Kingdom Sword

[SplendaWeReGoingDown]

"Ah huh."


"Yup."


"Hm? Nah.." Riley absentmindedly murmured into the phone, only half paying attention to her mother on the other end. The rest of her attention was focused on her new game, Kingdom Sword. Her thumbs moved against the analogue stick, grimacing at default settings of the camera. She would surely have to go change that to inverse when she was done with these goddamn tutorials.


Riley are you even liste --





"I'm listening!" she huffed, sending a few stray hairs flying upwards with the exhale of breath. She heard her mom sigh on the other line and Riley had the decency to mumble an apology in response. "Don't worry, mom. I set up the payment plans for this semester," she said, tilting her head to cradle the phone as she wandered through the first village, Rivaini, trying to find a smith to forge her starter sword. "And my financial aid cleared too. So don't worry so much okay?"


She could practically feel her mom fretting from over here. After a few beats of silence on the other end, the only sound being that of the rain outside her window, her mother spoke up once more, lecturing her to call if anything changes. "You know it. Love you." And with that, she hung up the phone with a fond roll of her eyes before turning her attention fully to her new game.


Riley had been waiting almost a year for this game to come out, pre-ordering the special edition and everything. She wasn't yet far enough in the game to enjoy the perks but patience she reminded herself as the designated mentor explained the art of button pressing.


--


Finally, after a good two hours, the story finally began picking up. It would have been less, but the power flickered for a moment earlier due to the thunderstorm currently raging outside. Lightning flashed behind her which she studiously ignored, instead focusing on her current escort mission. The town of Nettleton loomed on the horizon and the traveling party carried forwards. Her protagonist, appropriately named Craphole, led the team forward as the reached the village.


The NPC's thanked her for her help and gave her a small sum of gold as a reward. As the merchants she helped wandered off into NPC oblivion, her character was approached by a familiar looking blonde man.


"Well, hello there, Alfred Birchwood," she said to the tv, waggling her eyebrows suggestively although there was no one to see. She was quite familiar with his character, his face was on most of the promotional artwork that was released for the game and she knew he was a main protagonist and a long-term companion in the game. She couldn't wait to have him join her party once and for all.


Thunder roared loudly outside, the wind howling, but Riley was too engrossed in the game to pay attention. She approached the knight, already excited to meet the new character that would surely have his own DLC game, however, before she could even press the X button on her controller, a large bolt of lightning struck outside, plunging the room into darkness.


"Fuck me," Riley groaned, as she fumbled about her apartment, trying to find the breaker box.

 

[Cathedra]

(I'm so sorry for my unannounced absence. I won't make any excuses over it, however, since that won't get anything done. Nonetheless, here's my post.)


It happened in an instant, in one singular moment that would forever alter the course of his life. Years from now he would look back and realize, with no sense of wonder, that that was when his life truly began. Of course, he had never realized it at the time, too caught up in the midst of things like he was want to do. But that’s the thing about reflections: they don’t happen in the past. If they did they wouldn’t be called “reflections” now would they? Quite indeed, people never truly realize the value of something until they remove themselves from the here-and-now. No, they don’t stop to ponder how even the most seemingly negative of experiences can be fundamental to the building of happiness. After all, that’s something that distracts them from the occurrence itself. It no one could have that now, could they?


Truth be told, it was a day like any other, if not slightly more on the pleasant side than most; at least there was a steady, cooling breeze to offset the heat radiating from the sun. Not to mention that it kept the air from getting too stagnant, but that was another matter. Besides, there was hardly anything worse than an unshakable dry heat that had the clothes sticking to your body – a dry heat that left your skin coated in the crystalized remnants of sweat that had long since evaporated. It was also no secret - especially on warm days such as this - that suits of armor were nothing if not stifling under the full glare of the sun. Perhaps that was why, as a cool draft blew across the sweat dampened hair at the nape of his neck, Alfred let out a breath of satisfaction. Now, to most the action would have been dismissible, more than likely something that had never even occurred in the first place. Because, if there was one thing the knight did not do, it was express any form of happiness. Especially when it was due to something so insignificant. Of course, the blonde wasn’t completely stoic, but he also didn’t divulge in expressing too many of his feelings to the outside world. At least not any more than was deemed necessary, that is.


