"Urgggghhhh…"

The elven mage groaned as she opened her eyes. Frieren was typically one to sleep in for most of the day, but whatever surface she was sleeping on was making it very hard for her to feel comfortable. Through squinted eyes, she sleepily observed her surroundings. She saw grass, dirt, some rocks. Yeah, that would explain the discomfort. Not exactly a comfy inn bed.

"Well, there are better places to take a nap than on the ground, I suppose," she muttered to herself, sitting up to better observe her surroundings. She appeared to be laying in a sizable field of grass, surrounded by small hills and dotted with the occasional tree. In the distance, she could see what looked like a small town. Frieren had traveled through many places in her long life, but this area didn't look remotely familiar to her. Where was she? How did she get here?

She tried to think back. She remembered… a door. No, an ancient gateway of some sort. Fern and Stark were there with her, as usual. Had they gone through the gateway? How did she end up in this field? Her memory at that point grew fuzzy.

Wait.

Frieren looked around her. "Fern? Stark? Where are you?"

No response. Was she alone then? She couldn't sense Fern's mana, but then again, Fern was always exceptional at concealing it. But surely, she'd have woken up before Frieren and found her by now if she was nearby. It wouldn't have been hard for Fern to simply use a flying spell and spot her lying in this field. So perhaps they had been separated?

Frieren was sure at this point that they must have entered the mysterious gateway. It was hardly out of character for her, with her obsession with exploring dungeons that Himmel has instilled in her. Then, did that mean she had been transported somewhere by this gate? Were Fern and Stark nearby, or did they stay behind? Did they enter as well, only to be sent elsewhere?

She certainly wasn't going to get answers by sitting here and thinking about it, she decided. Perhaps she could travel to the town nearby. Surely, she could at the very least get some answers on where she was.

She turned to the town, and realized something had changed. She could see smoke. Was the town on fire?

"Well, that's not ideal," Frieren said to herself, activating a flying spell and starting towards the burning town, "I can't get any information if the townspeople are all dead, can I?"

Frieren surveyed the town from above. It seemed that this town was being ransacked by bandits. Nothing she couldn't handle with ease, she thought. It'd probably be ideal if she landed though, both because she'd be an easy target for all of their forces in the air, and because she could end up scaring the civilians. She came to a landing outside the town's entrance and dashed in.

Not long after she started running, one of the bandits spotted her. "Well! Ain't you a lovely little lass! Why don't you come over here and-"

"Zoltraak." Frieren summoned her staff and blasted the bandit in a flash. Zoltraak, the killing magic she had taken from the demon Qual and developed for human use, had more recently been most used to slay demons. However, it was still a powerful spell, and could still kill a human without enough magical resistance. The common bandit she faced, who seemed to have no magical aptitude whatsoever, didn't stand a chance.

She continued running through the town, blasting any bandits she came across with the offensive spell. After about a minute of this, she sensed people approaching the area to her right and pointed her staff, only to realize these weren't bandits. A blonde pigtailed girl in a yellow dress ran into the town center, holding a staff. She was followed by a young blue-haired man with a sword and a brown-haired older man with a lance atop a horse.

"Chrom, we have to stop them!" the blonde girl said.

The blue-haired man (who Frieren assumed was the 'Chrom' mentioned,) nodded. "Don't worry, Lissa- after today, these bandits won't be bothering anyone ever again."

A white-haired man in a black robe ran in to join the trio, to their surprise.

"Wait!" he shouted as he reached them.

"Robin! You followed us! Why?" Chrom asked.

The man named Robin shook his head. "I… I'm not certain myself. But I'm armed, and I know my way around a fight, if you'll have me."

Chrom smiled and nodded. "Of course- strength in numbers. Just stay close!"

It seemed these four were here to take down the bandits. An adventuring party, perhaps? Frieren was a bit of an introvert, but she knew it'd be more efficient to work together with this group to help save the town.

"Excuse me," Frieren said, approaching the four, "Mind if I assist?"
The brown-haired man narrowed his eyes at her appearance and rode his horse in between Frieren and his group, blocking them from her view. "Who are you? Are you part of these brigands?"

"My name is Frieren. I happened to be passing by, and I noticed this town was burning. I'd like to help out, if possible."

