I've been going giddy with writing recently, probably a supreme lack of anything to do.

Smoke inhalation, it sucks. Makes you do dumb shit, makes you do stuff you can't remember the next day when you're sitting in a hospital bed wondering whether or not you'd set the chicken to 460 degrees Fahrenheit or Celsius. I could feel its familiar aftereffects when I woke up, the traces of poisonous air tickling vulnerable areas of my throat.

Especially whatever in hell that dream I just had was, that was a new level of crazy if I knew it.

I'd been propped up onto wooden pews inside the church, yet with no idea how I managed to get here in the first place. My memory ended at me literally almost getting stabbed after jumping out the cart and begun again when I blinked open from that dream that I just had.

Speaking of which… I nursed the side of my head. What the hell was that about?

I remembered the dream vividly – so much so that it bothered me, from my computer screen to whatever the fuck just happened at the last moments. I remembered pale skin, paler hair and the distinct, unblinking ruby.

Ruby.

Ruby hands, squelching as they tightened their grip around the blade.

Oh, Jesus. I didn't want to think about it. I didn't want to think about what I'd gotten a first-class seat to witness. I didn't want to think about it at all.

I felt sick. Stop thinking.

A silver blade – untouched by any stains, with a severed hand still clutching onto it.

"Ah, fuck." I shuddered, attempting to suppress my scatter-brained thoughts by focusing on anything that wasn't the dream or the bandit raid. Sitting up straight, my eyes skimmed over the huddled groups of villagers scattered amongst the church, huddled voices, laughter and sobbing slowly filling my ears as I stamped the queasiness from my body. Outside, the sun was still shining high above, illuminating the scorch marks and soot that had built up on the stain glass windows.

For some reason, I'd half-expected black smoke to blot out the sunlight, strangely enough. And as I rubbed bleary eyes and blinked away spots from staring at the warm light for too long, I noticed my state of dress – a rough blanket, draped over an absolute mess that was the clothes I had been wearing. The seams of my tunic had been seared off, with rips and tears perforating the chest area. My own trousers hadn't fared better either, torched so badly that they were practically shorts now.

My eyes kept drifting to the dried crimson that stained my forearms and hands, watching the folds of my skin break through as I rubbed my fingers together.

"Oh, heyo! You're up!" My vision and down-spiralling thoughts fluttered to a stop to my left side, where they met with a yellow and white dress – oddly enough, the hems of the dress held aloft by something of a metal cage.

A young boy, impaled upon a silver blade.

I blinked, before looking up. Wide, olive green eyes met my own gaze - warmth and innocence exuded like the first coming of spring and a tentative smile that was practically impossible to not reciprocate, breaking my thought process.

"Uh… Sorry?" I managed weakly, she looked extremely young – probably around the same age as Donnel, now that I thought about it.

Donnel… I pursed chapped lips, feeling dry skin chafe against itself. Was he okay?

"You're up earlier than expected, huh. Usually these kinds of symptoms tend to put a guy like you in bed for… Uh… A day? Didn't expect you to be up within a couple of hours," She flashed a small grin before pausing, her brow scrunching slightly. "Ah, not that it's a big problem, or anything," She assured, tapping at a small, ornate staff in her hands. "Shows that I'm getting better at this stuff, Emm's teachings have gotten through, yeah!"

"Oh," I tilted my head in bemusement. "That's good."

"Yep!"

Silence.

"Sorry, but… Who are you…? And where am I?"

She paused, her brow scrunching up again in thought. It was kind of endearing, really.

"Oh!" She tapped the cane and nodded understandingly. "Sorry, we didn't exactly get properly acquainted when you were half-dead-" She flashed an apologetic smile while I frowned in confusion. "Not that you are! I mean, like maaaaybe it was really close because we still didn't know if you were like… Y'know, a bandit." She awkwardly chuckled. "Sorry, I mean, my name's Lissa, I was the one who kind of put you back together. We're in Southtown's church."

"Oh. Thanks," My mind was racing at a million miles an hour, what exactly had happened between me blacking out and waking up in the church? "My name's… Uh. Seven." Southtown was a familiar name, Donnel had mentioned it the night before, hadn't he? Something about it being in the 'Halidom of Ylisse'? Right?

