Zade woke up with tears in his eyes. Groaning hard, he wondered what his dream was about, but those thoughts were disturbed by the haze dominating his mind and the feeling of the soft bed under his body.
“Good morning, love,” said a gentle, sweet voice beside him. He startled for a moment before recalling who she was. Had she been watching him sleeping all this time? He was just barely able to raise a smile to his lips. “How do you feel?”
“…Terrible,” he admitted. “Well, a bit less now, since you’re here…”
A small giggle. “Don’t worry, I’ll make it better. Wait a bit.”
Long, flowing hair adorned with an orange flower and a lithe body clad in a simple gown rose from the bed. That was the figure of the woman he loved—or at least, it was supposed to be. Recently, he wasn’t so sure anymore. He was living in constant contradictions and doubts.
Zade grunted, raising his upper body from the bed as well. He still felt so, so tired. He was painfully aware of how his formerly well-sculpted body had withered away. He definitely wasn’t as active as he used to be, stuck in the current predicament as he was.
Even now he was in the bedroom of what he knew to be a massive, hollowed-out mushroom growing under the ground. It was messed up and more than a bit confusing, but he’d already grown used to it, more or less.
At least he still had his wife Alima at his side.
Or did he?
“Here you go.” This soft voice drifting along with a sweet smell cut off his line of thought and almost seemed to cure his fatigue as well.
“Thanks,” he mumbled sleepily and took the warm cup to his hands. He put it to his lips, tilted it and felt the hot liquid filling his mouth. He relished the taste and swallowed.
It was a strange sensation. His head was drowned by something, but then immediately cleared up. His lips naturally formed a smile.
“Now come on, sleepyhead,” told him the giggling Alima while pulling on his hand. “We have to see the Ruler today.”
Right… they had to see them again. His headache lessened, Zade ruminated for the thousandth time on how he’d gotten there in the first place.
It all began during the 400th year of Rumdon, or more precisely a bit before it. Zade, his wife Alima and their comrades all arrived at a bustling town called Hayden that was close to the world’s edge.
“It’s really pretty here,” said Alima, looking around her. Surprisingly, it was greener there than it was near the mountain; the town was surrounded by forests and quite a few farming villages.
“Not as pretty as you,” he said to her nonchalantly.
“Stop, you idiot. How can you say those cliches with a straight face?” she said, giggling and punching his shoulder playfully. Oh, how he loved her smile. How he loved the way her body moved when she made the juggling performance that she was somewhat famous for.
How he loved her.
The pair then took a stroll around town. They’d usually spend their entire time with the other members of the troupe and had almost no privacy, so when they reached towns, it was a nice change of pace. Walking hand in hand and chatting about the surroundings and their plans for the upcoming show, they had no idea what was about to transpire.
“Gods, what is going on?!”
“RUN!”
As the sun began to vanish from the sky, Hayden was in chaos all of a sudden. Dozens of large, phantasmal beasts poured from dark tentacles hanging in the skies. It felt as if the end of the world was coming. People ran around the streets and there was no safe place to hide.
Zade and Alima collapsed to the ground after a man bumped into them while running. Zade groaned in pain, immediately rising to his wobbling feet, but one of the monsters had already appeared behind his wife.
“Alima!” he screamed, instinctively activating his sparse channeling ability to try and push the monster back.
Usually, his channeling was just good enough to make some little tricks, and even those he had to supplement with icons. He wasn’t even as talented as his wife. Still, the effect was somewhat more than he expected and it helped stun the monster while Alima got to her legs.
“Zade… what are we going to…?” she mumbled, breathing rapidly with tears of fear streaming down her eyes.
He bit his lips hard. He had no idea what was going on and where they could be safe. How could something like this even happen? For now, they had to get back to their lodging, find the others and then perhaps escape town. Securing a weapon could also be useful, though they were no fighters.
Unfortunately, he spent too much time thinking about it, and so paid no heed to the horrible reptile-insect that snuck up behind him.
“Zade!”
His body lurched and he was flung some distance away. He realized far too late that his wife had used her channeling to throw him away.
Why? Why had she done this? Why had she not done the same to the beast itself?
No matter how many times he asked himself that question, the result remained unchanged. He got up just as he heard as his wife’s scream of agony and a wet crunch.
He nearly fainted on the spot. Perhaps it was only pure shock that kept him conscious. No words could describe how he felt when he saw what happened where he stood just a moment ago. He froze, emitting a scream full of primal horror, anger and grief out of his throat a moment later.
“AlimaaaaAAAAHHHHHH?!”