Nonetheless, it was a pleasant day and he had expressed such, albeit discretely. That should have sent warning alarms off in his head from the get go; obviously something was bound to go wrong. His luck – or was it karma? – always made sure of that. But it was simply too nice a day, and he had impending business to attend to. So no, Alfred did not look further into such unreasonable matters. Though maybe he should have.


He had been approaching the lithe figure of a young adventurer, his intention set on talking with the traveler and little more. Only he never quite made it. There had been a strange pulling sensation at his limbs, a bizarre buzzing sound in his ears before everything around him went black. For a moment he wondered if the heat had gotten to him – a novel thought truly, that he, a great night, would succumb to something such as that – and left him passed out in the middle of the road. However, although the buzzing soon faded out, the dimness did not. In fact, the dimness was soon accompanied by a distinctly cold air and something that sounded akin to rain. If he was truly unconscious then the feeling of coherence partnered with the strange surroundings coming into focus – further proof that his eyes were, in fact, open – around him would not have existed. No, he was awake – he was awake and something was most definitely wrong.


The knight made to take a step forward, hand reaching down to extract his trusted sword from its scabbard when a sound reached his well-trained ears. It resembled that of someone shuffling around, and Alfred made to shout warning at whoever was near him when his own words were interrupted by those of another. “Oh fuck me,” the voice said, its tone distinctly feminine. Unfortunately the gender identification of the speaker did little to ease the blonde’s discomfort, and disgust, at the phrase.


Nose curling in distaste and hand tightening on the hilt of his sword, Alfred could not quite help the look of aversion that crossed onto his face in the dark. A flash of light illuminated his form for a brief second before he opened his mouth once more. “I do not believe such vulgarity befitting the circumstance. I would suggest, ma’am, that you cease such comments before I find it within myself to make you do so.”

 

[SplendaWeReGoingDown]

(No worries! Real life happens and I totally understand. I'm not super anal about posting times either so there's no hurry )


The room was plunged utterly into darkness with the occasional flash of lightning illuminating the silhouettes of her furniture. Riley fumbled about for her phone on the kitchen counter, recalling she left it there somewhere. Her hand slid along the smooth counter top until she could feel the distinct form of her smartphone -- the weight of it familiar in her hand considering she was always on it. Unlocking the screen, she turned the flashlight on and aimed it at the floor to prevent her from tripping on any of the myriad of objects that littered her apartment.


The sound of an unexpected voice made her jump a mile high and let out a yelp. Her hand scrambled nearby to grab whatever she could to defend herself and unfortunately was only able to grab a bottle of Windex. A distant part of her brain absently wondered why she even had cleaning products when her apartment was in such a constant state of disarray. The main part of her mind, however, was focused on the man who was in her fucking apartment.


Holding up the Windex, Riley aimed the light at the source of the voice. She couldn't tell much from where she stood other than -- "Holy shit, are you holding a sword? Did you break into my house with a fucking sword?!" Her voice came out an octave higher than she intended it to be in her panic and she felt frozen to the spot. "Who the fuck are you and why are you in my house?!" She yelled at the man, at least she was able to tell that much.


Good god, she thought, mind running a mile a minute in this standoff with the man in front of her. The power isn't out for even a full minute and people are already trying to ransack my apartment. Hesitantly, her thumb ran across the screen of her phone, typing the dial for 9-1-1 while keeping the flashlight steadily trained on the man before her. Her eyes went between her screen and the intruder, wary of any sudden movements from the man.


"Don't you fucking move," she warned. "I'm calling the police right now so you better get out of here." It was a bluff, and she desperately hoped the man didn't call her out on it. Whatever had knocked out the power, had apparently knocked out her cell service too. This is what I get for getting Verizon.

 

[Cathedra]

(Amen to the Verizon bashing. Just saying.)


The sudden accosting of a shrill female voice against his otherwise sensitive eardrums had Alfred’s muscles coiling in anticipation and, dare he admit it, unease. His hand even went so far as to twitch against the hilt of his sword in the wake of the sound, something he was loath to admit doing. Twitch was, after all, an indication that something had managed to worm its way under his skin. Ego bruising is what it was. Nonetheless, it had barely been over a minute and the blonde already found himself forcefully reminded of just how annoying women could be. Not to mention that the fact that this particular female insisted on shouting profanities at him wasn’t helping matters either.


