[ERROR: World System Anomaly Detected]
[Fatal Error: Mismatched Dimensional Input]
[SYSTEM Stabilizing... Reconnected]
There's something oddly comforting about a headache at a time like this. It's like a red flag that your brain is still there, still functioning, even if it's malfunctioning in the most obnoxious way. It was the first thing that greeted me as I awoke, a pulsating throb of pain that radiated through my skull with every beat of my heart. It was joined by the occasional mental blip, an afterimage of [System] alerts that would flicker before fading away.
[Error: Dimensional Anomaly Detected]
[Error: Soul Matrix Integrity Distortion Detected. Tracing Origin: Approximately 7.74e6 minutes prior to this SYSTEM message.]
[Alert: SYSTEM will now attempt to correct reality shell access. Subject: Sienna Russo ]
My eyes fluttered open, the stabbing pain in my skull a cruel reminder that I was still alive, still in the middle of this nightmare. Blinking against the harsh fluorescent lights overhead, I grimaced, trying to push past the painful alerts screaming in my brain.
[SYSTEM Stabilizing... Reconnected]
[Integrity Distortion Corrected]
[Connection established to MKC Quest Sub-system]
[Welcome back, Sienna Russo]
[SYSTEM feature unlocked: Quest Journal]
[SYSTEM feature unlocked: MKC Compendium]
Waking up felt like pulling my head out of a pool of thick, congealing syrup, thoughts slow and sticky. My head screamed with a migraine as the fluorescent lights flickered above me way too harsh for my aching head. God, the alerts. They were blaring in my mind, one after another, in a cacophony that did nothing to help my throbbing skull.
[Congratulations! You have progressed in your World Quest: Discover the truth behind the outbreak]
[Congratulations! You have progressed in your Main Quest: Save Albert!]
[Level up! You have gained additional skills and abilities]
[Your level has increased to 28]
[Skill Acquired: Luminary Nova]
[You have 21 skill points to allocate]
"Ugh," I groaned, finally pushing myself upright.
Red. I saw a flash of it in my peripheral vision and turned to look. The sight that greeted me was... bizarre. I was wearing something way too big for m. I frowned, tugging at the unfamiliar fabric. Wasn't this...? But it couldn't be. That had to have been a dream, right? A strange, realistic, messed up dream…
I groaned, eyes squeezed shut, and rolled onto my side, cringing as the world around me protested in a dizzying sway. "A dream..." I muttered, the taste of the word sour on my tongue. "That's what it was... A stupid, crazy dream..."
But then my fingers brushed against something soft, something that shouldn't have been there. Frowning, I slowly forced my eyes open, only to find a patch of red in my blurred vision. My brain took a moment to process it: an oversized familiar hoodie, vibrant red and far too real to be part of any dream.
Disbelief, like a cold bucket of water, snapped me fully awake. I sat up sharply, my headache protesting in sharp spikes of pain. I ignored it, pulling at the hoodie with trembling fingers. It was real, all right.
"Uh... you okay?" a voice interrupted my thoughts. I turned to look at its owner.
The room around me was dim, faintly illuminated by the sickly white glow of fluorescent lights. It looked like I was in some kind of storage room for construction tools and paint.
A strangely familiar dark-skinned boy, probably around 11 to 13 years old, was looking at me with wide eyes. I strained my eyes as I tried to focus, but I was seeing double.
"You're awake," he said, taking a tentative step forward. He was wearing an oversized T-shirt with a massive ‘Magical Girl Arcadia Vox’ print. He had timid black eyes, and he sported a messy mop of curls that had probably not seen a comb in days. "I thought... I thought you were a goner, you know? Umn. You’re Sienna right? Thanks for yesterday."
It took me a second, the pain in my head making everything slow and fuzzy. "How do you know my name?" I managed to ask, voice grating in the thick silence of the room. “Yesterday?”
He swallowed visibly, eyes darting away from me for a moment. "I erm, I came down here with Albert when he ran into Shelter 2 screaming with a bunch of beat up bloodied survivors from Shelter 4. They needed someone small enough to get through a crawl space because they accidentally shut a gate on Shelter 2 so I volunteered. He told me about how you two got separated. Showed me a candid pic of you two at an arcade when he was resting at Shelter 2.”
There was something distinctly familiar about this kid, a nagging sense of recognition that was as persistent as my splitting headache. But before I could place him, he continued speaking, his words tumbling out in a rush as if afraid I'd cut him off.
“We got separated when he dragged me away from the central hub. You just... popped in here about ten ago. It was like... a flash of blue, and then you were here. I thought you were one of those zombie things, but I recognized you right away. You were making awful groaning noises, like you were in pain, talking about your mom and well, Albert and red hoodies. I put the pieces together."
