Star Fox: Echoes

Chapter 1: The Daughter's Gift

Year 6, ALW (Two Years Prior)

"Krystal... Krystal!" The sound echoed into Krystal's ears as she slowly blinked. The vixen shook her head back and forth, clearing it of the night's dream and awakening to reality. She ignored the voice sounding in her room and sat up in her bed, shifting her legs so that they could hang over the edge and rested her elbows on her knees. Krystal continued to drown out the sound calling out her name while she meditated on the dream she had the previous night.

"Krystal! You know what today is, right?" The voice belonged to her friend Sera. The red-furred vixen ran excitedly toward Krystal and plopped down beside her on her bed. She seemed to take no insult to the fact that Krystal was completely focused on the dream she had instead of her.

"Yes, I know what today is," Krystal murmured while raising her head to glance around at her surroundings. Her room was the same as it had always been; the dark polished marble that made up the floor brought her chills to the touch. The walls surrounding her were nearly bare, leaving only cold hard stone visible except for a single opening left for a window and a wooden door across from her bed. Yet something felt strange; as if an unseen presence resided within the very stone around her.

Sera nudged her friend, prompting her to say more. "Well...?" The crimson vixen beckoned, tossed her long, flowing hair behind her.

Krystal hesitated, studying her friend up and down before giving an answer. Sera wore similar attire that she wore; a broad, metal chest plate stretched across her torso, cutting off short just above her stomach. Both vixens wore armor plated shorts, with shoulder and shin guards for additional defense. Sera's bushy red tail was banded once half-way for decoration, whereas Krystal wore two bands on hers.

"Alright," the blue-furred vixen sighed. "Today is the day that I start my training," Krystal finally replied. Her indifferent response betrayed her excitement, but she just couldn't force her lingering dream to fade from her mind.

With another nudge, Sera leaped from Krystal's bedside and turned to face her friend with an upset look on her face. "And, it's the day that I start my duties with the Royal Guard!" She boasted. Realizing Krystal's dismay, her upset look turned into a worried stare. "What's wrong, sis? Are you nervous about today? What can go wrong, it's only training with your father after all..."

"It's not the training," Krystal retorted. "I can't seem to get my dreams out of my head, that's all..." The nightmare that haunted her dreams the previous night was not the first of its kind. The blue-furred vixen had been dreaming the same dream every night for as long as she could remember. What made it worse was that the dream became more terrible and frightening with each passing night. She could hear the sounds of her friends and family suffering; dying. Her whole planet of Cerinia was in turmoil; but last night's dream included something new. All Krystal could see before she awakened were two enormous red eyes, glowing in the darkness of the void surrounding her. The cruel, malicious gaze haunted her even in the living world. She couldn't seem to be free from the evil glare that haunted her dreams.

"Oh, the nightmares," Sera whispered. "Try not to worry about them now, it's almost time for your training. That's why I woke you." The concerned look on the crimson fox's face suddenly brightened. "Let's go, sis, I want to see some of your training before I go and start mine!"

A hand reached out to Krystal from her bedside. Without hesitation she took hold and was pulled up off her bed, where she stretched her tired limbs and yawned the rest of her sleepiness away. With a swift glance around her room, Krystal located her leather sandals and strapped them to her feet. Before following Sera, who stood waiting beside the door, Krystal took a minute to observe herself in her mirror.