It was a pandemonium battlefield. Streaks of flames traversed the thick, smoke-filled air, and explosions erupted in this clumsy universe like violent suns. Luna, princess of Zarythia, rapidly dashed between sharp points of alien terrain, rubbed in her green battle armor with the soot and blood. The beat of enemy fire thumped rhythmically into her heart, drowning out the desperate cries of soldiers.
Her people were losing.
"Princess! We have to retreat!" Commander Vyric's voice crackled through the comms, but Luna's eyes blazed with all the inner fires of resistance. There was nowhere to flee, as this was the place that Zarythia was home to, where she would shoulder those responsibilities that came with it. Leaving it at the hands of those rebels, bitter in undoing whatever fragile peace had been fought by her people, was not an option for her really.
She lifted her hand to her chest, fingers brushing the smooth, glowing surface of the emerald stone embedded in her armor. It was more than just a beautiful ornament; it was a chunk of Zarythia's lifeblood, capable of miracles that even the most advanced technologies could not achieve. And yet using it exacted a toll-one that Luna had vowed never to pay unless forced to do so.
A thunderous blast sounded to her right, sending her crashing to the earth, a spear of pain piercing her side as rebels came forward, weapons trained upon the crumpled image of her form. Blood trickled from her temple to meet the dust as her vision blurred.
Not like this, she thought. Not here.
She took the stone into trembling hands. It pulsed under her touch, alive and wanting. "Take me to safety," she whispered, a thread of sound drowned in the noise.
The stone's glow intensified, surging with energy as Luna activated its teleportation function. Just before the beautiful light enveloped her, a sharp, searing force hit the stone like a rebel's precision shot. Fire crackers sounded like the emerald splitting in half, and Luna's vision became a kaleidoscope of green and black.
Teleportation no longer made sense: Luna felt dragged from her slightly weightless but very heavy body-and, with it, all she'd ever known. It all vanished before her.
When she came to, the air struck her as different-too fresh, too quiet. Blinking, she discovered herself flung upon a surface that she didn't remember ever encountering. Tall angular structures surrounded her, strange vehicles honking and screeching as they sped past. Her emerald, now broken in half, flickered weakly on her chest.
And then she saw him-a shadow darting through the chaos, clutching something shiny. Luna's stone.
"No..." she croaked, attempting to move but her body betrayed her. Energy drained, she crumpled back to the ground. Darkness closed in again, and the last she heard was a mixture between voices and strange rhythmic beeping of machines.
Little did she know, her ordeal here on Earth, and the havoc she would create here, was just in the beginning stages.