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

As expected, it took roughly twenty minutes to juggle between choking on seawater and removing the bullets from our skulls. That mostly involved a lot of half-hazard doggy paddling and passing out due to lack of oxygen flow to the brain, but we managed. After setting off a distress signal to our location among the seas, Bella and I managed to inflate our pocket emergency raft and used it to stay afloat in the freezing morning ocean. Until a ship could arrive to rescue us, that is. The submarine was likely penetrated—no use going back down for it. And my eyes stung from all the seawater, so I preferred to do anything but deep dive to salvage whatever remained. At least we left nothing of importance behind…Though the seas stung with their waves of freezing water. Early spring merely acted as a continuation of winter on this planet.

Death was a mere inconvenience, but this felt like the worst demise I suffered in years. Once we’d situated ourselves on the raft, an array of bubbles popped against the surface, followed by two distinct currents moving away from us. Underneath the waves, I could see scrap metal floating up and small submarines taking off—one of those being ours. Urgh, how I would had wished to have a dramatic chase through the halls escaping explosions! That would had been so much more heroic than this! This rotted my soul with the humiliation. The disgusting smell of burnt moss penetrating my nostrils only added onto my utter disappointment.

“Be glad they didn’t think to take our soul stones,” Bella said. She had her knees huddled close to her, while I hung my legs over the side of the raft such as if I were at a pool.

I released a melancholic sigh. My time was far too occupied with listening to the soothing cries of otters fighting in the distance to join in her worries. “They couldn’t have done anything to them anyways, and I bet they knew. You’d need a powerful blade to even dare scratch an undamaged soul stone.”

“Still hurts to get shot and drown,” She grumbled, a dark cloud over her face. “For a really fuckin’ long time, too.”

“Shush, it was hardly as strenuous as our most tormenting deaths.”

“At least. Your head’s healed, right?”

I felt at my wound, smiling to myself as I found it almost closed up. “Perfectly. And you?”

“I’m still alive, so sure.”

I slouched forward and stared into the murky waters. She’d been saying that for the past few thousand years, every time I asked her if she’s faring well. Instead of commenting, though, I bit my tongue and changed the subject to something more productive.

“So I assume you don’t want to go down and hunt for remaining evidence,” I said. Though I had no idea what we’d even find. Nothing in the way of physical evidence appeared present when we were there other than those weapons, and they looked far too special to be left behind in a hasty retreat.

I heard Bella shuffle around behind me. As if she read my mind, she didn’t respond to my question, instead changing the topic again. “Those weapons were magical objects of some kind,” she said.

“Light magic,” I added, and crossed my arms. “But how? How were they able to create so many illegal weapons without us noticing? I haven’t seen such massive quantities of them in centuries. And not of that power.”

To own a tool that allowed you to cast spells for a different branch of magic so freely—The Lestaria Empire outlawed it to curb the strength the common person could wield. People still tried, though, as the two of us were well-aware. They really thought they could get away with doing such heinous acts, tipping the scales in their favor under my watch?

Actually. They did get away with it, didn’t they…

Besides the point.

Before Bella could reply, the sensation of sea spray brushing against my nose became too much to bear, and I fell into an annoying sneezing fit. According to Sunny, I sneezed like a kitten—whatever that meant. I’d never spent enough time around felines to decipher that.

I turned around to see Bella put a hand over her mouth, but in seconds she looked back to normal.

“…That’s what we’re going to investigate,” Bella said, but immediately added before I could speak, “and by we, ‘s gonna be someone else. Y’know we don’t have time for this.”

“Not so,” I said, jabbing a finger into my chest. “Naturally, Erna Dee Belmonte is already on the case.”

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Bella rolled her eyes (how rude). Something akin to a protest escaped my throat, but the sount of a horn bast in the distance stole our attention. A thin, sleek airship sped towards our location from above the clouds, slowing down as it drew closer to us.

A ladder dropped down, from which Sunny held on at the tip. She was a women somewhat older in appearance from us, but only by a couple years. Her skin was white and she had blue coloured tentacles in the place of hair that went down to her waist. She often wore blue sun-dresses with patterns like fish scales, as if doing so would make her like a sunfish darting through the murky waves of light escaped from the dreary skies.

She sighed and gestured to the ladder, and without further prompting Bella and I climbed onto it. Once we were on, she started to climb back up while we followed her. The ship was small, designed for only a few people, but that meant we’d have a faster time getting back than with a heavier ship. As Bella informed me with many, many aerodynamics lectures.

