Chapter Text
A world of green plains would usually inform one that life is plentiful in the lands being described. Here, however, there was no greater deception, with a stormy, grey sky dulling the colors of all that stand beneath it. A crow pecked at the skull of a bull, finding disappointment in the dryness of bone and the hollow sound it made upon a tap with its beak.
Yet, before it could even comprehend such disappointment, its head cocked, hearing some sort of noise in the distance, before flying away.
A woman's breath heaved as she ran through the dirt path, knowing and caring not for how long she traveled, but rather to find safe haven away from someone. Her hooded head turned, seeing something... someONE still chasing her, and it was enough for her to clutch her staff and keep running.
Overhead was a horse running upon the lifeless air, donning black armor lined in gold, matching the owner that pulled his steed to a halt. Had his glowing, golden light spheres finally eyed the woman he was chasing, or was he hesitating in preparation of something? Regardless, the armored man, crowned head hung high between giant shoulder pauldrons, lashed a brief "Hyah!" as both a commanding voice and whipped reins ordered the steed to gallop on, descending in front of the mage's path. Out came a blade, held to his side, tearing the clouded skies with a darkened line... the tear of smoke giving life to new eyes, and letting out the monstrous owners of those eyes.
"Ah?!"
The magician gasped. Her path, blocked by these dark creatures. As she turned, her options were knocked down yet again, as her gaze met with the armored swordsman's. Her desperation writ on her face with tense brows and unsure lips. Something had to be done... and now. With caution thrown to the windless air, and staff raised up high, the magician slammed the lower tip of her only weapon into the ground! Cyan energy swirled, a circle of similar color opened around her feet, with a cycling spin of other cyan discs of energy bringing forth a flame-shape to the energy...
"Ifaras zaras yezaras... Ifaras zaras yezarik..."
She continued, switching from her chanting language to a desperate plea:
"O brave knight, swift as the wind! Heed my call!"
The call formed as a beacon of light, shooting into the clouds, creating an opening within them so the heavens could answer her...
"WOOOAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!"
And if the scream of a young man suddenly waking to a freefall was to be believed, it seems her 'brave knight, swift as the wind' came as swift as she asked! Rudely interrupted from his slumber, gazing up at an apple and a glass bottle, before rotating and finding the ground growing closer and closer to his face...
Perhaps a rough landing for the green-capped, green-caped man would tell the magician to be a little gentler with a summon, next time.
"Oof!!"
...A muffled 'how rude' followed the grunt of pain from the new face, as his first introduction was to the dirt. ...Wait... he came here with an apple and a bottle!!
"Ah!!"
Up he sprung, quickly catching the apple with the palm of his left hand, and diving, sliding along the dirt path to catch the bottle by its neck. A relieved sigh left him, as he was at least given company in this new place via two familiar indulgences. Wait. New place.
"Woah... where am I now...?"
It's not his Mondstadt, he thought. Where's the singing birds? The bright sky's only in one circular opening, and the grey clouds around it give him an awful sting of familiarity. Much more familiar was the suffocating air around him... no better than long ago. No breeze to carry his braids along, to hum his songs along with him-
"Please forgive my abrupt summons! I must ask for your help, bard of another world!" The wizard barged in on the hatted man's thoughts. She stood behind him, and was the focus of his turned head and gaze... before he faced fully forward at the imposing hunk of metal, linking the armor's glowing eyes to that of the beasts behind the mage.
The young man quickly worked along the outside of the apple, dangling its core by the stem after but a moment.
"Aha... I see what's going on here. This should be a breeze!"
And with his words and a glow of his braids, the newcomer only had to look behind the magician, and a gale storm whipped up!
"Oh!"
She ducked her head during her surprised exclamation, eyes tightly shut... as a wind seemed to blow behind her. And when she turned to look, the beasts summoned by the sword were no longer. Her gaze then went front, and a riskier standoff was at play... the guest she summoned, and the king she fled from... A sword held tight in the latter's hand, directly contrasting the twirling, loose bottle in the former's, apple core likely dropped somewhere in the grass for new life to sprout.
Surely, the young man, even with winds so great, might not yet be ready for this threat!
"No, you mustn't!"
Her hand gripped at the cape before a move could be made, and the bard found himself scruffed, legs kicking at the air... before she managed to pull him away, bottle now out of his hand!
"Ooghh..."
The bard groaned... soon shoved off of the magician as she stood, concentrating magic to make her own tornado to obscure the both of them... but the bottle the young man came with got caught in the storm...!
"Nooooo!!!"
He cried out, but his voice was lost as he and the mage whisked away.
So sheathed the blade of the king, before he rode in an upwards curve, this time... to a cliffside. Three knightly figures stood here overlooking the entire scene: One knight wore black with bright red hair underneath his helm; another wore black and white, with blue hair and a vengeful glint in her eye; and the last seemed more formally outfitted in white, blonde hair tied to a ponytail behind her helm.
"I shall give chase," the king briefed the three. "Spread out and go after them. When you find them, slice their heads off."
Upon seeing the three knights nod, their highness' steed neighed, and he rode off.
"Let's go," spoke first the formally dressed blonde.
"Must we?!" Seems one knight seemed... apprehensive about her majesty's order. "She is our one and only Court Wizard!"
"The king's orders are absolute, Gawain." The knight in black assured his monochrome-fitted ally, making sure to grab her attention with her name.
"Yes, but-"
"Have you forgotten that loyalty to our King is the way to chivalry?" Thus was the interruption of the bright knight, shutting down Gawain's backtalk at first. But as her stricter ally left, she, too, muttered her own concerns: "The king... he has changed, though. Him and this land..."
With that, the two remaining knights set off after their fellow knight, beginning their quest with the cry of crows overhead...