What even was a Halidom?

Anyway, if Lissa had anything to say about my odd name, it didn't show. Instead, she nodded warmly before seating herself beside me on the pews, smoothing her dress out as our conversation lulled.

I glanced around again, seeing the large crowd begin to shuffle outside, leaving behind a few stragglers and old men, who were still kneeling by podium where an ornate statue of a woman stood, clasping their hands in prayer.

"Lissa…?" I broke the silence as the girl beside me paused the quiet tune she had been humming. "Can you uh… Tell me what happened after those bandits attacked?" Some part of me felt stupid, like I was quoting some weird Lord of the Rings dialogue as I felt the poisonous residue in my lungs begin to ease with every passing word.

"Huh…?" Lissa blinked, her blonde curls bobbing up and down as she took a quick glance at my body. "You mean, you don't remember?" Her gaze returned my own bemusement, concern etching itself onto her face. "What do you mean, after the bandits attacked? Do you not remember anything past a specific point?"

I paused, thinking over her words.

"Yeah, I think it was…" Reaching to the back of my head, I brushed a hand through my hair and pressed gently against the spot that I had smashed into the bandit's cart – weirdly enough, I didn't feel anything, even as I pressed harder into the tender skin. There didn't seem to be any scabs, nor any cuts that had caused blood to drip into my vision. It was as if I'd never even injured myself in the first place. "I think it was after I hit my head?" Okay, this was really weird, I couldn't find any sign of an injury on my head at all.

Lissa hummed in response, tilting her head as she thought as I continued the search for any sort of wound on my head at all.

"Wait! I think I know what it is!" She snapped her fingers, as if she'd had a eureka moment. "It's probably because of that hard hit to the head, I think Miriel called it… Blunt force trauma? It causes a loss in memory, you know; like amnesia…." She trailed off, chewing her lip in thought. "Huh… Two times in one day? Now that's odd…"

"Amnesia?" I perked my head at the word. "Like, forgetting stuff, right? From hitting my head?" I didn't stop searching my hair, as if I'd find a massive bump that'd gush blood onto my face. Huh, I was a lot less shocked and panicky than I thought I'd be. Probably because of how oddly familiar amnesia was starting to become to me, weirdly enough.

"Yeah! That's exactly it!" Lissa nodded before snorting ungracefully at the sight of me practically clawing my head in utter confusion. "You don't have any marks on you, Seven, I healed up pretty much all your outside injuries." Once again, she tapped the cane in her hands as a ghost of a smirk danced upon her lips.

"Ah, yeah. You did say that, didn't you?" I nodded in reflex, before her words fully registered in my head.

Hold on.

What?

My mind screeched to a halt.

"You… Did what now?"

For some reason, Lissa seemed confused at my confusion.

"I uh… Healed you? Y'know? Fancy Naga magic coming down to grant thee life?" She laughed at her own joke. "You're giving me a weird look, Seven. You know that? It's just some healing magic, you know?"

There was that name again, Naga. But I ignored it in favor of the bigger question here.

Healing magic? Like, healing-magic-healing magic? Like Final Fantasy?

I blinked, expecting some kind of follow-up to her joke.

Healing magic? My brain idled.

Lissa didn't look like she was joking.

Healing magic?

My mind collapsed in on itself for the second time today.

"Healing magic? Healing magic?" I couldn't hide the incredulousness in my voice. "Like, healing magic – like Harry Potter healing magic?" I tried to laugh at the absurdity of the statement, but it came out as a choking cough.

"Uh… Yeah? Magic? Duh." Lissa deadpanned, staring at me blankly as I continued to chuckle and wheeze. "Wait, don't tell me that hitting your head made you forget about magic." She sighed before grumbling good-naturedly under her breath. "What's a Harry Potter, anyway?"

"Oh… Yeah, it sure as hell did, apparently-" I almost bit myself as I gasped for breath, this girl was trying to kill me with laughter, I was sure. "Healing magic?" Perhaps it was also due to how stressed I'd been at the time, stress that had built up over the course of two days and a bunch of unexplained fuckery. "Hea-ling mag-ic." I gagged.