Once we took our seats, belts locked on, she turned to me with an unamused look. “I didn’t want to impede on the rescue mission, so I held my tongue. Erna—“

“If this is a lecture—” I began, but she continued to speak as if to tell me absolutely not.

“It’s not,” she said with haste. “I want you to tell me what went on there immediately. I’m worried!”

I took a moment and waited to see if Sunny was being rhetorical or not. Sometimes, I struggled to tell when she fell into a sour mood. When she continued to look at me with nothing but deathly seriousness, a grin grew on my face as I raised a finger.

“I see you understand,” I said. “We have a grave matter on our hands. Bella and I have discovered a criminal collective of individuals possessing illegal magical weapons."

Bella looked out the window, not uttering a word.

“Is that so,” Sunny said, drumming her fingers against the wheel. Even though the vehicle ran an auto-pilot program, she did so out of habit and a mistrust for the judgment of machines. “Taking measure against this is not going to be easy. It may be messy for a good while.”

“We—“ was all that managed to escape my mouth before Sunny coughed, fingers curled around the wheel with a grip as strong as steel.

“You will oversee the general safety of Saturni during this difficult time,” she said, and looked away from me. “Bella and I have already scheduled that appointment with the rest of the Delta Six over the environmental crisis. A new growth of illegal magical weapons will be paramount to nip in the bud, so it’s better addressed with them rather than to handle it ourselves. If we bring in the aid of other Planetary Forces personnel, it will mean less division of labor away from the people of Maia. The people we swore to protect.”

Of course. Whenever our conversations turned in this direction, with her choosing to rely on others and bringing in her outside associates instead, she could never stand to look me in the eye.

Hm. Actually! She was taller than me. It made more sense she couldn’t ‘look me in the eye’ from her perspective. Aha, practicing this understanding thing was much easier than I thought. For a moment I believed she considered me incapable of handling the job, but…

Urgh.

To my side, Bella scrunched her face up. “Maybe Erna can handle it. She’s sounds enthusiastic enough about it, so it’s probably not worth the hassle of bringing the Delta Six into it.”

“Nonsense,” I said and patted her on the shoulder, “We all have our roles to play in these grave situations. While you and Sunny handle interplanetary communication, I’ll remain on the front lines as a symbol of heroism and protection for the people to look up to.”

Sunny laughed, showering me with a warm smile. “Something like that. Erna, you’ve always been enthusiastic to hold the role of a hero. If there’s anyone I trust to remember what the citizens want, it’s you. This city is in your hands.”

I grinned, flashing a thumbs up. “Of course. It’s my natural role to stand as a symbol for the people. I’m proud to bear such a mantle.”

Bella put her head in her hands, likely from a headache induced by turbulence. Working with my friends always went pleasantly. I never found myself easily dismissed! Never a pebble chipped off the boulder by the unseen forces of gravity, left to drift asunder to the soil below. To be trampled, forgotten, as if it were never a part of such a mighty object that could fell a man with nothing but inertia. I believed that was the correct physics term. If Bella heard me now, she’d surely give me no notes. Yes, my situation never felt like anything of that sort.

That was how much intelligence I radiated. I remained certain Sunny could see that most of the time, but I knew she was the kind of person who preferred to handle matters for her dear friends. Someone who preferred to step towards the rear and give marching orders, organizing and planning until everything fell into place.

“It’ll be convenient, I guess,” Bella said after lifting her head up and then leaning back further into her seat. “We’re not just goin’ to Amieres for the climate problem. He asked for some other dumb favor, so. She’s officially in charge?”

"I shall be in charge!” To inaugurate my promotion to being ‘in charge’ of an entire capital city (and by extension, a planet), I threw a fist behind my back and one to my heart. Of course, this simple gesture of loyalty may had included bumping my seat into Bella’s legs, but she surely didn’t mind given the meaning of it. She even shot me a glare to show her endearment.

Aha.

HA!

This was power. This was justice. This was…something relevant. Something important and not at all a babysitting-on-paperwork job. This was my moment of recognition.

And what power laid in my hands whenever Bella and Sunny went on a business trip? Why, of course, nothing less than the entire military might of the Maia Planetary Forces.

Sunny did nothing but sigh in response, keeping the ship steady as it approached the harbor connected to Saturni. The sky had already been dipped in purple by the time we arrived, but the familiar docks, clattering of ships and smell of bird poop never left my memory. Even the salty spray that irritated my nostrils were a part of home.

Yes, this was home.

Home to me, the legendary and respected hero Erna Dee Belmonte. One day, everyone would know me as nothing less.