There was no time to cry or even run away, for at that moment the world around Zade sprang into action, although seeming terribly slow. Something landed nearby with a great tremor, a black object flashed in front of his eyes and the horrible scene he had been witness to completely vanished out of sight, leaving only a red blotch on the ground.
“…Huh?” Zade could only make that stupid-sounding sound before he felt something impact with his body.
As he groaned and reflexively closed his eyes, upon opening them he found himself in air. Literally in the sky, looking above the town, while his body was wrapped around something black and rubbery.
“Aaaahhhh?!!”
Without understanding anything that was happening to him, he then felt as if his body was being squeezed from all directions—as if he was being pushed into an extremely narrow tunnel, as the world around him spun with colors and sounds.
This sensation, wrought with pain and fear, was the last thing he felt in Plainland before losing his consciousness.
What… did you just say?
Niu widened her eyes and let her mouth hang open, a decidedly non-queenly expression, but for a good reason. Everyone present was also similarly stunned at what they just heard.
There was no way to misinterpret what the Stroban hostage had just told them: that their tribe had another person from Plainland, just like them. Niu and the rest had of course already been informed about the many dead people that crossed between the worlds. These corpses, unfortunately, told no additional clues about the method of travel, except that it was possibly extremely dangerous.
If there really was a human kept by the Stroba, however, it was possible they would be able to provide them with more information. More important, of course, was the fact that they’d found another comrade.
Recovering from this shock, Niu made her next question through the small laborer: “Is that really true? Tell us everything, about it.”
Hesitating for a bit, Sorch began talking. Apparently, all those years ago, when the waves first began, a living “faerie” had been found in Stroban territory. They, of course, had also received reports that a similar thing happened in Kalden from their own spies.
“So there was someone else, all this time,” mumbled Gen in disbelief, his eyes wide. That might serve to explain some things about the Stroba’s behavior so far. For two long, long years, with their many turns and upheavals, it was surprising to find out something like that so nearby.
“Do you feel bad for them, then?” Roah asked coldly.
“Of course I do—“ Gen started.
“I wasn’t talking to you,” Roah interjected angrily. He gestured at the still-bound fairy standing in front of the throne, focusing his eye on them. “Why have you come here?”
“…Yes, we could no longer keep seeing them like that,” Sorch said softly, glancing at their comrades also standing nearby. “The Ruler had been drugging them from the very beginning so they’d follow their orders…”
Niu winced. She herself had experienced one of the Stroba’s concoctions. Albeit temporarily, it altered her way of thinking and feeling. Afterwards she felt not only disgusted with herself, but completely helpless. This brought some very unpleasant memories that made her clench her fists and her teeth.
If the Stroba really were keeping the other human on similar drugs for this long, how horrible was his condition by now?
“We thought you’d be our saviors, that you will help us defeat the Demons,” said the fairy, seemingly holding back tears, “we didn’t want to use you like that…! At least not us, the saplings who followed orders…”
“Only following orders, huh?” chided Roah. “A convenient excuse.”
But as far as Niu could judge, their plea sounded genuine. She could clearly picture the situation in her mind, judging by the reaction of her own subjects. Her grip on the throne tightened. She knew what they had to do.
The moment she was about to broadcast her intentions to NiU to announce them to everyone, a voice came from the throne room’s door.
“An urgent message arrived, for the Queen,” bellowed the uninflected voice of a laborer. Since everyone had been ordered to stay away unless there was an emergency, it had to be something urgent indeed.
Bring it, she ordered. Rushing toward her and under the watchful eyes of everyone present, the laborer handed out a small paper note.
What? Niu exclaimed in her mind upon reading it. The Goddess is under attack?!
“…Was this just a diversion, then?” Gen said after Niu told them of the report.
“What?” Sorch and their comrades all looked confused.
Lured away by the strange hostages, they left the Goddess behind… so that the Stroba could attack it? Even Niu found it unlikely. The timing was also rather weird for that. Why would it happen right now and not, for example, a day after they’d left?
“I don’t think so,” said Roah, looking contemplative. “But, well, I can’t deny this might be some part of their plan.”
“We did know about the Demon,” Sorch admitted, “but we haven’t heard anything about a planned attack.”
“Maybe they were also, trying to find you,” said NiU’s voice.
“Yes, if what you’ve told us is the truth—they already know you’ve been gone for some time now,” said Roah.
“That sounds likely,” the fairy said, licking their lips nervously.
Neither option changed what they had to do. If those stupid Stroba actually attacked the Goddess herself they stood no chance, but even the limited forces at Somalir should be able to handle them. The question was how to treat the earlier discovery.
Niu’s rumination was stopped short by another interruption. “Another message has, arrived,” a laborer arrived and informed them again.
