Silence…
Nothing, but silence.
The last thing I saw was a piercing burst of white light. Fear tightened its grasp as visions of monstrous fiends ravaging my city, my folk, and the entire land swirled behind my eyes. Or perhaps, a grander notion bloomed – the Gidden herself summoning me, bestowing heavenly wisdom upon her chosen Kinhallow of Grit. But these were the fleeting fancies of a fading consciousness.
But neither was true.
A soft sound, barely a whisper, drifted into my ears, gently coaxing me back to the realm of the living.
Was I in heaven? Or hell? Or something amidst nothing?
Light speared through my eyelids, rousing me from slumber. A gasp escaped my lips as my vision swam into focus, revealing a scene that shattered my perception of reality. It was a dazzling dreamscape brought to life, a bizarre tapestry woven with the impossible and the unfathomable. Here, amidst a strange concrete road, I stood, my gaze darting from left to right. Towering steel and glass structures cut the sky, gleaming like an unsettling enchantment in the dim light. Horseless carriages, crafted from the same metal, lined the edges of the road. The whispering meadow, the familiar scent of home, the swirling portal – all vanished. Folk milled about, clad in strange and unsettling garb.Yet, a curious detail caught my eye: many of them were craning their necks upward, whispering amongst themselves with a brew of awe and unease.
What might be the spring of their intrigue?
Only when I twisted and craned my neck did I find a semblance of familiarity, albeit unsettlingly warped. A massive, whirling cloud, its surface sickly yellow, pulsed menacingly in the sky. A crimson core glowed in the centre, like a gaping wound against the inky darkness. This peculiar occurrence, somehow eerily comforting yet terrifying at the same time, bewildered me.
“By the heavens,” I mumbled. “Just what is happening there?”
Beneath this grotesque, whirling yellow cloud, a massive edifice of sparkling blue glass pierced the sky like a rebellious needle. Yet, an unsettling feeling clawed at me. The churning mass above pulsed with unseen energy, a war between celestial creatures, the loyal and the fallen, embroiled in an epic clash. How could simple mortals respond to such a sight? Were we doomed to be passive bystanders of this heavenly conflict, mere shadows against the backdrop of their might?
“What the fuck’s happening there?” said a nearby sightseer.
Soon, its glimmer became crimson, a colour that oozed chilling fear and scorching peril across the air.
“DANGER: SATELLITE DESTRUCTED! DANGER: SATELLITE DESTRUCTED! DANGER: SATELLITE DESTRUCTED!”
A disembodied voice, chilling and spectral, echoed relentlessly, sending shivers down the spines and instilling fear in the throng. Cries of dread filled the air as folk surged forward, seeking for safety in the face of an unknown peril. A primal urge to protect them welled up within me. This 'Satellite Destructed' phenomenon, with its unsettling familiarity, bewildered me.
Torn between action and bewilderment, I stood rooted to the spot, waiting for the inevitable to unfold.
“Hey, you knightess in shining armour!” someone with a stern feminine voice shouted at me. “Aren’t you gonna make yourself get killed like that!?”
The ground trembled as a deafening roar erupted from the grotesque cloud above. Before I could react, two figures appeared beside me. Clad in head-to-toe black armor that seemed to absorb the light itself, and with featureless helmets obscuring their faces, they grabbed my arms in a vice-like grip, propelling me away from the unfolding chaos, “For fuck sake, pretty lady! Are you really out of your mind?”
“Pretty lady?” I cried and struggled with my arms, angered by his shandly words. “How darest thou speak that word before me!?”
“Sheesh, Mike,” one of the black anlikenesses chuckled. “Looks like we got some… highbrow blonde chick screwing over us.”
“Just shut up and follow the rules,” said Mike. “You shouldn’t play a hero here… milady.”
We hurtled towards a barrier lined with lightweight shields, dark and ominous like beetle shells. The enigmatic figures, their grip unrelenting, steered me through the swiftly parting barrier. But my relief was short-lived. With a wrenching release, they released their grip, allowing me to fall into the stifling mass of throng beneath.
