"One thousand years ago, my home, the kingdom of Everaya, was the most powerful nation in my world." He begins. "Unfortunately there were those within the kingdom who were unhappy with the way things were and the King was murdered. His queen was pregnant at the time and went into early labour. She died and the baby survived. This baby was the Fellstar heir."
He seems to pause as if to let this sink in and then continues on.
"At the time of this child's birth, a prophecy was foretold requiring the Fellstar heir. After waiting and waiting, finally the signs of needing this heir came about and after a year of searching, this led me to you." He states while withdrawing a pendant from underneath his shirt. He holds it out for me to look at. Attached to a long chain, it is the shape of a star, the gold shines brightly in the midwinter sun and the ruby in the center gleams brightly.
"My family has been tasked with the keeping of this pendant and more recently, I was tasked by the current king, my father, with finding the Fellstar descendant when the time came and all the signs point to that being you."
"Ha!" I think. "He truly is delusional. First off he thinks he's a prince and now he thinks I'm some magical prophesied heir. Me? The orphan with no clue about my family? What is this some cliche book?"
"You probably think I sound utterly insane right now. I can't say I blame you but I can prove everything I am saying. Maybe after that you can forgive me for this."
It is at this moment that I realise we have walked to the middle of the bridge overlooking the crystal clear lake. All of a sudden, Xander shoves me over the railing. My arms flail in a vain attempt to stop my fall but it is too late. As the cold lake water rushes up to meet me, I glance up to look perhaps one more time upon the man that caused this only to see him climbing the rails and jumping down to join me. I barely hear the splash as the water engulfs me and the world goes black.
*****
Slowly my eyelids flutter open. Amazed that I'm not belly up in the lake, I look around. The sight that greets me is nothing like I expected. Gone is the quaint little park in the center of a bustling city, instead I am in the middle of a meadow, surrounded by a lush green forest. There are no sounds of distant traffic, only birdsong as I sit and gather myself. I glance up and what I see pretty much convinces me that I am no longer on Earth. The reason I can tell this so quickly is that there are currently two suns in the sky above my head. Placing my hands down on the grass beneath me, I look down to see blades of iridescent blue poking up between my fingers. I decide to further scrutinize my surroundings, anxiety filling me as I notice that right now I am truly alone, in a strange world.
"Where is Xander? If I'm not on Earth then where the hell am I? Even more so I would rather not be alone, even if I am stuck with that insufferable ass."
I rise, briefly entertaining the idea of calling out for him, just in case he is close by.
"I better not." I think deciding is the best course of action. "Who knows who, or what, is out here? It's not like I even know where I am. Better to just play it safe."
Just as these thoughts run through my mind, the sound of a heavy foot snapping a twig behind me breaks my concentration. I quickly spin around to see what may be coming for me.