[Chapter Size: 2000 Words.]
Third Person POV
Cintra, northern kingdoms.
...
...
Madara led the girl who was now hidden in a servant's outfit, clinging close to him as they moved through the castle's corridors, passing by servants and guards while some looked at them curiously, more so because of Madara walking around with a book in hand than the "servant" child following him, as they remained silent. Well, that was until the princess grew bored of it all.
"Where are we going?" She whispered, not wanting to attract attention lest someone tell her grandmother about her escape from her room.
"We're heading out to the most open place possible," Madara said calmly, following the path.
"Really, can we train with swords and you teach me some of your cool skills?" She exclaimed, raising her voice before quickly covering her mouth again while looking around to see if anyone recognized her.
Madara didn't mind and kept walking as the girl soon caught up. "You walk too fast!" She complained quietly.
"You want to train and complain about a walk?" Madara couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at that.
"That's not what I meant!" She pouted, but Madara didn't care and answered her other question.
"No, we won't be training. I'm reading this book and that's what I intend to do. You can go back to your room or anywhere else if this is boring for you, princess," Madara said calmly.
"No." She simply said. "And you should call me Ciri!" She reminded him, but Madara said nothing.
They continued along the path until finally exiting through one of the castle's entrances, which was a bit higher and this path led outside the place. Madara glanced at the royal garden as they passed by; he knew it wasn't a place for someone like him to enter, but he could easily hide his presence and enjoy the quiet spot.
"I'm going there, goodbye, PRINCESS," Madara spoke, emphasizing the girl's title, and before the girl could react, he jumped from that height into the garden silently.
"WAIT!" Cirilla exclaimed as she ran to the edge of the place and saw him dropping from 20 meters and continuing to walk as if he hadn't done something superhuman.
"Not even Geralt can do something like that, amazing..." She murmured, watching Madara walk away and then remembering her situation. "He left me alone!" She exclaimed dissatisfied, starting to run from there.
Madara found a pleasant spot when he saw a lake, sitting in the shade of a tree while leaning against it and starting to open his book, beginning with the basic words. 'Learning the words and letters is the hardest thing, the writing I can simply copy with my sharingan by asking the mage to write in front of me....' Madara thought as he continued memorizing the words and forming them with the letters he had learned from the basics in yesterday's lesson.
It didn't take long for Madara to hear steps coming behind him, while he seemed not to care as usual, since the steps were quite light.
"I was wondering how long you would take to get here... I was hoping you'd go back to your room and not keep following a stranger around the castle," Madara said, opening a rare smile with the small joke.
"You smile!" She exclaimed, pointing at Madara as if she were seeing something strange.
"Tsk," Madara just clicked his tongue and returned to his book, closing off his expression again.
The princess, recalling the memories of being left behind by the boy, complained to Madara. "You can't just abandon me! It's not fair!" She spoke in the same dissatisfied tone as always.
"You arrived quicker than I thought..." Madara commented.
"It's because I know some shortcuts..." She said, changing her voice to a more mischievous one. "Anyway, you can't leave a princess behind!" She exclaimed to Madara.
"Now you're a princess?" Madara took his eyes off the book and looked at her. "I see no advantage in having a princess by my side." Madara spoke, but his tone wasn't dissatisfied, he just seemed to be playing with this persistent girl.
"Of course, there is! Everyone wants me by your side, even though I don't like it..." She said with disgust, as she had to adhere to social norms in her position, and there were situations she didn't like at all, especially being near certain people who clearly wanted something from her or favors from her grandmother through the girl.
Her face of disgust turned somewhat more animated as she remembered how she could convince Madara that she was amazing too. "Everyone says it's very good to be beside a princess as beautiful as me." She exclaimed while Madara just shrugged.
"I don't care," he simply said, returning to his book.
Cirilla formed some childish wrinkles on her forehead. "Why are you so difficult..." She murmured, and silence fell between the two under the tree in front of the small royal lake.
"You certainly are an energetic girl..." Madara suddenly spoke, breaking the momentary silence. "But why do you want to fight so much, and it's not just with me." Madara knew she was like this with everyone, even with Geralt when he saw them in the forest. So, he was somewhat curious about the girl.
"Fight, of course, my grandmother is a fighter, and she seems so free... I want to be like that, to have control over my own life and be free..." She fell silent, indicating she was thinking a bit about the next words, before continuing. "I want to be free like a swallow!" She spoke, seeing this bird flying right in front of her at that moment, landing on the tree above them.
Madara also couldn't help but look at the bird there, curious. "You're right, princess. To be free, you have to be strong, after all, in this world, the strong always eats the weak." Madara was quite sincere at that moment.