Really now, one second my mind was convinced that I was in another world, then it wasn't, then it was practically fact that I was in another world after what had happened presumably a couple of hours ago – and then magic?

Someone had to be thinking I was an idiot, really. Who even believed in magic anymore? Ten-year olds? Maybe eleven? Like sure, I'd always loved entertaining the notion of wizards and witches back when I was younger, but that was just fiction. Magic nowadays was just a bunch of sleight of hand and card tricks. Magic didn't exist.

Jesus, just because I couldn't remember the exact number of my age didn't mean that I'd forgotten being an adult, you know. I'd drank alcohol before – legally, mind you – and almost accidentally died trying to smoke once, I was a normal member of society, for god's sake!

"Magic-" I chortled, my throat contesting my laughter in painful protest. "Lissa, sorry to disappoint-" I'd rub the tears out of my eyes if my hands arms weren't filthy. "But magic is the shit that J.K Rowling writes about, it doesn't exis-"

I'm fairly sure this was the moment when common sense begun to leave me.

"It doesn't exist, yeah?" Lissa grinned triumphantly, practically thrusting her open palm into my face. "It doesn't exist, yeah?" My eyes followed, eyes widening like a kid in a candy store, words and laughter dying in my throat as fast as they had arisen.

Why, you ask?

Because in Lissa's outstretched palm, was a ball of lightning.

Lightning. Like, electricity. Palpatine stuff. Bright blue lightning.

It sparked and licked at the air greedily, flashing shades of blue and purple as the smell of ozone drifted into my nostrils. It was like a Science Fair plasma ball, like the ones that you'd see in physics class in high school that would shoot out lightning bolts when you touched it. Pure, utter alien magic.

"In case you've forgotten, magic does exist, Seven."

I stared.

"In fact, I'm pretty sure everyone's able to do some magic – even my brother can do some, and he's effectively a brick!"

I stared.

"Well, don't let him know that I said that, even if it is true."

She must've realised that I wasn't in any shape or form able to do anything apart from stare, so she closed her hand and extinguished the ball of light with a flourish. A moment of silence passed, before she let out a small "Ah!" and clapped her hands together like she'd just solved the Grandfather Paradox.

"Wait, sorry! I got completely off-track – you're really good at conversation, you know? – I was actually supposed to ask if you were still feeling painful anywhere."

"No? I don't think so," I breathed out. "Magic exists."

"Yep! Yes it does!" She said. "How about I do a quick check on your injuries first? I'll take a little look at whatever bonked your head so bad you forgot about magic, 'kay?"

"Okay." I replied simply.

Magic. I don't think I could've stifled my amazement at all, this was the stuff that famous writers wrote about – this was the stuff you'd see in fantasy movies like The Lord of the Rings. This was the de facto childhood dream that every kid at least dreamed of once. And now as I was presented with it, all I could do was stare blankly. Thoughts came into my head and tangled themselves up, tossing themselves up to my throat and sinking back down when I tried to speak, leaving me speechless as Lissa hummed quietly, running her hands across my arms and occasionally tapping them with her now-glowing staff.

I managed one question.

"Is that healing magic?"

"Yep!"

"Cool." I could understand the single words lined up, but when put into a sentence they made no sense.

"It is, isn't it? Emm's been teaching me how to heal physical wounds, I've never been much for healing the soul and mind – that's Libra's field, but he's all the way in Ylisse… Turn your head to the right, please?"

I obliged, turning away from the girl and letting her tap the wooden cane against my head. A soft warmth spread through from the back of my head, making me feel like I'd just wrapped myself up in thick, comfy blankets.

"You just made a lightning ball." I spoke into the air.

"Mhm."

"A ball of electricity."

"Yep."

The hamster in my head must've left to get some snacks.

"Can you use air magic?"

"You mean wind? Yeah, but the most I can do is a little breeze."

"Oh, cool. Water?"

"Hmm, never tried. But I've seen Emm do some when boiling tea for Phila. So yeah, it does seem possible…"

"Fire?"

"Easy peasy."

"Brilliant. Earth?"

