The Orb

"T-take t-this... it's... dangerous out there..." He had held her hand tightly as he laid on the floor releasing his last breaths. She reached out for his arm that held the item, he clenched her hand as he breathed sharply, struggling to speak words of the utmost importance, but he struggled as his life slowly faded from him. In tears she simply stared back at his agony-filled face that fought hard against the ever-quickening mortality that enveloped him.

"It... can save you in a moment of dire need... It... It can take you away. Be careful with it. V-very... Careful!" He shoved the object to her chest and she held onto his hand that had hit her with the object. She clenched his hands back as his grip slowly loosened and his body relaxed, slumping backward as the last of all efforts he was ever more to make on this realm. He tried to mutter one last word before his body gave up, but only his lips moved.

She wept silently as hie hands slumped back down to his body and she looked at the item he had given her. A pendant in the shape of a sphere. It was blue with specks of green around it and white pieces of fluff revolved around the sphere in slow but steady motions. The chain it was suspended on was black as the night.

"Princess! We have to leave!" She was thrust back into the reality around her as she picked up her gown and headed to her chamber. Her maidservants ushered her into her room and helped her don her armor. The rocks of the besieging army did not cease to hit the walls of the castle. She could hear the screams and the shouts of the men and women outside as they prepared for the attack. Her father had departed this world seeing the Kingdom under constant attack and in peril. She would see to it that it would be freed from strife and ushered into a new era of prosperity.

Her armor donned and the pendant now nestled neatly in the middle of her chest, she carried her helmet alongside her as she maidservants, now also donned in armor, made their way to the gates of the Kingdom to defend all they had.

"How is the state of the walls?" She asked as one of her advisors, a craven with a pox-stricken face, had scurried out from some crevasse in the castle to update her on the status of the realm.

"P-p-princess I think it best you leave s-s-such affairs to the h-head of the K-kingdom, your f-f-father!"

"He has perished. I am now the Queen of whatever remains of these lands. Tell me of the wall!"

Mouth agape he stood there and stared at her. She shoved him aside "Begone. Ladies, follow me. For Lusitania!" She shouted and raised her hand and the maidservants let out a battle cry as they headed out of the castle.

Fires raged outside the wall and she hurried to make her way to the top of the walls. Men fell from the wall as she made her way up, but she paid them no heed. Screams surrounded her as well and the wave of rocks that pelted the walls never seemed to stop. Once she had made her way to the top of the wall she was aghast. As far as she could see from the top of the walls there they were, the green horde. Their battle cries, their screeches, the sheer monumental amount of them shuddered her to her core.

"By the lady..." One of her maidservants muttered under her breath and the princess, too, was fearful. She noticed on the horizon the shape of not one, but two giants making their way towards the castle as the ground before her was a sea of goblins, orcs and other assorted monstrosities from other Kingdoms that the green wave had collected on their way to massacring their way to the West.

She straightened up and gathered her courage. She took out her sword and began to pelt out orders. "Archers, keep on harassing them!" Those nearest to her nodded.

"Women of the Songbird!" She shouted, and the maidservants next to her stood at attention "On me! To the gates!" She gave a battle cry and they all unsheathed their swords and headed towards the gate. Another rock pounded against the wall where she had stood and another handful of men fell to the ground. The Kingdom, as far as she could tell, was lost. But she would not go out without a fight.

"Do not surrender! Fight for your Kingdom! Fight until the death!" She shouted to those around her who stood their ground, ready to fight the wave of enemies that would soon pour forth from the walls like water out of a broken dam.

She finally reached the gate and had noticed that barely anyone stood before it to protect it. "What is the meaning of this?!" She shouted and a few others came back and hastily picked up their arms that they had laid down. One sergeant stood at attention and saluted "My Lady! This is all we have left to defend the gate!" The gate itself meanwhile shuddered and balked as it was being hit not by one large object, but many small objects. She could hear the groaning of a giant in the distance, soon to make it's way to the gate. Soon the wooden structure was giving way and she could see a goblin head pierce through it, shouting gibberish and screaming. She made her way to it and struck at it, killing it instantly, soon thereafter another one reared it's head. The Sergeant and the ladies, as well as some others, soon came to the Princess' aid and they slashed and hacked back at the intruders.

Alas, it was a hopeless endeavor. Soon the gate was giving way and a horde of enemies poured forth from the gates. She managed to kill dozens of goblins before she was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of them. She fell to the ground and everything around her became a blur. She remembered what her father had told her before he had laid on his death bed. He had promised her the pendant with the blue and green orb a long time ago. He had carried it with him and only showed it to her, further strengthening their relationship

"This pendant, it has a great power with it."

"Everything you hold does, father."

He laughed "Truly! Whatever I wield, whatever touches my hands or goes through them, instantly becomes more valuable. However this orb, this pendant, this object is far stronger and worth much more than anything I could have made, or will ever make, besides you."

She smiled and he continued "This is a powerful item and it can take you far, far away from these lands. All lands. But to do so you must make a great sacrifice. You must give up something you hold dear, so dear to you that to lose it would akin to losing part of your very yourself. Use it only in the most dire of circumstances. Only when you absolutely must and there is no other choice."

"Why me?"

He smiled and held her by her shoulders and faced her. He paused as he looked her in the eyes and spoke "Why, my child, it is because all that is mine, is yours. Ultimately, I think you will be the only one who will ever use this. But I hope that it never comes to this."

Never comes to this... never... The moment in her memory dissipated as quickly as it came and she was thrust back to the reality of her situation. A goblin was pulling her leg, another was attempting to bite through the armor, while still another slashed at her head, but she parried it. An orc behind them thrust his axe straight down upon her breastplate, shattering it entirely. "Wot is dis den?!" He shouted and laughed, the other goblins around laughed as well to appease the orc. "A bloody woman warriah? Ya ain't gun' live long, weak humie!" He raised his axe for the final blow and she held onto the pendant and closed her eyes.

She kept her eyes completely shut and the sounds of war had disappeared in an instant. She could hear only the rustling of the wind in the distance as it danced upon the trees. She slowly opened her eyes. Green met her eyes once again and she sat up, but it was a lighter hue of green. The ground she sat upon was soft and the green in front of her was waving gently in the wind, as if to greet her. She looked around and saw small flowers of various colors, red, purple, white, as they too danced before her and greeted her with their song of the wind. Further out she saw trees, mostly pointy, but also some that looked rounder. She squinted and saw in the distance a mountain range. Before her was a fence out of wood and not much further off a little house, perhaps that of a peasant who lived here. Where had she gone? She looked to the sky and instead of a fury-filled sky of red and orange with black clouds tinged by magic, there were calm, white clouds. They looked like sheep, or a pillow and were soft and inviting in appearance. She looked down to the pendant and there saw the colors she knew. Brown lands, with dark blue waters and orange skies, with clouds of black, blue, and occasionally white.

She... Had she gone into the pendant? She held onto it in disbelief and looked around as her torn clothes and half-armor hung loosely on her body.

Where was she?