As soon as the words left my lips I could feel the ground beneath me disappear. I could also see the smirk from Sothis who was probably the one to open the portal in such a way.
"Go get them Link."
I fell for the second time in as many minutes but luckily the second time was much shorter than the first. Looking around I tried to investigate my surroundings. I was in a forest, at night, with the sounds of fighting going on right below me.
"Take care of the thieves before they overrun the village!" yelled a booming voice.
'Well that settles who I'm fighting then' I thought to myself as I willed my body around midair. Finally seeing the battlefield I saw the voice had come from an older blonde man on a white horse adorned in armor. Near him were three young teens wearing some sort of uniform as well as an ominous figure with blueish hair that is the first to clock me as I continue to fall.
I landed, gave a thumbs up to the group and ran the opposite way towards the men that looked like brigands.
"Try and gain a tactical advantage! Go for the trees!"
'Tactics huh? Seems like the warriors are more trained than the ones back home.' I thought to myself as I closed the distance with the nearest brigand.
"You're dead meat!". The brigand looked a little worried as he swung his ax where my head was. A swing that was entirely done through the experience of attacking lesser opponents. A swing that was inadequate when aimed at someone with experience on fighting back against stronger opponents. A swing that I dodged easily. And when I swung my sword I made sure his swing would never hurt anyone else ever again.
"Well at least we can tell he's not on their side!" a charismatic voice yelled out over the din of the battle. Stealing a quick glance behind me to see who spoke I noticed it was wearing the black and yellow uniform. He had light bronze skin and his crafty emerald eyes aimed through me as if he could guess my own actions before I took them. I could tell he was a competent archer merely by the way he held his bow; graceful yet efficient. He fired his arrows around me striking the other brigands that had charged desperately at me in order to avenge their comrade.
"Don't be entirely sure of that Claude! He may be a third party with ill intentions yet!"
Dodging the arrow filled bodies as they fell a white haired teen wearing a red and black uniform ran past me wielding an ax of her own. She had a stoic demeanor that hid eyes filled with aspirations. I watched as her intense swings decimated the brigands ahead of her and cleared the way for the rest of us. The blood from the brigands contrasted intensely against her pale white skin as her lilac eyes darted towards her comrades and back towards the brigands ahead.
I stayed crouched to quickly examine the weapons of the brigands to try and understand what I would possibly be facing off against in future battles in this world but I was interrupted by the last of the young fighters.
"Are you injured sir? If not then we must continue on to fighting alongside Edelgard. She is a competent fighter but we can't allow their numbers to consume her."
Looking up I saw a blonde teen with caring blue eyes offer his free hand to help me up as he held a spear in his other hand. I could only sit there though as underneath that mask held the potential of a man capable of violence. A feral animal that if let loose could devastate any and all around him. I had not seen a man like this since Ganon.
"Right, I'm fine" I said as I took his hand and stood up, "Is it just you five verses these brigands?"
The blonde teen nodded.
"We were separated from our class but we were lucky to run into these kind mercenaries who are assisting us." The teen pointed back towards the man on the horse and the blue haired woman. "You are free to join us if your intentions are noble."
"They are. I'm a bit out of my element so I would love to assist you and your comrades. Wait, did you say class? How old are you?"
"Me? Well I'm 17. Don't count me out just because I haven't hit full adulthood yet, after all I have been training to be a knight all my life. Oh and my name is Dimitri."
I began to realize that I shouldn't judge as I was only a few years older than him but before I could voice my response Dimitri had shoved me out of the way and stabbed his spear into a brigand that had managed to sneak his way around Edelgard in order to attack me while I was too focused on conversation. I had gotten too careless.
"Let's continue this conversation after we get out of this alive. We wouldn't want to end our story here right comrade?" Dimitri said as he pulled the spear away from the brigand's body.
"Let's" was all I could say as we both began running towards the rest of the thieves.
Behind us I could hear the familiar sounds of a horse pounding their hooves into the ground as the older blond man along with the blue haired woman sped past us to join in on the fight. A familiar feeling arose in the pit of my stomach as the woman passed us. A feeling not entirely unfamiliar as when I spoke to Sothis but a few minutes ago.
'Could that be the hero Sothis told me about?' I wondered. 'I suppose further dialogue is a must now.'
By the time the rest of us had gotten to Edelgard there was a growing pile of bodies around her. The brigands had started resorting to taking pot shots with their bow and arrows, forcing Edelgard to take cover behind some trees.
"Behind me!" I yelled as I took out my shield. Claude quickly understood what I was going for and took his position behind me, nocking an arrow before letting it fly into one of the archers.
"Clever idea sky guy we make a pretty good team, I'm Claude Von Riegan and if you are looking for employment I am always looking for capable men and women to join the Leicester Alliance's armies."
"Claude! Can you focus on the problem at hand before you do a recruitment drive?! There are more arrows than leaves in this tree!"
I could hear the smirk on Claude's face as he shot more arrows. A few more shots and the brigand archers were no more which allowed the rest of the group to advance towards the brigand leader and his men.
"Alright I guess I have to leave my speech till after the fight. Consider sticking around though stranger!." Claude said as he left my cover.
I smiled.
'At least there are jokesters in this world too, that way I won't stick out too much.' I thought as I joined the group for the final push against the brigands.
Edelgard was the first to push the brigands as she locked axes with the brigand leader.
"Why are you damn kids so hard to kill? This was supposed to be an easy job!", the brigand leader cried.
"You were hired then? Who hired you? Who would gain from our deaths you dastard?" Edelgard continued to push her advantage.
The brigand just yelled and was able to knock Edelgard back with his strength and swung down at her head.
It was then where time seemed to slow. I became overcome with the feeling of sluggishness as if I was swimming through adhesive. I could see the battle happening in multiple ways, many resulting in the young teen's demise, but suddenly one scenario became clear as the blue haired swordswoman sprinted over and deflected the killing blow away from Edelgard and knocked the brigand leader away. Time went back to normal and no one seemed to notice that anything had happened other than what was in front of their eyes. My suspicions had grown to almost certainty. This woman was the hero I was to assist on their journey.