Disclaimer, strong language used.

She loved heroes, their rise and climb to achieve great things. Then at the end they always come back to her embrace, they were most precious of all. However her world was dark, and the heroes that walked it did not have the light to hold back the coming storm. So to save her world and her people, she looked elsewhere. For more heroes, who might have enough light to weather the storm.

September 20th, 2008. Above Korengal valley, Kunar Province, Afghanistan.

Darkness ruled the valley, for miles dark mountainside and woodland stretched below me. I always loved views like this, the world seeming at my feet. Only a couple feet above me the blades of the helicopter thumped with a deep base, struggling to keep altitude with our height. I kept my rifle close to my body as the cold night air bit into my face, but it was refreshing and keeping me awake.

"Everything seems to be going well, the firebase is only five minutes out." The pilot told us from his seat. I glanced forward look at the dimly glowing instrument panels. Everything seemed so peaceful right now, despite the war that had been waging for years. Well it was peaceful, until their instrument panels started flashing and beeping.

The two other members of my team looked at me with concern, knowing that wasn't a good sign. "Don't worry, we are in good hands." I told them to reassure everyone. I had no idea what might be going on, but it scared me more than them.

"What the fuck, someone is getting a missile lock on us." The pilot muttered to himself confused. "Check to make sure that is correct." He told his co pilot as the pair began to test their detection system. "You three, get ready to check for launch smoke!" He called over the radio to us. My team members turned and took one side of the Blackhawk, and I took the other. Scanning for where an insurgent might fire an anti air missile at us.

Several seconds later the slow beeping changed, becoming so fast it was almost monotone. "Oh fuck! We have a launch!" He shouted, pulling the stick towards him to gain altitude.

"Hang on back there!" The co pilot shouted as he flipped several switches on the instrument panel. I watched the smoke trail from our 5 o'clock, filling my stomach with dread. I had been in countless firefights, but I was filled with more terror now than ever. In a gunfight I knew what I was doing, I had some control over what happened. Now I just watched this missile race towards our helicopter, and hoped that someone knew what they were doing.

The seconds before it slammed into our tail section, I thought my life was over. That I would die in a fiery wreck in the middle of nowhere Afghanistan. Little did I know, a certain someone had big plans for me.

Unknown place, unknown time.

I woke up with my face in a pile of leaves, confused and my head still filled with the scenes of a Blackhawk crash. I slowly picked my head up, and was greeted with the sight of a pleasant and untouched meadow. "What the…" I muttered, not sure where I might be. I had just been crashing into the mountains of Afghanistan at night, the light was shining bright down on me as I look towards a forest.

I slowly rose to my knees, looking down at myself to check for any injuries. I still had my OCP uniform, along with my bullet proof chest rigging that held my pouches for magazines. I had nothing in them, when I swore moments ago they were filled with magazines. My weapon was nowhere to found either, only weapons I had was my K-Bar combat knife, and two high explosive fragmentation grenades. "Better than nothing." I told myself as I stowed the grenades away, keeping my knife sheathed into the top of body armor. I slowly stood up, amazed there was not a single mark on my body from the crash. I was more trying to figure out where I was now, it was obvious someone had looted my body and drug me somewhere else. But the question remained as to where I was. There were seldom places that looked like this in Korengal Valley, it was simply too flat I was, and there were no mountains visible. I knew I had to find the nearest American Firebase, I opened up my compass and began to head west.

Going was easy for the first hour, since the terrain was fairly mild. I moved carefully, keeping my eyes up for any signs of the enemy. Little did I know however that I was already being followed, by very stealthy individuals. I had spent several deployments in Afghanistan, and I knew very well what Pashtu and its variants sounded like. However an individual about 50 meters behind me shouted in a language I had never heard.

He stood up and pointed at me, shouting in a strange guttural language. I turned quickly and faced him, confused by the sudden white man in front of me. Last I thought I had crashed in Afghanistan, a place where most people had darker skin. However the man in front of me was very pale, and had blue paint designs on his face and chest. "What the fuck." I muttered looking at him, stunned by what I was seeing. However as he shouted a dozen more men stood up, however wielding sword and various other melee weapons. The strange men were luckily I did not have my rifle, they would have been short work. However I was now only equipped with a knife, and there were a dozen of them. So I promptly did what any sane man would do, I ran.

