Allisa shot straight up and looked around. She was in her room. "I'm home?" She said in confusion. She saw that she was wearing her bra and panties from yesterday. However, there was no trace of the cut she received from last night. "Was it a dream?" She said to herself.

Slowly sitting up on her bed, she glanced around her room. "When did I get home?" She asked herself as she got up.

"You're awake." Allisa turned and saw a woman with scarlet hair sitting at her desk looking at her. Shocked Allisa jumped back, tripped on the bedside and fell back onto the bed. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

"Wh-Who are you?" Allisa demanded sitting up on her bed. "H-How did you get in here?"

"Nel." The woman replied. Allisa stared at her with a confused look. "My name, Nel Zepher."

"....Ok," Allisa said, not lowering her guard. "Why are you in my room.... M-Miss Zepher? And how did you get in?"

"Just Nel." She replied. "And I carried you back here from the woods. I stayed here to make sure no one else attacked you until you woke up. As for getting in," She pointed to the window, "I carried you through the window."

"Attack me?" She then remembered the events that had transpired last night. "No way..... It wasn't a dream..? Someone really tried to kill me?" She then remembered cutting the arm of the assassin. "I....I really killed someone?" She muttered, covering her mouth, feeling very sick.

"No, you just wounded him," Nel replied. "I finished him off though, along with his friends."

"You.... Killed them? All three?"

"Well, I am an Assassin too, and they were rival agents."

"An Assassin?" Fear from the other night began to bubble to the surface, "Wait.... y-you mean-"

"Don't worry, I'm not here to harm you." Nel replied reassuringly, "In fact, I was sent to find you."

"Me?" Allisa was very confused. She hadn't a clue what was going on. Why was this woman in her room? Why was she attacked? And then there was that sword that came out of nowhere?

"I have to say, items from this world are really quite fascinating." Nel was looking at Allisa's action figure collection she had near her desk. She was into fantasy figures from movies. "You don't see this material that much from where I'm from."

"Don't touch those!" She snapped at her. "And can you tell me what the hell is going on? Why was I attacked!"

"Right," Nel sighed and crossed her arms. "I'll warn you, it's quite a long story."

"Allisa! Are you up yet?!" Alicia suddenly called from downstairs, interrupting the conversation.

Allisa glanced to her clock, taking note of the time. "Oh crap!" She exclaimed as she shot out of bed, "Y-Yeah! I'll be right down!" She called back as she picked out her clothes as fast as possible.

"Hold on, I still need to explain-" Nel said, trying to get Allisa's attention.

"Sorry, I have school," Allisa said, interrupting Nel, grabbing her back and making her way to the door. "Tell me at 12. There's a small pond in the forest near my school. We'll talk then."

"Wait, it's very important that you understand the-" Allisa left before Nel could finish her sentence. ".... This is going to be difficult."

****

The events of last night shook her up, and left many questions she needed answers to. Things seemed normal at school, which was comforting to her. It was almost as though the horrible events of last night was all but a dream. Still, she found it hard to focus, still wondering what Nel was going to tell her, or even if she would actually show up.

At lunch, Allisa walked off the pond in the woods where she found the sword. It gave her a lot of privacy so she could have her conversation with Nel. As she arrived she then wondered if Nel would show up, since she wouldn't know about this place. Nel however, was nowhere to be seen.

"Huh? She's not here...." Allisa breathed a sigh of relief followed by a weak laugh. "Geez, I'm such an idiot. There's no way she could have been real. It really was just a bad dream."

"Are you ready now?"

Nel's voice came from behind her, startling her.

"... Or not," Allisa said as she straightened up her posture. "Y-You said you'd answer my questions?" She asked nervously.

"I'll explain them to the best of my ability," Nel said bluntly.

"Ok, then what's going on? Who are you and why was I attacked?"

