Aaelin's Royal Crusade

It had been some time since the last raid, and I was getting bored.

"Father, do you think they'll come back soon?" I asked my father, who was sitting at the desk in our house.

He looked up from his reading, smiling. "Of course they will, Aaelin. You've seen the signs." He seemed so confident. I didn't share his confidence.

"I don't know," I said, "The raids have been less frequent lately." He shook his head, laughing lightly.

"That's because *you* are doing such a good job of protecting us," he said, patting me on the back. He took me by the shoulders and looked me in the eye. "Trust me, Aaelin. Their return is imminent."

"I hope you're right," I said optimistically. He smiled and went back to reading his book. I sighed and walked out of the room.

Since I had arrived in this world almost two years ago, it had been a constant struggle to stay alive. My father and I were just two regular people who stumbled across an inter-dimensional rift while walking through our woods one day. We found ourselves in a world of magic and monsters, and we set out to explore it with no real clue what we were doing other than that we wanted to survive. Over time, we learned more about this strange world we were in, and then my father began training me to fight against the monsters that sought to kill us both. So far, we had survived numerous monster attacks and small scale wars between rival nations through sheer luck and dumb luck (mostly dumb luck on my part), but there were times when I wondered if our luck would run out one day in a very bad way.

I walked into the kitchen and grabbed an apple from a basket on the table, taking a bite out of it as I walked over to the large window nearby that overlooked our town. The sun was setting now over the edges of the dense forest that surrounded us on all sides like a giant wall, hiding secrets that we hadn't yet discovered about this new world we found ourselves in. The only thing we knew for sure was that everyone here was human or humanoid in some way or another (well... except for those lizard-men that randomly showed up at night once in a while). As far as my father could tell from all of his studies we've done since being here (which weren't really much), this entire dimension existed in some sort of pocket dimension created by someone called 'The Creator' before disappearing forever without any explanation or warning whatsoever after completing his creation some 10 millennia prior to my arrival here in this world with Father (who claims he's not really my father... but who am I to judge?), leaving everything behind without any further interaction with it whatsoever beyond occasional monster attacks every now and again (which seems to be happening less and less frequently as time goes on). For some reason unbeknownst to me or Father (well... him more than me), The Creator decided to place us inside this pocket dimension for whatever reason after creating it, which means we can never leave unless someone opens up a portal for us somehow or we discover how to open portals ourselves somehow... which hasn't happened yet because apparently The Creator never thought to give anyone else besides himself the ability to open portals or leave this place whenever they want... nor did he bother giving anyone else outside of this pocket dimension any knowledge about its existence (apparently even those people outside don't even realize something weird has happened when someone appears out of nowhere like us).

*And now here's where things get weird.*

There was also another thing nobody knows about when they first arrive in this world: apparently every single person who arrives here is chosen by The Creator personally as 'chosen ones' with powers granted by him directly upon arrival here specifically so they can protect everyone else around them from various dangers that exist beyond our own borders (one of which being those lizard men... though most of them seem pretty harmless once you get past their terrifying appearance). And what makes it all even stranger is that apparently even those chosen ones themselves don't realize immediately that they're chosen ones either until something triggers their initial awakening into their true nature (which typically happens within moments of arriving here)... at least according to what my father told me after he awakened as his chosen one form when he first arrived here with me a few months later after my own arrival here (while I myself haven't awoken yet... though apparently that's normal considering most chosen ones usually need to go through life as normal humans before they awaken... though sometimes they don't ever wake up at all depending on how powerful their potential might be). In hindsight though, it's pretty obvious why practically no one ever realizes their status as chosen ones when first arriving here: not only does everyone appear human on sight everywhere you go besides yourself regardless of who you happen to be standing next too once you arrive here... but everyone else already seems so powerful already with how many skills they already have around them from weapons used by everyone else or how advanced everyone else seems compared to your own primitive state of technology after arriving here from where you came from! How could anybody possibly think anything different when everyone else around them is so advanced compared to your own state? It might take centuries for somebody like me for example to even begin understanding where exactly *I* came from more than just knowing vaguely where it was located inside this universe! And yet despite all these facts surrounding their arrival into this world, most people still end up finding ways around it somehow believing they're otherwise normal humans when they first arrive until something triggers their awakening anyways!

After observing our town below for awhile longer, I turned away from the window feeling bored again before noticing something unusual hanging on one wall: an old map drawn by Father many years ago before my birth showing off various landmarks located beyond our borders! Excitedly excited by this sudden discovery made years ago by Father before he moved back inside due mostly towards his depression over not having left these lands yet despite years passing already since arriving here together with me (despite how hard he tried), I walked over eagerly towards it eager to see what he had discovered about our surroundings over time with how much time has passed since then!