Another one of those dull meetings? We just had one like a week ago and Raven is already requesting another one… I bet it’s just some minor thing like slight changes to a few uninteresting policies or something like that!”, thinks Elena. “What a drag!”
Elena, 19 as of August 11th, 2015, is one of the five Dream Catchers responsible for overseeing most magical endeavors going on in Bavaria. She holds sovereignty over Swabia, one of the seven regional districts of Bavaria. Though she does hold official power over those registered under Swabia, she’s the least respected of the five Bavarian leaders.
Her story so far has been filled with tragedy and unlikely coincidences to the point that she’s referred to as Cursed Child. Seven years ago, while on a flight to the US, Elena lost her family after one of the passengers succumbed to despair turning into a demon. Ever since she’s been destined to suffer and face the deaths of those closest to her while narrowly avoiding her own.
Shortly after losing her parents, while roaming the streets she ran into Marcela and was taken in by two Dream Catchers that were very fond of her. Although she struggled to open up to any of them after a year she got used to being open with Marcela, her first mentor. Though arrogant and conceited, Marcela always had everyone’s best interests at heart. When Elena finally started to feel like living has its worth, she had to watch her mentor pass. Marcela fell after exhausting herself in battle. Her might and her will was the reason why no one died. She prevented a massive disaster leaving behind Elena.
The two Dream Catchers that had taken in Elena grew resentful of her until they eventually kicked her out. Once again, she had lost her family and home and was even more ashamed to confront any remaining family members blaming herself for the deaths she couldn’t have prevented. One day, a Canadian agent picked her up while she was rummaging through trash and led her to a facility where testing would be done on orphaned children.
There she’d meet all kinds of children from former heroes that had lost the ability to fight to what could have been lifelong friends. Among them were Valerie, an outwardly strong warrior who was the big sister of all children that were experimented on, Lorelei, the wheelchair-bound shoulder to cry on, Astrid, everyone’s rival and the strongest among the bunch, and Iris, the younger sister of Valerie who was shy and timid but proactive when it counts. One day, after meticulous planning, Elena and half the children within that facility escaped. Though most were hunted down, Elena and her crew held on until they came across mysterious beings threatening to scorch the earth. Only Elena survived.
Since people considered her a bad omen, they sent her back to Germany. Despite the rumors and allegations, there were kind souls willing to reach out to her. Another leader of the Bavarian Council going by Blossom, an outwardly kind and outspoken person, took her in and housed her until she could afford to feed herself and live by herself only to cast her aside after a mistake got one of Blossom’s friends killed.
Since then she has lived in Swabia and made attempts at fixing her reputation there. People still recognize her by all the horrible nicknames she got and the rumors surrounding her but Elena is likely to be dragged through the mud by now. People that believe her name alone brings misfortune refer to her as Lorelei, a siren dragging people to their deaths, Whore of Babylon, the mother of abominations and evil, Cursed Child, and so much more.
“Hey, Raven!”, she says. “Is anything going on? Why’s the rest not here yet?”
The man she’s talking to completely ignores her. Raven, a tall man just a little older than her has always been far more respected than Elena. At 13, he lost his parents after a group of men tried to rob them. Raven hid underneath a bed as they killed his mother and then his father. From then on, he became a Dream Catcher and a prodigy that rose to the ranks in a flash. He’s also most eligible for leading German Dream Catchers if the current leader were to die and leads a formidable group of assassins that are recognized all across Western Europe. Unlike Elena, he rose to power through skill and popularity while she made it by luck. His lanky build, his height, and his blonde hair just add to his popularity.
“Hey!”, she repeats. “You’re still as arrogant as ever, huh?”
Right as she’s about to mouth off on Raven, two familiar figures walk in. One of them is Blossom, the one that abandoned her and Sylvia, the woman that Franky had met just eight days ago. Blossom is just 23 years old yet acts like she knows it all and has seen the world pretending to be wise and knowledgable. Her skin is pale and her white hair with pink accents is long enough to make a braid that goes as far down as her tailbone. Rookies see her as this perfect angel that can do no wrong while veterans see her as a nuisance that always has something to say.
“Should you really be talking like that, Railgun?”, barks Blossom. “After all these years you still have no respect for your seniors! You’re still as useless as ever.”
“Lay off, Blossom. We’re all equal in here,” counters Sylvia. “She’s still your coworker and as long as she stays out of Lower Bavaria, your seniority isn’t worth anything.”
Sylvia seems to be far more understanding of Elena’s circumstances. She never put a lot of worth in seniority or one’s perceived value and only cares about someone’s ability to lead and guide those underneath them. Her position always is that of neutrality and only makes decisions that are objectively better for the majority. Her prestige came about by growing up in an orphanage for Dream Catchers whose latent abilities were awoken as babies or toddlers and resulted in the deaths of families leaving them orphaned. At 19 she took over as the mother of her orphanage passed away and has been responsible for all the kids these past seven years.
“Thank you, Sylvia,” says Elena.
“I’m only saying this because we need to be unbiased and impartial. Your shared history shouldn’t hinder us from making important decisions.”
