If only the past were as easy to escape as the present. The memories of the wicked dead, their terrible peals of laughter as they ripped men apart, were always somewhere in the back of Liara’s mind whenever she had a moment of peace to herself. Yet if it was not the dead who haunted her, it was the living. Those final days on Crestline where men and women lost their minds and souls, sacrificing everything they had into the bonfires of the cult priests, praying for salvation to the Eyeless God. Not everything that was cast into those flames were inanimate and the memories of those cries were worst of all.
And then there was her brother…
The manarail glided over the empty streets of Apophyllion, the only thing for the young woman looking out the window to distract herself with being the occasional citizen walking their dog and the city itself. Liara’s gloom lifted somewhat and felt the same sense of wonder that she always did when the manarail reached its highest peak and the view of the capital was at its most beautiful. There were no shacks, industrial buildings, or mega highways marring the landscape, just miles of porcelain white towers and mansions that not only reflected the rising sun’s light, but absorbed it through the mana-circuitry latticed in their stone. The end result was a city of buildings that ethereally glowed each morning as the city took its daily breath of life.
It was such a contrast to what Liara was raised in, the calm awakening of the city was nothing like the hustle of her frontier home world. What little manatech was on that planet was hoarded by the wealthy and elite, while the rest of them had to make do with scraps from old colony ships and factories.
Liara could have cried remembering the place she had come from. People who had lived from day to day, scrabbling over one another like three billion rats packed in a small cage. She tried to push those memories out of her mind and focus on the present, but sometimes others took it upon themselves to remind her.
“Space Rat,” Liara’s daily reminder shrilled in her ear. “Dreaming of that garbage planet you’re from again?”
A quick punch to the throat would have shut the voice up, but Liara was practiced at shutting her own emotions down instead and resisted the impulse. Turning her whole body to look at the owner of the voice, Liara tried to put on her best smile since she knew the cameras were watching. The other girl was a blonde that was so light that it was almost as white as Liara's own hair, but the similarities ended there. Where Liara had gold eyes that shined with mana, the other girl’s were blue and so dark they were almost black. She was wearing the same academy uniform as Liara, and the red ribbons on their necks indicated they were both seniors, but nevertheless, Belle Noblesse made sure that Liara knew who was the better between the two.
“Can I help you, Belle?" Liara's smile widened until she felt like it would split her face in the seams, but she did not care if it looked weird or not, she just wanted this girl to go away.
The corner of Belle’s mouth twitched in a grimace and she rolled her eyes, a bored glint flashed in her eyes, “What, you didn’t miss me? I thought that we were friends Gee-Gee."
Liara twinged at being called that nickname for the first time in several months and on seeing that she was getting a reaction from the other girl, Belle’s instinct for blood kicked into overdrive.
“Gee-Gee please,” she snickered. “I really want us to have a fresh start this year. We both want the same thing, so why don’t we try to live up to academy standards? Beauty inside and out, right?”
She stressed the last word of the Magical Girl motto, with a flick of her eyebrows and Liara heard a handful of giggles and whispers from the other girls on the manarail. Liara told herself that they were just talking about something else, but she caught the word “Ghoul Girl” whispered in the faintest breath and she knew that they were talking about her. The city was so beautiful. Look a dog. A tree. Anything. She was trying to look at anything other than the mocking faces of Belle and her friends.
“You know I’m just playing Gee-Gee, no need to look so serious,” Belle poked Liara, which to a camera just looked like a playful jab, but to Liara, felt like a jolt numbing her arm as the other girl sent a small burst of mana through it.
Liara gritted her teeth and took it, she knew the other girl was trying to recreate what happened last year, but despite how good it felt, she could not do that again. The administration was quite clear on what the consequences of that would be.
Belle grew bored of Liara's stubborn silence and hopped over to a nearby seat with another of her friends. They did not even bother whispering this time when they spoke about her like she was not even there, but she told herself that she did not care, that what others said or thought of her did not matter. So why was she shaking and why did tears threaten to spill all over her face if she did not keep her mask of invincibility on?
