With a sharp gasp to breathe, Sylvia opened her eyes and saw the dusty sky above her. The air was filled with the smell of blood and weapons.
Her head was spinning and she was feeling nauseous by the bumpy and wild journey of time.
She could still feel the sensation of whirling in a breathtaking tornado. An invisible force had thrown her on the ground and vanished in a flash.
Slowly, Sylvia's senses started to return. She realized that she was lying on the rough ground and had rough and hard body armor and other heavy things all over her body.
She heard many kinds of noises around her. Most of them were swords clashing against each other, men moaning in pain, the neighing of the horses, and trumpeting of elephants from afar.
Where did her grandfather send her? What place was that? What in the world was going on around her?
Sylvia furrowed her brows in confusion and reached out to touch her aching head. She felt something sticky thing dripping from her forehead. When she looked at her fingers, she found it was covered with mud and blood.
Shocked, Sylvia hastily turned on her right to get up but stopped abruptly when a nasty face of a man came across her face.
A man with a thick dark brown beard was lying beside her in the pool of his blood. A dagger was pierced into his heart. His battle helmet was rolled beyond his head that was full of long and thick black and brown hair.
Sylvia was horrified again to see a dead man lying so close to her. She clumsily got up and turned on her left where a soldier was trying to touch her with an alarmed expression on his face.
When he saw her getting up, he instantly retreated with fear on his face. A few soldiers who were standing behind him immediately fled away in all directions for their dear life while shouting,
"She is alive! She killed our General Derick! Your Highness! Commander Nicholas!"
Sylvia: "???"
"Hey, you had some mis..." As she was about to get up to call those running soldiers, Sylvia felt a sharp pain in her abdomen. She halted and reached out to touch her stomach.
When she saw the blood oozing out of her stomach, Sylvia was petrified.
"What the f*ck!" She cursed while looking at her bloody hands.
"Grandpaaa!" She shouted angrily while looking up at the sky, feeling infuriated at the old man who had sent her to the battlefield without telling her anything about the war.
"I have to go back. Bracelet... Right..." Sylvia mumbled to herself and started to search for the golden bracelet on her both wrists. She removed the hand armors to look for the bracelet but unfortunately, there was nothing like any bracelet on her person.
"Where is the freaking bracelet? Grandpa, can you hear me?" She shouted again while looking at the sky. "I think I have lost the bracelet! What should I do now?"
Scared out of her wits, Sylvia stopped shouting and started to look around her to assess her surroundings.
Which side was she from? How would she know that?
The scenario around her was frightening and she was bleeding terribly. The more she shouted, the more she bled.
The men around her were fighting with each other. Even though they were looking at her from time to time, nobody was daring to go near her. She didn't know who wanted to harm her and who was protecting her.
Panting, Sylvia wiped the mud on her face with the back of her hand. She realized that it was useless to shout for her grandfather now. The time had been set and she needed to wait until she accomplishes her mission. For now, she needed to survive on this battlefield.
As she looked for a way to run away from the scene, a group of fifty to sixty men mounted on the tall and burly horses rushed in her direction.
Sylvia was frightened to death when she saw them coming towards her. She hastily looked around her again and finally spotted an elephant-sized rock not far away from her. Without thinking or caring for anything, she scooted forward to hide there.
When she reached there, a lanky soldier was already hiding behind the rock.
"Excuse me, can I hide here?" Sylvia asked him and crouched beside him while looking at those men riding the horses.
Those horsemen were wearing brown and golden-colored warrior's attire. They started to kill the soldiers who were wearing black body armor with golden edges. Soon, everything was covered in the dust again and she couldn't see anything further.
Sylvia turned her head to look at the soldier who was staring at her as if he had seen a ghost. "Umm... Excuse me, Sir. Do you know who I am?" She asked him.
The soldier jerked in shock and skidded further away from her.
Sylvia slipped towards him again. "I am actually good-looking. You don't have to be afraid of me." She said while pointing at her face. "Can you tell me what's going on here? Who are these people and why are they fighting?"
The soldier appeared to be stunned and confused at the first but he instantly stared at her in vigilance.
Sylvia extended her hand to stop him from going away but the soldier started to shout, "Commander Sylvia is here! Save me! Help! This is her new trick! She is going to kill me!" He then got up and started to run away frantically while screaming.
