an open ocean [https://draviaaris.neocities.org/images/lestaria1scenery/prologueocean.png]

“Do you know what it means to be a hero?”

I pointed my sword down. The blade possessed a magenta sheen, reflecting the wisps of light that escaped past the ocean surface and leaked in through the tiny windows. “I, Erna Dee Belmonte, know everything there is to know about making this world a better place! Because I am one of the greatest—no, the greatest leader of change for the Lestaria Empire that the world’s ever known! Now, tell me, what great things have you done with your life? Hiding yourself under the ocean, trespassing—”

“Are you done yet?” Bella said from behind me. The man before me sprawled over the ground, lanky, average looking and frozen in fear. Likely from the blade tip pressed against his neck, but that was a minor detail.

Bella herself wore a baggy, tan coloured diving suit, though without the helmet you would’ve never thought she stepped into the water. Our suits, of course, were designed to provide a smooth transition between in water and on land navigation!

As usual, Bella tied her hair into short knots, dark and curly. It looked no different now minus a bit of mess from the helmet before. I wore a similar suit, though it’d gotten a bit dirty from some bloodstains. Nothing major, of course, as we’d cuffed and locked up most of the crooks holed up here in our submarine docked right outside the facility for now. No one’s died yet either, luckily, though some violent resistance is to be expected when apprehending wicked criminals.

Though, despite our best efforts, we still hadn’t gotten to the root of the matter: why they were here in the first place. No matter, trespassing remained suspicious on its own, so the ‘why’ could come later. Justice flowed down its own river, to which we only—

“Erna?” Bella said and nudged my shoulder to get my attention. The man looked between the two of us, as if weighing the odds of him winning in a fight. In the end, though, Bella leaned down and grabbed him, slapping the cuffs on in an instant. Hopefully, he lacked adeptness in magic; we’d already run out of the power-repressing version twenty minutes ago.

“As you can see, we’re making quick work of this place,” I said. ‘This place’ in question appeared to be a rusty underwater research center, situated right off the coast of Saturni, the capital city of the oceanic planet Maia. The walls, floors, everything was covered with either rust or moss, though it was of the harmless variety that fed off of dying sea fleas and saltwater. Just in case, though, we had respirators in our pockets in case the air quality became unsafe further in. The room we were in merely served as a transitory hallway, with metal walls long since eroded with hues of dark red and orange, pipes running up and across like a sprawling map system with insects crawling between the cracks. Surely, even fish markets reeked less than this.

Regardless, with how many people we’d found so far, air quality would not be a concern after all.

It became easy to assume any activity in a place as abandoned as this was some breech in the hull, with a few fish managing to flop inside, or even a whale ramming it on accident, but it became far too consistent for us to ignore it any longer. The patterns resembled human footsteps, the movement of items.

Intruders. Whatever they were doing, they had to be stopped, for the sake of the Lestaria Empire.

“I prefer quick,” Bella said, a grouchy edge to her tone that made a permanent home of her vocal chords. “Besides, I told you it was just some idiots who got too in over their head and made this place their little hideout. You’d think they’d find somewhere less of a hassle to get to, but people’re on average annoying morons. So.”

A few droplets of water fell from the ceiling, followed by a pipe that slipped lose and smacked me right on top of my head. My poor, unexposed head. I instantly collapsed to the ground as I rubbed at the sore spot (potentially a fracture, I didn’t know) that formed.

“No,” I said, slowly sitting up. “There’s a story here—justice must be wrought upon the evil that seeps beneath the surface of our society.”

“Right,” she grumbled, moving on without even a glance back at me. “’M sure I’ll love to hear whatever narrative you’ve managed to spin in your head once we’re back home.”

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I finally managed to right myself, storming past her towards the door at the end of the hallway before throwing it open. “That’s what you think,” I began, “but when evil rises from the abyss, it is only natural I—“

My extremely important declaration of justice ended up cut off with a hand thrown over my mouth by none other than my dear, trusted Bella, who clearly wanted me to quiet down. All because I managed to wander into a meeting room, filled with lawn chairs and over a dozen people, who were all turned towards us.