The man looked as if he wanted to object, but was interrupted by Chrom, who stepped forward from behind Frederick's horse. "We don't have time for an interview right now, Frederick. We'd be grateful if you could help, Frieren."

"But Milord, she could be a spy, or an assassin, or-"

"Frederick, there is a town burning down. We can figure out if she's trustworthy later."

Frederick hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "Very well, Milord. Remember, you two," he said, addressing Robin and Frieren, "we face practiced thieves and murderers. They will grant us no quarter. It's kill or be killed."

Chrom nodded. "What weapons do you two have on hand? I see that you have a sword, Robin. And Frieren has a staff. I take it you're a cleric, then?"

Lissa smiled, "You can help me out then! I'm a cleric too!"

"I'm a mage, actually."

Chrom raised an eyebrow. "A mage… with a staff?"

Frieren raised an eyebrow back at him. "Yes? What's so odd about that?"

"Well, while it's not unheard of for some kinds of magic to be channeled through staves, the most common magical tool I know of is a tome," Robin said, pulling out a thick, yellow book, "Like this. This is a Thunder tome."

"Whoa, Robin, you're a mage too?" Lissa exclaimed.

Robin blinked as he looked at the tome in his hand. "...Huh. I suppose I am. I just remembered that. Odd." This remark earned him another suspicious look from Frederick.

Frieren marveled at the tome. "Interesting… the magic here can be channeled directly through a grimoire? I'll have to ask you more about it later, then."

Robin grinned. "And I'd love to ask you about your magic later. But let's focus on the task at hand," Robin turned towards the bandits in the distance. "I've realized something. It's strange, but… Here on the battlefield, I can… well I can 'see' things."

"See things?" Chrom questioned, "Like what?"

"The enemy's strength, their weaponry, the flow of battle… I must have studied this somewhere."

Frieren looked at him curiously. "Interesting. Combat strategy training of some sort, I assume?"

Robin shrugged. "Seems so."

"Well, what do you think of the situation now?" Chrom asked him, "Any ideas on how we should go about this?"

Robin scanned the town, seemingly making note of the enemies and their locations. "So we have a swordsman, a cleric, two mages, and a mounted knight. Their forces… seem to be surprisingly low for ransacking a town of this size, actually. I can only see four axe-wielders, four swordsmen, two mages, and what looks to be their leader."

Frieren nodded. "I've been here for a little while now. I've taken a fair share of them down already."

Frederick peered at her with his ever-suspicious glare. "You seem to be a quite skilled mage."

"Somewhat, I suppose."

Robin did not add to this exchange, as he seemed to be calculating something in his head. Finally, he turned to the group. "Alright, I think I have a strategy. Their leader seems to be defending that building, so I assume they're stashing their loot in there. Therefore, I don't think he'll leave that area unless absolutely necessary. That should leave us free to take down his lackeys before we fight him. Frederick, you should ride around the plaza and take down the sword wielders as you go. You should outrange their attacks with your lance. Whilst you do so, Frieren and I will engage the mages, as we probably have the most resistance to their magical attacks. Chrom, hold off the axe-wielders as long as you can, and we'll join you once the others are taken down. Lissa, watch his back and heal him."

The entire group seemed surprised by how much Robin had to say, but none could deny the soundness of the strategy. With a unanimous nod, the five of them put the plan into action.

Frieren and Robin both dashed in the direction of each of the enemy mages. Frieren dashed around the corner of a market stall and came face to face with an enemy mage. He carried a red tome with him. Perhaps a fire magic user?

"Die!" he shouted, jumping backwards and throwing his arm out toward her. A ball of fire materialized in front of him and went flying towards Frieren.

Frieren lightly waved her staff, and a single hexagonal panel of her defensive magic appeared to perfectly block the fireball. "Hm. Predictable. You must be a novice."
Robin glanced towards her in awe as he slashed his sword across the other mage's chest. "Is that… some sort of protection magic?"

Frieren nodded to confirm as she blasted a Zoltraak at the first mage, destroying him. He may have been magically inclined, but his magical resistance was not nearly strong enough to handle the power of Zoltraak.

"...Ok, we are DEFINITELY going to discuss our magic once we're done here." Robin said, impressed.

