The Last Kingdom

Written by Jarron Richli

Chapter 1: The Calling

I have a story to tell you, it may seem a little farfetched and you can choose to believe it or not. Either way I know what really happened. The reason I'm righting this you'll soon discover. So my story starts one summer day… I was 19 years old jogging through some trails in the local park and I came across my favorite clearing. I'd usually start walking after I passed the clearing to cool off, but this day everything in my life changed. In this clearing I saw a figure lying in the grass. I walked over and to my surprise it was a very beautiful young woman.

Her face was just like the morning sun and her hair was so black it had a bluish hue to it. Her cloths where strange I didn't recognize the style. She was wearing what looked like white robes tied with a blue and red sash around her waist. Her hair was tied in a ponytail with a purple ribbon. At first I thought she was dead because I didn't see any movement, but on closer inspection I saw her chest faintly rising and falling.

This is odd, I thought. What is she doing here? I hope she is ok. Then I saw a glint out of the corner of my eye. Lying a few feet from her body was a sword. It was a katana. Its hilt was black with a silver dragon inlay. The sheath was smooth and black. As I bent down to picket up I heard a noise from the woods. I looked up expecting to see a bird or a squirrel.

But, to my alarm I saw a dark shape moving through the brush. It seemed to be making strange muttering and growling noises. I didn't know what to do, I then remembered the sword at me feet and I picked it up and pulled it out from its sheath. It was warm and comfortable in my hands, like it was made just for me. The silver blade glistened as I assumed a fighting stance which was weird because I knew nothing of sword play. The thing in the woods led out what sounded like a surprised growl.

Suddenly I felt very warm, my body felt like it had pins and needles all over. As I was thinking what's happening a pain shot through my body like a bolt of lightning. The pain was so intense I blacked out and I didn't have any memories of what happened next.

I woke up feeling very sore (like I had vigorously exorcised for a long time.) My vision was very blurry; all I saw was a bright light with a dark shape which I couldn't make out. I blinked a couple of times and my vision started to clear. The bright light was the sun shining on my face and the dark shape was the girl I found in the field. Then it dawned on me that I was laying on some kind of bed with this girl standing over me.

She noticed I opened my eyes and said something. I couldn't understand the words she was speaking. When I didn't reply she cocked her head to the side and gave me a quizzical look. Then her eyes widened and she realized I couldn't understand her. She touched my face with her hands and said "do you understand me now? How are you feeling?"

"Yes I understand you! Where am I? Who are you?" before she could answer a man wearing silver armor and a red cape burst into the room.

"Princess you must come with me now, we must hurry!"

"Princess!?" I said. Before she left the room she said " I will explain everything to you shortly. Please stay here for your own safety."

I just sat there for a minute wondering where am I, how did I get here and who was that woman? I began to look around the room for the first time. It was a small room with one door and one window. What caught my attention was that was the room was made of stone. I mean walls, ceiling, floor all stone. I leaned over and got out of bead and discovered I was no longer in my running cloths. I had on what seemed to be a cotton like shirt and pants. Next to the bed was a pair of what appeared to be leather boots. Everything was just the right size for me.

"This is getting weird" I muttered to know one in particular. I walked to the window and there was no glace just a stone frame. I leaned over and looked out and I could say was "woah!!"