Nel walked past her and sat down on a rock nearby. She then took a deep breath, and then let it out. "You should sit down. This will take some time." Allisa did as she was told and sat. "To get this out of the way, I'm not from this world, and neither were the three who attacked you."

Allisa looked a little confused at this response. "What do you mean?"

"I'm from a world called Avalon, which exists separately from your world, which we call Terra."

"Ok..... I don't really understand."

"Well, to put it simply, there are lots of different worlds that exist, besides yours and mine. There are instances where two or more worlds become connected to each other by special links, such as yours and mine."

Allisa still didn't understand, if anything her explanation was left her even more confused. Everything she just said, about being from a different world, it sounded too much like fiction.

"You still don't understand, do you?" Nel asked, narrowing her eyes.

"N-No! I got it! I think...." Allisa said quickly. "A-Anyway, you still haven't answered my question."

Nel put her hands on her knees and thought of how to word the next piece of information. "Are you familiar with a sword called Excalibur?"

"Excalibur?" the name was familiar to Allisa, "You mean the sword of King Arthur?"

"That's the one," Nel said nodded. "It was a sword that holds enormous power. It's ability is said to be limitless, as is the power it supposedly bestows upon the one who wields it. Are you with me so far?"

"Uh.... I think so." Allisa gave a nod, even though she was still a little confused. In truth, she was finding everything difficult to believe. "But what does this have to do with me?"

"Well, the sword picks its wielder. It previously chose a man from this world Arthur, who went around fighting the evil and darkness of the worlds. Or so the legend goes anyway."

Allisa started to feel uneasy. "So.... what does this has to do with me?" She repeated the question.

"I'm getting to that." Nel said impatiently. "My master discovered that the sword had emerged, as well as the one who is destined to be it next chosen wielder." She then pointed at Allisa "Which is you."

"Huh.....? W-wait....ME!?" Allisa got back to her feet. "Th-that's ridicules! There's no way that-"

Nel got out a strange crystal which shone a bright yellow. It was almost identical to the one the assassins from the other night had. "This is a special crystal which can sense the energy emitted by the sword. Since it's glowing now, it means the wielder is nearby."

"That doesn't prove anything! Maybe it's picking up someone else!" She looked around frantically, refusing to believe the story she just heard. "M-Maybe Its someone at the school or the town."

"The crystal is limited to the surrounding area, and you and I are the only ones here." She put the crystal way and got to her feet as well. "Which makes you the one, unfortunately."

"But I don't have that stupid sword on me. It's probably nearby."

"You're right, in fact, it's right in front of me."

Allisa started to get angry. "Look! I don't have anything on me, so how could I possibly have this sword!"

"Excalibur is a special type of weapon. Instead of holding it physically, it is actually residing within you."

"That doesn't even make any sense!!"

Nel gave out a sigh of exhaustion. "I didn't think explaining things to you would be this difficult." She said holding her hand to her head.

"What do you expect! You come out of nowhere, tell me some bogus story about King Arthur and Excalibur and all this crap and you expect me to believe all that? Sword right in front of me! What the heck does that mean?!" Allisa snapped

"Well, at this point there's one way for you to believe me." Nel said, sounding tired from trying to explain the situation. She then fixed Allisa with a serious look. "You know how to use mana, right?"

"Ma-what?"

"Right..... Which hand is are you familiar with?"

"I'm right-handed if that's what you mean."

"Hold it out." Allisa did as told. "Now concentrate on that hand, picture a sword in your mind."

Allisa did as she was instructed and concentrated on her right hand like she was told. All of a sudden, a sword appeared in her hand.

"And there you have it."

Surprised and shocked she quickly let go of the sword in her grip. It then vanished completely. "N-No way," Allisa then collapsed, feeling overwhelmed, realizing that this crazy story Nel just told her was true. "But why me?" She then looked up at Nel. "Why did it chose me?"

"I'm actually wondering that myself." She replied, not hiding her disdain towards her. "That's something you'll have to ask the Arch sage when you meet him."