"Wait... Wait... What? Who?!" Sylvia stood up and shouted after him.
But the soldier who had run away got beheaded by some horseman holding a sword.
Sylvia covered her mouth to suppress her scream. She instantly sat down behind the rock and looked at the headless soldier falling to the ground.
Her gaze trailed down to notice his black armor. The dead man lying beside her, the soldiers who had run away earlier after seeing her alive, and now this soldier, all of them had the same kind of body armor on their bodies.
The way they were acting after seeing her was weird.
Were all of them her opponents? Why were they scared of her? What did she do to make them run away from her like chickens?
No, it wasn't her. It was the owner of the body in which she had been incarnated a while ago.
Did it mean Commander Sylvia was killed in the hands of the enemy's General?
Sylvia gulped hard and hugged the rock, feeling awful and depressing at the same time.
Why the heck she agreed to come there? At least, she should have learned some history of the world before coming there!
It was all fault of her grandfather and her useless boyfriend Chris who had forced her to leave her home and risk her life in the world of strangers.
"I finally found you!" Suddenly, a harsh voice came from behind Sylvia, making her hair stand on end.
Followed after that, a cold and sharp point of a sword touched the back of her neck and Sylvia froze on the spot like a stone.
"You killed my father!" The man shouted from behind her.
"I... I didn't..." Sylvia tried to speak with tears in her eyes. Her limbs turned cold by the touch of the sword in his hand and her teeth started to chatter in fear.
But the man didn't let her speak further as he shouted harshly, "Commander Sylvia Timor, you haven't faced this Commander Nicholas yet! I will kill you today and avenge my father's death! Get ready to die!" He said and lifted his sword in the air.
"Aaahhh!" Sylvia closed her eyes and flinched in fright. She waited for hours but the sword never landed on her neck.
Instead, an arrow came flying over her head and pierced through the throat of Commander Nicholas.
Sylvia opened her eyes and turned her head to look behind her. When she found the man lying motionless on the ground with a black arrow penetrated through his throat, her eyes widened in surprise. "Huh?"
She instantly turned her head again to see the person who had killed Commander Nicholas and saw a black horse standing in front of her. She then gradually lifted her gaze and finally saw a familiar face she didn't want to see the most, especially when she was looking dirty, covered with mud and blood.
An incredibly charming and muscular man wearing golden body armor and a battle helmet that looked like a crown on his head was sitting on the beautiful black furry horse. His dark black hair was long, straight, and cascaded down around his broad shoulders.
A sword and a side quiver were tied behind his back and in his hands, he was holding a silver-colored bow with angel's wings carved on its curves.
But Sylvia wasn't seeing his clothes or his weapons as her eyes were fixated on the man's face, especially his eyes which were staring at her in discontent.
Numerous emotions were whirling at the bottom of his sharp yet mesmerizing greenish-blue eyes which were glinting like two jewels.
"Chris!" Sylvia finally shouted in surprise after seeing the man and stood up from the ground.
A look of surprise mixed with fear appeared on the man's face when he noticed the ghastly wounds on Sylvia's head and abdomen. He kicked his horse gently and went behind the rock where Sylvia was standing.
"Why did you come here alone? Why didn't you wait for us to come with you?" He asked Sylvia without getting down from the horse.
Sylvia raised her brows. "Why did you come here? Were you following me?" She asked him instead.
The man rolled his eyes and extended his hand towards her. "Come on. You are injured. Let's go back to treat your wounds."
Sylvia took a step back, looking at the man in indignation. "I don't want to come with you!"
The man seemed to be startled and embarrassed at the same time. He balled up his hand and growled at her through his clenched teeth, "That's my order!"
"Who the hell are you to give me orders? Go to hell with that hideous attitude of yours!" Sylvia shouted back madly and bent down to get a small stone under her feet.
"Crazy girl, what are you doing? Throw it down!" The man shouted and propelled his horse ahead to hold her hand.
Sylvia retreated further and raised her arm to throw the stone at him. "Don't come near me!" She then turned and started to run in the opposite direction.
"Stupid woman! Come back!" He shouted from behind her in the voice which carried the hint of annoyance mixed with anger. "You are going into the enemy's camp!"