The ticking clock filled the temporary silence upon the most top floor of the Royal Academy’s main building, informally known as The Spire. And while the structure itself was massive, this specific floor only held a single room.
“You know, it's always impressive to see how grand this whole office of yours is.” The voice of a young man had said. He was no older than 19, he could actually be mistaken as a student here if it weren't for his status.
His white-blonde hair, tipped with green, peeked out from beneath a cat-eared headset, which added to his eccentric demeanour. He wore casual clothes beneath a lab coat, as if he thought himself as some sort of an unorthodox genius. Still, he looked to be important enough to be here, despite his youth.
“Such ancient yet advanced technology…all of it could be seen throughout, if I didn't know any better I would've assumed this was very new!” He said again, turning towards the person he was speaking to.
His appearance was much older than he, wearing a black eye-patch over one of his eyes, his black hair tied into a ponytail slouched onto his shoulders. He was sitting on his desk, just happily listening to the young man before him. He was Alden Wednesday, the headmaster of the Royal Academy.
“We both know that you're just bored, Mr. Knolton.” He said, “It's quite obvious, from the way you're roaming around to how you're fidgeting right now. Were they really correct in choosing you as a representative?”
The young man pouted, “You can call me Felix you know? No need for formalities with last names!” He said, “Plus, how can you not be bored? We’ve been waiting for quite some time now for them to get here!”
“It’s been only thirty minutes, and the district is vast. Be patient.” Another voice chimed in, one belonging to a woman.
Her appearance was of black and white, her eye colour mirroring her hair colour, split in the middle vertically. She was crossing her arms as she spoke to him, standing beside Alden. She was Hilde, the combat professor of the Royal Academy and the headmaster’s de-facto assistant.
Felix hummed softly, “Thirty minutes and thirty seconds…and counting.” He said, “By the way, how’s your elven assassin turned investigator?”
Alden paused, he would've been surprised, but knowing the organisation this man belonged to… “She's doing well, currently on standby, whenever needed.”
Felix nodded to his words, “I see I see…I should probably ask her out!”
“...You’re not serious, are you?” Hilde questioned.
“Nope! But she has potential, probably. Need to talk to her first.” Felix said, laughing.
Then, they were interrupted by the sound of an elevator’s bell. At the other end of the Alden's office, a metal door opened up that brought in approximately six individuals. Marilyn, Adrian, Elysia, Cecilia, Vincent, and Eldryn. With the exception of one, they were—
“Ah, please, come in! It shouldn't take long.” Felix said, inviting them inside as if he owned the place. Alden didn't complain at least. “I expected five, but it seems another tag-along managed to join, should be fine though!”
The silver-eyed girl with the eye-patch, Marilyn Althorn, blinked. That was an unexpected statement to be made, making her turn towards the group, “One of us wasn't invited?”
“Yeah, this frickin’ dwarf right here.” Vincent replied. “Not sure why he was even tagging along, but screw it.”
And the short man Vincent pointed towards acknowledged his call out, “Hmm hmm~! Indeed, it was me!” He said.
Well, there was no point in arguing about this, Marilyn thought to herself. So she and the other five with her walked out of the elevator and into the office proper. And even with the addition of six more people the room was still large enough to hold even more.
There were no things to sit on barring Alden's desk and chair. It was a bit uncomfortable, but it was most likely to ensure that meetings were as short and concise as possible. An odd choice, but it wasn't something that could be commented on majorly.
“Umm, may we know the purpose of our summoning?” Asked Adrian, turning towards the headmaster, and then towards the young man in the lab coat.
“That shall be the task of this young man right here, Mr. Hunt.” Alden responded, his free eye glancing towards—
That young man interrupted with a bow, “Felix Knolton, a representative of the Aegis Coalition, nice to meet you!” He said, standing straight up again afterwards.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
“Aegis…?”
Marilyn was caught a bit off-guard by the mention of that particular name. It was something she had heard of in passing and read through news articles on her Tome, but she wasn't exactly familiar with it.
Apparently, they were an organisation made from the amalgamation of multiple pathfinder groups and miscellaneous factions world-wide, formed centuries ago during the Great War before solidifying their existence afterwards. Their main task, from what Marilyn understood, was to act as the ‘shield of civilization’ that prevents certain extinction of mankind.