Red hoodies. Albert. The jumbled recollections of my brief ‘trip’ started to click into place with painful precision, and the memory triggered a fresh pulse of agony behind my eyes.
"Albert," I whispered, my fingers curling into the fabric of the hoodie. "Where is he?"
The kid, still blurry because of my vertigo, shrugged helplessly.
"Last I saw, he was headed deeper into the bunker with a couple of scared volunteers that joined the group. They had some kind of plan to activate a backup SOS signal in the command center. We got stuck after I opened the back gate and they told me to stay here, so uh, I did."
I stared at the dark ceiling, the pain in my head slowly receding as I adjusted to the brightness of the fluorescent lights. I needed a plan. Albert was still unaccounted for, and I had to get back to the group. I was trapped in an underground bunker, surrounded by monstrous creatures.
Before I could collect myself, I heard the boy rummage through what sounded like a backpack, and he approached me with a bottle of water in his hand. "Here," he said, passing it to me.
"Thanks...?" I trailed off, realizing I still didn't know his name.
"Spike," he supplied, flashing a small, shy grin. "My name's actually Spencer, but everyone calls me Spike."
Spike... Something about the boy tugged at the back of my mind, a nagging feeling that I should know him from somewhere. I looked him over once more, squinting at his features, but before I could figure it out, the intercom crackled to life.
A voice echoed through the silent bunker, familiar and gruff, tinged with worry and an undertone of hope. "This is KCFD Master Sergeant Jacob Williams. If anyone is still alive out there, hear this. Refuge Zeta still stands. The civilians are alive. Our expedition has verified the integrity of seven out of eight shelters. Please send backup STAT. We have also confirmed a breach in the upper levels. We are threatened by the ugly bastards, but the situation is manageable for now.”
Spike gasped, a stunned look on his face. And then he let out an incredulous laugh, "Dad? No way... Dad's alive?" His voice was awestruck, full of relief and disbelief, and something else I couldn't quite place. “No. Okay. Wait. First, the entire city gets attacked by monsters. Then, a girl appears out of thin air. And now, someone who sounds like my dad is on the intercom. I’ve gotta be dreaming, right?”
Oh.
It hit me then. Hard. Like a freight train smashing into a brick wall. "You’re Jacob’s son," I said dumbly, my heart suddenly pounding in my chest.
The kid, Spike, stared at me with wide, surprised eyes. "Wait, you know my dad?" he asked, a hopeful light in his gaze. "Is he... Is he okay?"
"Last I saw him, yes." My mind was spinning, trying to connect the dots, to weave the threads of our intertwined fates into a coherent tapestry. But the more I tried, the more tangled everything seemed.
A shaky sigh escaped my lips. With each passing moment, the heavy reality of the situation pressed against my chest, making it harder to breathe. The persistent pain wasn’t helping me to think clearly.
Spike was watching me closely, his boyish face creased with worry. "You okay, Sienna?" he asked, voice hesitant.
"No," I admitted, shaking my head. "No, I'm not. But I need to be.”
I opened my eyes to see Spike still watching me curiously.
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"Your father and I, erm,” I started, choking down some water. “We came down with some other people and we’re trying to find a way to get help here," I said. "But the upper floors of Refuge Zeta were infested with monsters. And honestly, I think some of them are big enough to break into the shelters. We snuck in with a Magical Knight and a teenager with some combat and infiltration skills through the evac tunnels."
Spike sighed nervously, “Yeah, umn. About that. Turns out Shelter 4 got busted down in the last two hours. Some of the survivors, along with Albert, managed to get on over to where my mom and I were at Shelter 2. It’s where we staged this little suicide mission from.”
My heart sank, a heavy stone in my chest. Shelter 4 was overrun? The situation was grimmer than I'd thought. Becoming a Magical Knight had made me stronger, but I was just one person. One tired, unarmed, and totally unprepared person who didn’t know how to transform yet.
"Aaaand," Spike continued, wincing slightly, "It gets worse."
"Worse?" I muttered, rubbing my aching temples.
“Yeah, uh,” Spike's eyes darted away nervously. "We were attacked. A bunch of monsters got through to Shelter 2. Nothing big, but some fucked up dog things got through before we sealed off the way to Shelter 4. I... I don't know how bad it is now, but that's why we opened the hatch and came down here. One of the soldiers said we needed to turn on the backup SOS in the command center to get the Magical Knights' attention, and that they had more guns and knives than surviving soldiers. They only took volunteers, though. But the fact that a kid like me is down here means we’re in an absolutely fucked situation.”
Suddenly, the intercom flared to life again. I covered my ears, reeling in pain as I was wracked with a massive headache.
Then, an artificial feminine voice echoing in the still room.
