'A voice said, Look me in the stars and tell me truly, men of earth, If all the soul-and-body scars were not too much to pay for birth.' A Question, Robert Frost (1942)

That night, Shura's dreams were not pleasant. Flashes of red filled Shura's vision and the thick scent of blood and smoke wafted through her senses. She saw large monstrous beings attacking a village that looked to be straight out of a fantasy novel.

The monstrous beings set fire to homes and killed innocent villagers in brutal ways that she had never conceived possible. The level of violence these monsters enacted on these people was almost cartoonish. Vaguely reminding her of something out of an eighty's movie. In particular, one that was trying too hard to be edgy. Maybe even a mondo film...

Unfortunately, Shura was no stranger to what a mangled body looked like. But having seen one before did not lessen the shock that she felt.

Standing in the middle of this village she watched as a body flew through the night sky and landed in front of her. A broken folded up mess that used to be a person. Specks of blood hit her face and she quickly averted her eyes and covered her mouth. The smell was hard to ignore, but at least she could control whether she saw it.

When she reached up to wipe the blood away, She felt a lump of bile form in the back of her throat at the sight on her fingers. Doing her best to keep it down she steadied herself only dry heaving maybe once or twice. Trying to remember how she got here, stepping away from the body before her she looked around remembering that she had fallen asleep.

"A dream maybe?" She asked herself, it wasn't unusual for her dreams to be vivid. Nor was it unusual for her to be lucid. She had many lucid dreams under her belt at this point. Learning such a skill early on in life due to chronic nightmares that plagued her youth.

She looked around at first, her vision wasn’t fuzzy in that way dreams usually were. That kind of white mist that lingers around the edges of her vision during dreams usually wasn't there. She moved her body around feeling the freedom of movement with ease. She knew from experience dreams usually limited her movement. But that didn’t mean anything substantial.

She thought of pinching herself, but past experiences told her that pinching herself in a dream didn’t always wake her up. She shook her head trying to wake up but couldn’t. Disappointed that her childhood technique didn’t work. She looked around, if this was a dream, she wouldn’t feel pain. 

Spotting a nearby house on fire, though to be fair those were all around her. Shura made her way over deciding to do a little experiment. Shura figured if she felt pain from the fire it wasn’t a dream. But if she didn’t, it was. Hopefully, the shock of sticking her hand into the fire would wake her up.

Standing close to the fire now she felt the heat and hesitation build in her stomach. Her instinct of self-preservation told her not to stick her hand in the fire. But she was convinced this was a dream. After all, that was the only logical explanation.

Slowly inching her hand towards the fire, she felt the heat grow and grow until the tip of her finger was almost touching the flame...

She was stopped short by something running into her. Stumbling a bit, she looked at the being who ran into her. A man, about middle-aged, looked at her with panicked eyes. 

"Pl-Please!" He begged gripping Shura's shirt. "Please save me-!" He was cut off when his head was cut off. Shura took a step back in shock, unable to understand what just happened. "D-Did I just see a man die?" She asked herself just as a large beast appeared out of the smoke. 

Its footsteps were heavy and its tail looked like a blade of some sort. Shura stood there unable to move, her eyes wide and her face dripping with the blood from the man that had just been decapitated in front of her.

A strange clicking like growl sounded out from the beast as it scanned the area. Shura knew she should run, but her legs were frozen. It didn't matter if this was a dream or what, this was far more terrifying that what any of her nightmares had ever been.

The creature's gaze stopped upon Shura. Any scream Shura may have had in terror when the beast began to approach her died in her throat. She felt the rumble of the ground beneath her and the heat of this monster's breath. She fell back onto her butt unable to do anything else.

The monster's tail whipped back and the bladed tip glinted in the moonlight. Flashes of the man who died before appeared in Shura's mind. She knew what was coming next, even though this may be a dream. She had never experienced a dream where she had actually died.

Holding her breath and closing her eyes, unwilling to face her demise directly. She waited for the end of it and for her to wake up in bed from this terrible-terrible dream. A weird choking like scream sounded out and for the third time, Shura was sprayed with blood. Covering her face with her arm, not wanting to get any more blood on her face. She lowered it after the spray stopped and in front of her stood a figure with shining armor and a dripping blade.

