirt and some sort of pants, different from what I was wearing. My arms are bandaged in several places. I'm alone, nobody's coming to get me, it seems.
Maybe I should call out, then someone would see me. "Helloooooo? Anyone here? Hellooooo?" I wasn't expecting someone, just anyone would do.
A curious head popped into the room. "Oh, you're awake? That's great. My healing potion actually worked." Then, hindsight.
"I mean, not that I thought my potion wouldn't work, I wouldn't want you to die, it's just that—"the head said as its face reddened.
I was surprised by this sudden disturbance at the door. "It's okay, it's okay. Don't think much of it." I replied to calm her down.
"Oh? Okay then." Then the head disappeared. "Lina, one of our guests woke up! Come on, stop playing with those kids and come here!" Then, the head came back in, this time with the owner of the head along with it. I examined the person. It was a girl, about as tall as I was, with long, green hair, dressed in a simple long white dress. Her face seemed calmer than her earlier appearance. Hmm, I seem to know her from somewhere, I just can't put my finger on it. Where did I know her from?
"Glad to see you got up. I'm Fia. What's your name?" the girl asked.
Sheepishly, I replied, "Um, my name is Ferane. At least, I think so. My head hurts right now. Really bad. Ow." Immediately, I put my hand to my right temple to cut off the pain that came at the end of my sentence.
The girl, suddenly alert, came to me. "What? Are you all right? Where does it hurt?"
Then, another girl came into the house. A shorter girl, with orange hair tied in two long ponytails and dressed in orange. Another sense of familiarity came to me; again I couldn't quite place it. She seemed slightly distraught when she came in, like a sulky kid would be, when called in by his mother after playing with his friends.
"Aw, come on, Fia! Lina wanted to play more with them… We were playing tag, and Lina was it, and, and—"Huh, I guess my guess was spot on. That's weird. Then she seemed to notice me. A wide smile broke over her face.
"Ohhh, you woke up! That's great! Fia's potions never seem to work right, too…" Then Fia turned to glare at the girl who just came. A very piercing glare. I wouldn't like to be on the receiving end of that kind of treatment. The girl who just came seemed to think so too.
"Okay, okay, Fia. Lina didn't mean to hurt Fia's feelings. Sorry, Fia." The girl, I assumed the name was Lina, bowed in sincere apology.
"That's okay, Lina. Our guest here is Ferane. Be nice to him now, and don't aim your arrows at him, or you'll answer to me. Now, go ahead and play." Lina's face lit back up again. "Yay!" The orange-haired girl ran off in a hurry.
Fia turned back to me. "Sorry about that. That's Lina. She lives with me here, though all she does is play around and practice her archery. She never helps me in the kitchen…" Fia sighs. Looks like my guess that Fia was Lina's mother was wrong after all. Seems that Lina's the usual little sister-type that everyone seems to have and seems to despise. Oh well, the quaking pain settled down in my head, and I could think clearly again.
"Um, I thought you said earlier that 'one of our guests woke up'? So, where's are the other guests?" I asked Fia.
"Oh, that! Er, he's still out cold, we found him yesterday. He's in the other bed. Hope the potion I gave him worked."
I looked towards the other side of the room, and there it was. A black haired head, wrapped in a blanket. How could I have missed that? Never mind. I shouldn't think much about that. What matters is about where I am.
"Um, where exactly am I?" I asked Fia.
"Well, you're in the village of Elendia, somewhere near Riviera. Where did you come from? We just found you lying on the ground."
"Really? Um, I don't really remember—" Just then, a rustle came from the opposite end of the room. The raven-haired guy seems to have stirred. I look in his direction to see him open his eyes groggily, stand up and rub them vigorously. He seems to be wearing a plain shirt, with some sort of scarf covering his neck. Other than that, he seems oddly familiar as well. What is with me today? Oh yeah, trapped in the middle of somewhere. I forgot.
Fia goes to tend to the guy while I try to recollect what happened to me. All right, let's try and focus on the facts. I just woke up in a village named Elendia, in a girl's house. Two girls, to be exact. Add that to the fact that I have no idea what happened to me, or where I came from. This is shaping up to be a great day. I turn my attention to the boy who just woke up.
"Uh, I think my name is Ein." The boy said with a confused expression.
