SHIO

From a distance the silhouette looked as though it was merely resting on a boulder. The night had been calm and ripe for stargazing after all. Still, the Shio remained unconvinced. No sane person would be able to sleep exposed under the winter's chilling grasp like that.

Unslinging her crossbow from her back, She walked out from under the clump of snow-coated trees and into the forest clearing for a closer look.

What she saw only managed to confirm her suspicions.

"Dead..." She muttered grimly.

The young man must've died recently, as the pool of blood and melted snow under his boots had not yet been frozen . The only wounds she could identify was a large gash on his forehead and a smaller one at his stomach.

A traveller ravaged by wild animals?

No, she had hunted enough times in this area to know that it was quite safe.

Shio knelt down besides him, her luminous blue eyes taking in his eccentric appearance. Though half his face was covered in blood, she could easily tell that he wasn't any of the local villagers. Shio was also an outsider at the village but she'd never seen anyone quite like this on her travels. The man's hair was too light a shade of brown and his dark coat also seemed to be made of a strange, crisp fabric which could only be compared to leaves in autumn, only much tougher.

Then she noticed something was off.

Even with her gloved hands, the young man's face was warm to the touch. Shio immediately put her ears to his chest in order to detect a heartbeat.

It's faint...

She could bring him back to the village with her but... would he even make it?

"Gah!"

The man's eyes suddenly flew open before he abruptly fell forwards. Startled, Shio managed to catch him before he made contact with the ground.

"Where am I? Why does everything suddenly hurt?"

"Stay calm," She told him "I'll bring you somewhere safe,"

But the young man raised a hand to his temples as if in pain. "I can hear them. They're coming. We need to leave now!"

He attempted to stand but his legs gave way. He was in no shape to start running.

"Here," Shio said, offering her arm for support "I don't understand what you mean by 'they' but you'll be safe at the village. Trust m--"

Fwwzzt!

A glowing line began to form in the shimmering air behind them, which was suddenly torn apart to reveal a portal. Six mechanical legs emerge from the centre followed by a spherical head embedded with gears and a single eyeball. Shio recognized its appearance from the illustrations the Old Man had shown her. But this was the first time she'd seen one materialize up close.

"Dammit," the young man said "The Clockwork are already here."

Quickly making her decision, Shio took off at top speed, one arm clutching her crossbow, the other, tossing the man onto her shoulders.

"Hey what are you doing!? I'll only slow you down!"

He opened his mouth to say more but his indignant expression was rapidly replaced with one of incredulity. Perhaps he was slowing Shio down but at the speed she was moving, or more accurately, soaring, they would be able to outrun the creatures in no time. She risked a glance backwards, relieved to see the large distance she had created between it. But then...

Fwwzzt! Fwwzzt! Fwwzzt!

Three more portals slit open before them, each releasing more mechanical insectoids which surged forward in unison. Instead of stopping in her tracks, she weaved fluidly through the first two and leapt on the last. The creatures emitted their disturbingly human screeches as they watched their comrade being used as a springboard for Shio to vault off.

Feeling the rush of cold air and the moon's beautifying light against her body, Shio had never felt more alive. She had almost forgotten about the injured man, who was looking apprehensively below them as they gained height.

"I seriously hope you know how to land softly,"

Then, as she descended silently onto a thick maple tree branch, she realized her mistake. The Clockwork proved much smarter than she'd thought, predicting her destination and positioning themselves to attack. She swatted the first assailant aside with her crossbow, which promptly broke, but the rest began to scale the tree, their gilded mandibles clashing viciously.

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Fwoosh!

One of the creatures had sliced the empty air which her head had previously occupied, but Shio swiftly ducked and drove the shattered remnants of her crossbow into its large protruding eye. It screamed painfully like a child and began flailing as it fell, causing the branch to shake.

Taking advantage of discord the thrashing body had created in the climbers below, Shio deftly slid down the maple trees trunk, and took off at full sprinting speed again. She figured that she only had 3 hours to make it back, burdened by the young man's weight. If she spent any more time than that, the moon would set and the fatigue would soon catch up to her.

That was more than enough. Shio thought as she slowed her pace slightly.

Within a few minutes, the sharp and resonant footfalls of the Clockwork had finally ceased, leaving only the sound of crunching snow. She could just barely make out her destination in the misted distance: A large cottage at the top of a hill. How would the Old Man feel about her bringing this injured man to his house?

"Are you alright?" Shio asked. The man had been oddly quiet after they had made their escape.

"Yeah..." he replied in a pained voice. "Just a little shaken. I didn't expect so much to find us in such a short time."

For a while, the two of them simply listened to the soft howl of wind and the rush of air accompanying them which seemed very relaxing after a close shave with the mysterious creatures. Had their been a little more, they may not have made it unscathed. Shio was also glad that there were no special types among them.