"What?"

"Ground. Stones. Rocks. Dirt."

"Pretty sure the people of Ferox knew some good ones before they went all melee."

"Are you the Avatar?"

"The what?"

"Okay." I shut my mouth. Too many questions, they were making me lose my mind.

Or maybe I'd already lost my mind.

"Am I crazy?"

"I hope not." Lissa snorted, bonking my head with the staff as the warm feeling faded away. "Else I feel like Chrom would regret his decision once that guy… Uh… Donnel? Yeah. Once Donnel told us of your situation."

"Donnel." I nodded. "Is he alright?"

"Yeah, he left earlier – said to tell you that he was safe, guy's gone back to his village."

"That's good," I hummed, a little worry nagging at the back of my head vanishing into the wind. "That's good."

Well. This was a fun way to confirm that I was nowhere near Earth.

After the discovery of the fact that it was almost evening and about twenty magical demonstrations later, Lissa deemed that I was A-OK and had practically dragged me out of the church and into Southtown.

Or at least, what remained of Southtown.

Half of the homes were nothing but black rubble, some still smoldering gently as a summer breeze blew by. I breathed in, immediately retching as the wind direction turned and a stench of burnt meat filled my nose.

"Don't wanna breathe that in," Lissa looked green, looking in the direction the wind had blown from. "That's where the bandits are being burned."

The grass and cobblestone path had been burnt black, on it littered remains of carts and food stalls alongside collapsed rooftiles. It was like someone had flown by and dropped a bomb on the entire town. Beside the makeshift bridge that we balanced ourselves upon and wobbled across was the original bridge, half of which had melted into the moat while the other half trembled dangerously. My arms and legs hurt – despite no wounds remaining on my physical skin, I'd even gone for a quick dip, scrubbing the blood and mud that caked my limbs. Was this phantom pain?

"Lissa! There you are!" I stepped off the wooden planks and turned my attention to the voice as footsteps crunched across dead grass.

"Oh, hi, Chrom!" Lissa grinned. "I was just checking up on Seven here, don't worry." She didn't even reach the man's shoulders as he ruffled her hair, letting out an indignant squawk.

I turned my attention to the man himself. Bright smile, blue hair, blue eyes, blue clothes and a blue tattoo on his right arm. He was so blue.

"Is this 'Seven'?" He grinned at me and I blinked, realising that I had been staring. "Well would you look at that! Up and about already after all of that! I say, you're quite resilient, aren't you?"

I couldn't help but smile; the blue man exuded a certain aura of dorkiness that endeared itself to me.

"Yeah, I'm Seven. You're Chrom, right? Lissa told about you." He shook my hand with a firm, muscled grasp.

"Good things, I hope." He grumbled, grinning as Lissa blew a raspberry at him. "Donnel told me about you, said to look out for a guy that looked horribly out of place – like he'd never seen a pitchfork before – and by Naga was he right!" He laughed loudly. His joy was infectious, it was like talking to the most positive man alive, so much so that I couldn't stop my own smile from spreading.

Oh, we were going to get along just fine.

"Donnel did? Where is he, anyway?" I glanced around the remains of the town, as if the copper pot would bounce up at any second. "Lissa said that he was safe, right?"

"Ah, he didn't tell you?" Chrom waved towards the entrance of the town, where two individuals were walking towards us, one on horseback while the other wore a dark garb. "We almost thought he was one of those Plegians-" His grin faltered momentarily before returning. "But Naga decided to grant us some luck, the town mayor saw Donnel and recognised him moments before we were about to take him down."

"Oh. Yeah, Lissa told me that he was safe."

"As safe as safe can be in Ylisse." He winced at his own words; I didn't get it. Was this country lax in its protection? "I sent my knight and one of our new members to escort them out of the village – that's them by the way," He pointed to the approaching pair. "Lissa tell you about Donnel's message? – we didn't think you'd wake up for another day or so, after all. They'll be fine, I'll send a message to Emm and see if Phila can get some more pegasus patrols in the area."

Well, that was a lot of words that went over my head.

