11th day of Omnaldin, 1283

 

I do not immediately believe what Lady Nerri said about Stardust Disturbances. I became more doubtful about the credibility of Lady Nerri’s information after discovering that most modern philosophers and scientists consider Stardust Disturbances a pseudoscience, almost a conspiracy theory since it was tied to many superstitions.

 

But despite the lack of evidence to prove it, what she said about Stardust Disturbances piqued my curiosity. It made me spend my fleeting vacation in the library, reading books and sometimes folding paper butterflies that I would sacrifice for the celebration of the Mid-Autumn Festival. My goal for this year was to create at least a hundred of them. So far, I have already made over fifty of these paper butterflies. I have to spend the rest of this day and night folding since tomorrow will be the first day of the Festival.

 

Lord Mikkaelo Sarganse

 

 

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1st day of Omnalron, 1283

 

I thought I would spend the rest of the week in Arkanlas as I enjoyed the week-long Mid-Autumn Festival, but it was a futile wish. Lord Andrew told me he had received a new mission order from the Magisterium.

 

I spent this day watching the parade that showcased the Empire’s love for the God of Harvest, Omnaldin, and Nuwae. As it passed through the road, people cheered on the performers dancing on the street, wearing their colorful and floral costumes. I got carried by the sudden burst of emotion coming from the crowd. After the parade, I head to the Grand Temple, where I put my white paper butterflies. 

 

Omnaldin was the Celestial of Wave and God of many other things, including harvest and health. Butterflies had always been his symbolism, and there’s a belief that when you sacrifice at least a hundred of them at his Altar, what you wish for will come true. As I put them before the cauldron, I hoped for the promotion I had wished for since last year.

 

I decided to keep my report about the mass death of birds in Limbes City. The conclusion I had with me right now was still insufficient to explain the incident. After I visited the Temple, I continued my work about Stardust Disturbances. The sources that the library provided were almost endless. Some of it dates back to the Era of Knowledge, when philosophers strayed away from pseudoscience and tried to explain things with facts. 

 

Most authors I encountered in that library section tried to explain this phenomenon with mathematical formulas and philosophy. 

 

But I told you earlier that Lord Andrew talked to me about this new mission, and for that reason, I had to stop going further into my research.

 

They assigned us to a border town in the westernmost territory. The place was a small town called West Etnovale which was part of the Blacksilver Valley. The report told us that there was an increasing occurrence of Stecar’s attack. The Magisterium assigned our group to investigate the situation.

 

Lord Mikkaelo Sarganse

 

 

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10th day of Omnalron, 1283

 

The Magisterium sent two groups, with each team comprising six people. Our goal was to investigate the growing activity of Stecars in the area. The other group of Fieldworkers sent with us were still a novice compared to us, which means we were their seniors. Lord Andrew took joy in the idea of being someone’s senior. If you would ask me, I say that he took it rather too seriously. He even planned how to teach them to be an effective group of Fieldworkers.

 

The place they assigned us was called Blacksilver Valley; it was on the outskirts of the western region. It shared a border with an unoccupied land called Red Savanna. Across from that plain of red grass was the Ariin Republic, with whom the Estrellio Empire shared a long history of disputes regarding the control of the Red Savanna. Lord Andrew said, ‘the relationship between the two countries was at its lowest.’

 

The reason was the complete annihilation of two of Empire’s High Houses, namely Atolia and Estrellio.

 

As far as I know, Blacksilver Valley had always been overrun by Stecars until Emperor Mikelson Flinard de Estrellio sent his soldiers to clean the place from Stecars. Of course, he did it not for a noble cause, but for the sake of getting his hands on Blacksilver Ore, which this place was known for. The Empire used this mineral buried beneath this town in creating Blacksilver Extract. This was something that powered most Enhancers and Leechers in the Empire. If we don’t have this extracted mineral, most of us would have to use our own Reserve or settle for an inferior quality of Extracts for us to last longer in battles.

 

Centuries had already passed since the Stecars lost this place to us, but from time to time, the creatures would still appear before the town as if to retake the land that had been stolen from their ancestors.

 

The commander was a man called Finn. He asked us to call him like that, without the formalities that most commanders would ask for the like of us. 

 

He thanked us for arriving in the town; you could see from the light in his eyes that this man was really expecting something big from us. He gave us a report about the local Enhancers and Leechers in the garrison. 

 

‘They are all past their limit,’ he told us.

 

When we finally saw them, I immediately felt pity for their condition. We spared them some Blacksilver Extracts to thicken their exhausted core.

 

We call Leechers and Enhancers from the outskirts of the Empire a different name. Talentless was one of those because most of them didn’t receive their connection with Stardust until they turned eighteen, which was already late since most of us received our power at the age of twelve. A connection that had been received past fourteen years old was usually weak, and it would be impossible to be granted a sponsorship from universities and local academies. 

 

They showed us to the palisade that borders the Red Savanna. The field of red grass looked like a pool of blood under the light of the setting sun. We stood guard for that night, but we encountered nothing, much less a group of Stecars; it made me think that the report was a bit exaggerated.

 

But later, as we watched the sun ascending through the horizon, we saw the hordes of shadows cast on the flat plains of red grasses. Stecars of different sizes slowly walked toward the dilapidated palisade that perhaps had guarded this town since time immemorial.

 

We finally made out what they looked like when they were only fifteen meters away. 

 

The Stecars are humanoid creatures with yellow fur. Their face is oval and sharp to the chin. Male Stecars have short red hair that falls through their eyes, while female Stecars have red manes similar to those found on horses. Stecars have no visible ears, but their green feline eyes are sharp enough for them to see their surroundings. 

 

Water can easily ward off the Stecars most of the time. I guessed cats would always be cats no matter how they look, but there were cases like this one where they would persistently cross a human town.

 

After pushing back the attack with all kinds of Songs, we ate breakfast as slowly as possible. But one soldier disturbed us; he told us that the Stecars would come back at a specific time.

 

‘The one we warded off was the first group. There are still four groups that need some beating,’ he told us.

 

When Vieno, the leader of the second group of Fieldworkers, had heard of it, he could not help but express his opinion. He told us it was almost similar to what they encountered at the Endless Desert in the east.

 

He said, ‘creatures will come in groups and invade human settlements at specific times as if trying to catch us unguarded.’ 

 

I haven’t thought about Stardust Disturbances at this moment, but upon hearing this, I can’t help but wonder if these two unexplainable phenomena were somehow connected with one another.

 

Lord Mikkaelo Sarganse