"Arch sage?"

"My employer, he's the one who sent me to find you. He'll have more answers for you when you meet him."

"What do you mean?" Allisa then got to her feet. "I didn't say I believe you. And you saying I should drop everything and go to wherever you came from to meet this Arch-whatever."

"Pretty much," Nel answered bluntly.

"Well forget it! Just go back to wherever you came from and just leave me alone!"

"And what will you do with the next assassins that come for you?" She fixed Allisa again with a very serious look "And mark my words, there will be more." She then started to walk towards Allisa. "They won't be like the last ones, and they won't be picky about their methods."

Allisa started to walk back. "Wh-What do you mean?"

Nel then disappeared in a flash. A dagger was then held to Allisa's neck. "I'm saying they could kill you without you ever knowing."

Startled, Allisa froze as she realized Nel was now behind her and was now holding her dagger pressed lightly against her neck.

"If it were me, I would have killed you last evening the moment you walked out of that building." She then applied a little pressure to her dagger, drawing a slight drop of blood. "You wouldn't have even known I was there, let alone realize how I ended your life so easily."

She then retracted her dagger, allowing Allisa to collapse from the tension, still startled at what happened. "Of course, it might not be assassins they send. Depending on how powerful the people who want you dead are, they could simply destroy the entire town. There are many ways for them to do it. Either with a magic spell or send in bloodthirsty killers to slaughter everyone in sight, be man, woman or child." Nel then started to wander off.

"Where are you going?" Allisa said, recovering from the situation.

"I'm giving you time to think about it. I'll be keeping my eye on you so when you've decided, call out to me."

Departure

The rest of the day flew past. Allisa spent the whole time wondering what to do. She had her doubts about what Nell had told her. She also had many questions that still needed answers. At the end of the day she sat on a bench outside the school still thinking. What should I do?

"Allisa!"

Allisa turned and saw Lucy running towards her, waving at her. "Oh hey." She said.

"I was wondering where you were. Couldn't find you all day," Lucy asked leaning closer "Are you ok? You seem down."

"No I'm fine," Allisa said reassuringly.

"You sure? You've looked a bit out of it today."

"Don't worry. Just a lot on my mind." That was putting it very lightly. Given everything that she had learned, feeling overwhelmed by what the assassin Nel had told her.

".... If you say so," Telling that she won't let slip what she was thinking about, Lucy decided to drop the topic for now. "Well, I'm going off to my archery course soon. Sorry that we're not going to spend much time together this summer."

"It's ok. I-I'm not really sure what I'll be doing though...."

Lucy sat down with her "Hey, cheer up. I'm sure your dad will pull some strings or something."

Allisa cast her gaze downwards. She had something very pressing on her mind, it wasn't something she could bring up, especially since she didn't really believe it herself. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, what about?" Allisa thought for a while. She wanted some advice on the tough decision she had but didn't want to get her best friend involved. "Sounds kinda serious. Is it about summer?" Lucy asked.

"You can say that," Allisa said, finally putting her thoughts together. "I was offered something to do over summer vacation, but I'm not sure if I should do it."

"S-Seriously?! What is it?" Lucy asked curiously.

"I'm not sure what it is though. But it seems very important, so I don't want to make a bad choice." She leaned forward, resting her arms on her legs. "But... I don't even know what the right choice at this stage. Might even change my life...but...."

Lucy leaned back, considering her words. "Well, my mom told me that there are times when life throws this kind of things at you, you should never turn them down." She then looked at Allisa and smiled. "Cause, even if it turns out to be a dead end, it is even worse than if you turn them down." Allisa considered these words. Just like that, all her lingering doubts melted away. "That's just what my mom would say. I'm not sure if it's useful or not."

"No, it's good advice, thanks." Allisa smiled "It actually helped."

Lucy smiled as well, "Well, that's what best friends are for. We pick each other up when we're down."