The individuals in question all had a similar dressing style, though they all looked like they came from different walks of life. White, blinding white dominated their wardrobes, either with suits, robes, or some other full-body outfit paired with a white theater mask. A cheap, fold-out table slapped in the middle of the room overflowed with weapons: hammers, swords, guns, anything you could think of.

Not only that, but each weapon gleamed pure white, shining as if they were light bulbs.

Drip, drip. As Bella and I stared the intruders down, the only sound that dared permeate the tense atmosphere were droplets of water escaped from the pipes, coalesced into a small puddle on the floor. The facility appeared even more run down from years of leakage and lack of use, but that didn’t seem to stop this group. Whatever we walked in on, it was something that could only be done behind closed doors. In a place no one would think to look.

Until today. Silence and stillness turned to action—the oddly dressed strangers scrambled to grab the weapons off the table. Swords were pointed, guns were cocked, yet no one moved once their weapons were readied. At the same time, I brought my sword up to a combative stance, and Bella readied a pistol of her own by my side.

It only took another second for everything to turn to chaos.

I ducked to avoid the gun raised in my direction. A shot grazed my side, and the way it burned white hot told me exactly what it was. Pure, concentrated light magic—but how was that possible? No, how did they make it possible? Such complex weapons would require…

I didn’t have time to think, though. A criminal drew their blade as I brought my own up to guard my body against assailants, and I managed to push back enough to throw my opponent to the ground.

If only there weren’t ten others on my tail.

I whipped around at the sensation of someone right behind me, and swung my sword in an arc. I released a beam of soul energy from the blade, which collided with the attacker’s torso. She hit the wall, but another had already taken the opportunity to raise a white shotgun and fire the charge against my skull. The impact caused me to stumble, but Bella shoved my side to help me right myself as she fired off a volley of bullets.

Luck was on my side that it was light magic rather than a bullet—but the warm sensation of blood dripping down my face served as enough of a warning. The rusted ground beneath me grew slick from the substance. It made it difficult to regain my footing, but I managed as the tinge of a scorching smell in the air further heightened my caution.

…The blast broke my skull, I became sure of it. No matter, pain was not an obstacle, as long as you learned to ignore it.

My first step forward: I slipped and fell on top of a young man, an opportunity I would gladly seize to gain the upper hand. I used him as a launching pad to push myself forward and land back on my feet, giving his side a hard kick before I turned to the right again to protect myself by throwing my blade up to parry an opponent. Though we would normally have the advantage in a fight like this, it was difficult to keep up with so many combatants in a closed space.

Not to mention, Bella’s power…

I managed to jerk to the side and slashed my foe’s right arm, before throwing a look at Bella as I grabbed a young women who came for my left, tossing her into someone else. “Try taking some of their weapons apart!”

Bella grunted, jumping back and firing off more shots with her handgun. Not one reached their targets, as those she aimed at used their weapon’s energy to conjure shields of solidified light. More specifically: short, stumpy formations of crystilare, commonly mistaken for—

“You don’t think I tried already!? I don’t even have anything to—“

She couldn’t finish that sentence. Those few, distracted seconds were enough for one of the men to reach into his coat and pull out a loaded handgun, firing a bullet right into Bella’s head. She choked in shock, then fell over, a dull thud accompanying her demise.

He immediately pulled the gun in my direction.

I froze in a way where I knew there was no next move I could fall back on. Hm, I should had brought more protective equipment. Or some sort of anti-bullet shield generator. Now they were all going to escape.

Not as if I had any idea how I was going to apprehend them now, considering I only meant to come here and check for average trespassers. In a world such as this, you could always expect tomfoolery, even in the most inhospitable lands.

…

None of that mattered now, however. Not in the face of failure.

I stared the man down in silence, daring him to pull the trigger.

Whatever look he had behind his mask, I couldn’t begin to decipher it. His allies were fewer in number after our scuffle, but it was enough for us to lose.

“For our society,” he said in a quiet voice.

The snap of the gunshot pierced the air before my vision blacked out, all sensation abandoning me for the unending ebb and flow of the ocean around our bodies. From what followed, all I could recall were vague vestiges of saltwater filling my lungs, of seaweed flitting past my eyes and fish nibbling at our spilled guts…

And then.