A small smile found its way on Frieren's face. "Well, let's get this sorted out quickly so we can get to the discussion."

"Well, that's the end of that." Robin said, dusting off his robe.

Lissa sighed in relief, sitting down on a crate. "Lucky for the town, we were close by," She excitedly turned to the two mages. "But holy wow! Robin, Frieren, you two were amazing!"

Chrom chuckled. "Indeed. Frieren, your magic abilities are like none I've ever seen. And Robin… Swords, sorcery, AND tactics. Quite a skillset!"

Frederick cleared his throat. "Yes, that's all well and good, but perhaps now some explanations are in order?"

Robin met his glare with apologetic eyes. "I understand your skepticism, Sir Frederick. And I cannot explain why only some knowledge has returned to me. But please, believe me. I have shared all that I know.

Chrom patted his shoulder. "You fought to save Ylissean lives. My heart says that's enough."

Frieren listened to this conversation in confusion. "Did I miss something? What's going on?"

"Ah right," said Chrom, turning to her, "Well, we just met Robin today. We found him unconscious in a field not too far from here. He says he's lost all of his memories."

"An amnesiac? Interesting…" Frieren said, observing Robin closely, "And you say you were ALSO unconscious in a field?"

Robin blinked. "Wait… The same thing happened to you?"

Frederick scoffed. "You can't expect us to reasonably believe that. Two white-haired mages both simultaneously waking up in nearby fields, both amnesiac?"

"Well, no. I never said I had lost my memories," Frieren stated, "I don't remember exactly how I got here, but I clearly remember everything else about my life."

"Well then, I'd like to hear some answers out of you, at the very least, " Frederick demanded, "Where do you hail from?"

"I come from nowhere in particular. I'm a traveling mage."

Frederick glared. "Hm. I find that hard to believe. Your magical aptitude seems far too high to be a simple traveling mage."

Frieren sighed. "Alright, fine. I don't really like to brag, but if you need reason to trust me, I am the elf from the party of heroes who defeated the Demon King."

The entire group stared at her in confusion.

"An elf?"

"Party of heroes?"

"The Demon King?"

Frieren was bewildered. "What?"

"Who's… the Demon King? Sounds like a creep." Lissa asked.

"I haven't heard of anyone with a title like that either.," Chrom agreed, "Perhaps you mean the Mad King, Gangrel?"

Frieren furrowed her brows. "No, I mean the Demon King. I've never heard of any king named Gangrel. Where does he rule?"

Frederick raised an eyebrow. "You're telling me you've never heard about the king of Plegia?"

"I've never even heard of Plegia. Is that anywhere near Ende?"

Frieren was astounded to see the entire group staring at her in confusion again.

"I've… had to study geography a fair bit, and I can't say I've ever heard of a location called 'Ende'." Chrom said, scratching his head.

"I'd like to go back to something else you said for a moment, if that's all right," said Robin, "You said you were… an elf? What does that mean?"

Frieren was really perplexed now. She was used to people remarking on how rare elves were, but she had never met anyone who had no clue what an elf was. Had she been sent to the distant future where elves are extinct?

"Well, uh. Elves are another race of people, like humans and dwarves." she said, half-prepared for another round of confused stares.

Her prediction was correct, and she was met with another round of confused stares.

"Dwarves?"

Frieren sighed in exasperation. How was she supposed to explain this?

"I noticed you have pointed ears," Chrom pointed out, "Perhaps you meant you're a manakete?"

Frieren had no idea what that was, but it was something to go off of. "Well, what IS a manakete?"

"It's a race of people who live for thousands of years…"
"Wha- Yes! That's exactly-"

"...who are characterized by their ability to transform into dragons."

"...Exactly not what I am." Frieren sighed. She was intrigued by these 'manaketes' though. She'd have to see if she could find one to have a chat with at some point. She'd never heard of another species living as long as elves did. Which, speaking of… "Well, I think I've come to a realization about my situation."
"And what is that?" asked Robin.

"This world is NOT the world I come from."

Welp, it's been ages since I've written anything, and the thing that brought me back is Frieren. I've got a decent few ideas for this, but I can't guarantee I'll be updating very frequently, as I'm pretty busy. I'll try my best to keep it up though!