[center][h2]Clara Witherfield[/h2][/center] [hr] Clara had been visiting the various areas of the elven world, familiarizing herself with the lay of the land as she was the new queen after all. She was received mostly warmly by the local populace, as the old queen had announced that if there would ever be a better mage than her, then the elves should follow that person instead of her. Why the obsession with magic strength, you may ask? Well, it was because of the myth they had in their culture. One day, they would be invaded by a foreign race far more powerful than themselves, and only an extraordinarily powerful mage born in another world could repel them. The elves had acted upon that myth when Earth and their world were conjoined miraculously. So they declared war upon Earth just so a mage would rise amongst the Earthlings to defeat them and become their new queen. It was certainly a pretty optimistic, almost naive plan, thinking the human would just want to help them after what they did to their world. But here she was, leading them as their new queen. It couldn't be helped. She just loved this world more than her old world. By now, Earth should have lost all their mages since the two worlds had drifted apart once again. She couldn't stand the thought of living her old ordinary orphan life. Well, her reasons were not all entirely selfish. She had to perform the ritual of unmerging in this world after all. It was just a shame that Alice couldn't be with her. If only she hadn't been so stubborn in wanting the two worlds to merge... Clara shook her head. No reason to think about that now. Both she and Alice fought for what they believed in. And she respected that. As she continued her walk through the forest, a figure shrouded in darkness suddenly appeared before her. "You... who are you?" Clara said as she summoned her sword to her right hand, glaring suspiciously at the figure. His energy... his presence... everything about him was strange, as if he was something that didn't belong to this world. And then, before she could do anything, his darkness enveloped her, blinding her in its alien embrace. ... When Clara regained her sight, she found that she was not in the forest she had been strolling in. "W-what is..." She looked around. Her surroundings... they were entirely unfamiliar to her. The building before her was nothing like any building she had ever seen before. And to add to the strangeness, there were two others with her; they both looking as odd and out-of-place as the building. There was an old man wearing a white shirt and a man wearing what seemed to be a military uniform with a sword hanging on his back. And then, the words of the cloaked figure rushed into her. She couldn't make any sense of it whatsoever. World of worlds? Writing their past, present, of future? She didn't get it at all. The military man soon introduced himself. Astralus and ELF? Those words didn't mean anything to her either. But he mentioned the cloaked figure too, it seemed, so he probably had encountered the same person that she just did. "Greetings, Sir Incarnus. I am Clara Witherfield. It's a pleasure to meet you," she replied with a polite curtsy. She didn't mention her being the queen as there was a chance that he wouldn't know that. He didn't seem to be an elf, judging by his ears. But he said he belonged to ELF, which sounded like an acronym. Coincidence? Their introductions were soon interrupted by another old man coming to where they were, climbing up the stairs in front of the building. He gasped, looking really surprised at their presence. Quickly, Clara moved to calm him down. "Please do not be alarmed. We're just,.. three lost strangers. Y-yes, that's it. So it would be much appreciated if you can point us on the direction of the nearest village," she said with a gentle smile. She said "village" because she hadn't really realized what surrounded the temple, thinking it was located in a forest. [hr] [center][h2]Marin[/h2][/center] [hr] Marin ran. Marin was running and running and running. Running with tears in her eyes, running with her legs bleeding and swollen. "Don't let the demon child escape! Remember, the demon god is in her! The world is at stake as long as she lives!" so the honorable, heroic voice shouted. "Aah!" Marin tripped on a tiny ledge she didn't notice, thanks to the darkness that covered the alleyways of the city. Only the moon shone her path, and her light was barely enough. She crashed to the hard concrete in front of her, her tiny nose receiving most of the impact. When she rose up, she continued to run, even though blood and snot now came out from her broken nose. She had no choice but to run. She couldn't die here. Not before she could meet Father and Mother again. But alas, she soon found out that she had been running towards a dead end. And right behind her, she could hear footsteps approaching. She was trapped. For a moment, she had a thought of asking Leviathan for help. But that thought quickly vanished, as she very well knew that the dragon would not help her unless it was for his own amusement. As long as she was not in the brink of death, he would not act. She had to escape on her own. She looked around, trying to find a place where she could go through. The windows were all too high for her to reach. No alleyways for her to go through. The only remaining choice was the drainage. That meant she had to go through the sewers. She hated it. But she had no other choice. However, even that she could not do, as the drainage cover was too heavy for her to lift. She tried to pull it out with all the might her little body could muster, but it still wouldn't budge. The footsteps were coming closer. She had no more time. She decided to melt it open with her flame spell but soon found out that her fire was nowhere near hot enough to do so. "There she is!" She gasped. She looked at where the voice came from and saw three knights bearing the symbol of the Church on their armor. One of the knights immediately fired a flare spell to the sky, signalling the other knights and the Heroes where she was. Shaking, she rose up, gathering flames in her palm. She fired off a pair of fireballs at them, but they simply blocked them with their shields. She tried again with her flame spout but this time, they didn't even bother blocking as their anti-magic armor blocked all the heat. And then, they kicked her. Marin's eyes widened in pain for a split second before she landed on the ground a few feet away from where she stood. And before she could retaliate, the knights continued with their work, kicking her over and over in the stomach while occasionally hitting her on the head as well. "You think she had enough?" "Nah, these demon scum are quite durable. Look, see how she still glared at us like that even after we kicked her that many times?" "Really, they had the galls to disguise themselves as a little girl just so to catch us off guard." The two knights continued their torment, with Marin only taking it as she was helpless to do anything else. She didn't know if the reason why she was able to stay conscious through it was because of her own willpower or Leviathan's magic. After what seemed like eternity, the torment stopped. She slowly opened her eyes. She couldn't quite make the image through her hazy sight, but it seemed one of the Heroes had arrived. And then, darkness. ... When she came to, she was not where she was before. She was now standing up for starters (though barely, with shaking feet) and there were no knights around her. And then, it quickly hit her. This sight... this familiar sight... This was her world. Her old world. There were cars everywhere and they were in a basement. So this must be a parking lot. Tears streamed down her cheeks once more, but this was tears of happiness. "Father... Mother... I'm home..." And then, she collapsed.