“…the end of you, you monster!”

I blinked, a feeling of déjà vu surging over me, my consciousness shifting over from dreamland to reality. Haven’t I heard that line before somewhere? I thought fleetingly. Before I could put my finger on it, however, a fleeting image of a bearded gentleman flashed through my head.

Right, I thought, head still all drowsy. It was the first thing I heard when I had lost my memories; the day I was captured.

Then why, pray tell, am I hearing his voice now?

Opening my eyes, I took in the exact same scenery as I remembered from before I went to sleep – a large grass meadow stretching on as far as eye could see. Just for good measures, I made a brief personality check. Name: Fem. Check. Name of my travelling companions: Nio, Elva, Tolv, Tiara… oh and Clarie. Check.

“I will not fight a downed opponent,” the mysterious voice spoke. A man’s voice, from the sound of it. “Get up and meet your destiny!”

Only now did I become aware of a blade pressed against my throat.

Having absolutely no idea what was going on – and frankly, I wasn’t awake enough to care – I mumbled, “Alright, alright, just give me a min.”

I felt the metal blade lift slightly from my throat. Casting off my blanket, I opened up the backpack I’d been using as a pillow, withdrawing a clean tunic and some pants.

Wait a sec, a sudden though crossed my mind. Where’s Nio and the guys?

A sudden stroke of fear slapped me awake like icy water on my face as I suddenly realized my situation. Whipping around, I turned to face my mysterious threatener.

My first impression was that a naked man wielding a sword was standing in front of me. Then I his very short pants, which were far too revealing for my taste. The only piece of clothing covering his upper body was a thin red ribbon, covering up his nipples. Seriously, his clothing were sparse enough to give Elva a run for her money. His face was handsome though, and his semi-long hair swayed dramatically in the wind.

“Who’re you?!” I shot. “Where’re my companions?” I was still at the same plains, apparently, but the others were nowhere to be found.

“Your puppets have been spared from your wretched claws,” he said, posing a bit with his sword. Despite his dubious appearance, he spoke elegantly.

“Those are my friends! What did you do to them?”

“Worry not, they are safe,” he assured. “I simply spirited us both away from your groups, so that the may be spared, and perhaps reformed.”

Teleportation, huh. In any case, this guy was really starting to get on my nerves.

“Now!” his voice suddenly became darker and more powerful. “We shall duel to the death! This time I will show you no mercy!”

“Like, we do we have to… hold on. What’d’y mean ‘this ti –’”

Before I could finish the sentence, however, the guy was at my flank in the blink of an eye, slashing at me with his sword. Because of my über-badass dodging skillz I evaded the blow, of course, but no sooner had I touched the ground did he charge at me again. I dodged, he attacked; I dodged, he attacked again. And repeat. His speed was alarming, all I could do was making sure I stayed out of harms way. He showed not a slightest sign of impatience.

“He-he-he-hey!” I tried. “What did I ever do to you?! I don’t even know your name!”

At this, he actually stopped in his tracks. Piercing my with a murderous look, he spoke, “Indeed, I have heard rumours of your memory loss. But do not think that will erase your sins!” He sliced at me again, and I dodged.

Oh man, not this again! I sighed mentally. Ok, so I blew up a few cities in my past three lives. Big deal!

…ok, I’ll stop joking about that now.

Truth was, I hated myself for it as much as everyone else hated me for it. I’ve enough trouble dealing with my own moral dilemma; why do people insist on putting coal on the fire.

“Just so you know,” I said, dodging another slice, “I didn’t blow up Orty! I swear!”

“Preposterous!” he snarled back.

Ok, that didn’t go so well. I thought sadly. Jeez, guess it can’t be helped. Gotta knock this guy sensele –

As I dodged another of his attacks, my feet his something hard on the ground. Too late did I realize I had stumbled over my backpack, and so I fell backward onto the ground. Naturally, my new sworn executer did not pass this chance up.

“You’re finished!!” he roared, hovering his sword above my belly. For a fleeting second, I actually thought this was the end of it, that I was going to die by some random Fem-hater I just met.

But instead of the sound of blade meeting flesh, the sound of blade meeting blade resounded through the air.

I opened my eyes. Towering above me was Elva, sword-locked with the mysterious man.

I do have a knack of being saved at the nick of time, wouldn’t you say?
“Captain Briss, I presume?” she addressed him. They remained locked for a couple of moments, then suddenly the man – apparently called Briss – took a lead backwards and sheathed his sword.

“No matter,” he said. “I suppose this is enough. We shall meet again, Fem the Valkyrie.” With those words, he put his left hand up in the air; a red glow emitted from his body, and he disappeared into thin air.

“Phew,” Elva wiped sweat off her fore-head. “Close call, that. You ok over there?”

“Yeah, barely,” I replied. Before I could thank her, however, a group of people materialized into thin air.

The good old group was reunited from our short separation. Nio, spotting me on the group, quickly got down on her knees beside me. “Fem! Are you hurt!”

“No, I’m fine,” I said, grinning reassuringly. “Elva saved m before that jerk could do any damage.”

“What jerk?” Tolv prompted. “What happened here?”