I nodded, pretending that I had understood everything that he just said as the pair drew closer – now I could clearly see the armor that decorated the mount and rider, with the woman beside him draped in a black coat, extensively hemmed with gold and purple. White hair flashed in the distance, twin pigtails glinting in the early-evening sunlight like metal.

I got hit by the strongest sense of déjà vu, I'd seen this woman before. Right?

"-o what do you think you'll do then? We'd assumed you were part of Donnel's group, but he said that you came from a continent outwith Archanea… Valm, maybe?" Lissa's voice shook me from my thoughts. "I mean, I assume you'd know, but that knock to the head earlier might've hit something else out too…"

I kept my eyes on the white-haired individual.

"Uh, yeah. Outside your Ar-cha-nea" I mumbled. "I mean, I was going to make plans to travel to Europe when I came here, but I mainly travel a bunch, really. Between continents – America, Asia, Russia, Europe - you know?"

"Uh… What?" Chrom seemed confused by the names of the continents I knew. Genuine confusion, too, his eyes didn't look like he was lying.

"Britain? France? Canada? Japan? Australia? China?"

"Seven, I have no idea what continents you're talking of."

"No, Lissa. They're countries, they're all country names."

"Countries I haven't heard of, then."

"What? So you haven't heard at all about stuff like-"

We spent a good minute confusing ourselves between the countries I knew and the countries they knew, with Chrom eventually giving up when he realised, we weren't making progress.

"Well…" He tapped the hilt of his blade in thought. "Did you come from this 'Brih-tan' by boat? Your clothing looks like that of a normal Ylissean farmer-" He frowned. "I don't think you came from Plegia's port… Ferox, maybe?"

"Hell, I don't know. Was I in Britain before I came here? Did I come by boat, train or airplane? That's the million-dollar question I wanna know the answer to as well, Chrom."

"The what?"

"Ah. Nevermind."

With every new conversation, every new sight, smell, touch and taste; I could feel myself accepting the fact that I wasn't on Earth anymore. There was just too much evidence for the argument - from the stars above to the architecture to the villagers to the magic. Over the past two days, I'd been exposed to so many things that simply couldn't be found anywhere on Earth anymore, so much so that I found myself easily accepting the fact that I probably wasn't near the solar system instead of fruitlessly rejecting the fact that this simply wasn't some kind of weird Inception scene.

Well, as easily as it was after spending two days rejecting it in a half-daze.

That thought made me feel lonely, like I was the only one who'd been hit by the accidental cosmic blip button.

Wait. Would that make me the last of my civilisation?

"Milord." I almost yelped in surprise; I'd not even noticed the pair coming to a stop in front of me. "The remaining villagers have left for Westtown, with the young Donnel leading the way. I also ensured that he was indeed who he claimed to be – with numerous accounts of Southtown's villagers backing up his claims. Rest assured that they will be taken to safety."

Oh wow, he was intimidating. Seated upon a war horse, decked so much in armor that it made Chrom look naked, sharply brushed brown hair and an even sharper gaze - a gaze that I found landing onto me.

"Ah, this is Frederick." Chrom gestured flippantly and the knight gave me the slightest of nods. "He may look scary, but he's always looking out for me and Lissa, he's fine once you get to know him. Oh, this is Robin, by the way."

Frederick barely smiled, a crack in his stern exterior that vanished as quickly as it came.

"You praise me too much, milord."

"Yeah, I do."

I looked at the woman once, twice, then did a double take.

It hit me then, like I'd remembered a word that had been hanging off the tip of my tongue.

Holy shit, this was the woman I'd seen in my dream. Everything matched up, the cloak, the pale skin, the hair color – everything.

Yet… As I continued to stare, for some reason... It didn't feel like the same person that had been behind the TV screen.

How do I put it? She looked exactly what I had seen but looked… Off. Robin was her name, right? The Robin I'd seen in my dream was by far the best example of a head turning beauty, yet the Robin in front of me looked… Plain… Or muted, I don't know. But it was stillweird; they both had the same hair color and style, the same coat, around the same build – the only difference between the two was that the Robin in front of me had a splash of freckles on her face and hazel eyes, compared to the glinting jewels I'd seen while asleep.