"Well that was rather close wasn't it?" A voice sounded out from underneath the helmet. Vaguely sounding like a terrible British accent. The figure turned around after sheathing their sword. They took off their helmet and Shura's mouth hung agape.

"Good thing I showed up when I did! You would've met the same terrible fate as that gentleman over there!" The young man quipped rather cheerfully, Shura was a bit unsure about his attitude. People were dying after all. 

The young man then reached down and helped Shura up. Once Shura stood to her feet she got a better look at this young man. Standing close to Shura's height with honey-colored hair and tanned skin was a young man with an all too familiar face that made her blood run cold.

"Are you alright? You haven't spoken a word!" He said pulling out a handkerchief and wiping some blood from Shura's face. "Um... Yeah." Shura said hesitantly, "I'm fine... Thank you." she said pulling the handkerchief from the man's hand and cleaning herself up. 

“You’re quite welcome! I’m just doing my jo-.” The man stopped short and Shura looked up worried that another monster had appeared. Instead, he facepalmed and chuckled, “Where are my manners?” he said to himself.

“I don’t think now’s the time for manners.” Shura couldn’t help but respond. “Nonsense! Without manners what kind of society would we live in?” He quipped back before extending his hand out to Shura. “My name is-.” He started to say by himself before Shura joined in. “Minnow Dragoon.” Both of them said his name at the same time.

Minnow paused surprised, “Oh so you know who I am?” he asked, Shura wiped the last bit of blood off her face and averted her eyes from his. “I’ve heard stories.” She responded she caught the prideful smile that spread across Minnow’s face for a moment before he regained his composure.

“So, you know who I am. But I don’t know you.” Minnow said, clearly studying Shura’s appearance with little to no shame. “Shura,” Shura said still a little shell shocked from earlier. At the very least, she’d have to say that incident would have to be high on the trauma list. She’d undoubtedly be talking to a therapist about this in the future.

Minnow stood there as if waiting for something else, “What?” Shura asked Minnow shifted awkwardly, “No sir name?” he asked sheepishly. Shura paused, her last name was rather modern, chosen by her Grandmother on her father’s side, she was a bit of a flower child, so it was little embarrassing of a last name. Said it better represented the true spirit of the family… Whatever that meant.

“None worth mentioning,” Shura said deciding on not letting her last name be known. It was better this way. “An orphan then?” Minnow asked earning a look from Shura. “N-Not to pry.” He added clearly embarrassed.

“We’re in the middle of a fucking burning village Dragoon. Now’s not the time to be playing twenty questions.” Shura remarked with snark, to be honest, his prim and proper act was getting on her nerves. Though it may have been from having a near-death experience and watching someone die. Shura guessed it was a little bit of both though.

Minnow perked up in surprise as if only just then realizing exactly where they were. "Oh... OH!" Minnow exclaimed Shura gave him an exasperated look. "Oh dear! We have to get you to safety then!" He exclaimed putting his helmet back on. "Really?" Shura asked sarcastically.

"Yes really! It's very dangerous right now!" Minnow said grabbing Shura's hand and dragging her off behind him. "I hadn't noticed!" Shura managed to squeeze in one more sarcastic remark before being pulled off. 

As she was dragged through the ruins of the village she saw other knights like Minnow fighting these monsters. She even saw a few cleric knights tending to the wounded and dying on the spot with their magic. 

All this confirmed what Shura had come to believe, somehow she was dreaming of the Mid-Knight Saga world. Though, she was beginning to believe that this may not be a dream after all. But that was a crisis she could have later once she was in a much safer space. 

The thick smoke-filled air faded once she was out of the village and approaching a nearby make-shift camp surrounded by other knights. She heard the sounds of cries and soft sobbing. She assumed this was the sound of the survivors coping with their lost homes and lost family.

"There you are Minnow!" A voice sounded off, Shura looked over and saw another familiar face. Mako Blueskin, Minnow's mentor and later Nandus's mentor as well. Shura almost didn't recognize Mako due to how young they looked, the orc had far fewer battle scars than what she had come to know when Nandus met Mako in the books. 

"Who's this?" Mako asked once they spotted Shura, "Another survivor." Minnow said dutifully, wanting to impress his mentor. Mako narrowed their eyes at Shura, "Why are they covered in blood?" Mako asked Minnow looked embarrassed knowing the main reason was his fault. 