Even in situations like these, Sylvia, leader of Lower, Upper, and Middle Franconia, remains impartial without ever showing any kind of bias for one side. Her stance of neutrality is only broken whenever someone dares to introduce policies that could harm her children.
“Then what about Phantom? Not showing up today?”, asks Elena.
“He never shows up. He only has two representatives show up, Harpocrates and Lamia, his little gadgets that observe and give their own input, his calls where he has that irritating distorted voice…”, replies Raven. “But he’s the most efficient fighter we have and has ties to the greatest scientist and weapons supplier out there.”
“Yeah, yeah… I don’t want to hear any of that,” adds Elena.
“Is he really that bad?”, asks a stranger walking in. “I thought he was much more respectable than that!”
She’s another lady of war going by Bhavika. Ranked third in both leadership and power, she’s the youngest leading figure among them. At just twenty years old, she’s achieved what people can only dream of achieving in a lifetime and there’s still so much more to come. As a respected and well-known lady of war, she is attending this meeting because of events transpiring in Bavaria.
Their missing member, the lone wolf of their group has yet to arrive. Half an hour has passed since they’ve come together and not a single sign of Phantom’s assistants or the masterminds himself. They’re starting to speculate what may be the reason behind his tardiness as he has never been late before.
“Say, Miss 3rd, have you ever met this guy?”, asks Elena.
“I’ve only heard rumors about him. Back in India, there are several legends about phantoms being among us. Some say that the original Phantom was born in Iran long ago with an undying body. After his first death, a phantom took over and reanimated his body carrying on the duties the original had. Since then, Phantom has been dying again and again helping the world in mysterious ways,” claims Bhavika.
“Isn’t that why there’s a Phantom clause? Why no one else is allowed to go by Phantom?”, adds Sylvia. “Or so I heard…”
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“Phantom clause?”, asks Blossom.
“Apparently there only is allowed to be one Phantom at a time. No one knows why that rule had been instated and since when that has been a thing but all those that are aware of that rule yet still use that name for whatever reason has been executed.”
“I’m not talking about the rumors of his origin!”, she says annoyed by all these unfounded rumors. “I’m talking about his personality!”
“Though he uses a voice changer, he sounds handsome and calculated like some cold genius!”, squirms Bhavika.
“Arrogant and pretentious,” says Blossom.
“Driven by rationale yet caring and kind?”, claims Sylvia. “When we were about to burden some others with more work, he went out of his way to get it all done in a single night. I think that’s rather admirable and excuses his no-shows.”
“Hm? So you have a type?”, jokes Elena.
“You’re just trying to stir up drama! I don’t want to hear that from you since you’ll always be alone!”, counters Sylvia a little flustered.
“There’s nothing wrong with dreaming about your ideal man, right, Ellie?”, says Bhavika trying to rile up Sylvia.
“Yeah, Bhavi,” adds Elena.
Finally a teen about a head shorter than most of them walks in. His face is obscured by a faceless mask and a hoodie, his physique rather unfitting of the man they were just praising and gossiping about.
“So this time he’s sending a kid to represent him? What happened to Lamia and Harpocrates?”, grumbles Blossom.
“I’m here because of a personal matter. Watch your tongue!”
Awkward silence fills the room as the pubescent boy makes himself comfortable in a seat. He can’t be older than 13 yet he supposedly was the one everyone looked up to and respected.
“Ideal man,” scoffs Elena as Bhavika attempts yet miserably fails to hold in her laughter. Sylvia simply glares at her just about ready to commit murder.
“Well… Since everyone is here I’ll get straight to the point,” says Raven unbothered by Phantom.
“Munich has been under attack. A strange anomaly has made it so that Munich appears to be active to the outside world. However, people have been unable to contact anyone in that city nor has anyone left ever since Sunday 9th. Police have reported multiple calls from people missing their loved ones. So far, every caller has claimed to have received strange calls or voice mails by people claiming to be family members,” reports Raven.
“How often did people call? And when?”, asks Blossom typing away on a laptop.
“They’re still dealing with civilians calling in every second. Most precincts are struggling to keep up with the number of people phoning in.”
“The first few calls related to this incident were at 10:17 pm and were initially dismissed as pranks. At 11:13 pm they suspected that this may be some kind of strange cult or internet fad. That thought was dismissed just a few minutes after its proposal. At 11:30 a few precincts considered it worth checking out. For whatever reason, a few police cars went to investigate thanks to their skepticism and never returned.”
“At 2:40 am I was contacted by Christa, the current head of German Dream Catchers. She notified me of the situation at hand and since then I’ve been formulating plans as to how I should approach this situation. So far, I’ve only been able to send a few waves of Dream Catchers but most were unsuccessful.”
“The first wave never returned and couldn’t be retrieved by any following waves. The second wave has partially gone mad after just about half an hour of exploring though it seems like most of them are starting to regain their composure. Those that already have calmed down are suffering from memory loss and cannot recall most of their memories.”