The men were driving me Northwest, which I had a bad feeling was right towards where they wanted me to go. But there was nothing I could do, I sprinted through the woods fully aware I could be going right into a trap. I stumbled over branches and tripped down hills, but always sprung right back up and kept moving. I was thankful that I was in excellent shape, because it was apparent that these fighting men were as well. It still confused me why they had broadswords, long swords, and small shields. Afghanistan might not be the most technologically advanced country, but they still used firearms. The savage men were on my tail for the first 10 minutes of our chase, where they seemed fine to let me tire myself out. I was breathing hard, my legs pumping hard as I attempted to escape my pursuers.

However suddenly two men in long Green Cloaks stepped out 20 meters ahead of me suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere. However I was really paying attention to most of the trees, so their sudden appearance didn't seem too strange. "Stop! Kings Rangers!" The one shouted, both drawing back on their longbows with arrows knocked. The one that spoke sounded older, probably in his 40's or 50's. However I could not see his face, so there was no way of telling.

"On your knees!" The other shouted, his bow also drawn. His voice was younger, in his twenties most likely. But the tone of command no less present. I had no doubt in my mind that he could put that arrow into my throat.

My hands quickly went into the air. "Alright! Don't shoot!" I called out, slowly taking a knee. Sudden movements was an easy way to be shot, so I didn't take any chances with these strange cloaked men. Their bow strings resounded loudly as they sent their arrows flying over my head and into the pursuing soldiers behind me. I heard two cries of pain as running bodies continued to slide once they hit the ground. I heard commotion amongst them as two more arrows joined the first seconds after the first had been sent off. Good marksmen never let their prey think in an ambush like this, these men clearly knew their stuff. The first two had gone down, and now two more were presumably hurt or dead as well. Soon the soldiers behind me would learn that retreating would be the best option. The two men sent off another pair of arrows before they started to approach me. Which I didn't know if it was going to a good or bad thing yet.

The older one was the first to address me, putting the bow on his back and drawing a larger 'knife'. To call it a knife would be an understatement, it was borderline a short sword. "Now you need to explain who you are, and why the Picts are chasing you." The man told me, leaving no doubt that he knew how to use what he held. Neither had uncovered their faces yet, the younger one keeping his bow trained on me.

I was only on one knee at this point, my hands still above my head. I trained my eyes on the leader of the two, knowing I needed to look like I wasn't scared of him. "My name is Sergeant James Weber of the United States Army." I told him, keeping my voice even and calm, speaking slowly so there was no misunderstanding. I couldn't see the reaction on his face, and he didn't speak for several seconds. "Now I have no clue who these 'Picts' are or were. I must be lost, am I still in Afghanistan?" I add, trying to show I was trying to figure out what was going on myself.

"I don't know of any United States, or any Afghanistan." The man told me, which confused me deeply. "You are in the Kingdom of Araluen, tell us why you are in these woods." He shot back, the anger clearly growing in his voice. The younger one stayed silent, his long bow still trained on me.

Now I was completely confused. Here was a man, using a bow to kill men with swords. Never having heard of the United States or Afghanistan, and claiming to be apart of a Kingdom. I knew there was never a Kingdom of Araluen, and there wasn't some sort independence for it in the surrounded countries. In the back of mind I feared that some sort of fucked up science fiction plot had just happened to me, and I was praying that I would wake up from this. "Sir I beg you." I start, knowing I truly needed to play the right cards. I didn't like begging for my life, however I knew this man was not the enemy. "I am Sergeant James Weber of the United States Army." I told him pointing to strip of cloth on my uniform that stated that. "I have no idea where I am, and I was ambushed by those men." I told him taking out my knife and tossing it in the grass at his feet. "I mean you or your man no harm, I just wish to find my way back home." I told him, hoping he would believe the truth.

"Alright on your feet, you have explaining to do." The man told me, motioning me to stand.

I would like to thank you for reading the first chapter of my little Fanfiction. I don't want to give away anything I will be doing, but I just hope that you enjoyed it. Please leave a review below! Note this is the only chapter to be told from a first person POV. Thank you very much!