Now, Alfred wasn’t keen on using violence when it came to dealing with the fairer sex, but this woman antics coupled with the drastic changing of his surroundings had to knight on edge. As such it was truly no real surprise that the blonde made a show of moving his sword – something the woman had pointed out earlier with what he could only presume to be a tone of fear – in his grip. The woman was obviously insane; if he had to use a bit of intimidate to extract the information from her that he desired so be it. That, and she was currently holding two objects of unknown origin and design in his direction. Alfred wasn’t about to take any chances in engaging her. It didn’t matter if her manner of speech was odd either.


Nonetheless, Alfred wasn’t in the mood to entice physical confrontation where it wasn’t needed. So he stayed put, muscles tense and face painted in a severe frown. “Bloody hell, don’t sell me a dog unless you have lived under a rock your entire life, woman. Swords are not uncommon weapons, and I trust you to be capable of identify a knight long before he resorted to speaking to you thusly.” His tone was firm, broaching no argument and undercut with a layer of steel as he spoke. “I know not of what you speak; therefore, if you would kindly stop dithering about I would be most appreciative.”


When it did not appear that the woman was keen on relenting her position and temperament in a timely fashion, the knight ran an aggravated hand through his hair. Truly, if anyone had the right to be upset and hostile it was he. “Smashing,” he muttered under his breath, chin tilting upwards with the action. “My name is Alfred. ...I am not sure what witchcraft you have used, but I would be most pleased if you would send me back from whence I came.” His nose crinkled then, lips curling slightly at the edges. “I am not much a fan of this ‘house’ of yours if I do so say.”

 

[SplendaWeReGoingDown]

(Haha glad you liked it)


The man across from her hadn't taken the bait and hardly seemed intimidated by her threat of calling the police. If anything he seemed even more intimidating. Riley blinked, stunned at the man before her's speech. It wasn't quite what she expected a crackhead ransacking her place to sound like (and in her neighborhood, she has heard plenty of those). And perhaps because she was just playing it only moments before everything went to shit, but the distinct accent reminded her of..


My name is Alfred...


The man across from her spoke the words aloud, as if reading her mind and beginning to spout words of accusation at her as if it were her fault he was here. Oh good god. "You're a whole new level of batshit crazy," she accused, ready to throw the bottle of Windex at the man in a chance to flee from her apartment with her life. "I don't care who you think you are, but just -- Leave. Me. Alone." She punctuated each word, getting a bit of her nerve back (although it fled just as quickly).


Just then, it seemed that the power decided to come back on. Her eyes stung as they adjusted to the bright lights, the figure in front of her blurring before her eyes before coming into focus completely. As her eyes landed on the man apparently named Alfred, she froze, her back tense and growing stiff, her hand clenching on the Windex bottle so that a bit of spray came out of the nozzle. He looks just like --


"Oh my god," she spoke aloud, her voice wavering before shaking her head. There was no way, absolutely no fucking way. And yet the face before her said otherwise. Either some crazy crackhead in the best fucking cosplay she's ever seen had just broken into her place, or.. As impossible as it was the second scenario seemed the more likely of the two. Well.. Technically the most likely scenario was that the lightning had traveled through her tv and hit her like in 1000 Ways to Die and she was now in some lightning induced coma. However, in this moment she felt very much awake and breathing. But right now? Rationality was overruling reason. The way the man spoke, the fucking sword and armor. He looked exactly like the cover of her game. Not to mention, her door was very much intact and her windows still locked and closed -- there was no forced entry. So either this man had been hiding in here for a while or the seemingly impossible was... possible.


Edging towards her console, Riley raised her hands up in surrender so as not to prompt the man to attack her. "You asked me to return you back," she said, hesitatingly. "Where would that be exactly?" When she neared the console she slowly crouched down beside, hoping for something -- anything that could explain this fucking mess.


"Shit," she swore when she realized her console was fried. She didn't know what she was expecting really.