A magical girl did not cry. A magical girl did not rage. A magical girl did not tower over other girls like some long-limbed freak.
“A magical girl does not bully her classmates.”
The teachers were quite clear on that last year when she finally gave Belle a taste of her own medicine. It was not even something especially violent, like a fireball or a stone shard, just a splash of water that she materialized on the blonde girl’s head.
Belle had cried, but it was such an exaggerated thing that Liara knew the other girl was just putting on an act. Yet what Liara thought or why she snapped at the other girl did not matter, it was the teachers and administration who came down hard on Belle's side whose opinions weighed anything and their opinions had been harshly directed at Liara with a two-week suspension and a red card warning.
One more incident, no matter how small, and she would be expelled.
Liara whipped out her phone and started scrolling through it. If looking out the window could not help her keep her mind off things, maybe scrolling through the web would help. Her favorite site was the Magical Girl Fan Fiction Forum, but no one had replied to any of her posts nor had she gained any followers on her latest story. Seeing that she only had eight followers put her right back into the mood she was trying to escape; it reminded her of her below-average stat block.
Every other girl in the academy had at least an average of tens across the board, except for Liara whose strength and vitality bordered between below average and deficient with their sevens. Of course, she had a special ability, the only reason the academy was still considering her as a magical girl, and that ability was her minor vitality regeneration, but she was not so proud of that anymore. Liara had foolishly shown other girls her stats and when they saw her regeneration ability coupled with her pale, sickly appearance, the nickname "Ghoul Girl" had been born.
The goosebumps that appeared on her arms let Liara know that the manarail had just crossed into academy grounds. Apophyllion’s Magical Girl Academy was renowned not only for its prestigious graduates but also for its impressive mana crystal and converter system. The system was so powerful that any individual with a modicum of mana-sensing capabilities could tell when they entered the field that the system exuded.
Where the buildings of the city were sleek, white, and modern, the academy preferred more cozy architecture in the form of predominantly red brick and mortar. Despite the callback to simpler times, the school had put every effort into making the campus as clean and updated as possible in every other way. A new update this year was the mana golems silently perched in front of every building like gargoyles. Unlike a scary gargoyle that reminded people too much of Yabanchi, these golems were designed to be fat and unintimidating looking.
“I’m sure they could still crush anything they wanted to,” she muttered.
After a few more minutes, which blessedly did not involve any more encounters with Belle, the manarail stopped and all the girls clambered off and onto the school platform. Dr. Holzer, the fourth-year dean, was there, seemingly waiting for everyone and tapping one of his expensive running shoes. He was one of the younger professors, sandy-haired and a bit on the pudgy side, but he acted like he expected everyone to respect him immediately, regardless of who they were. Liara recalled the unfortunate berating she endured the last time she forgot to call him "Doctor" instead of "Mister”.
“Girls, girls, shut up now. Ok, thank you.” He raised his hands and fluttered them at his listening crowd. “You’re all late. Yes, we know the manarail had a delay. You need to catch up if you want to start classes today. First years, you follow me, I can show you where you need to go. Everyone else needs to go to the administration building and follow up with them there. Kay?”
The girls who had experienced Dr. Holzer's eccentricities knew that there was not much they could do other than reply "Yes Doctor Holzer" simultaneously. Though the senior girls were essentially being left to fend for themselves, Liara felt almost bad for the first years who would have to deal with him all day. After watching all the other upperclassmen girls grab their luggage and gather into the groups that would likely be their friends for the rest of the year, Liara did the same and pulled out the only suitcase she owned.
“Mmm, welcome back Miss Lengstrom,” Mr. Holzer had stopped lecturing the gaggle of first years still with him and turned a glinting eye at her. He had been the loudest in berating her last year with the Bella incident and by the smile tugging at the corner of his lips, she was sure that he had not forgotten either.
"Good day Doctor Holzer," Liara curtsied, lifting her dress just slightly enough to reveal her gangly legs. "If I may take my leave, Doctor Holzer." It was not a question and she was not going to wait to see if the professor would reply as she grabbed her luggage and dashed out of the manarail platform and towards the administration building.
