And So It Begins...
She did not know what to expect when she made the trek back. But she knew it was certainly not what was currently happening.
A portal materialized over a white, sandy beach, containing naught but a sole woman. Unfortunately for the traveler, she was suspended around 20 feet in the air with no platform or safety net under her to catch her inevitable fall.
So the first experience she had when she arrived was dropping 20 feet into the beach below.
Taken by surprise, the traveler was not able to descend as safely as she wanted. Although she landed on her feet, years of experience instinctively driving her movements, she could not balance herself properly. She stumbled and collapsed on herself, rolling all over the rough sand of the beach before friction finally caused her body to stop.
Attempting to stand up after her abrupt arrival, the traveler forcefully doubled over in pain. She let out a helpless yelp, uncharacteristic of her, and desperately clasped her ankle for minor comfort.
'Great…' She thought to herself. 'I sprained my ankle. What a unfortunate way to start the mission.' She looked around for a large stick that she could use as a crutch of sorts. She would use her sword, but it was not long enough to support her body. After scanning the beach for a while, she came to the conclusion that there could not possibly be a stick the size that she needed in an barren place like this. Especially one so devoid of plant life, primarily trees.
The woman sighed in despair. Not even several minutes have passed since she came to this world, and she was already dealing with a monumental crisis. She was suppressing all of the stress that she was dealing with in her life, but now she just wanted to give up and cry. All of her life, all she had ever done was fight an impossible battle, clinging to the minutest hope for a better future. The losses continued to pile on her, and when this alternative presented itself, she gladly accepted the risks. This was the final option, the only choice, but already the situation looked dire.
With no other choice, the traveler from another world feebly crawled her way towards the ever-flowing ocean. Maybe the waters held some healing properties that would nurture her ankle to prime working condition.
'Heh…' she thought. 'I should stop thinking like that. It's gotten me nowhere. There really is no point…'
Lost in her cynical thoughts, the young woman failed to hear the faint calls for her attention.
The natural ambiance of the beach was only disrupted by the gentle humming of the ginger-haired teenager. For her, today was yet another fantastic day, as she was given a day-off from the strenuous activities of her village. Of course, she only had one destination in mind, and once she heard the news she headed straight for the beach.
Everything about this beach enticed the girl. The rolling waves that sifted the sands under her bare feet. The cries of the seagulls drifting calmly across the skies. The omnipresent scent of seawater that tickled the fibers of her nostrils. Every, single, aspect of this beach wrapped the girl in awe. But what captivated her far more than the everyday happenings of the beach was the sheer size of the ocean itself. It was massive. Staring off into the sea, the girl could see nothing but water. Blue water that reflected the sky above and the glittering light of the sun. Her periphery was filled with nothing but the sight of the large mass of water, and she could not help but feel utterly fascinated.
When the boats arrived on the piers of her village, she always wondered where they originated from. The different boats of varying sizes cruising fleetingly across the ocean surface, each with a story of its journey, each with its own crew of unique people. Sometimes, while watching the comings and goings of the ships, she fantasized about the prospect of leaving on one of the vessels and seeing a whole new world. Traveling to new countries, learning of new cultures, meeting new people. Just the thought of that alone was enough to make her giggle in elation.
The more she thought of the possibilities, the more she could no longer hold off her anticipation of the days event, and she broke off into a merry skip, with her long red hair flying gently by the ocean breeze. She wondered what sort of fantastical sights awaited her today. Maybe she would see a dolphin leaping majestically out of the water! Or maybe she would see the fin of a great whale treading across the sea! Probably she would bear witness to the fabled Wind Fish of her late mother's ballad!
She laughed slightly at the last thought. Even she knew that the Wind Fish was nothing more than a child's tale. Still the thought of the mythical creature's existence brought excitement to the girl. That kind of exoticism would spice—
A bright light flashed from the horizon, interrupting all of the teen's thoughts and forcing her to flinch. Trying to get a sense of what was going on, the girl covered the top of her eyes with her palm and looked towards the direction of the light burst. What she saw had easily trumped all of her previous thoughts in regards to exoticism.
A…a something (the teenager could not adequately describe what she was seeing) had appeared in the sky right before her eyes. The initial flash of light had dissipated, allowing the girl better vision to gauge what was occurring at the moment. The thing was circular in shape, and contained around its borders various glyphs that bore a strange resemblance to Altean characters.