"WARNING: Numerous mana signatures have been detected converging upon the front entrance of Shelter 2. Estimated Threat Level: 8.4. Omega level threats probable. Civilian evacuation is advised for all operatives. Failure to comply may result in intolerable civilian casualties."
A string of expletives, too raw and panicked to fully make sense of, slipped out of Spike’s mouth, his eyes wide in terror. He looked like he was about to break into tears. “Mom’s... she’s... she’s still in Shelter 2.”
I sucked in a breath, a chill washing over me. That's why Albert and the other survivors had been in such a hurry. It wasn't just about helping the civilians in Shelter 4, but all of them. An icy knot settled in my stomach as the scale of the situation hit me. The monsters had found a way into the shelters.
But still, something didn’t sit right with me about the situation. A warning had gone off for shelter 2, but why weren’t we tipped off about shelter 4 while we were in the tunnels?
A strangely notification prompt appeared before me, its words blazing with an almost comforting intensity.
----------------------------------------
[Quest Received: Survive The Onslaught]
Objective 1: Protect Refuge Zeta and its inhabitants from the monster horde until help can arrive.
Objective 2: Ensure Albert’s safety.
Objective 3: ???
Objective 4: ???
Failure Conditions:
Albert is deceased.
Sienna is deceased.
Reward: ???
----------------------------------------
Was Albert up there?!
A surge of adrenaline jolted me upright, momentarily pushing my lingering headache to the side. I had to act, and fast. I stood, wavering on unsteady feet, and braced myself against the wall. A brief vibration caught my attention, and I pulled out Violet Aster’s crystal.
“Shit." I spat out, clutching my head as a fresh surge of pain pulsed through my skull. The energy drain from the crystal Twilight Aster had given me was not helping at all. I was weak, disoriented, and completely unarmed.
But still, there was no choice.
There was no time for indecision, no time for doubt. Albert was in danger. Jacob's family was in danger. The civilians were in danger. And as overwhelmed as I was, there was a part of me, deep down, that accepted this. That understood I was the only one here who could do anything about it.
I had chosen to become a Magical Knight, after all. And I accepted the call without hesitation. I had made a choice, a commitment.
But why had I wanted to become one?
The truth was, I’d always sought some form of control over my life, a form of power and prestige, but that wasn’t my motivation. That hadn’t even been a thought at the time.
All I had wanted was to protect those I cared about.
Wasn't that why I had accepted Bastet's offer in the first place? To save Albert?
Yes. Yes it was. Finding him again in that weird, screwed up space had made me realize something important.
"Sienna?" Spike asked, his voice barely a whisper. "Are you...?"
"No," I interrupted, forcing myself to smile. "I'm not okay. But I can do this. I have to."
"But... You're unarmed. And you're still..."
"No," I said again, shaking my head. "I'm not unarmed. I have something... something better than a gun or knife."
I held up the crystal Twilight Aster had given me. "I have hope. And that's more powerful than any weapon I could wield."
It was a statement of faith, of conviction. A declaration that, even against impossible odds, I would not back down.
For Albert. For Jacob. For all the civilians depending on us. For myself.
And perhaps, in that moment, I truly understood what it meant to be a Magical Knight.
It wasn’t about the power. It wasn’t about the glitz and glam of being a super-powered hero in a magical girl costume.
No.
It was about hope. It was about love.
Hope, and the willingness to risk everything for what you cared about. To stand against the darkness, no matter how overwhelming, and declare, 'No more.'
As this revelation echoed within me, something clicked. My mind, body, and soul aligned in a moment of transcendent clarity. A surge of mana coursed through me, igniting every cell, every fiber of my being with an incandescent glow.
I felt my hair billow around me, changing from its usual brown to a vibrant, luminous, long strawberry blonde.
I felt a surge of energy flow back from Twilight’s Aster crystal, and suddenly the crystal burst to my surprise. I barely had time to blink in surprise as a staff materialized in my hand, its shaft radiating an auburn orange, almost golden light. An ornate, golden staff, tipped with a multifaceted crystal that shone with an iridescent glow. The moment I touched it, I felt a rush of raw power surge through me, the staff responding to my call as if it were an extension of my very being. It was like I'd known how to use it all my life. The staff radiated warmth, its light pulsating gently in sync with my heartbeat.
[Partial Transformation Unlocked:█▓▒░? ]
It was a part of me, an extension of my will, my hope, my resolve. It was more than a weapon, more than a tool, it was my voice against the darkness, my declaration of defiance against the odds.
I blinked in surprise as the light around me died down to normal, and my hair shortened back to the neck-length brunette I was used to.