They both looked the same, but for some reason the Robin in front of me just looked… Average.

I must've been frowning at her, because she noticed my staring and returned a frown of her own, crossing her arms defensively.

"Can I help you?" Jesus, she even sounded just like the other.

So naturally, I blurted out the first question that came to mind.

"Do I know you?"

"Do I know you?"

"I-Uh. What?"

"Do I know you?" She repeated.

I blinked, she seemed more like she was talking to herself than to me.

"I don't know, do you know Seven?" Chrom asked.

Robin looked mildly haughty.

"Chrom, I don't know anything."

"Oh. Right. You don't," He grinned sheepishly, my confusion was probably written on my face. "She's got amnesia, by the way – like you, but much worse and we don't know how it was caused."

"You have amnesia?" Robin sounded like I had just plagiarised her claim about forgetfulness. I don't know what her problem with me was, but she looked peeved.

"Not as much as you, apparently. All I forgot was what happened in a few hours thanks to a nasty bump-"

"And magic! By the way, you totally forgot about magic!" Lissa interrupted, chortling at my expression.

"I didn't forget about magic, I just didn't know it existed."

Apparently what I just said was akin to announcing the assassination of the queen of England.

"Wait. What?" Lissa paused, looking at me as if I'd grown an extra head. "Doesn't your America have magic?"

If it did, then Earth would look extremely different.

"Uh… No? America doesn't have – hell, Earth doesn't have magic. Wait," I was more confused to why she assumed Earth had magic. "What made you think that I knew about magic in the first place?"

Now it was Robin's turn to stare incredulously. And everyone else's, they looked like I had just murdered a puppy in front of them.

"I… What?" The blonde girl looked like I had just told her two plus two equalled eight. "I mean.. What? But… It's everywhere! How can you not have magic? I assumed that you'd know because it's literally everywhere- you can't not have magic, you liar!"

"Your continent doesn't have magic? You're joking, right?" Chrom looked more amused at Lissa's brain crash than anything.

"Your continent doesn't have magic?" Robin scoffed, before pausing. "Wait. This continent has magic, right?" An amused nod from Chrom assured her fears, as she turned back to me and scoffed again, as if nothing had ever happened. "Your continent doesn't have magic?"

I don't know what was so confusing, really. It felt like I'd just been told an inside joke that I didn't get.

"Your continent doesn't have magic?" Frederick's version sounded more suspicious, which was probably the worst reaction of them all. "Interesting. Now, what was the name of the country that you lived in?"

"At the moment before I came here? I was chilling in England, really. I mean – I thought I'd gone to bed in my apartment and then like… Woken up in… Yeh-Leese." I tried to repeat the name of the country that so many people had said the night before.

"No wonderous claims on amnesia?" Frederick hummed casually. I decided to keep quiet about that part, mostly because it made no sense to me and adding more fuel onto the fire was not doing me any wonders. It felt like I'd been pulled over by the police after turning into a junction – I knew I hadn't done any wrong, but Frederick sure as hell made it feel like I had.

"Nope." I lied as naturally as I breathed, while Robin shot the knight a reproachful look.

"I see. Well, this matches with what Donnel said… Surprisingly enough." He nodded at his own words. "Regardless on whatever magical status your country is at, I can write you off as a foreigner caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. No threat to milord or milady so long as I keep a watchful gaze on you like Robin-" His eyes narrowed. "Are you a threat to milord?"

I copied Robin's look of incredulousness.

"Don't mind him," Chrom chortled, clapping me on the shoulder with almost enough force to send me stumbling. "He's just doing his job – Frederick the Wary, I tell you."

"A title I wear with pride, being the Knight-Commander of Ylisse herself."

"Oh. That sounds cool and important." Robin echoed my thoughts perfectly, which was weird. "Wait. You think I'm a threat to Chrom?"

"Until the truth of your story comes to light, yes."

"But that was the truth!"

"There is a high chance you could've been lying to us, to bring a wolf amongst our flock and threaten milord's safety once we let out guard down."

"I-Huh?! You trying to pick a fight?!"

