The young Phoenix Knight found himself in the misty bamboo forest early in the morning.  The teenager wore a suit of crimson armor with a crest of a golden phoenix, a long sword by his side.  He had bright sapphire eyes, while his hair was jet black, tainted with red highlights.  His face was young, but he had built up muscle in his many battles, his training, and time wearing his fire-resistant armor.

He had never been to this part of the world, and had never visited a bamboo forest before either.  He heard there was a large city to the west of the forest, so if he kept going west, he'd make it there, right?  He heard the sounds of another person near him, the movement of armor.  Through the dense fog, it was getting harder and harder to see.  He couldn't see where this person was though, and he heard more footsteps too, maybe an animal?  Why was this fog so dense today?  He heard a voice of whoever was out there with him, a woman's voice asking to make himself known.  With a sudden start, Hiro was surprised by the voice, he lost his concentration on his surroundings, stubbing his foot over a fallen bamboo shoot, and tripping, tumbling to the ground.

"Ow!  Dammit!" he cried out.  He looked up from the ground to see a tall woman in armor looming over him, a large hippogryph by her side..  "Ack!  I'm sorry!  I mean you no harm!  I nearly fell on you, the fog is so dense, I tripped over something.  Sorry if I startled you, ma'am.  I got startled myself.  Haha!"

Hakon already had her large broadsword pointed at the boy's neck when he quickly flipped over and made his quick pleas. Her eyebrows shot up in surprise, ah- he was about Jace's age, wasn't he? Offering a small, tired smile- she carefully slides the broadsword of her back and offers her gloved hand to him as the beast at her side snorted with some disgust- clearly unamused by the boy's lack of… Well- balance.

" You're fine, kid- are you alright? What are you… What are you doing out here by yourself?" Her eyes swept over the crest, his armor- ah, he seemed to be a warrior of some kind too. It made her chuckle, she hadn't been treated to such fine things when she was that age and in training- then again, it had been another world and plane of existence altogether. Taking a step back, she rests her hand upon the beast's great neck as Ansgar drew himself to his full, intimating height to glare down at the boy rather critically.

Hiro would have been screwed if she was actually an enemy.  She actually had her sword pointed to his throat.  She could have likely struck him down if she wanted to.  Luckily, she offered her hand, sheathing her blade.  He took her hand and got back up, dusting himself off.  The hippogryph by her side was unamused though, by his fall.  This was a little embarrassing to the boy, who was usually in better form than today.  The woman asked him why he was out here by himself.

"I was traveling to the nearest city, Nisshoki.  I was hoping to try and find some work there, some kind of adventuring work.  Maybe there's some kind of wrongs needing to be righted, or orcs slayed, some such thing.  Or maybe a noble needs some kind of body guard, I don't know.  I've been seeking to spread my name around, become more well known throughout the land.  At least make some money, at the least."  The hippogryph was looking at him with some disdain, maybe the beast was not believing everything he was saying, assuming the beast was capable of understanding the common tongue and could follow the conversation.  He could tell this woman herself was looking at him questionably.  He was a teenager, what would a kid be out here alone?

"I know I'm young, ma'am, but I've got more experience than anyone else I know of my age.  Battle experience, I mean.  I've fought in some of the conflicts that have popped up recently.  Traveled to Grife's vault, when the Winter's Curse hit the land, when Lady Dalanesca was waging a war against Lady Angela, I was protecting Lady Angela's daughter.  When Lord Torn was still around, I made it through his Warrior's Gauntlet.  I think I was the youngest person to get through that thing.  They put me against a Fire Giant.  That was a very hard fight.  Anyway, I'm probably rambling.  I apologize, we haven't been introduced.  My name is Hiro Kouen, Phoenix Knight, by the way."  He bowed to the woman courteously.

