The mid-morning skies wept a consistent, yet light downfall of rain upon the city of Pra’avsk. However, this weather does not stop the busy lives of its inhabitants. Huge multi-storied office blocks surround the inner housing zones, buildings decreasing in size as they came closer to the original building blocks of an aged settlement. The middle is raised high as an unnatural pedestal, holding a large stone temple at a height which allowed the continuous watch over the entirety of Pra’avsk.

The temple, despite its age, looked brand new. Huge marble pillars lined each size of the main place of worship, bearing the weight of a solid, thick marbled roof decorated in a multitude of stones, gems, and metals. At one end, opposite the sloped entrance, stood a statue depicting a woman of great beauty. She held a book in one hand, and a bowl in the other; filled with today’s offerings of fruit, vegetables, and grain. Around the temple stood a handful of wooden structures designed as storehouses or places of residence, each bearing the same green banner with black images of books and wheat. On a rainy day like this, residents of this temple were rarely seen; some making their way to the statue to pray, others stood in an open sanded area training their bodies, while the majority waited inside for the weather to clear.

“Oi, Master Irr’ra isn’t here.” A young voice spoke out from the top bunk.

“He said he had business at the capital, you know he likes to get involved in the elections.” Another, equally young voice replied. “He said we could feed ourselves,”

Rustling could be heard from above as the head of Bamyak popped over the edge. Slightly spiked black hair waved gently from the sudden movement, fighting the effects of gravity as his mud brown eyes peered down at his fellow bunker. The boy had light brown skin, almost matching with the one below who seemed slightly lighter. Yanyak’s green eyes peered back over a half-read book, watching through a few strands of wavy, unkempt black hair. They both stared for what seemed to be minutes, until the Bamyak broke the silence,

“Let’s go out.” He suggested, in a tone more demanding than the words should mean,

“Do you mean together? Or will you disappear with your ‘friends’ again,” Yanyak replied, using finger quotation marks as he referred to these so-called friends,

The demander swiftly hopped down from the top bunk, his movements refined and fluid as his bare feet hit the floor with almost no sound. He leaned forward in a threatening manner, granting a reply “Obviously. You can go grab some takeaway or something,” before walking away to get dressed, a holographic screen appearing before him as he input some numbers, starting a phone call. “Yo, what’re you up to?”

Yanyak sighed, slapping the book shut as he sat up from his bed. “What are you feeling?” he called out between his brother’s multiple phone calls.

“I don’t know, something human.” Bamyak called back as he tightened a green waistbelt over a black shaolin-esque uniform.

“Ew…” Yanyak mumbled to himself, following Bamyak’s lead in changing his relaxing shirt and shorts combination into a grey uniform with a waistbelt identical to his brother’s, followed by matching black boots and black rope tying the legs of the uniform down.

Bamyak emerged from the corner of the single-roomed building, arms out as he questioned, “how do I look?”

Yanyak paused and glanced at his brother, “the same as yesterday,” he replied, placing more attention to securing his legs.

“Retard.” Bamyak muttered, deliberately standing on Yanyak’s feet as he walked past. “Let’s go, but you better walk in a different direction.”

Yanyak sighed once again, following his brother who was already complaining about the weather. Raining season should have ended a week ago after all. However, as with all the residents of the city, the rain wasn’t as bothersome as to those from elsewhere. As if they were on a tight schedule, the two briskly walked to the massive wooden entrance of the temple grounds, giant wooden doors reinforced with metal binds were already open as they should be to allow outsiders to worship during the day. Bamyak swore as he remembered the long downhill journey he had to make.

“You’re going that way,” he pointed towards what seemed to be a more old-fashioned area of the inner city while he began his descent towards the up-to-date noisy areas.

Without any complaints, Yanyak obliged and begrudgingly took his route, delicately watching the worn-out pathway for cracks or loose steps. It was certainly a dangerous route to take, especially in this kind of weather. Yet, Yanyak’s training seemed to prove itself worthy for these sorts of travels, gracefully hopping from stone to stone rather than taking the already flowing muddy path. Slips did happen yet were corrected almost instantly with the right levels of leaning and arm movements. It was entirely natural to the teen, leaving a slightly smug smile on his face as he reached the bottom with a final hop. All that remained was a small, mudded pathway through the overgrowth before reaching civilization.