The academy admin building was unsurprisingly the nicest one on campus. Generations of generous donations had turned the original one-story tall building into a twenty-floor giant. The original building was still there, but it had been turned into the front lobby for the rest of the offices. As it was the first day of school, the admin staff was in full force and one of the office bureaucrats was able to see Liara immediately despite the multitude of other girls that were there too.
If only the paperwork was as easy.
Since Liara was from off-world, adopted, and a temporary ward of the city while she was on academy grounds, there was a pile of papers that she had to have prefilled out every year, along with a folder of certificates and identification crystals that were required. The fact that she had two middle names did not help the situation in the slightest. After nearly an hour of going between several different desks and workers, Liara had finally finished filling out most of the required material, the rest she would have to email in the next two weeks. With that out of the way, Liara was free to saunter to the Senior Academy Apartments.
No expense was spared for the taxpayer-funded academy housing, since as far as the leaders of Apophyllion were concerned, the earlier they got on a future Magical Girl's good side, the better. Liara was not going to complain about having a room to herself that was bigger than the home she grew up in. Not only did it have its own kitchen, but more importantly there was a private bathroom, which was huge for a young woman who had image problems.
Looking at the time, Liara saw that her first class was not for another few hours, so she laid down for a nap and dreamt of white beaches.
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The officer of the day received another annoying ping from the satellite surveillance system. He wished he could just go against every protocol in the book and mute the thing, but he also did not want to get fired. The object that was being monitored and causing all this commotion was an unscheduled transport ship that had hopped in the system and was on a direct course planet-side.
The IFF tag was working properly, as was the identified ship silhouette scan, but there was no communication between Satellite Command and this incoming ship, the Pandora.
It was not like something like this had not happened before, communication arrays had a nasty habit of breaking down in void travel, but there was protocol to follow. Consequently, the surveillance officer requisitioned an interceptor to do a fly-by and establish short-wave radio comms with the Pandora. An annoying security demand, but one that was quickly brushed off to someone else.
Settling back in his chair, the surveillance officer cracked open a new novel about a chicken that had learned how to use mana control, ignoring the silhouette of the Pandora blinking on his screens and drawing closer.
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After she woke up, Liara explored the halls of the academy’s west classrooms. They were largely the same as the other classrooms, with the checkered floors, and aluminum plating wherever it could be stuck on, but what always fascinated Liara was the lighting system.
The lighting system had the standard bulb illumination, but running in lines that started on the ground and ran along the walls to the ceiling were mana trails that could be used for a number of things, such as a teacher tracking their students when they left to go to the bathroom or as an emergency lighting system.
There were already other students wandering the hallways and she did not want to get lost, so Liara picked up her steps and activated one of the mana trails with a hand wave and thought. The crystals on the ceiling made a glowing red spot that hung over her head for a moment before darting off down the hallway. Liara followed the moving trail until it terminated over a classroom door with a gentle boop that reminded her of an elevator.
Fortunately, despite her nap, Liara was the first student to get to class. Even the professor was not there, but the holographic projector was already on one of his slides, perhaps one from a previous class.
A familiar magical girl, that everyone grew up knowing, was frozen over the front wall. She was wearing pink armor, but there were no frills or ribbons like magical girls sometimes wore on domestic patrols. No, this one was dressed in battle armor that was only so aesthetically pleasing since it clung to her body like a second skin, yet Liara knew that despite its appearance, a Magical Girl's armor could deflect a direct shot from a tank.
The girl's hair was red, complementing the dark pink of her attire, and it flowed behind her in the image, she was a Valkyrie of vengeance dealing death to her foes. In this particular image, the magical girl was Fiona Vengrade, the woman renowned for her part in the Justice War and putting an end to the machinations of the vile Imps.
Liara reached out and put a hand through the hologram, wishing she could be like that too. She was already tall, but she lacked the confidence to carry her height like Fiona, who despite being only a hair over five feet, carried herself like someone twice that size.