"Ein. That's a nice name." Fia said with a smile, a little bit, anyway, that I could see from the corner of her face that I could see from my position. Then Fia turns to me.
"Hey, Ferane. Looks like Ein here doesn't know where he's from, too. Do you think you know him?" Fia asks me.
I decide whether to tell Fia about my earlier sense of odd familiarity. Contemplating it, I decide to do so. Besides, Fia was already kind enough to take care of me while I was out cold, anyway. "Uh, I think I know him from somewhere. But I can't be quite sure. Sorry."
The boy, I think his name was Ein, replies, "That's strange. I don't seem to recognize you at all. Of course, I can't remember anything other than my name, so I might remember who you are later, maybe?"
"Hmmm, you're probably right." I replied with a smile.
Then, Lina suddenly pops back in, this time with a much more cheerful face. "Hi, Fia! Lina's done playing." Then she notices that Ein woke up, and basically gives Ein the same treatment I received earlier. Then, I overhear a comment.
"We washed your clothes, since they were dirty." Lina said, probably without any forethought.
After a bit, I saw Ein's face turn as red as a beetroot. "M-my clothes..?" I wanted to laugh right then. Then, immediately, the calm-faced Fia blushed furiously, the same as Ein. Haha, they'd make a cute couple like that.
"I didn't see anything!! I promise!!" Fia blurted out in embarrassment. The whole scene seemed really amusing.
Wait.
Aren't my clothes different from what I was wearing? What I seem to remember wearing, anyway. Then that means… oh, crap. I reacted involuntarily at the thought and stumbled to the side of the bed. My head comes falling down. Pain rushes to my head and I hold my head, crying out an embarrassing "Yeow!"
Immediately, the three's attention are diverted to the guy on the floor making a complete idiot of himself. Great way to make an impression, Ferane. Way to go.
"Oh, Ferane! Are you all right?" Fia's the fastest to react, as expected.
"I'm… all right…" I manage a few words as I crawl back onto the bed. "Owowowowow. Ithurtsithurtsithurts."
She instantly raced to a table, grabbed what I thought was cloth, soaked it and put it on my head. That still didn't make the intense pain any less, well, painful. It just gave me a cool head, but nothing to stop the pain, which was why I continued to hold my head.
"Where's my salve… where is it, where is it, ah, here it is!"
Suddenly, Fia came with this container of gross-looking bluish-green goo made of God-knows-what, and instantly started rubbing it on my forehead vigorously. The goo made my head feel like it was on fire or something, plus the force she was putting on my head was making it completely unbearable. I had to scream out in terror and pain.
"Aaaagh! Stop it! What the hell are you rubbing on my head?!"
Fia instantly stopped rubbing the stuff on my head. "Um, it's supposed to be salve. You know, for making your head feel a little better." She looked at the container which held the offending stuff and her eyes widened. "Oh… I'm so sorry, this is supposed to be… um, never mind." She then started searching around frantically for what I hoped not to be another pain-inducing ointment or anything like that.
"Ah, here it is." She began rubbing something else on my head. Thankfully, this time, the pain in my head slipped away as the salve cooled my head.
"Much better. Thank you, Fia." I smiled a weak smile, the result of the initial burns of the killer salve.
"You're welcome." She returned the smile, like anyone would.
Lina started tugging Fia's sleeve. "Fiaaaa, come on, Lina wants to speak with the Elder now…." She started dragging Fia towards the door.
Fia turned to face Lina, still being dragged along. "All right, all right, Lina. I have to put this jar down and—" Her words fade as she goes along with Lina outside and away from the house.
Chuckling at the two girls' antics, I got off the bed. I know that I've seen him somewhere, somewhere I couldn't remember… but what was it? What place couldn't I remember? I stuck my hands in my pockets unconsciously, and found something hard in my right pocket. Pulling it out, I find that it is some sort of gleaming purple-colored cannon-shaped object of sorts, half the size of my body. I wondered, how the hell did it get into my pocket?
I shrugged it off, securing the cannon onto my back using straps on it. "Ah, whatever. No time to be thinking about this stuff." Walking towards the door, I turned to Ein. "Hey, Ein. Wanna follow those girls? This 'talk with the Elder' stuff seems pretty interesting."
Ein replied, "Sure. I can't think of a reason not to. Bored to death anyway." He stood up from his bed and joined me to the Elder's house.