For now, all was calm. She felt quite warm due to the strange heat the young man's body radiated against her own, and they should be able to reach the house without any further delays. Maybe she could even find the time patch his wounds up.

Just to make sure...

That was when her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a sudden impact to the side of her body. She had let her guard down and missed the maple tree she had passed, which had immediately transformed itself into a larger version of the mechanical creatures and struck them.

Shing!

The injured man had been thrown clear whilst Shio sailed several metres away from them and landed painfully against a boulder. Glinting in the moonlight, the Morphing Clockwork scuttled over to the young man, who was the closer target, and raised its mandibles to expose an array of gnashing metal teeth and cogs.

She got back up and rushed over to him, but Shio already knew it was too late. It would bite his head off and crush it with its spinning gears. She could almost hear the Old Man's words in her head as she sprinted towards the doomed man.

"The likelihood of finding these shapeshifting types are next to zero. But if you do come across one, you're finished.— there's no running away."

"Please!" she cried.

She didn't know what she was addressing. Perhaps the creature? A destined saviour who would randomly show up? Or even her own failure to save a single life?

But in spite of his situation, the young man rose weakly with an air of calm. Shio watched as the Morphing Clockwork lunged, about to sever his head from the rest of his body, But the ground beneath them suddenly erupted in a blinding blue flash.

Clumps of debris zipped across the air with tremendous force and a tremor ran through the snowy ground. The light was extremely jarring to her eyes which had grown accustomed to the dark, but after the shock had subsided, she noticed that the new insectoid had completely vanished, save for a single metallic leg twitching feebly by her boots.

What...?

She glanced towards the injured man but he was now unconscious, lying limply on the snow.

What had saved us?

Shio was now more than halfway back to the village. She had already patched him up well enough on the way and had been walking for an hour already, but the young man has still not awoken. Of course, she figured she could run all the way, being one of the nocturnal human races, but part of her was concerned that any sharp and explosive movements would cause the man to suffer.

The other part of her seemed to be asking her why she was doing so much for him in the first place. She certainly would've made it home safely if she hadn't tried to bring him back. But since his body stopped radiating Its mysterious warmth, Shio removed her own coat and placed it over his outlandish one for fear of him suffering from hypothermia. She had even decided to carry him on her back instead of over the shoulder, something which had only served to be a painful reminder of what she'd done to fufill a relatives dying wish.

Shio was grateful that the Old Man had taken her in as a 'guest', but perhaps the village's hostility towards her had simply made her glad to see another outsider?

"Urgh..."

The young man let out a deep groan as he twitched back to life.

"Are you finally awake?" she asked, but before he could even responf the man went into a sudden fit of coughing

"Water..." He whispered huskily

After taking a long draught from the waterskin she had offered him, Shio gave him her name and explained everything that had happened since she found him half-dead.

"A blue flash..." The young man looked a little confused as they continued to travel towards the cottage but his expression soon cleared "I've never been able to control it properly so I guess I passed out, huh?"

"Control it?" Shio said with curiosity "That flash back there, that was you?"

"Yeah, I can only do it once though. Heh..." His eyes grew slightly more glazed as he continued to mutter " Talk about being a glass cannon..."

"But you saved me."

The man scratched his beardless chin a little sheepishly.

"Ah well, I might've felt better hearing that if we switched positions. Sadly, I'm in no shape to be carrying you."

She wanted to know more about who he was and how he ended up here, but as they talked she noticed that he seemed more interested in his surroundings.

"Those dark shapes...." he said facing skywards at the starry ceiling above him.

Shio followed his gaze. "Do you mean the floating islands?"

"Floating islands? Do people live on them?"

"Only some of them. We're walking on one right now."

Under normal circumstances, she might have considered the question a lame joke. But there was clearly something strange about this one.

Almost like a child. Shio thought as she carried him down the beaten path. Or someone from another world.

"Do you have a name?" she finally asked "And a reason you came here?"

The young man seemed genuinely stumped for a second. But when he answered, it looked as though a sudden realization struck him.

"My name is Hiraine. I came to this world because... I have a mission."

Did he just say he 'came to this world?'

Shio gave a small shiver that had more to do with his words, than standing jacketless in the winter wind. She had definitely roped herself into something big...

"Put me down for a moment, there's something I need to do."

"But we're almost there," she said, struggling to keep his restless body from falling.

"Please. Its urgent, This might be my only chance."

Although puzzled, Shio silently complied. He walked over to an empty patch of snow and sat there as though bracing himself for something. Then, lifting his shirt slightly, Hiraine violently plunged a hand into his bandaged stomach.