Welcome everyone to chapter 4!

Amira's about to get some understanding of this strange world as she has a chit-chat with a hero of ours.

I hope you enjoy and let's get right into this!

Amira ran through the forest, pushing aside branches and bushes that got in her way.

She suddenly appeared in a tiny clearing. Having been running for a good distance, she figured she was far enough away and leaned against a tree. She put her head between her knees and tried to steady her breathing.

What she saw in the blond boy's mind… she saw buildings as tall as mountains, giant and powerful beings, monsters she could only imagine, and so many other things she just couldn't wrap her head around. It gave Amira a headache. But one thing she knew now was that she wasn't in Alagaesia anymore and from what Amira saw, Jason Grace wasn't even a complete human! Apparently, he and all the other people who lived in that area were half human and half some powerful deity, which scared Amira. Never before had she ever even heard of anything like this place. There were no elves in this land, no dwarves or Urgals or Dragons. There were only humans.

Amira curled herself into a ball. Where was she? She just wanted to go home. She wished more than anything in the world, this one and Alagaesia, that Belinda was with her. Or Eragon or Arya or anyone really. Amira would even be grateful for Murtagh with her and she hated Murtagh.

She felt a pain on her arm and remembered the cut Jason's golden sword had given her. She spoke the words to heal it but like before, it was significantly harder to use the spell. She hated the weakness of magical energy here.

"Hey. You okay?"

Amira's head snapped up. She saw Jason Grace standing a few feet away, holding her sword. She jumped to her feet and her hand snapped up to wipe away the few tears that escaped.

"Yes. Just... go away. Please." Amira's voice was shaking slightly despite her efforts. Jason looked confused but didn't go. Instead, he reached forwards and placed Amira's sword on the ground in front of her. She nodded her thanks to him.

"If you were okay, then you wouldn't be crying." He told her. He moved to sit by the tree she had previously occupied and gestured for her to join him. Cautiously, she sat, though she retained a distance between them. "You look like you could use some company. Consider this a treat cuz you did just try to kill me a few minutes ago."

"I apologize for that. I have recently been through a, um… a bad experience and I am still getting over the effects." She apologized. Jason just nodded.

"What was it?" He asked. Amira looked at him in confusion.

"What?"

"Your bad experience. Do you mind if I ask what it was?"

"It was a war. It ended but only two days ago. At least, two days ago in my world." Amira muttered the last part so only she could hear. Jason furrowed his eyebrows.

"Two days ago? How long was this war?"

"Many, many years. I started hundreds of years ago but was ended by a great man the day before yesterday." She said without thinking. Now Jason was really confused.

""Hundreds of years?" The only war I heard of ended a few months ago and one before that was about a year or two ago. Where was this?" He wondered.

"Not a place you would know of." She replied. Now Jason was even more confused. He was pretty sure he knew of everywhere on earth. Unless…

"Where exactly are you from?" He asked suspiciously. Amira remained silent. "Then will you at least tell me your name?"

He sighed when he retrieved silence as his answer. He wasn't getting anywhere with this strange purple girl.

Amira reached forwards and picked up her sword. She crossed her legs and placed it on her legs, running her hand over the flat of the blade. Her heart as she remembered why it was forged for her, the color of the blade: for her dragon. Her blade was forged when she became Belinda's Rider and her heart was aching at the thought of her dragon. She looked up and saw Jason Grace was still sitting there. She sighed.

"Amira."

"You asked for my name: my name is Amira." She repeated. Jason smiled.

"I'm Jason." He introduced in return. Amira smiled back, now knowing a name in this strange world. Then she frowned.

"You have not answered my question yet." She remembered as she gripped the hilt of her sword tighter.

"What question?" Jason asked.

"Were you in league with Galbatorix?"

"I already said no, I don't know who he is. Sorry if you were hoping for a yes." Jason told her. Amira still frowned but shook her head. She stood, keeping her sword in her hand.

"I was not as I was not either. Was anyone else in this place in league with the Dark King?" Jason stood as well.

"No. He's- look, no one here knows who he is." He said as he shook his head. Amira inwardly sighed in relief. At least the threat of the king's followers wasn't there.

"Do you consider yourself an ally to good?"

"Yes."

"Do you consider your actions to be those of valor and good worth?"

"I guess, yeah. Where are you trying to go with this?"

"My questions are helping me to decide whether to trust you or not. You did attack me."

"Well, you attacked me first." Jason countered with a shrug. Amira smiled slightly at him, deciding that she would trust him until she was given a reason not to. "So… who are you exactly?"

"I was going to ask you the same but since your question came first…" Amira placed her fingers on her forehead in the Elvish greeting. "Eka eddyr aí shur'tugal un aí fricai."

"Huh?" Jason looked confused and Amira realized he was asking what she had said.

