Apart from the gusts of wind that sometimes tore at his black cloak, it was a beautiful calm day. The sky was painted a clear aqua blue, for a change. It was warm and sunny; butterflies were flocking on the flowers. A proud white horse trotted along on the dusty dirt road surrounded by cornfields.
The rider of that impressive animal pulled down his hood to enjoy the fresh spring air. Silently, they rode on. He really wanted to take off his dark cloak from the sun that was burning his back He was sure that it would catch fire anytime now. But nevertheless, he kept it on for his own protection. Thankfully, the forest finally appeared after a sharp curve around a hill. As soon as he entered the shade, it felt 5 degrees colder. A small shiver ran down his spine.
"Well, Stargate? Are you up for a run?" The horse neighed in agreement, stomping his hooves. The rider grinned. "Ready...", he could feel the muscles tense beneath the skin of his mighty steed, who was way bigger than your average horse. "Set... " He could feel Stargate's muscles flexing. "Go!" And with that, Stargate burst off at the speed of light it seemed. Any other rider would have been flung off immediately, but this rider knew well enough how to handle the intense speed and stayed on like an expert. He whooped with joy as they broke the silence of the peaceful forest around them. Thundering down the path he got slapped by hanging branches, forcing him to lean down over Stargate's neck. He could have continued galloping like this for at least another half an hour, but something seemed... off.
Stargate sensed it too and slowed down immediately, ears perked, on full alert. Then he stopped completely, tensing backwards. He was really nervous now; his rider could feel it too. "Easy boy." He said and patted his neck. Tentatively, Stargate walked forward.
The air seemed to tremble and vibrate the further they walked. Just to be sure, the rider got off his mount and let Stargate walk freely beside him. Suddenly, they both saw it. Storm clouds started swirling around an anomaly in the sky, which was pulsating blue light and immense energy. The rider looked up at it in awe. "What is that?" Stargate just stared transfixed at the growing anomaly. Curious, the rider walked closer to it, until he stood directly underneath. Amazed he reached out to it. Never had he seen anything like this. Such overwhelming power! It must be the work of a Guardian.
By now the pulsing light had reached its climax. Just as it felt impossible for more power to accumulate, a deafening thunderclap broke the tension. He flinched and whipped around, just in time to see Stargate run away in panic.
He turned back to the anomaly, hearing someone scream in terror. What? Why was someone screaming? Where was it coming from? He held up his cloak to protect his eyes against the tearing winds and braced himself.
The gut-wrenching scream turned louder by the second. Confused, he squinted up towards the eye of the blue storm, the origin of the scream.
With one last earth shuddering thunderclap, the storm was gone and right from where the anomaly had been seconds ago, a wide-eyed girl now was flailing through the air, falling right towards him.
Without enough time to react, the rider was hurtled down to the ground by the impact of the girl.
He groaned and rubbed his head. As the dust gradually cleared he felt the respective weight on his stomach. It was a small, pretty girl with violet hair. She was wearing peculiar clothes and was dazed from the mighty fall. She wore a loose black tunic with a hood and a white symbol in front and pants that were much tighter than appropriate.
With a yelp she jumped back and stared straight through him, her dark violet eyes wide and her mouth opened in surprise. Cautiously he stood up, brushed off the dust and took a few steps back. Instinctively he started tapping into his magic and prepared to pull out Flammberg.
"Who are you?" The rider spoke first. She didn't respond. She just stared at her hands and brushed them over her chest gingerly. "What are you doing here?" He tried again, a bit more persistently. Her deep lavender eyes and that hair color... was she a color magician? No, surely not. She would have a much more powerful aura than that, for he felt none at all radiating from her. Or, was she so advanced that she could conceal it? Did she carry a magical object with her?
But looking down at her, he somehow doubted it. She didn't look it at all. Although appearances can be deceiving.
She stood up and looked around in bewilderment. Gingerly she touched her face. He didn't see why she was doing it. There was nothing there. "Wh- where am I?" Only after turning around 360° did she seem to even notice his presence. Squinting at her, he repeated himself once again. "Who are you?"
She stared at him from top to bottom. He felt a bit uncomfortable. What was this uneasy feeling? He was one of the strongest mages in service, yet this small girl, who looked like she had just been hit by a hippogriff, made him feel uncomfortably nervous. There was something suspiciously wrong about this whole situation. Carefully, Ferras took another step back from the stranger in front of him. Maybe it was some kind of trap to make him let his guard down.
"I'm Ferras." She scrutinized him. "I'm Jacklyn. Nice to meet you I... guess?" Jacklyn gave him a bizarre look.
"What am I speaking?" Jacklyn blurted out.
"What?" He asked confused.
"I mean, what am I speaking? This isn't English nor French or German. Heck, I don't even recognize this as any language I've heard before. Yet I understand and speak it perfectly?"
"I don't understand. Is there a problem?" Was this another distraction to catch him off guard?
"I don't think so." She answered. It sounded more like a question than a statement.
Nervously, she started playing around with a blue stone in her hand he hadn't noticed before. An arrow tip? Could be a weapon too.