Hakon gazed at the young man steadily as he spoke, tilting her head gently to one side, her strict straight licks furling beneath one defined sheekbone like a knife of light. The boy rattled on, reminding her somewhat of her dearest children when they came up with their wild stories of that 'dream world' that inspired the sweetest of tunes from Elenoir and that ravenous appetite of Jace's. Slowly her thin lips curl into a small smile, alas, her brow furrowed somewhat frettfully," You are a sellsword? And so young too…" she murmurs empathetically, ah how she could relate though it wasn't exactly a fate she wished on anyone.

Hakon Kilandre-Alveron paused again, exhaling through her nose before extending a hand,"It's a pleasure Hiro Kouen, my name is General-" she pauses, in this world, she was simply a paladin," Hakon Kilandre-Alveron. You may simply call me Hakon if it suits you. Hiro-" she pauses, gazing at him for a moment," Would you like to travel alongside me to the city?"

Hiro could see he was losing her, maybe she thought he was a joke, or just a child pretending to be a warrior.  He sighed, he probably wasn't leaving a good impression on her.  Regardless, she talked with him.

"I guess you can call it like that, but I see myself as more of an Adventurer.  I won't do just ANYTHING for money.  I wouldn't cal myself a mercenary who'll do anything for the color of gold.  I'm not an assassin, I'm not a thief, I won't murder innocents, because I'm not a bandit or some such.  I see myself as aspiring to be a Hero.  I fight for just causes, help people who need helping, try to make money while doing it if I can, but if someone's dying in front of me, someone needs help, and they're dirt poor, I can't look the other way, you know?  You have to protect the people who need protecting.  My father, he's a true hero, we came from another world to this world, we came from a world known as DaeLuin, which befell an Apocalypse.  I remember the ground shaking, fire and brimstone from the sky, and father pushed me into a portal that ended up taking me here.  To Revaliir.  But you're probably from around here, and may not have heard of such a thing as people from other Worlds."  He shrugged his shoulders.

He took her hand in a firm handshake.  He bowed before out of habit, but she wasn't some fair maiden, like a princess or something that wouldn't shake hands.  Given by her appearance, she was a warrior.  She started to say she was a General, but maybe she was one no longer.  Maybe it was from a time long past.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Hakon."  She asked him if he wanted to travel alongside her to the city.  "Sure, why not?  You seem to be a nice person, and I'm unfamiliar with this area.  I've heard that bandits sometimes attack travelers in the area, and foreign warriors who use stealth and assassination techniques.  I don't have a price on my head or anything, so I doubt anyone would want to kill me like that though.  Traveling in a group, there's safety in numbers.  Not that I can't handle myself of course."

{Sorry for the delay}

[Don't apologize, dear, it's absolutely fine!]

Hakon tilts her head gently to one side, straight platinum locks falling before her eyes as she smiles- the corners of her eyes crinkling with crows' feet from many smiles of years passed. She turns slightly," I have heard of such warriors as well, which is why I reacted somewhat harshly to you- I must say, seeing another human with such familiar goals is quite refreshing… I too, am-" she pauses, grimacing slightly as she began to walk,"- not of this particular world."

Her feet crunched rather loudly against the trail, the heavy armor on her form hissing as small runes occasionally glittered over the chrome sheen," You see, many years ago now- my husband and myself were from a world where magic was feared- I fought most of my life to destroy it… Until I met my dearest husband, Aven," she chuckles softly, reaching up to brush her hair behind one ear," By the time he came into my life, the war I had fought had continued for nearly two decades. I was so tired of the things I did, my boy-" she looks to him with that harsh yet gentle hazel-grey gaze,"- I was blinded by my service for a 'God', and did horrible things. Seeing you be unwilling to bend warms this stony heart of mind." Hakon flashes a thin smile.

She then waves a gloved hand as the hippogriff plods alongside her, the saddlebag and armor creaking over its thickly muscled and feathered form," Perhaps, if you'll listen to me rant, I shall tell you of another World's Wars, hm?"

He explained that he was originally from another world, and things seem to become clear for her: she was the same as he was, she was from another world.