“Captain Brisusikadjugsu ö Kiwlojarfang,” Elva cited. “Apparently he dragged Fem off while we were asleep and wanted to fight a little.”

“Brisusikadjugsu?!” Tiara repeated, taken aback. “Brisusikadjugsu went after Fem personally?”

Judging from the faces of everyone in the group, that name seemed to hold meaning to them as well. Feeling a bit left out, I asked, “Is this guy a celebrity?”

“You don’t know about Brisusikadjugsu?” Clarie (Elva’s best friend, in case you forgot) gasped. “But surely you must have heard about it from Elva and Nio? Or didn’t you…” Her voice trailed off, casting a suspicious glance at Elva. Sure enough, there was a guilty grin across her face. Nio looked rather blushed.

“Oh, eh, so yeah, guess we forgot to tell him,” she laughed it away. “But hey, no biggie, how were we supposed to know the guy himself was tracking us?”

“So tell me about him already,” I urged. “Who is this Brisublahuppy guy?”

“Oh, no one important. Only the most politically powerful being in the entire world. Only the same guy who almost killed you several years ago.”

“Most powerfully political being? Almost killed me?” I echoed, my head spinning faster by the minute.

“Remember when we first met?” Elva reminisced. “We told you how your former self first came to our village; we found in the mountains, severely wounded and left for dying, remember?”

A fleeting memory of that conversation hit me. “So you’re saying this guy…”

“Correct; the one who left you in such state was none other than your newly acquainted Briss.”

Holy Quackamoly! “And now,” I gulped, “he’s out for my blood again?”

“Actually, I don’t think he is,” said Elva. “If he truly was, you would have been torn to pieces back then. He held back on you; I could feel it when I parried the last blow.”

“Maybe he was testing him,” Nio suggested. “He must have heard about Fem’s amnesia, perhaps he wanted to make sure…”

“That’s definitely a possibility,” Elva concurred. “Anyway, we should be on our way. I’ll ride back and fetch your Muggies, you guys stay here.”

“Elva was the only one who rode,” Tolv explained as Elva mounted her steed and rode off. “I had to teleport the rest of us. It wasn’t easy picking up your presence, mind.”

“Let’s hope you don’t have to do that again,” I said. “By the way, how far till we reach our destination?”

“Shouldn’t be more than I day’s ride,” Tiara replied. “I’d wager we’ll reach Faowehlgid before nightfall.”

“Fao-wha?”

“You know, the city from which we’re supposed to find a boat to take us to the fourth continent?” Clarie reminded.

“Oh yeah…” Curse these abominable names…

“And not just any town,” she went on. “It’s the oldest city in living memory! They say the outer walls dates back to a couple of decades after the birth of mankind!”

“Really?” I said, catching the glimpse of excitement in her eyes. “That’s news to me.”

“Aw come on!” Tolv groaned. “I told you all about it during last night’s dinner. But apparently you were to busy gulf down the food…”

“It was curry! Can you blame me?”

“Yes I can; curry is revolting.”

“So why did you cook it then?”

“For your sake, stupid!”

Ignoring our bickering, Clarie continued her reverie. “I’ve always wanted to visit Faowehlgid. I hear their library is strictly classified except for Valkyrie-class magicians…”

“I’m Valkyrie-class, ain’t I?” I smirked, Tolv holding me around the neck (I let him, of course; there’s no way I’d lose to a kid like him? Right? Oh, stop looking at me like that!).

“Yeah, but he can’t cast a spell to save his life!” Tolv added.

“I guess you’re right,” she sighed. “And I suppose a wanted mass murderer can’t go waltzing into their libraries.”

“Well,” Nio interjected, “for all it’s worth, Elva and Tiara are Einherer class now. That’s just a step under Valkyrie, isn’t it?”

“Well, that’s a good po… THEY’RE WHAT NOW?!?!?!?”

We all jumped back by her sudden outburst. Guess no one told her about her success at Arcan.

“W-well, we completed the test-out at Arcan Academy,” Tiara stammered. “I assumed Lady Elva had already told you. Forgive me.”

“That wench!” she hissed, clenching her fist. Her former calmness was all but gone. “To think she kept something of such magnitude from me! I’ll clobber her when she gets back!”

Too bad Elva missed this, I thought to myself. I was about to point this out to Tolv (who by the way had released me from his grip), when I heard a laughter behind me.

Elva, holding the reins of our Muggys, stood doubled up laughing.

“Priceless reaction!” she said through the fits. “Definitely worth the wait!”

A stone expression flashed across Clarie’s face. Tiara, noticing this, went ahead and greeted Elva.

“That was quick,” he remarked. “We didn’t even hear you coming.”

“Oh, I fetched these guys in a minute. Been standing her with a concealment spell for a while now.”

Clarie’s fist of ultimate fury suddenly came crashing towards Elva. She, however, blocked it with her palm.

“Elva –237. Clarie – 210,” she smirked.

Eh, so like, what kind of game were they playing again?

“Tch,” spat Clarie, withdrawing her hand. “One of these days, I’ll get the better of you, just you wait!”

Me, Nio, Tolv and Tiara exchanged frightened looks.

“Well, no point hanging around any more,” Elva concluded, mounting her Muggy again. “Let’s get going. Next stop: Faowehlgid!”