"I am a Rider and a friend." She translated. The blond nodded slowly.

"My turn I guess. I'm Jason Grace, son of Jupiter, former praetor of New Rome, and a demigod of the Prophecy of The Seven." He introduced. Amira didn't understand a word he said but nodded anyway. Then Jason tilted his head in thought. "What's a Rider?"

Amira was confused at first; everyone knew who the Dragon Riders were. Then she remembered that she was someplace else. She opened her mouth to answer him but was interrupted by someone calling Jason's name. Her reflexes kicked in and she quickly grabbed Arvindr again. Jason stepped forward and placed a hand on her arm, lowering it slightly. He recognized the voice.

"They're just my friends. You can trust them." He told her. Amira nodded slowly but she still wasn't sure. After all… in a world such as this, she almost couldn't trust anyone.

"You say I can trust your friends yet I barely do you. So why should I put my trust in those I do not know?" She asked cautiously. Jason just shrugged.

"They're good guys, I promise." Jason took his hand off her shoulder and put his hands by his mouth. "I'm over here guys!"

His sudden shout startled Amira as she wasn't expecting him to do that. She could hear the voices coming closer then saw Jason winced when he moved his left arm. She looked down and saw a long scrape across his forearm. It wasn't bleeding but it was red and looked painful.

"Was I the cause of that?" Amira asked, pointing at his arm. Jason looked down.

"Nah. A branch whipped me while I was running." He replied. She stabbed her sword into the ground again and held her hand out. Jason raised an eyebrow.

"If you allow me, I can heal that for you." She offered. Jason was curious how but held his arm out anyway. Amira took his wrist in her hand, placed her Gedwëy ignasia above the scratch, and muttered her spell of healing. Her palm glowed its silver light once again and Jason's eyes widened as the wound began to fade. Amira ignored him and tried to concentrate.

Like before every time she tried casting that spell in this new world, it was significantly harder. It seemed like it was just that one spell though. The wound eventually faded and the faint scar it left faded. Amira released the spell and Jason's wrist and slumped her shoulders, her breathing slightly deeper than normal. Jason grabbed her arm to steady her.

"How did you do that?" He asked, clearly impressed. Amira shrugged lightly.

"Magic." She said simply. Jason frowned in confusion but nodded, still impressed. Three people then walked into the clearing and Amira started by their sudden appearance. There were two girls and one boy.

"Hey, guys." Jason greeted as he moved his hand from Amira.

"Jason Grace, what the Hades happened to you?!" One of the girls asked. Jason tilted his head in an 'I don't understand' expression. "We were playing capture the flag then suddenly there was lightning and glowing lights everywhere and when we found you, you were fighting her-" She gestured to Amira, "then after that, you ran off!"

"It's not my fault Pipes. Yes, I did end up battling with Amira but I -"

"Battling who?" The boy interrupted.

"Me," Amira inputted. Five pairs of eyes turned to her. Amira felt uneasy as she didn't usually like being the center of attention. "My name is Amira."

"Oh yeah." Jason seemed to remember something. "Amira, these are my friends: Annabeth, Percy, and Piper. Guys, this is Amira."

He gestured to each in turn. Amira naturally took in and noticed each detail about them: Piper had darker skin, brown hair that was cut choppy and unevenly with thin strands braided down on the sides, and eyes that seemed to change colors repeatedly.

Annabeth had curly blonde-colored hair with a gray streak in it. She was tall, fit, and looked very athletic. Her eyes were an intense shade of gray.

Percy was handsome, Amira could admit that. He had messy black hair and like Annabeth, had a gray streak. His eyes were sea-green eyes and was about an inch shorter than Jason. He too was fit and muscular. Like Jason, he also had a strange mark on his arm but Amira couldn't see it clearly. She had to admit that none of them looked alike in any way but Amira wasn't the kind of person to judge by appearance.

"Come on guys. It's starting to get dark out and the game's over. We should head back, the campfire should be starting about now." Annabeth said. While walking, Percy asked Amira,

"I guess the million dollar question is if can we trust you. How do we know that you're not a spy or something? You did attack Jason after all."

"As I told him, the reason I attacked him was that I feared he may have been an accomplice of a former enemy of mine. As for my trustworthiness," Amira repeated the Elvish greeting again by touching her fingers to her forehead. "Eka eddyr aí shur'tugal un aí fricai."

Amira was so used to being around elves and Riders who knew what she was saying that she momentarily forgot that none of these people would know what she said.

"What does that mean?" Annabeth asked, ducking to avoid a low branch.

"I am a Rider and a friend." Jason translated, remembering what Amira told him before. Amira glanced at him and He smiled back at her.

"What's a Rider?" Piper asked. Amira was going to answer but Percy interrupted what she would have said.

"What I want to know is who that enemy is? Gaea and Kronos are gone so who was the bad guy this time?"

