Unbound From Time

It was never safe in this area, she should have known that by now.

She could hear the voices echoing behind her, accompanied by the sound of footsteps and her own breath. They were calling for her, looking for her, and for nothing good. Things have been like this for quite a few years now; society was boiled down to mere survival, and never really recovered from that moment. People became territorial, suspicious of one another. They turned against each other, staying with only those they trusted most and tossing out those that even hinted at going against them. It was hard to remember when that wasn't the norm anymore.

The woman ducked around a few low branches of a tree that had long-since died off, darting away as the group continued searching for her. All this for a bit of fresh water? It was why she tended to stay away from groups these days, but that wasn't exactly an option today. She needed to head to the next town - or what remained of it - but before she could, she needed just a bit more supplies. So much for working on her communication skills for exactly a situation like this, it seemed people were getting harder and harder to reason with by the day. All it seemed to do was make them angrier.

She continued running through the cracked remains of a town's main street. One would think the once-familiar buildings lining the sides of the road were barely holding themselves up anymore, if you'd see the damage they'd sustained. A few were hardly anything more than their foundations, others in varying stages of disrepair. No one had the means to fix them, but she made due. With a few turns through winding alleyways, she ducked into one of the "safer"-looking structures; what once was an old library, by the looks of it. One section was still mostly intact, where kids probably used to gather for one of the staff members to read to them. Most of the books were faded or water damaged, but a few were stacked carefully on the one shelf that was mostly untouched. Fairytales she'd read as a kid, and managed to salvage as some fleeting reprieve from the destruction.

The woman slumped against the brick wall, ignoring the sound of peeling paint chips against her back as she let herself slide to the floor. There was a thought that, just maybe, she should try to leave this town in search of one a bit less hostile. She could still hear the voices of those looking for her, though only as a faint echo. Didn't seem they were aware of where she'd made her hiding place, they must've been pretty far behind. Taking off the pair of fingerless gloves on her hands, she began patching up the small cuts she'd sustained in her escape. They managed to get a cut on her leg (joy, now she was going to have to find a way to repair the leg of her pants), and one at her collarbone. She didn't remember where the one on her leg came from, but she knew for a fact that the other happened when she escaped.

Her father would be so disgusted by them pulling a knife on someone unarmed, no doubt about that.

Looking in a cracked hand mirror she'd secured on top of the shelf, she looked at the collarbone wound. It didn't look deep, thankfully, it'd probably heal in a week or two if she took care of it. However, when she turned to look for the first aid kit she'd snatched from an abandoned hospital a few days ago, something made her stop short. She was alone, she was sure - there weren't even the voices of her pursuers anymore - but she felt... seen by something. Red eyes glanced about, but there was nothing there. Giving a silent sigh, she shook her head before pulling her unruly brown hair away from the cut.

"Someone summons you from a land far away…"

The deep and echoing voice made her freeze where she stood, eyes wide and limbs unable to shift from where they were. Was she finally going insane? She forced herself to continue looking, hastily slipping the gloves back on in case she needed to fight. But still, no other person was there besides herself. That was when she started feeling dizzy; the woman staggered, and the glare of her mirror almost seemed to grow into a brilliant blinding light. Soon, she couldn't see a damn thing. It felt as if she were moving, but she knew she wasn't. Or at least, she certainly shouldn't be. What the hell was going on? She could hear the voice again, but louder and clearer this time.

"Brave warrior... Now, come forth!"

Soon after, the glaring light faded. She was finally able to open her eyes, but... perhaps she shouldn't have. Nothing around her looked like the ruins she was just hiding in. For one, she was outside, and it looked like some sort of garden. Red fences lined the edges of cliffs, wildflowers poking up out of the grass here and there, some sort of fancy pedestal, a dragon floating in the sky... Wait. A dragon floating in the sky?! She stared at the green reptile-like creature looming over her and the rest of the foreseeable area, it's body winding around in a darkened sky if it were a snake. She heard that voice - the dragon's voice, apparently - bid her farewell before it vanished out of the sky. The only thing she could see then were some weird round objects floating upwards with a similar light before they shot off all in different directions. All she could do was stare at the sky, silent. Yep, she's definitely lost her mind.

The sound of footsteps would break that silence within mere moments.

Her gaze flinched away from the sky above to the source of those footsteps. It was some guy only a bit taller than her, clad in a weird trench coat and a sword resting neatly in a sheathe on his back. Nothing about him was outwardly threatening, but her guard rose almost immedietely anyway, brow furrowing as she got into the fighting stance her father taught her all those years ago. It was instinct, probably; she would have reacted this way even if she hadn’t seen that weird delusion. It was worrying that the rest of the delusion wasn’t going away, though…

“You’re surprised, I’m sure - I’ll have to explain all of this to you later, but for now...” he finally spoke, though a gloved hand raised to the hilt of the sword on his back. The blade was unsheathed, aimed directly at her. “Let’s see just how much power you have.”