I met his gaze, a worry I greeted with a gentle smile. "I promise, Spike. I'll do everything I can to help. I... We need to find your dad. If he's trying to send out an SOS, then he's our best bet. We need to get the signal out and hold off the monsters long enough for help to arrive. That’s our only chance.”
His eyes met mine, shimmering with fear but resolute. He nodded numbly.
"Spike," I started, my voice stronger than I felt. "Do you remember how to get to the command center from here?"
He seemed to consider my question for a moment, his brows furrowing. "Yeah," he said eventually. "I think I do."
"Good," I nodded, steadying myself as I slowly got to my feet. The world spun for a second before my vision adjusted. I blinked away the vertigo, clutching the staff for support.
I looked down at Spike, a sudden surge of determination cutting through the fog in my brain. He looked scared, yes, but there was a spark in his eyes that belied his fear. He was ready to fight, ready to help. Just like his dad. Looks like the apple didn’t fall far from the tree.
I clutched at the fabric of the oversized red hoodie as if it were a lifeline. It felt warm, comforting. Like a piece my best friend was still with me, still urging me on.
“I need you to get back to your dad. Tell the people you’re with that I’m going on up into Shelter 2 to help out. I'll try to buy everyone some time, keep those things distracted as long as I can."
“Wait! But…”
There was a beat of silence, then he nodded. "I'll do it. I'll tell them." His small chest puffed out, determination etched on his young face. A pang of guilt coursed through me. This was too much for a kid that hadn’t hit puberty yet, but we didn’t have much of a choice.
"There you go, Spike," I said, trying to muster up a brave smile for the kid. He didn't need to see my fear, my apprehension. I was supposed to be the Magical Knight cadet, the hero. And heroes didn't let the people they were protecting see them sweat.
I pulled myself up straighter, pushing the throbbing pain to the back of my mind. "And, Spike," I added, "Your dad is a hero. Don’t ever forget that. He's gonna help us all pull through this."
His gaze locked with mine, a spark of hope kindling in his wide eyes. I couldn't guarantee that, but I needed him to believe it. We all needed something to believe in right now. "Alright," he said, his voice quivering just slightly. "I'll tell them. But, Sienna… please, be careful."
"I will," I promised, a determination flaring in my chest. If not for me, then for Spike, for Albert, for Jacob and every single person trapped in this nightmare. I had a mission, a purpose. My heart clenched in my chest, a familiar sensation wrapping around me, pulling me, pushing me. This was it. This was my reason for fighting. To protect those who couldn’t protect themselves.
We quickly dismantled the makeshift barricade Spike had set up. As he scampered off, I took a deep, steadying breath, turning my gaze towards Shelter 2.
My heart pounded against my rib cage, each throb a harsh reminder of the reality I was facing. I was scared, yes, but fear was a funny thing. It could paralyze you, reduce you to a quivering mess, or it could fuel you, push you beyond your limits, make you do things you never thought you could.
I was alone. Unarmed. Drained. But I wasn't defenseless. I had something these monsters didn't have. I had a reason to fight. To protect. To save. It wasn’t just about survival anymore. It was about providing hope.
With a renewed sense of purpose, I turned towards the looming darkness of Shelter 2. The clock was ticking, each passing second a resounding drum in my ears. But I wasn’t about to let that stop me. My hands nervously clenched into fists at my sides, a surge of resolve washing over me.
“You… you can do this, Sienna,” I whispered to myself, the words cutting through the heavy air around me. It was time to face my fears, to rise above the chaos and uncertainty.
I thought about the old times. My childhood growing up.
Spike’s t-shirt had triggered an old memory in me. The afternoons Albert and I had spent playing video games built around the legendary Knight, and bonding over it.
I admired Arcadia Vox, not just for her strength, but for her compassion. She never backed down, no matter the odds. And now, I realized, I had to embody that same strength and determination for the people I represented.
I thought of my mother, alienated and sorrowful. Was she even still alive? If I made it out of this, the first thing I would do is apologize.
I thought back to the brief, bizarre encounter with the armored figure in that dark dimension.
“And… and Lux? It was an honor. I’m… I’m glad I could be your herald one last time. It’s been one hell of a ride.”
I took a deep breath and felt a change deep within me, a shift in my very being. My reason to fight. The warmth spread from my heart, flooding my body with a vibrant auburn energy that spilled forth, sweeping away the fatigue and fear.
I may not have mastered my transformation yet, but I was a Magical Knight in spirit. The essence of it, the heart, was within me.
With a final deep breath, I stepped forward, into the heart of the storm. My heart was a drum, the beat of my purpose, the rhythm of my resolve. I was Sienna, and I was ready to fight.
And so, armed with nothing more than the physical manifestation of my drive to protect, I opened my [Status] screen as I plunged into the dark tunnel that would lead to Shelter 2.
It was time to light the way.