"I wouldn't suggest it, I have been extremely well trained in combat ever since I was able to become protector to milord. There is no doubt that you would be handled easily especially after the earlier display of your shoddy sword skill – clearly you have been slacking in close combat to favor long distance engagements – perhaps training for such a situation should an assassination attempt present itself?"

"Gawds-I… You-I… I can't believe you have to deal with this, Chrom"

"You get used to it after the fourth year," Said man rolled his eyes good-naturedly before chuckling at my bemused expression. "I believe her story, as incredible as it sounds – and I've seen her prowess in battle, a great addition to the Shepherds, if I do say so myself."

My brain did the thing where the hamster left.

"Shepherds? You… Shepherd in full armor? Like, sheep and cows?"

Robin looked like I'd just punched her grandma in the face.

"Can you not copy everything I do and say, please?"

I ignored her as she returned to her heated discussion with Frederick.

"First of all, 'Shepherd' isn't a verb, Seven." Lissa giggled cutely as we watched the two bicker animatedly. "And second, we're not Shepherds. We're like peacekeepers, we patrol the land and protect Ylisse."

"Oh," I nodded alongside Chrom. "That makes sense, now that I think about it." Like guard patrols, or protectors. A mini military, maybe?

Our conversation lulled as we stood there, watching the two continue for a few more minutes while the sun began to enter the early stages of setting.

You know, Robin was pretty cute, now that I looked at her properly. Even if she looked plain compared to the Robin I'd first seen, she still looked good. In fact, everyone around me seemed to look amazing – Lissa was plenty attractive in her own right, while Chrom and Frederick looked like unpolished supermodels.

I'm surrounded by pretty people. I watched a dimple form on the white-haired girl's cheek as she pouted in frustration. She was cute if she wasn't being angry. I hadn't known her for at least a good ten minutes, yet I'd already noticed the distinctly sharp tongue that she carried.

"So," Chrom sounded casual, as if we had just come out of college and were trying to pick a random restaurant to eat at. "Do you have anywhere to go? I'd thought you were with Donnel, but… Uh…" He did a weird gesture with his hands. "Obviously not, from what you've told us."

"Huh." I pondered. I didn't exactly have anything, really. What was I going to do in the future? How would I earn money? If this was a medieval fantasy, how would I get money? Was there some sort of fetch quest?

I wished I'd had the patience to play Skyrim.

"I don't. Actually, I don't even know what I want to do, really. Obviously finding a way back home would be brilliant-" I didn't mention that I could potentially be in another universe. "But following Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, I'd need stuff like food, shelter, a job and uh… Well, a place to study so I can find a way back home."

Not because I want to learn magic. But I'd need to procure some way to survive in this world – some way to survive a world of swords and magic that every kid once dreamed of.

Lissa gave me a look, a kind of rueful look that said 'You chose this for yourself' before shaking her head and grinning.

I didn't get it.

"Well!" Chrom grinned – he grinned a lot like I said, most positive person in the world – and a spark of almost childlike glee lit up in his eyes. "I have an idea!"

"You do?"

"Well, are you interested in magic, food, a pay, a pension and cost-covered accommodation within Ylissetol's barracks themselves?"

Had this not been Chrom, then I'd assume that it was some weird scam that you'd find when browsing some… Unique sites. But this was Chrom, and he laughed and smiled a lot, and he seemed like a cool guy. I found myself trusting Chrom. Chrom was cool. And Blue.

"Shit. You had me sold at magic. Hell. Yes. Sign me up, whatever it is."

In hindsight, that was probably the worst decision of my life.

Another chapter done. I didn't want to progress too far into the story without cementing the fact that Seven now believes that he is in another world – a fact that is cemented by magic. I feel like 3 chapters, a near-death scenario, an alien sky, medieval setting and magic is enough to convince a man that he ain't on Earth anymore. I hadn't exactly intended for Seven to lose memory after such a traumatic experience like the last chapter but I wanted a good way to introduce magic, and besides; I've figured out how I want to use the last chapter and how it affects characters down the line.

If it were me then I'd have just accepted it the moment I woke up in that bed before Southtown, honestly.

Also, I personally love the way Robin turned out, can't wait to explore her character(s?) in the story.

Thanks for reading!