Liara stood there for another moment before she tapped the hologram projector and shut it off. She was in the academy to become a Magical Girl too, but in the years that she had been attending so far, she never felt like that dream would become a reality.
To be a magical girl was to be the physical embodiment of everything good their society honored: beauty, honor, integrity, and of course, courage. Yet in her nightmares, Liara did not feel like she could fulfill the duty of a magical girl like she was supposed to.
Yabanchi, howling demons from other worlds and dimensions constantly assaulted the boundaries of human civilization and it was one of the main duties of a magical girl to throw those assaults back and into the pit from whence they had come.
Could she do it? The last time she had even seen one of those things from a distance she had frozen up.
“I don’t think you have what it takes to be a magical girl.”
The words from her proctor still haunted her to this day. It was not just freezing up when she saw the enemy, Liara wished it was, but she knew it was so much more.
The magical girl she would make would not be a greater-than-life hero to inspire the masses, no she could only envision a shadow of the woman that proudly stood before her in holographic form. Pale skinned with white hair that only highlighted the fact that she was a skinny girl with stork legs. Liara may have had a pretty face going for her, but in a world where mana shaping could easily restructure anyone’s looks into statuesque perfection, she was average and awkward.
"Hey, nerd girl!" The voice of another student entering the room lifted Liara's heart with a skip of joy because that voice belonged to one of the few people she loved in the world.
Talia Jones wheeled into the classroom, and a mischievous look danced in her eyes. While Liara thought that Fiona carried herself well, Talia was on a whole different level, she was like a force of joy and positivity that blew into whatever room she entered. Where Liara’s skin was pale, Talia’s was porcelain and accentuated the cascade of black hair that flowed down her back and over the wheelchair.
“Good to see you too Tail Bones.” Liara tried to give the other girl her best look of contempt that she could muster, but it deflated almost as soon as it appeared and the girls wrapped around one another in a hug.
“I thought that I would find you here early. Always trying to get the best seat in the house.”
It was more like Liara did not want to walk into a classroom and face the stares of the other students, but Talia knew that. She was probably there early for the same reason, but she did not let that show.
Liara mumbled the old adage about the early bird getting the worm and slunk to the back of the classroom, finding her favorite place to sit in the far right corner. Sitting next to the wall like that made it easier for Talia to wheel up to the desk next to her, plopping the thick history textbook down, and resting her face on her cheek.
“Ok, what’s up? I know you like putting on the doom and gloom act, but it’s ratcheted up to eleven today.”
"It's nothing," Liara replied, opening her textbook, and pretending to read a chapter on the city's founding. "It's just the first day of school, you know."
“And let me guess, that banchi Belle Noblesse was messing with you again?”
Liara dug even deeper into the textbook and shrugged at the question without giving a response. This chapter described how Apophyllion was founded over three hundred years ago with the formation of the Unity Compact. The triumvirate of the Magical Girls, Allied Nations, and ME-GO had decided that a neutral territory would be beneficial for-
“Stop ignoring me, Liara. I think I know what it’s like to get picked on too."
The book Liara was reading slammed down on the table and she glared at the other girl, but seeing the look of hurt on what was essentially her only friend in the world, dumped a load of ice on the anger that had been building up in her all day.
“I’m sorry Talia, yes, she was acting a little worse than she usually does today. I think she was trying to make up for all the lost time this summer.”
“What, and the teachers still don’t do anything about it?”
“Last time I told them, they told me that it was just her way of playing around.”
“Holzer told you that, didn’t he?”
Liara tried shrugging and looked at the book again, but Talia stopped that with a none-too-gentle hand placed over the cover. "If that guy acted half as professional as he pretends to be, then all this nonsense with Belle would be put to an end!”
Talia was probably the smartest girl in their entire academy class, and she got along with just about everyone. Mr. Holzer would give her one of his rare smiles whenever he saw her, and Belle kissed up to her too, since having Talia as a project partner was usually a way for a guaranteed A. Yet people still talked behind her back. Mocked her disability. Liara did not know if that was worse or better than being mocked to your face, but it ingrained a kind of kinship in them since they were first years together.