This industrial-residential area of the city seemed as broken down as a war-torn village. Corrugated metal sheets lined both walls and roofing of the small stone homes, animals roamed the dirt-covered streets alongside the inhabitants of the area, returning home for their lunch break from the factories and warehouses or setting off once again to their occupations. Some home-driven stores stood out from the brown and grey environment, selling vegetables or animal products from their tiny farms. Most of the time, however, sales were made as trades between neighbours, a community of equals.

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Yanyak was welcomed into the area, recognised by almost everyone of this district. A large smile spread across his face as he nodded and greeted the people, quick to jump in and assist with picking up dropped items or carrying some bags inside homes. One family, however, stood out from the rest, grabbing Yanyak’s attention as he waved goodbye to an elderly couple.

“Out doing your brother’s work, Yanyak?” The woman called out, dressed in a heavily patchworked dress and simple leather sandals, a lone elastic band held her unbrushed hair in a bun while her short, wide stature leaned on a bent wooden cane.

“It’s the standard day, Master Irr’ra is out.” Yanyak replied as he sped over to the woman, offering his arm as support.

“Come inside, boy, you’re drenched!” The woman exclaimed as she squeezed the saturated fabric of Yanyak’s uniform, “I’ll make you some tea,”

“Thank you, Granny,” Yanyak nodded in appreciation as he matched his pace with the woman’s, retreating inside one of the stone-metal shacks.

The inside seemed just as busy as the outside as the 6 members of the family sped through their business of making lunch, feeding animals, and setting up the holoscreen. Something must be happening very soon for such a serious and busy atmosphere to take over, it was nothing like what Yanyak knew of this home. His thoughts were quickly broken as a towel landed on his head, gentle hands rubbed it against his hair to dry.

“I can do it,” Yanyak mumbled beneath the towel, pulling it away from his face to see the middle daughter of the family; a cute, short statured girl with a badly cut neck-length hairstyle, slanted towards one side. Her deep brown eyes quickly looked away as soon as they locked with Yanyak’s, “Welcome,” the only word which could escape the girl’s mouth as she quickly darted off into the back room of the house, leaving Yanyak in his own thoughts once again, slowly returning to reality as he finished patting himself down with the towel.

The woman appeared again, placing her arm in Yanyak’s once again as she pulled him into the living room. “Come, come, you can watch the news with us. A big thing is about to happen!” She seemed excited, a very expected reaction from this overly nosey woman.

“What’s happening?” Yanyak asked, joining the rest of the family on a long wooden bench, their bottoms supported by many old and battered cushions, a metallic mug was forced into his hands, forcing him to quickly place it on the floor exclaiming a little pain from the heat.

“It’s the Payemyndii,” The oldest son replied in between mouthfuls, “they’re getting a new queen, or something like that, we can see it live.”

Yanyak nodded in understanding, it’s a rare occurrence where he can see what the rest of the Commonwealth is up to. Especially somewhere like the Payemyndii, a state located far in the outer rim of the country. A real question would be why they would want to report this event, to Yanyak’s knowledge, these people were highly disliked by pretty much everyone else. Did something happen? Or perhaps this could be the dawn of a new age.

Once again, Yanyak’s heavy thoughts and mumblings were interrupted, this time by thumping on the holoscreen device. Multiple voices called out different suggestions and orders on how to get the device working. Finally, a screen buzzed above, flashing at first before stabilising into a full colour menu. Live international news stood out in the menu, as if calling for an audience to chime in. The man, husband of the family head, lightly poked at the hologram to select it, allowing the screen to take over granting access to the report.

