Prologue: Lost and Found

As the blade of thunder struck through him, the young prince saw the desperation and pain in his partner's eyes and knew this was no betrayal. As he stumbled back, he gave him his best smile.

"This is not..your.." He coughed, blood splattering against the ground. The cloaked man, no longer under the spell, let tears spill as his best friend slowly fell. From the floor, he spoke his final words.

"...your..fault.."

What if you lived a life where you didn't have to experience this pain?

One without the lives of thousands in your hands?

One without the eyes of millions staring you down?

A life..without him?

There was light. He was sure of it. A light that threatened to blind him once he opened his eyes. He wished to keep them shut. To stay in the everlasting darkness. Despite his efforts, the strain was too much and his eyes fluttered open.

The sun shined in his direction, causing him to wince at the rays it shot. From the corners of his eyes, he could see grass and plains surrounding him. This was no place he had known.

"...Where am I?"

"I wanna know the same thing." A voice from nearby said in a very deadpan tone. "Let me know if you figure it out."

The young man turned his head to the sound of the voice to see a woman sitting right beside him, her legs crossed and her bags set to the side of her. She too, looked to the sky, as if searching for answers.

The man almost shot up in surprise, but he felt that his body seemed to lack the energy. He could only muster enough to speak.

"Who are you?" He asked, predictably it seemed, as she chuckled to herself after hearing it. She turned to him, her legs still crossed and her body shifting to the side of his own. He could see her face a bit more clearly now, the sun's rays making her features shine. She was a young girl with light skin and hair as red as roses. It had been wrapped into a very tight and short ponytail, which had only extended to about her neck. Her clothes were that of a small green dress with a coat over it that seemed to be bigger than her overall. She gave him a wink and a charming smile as she gave her introduction.

"My name's Anna, the amazing world-renowned merchant girl!" Her expression then became a bit more relaxed. "At least, that's what I want to be. But it's my first time out in the field, and I haven't sold a single thing.." She tossed herself onto the ground, the grass around her lightly jumping into the air before falling down. A few reached the man's face, provoking a sneeze from the male.

"Hehe...Sorry about that." She giggled. "Now, what's a charming young male like you doing out here in the middle of nowhere?"

"Funny, I was going to ask you the same." He tried to sit up again and this time, he had the strength to push himself off of the grass. Their positions had reversed. "I don't remember how I ended up here. I'm just as confused as you are."

"So what, you've got amnesia or something?" She said smiling, as if it was a joke. But when she put it like that, the young man couldn't help but think about it. That clearly seemed to be his problem..

"Waitwaitwait you don't actually have amnesia, do you?" She stammered out, and he thought he caught a bit of a worried or apologetic tone in her voice. He nodded, as he really couldn't remember anything, and she shot up instantly.

"Poor thing...One of my sisters had this once. It came back to her eventually, but she said the process was painful. Regaining the memories, I mean." She was silent for only but a moment before snapping her fingers and quickly rushing through her bag nearby.

"I think I've got something that can help...I know they said not to give away or use any of our merchandise, but this is important..Aha!" She pulled out a staff, one of very regal design. Its orb glowed very faintly in her hands.

"I'm not the best at magic, but my sisters taught me a thing or two just in case I ever got badly injured." She twirled the staff with ease, almost like a baton. "Maybe this one will help. It's said to heal any injury, no matter how deep. It's one of the best we've got, so consider yourself lucky!" She held it in both of her hands and shut her eyes. "Now, just stay calm and focus on me. If you feel anything, a pulse or a sting or an absolutely unrivaled pain, that means it's working!"

That last suggestion didn't exactly put the amnesiac at ease, but he did as she asked. He could hear the resonating sound of the staff as it worked its magic. He thought of nothing but the girl before him and soon felt a soothing sensation. It was positively cathartic and he felt he close to a breakthrough, but a stunning pain rang through his mind and shattered the concentration he'd built up.

""Ahh!"" Anna and her patient both screamed as the magic forcibly stopped. The orb of the staff had completely shattered. Anna looked absolutely shocked and in that same moment, looked at the man with extreme anger.

"That was an extremely rare item! How am I going to explain to my sisters that its gone and I've got nothing to show for it?!" She pointed the tip of her finger up to his nose and he jumped back just a bit in surprise. "You...I knew I shouldn't have worried about you! What do you have to say for yourself?"

There wasn't anything he knew that he could say to calm her down, but a word did begin to float about in his mind.

"Robin."

"E-Excuse me?" She said, her voice still trembling with anger.

"I remembered something. It's not much, but..My name is Robin."

"Well then, Robin, it seems you owe me a huuuuge debt!" Before Robin could protest that he didn't seem to have a single coin on him, she grabbed his hand and pulled him up along with herself. "This is worth much more than just gold. You're going to spend the rest of your life working for me until we find something of twice as much value as the thing you just broke!" She didn't wait for him to argue with her about it. The cards were dealt and the decision was made.

She tugged at his arm, but he made no effort to resist. He had no past, no memory, nothing to return to.

"This is a start.." He thought to himself as he gripped his cloak tightly, it threatening to fall off of him as the redhead pulled him into the distance.

Notes: Here it is, my breather story. After realizing that I'm gonna have to do a huuuuge overhaul/reconnecting of ideas for Continuum Shift because it was my first big work and I messed up a lot of details, I wanted to do something that I could take my time with, really plan out, and give the best of to readers. I decided to post the prologue as a sample of it. I won't post the rest until I'm at least done with the first half of the story, which is progressing smoothly, so hopefully I won't take too long.

Sorry for this bundle of info, and thanks for reading!