“Argh,” I groaned, bearing a pain from the drop of my body whilst struggling to rise from the bloody ground, then stood on guard “Warry thee, shadow beings. I shall make all of thee pay for thy act of treason!”
A wave of wrath welled up inside me. I cast the blade into my hand, but an unseen force clamped down on my limbs. It was as if every joint in my arms seized up, making me unable to wield my blade against the shadowy beings.
“What a strange bitch you are, knightess in shining armour,” the same stern voice said to me. “I never thought you could do that shiny summoning miracle right there… daring to harm our safety officers who are just doing their job… just to keep some thickheaded citizens, like you, in safety.”
“Who art thee to talk to me?” I asked.
“Who art… teeth?” scoffed the stern woman. “What kind of gibberish accent is that? I assume you must’ve spent your entire life practising and performing classic theatre arts or some grandiose shenanigans. But really, who am I to judge?”
“Judge? So thou darest to judge me, the Coasern of Silerreich, like this?”
“The Coasern of Silerreich? Coasern… what’s that?”
“Wielder of the Sileland, as I have said, “ I cried. “Do thou hear me?”
Then one of the shadow knights surged past me, a murmured exchange passing between them. After hearing it, she scoffed, “Oh… you mean, the ruler of this nation? Empire?... No kidding, I thought the empire had long been gone for centuries.”
"Gone for centuries?" The words echoed in my mind, a death knell shattering my fragile hope. The alien architecture, the bizarre attire – with every glance, the truth hammered at me – I was cast into a distant future. A future where my son, my husband, my sisters in arms, everyone I held dear...they must be dust and bone now. A wave of crushing sorrow washed over me, the weight of accidental abandonment a bitter pill to swallow.
O Lady, how did this land become like this?
“G-Gone,” I repeated in stutter, yet its trembling had been stifled by some force she was using, then asked. “Where art I at this very time?”
“I assume you must’ve meant the question, ‘Where am I right now?’” replied the stern woman. “Well, the answer’s that we’re in the District Six of Himel City, particularly a special district wherein that tallest tower called the Overseer resided, but now its pinnacle is currently destroyed. That’s why we’re here in the first place.”
At least, a sliver of hope remained. The essence of the Kinborough, its very name, endured. Yet, this solace was tainted. A recent, ominous event – a 'doomladen braid' as I called it – gnawed at the edges of my mind.
“Dost thou have any thoughts of whatever bloody thing happened there?”
“Hmph, seems like our fucking target has already done his deed,” she clenched her fist and clicked her tongue. “Tch, now we can go back to their old-ass ways of throwing their money off.”
“What doth it mean?”
“Long story… just like the Overseer. Besides, what is… thy name? Where do… though live?
“Coasern Emilia von Beortcild, wielder of the Sileland… and Kinhallow of Grit. I live… or rather, lived in the Solheim hoff, home to the House Beortcild.”
“One hell of a resume, neh,” she chuckled. “Well, ‘Your Majesty’, welcome to the UAF—United Arian Federation, great nation.”
“Federation? What doth it mean?”
Then she paused.
The unseen restraints vanished in a puff, leaving my hand slack around the hilt of my sword. Disoriented, I whipped my head around. A gasp escaped me as I saw a pale woman with dark, single-lidded eyes and sleek black hair. Clad in form-fitting black armour that accentuated her slender build, her gaze was fixed intently on the sky. There, a fiery figure streaked down like a fallen star, descending from the heavens.
“Attention, units seven-three-one and four-seven-eight,” cried the stern raven-haired woman whilst holding a piece amidst her ear. “Target’s flying to your area. I repeat, the target's flying to your area.”
“What art thou talking about?”
“None of your business, really,” she approached behind me and clutched both of my wrists, shackling between each other. “Now how about we’re going to put you on arrest for attempting to harass our dear officers on duty?”
“By the heavens… do thou know that I art the Coas—”
“Nobody cares if you’re the so-called 'kaisen' here, Emilia!” berated the stern raven-haired woman, pressing my wrists in pain. “The fact that your empire has long been dissolved and instead evolved into a federation remains unchanged. This nation right now is no longer under your subject, so keep your mouth shut until you have the right to be questioned.”