"Not a being you would know," Amira told him honestly. Percy raised an eyebrow.

"Maybe we would. The world is full of surprises after all." He told her. Amira felt her heart clench at the reminder that she was someplace completely different than her home.

"As I said: you would not know. It is impossible for you too." She repeated. Percy stopped walking.

"Well if you can't tell us then how would we know who we might be working for?" Amira narrowed her eyes and stopped as well, the others doing the same.

"Jason Grace has already informed me of your intentions." She informed him.

"But maybe one of us is a traitor? The others would want to know who that one of us is working for." Percy countered. Amira gritted her teeth; this boy was starting to irk her.

"Even if I told you who my enemy is, it would not matter for he is dead now." Percy looked confused now.

"How can you work for someone who's dead?"

Annabeth face-palmed.

"She means that you could be working for them before they died but didn't surrender after." She turned to Amira. "But seriously, who?"

"I repeat once more: you would not know who it is."

"Then what do you have to worry about?" Annabeth asked with an annoyed frown. Amira sighed.

"His name was Galbratorix. He was known as the Black King and was being fought against in the war until he was killed two days ago. We fear, however, that one of his accomplices might have escaped and may still be a threat. I did not want to take chances." She relented. Annabeth nodded slowly at the younger girl's explanation, completely confused.

"Okaaay… Well, you were right that none of us heard of him bef- wait, did you say war?"

Amira was about to nod then paused. Did she want these strange people to know about her and Alagaesia? Maybe she could after she learns more about this place. Amira was voice her thoughts when something tickled her nose. She sneezed, sending her purple hair flying over her shoulders. Amira whipped her hair back behind her again and looked up to see everyone staring at her hair as if they hadn't noticed it before.

"Your hair is… purple." Piper stated as if Amira didn't know that, surprised wonder in her voice.

"I am aware. I have had it as so my entire life." Amira said slowly, brushing a few strands from her face.

"That's just... it's really pretty. Is it dyed?"

"Um… no?"

"So you mean to tell us that you were born with purple hair?" Annabeth asked, not believing her.

"Yes. I was born in a place unlike here and in so I am unlike those here as well." Amira half-lied.

"What kind of hereditary genes do you have to make your hair an entirely distinguishing and unorthodox color?"

Amira was confused to the maximum by Annabeth's strange words.

"I do not understand anything you said." She told her bluntly.

"Did someone in your family have the same color hair?" The blonde clarified. Amira looked down slightly.

"I do not know. I had never met my parents. I was raised by my Aunt and my Uncle throughout my life and neither had the hair I do. They too died and I soon joined The Ride-" Amira stopped herself. She was about to say she joined the Riders where Eragon cared for her but she managed to stop herself. She didn't want these people to know of her world quite yet.

"Joined the what?" Annabeth urged. Amira shook her head.

"It is of no importance or relevance. Forget I had said anything." Tried to cover. Annabeth looked suspicious but relented and dropped the subject. Amira inwardly sighed. After that Amira sort of just zoned out as they walked, trying to think of a way to return home.

"Wait a sec… Amira look at me." Startled by Percy's sudden command, Amira glanced up to Percy, her eyes slightly widened

"Whoa!" He exclaimed.

"What?" Jason asked.

"Her eyes are purple too, bro! That's so weird!" Amira was suddenly feeling very self-conscious from the attention as Annabeth, Piper, and Jason were now staring her. She unconsciously grabbed a strand of her hip-length hair and twirled it around her finger. Piper broke the silence.

"Why do you like purple so much? Your hair, your eyes, your sword; they're all purple. How come?" She asked. Amira was beginning to get irritated by all the questions.

"As I said before: the color of my hair and my eye are natural and I cannot change that. Arvindr, my sword, is the same color because that is how it was made. Swords like mine are made their colors for a reason. Green, red, blue, purple, yellow; I did not choose the color."

"How come they're colored?" Jason wondered. Amira pressed her lips together rolled her eyes as she was asked yet another question.

"Because that is how they are made!" She exclaimed. "My sword was made for me when I joined an organization with my friends and in return, they received swords as well. We each were given a color and none of us questioned why. Is that an answer you deem understandable or do you four have even more questions you would like to ask?!"

The two boys and two girls' eyes widened at Amira's sudden outburst. They gave each other looks before turning back to the purple-haired girl

"Okay, geez, we'll stop asking questions," Piper relented. "But you didn't have to blow up like that."

Amira didn't bother with an apology as it would have been a lie. Instead, she nodded once. Percy gave her a glance before continuing to lead them through the forest.

And that concludes the fourth chapter of A Strange and Different Land!

Thank you all for reading and I hope you chose to continue the story. Please feel free to leave a review. Criticism, advise, complements or corrections are welcome.

Have a good one and I'll see you later!