So to save Minnow some embarrassment and just to be a smartass Shura responded with. "Why aren't you?" The orc paused processing this, then put their hands on their hips and laughed loudly. "I like you!" Mako announced hitting Shura on the back causing Shura to stumble. 

"Mako please!" Minnow scolded helping Shura steady herself. "I...It's fine." Shura wheezed out. Mako's slap caused the breath to be knocked out of her. Faintly a couple of yards off she heard a person shout. "Dragoon! Now's not the time to be standing around we need to get find more survivors!"

"R-right!" Minnow said clearly disliking being admonished like that, "Um... Mako, can you take care of Shura for me?" Minnow said placing a gentle hand on Shura's shoulder and moving her towards the orc. 

"Sure thing Minnow," Mako said with a grin, Minnow smiled back relieved and then took back off racing towards the village. Shura and Mako watched Minnow's retreating form for a moment before the orc turned back to Shura.

"So... Got any spare clothes?" Shura asked just now noticing how filthy she was. "And shoes..." Shura added looking down at her bare feet. She was sure there was at least a couple of cuts on her soles. "You sure you can fit my sizes?" Mako asked folding their arms. With a huff, Shura said, "I'll make it work." 

Mako led Shura off towards their tent, after a few minutes of cleaning off the rest of the blood from her skin and doing her best to get the gross smell of smoke out of her hair. Shura has now dressed in an oversized tunic with pants that and a belt. The belt in question needed a new hole in it because of her size compared to Mako.

"These are Minnow's." Mako said throwing a pair of boots Shura's way, "you two look like you're close in size." Mako remarked in their usual gruff manner. Shura couldn't help but think about how little Mako's personality changed from now to when the book's happened. 

Shura reached over and picked the boots off the ground, slipping them on without a word. "No hesitation for taking his boots huh?" Mako asked amused, Shura shot Mako a look. "it's not like I have much of a choice. If he doesn't like he'll have to get over it." 

This earned a hearty laugh from Mako, "I like your attitude! You're not afraid to take what you want! You've got an orc's spirit!" Mako exclaimed Shura grunted a thank you as she fashioned the boots tightly. Feeling relief over finally having a decent pair of shoes on. The run over to the camp had been hard on her feet. After all, when she went to sleep she wasn't wearing any shoes. 

Standing up with the boots on, she noted the difference in size. Though not much, Minnow's feet were slightly bigger than hers. But that was expected. Even still, the size difference made walking around in the boots a little awkward. 

Shura looked over at Mako, who was leaning against a supporting pole for the tent. "How do I look?" She asked holding out her arms. "Like a child wearing their father's clothes," Mako answered honestly, Shura let out a snort in amusement. "Cool, that's the look I was going for." She replied snarkily.

Mako opened their mouth to say something in response but was cut off by a loud scream and a bunch of yelling. Mako looked at Shura before running out of the tent. Shura shortly followed after Mako wanting to see what was going on.

A younger knight was running towards the camp with another monster chasing after him. "Jones! What are you doing?!" A commanding knight yelled at the young knight who was scared out of his wits. "I ran out of arrows! Someone kill it!" He screamed running past the commanding knight as the bull-like monster began crashing through tents and sending people flying through the air. 

"Someone help me!" A voice shouted out, coming from an injured villager who was struggling to get away from the bull charging towards them. Then, something in Shura snapped. She got flashes of the man before being killed and the corpse that had landed before her moments before the man died.

She didn't hear Mako's shout to Shura to run to safety. Shura rushed towards the nearest weapons rack and grabbed the closest sword. Her mind was filled with white noise. 

Being one of the few running towards the monster, Shura gave little thought to her safety jumping onto it's back. She let out a scream before stabbing it in the neck. It collapsed face-first into the ground, barely stopping short of the villager. 

On top of the beast, Shura screamed repeatedly stabbing it in the neck. "Die! Die! Die!" Blood spattered everywhere covering her completely. The whole camp came to a standstill as the girl stabbed the bull monster. Unsure of what to do.

After about five minutes, Shura grew tired and slowly stood up. Blood dripping from her blade. She slowly came back to reality she barely heard Minnow's voice.

Looking over at the young man, she saw him staring at her in shock. 

"Shura...?"