Wait. I have no idea where the Elder's house is.
Suddenly, we heard a squeaky voice behind us. I turned to face the source of the noise, and there stood, er, flew, a glowing fairy, dressed in blue. "Oh, never mind me. Little CoCo here was just going to the Elder's house in the middle of town." I think I saw a little wink there.
I replied in kind to the cheeky little fairy, turning around. "Right. I don't thank you for anything you have never helped us with." Laughing to yourself is fun sometimes.
::--==--::
Ein and I reached the Elder's house after some asking around. Going closer, I hear arguments and someone talking kind of loudly. I nudge Ein to go in and see what was going on. Yes, I'm a coward, I admit it. But I still eavesdropped on them, out of curiosity. I just hope that I don't end up like the cat.
"If I'm not wanted here, I'll just—" I heard Ein said.
Fia interrupted, "Wait! Listen to us, Ein! Grandfather cancelled the Rosalina Island expedition!" Rosalina Island?
"Rosalina Island, an island far from Elendia. The Arcs that live there were killed by demons." Lina explained.
A female voice retorted, "No, we just lost communication with them! Of course a reconnaissance was planned, but the Elder deemed it was too dangerous for the village's Sprites. Not even you, Fia, can change his decision, even being his granddaughter."
"But—oh, what's the point. Let's go, Fia." Lina tried to argue, but gave in. Then, they came out of the Elder's house. Lina seemed especially fuming. Can't blame her if she cares about those Arc people. Ein followed suit. Wonder what held him up?
"Um, so are you going to Rosalina Island or something?" I ask the girls as soon as they come out.
"You heard about it, too? Lina and I are going to have a look for ourselves." Fia said.
I started to reason with them. "But, isn't it far away, being an island and all?"
"Can you girls even defend yourselves if there are demons there?" Ein joined in.
Lina retaliated, "We can use the magic circle and we'll be there in no time! Besides, Lina's good with bows and Fia's good with rapiers. We can kill those demons easy if they come for us!" With that, the determined girls leave Ein and I in front of the Elder's house.
"Should we go after them? I mean, we shouldn't just stand around, right? They might get hurt if they go alone." Ein asked me.
"I don't know. I think Lina mentioned some kind of magic circle or something." I replied. "I don't know what or where it is, and I don't think you know where it is."
"Yeah, and I don't think the Elder and his assistant are going to help us. We don't have time to ask other people, too." Ein said, distraught. "Maybe we should just go somewhere and hope it's the place with the magic circle?"
"Elendia's a pretty big place. I mean, we can't just—" I began, interrupted by a gleam in Ein's eyes. He gestured behind me. I turn around, to see our shining ray of hope. Of course, that depended on her…
"Oh, little CoCo's lost… maybe I'll go to the Crystal Caverns.. and ask the nice magicians there! Maybe I'll get to see their magic circle too!" said the little fairy in a pseudo-monologue. I grinned at Ein and we both raced for the Crystal Caverns.
::--==--::
The Crystal Caverns, such a huge place, lined with brilliant crystals shining by the lanterns that hung on the walls. I walk inside, disregarding the fantastic sight. Just as we arrived inside, I hear voices talking. Voices that I knew belonged to two girls. Ein and I followed the voices to a narrow walkway, leading to a large inner cave, with Fia and Lina standing in the middle of a circle marked with arcane symbols, which I presumed was the magic circle. They notice Ein and I immediately.
"Ein! Ferane! Why are you here?" Lina asked. Then her face darkened. "Do you want to stop us?"
"No, no, no. We're just here to make sure that you girls don't get hurt or anything." I explained hastily. "I don't think we'll be of much use, though…"
Fia replied, "That's not true. We can always use some help."
"Besides, I don't think that we can let both of you go just like that with good conscience. You took care of us, after all." Ein said with a smile as he stepped beside the girls, inside the magic circle. "You coming, Ferane?" he called to me.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming." I replied, after which I stepped into the circle with the rest of the others.
"Let us go, then." Fia said, followed by some strange words that seemed to creep into my bones and shook them. Almost immediately, I felt the cave around us revolve and dissolve into space. The magic circle was transporting us to our destination, Rosalina Island. I saw the others disappear as well.
Then, briefly before I felt myself disappear, I heard Lina's voice say, "Rosalina Expedition Squad, departing now!"