Cirilla listened to his words, and although she was a child, she would mark that phrase for the rest of her life so strongly that she heard it, even though Madara spoke in a very calm tone. She then said quietly, with some feelings about the future that a child shouldn't have, mainly due to her dreams. "Do you think I could be so strong that I could make my own path?" She asked with a rare tone of caution.
"I think so, from what I've seen, many expect that from you," Madara spoke, at least the mage recognizes the dormant power in the girl and hopes she can control it in the future.
'There's also the prophecy that she would be the ruler of the world in the future or her son, I don't know much about it, but is that prophecy still standing while I exist in this world? After all, what could stop me here while I'm at my prime?' Madara couldn't help but think, he had the strange system that he had to chase after gold to gain more power from his being, however, he knows it's temporary, because the system limited to 5,000 coins and gold.
He knows this is just the beginning and probably the easiest mission while he had to gather such an amount being just a child, as soon as he finishes with this, new missions will be unlocked, maybe being hidden so that he must discover them in the future, and gold will not be his currency of exchange.
'What kind of trials will I have to face before reaching the peak? Killing demons? Gods? Destroying the continent?' He thought while reflecting.
"Madara!!" Cirilla exclaimed by his side, making Madara look at her at that moment.
Madara looked at her as she puffed her cheeks. "I'm talking to you, but you seemed to be thinking," she said.
"I think I thought too much..." Madara admitted, getting lost in some deep thoughts about himself and his future when he heard Cirilla speak, his intuition didn't sense any danger nearby, so he was lost in his mind.
"Well, I was saying..." She resumed her speech. "I'm having strange dreams and I believe it's about the future!" She said, yesterday she had a dream even stronger than any other. She's always been having flashbacks about the future, but never shared it with anyone, until now.
"Dreams... About what?" Cirilla had his attention now, knowing that this girl could see into the future.
"Listen, what I see is still hard to remember, but I see chaos and destruction!" She began, recalling the battlefield she always walked alone, with all sorts of dead people scattered around.
"I see a blue giant, I see him destroying two mountains with one move!" She exclaimed, leaving Madara somewhat surprised. Seeing this, she seemed to open up more about the things she saw, "I saw meteors falling from the sky! I see a huge fox with several tails! There's destruction happening everywhere! Do you know what this means, do you also think it could be the future?" She asked curiously, while Madara was even more surprised with each word coming from her mouth.
"That... I can't say, but it might be..." Madara spoke, those powers were clearly coming from him, but would he really need to use all of that, what kind of enemies will he face? Madara couldn't help but think about his future again.
'Wait, the fox with several tails? Could I bring the Kyuubi into this world?' Madara thought in his mind, trying to keep reasoning.
He didn't seem scared with Cirilla knowing about these things, after all, what could he do, beg her not to talk about it was something he wouldn't do, after all, he has his pride and it doesn't matter to him if more people knew of this possible future.
"But it's not just that..." She went on to say in a more cautious tone. "I see death, I see Cintra burning at times..." She said, quite sadly.
She turned her attention to him, with some tone of hope. "Do you think this city will fall...?" She asked.
"I don't know, the future is a very dangerous thing..." Madara wasn't lying, he didn't know what kind of future this world would undergo with his presence, and the attack by Nilfgaard might not even happen, although he believes that the most likely is Cintra being destroyed by the black army, and Madara doubted if he could stop them at this moment, after all, besides being in a few years, he might have a mission now, but when will another happen after this?
He looked at the girl who had a slight tremor in her body and felt a bit of pity for her, after all, seeing a destructive future without being able to do anything to change it while you're just a child, must be quite torturous...
"I don't know what kind of future can happen, Ciri." Madara began, calling her by the name she so wanted to be called, making her look at him with surprise, and he continued. "But if something happens to this city or kingdom, I will protect you." He said, as much as he didn't like that cliché, he really was standing by his words, after all, when Cintra falls in the future, she will need help.
He could tell the mage or Calanthe, but that would be dangerous, after all, Calanthe might see it as an affront against her beliefs that Cintra will never bow to anyone, much less against the southern kingdom. So, he could only be sure of the girl's survival if the attack really happens.
"Do you swear, swear that you will protect me?" She said with a small embarrassed blush.
"Yes," Madara spoke without much concern, after all, they were just children.
"Thank you..." She murmured as Madara nodded, returning to his book, while the swallow took flight at that moment, moving away from the tree.
A story would begin under that tree on this day, a story that would be told in the coming millennia in this world, a story of a little swallow, who would grow and have a journey alongside a dragon, decades from now, people of this world would begin to talk of a folk tale, called, The Swallow and Her Dragon.
-------
Raccoon here: It turned out a bit cliché, should I change that part?