Prologue: World of Zenith
Part 1-Prince with Golden Wings
Team: Virion, Anna
"Greetings, Anna. Did the ritual-" The blue-haired sword wielder who appeared to be guarding the entrance to the temple stopped and examined Virion and his..err..ward more closely. "Who are you, and what happened to Anna?" he inquired as he unsheathed his sword and held it to Virion's throat.
Virion grinned. "I am Virion, the finest archer from the fairest of realms. And the fair maiden by by my side was in this...state when I emerged from the mysterious portal. And you are…?" The blue haired boy relaxed visibly and put down his sword as he heard that.
"My apologies, I was not expecting a hero to exit the ruins. I am Alfonse prince of Askr. But there's no sign of a summoner, and if a hero was summoned without a summoner…." He crouched down to 'Anna' and started muttering something. The only parts Virion could make out were "...the legends were true about the unfit using Breidablik…" By this time Anna had stopped screaming, and was only writhing around as if possessed. Now that Virion got a closer look at her, she really looked like a carbon copy of Anna, but with the same strange uniform as Alfonse. Strangely, with all of her writhing, she was still holding on to some foreign looking contraption. The prince appeared to be lost in thought, as he was deaf to all of Virion's entreaties for answers, and only woke out of his stupor when Virion exclaimed "Hark! The enemy approaches!" For it was true.
Alfonse was fuming. He had warned Anna of the risks of this ritual, only for her to do it against his suggestions, and not only had it been futile, it had actually had a negative effect. Anna was currently incapacitated, and the only thing to show for it was this "Virion" character. Alfonse would have actually liked to study the effects of Breidablik on a non-summoner, but during an enemy attack? Not even Shareena was that ill-advised. But enough of that, there were 3 Emblian soldiers approaching, an axe knight, sword knight, and lance knight. Child's play with a balanced team, but with one sword user and an archer? This was going to be challenging.
"Virion, we're going to the doorway of the temple. Get behind me." Alfonse commanded. Virion pondered these orders. If they stayed in the doorway, only one enemy could attack them at a time, negating their superior numbers and forcing them to come into Virion's range. While that tactic wouldn't win any awards, it could get them through the battle alive.
First the axe knight charged at them. Alfonse easily dodged his swing and countered it, and one of Virion's arrows finished him off. Next the sword and lance knight hesitated a bit, a little warrier after the demise of their comrade. The lancer strode forward, confident he could take Alfonse. Virion heard the prince swear under his breath. And then the lance knight was upon them. Alfonse attempted to parry the lance, but it still pierced his left side. While that exchange was going on, Virion shot 2 arrows at the knight, killing him. The sword knight seized the opportunity and rushed at Alfonse. Suddenly, Alfonse rushed forward as his sword glowed with a strange light. The enemy swordsman raised his sword to block, but Alfonse cleaved through his sword, armor, and body. Before Virion could ask "What just happened?" Alfonse tossed away his sword and yanked out the lance in his side. If that wasn't enough, Virion saw the wound heal and the armor mend itself.
"What was that!?" Virion entreated.
"Daylight." Alfonse replied, as if that was supposed to explain it.
"Fascinating. The stories did not disappoint, Prince of Askr." A masked stranger who calmly sat under a tree, just outside the battlefield.
"You, tell us! Are you a soldier of the Emblian Empire? If so, you stand on the side of evil. The role of Zenith does not involve entering heroes' worlds, let alone conquering them." Alfonse yelled. From Virion's superior powers of deduction, he decided that this was not the first meeting between Alfonse and the masked man.
The masked man's mouth twisted into an inhuman grin. "Oh, and I suppose you want us, to close your portals and clean up your messes? In your dreams."
"How dare you! Have at you!" Alfonse exclaimed, charging him with his bare fists. As if Virion hadn't seen enough surprises, Alfonse's punch went through the mask man. It was an illusion!
"If you really want to attempt delaying the inevitable, the first world on our list is the World of Mystery. The portal is behind this tree. I'll be waiting." The masked man waved goodbye condescendingly as the mirage faded away.
"Damn fellow. He's gone" Alfonse remarked angrily.
"Sire, what did he mean by portals?" Virion asked.
"The royalty of Askr was once able the open portals to other worlds, but they gave up that power in order to forge Breidablik, with the help of the royalty of Embla. But recently, Breidablik was not able to close portals and Embla started attacking us. Those things are not a coincidence….."Alfonse then launched into a lecture about the formation of the Order of Heroes and how Breidablik worked. It was pretty boring, even the most interested mage would fall asleep halfway through. Virion sighed. He was going to be here a while.
"Sire, would it not be prudent to follow the masked man through the portal he mentioned?" Virion asked exasperatedly.
"#$ &, you're right. I guess Anna was right about me getting side tracked. Well, let's go follow the masked man before the portal closes." Alfonse said as he slung Anna over his shoulder and headed toward the tree.
A/N Alright, so here is the next chapter! I was originally going to put all of the prologue in one chapter, but battle 1 took longer than I expected, and here we are. So, I guess I'll do one battle per chapter as a general rule. Would you guys like longer chapters and less frequent updates, or shorter chapters and more frequent updates. Speaking of updates, School is starting, so this story is going to go on hiatus, I'll try to work on the story, but expect at least a month between updates. So, like before please review! Am I too wordy? Action scenes unrealistic? Dialogue clunky? or other constructive criticism? Please let me know in a review! So uh, Adrael, signing off