Dawn in the Chantry of Eternal Light, in the world of Nisha…

“…killed me.”

Rays of sunlight peek through shuttered blinds as I say the words calmly. There’s a pillow upon the back of my head, and a thick woollen blanket of many folds. It’s all so soft, it all feels good. I think I can remain like this forever.

But I wasn’t here, right? I was in Arcadia, doom-driven in the Land of Demons. But then, I feel like I’m in Nisha again. And yet…

Hold up. Hold up! Where am I?

Good fucking grief. This place looks, smells… so damn familiar. And I know why! Because, well… this is the guest room I was put up in during my stay with the Order of Selene, in the Chantry of Eternal Light. It's my home away from home in the world of Nisha – a sanctuary for healers and paladins to study and train, mastering blade and spell to protect others in need. Monsters, bad guys, the undead... and demons. Especially demons, for they were prophesised by the Codex Rinnah, the sacred text of this holy Order, to return to this world one day with a vengeance.

Huh. Okay. If I’m here, then what about…

“Umm… Miss Ishii?” a kindly female voice calls to me from the door leading out of this room, followed soon after by three gentle knocks upon its wooden surface. “May I come in, please?”

“Yeah, sure.”

That voice… it’s so familiar! Could it be!? I can feel my heart leaping outta my chest! But then…

“Good morning, Miss Ishii!”

Holy fucking Rinnah! Do my eyes deceive me!? That’s…

“Anna…”

Dressed in a simple, light pink nightgown, with that massive, ornate claymore known as Ascalon strapped to her back, she’s standing right there before my very eyes with a silver tray packed with breakfast platters made for two. Pancakes, eggs, bacon, buns and hash browns… the works and more. The Chantry’s continental breakfast, served daily at the dining hall after morning prayers!

Fucking hell. Was it all just a bad dream? I’m not hallucinating this… am I? She’s not in her armour, but I’d recognise that pretty purple hairdo of hers with that fancy fringe sloping across her green eyes, any day of the week. But then, weren’t we in Arcadia!? Weren’t we…?

“I hope you’re hungry, Miss Ishii!” Anna states sweetly as she sets the tray down on a nearby table. “You’ve been asleep for quite some time now, so you’ll need a good meal to get your strength back! And umm…”

“You’re alive!” I exclaim, leaping out of bed to embrace my Paladin as my eyes turn wet and blurry. “Holy fucking Rinnah, it’s a miracle! I can’t believe it, Anna…”

“Umm... Miss Ishii!?”

“I’m so glad you’re alright!” I add tearfully, smiling brightly. “Didn’t think I’d ever see you again after killing the Demon Lord...”

“Demon Lord?” Anna asks curiously, eyes wide with confusion her body still and tense like a wooden board as we look each other in the eye for the briefest of moments, only for her to shy away. “Mom told me about it. That’s your Prophecy, right!?”

“Yeah… it is. But don’t worry! I killed that bastard, and now everything’s back to normal. And…” I add desperately. “Wait! Don’t you remember!? We were in Arcadia. Together! We travelled across Nisha, reformed the Runestone, and slew the Demon Lord!”

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Politely, Anna shakes her head. From that alone, I feel myself tensing up... like my body's turning to stone.

“I’m confused, Miss Ishii. I'm sorry, but I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You’re kidding.”

Fucking hell. Am I going crazy here? It’s almost like we’ve never met!

“Anna. Listen to me. Please! You don’t remember me at all!?”

“Remember you?” Anna asks curiously. “Well, umm… all I know is that Mom said that you wanted to be a Healer, and that I’m to be your Paladin. Your knight in shining armour!”

“Exactly!”

“But then, umm… I’m still in training!”

“Training!? Weren’t we done with that a long time ago?”

“Huh? What do you mean, Miss Ishii? I found you in the forests outside Light's Hope yesterday! And you were badly wounded!”

“Wounded? By what?”

“It was a Giant Spider!”

“No fucking way. Those monsters suck! No way in fucking hell they’d get me.”

“Well, umm… all I can say is that I know what I saw, Miss Ishii...” Anna answers nervously, frowning slightly. “You were in pretty bad shape when I found you! It was a really awful situation! I was so worried, and there was so much blood…”

“Blood…?”

I look down my chest. There are bandages wrapped all over my body, a mosaic of red bloodstains on white cotton. Couple more wraps around me in the right spots, and I'd easily pass as a Mummy in some unholy tomb Dungeon somewhere.

Huh, okay. That's odd. I feel totally fine right now. Sure, I'm feeling a little tense now that I'm aware of all these bloody bandages on me. But these bloodstains mean that I must've been bleeding pretty badly. And the last time that happened, it was... hmm...

Oh, it’s coming back to me now! I remember this bloodiness, and the bandages and healing thereafter. I was summoned by the Oracle to this world of Nisha. On the rooftop of St Elicia’s, under twilight skies… I ventured closer and closer towards that shimmering portal. Before I knew any better… I found myself in a forest with trees for days.

Back then, I was lost. Confused. Annoyed, too. I had Student Council stuff to get done and I was up there only for a quick smoke break. Nothing more. So much for that, huh? But at least the Oracle used a portal and not something like a truck, because I can imagine that would really, really fucking hurt. For that, credit where credit’s due!

It was the very beginning of my Prophecy in another world, where I took the first step on the Healer’s path. And the first thing I laid eyes on upon arriving in Nisha, on the Isle of Spirits, was a Monster – a Giant Spider ready and all too eager for an easy meal. My life may or may not have flashed before my very eyes when it happened.

I would’ve died for sure. But then, Anna found me in that moment between life in this new world and certain death, and she saved me. Killed that Giant Spider in a single swing of Ascalon, that huge fucking claymore of hers. She wasn’t too good with healing spells, though. Only had enough to keep me stable, teetering precariously on the brink of death as she brought me to the Chantry of Eternal Light. To the Order of Selene and its Ecclesiarch, Lady Iris Escaflowne. For only she could save me. I was in pretty bad shape, after all. Hurts just thinking about it.

Good grief. That was… quite the memory, I’ll say. I remember mumbling something as I lay on what I thought was gonna be my deathbed, that I wanted to be just like her. Like Lady Iris, working that miracle of magic that saved my life. After that, the rest is history!

But hold on! Like I said, that was all in the beginning. Last I checked, I was right smack in the icy, bloodless, fucked-up world of Arcadia with Anna fighting alongside me, taking on the Demon Lord. Now, somehow, I’m all bandaged up because of a fucking Giant Spider? Hell, it’s the exact same circumstance as…

“No fucking way,” I utter absent-mindedly as the realisation of my situation dawns on me with the subtlety of a bag of hammers falling right smack onto my head. “Anna, I’m sure I held you… as you…”

“Miss Ishii? Are you okay?”

“Yeah. I am. Wait. What’s today’s date?”

“Umm…” Anna answers uneasily, hand upon her cheek as she consults a calendar hung upon a nearby wall. “It’s the second day of First Seed in the fifty-fifth year of the Oracle’s Advent.”

“You’re kidding. Please say you’re kidding.”

“Umm… I’m not?” Anna asks in turn, before checking the calendar again. “It really is the second day of First Seed in the fifty-fifth year of the Oracle’s Advent.”

“But that’s… oh, holy fucking Rinnah…”

No! This can’t be right! This can’t be happening? I'm shivering, because... could it be that…?

“Umm… Miss Ishii?” Anna offers gently, hand upon her cheek as her gaze darts nervously between me and the carefully-laid table set with breakfast for two. “How about some breakfast while we talk about this further?”