The first time they had met was when Belle was teasing Liara on the very first day of school. Liara remembered that day vividly since that was the day her Ghoul Girl moniker had been born. Belle had asked innocently if she could look at Liara's stats and Liara trying to fit in, complied. After seeing her regenerative talent, Belle had quickly gathered other girls to come and see and they had all looked at Liara like a freak. Belle had gotten especially vicious and surrounded Liara with a pack of her goons, mocking her, but Talia had wheeled up between everyone and flashed her own stats for public viewing. Except for her vitality stat, every single one was across the board was above average, and her mana pool was even more impressive, reaching the "exceptional" level.
Stunning everyone with that display, Talia asked Belle what her stats were, but Belle had refused immediately to show anyone, saying that such things were private. Talia had seemingly expected that and grabbed Liara's hand, wheeling away, remarking, "Probably below average anyway." Belle had not directly brought up stats ever since.
Liara listened to her best friend rattle off about the teachers and school system’s inadequacy for another minute until she spoke up and asked how Talia’s summer had been.
“Same as usual. Lots of mana control training camp and studying. Not very exciting.”
“Isn’t mana control training and studying what you normally do for fun?”
Talia blinked and laughed, “Yeah, but it’s not as fun when you’re being forced to do it.”
“Well, that’s nice.”
“Don’t just say that, what about you?” Talia, shook Liara’s shoulder with a wicked grin, “Did you see that paladin this summer?”
Liara gulped and felt her face burning. Steeling her fingers she replied, “Yes, but nothing happened. We just said hello a few times.”
Talia blew a lock of her hair and leaned back, groaning, “You live right next door to a paladin, who is our age, and you just say ‘hello’? If I was you, I would have been knocking on his door already.”
“Why would he want anything to do with me? I’m not even a magical girl.”
“We’re going to be ones, aren’t we?”
Liara did not answer, since she was afraid that what she would say would not just hurt herself, but Talia’s feelings too.
Breaking the silence, Talia wrapped on the table a couple of times and asked, “Did you read the latest chapters of that web novel I told you about?”
“Uh, Innocence Lost or something?”
“Insouciance Lost, girl. Come on, tell me you did not read it without telling me you did not even read it.”
Liara sighed, “I don’t even know what that word means.”
“If you read it, you’d know.”
“Well, it has like fifty thousand chapters, who has time to read that?”
"You did read it," Talia would have jumped out of her chair and would have fallen over if she had not grabbed the table for support. "And it's not fifty thousand chapters, you're exaggerating."
“It’s just some stupid kid looking for a stick. I got bored after the first chapter.”
“It picks up, I promise.” Talia was leaning as far as she could over Liara’s desk, eyes drilling into her. “You were just gaming all summer, weren’t you?”
Liara gave an exaggeratedly wide smile at her friend, "The school said that it’s good for our studies."
“It’s good to build up those calluses on your thumbs!”
Liara started counting off on her fingers, “Stat allocation, Yabanchi weaknesses, mana combinations,-“
“Burning eyes, headaches, and losing sleep. Yeah, I get it, doesn’t mean you should just be a shut-in and play games all day."
Liara burst out laughing, to the point that her eyes started to tear up around the edges and the hollowness inside her seemed a little more distant. Talia could not keep up the stern look and laughed along with her, the two of them feeling a little more complete being with their best friend. The summer had been long and lonely, but in the moment it felt like they had better days ahead.
A voice that may as well have been screeching nails on a chalkboard broke their moment, “Oh, hi girls! Talia, long time no see.”
Liara’s tears of laughter cleared away immediately when she saw Belle Noblesse standing in the classroom doorway. Walking in with her usual imperial gait, Belle strode to the back and sat right next to Talia and Liara. Hands propping up her head, she tilted her face and smiled like she was expecting to be let in on some private joke.
