In the skies above a battlefield, a week ago...?Through the cockpit of the F-16 Falcon fighter jet, the sun beat down on Alicia's face. Instinctively, she tapped the button on her flight-helmet to bring the sun-visor down. With a click, the darkened piece of transparent material had covered her eyes, reducing the fatigue from the sun. Alongside her own aircraft flew two other planes of the same type, both armed to the teeth. Below them, a harsh looking desert covered the landscape, dotted by occasional villages and settlements and above them, the clear blue skies stretched for as far as the eye could see. At the moment, all Alicia could hear was the low but noticeable sound of her plane's engine as the squadron flew towards their destination.
"Hey, Lieutenant-" A familiar voice came over the radio, but was quickly interrupted by another.
"Geez, Frank, how many times have I got to tell you that when we're on mission, it's TAC names only?" This voice was much more severe than the other, but it still had the same sense of familiarity as the other. Alicia couldn't help but smirk somewhat.
"Got ya, sir. As I was saying, Endless, I hear we're gonna get some leave time in a week. Whatcha plannin' on doing?" Alicia thought over her response for a moment before replying.
"I guess I'll just go for a walk or two? I really can't be bothered to find something more important to do and I'm most at home up here, so..." She trailed off somewhat, not really knowing what to say, but her comrade seemed to understand the sentiment well enough, and jokingly replied.
"Ha, you're such a workaholic, Endless. You need a hobby." The man's voice was full of cheer, he seemed more than reasonably excited for the leavetime. After making this remark, the radio fell silent again, so Alicia decided to look around. The desert scenery wasn't all that interesting and there weren't many clouds to decorate the sky today, so she decided to look over her friend's planes. They all flew F-16C Falcon jets, the mainstay of the United States Air Force and definitely a lethal looking plane at that. Despite its small size, it carried a large payload, rivaling that of gigantic bombers sixty years ago and its sharp, aerodynamic physique had earned it the nickname Viper. All of their planes were painted in the ordinary grey camouflage of the USAF, only decorated by individual logos and squadron symbols. The hot desert sun had a hard time reflecting off the paint, giving them a good amount of camouflage, even in the blue skies which contrasted greatly with their aircraft's colors.
Suddenly, she found herself interrupted by one of her allies. "Endless, we've got Flankers's, inbound towards here, bearing seventy. We should engage. They look like they've got K-100's." Immediately, she straightened herself up from her relaxed cruise position in her seat and began readying herself for combat.
"Roger that, Wasp." Alicia confirmed her wingman's suggestion and began to make necessary evasions to throw off any attempts at BVR combat. With a push on her stick, the Falcon began diving below the cloud-layer, in the direction of one of the towns. With her focusing on evading any locking attempts by the fighters, she didn't give any mind to possible SAM installations below her. She kept out any noise as she prepared for a dogfight, but suddenly a noise erupted in her cockpit. The warning beep, loud, obnoxious but noticeable was blaring, indicating the firing of a missile. Immediately, she evaded in a way that would throw off a missile shot by a plane, but she didn't realize until it was too late that missile fired was in fact a surface-to-air missile.
The plane shook and shuddered from the impact and immediately began losing speed. Based on her estimates, the engine had been hit the most and was no longer producing any thrust and thus went into a dive.
"Lieutenant, eject!" Her comrade yelled at her over the radio. Nodding, Alicia tried pulling the eject lever, but nothing happened. Trying again gave no results. She attempted to tell her fellow pilots that she couldn't eject, but the radio had already been "fried". Cursing, she tried again and again to pull on the lever, growing increasingly urgent as the plane dove at a frightening rate towards the ground. A plume of smoke followed the aircraft down and Alicia could smell the stench of burning fuel. Eventually, she gave up trying, her arms sore from repeated pulling and simply relaxed in her seat. Pulling off her oxygen mask and taking off her helmet, she sighed and looked out of the bubble cockpit at the ground's scenery as it grew closer. She opened her mouth to say something to no one in particular, however nothing but a sigh came out. Alicia smiled somewhat and closed her eyes, a solitary tear coming down her face. The pilot silently awaited the jolting moment when the crash would occur, when the candlelight of her life would be blown out.
But this moment never came.
Instead, upon forcing her eyes open, she was met utter black and only found herself drifting asleep...