"Where did you get that, a cereal box?" Allisa laughed.

"I can be deep sometimes." Lucy then stood up "Well, I better be going." Then started walking away. She stopped part way before turning around. "I don't know what it is that's on your mind, but know I'll always have your back." She then began to walk away.

"Thanks. Good luck with your archery." Allisa called out.

"Good luck with whatever it is you need to do," Lucy replied.

Allisa smiled as she watched her friend walk away. When she was no longer in sight, the smile disappeared. "I'm only going for answers." Though Nel wasn't in sight, Allisa knew she could hear her.

"We leave tonight." Nel's voice came from behind. "Meet me at the pond at 11 o'clock, no later. Come alone and bring nothing."

****

It was dark as Allisa headed to her spot. As told she brought nothing with her. She left her home earlier, and made up an excuse to her patients, telling them she's going to a special summer camp, and she'll probably be gone all summer. Of course, she didn't truly know how long she will be away for. Nel was already there.

"I'm here," Allisa announced.

"Good. And you weren't followed, which makes things easier." She then approached Allisa. "There's no going back from this. Are you sure that you prepared?"

Allisa gave her a nod. "I'm not promising anything. I'm going to get answers to what's happened."

"Fine by me." Nel then turned and walked towards the pond. She held out her left hand and said, "Open."

A small flash of light burst, opening a swirling portal. Allisa jumped at the sight, almost falling over with both fear and amazement by what she had just witnessed.

"This is the way to Avalon," Nel said standing by the portal's edge, glancing at Allisa while holding her hand out. "After you."

Parts of Allisa wanted to turn away and just forget that this ever happened. But, the better part of her craved answers, and on the other side of that portal was the answers to her questions. She then ran straight into the portal. Nel jumped in after her. As the two got in, the portal collapsed and dissipated.

****

"THEY FAILED!!" A large gauntlet smashed onto the table near the Crystal ball. Within the glow was an armored figure, with a T visor that shone an ominous red with the blackened armor giving off a strange black fog. "You said you hired professionals Karren, so why would they fail" he pointed at the crystal ball, barely containing his rage "In eliminating this joke!"

"I didn't say I hired experts." To the black knights left was a woman with raven black hair, leaning against the table, blood red eyes glancing at the knight with an amused grin. "Looks that Cob's dear old friend was also looking for the wielder." The woman said, looking at the crystal ball, which showed the image of the wielder in question. "But I definitely wasn't expecting it to choose someone so pitiful." She turned to a man standing to her right, "Wouldn't you agree Cob?"

"Indeed," the man stood out from the darkness, inspecting the image of the girl. A man with a staff, wearing a cloak with a long pointed face and eyes similar to the woman. "I don't think we have anything to worry. She hardly poses a threat."

"That's not the issue!" The black knight said, "Regardless of who it chose, the wielder must be eliminated! It's the only way to be sure that she won't interfere!"

"Enough!" This voice came from a figure sitting on a throne, dressed in a black plated clothing with black hair with white streaks running through it, sitting relaxed, fixing the crystal ball a peculiar look with his blood red eyes.

"What do you propose we do, Gillian?" The man, Cob, asked.

The man studied the image of the girl. A smile then came to his lips. "She obviously poses no immediate threat to us, and we have more pressing matters to attend to. So as long as she or any of our enemy's don't catch wind of our existence then I guess we could leave well enough alone for now." He leaned back on his throne. "Besides, who's to say that something 'unfortunate' might befall her? And even if our paths were to cross, there's no way she could defeat us."

The woman, Karren, and the man Cob snickered in response while the black knight folded his arms.

"..... Allisa Reed, was it?" The man referred to as Gillian grinned at the image before him. "One way or the other, things are about to get interesting." Closing his eyes, he let out a small chuckle. "Best of luck to you, 'Goddess' Chosen.' You certainly will need it for what's to come."