“Hm…”
“Well, I guess I’d need to summarise what Aegis is first, huh?” He said, “Unless…?”
“Forgive me if I’m wrong, but I’ve heard that they're responsible for the tracking of Veils?” Cecilia answered, “And uhmm, something along the lines of being the one to allocate necessary resources during major disasters…”
“That is correct! Considering that the world governments lack any sort of unity and are rather slow and reactive entities, Aegis is here to fulfil the niche of a proactive defensive force to protect the world!”
“That seems about right.” Marilyn said to herself once again.
This would mean that they're the equivalent of the security council from her previous world, peacekeepers of sorts. Well, somewhat, from what she had researched about them they have no armies whatsoever, as they employ only operatives and specialised individuals to go ahead and do jobs world-wide.
For comparison, her father worked locally, so they were pretty much a larger and global-reaching organisation when compared to the guild he was in.
“My my, you guys are well-educated! I was actually quite prepared to give info-dumps on what Aegis is.” Felix said, chuckling, “In any case, any other questions that may or may not be important? Before we go ahead to the briefing, that is.”
A few moments of silence managed to settle in, before one person raised their hand. It was Elysia, and she did so with a smile.
“I heard that Adrian's dad worked with you guys! Where is he now?” She said, and if she were to have a tail manifested right now, it would be wagging.
“H-huh? Elysia, that's a bit insensitive to ask without consent you know??” Adrian said out-loud in return, “There's no need to ask for that!”
And Felix laughed at the question, he couldn't bear to hold it in. But eventually it died down, “Sorry, sorry, that was a bit sudden. But onto your question! Yes, he does work with us. You would have to ask him about his career yourself though I’m afraid.”
“Aw man, I was wondering about that…” Elysia pouted in response, and Adrian sighed, patting her on the shoulder.
“Next time, maybe ask for my permission first? You were being a bit too up-front.” He said to her.
“Fiiiiine, as long it's you, I’ll do it!”
Felix looked towards the others that were present among the six as those two made up. Judging from their neutral expressions, it seems he was safe to continue forward with this mission of his.
“Judging by the fact that none of you have spoken up again, I guess it's onto the briefing!” Felix brought out a device that was contained in his pockets, it was some kind of pocket projector. He clicked on a button present upon that contraption, and a holographic image would display itself towards the group.
It depicted the world map before them, complete with national borders and even specific zoned out regions indicating dangerous areas. From Marilyn's own understanding, they seemed to indicate Phantom infested zones. They practically covered 30% of the planet alone, if not more.
Other than that, dozens, if not hundreds, of dotted regions were also present. Some of them were even expanding in territory, indicated by those dots getting larger. And from her deductions…
Felix continued, “That rift from a year ago that opened up above Leandon before bursting? That resulted in these red dots becoming more and more prevalent—”
“Veils…” Marilyn thought out-loud.
The mere mention of that event, that rift, stifled Marilyn's concentration, causing her mood to crash. The torn pages of reality, it was too much to bear, too much to grieve for, too much to mourn.
“Correct. The over-surge of Essence from the In-between dispersed itself throughout the world a year ago and changed the laws of the world quite a bit, making these manifestations of alternative worldlines more unpredictable and dangerous than ever before. In short, our world is experiencing a Veil Storm.”
And despite the tangible effects upon the world being clear to her, that it was not just her that suffered, somehow she felt like she was the one that lost the most.
But—
“Hey, Marilyn.” A hand touched her shoulder, forcing her to halt that train of thought to look. It was Cecilia who had spoken out. “After this, we should talk about you, okay?”
The princess’ expression held an emphatic tone, her eyes and smile showing the warmth that almost reached her. And despite Marilyn's best efforts to isolate her heart, she could not resist.
“Alright.” She said simply, before turning towards the main topic again.
Cecilia nodded in response, before also resuming onto the briefing again.
Felix didn't really stop his speech to let them talk, but it wasn't like the most important detail was dearly missed by them. “—Hence, we’ve chosen you five, now six, to head to this particular Veil north of the capital. Your mettle and talents shall be tested, to see if you guys are worthy in joining the Coalition, as we do need more hands on deck for this. It should be a few days' journey, so I implore that you all get yourselves ready for it, understand?”
And none of them objected to such a mission.