Now.A black haired, blue eyed girl found herself looking on the top of a hill at a large tree in the relatively close distance. Alicia found a smile coming to her face in satisfaction as she realized her journey was nearly over. One week ago, she had awoken far away in a pile of brush in an unknown land, with not another one of her kind in sight. For awhile, she wandered around in confusion, until deciding to journey towards a massive tree in the distance, feeling partially compelled to do so and partially wanting to visit it out of a new feeling of freedom that she had attained once she had awoken in the land. Over the one week journey on foot, she had mostly kept to walking, only resting for a few hours at a time, or sleeping for hours upon hours, taking full advantage of the freedom she now had. While she had been of course surprised by her arrival in this place, she eventually came to accept it.
Perhaps this is the afterlife? She had remarked, before pushing that thought away with a laugh. In reality, the most likely explanation was that it was a dream, perhaps due to her being in a temporary coma after the crash. It was a dark thought, but she managed to stay cheery throughout her voyage.
Eventually, she had come to this hill. With her destination barely a kilometer away, she found a grin take over her features as she felt the accomplishment of finally reaching her destination. After taking in the view for a moment, she began to descend the hill, with a smile still on her face. Alicia descended the hill at a steady pace which suddenly turned into a jog. Then a run and suddenly she found herself dashing over foliage and brush and dodging trees at an incredible rate as she grew more and more excited to reach her destination. Hopping over roots and sidestepping rocks, the somewhat short girl advanced at speed that bested any professional athlete, without even breaking a sweat or losing her breath. While the outfit that she had awoken in; a dim sky blue blouse like shirt, a blackish skirt and some dress shoe-like loafers weren't the greatest peripherals for running, she didn't feel the slightest discomfort in her run.
The scenery turned into a blur as she picked up speed, a wide grin on her mouth and a spring in her every bound, and eventually she reached the tree. Crouching for a moment on her legs and breathing heavily, she laughed somewhat.
Why is this so fun? Alicia asked herself.
Am I going insane? The black haired girl smirked and shook the thought away as she brushed off her legs and stood up, when she was greeted by womanly figure clad in golden light. In its hands lied a letter and in the way she stood, it seemed she was offering it to Alicia. Tilting her head quizzically, she took the letter and indeed noticed her name on it. In a rather uneasy manner, she opened it and read the contents.
You are here to learn how to take my place when the time comes.
You may be upset with me now, but my dear you will understand
Everything when the day arrives. You will become a Goddess
Your own.The first thing she remarked was the almost poetic structure, reminding her almost of a strophic poem, just without rhymes. However, it seemed the more important idea was the fact that whoever had written it expected her to become a goddess at some point. At first, Alicia read it over and over just trying to make sense of the words, despite understanding it perfectly. It was what it mentioned that startled her. "A goddess? Me? What would I be a goddess of...?" She murmured to herself, but then the multiple ideas she had floating her head began to come together.
An fascination with flight, great agility, an aptitude with flying, surviving a plane crash with no injuries... I can't be... "... A goddess of flight?"
Alicia found herself looking up in confusion, but now in her vision she could not see the weathered trunk of the tree. Now, as far as she could see, there was only an expanse of a fantasy-esque landscape, accentuated by the tree to which she had spent a week journeying. The high clouds were now only a few hundred meters away and she could hear the telltale sound of wind and gusts, telling her that she was now at a high altitude. Alicia shakingly took in the landscape for a moment, hoping it would calm her, but her hand continued to tremble at the though that this may not all be a dream. The girl was broken away from her trance by the sound of quiet activity behind her and daintily turned around. Her eyes were met by the sight of numerous individuals of differentiating appearances, feelings and general physiques all holding a similar letter to her own in their hands. Some were dressed exotically, others not so much. One man had a small humanoid creature at his side that looked like something out a TV show.
Her mouth gaping a little, her trembling hand accidentally let go of the letter, sending it off into the breeze, with a fluttering sound of paper. She made no attempt at trying to catch it, instead continuing to watch the group of other individuals, all trying to figure out things for themselves. Behind them lied an almost cliché looking temple adorned with a similar colored light to the figure who had given her the letter. One man looked to be heading towards it, but Alicia remained rooted to her spot, utterly unsure of what to do.
It was this uncertainty that scared her. Never before had she felt so lost, so unknowing as to what was happening. Her mind was ablaze with thoughts and she felt like screaming, but not a sound would escape her mouth and she could only watch the situation unfold around her...