Her desire to examine the spectacle further was short-lived. The circular phenomenon had degenerated, leaving behind only an object that spiraled straight towards the ground below.
The ginger quickly dashed towards the falling object almost instinctively, with nothing but an intense yearning to know driving her steps. From the distance, the silhouetted object had managed to land upright, but it quickly tumbled over itself and rolled down.
The closer the ginger got to the epicenter of the phenomenon, the clearer her vision was getting. She could now see that the mysterious object was, in fact, a person. Curiosity transformed into concern, and the girl sprinted forward with all the energy she could muster, trying to get to the person's side as fast as she could.
While she was running, she tried to grab the person's attention. She wildly flailed her arms about in the air and frantically screamed at the top of her lungs, but the person was oblivious to her calls. Instead, the person was intently focused on limping towards the ocean. The ginger could tell that the landing did a number on the person's body (how much pain exactly she could not determine from her position). A feeling of dread welled on the girl's stomach, and she redoubled her efforts. She hoped with all of her heart that she would get to the person on time before something terrible happened.
The traveler had crawled only a short distance towards the ocean before she finally caught wind of the frantic ramblings of someone (or something). The noises were still a good gap apart from where she laid, but it was rapidly getting closer.
'Perfect…' The traveler lamented. 'The Risen must have followed me…those persistent…' She bit her lower lip in frustration. 'I can't do much right now! If they found me, they could easily kill me!'
She knew she was in no condition to fight. Nevertheless, she unsheathed her sword and prepared herself as best she could.
'If there's any merit to this situation,' she thought to herself, trying to lighten herself up. 'It's that, should I die, at least I died with father's sword at hand.'
The enigmatic figure approached her position much faster than she anticipated, but she was able to pick up a few key details. Unlike the grotesque growls she grew accustomed to hearing from the Risen, the cries were more on the lines of high-pitched squeals. They were most likely from a young girl. Whether this girl was a comrade or the instrument of her demise was yet to be clarified.
After a while, the girl had arrived within the otherworldly traveler's line of sight. She was of modest size, most likely around 5'04'', and her age may have ranged between 16-18 years from what she could tell by her youthful features. Her emerald green eyes contrasted sharply with her garnet-colored hair and ruby amulet that hanged over her neck. She wore a light blue sundress with an ornate golden design encircling the borders of the dress and a large tight orange obi that was tied to a ribbon in the back. She appeared unarmed and harmless, to say the least, but the traveler's defenses did not lower in the slightest. In spite of the clear disadvantage she held, her eyes were firm and resolute; never wavering, never faltering.
Her glare had an intimidating effect on the redhead. As soon as she saw the fierce eyes and sword pointed at her direction, her face flashed with horror. The traveler would have hoped that the girl had stopped approaching and fled, but the girl appeared indecisive. She tried taking some steps forward, but the traveler's relentless gaze and steadfast stance caused her to freeze in place.
The traveler thought it would be wise to capitalize on this opportunity. Her body would not cooperate with her however, as she collapsed in pain after attempting to stand. This time she did not yell in pain, merely grasping her injured ankle to stave the throbbing.
Whatever intimidation factor the traveler held over the girl vanished when the girl began to advance. Her face did not contain any signs of malicious intent, however, as she had a look of genuine concern over the traveler's wellbeing.
The closer the teenager got, the farther her stomach fell, and panic started to grip her tightly. At last, when the ginger was close enough that the traveler could take in every minuscule detail of her person…
She tripped.
In the most unremarkable, uninventive, uninspired, clichéd fashion imaginable, the ginger fell flat on her face and skidded across the sands for several inches before stopping.
The girl raised her oblivious face from the ground, grains of sand planted on her brow, cheeks, and nose. Her green eyes made contact with the traveler's matchlessly crafted masquerade mask. She blinked for a while, a hue of red growing quickly on the girl's cheeks. Frantically, she turned around in an attempt to hide her extremely noticeable blush.
Little did the girl know, the mask that the traveler wore also concealed her burning blush. Quite possibly for a different reason than the girl had. She could not believe that this clumsy, overexcited teenager nearly gave her a significant scare.