"Really?  There seem to be a lot of people from different worlds here," Hiro said, thinking maybe this world has become somewhat of a sanctuary for people who ended up leaving their own worlds for one reason or another.  She explained that she was serving a God, who sought to destroy magic, and so she did terrible things in the name of this God, until she met her future husband, and had a change of heart.  "I feel that you need to keep your mind open, to follow something so blindly, your faith so unbreakable that to ignore the truth is dangerous.  My father once told me that he was from a different world himself, the land he originated from feared arcane magic greatly.  HIS Father, my Grandfather, whom I never met, was a swordsman that ended up with a Priestess, my Grandmother, and that violated her vows, so she was stripped of her divine magic, something like that happened, and father was born with great magic that the town they settled down to would be scared of.  They had to seal his power, or so I was told."  Twenty years was a long time, Hiro thought to himsef.  "I haven't even been alive two decades yet.  A war that lasted so long, it's hard to imagine a generation of kids growing up in situation of perpetual war.  That's horrible.  At least you had a change of heart, at the end of it."

Hakon offered to retell him stories of wars from her home World.  "I would love to.  I love stories.  Father would tell me every night about stories of himself, or other heroes."  Hiro said with a warm, friendly smile, his sapphire eyes alight with wonder.  He suddenly felt something weird about the area they were in.  "Wait, something feels off, I feel like we've been here before."  His voice went into a whisper.  His eyes were suddenly literally aglow with power, as his aura sight kicked in.  There was a strange magic in the mist that grew thicker and thicker as they walked.  "I feel like we've been walking in circles while we've been talking. I sense strange magic in the air, I think there's some illusion we've wandered into."  He went silent for a moment.  "I think this is a trap of some kind.  Be on your guard."  Hiro drew his blade from the sheath on his belt.  It was a long blade, long enough to be wielded with two hands, but not too long as to be unwieldy by one hand.  There was the noise of movement around them, through the bamboo trees.  A breeze of wind pushed through the air, Hiro could feel it against his cheek.  Then there was sudden wetness against the same area.  He placed his hand against his face, then looked at his gauntlets.

"Blood?"  If Hakon looked at Hiro, she'd see his face had a cut on his cheek.  He hadn't felt any metal, it felt like air had hit his face, then he was suddenly bleeding.  "Shit.  Come on out!  We know you're out there!  Face us!"  Several figures appeared out of the mist.  They were cloaked in white garments head to toe, covering their face and entire body with what appeared to be cloth, with assorted lightly armored bits.  He could see three men surrounding them, but Hiro could sense one other, but he could not see him.  "What . . . are those . . . ninja?  I thought those were only in stories!"  Hiro faced the two ninja that were in front of him.  There was another behind them, and a fourth elsewhere in hiding.  They were each wielding assorted weapons, katanas, knives, probably shruiken too.  "What the hell do you guys want from us?"  No response.  A swell of magic power came flooding toward them.  Fiery blasts, wind blades, and earthen walls flew at the travelers.  Hiro moved quickly, curling his left hand into a fist, and slamming that fist against the ground, pouring fiery mana into the ground.  Walls of molten rock erupted from the ground and encased the two warriors and hippogryph in a protective dome of protection.  Hiro felt the explosions of fire, wind, and rocks slamming against his barrier.  "They've got the jump on us, I saw three of them, though I think there's four, I sensed a magic permeating the air.  There's water mana in the air.  I bet one of them is generating the mist and is acting as support.  I saw fire, wind, and earth magics in that brief flash of their attacks.  I take it each of them uses one of the four classical elements of magic.  This wall lasts around a minute and a half, unless I keep channeling magic into it.  So we're gonna have to move quickly to take these guys out.  We're gonna have to move the moment it breaks down.  Are you with me, Hakon?"  The barrier would drop soon, and they'd have to move to take our the enemies quickly, since they were likely waiting for Hiro's barrier to drop, or were planning some way to break through it.