"Do you need something, Belle?" Talia's tone made it clear that she was not going to brook any nonsense from the blonde girl today.
“My history grade was not too hot last semester. I need some help with this class.”
“Oh really? Given your history, I would have thought that you’d be an expert at reading and talking about other people.”
Belle’s smile froze on her face and she glanced at Liara, the muscles twitched back to life to let her say, “Liara, dear, can’t you tell Talia that we should start off this year fresh?”
Liara was torn, she did not want to just let everything be swept under the rug, but if it meant that Belle would be a little nicer to her this year, then it might be worth it to play along.
Talia saw the stress and confusion on Liara’s face and jumped in, “I know you didn’t start fresh this morning. Liara didn’t tell me what you did, but you need to back off from my friend.”
Belle’s mask of invincibility slipped for a moment in facing Talia’s defiance, but she put it back on immediately and laughed, “I was just trying to tell her the exact same thing this morning, I’m going to be a magical girl by the end of the year and I just want this last semester to be smooth as possible.”
The way that Belle just bold-faced lied with a grin and a wink made Liara feel something twitch in her face, her heart hammered in her chest, and something grabbed control of her voice, making her say, "She’s lying. She gave me a jolt of mana in the arm. It took almost an hour for the numbness to wear off.”
This time Belle’s mask came off and did not get reapplied. Talia gently put her hand on Belle’s and the blond girl gasped in pain and whipped it back like she had been bitten.
“There, all even now,” Talia said.
“You banchi! I could report you!”
“You did it to Liara this morning didn’t you?” Talia shrugged, “So, go ahead. But don’t expect any help with homework this semester if you do.”
Belle looked back and forth between the shocked Liara and satisfied Talia, her rage slowly settling until the mask was back on again and she whispered, “Don’t think this is over cripple.”
It was one thing to mock her, Liara was used to that, but hearing Belle mock Talia switched something hot on inside Liara’s brain. She whispered back, "Bold of someone in water-dousing range to say that."
With a screech from the sliding chair, Belle showed away from their desks and tramped over to the front of the classroom. By the way her back was trembling, it was obvious that she was furious, and no doubt she would try and get back at the two of them, but for a moment, Liara felt like they had won.
Talia was not looking at their bully, but her friend instead. They smiled, basking in their shared victory, and just as Liara was about to say something, the lights went out.
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The Interceptor from Surveillance Command had finally reached the incoming transport ship, the Pandora. When he was within range the human pilot of the interceptor attempted to initiate short-wave radio contact with the other vessel. This would normally work, as a ship would have to have undergone serious trauma for even their hardened emergency communication radio to be inoperable, but the pilot only received static after several minutes of attempts.
“Command 1, this is EF-2, I’m not getting any response.”
Unlike his attempts at contacting the Pandora, Command responded immediately, “Confirmed EF-2. Move into visual range of the Pandora. We want a confirmation of their status before we send a repair trawler in after you.”
The Allied Naval fighter obeyed and boosted his spacecraft with high-density mana so that the distance between him and the transport ship was closed in minutes instead of hours. As his scanner indicated that he was within visual range of the other ship, the pilot stopped the boost and was saved from being turned into jelly by the field generator on his fighter.
Activating his torch lights, that were so powerful that they could blind unprotected eyes with a glance, the pilot finally saw why the Pandora was not communicating.
The Pandora had been transformed and now huge swathes of its external superstructure had been replaced with archaic stone, wriggling flesh, and bone. The pilot was dumbstruck as he stared at the ship and the ship stared back.
“Command! Command! Launch interceptor squadrons now! It’s the Yabanchi! I repeat it’s the Yabanchi!”
The pilot’s voice never reached the waiting ears of Surveillance Command, as it was swallowed up by the dark jamming magics of the creatures on board. Neither did anyone hear his screams as his ship was crushed by an invisible force and the flattened wreckage was swallowed by the void. No one realized what was happening until the Pandora was within jump range of the planet beneath it and the occupants of her bowels poured forth onto the unsuspecting planet below.