The report had already begun, a highly professional looking woman of white skin with a tight ponytail, perfectly thin fitted black and red robes, and blacked out sunglasses stood before the camera. A microphone poked out from around her ear, picking up her voice as if she was in the room. Arms of a couple of guards were slightly in view, looking as though these reporters are being protected in an area far above the crowds. The rest of the view included the courtyard of a gigantic castle, the sun glaring perfectly on the front of this monstrosity of a building and on the heads of the crowds below. The courtyard seemed to include a fountain centrepiece and many statues of different people around the gardens, but these details were hard to make out against the sea of people filling the area.

“… while we cannot see the coronation itself, Queen Seishaw will emerge on the balcony behind me to address her people.” The reporter continued on, “We are expecting a grand speech from the last member of the Payemynd family, in these dire times we hope to see the comings of a new age,” Her words were cut short as the crowd roared in excitement as figures appeared on the courtyard, the camera was ushered to zoom in.

Although it was such a large distance, the quality of the camera didn’t fail, granting enough details to make out the major features of the four people appearing on the balcony. A woman stood on the right, brunette hair tied into two loose buns beside her, simply dressed in a bland pale blue yukata, she held a large spear and stood at attention. On the left side, a man stood, buzzcut black hair with an off-black yukata, no weapon in sight.

Finally, the new queen emerged from inside. Her appearance was powerful enough to silence the crowd instantly. She had very long black hair tied at the base of her neck, her bangs were pulled to either side and formed loops on the sides of her head, clipped down at the top in a way which resembled demonic horns. Her clothing was just as grand as you’d expect, a light pink royal yukata patterned with white cherry blossom flowers, sleeves draped down to her lower legs while a katana rested on her waist, held in place by the white waist wrap. Besides her stood a simple dressed man, perhaps middle aged, way older than the late teens of the queen, he was certainly not from this culture.

And there she stood, observing the crowds watch in anticipation, silence. It was like time had frozen still, not a single sound could be heard besides the gentle whistle of the wind. Finally, a stern, young, feminine voice spoke out, “I come to address my people,” she sounded like she was forcing her voice to be deeper than usual, “I, Queen Seishaw of the Payemyndii, welcome myself to rule!” She continued, raising her arms to the side as if allowing the crowds to cheer.

“I bring great plans to our country; I promise a return to our former glory as a nation of people!” Her voice bellowed throughout the entire area through enhancing speakers placed perfectly to simulate a grand voice devoid of enhancements. “And so, I declare enactment of the Phoenix Protocol!” Again, her arms were raised, quickly allowing the crowds to cheer once more, quietening down as her arms fell back to her sides. Silence which should have befallen the scene was unnaturally broken by the foreign looking man. He stepped a step further than the queen, grabbing negative glares from the two guards on either side while the queen herself cocked her head to the side in both disgust and question.

“It was wonderful serving as your regent,” the man spoke out, an accent far different from the rest, “I am glad I could bring you all to this moment, welcoming my friend, Seishaw to be your new-“ He paused as the queen seemed to pull something from his waist, a gun.

“And now I shall provide the first actions of the Phoenix Protocol,” Seishaw proclaimed as she held the gun up to the former regent’s head, he attempted to speak out but once again was interrupted by the swift pull of a trigger. The reporter panicked at this sudden development, using her body to block the view of the body falling from the balcony, “turn it off, stop!” she whispered to the rest of the team before the broadcast cut back to the newsroom.

Yanyak and the family sat in silent amazement, staring at the holoscreen as the newsroom attempted to move on to the weather. “What the fuck happened?” The older son broke the silence, scoffing in amazement,

“Hey, looks like the weather’s cleared up!” The woman pointed outside, towards the slowly emerging blue skies, “get back to work everyone!” She demanded, forcing the rest of the family to hop up from the bench and return to their daily duties.

“Don’t think about it too much, boy,” She turned to Yanyak who continued to sit, speechless, “go on, you got things to do and you’re making the place look untidy!” She pushed the student, bringing him back to reality with a couple words of apology.

“I’ll be off then Granny, thanks for the tea,” He bowed, turning to leave,

“I’m serious, you better not think about it,” The woman repeated, “Take care now,”

The two waved a farewell, leaving Yanyak to slowly plod into the busier streets, it was certain that he was overthinking about what he had just seen. But at least he was walking in the right direction towards the main sectors of the city.