The traveler saw that the girl had just raised before her hands to her cheeks and lightly slapped herself before turning around and facing her again. The extremely stern look the girl was giving was hilariously juxtaposed by sand still lodged in her face. The two stared at each other for a while before the girl broke into a nervous chuckle, her facade crumbling under the "pressure." Rather, it was more like she did not know what to do in this predicament. She scratched the back of her head and began to mumble something in a language that she had never heard before.
'She's definitely not a Risen…' the traveler thought to herself. 'As mindless as those monsters are, even they are not this incompetent.'
A perplexed expression spread across the traveler's face as the girl continued speaking in weird language. "Excuse me," the traveler spoke up, cutting the girl from whatever nonsense she was talking about. "I don't mean to be rude but I have absolutely no idea what you are saying."
This was true. She had become fluent in all the major languages in the world. She was obligated to, even though her world was on the brink of annihilation. She was a sovereign, the crown princess of the Halidom of Ylisse. It was mandatory for her to be adept at multiple languages, in the unlikelihood that her world had bounced back from the catastrophe that plagued it. Communication is essential to the reconstruction of the world, and if she was not able to discuss strategies with sovereigns from other countries, that would only make the process more difficult than it has to be.
But this…the traveler can honestly say she had never heard this language before. It was as unknown to her as her current location, and it baffled her as to what kind of wonders awaited her in this world.
The teenage girl looked as though she came to an epiphany. Frantically, she lowered herself into a kowtow, keeping her head planted to the ground. She refused to rise and meet the stranger's masked gaze.
"You…Lord Mars..." the teenager finally said. The ginger spoke in a rare dialect that the traveler was vaguely aware of. "…I right?"
'This sounds like it could be an ancient Altean dialect…' contemplated the traveler. 'But why would she speak it? Her words are all jumbled up too. She may be a novice with the language…and who exactly is this "Mars" person?'
The traveler took a while to analyze the red-head's words. "Um…no." she answered. "I am not 'Mars.' My name is…Marth."
Just like she rehearsed. No one from this timeline needs to know her true identity. It would be problematic if people knew that she was Lucina, the as-of-yet unborn daughter of Chrom, exalt of Ylisse. What was important was accomplishing the mission. Her sole purpose for being in this unknown land: saving the world.
The girl pointed her fingers skyward in an expression of realization. She reflexively looked at Lucina's mask, but quickly buried her head to the ground.
"I sorry!" the ginger repeated apologetically. She certainly was not well versed in the language, incoherently putting words together to form "sentences." Still, it was better than having her speak in that other language. Lucina would have been unable to proceed with that barrier.
"Relax, young one." Lucina reassured, remembering to deepen her voice to mask it as masculine. It was evident from the teenager's reaction that she was aware of Lucina's status as the legendary Hero-King of lore. In order to relax the awestruck girl, Lucina rested her hand on the girl's shoulder and lifted her chin with her slender fingers. Lucina smiled gently, letting the ginger know that it was okay to be less formal for the context. The red-head reciprocated with a bright smile of her own, ecstatic to know that she did not have to perform all of those stuffy formalities.
Whatever tension that remained in the air evaporated into nothingness as the two ladies comforted the other with their smiles. Lucina, seeing that the girl posed no significant threat, sheathed her sword. The teenager also rose from her kowtow. Lucina found that she was slightly taller than the teenager, which made it easier to keep eye contact with her. Lucina grew serious though. There were many questions she had, and maybe this girl, as weird as she was, could answer them.
"Honor Marth meet you it is!" the teenager exclaimed brightly. She bowed slightly as a gesture of respect to accompany her greeting.
Lucina raised her hand slightly. "Peace, friend." She reminded. Although she was royalty, she did not want to become overly accustomed to such formalities. "The pleasure is mine…" Lucina thought for a second. "…pray tell me your name, young one?"
"Oh!" the girl yelped absentmindedly. "I sorry!" She bowed over and over again in apology.
"It's okay." Lucina reassured. She was really hoping that she would not need to get used to this.
Despite Lucina's discouragements, the girl continued to express remorse in such an irrational fashion. Satisfied that her apology was received (her obliviousness made her unaware that Lucina had long forgiven her) she pressed both her palms to her cheeks and slapped them lightly a few times.
"I Marin!" she announced aloud. "Nice meet you!"