He suddenly charged forward with the sword in hand. The woman grit her teeth, making haste to dodge as he slashed the blade at her twice, vertically the first time and then horizontally. Well, what a wonderful way to greet someone. The cuts stung a bit as she moved, but she was forced to ignore them as she watched him put the sword back in its sheathe. Guess he figured out that fighting someone unarmed with a blade like that wasn’t exactly the best way to ‘test’ them, how considerate.

A few minutes went by as the two of them fought. He was good; clearly someone actually taught him, unlike most of the people she wound up fighting that just flailed their fists around, though she couldn’t place any sort of particular style her father had told her about. Both of them seemed evenly matched, either blocking or dodging most of the other’s hits, but he never seemed to let up. She let out a shout as she spotted him unsheathing the sword again, but a pain shot through her vocal chords as something strange happened.

A silvery light created a dome around her as the sound reverberated strangely through the air, twisting the sound of her voice. Her eyes went wide, seeing that it was actually keeping him away from by maybe a few feet - give or take maybe a few inches. He looked just as shocked, jumping back once the realization hit with a smirk on his face. Except, he… never actually hit the ground. He was just sort of floating a foot or two off the ground, and stayed there. The woman stopped the shriek finally, doubling over and coughing as the energy around her dissipated. She heard two light footsteps, he must have stopped floating.

“Okay, if you’re done coming at me like that,” the woman’s coughing ceased and she stood upright again, though there was still a soreness in her throat. “Care to explain what the hell is going on?”

“You were chosen, summoned here by Shenron!” The smirk turned into more of a grin as he walked towards her, tossing the sword he carried high into the air. Her heart nearly leapt out of her chest when he did that; it was going to stab him right in the skull!! And yet, as if he’d done it a thousand times, he just leaned to one side a bit and the blade landed seamlessly in the sheathe on his back. He didn’t seem fazed at all, despite the equally terrified and confused look that had come onto her face when that happened. “Er— Sorry for attacking you like that, by the way.”

“Yeah, it’s… um… fine. But I don’t think I understand what you mean by that, who’s Shenron?” The terror managed to melt away from her face at least, leaving just a look of perplexion. “And how were you flying just now—?”

“Wait, you mean you can’t?” There was a beat of silence and an unbroken look of confusion, he took that as an answer. “I… guess I expected him to bring someone who knew a bit more about all this. Okay, no problem, let me explain.”

“Please do, I’m pretty sure this is all some big delusion and my mind is playing games on me.”

“I can assure you, this is no delusion. In fact, all things considered, it being one would probably be preferred.” He went on to explain, the grin having faded. “My name is Trunks. You see, I’m on a mission, but needed a bit of extra help to deal with it. So, by making a wish on those relics you saw - the Dragon Balls - I asked Shenron to bring someone capable of helping me, and that’s when you appeared.”

So, that dragon was Shenron. The woman was silent, quietly thinking over this information and how ridiculous it just sounded. But, even if it sounded completely impossible, she would know if it were a dream. She probably wouldn’t have felt the sting of her cuts if it were, or the pain in her throat. Even her blocking his attacks, she would’ve felt something from that. But if that was the case, how did this dragon bring her here from her little hideout? This place looked well-kept, not like all the ruins she’s seen for years and years.

“Here, maybe if I show you around, you’ll believe me.” he stepped towards her, speaking again. “Besides, it looks like you were already in a fight before you got here. Or at least, I would hope that was from before…”

“No, don’t worry about it. I’ll take care of it later.” A hand reached up to cover the slash mark on her collarbone, slightly backing up from Trunks. “…It’s Sciatha, by the way.”

“I’m sorry—?”

“That’s my name, Sciatha.” she looked back over at him. “You gave yours, right? It’s only right I at least give you mine in return. If you think there’s a way to get me to believe you somewhere else, then lead the way.”

“Oh, right!” Trunks turned away, motioning for Sciatha to follow. She trailed behind, hand falling to her side as she walked, though her red eyes continued to scan around. Not a single damaged structure in sight, and that pedestal that was behind her… It looked almost sacred. Upon looking more, she noticed even a statue was fixed on the top of it, resembling that winding dragon from before. Her attention returned to Trunks, though he didn’t seem to notice. What on Earth did he just drag her into…?