“The third wave was sent in two groups. Group 1 also spent about half an hour and managed to return with minimal memory loss. Group 2 however had each member return one after another. Number 1 returned after 10 minutes, Number 2 after 20 minutes, 3 after 30 minutes… There were ten-minute intervals between each returnee with the final returnee making it back in 100 minutes. The final returnee suffers from an overabundance of void charge and has been mostly unresponsive, jittery, and incredibly paranoid. We sedated him so that he would stop attempting suicide.”
“Then there’s the final wave. Each one held onto ten prisoners on death row accompanying them. Their respective prisoner was injected with dark magic so that they would turn into demons one after another. After each one of them went through demonification, their demon forms immediately dissipated leaving behind only their Devil Seeds. Some Seeds shattered while the rest refused to be activated and unleash the demon within. One specimen didn’t turn at all. They’re still alive and were purged of the dark magic within them.”
“Now, onto the second part. Lately, demons have grown even more powerful. It’s not just their output, every attribute of theirs has been enhanced. Domains have grown more complex, their lures have become stronger, and their abilities are becoming even more diverse. Some fear that they may evolve into something unstoppable. Calamities have only been documented since 1902. Fusions have been around since the fall of Rome. What could possibly follow after all that?”
“A lot of these strange developments can be traced back to Coordinators. Every time demons reached a new stage, they were herding them toward rifts in the sky that would appear for just a few seconds. Just two hours ago one of my Plagues spotted one bordering Lichtenstein. A few days ago it was on the border of Thuringia and Bavaria. It takes the current Coordinator a while to get from that border to Lichtenstein.”
“Uh… What exactly is Lichtenstein? Thuringia?”, asks Bhavika.
“Thuringia is just another state of Germany neighboring Bavaria. Lichtenstein is a small country neighboring Germany. Barely anyone knows or cares about those places so don’t worry about not knowing all these strange places! You’re likely to be positioned in Munich anyway”, replies Elena.
“We have two operations at hand! Two people, along with the third lady, will head into Munich in an attempt to dispel the spell upon Munich two days from now. I can lead myself and the Eleven Plagues into-”
“We can’t have that! You’ve done so well leading these past two years and losing you now, in times like these… We just can’t have that!”, asserts Elena.
“You’re just saying that because he got you this position! Don’t act like you know it all!”, yells Blossom. “You and your attitude are absolutely frustrating.”
Sylvia sighs. “Though I don’t like to pick sides, I have to agree with Elena. You’re too valuable and I can’t see you deploying your precious 11 for this incident unless someone forces you to.”
“Fine… The experiments done so far, even if they offer so little in terms of information, have shown that several strengths are of great value for this mission. Versatility is the number one attribute you’ll need in those kinds of environments. A grand arsenal that could get you through any situation, body parts you can cast aside because of regenerative qualities you possess… those kinds of things. I think we know who is most versatile out of the five… out of the six we have here,” says Raven determined to produce results without casualties.
Elena smirks waiting for Raven’s acknowledgment.
“It’s Phantom.”
“Fuck you,” adds Elena.
“And Elena of course,” he adds.
“Phantom and Ellie?”, asks Bhavika.
“Elena has the power of air, threads, and ribbons at her disposal. Against demons, she’s nigh-immortal since none of them are smart enough to strike her with spiritual charge. She’s also surprisingly resistant to flames. For Phantom… You’ll have to ask him yourself. Maybe he could do a little demonstration,” replies Sylvia.
“I believe the powers bestowed upon us were granted to us to protect the weak but if showcasing them is enough to satisfy your needs, then I'll do it,” he asserts. “I’m done. I hope you’re satisfied.”
Bhavika has no idea what he is talking about until she turned around to witness him standing behind her. One second he’s here, the next he’s there.
“Could I… have some more?”, she asks.
“Fine.”
Holes are filling the chair Phantom was just sitting in. It’s as if someone had shot the chair about a dozen times. For his final trick, he fires a few bullets out of a revolver and catches them before they could come in contact with anything.
“Let’s move on to Team B consisting of myself, Sylvia, and Blossom. I’ll need Sylvia as a tank and heavy hitter while Blossom provides support by covering a huge area and making sure no runaway demons threaten us or surrounding cities. This operation will occur two days from now. As to when and where has yet to be figured out,” adds Raven.
“You’re all dismissed! I believe we’ll succeed in our endeavors and come out on top!”
Since then, two days have gone by without a hitch. Elena and Phantom are just a few minutes away from being dispatched to Munich. Border patrol and small camps have been set up along all the major highways leading into Munich. Minor news agencies are the only ones that dare show up most of which have questionable reputations. People too eager to explore what could be a magical wasteland are trying to make their way in with their phones. Even though attempts at suppressing the news have been made, people have been speculating that something is off all over social media.
The camp designated for their use is a building seemingly set up overnight. Within are generators, a kitchen, a shower, two toilets, a room full of bunk beds, and a computer room. There’s little to no privacy for these three workers doing their best to keep up with the news and work on solutions that could possibly dispel the barrier that lets Minuch appear as if everything is in place.