Thinking that it was just an update on the situation over at Somalir, Niu read the text and then furrowed her brows.
“The attack was not, made by the, Stroba’s hands,” NiU announced, to everyone’s surprise. “It was actually the, Makin.”
The Makin were a tribe of fairies living in the vast plains to the north of Kalden. Originally, they were Kalden’s allies, but the situation had changed in recent years.
“What do these traitors want now…?” Aisbroom wondered aloud.
At first it appeared that the Makin were pleased at the changes brought to Kalden, but then they conducted a large-scale assassination attempt. As it turned out, the Makin didn’t revere the “faeries” as the other tribes; they apparently believed that outsiders shouldn’t take control like that.
The assassination attempt had been foiled, and Kalden treated the Makin as their enemies ever since then, although they made no further bold actions until now.
“If the Stroba heard about the Goddess, then obviously the Makin have, too. Have they started cooperating?” Roah turned this last question to the hostages.
The two tribes were not known to have any ties, but it was possible that they got in contact once the Makin turned hostile, cooperating against their shared enemy.
“N-not that I know of…” one hostage mumbled worriedly. Once again, their response sounded genuine.
Oh well. Then perhaps it really was an unrelated incident with suspicious timing. The situation was unchanged; the Goddess and the Somalir forces should be enough against the Makin. If so, then they had to return to the real matter at hand.
“Now, what shall we do, about you…?” Niu asked through her small laborer. “I know. Since you are, already our hostages, we can suggest, a trade.”
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A great, great distance away, there was the sea, with its fierce waves hitting the craggy area surrounding the great Eastern Mountains. Near it was a small beach, and a unit of a couple dozen soldiers set up their makeshift base there.
The place was understandably uncomfortable, but there was something refreshing about the breeze and the view, he felt. Waking up at sunrise to hear the seagulls screeching and head out to the beach for a light workout was a new, interesting experience.
Presently it was early noon so temperature was rising. There were barely any places to take shade, so the soldiers walked toward the village for a small break, preferring that to their cramped, sandy tents.
“Think we can go for a swim soon?”
“The Lieutenant’s never gonna agree…” quipped another.
“And you’re only saying that because you want to frolic on the beach with Sattha, you perve—“
“S-shut up, dumbass, she’s right over there!”
Revol heard these voices at the edge of his hearing range and sighed. Were his soldiers really treating this as a vacation? Even if they were currently on break, he felt that they needed to serve as a better example.
Even this far out into the very edge of Rumdon, they had to remember their position. That was what it meant to belong to the army.
Many things changed for Revol during these last two years. Although there was barely any fighting to be done after the third and final (thus far) wave, he’d somehow found himself in charge of a small unit of channelers that went around the kingdom, training in various environments. Even he wasn’t quite sure how it ended up like this.
He and his comrades now set up their camp near Abran, a small fishing village at the bottom of the mountain that faced the sea—meaning, more than an entire mountain separated him from his hometown of Hayden, and on the other side of the sea was their enemy, Sacrona.
There were of course the recent escalating tensions, although they had already been there for about a month. Now Revol’s unit was being told to look out for any sign of the Sacronian navy or any other threat from that direction.
He felt like that was too heavy of a burden for such a small and experimental unit, but he obviously couldn’t argue against his superiors.
How could the others act so carefree in that situation? Revol simply couldn’t understand them, but that was perhaps due to his role and responsibility as their commander. Well, since things were so peaceful and dull here, they were bound to lose their focus and motivation. Especially when spending so much time out in the salty air. Having come from a small but heavily populated town, he still found this a novel experience.
Gazing at the ocean as if seeing all the way to their enemies, Revol noticed something.
A few boats were apparent on the horizon, coming back to shore. However, that was odd; the village’s fishermen would usually not come back this early in the day. If it had been only one boat, then perhaps, but there were several of them.
“That was one giant freaking crab.”
“Think we can eat it?”
“Seriously? You’re saying that after that tuna made you puke so hard?”
“All of you, shut up now,” Revol cried, silencing his soldiers’ chattering, “and watch the sea.”
He obviously tensed up. Even from afar he could tell these were definitely not enemy boats, but what if that was what they wanted them to think? An attack force disguised as civilians was not unheard of. Even if unlikely to come from Sacrona.
Finally, a single boat reached the shore and Revol moved to intercept it, hand on his weapon. Just like he thought, the boat contained nothing but a single, aged man, his fishing tools and a bucket of fish. The man did, however, look extremely pale and upon noticing the soldiers, called out toward them.
“Help! Help! We’re under attack!” he croaked.
With Revol’s suspicions turning out to be true, the tension around grew even further. He heard some of the other soldiers shout toward those who lingered behind.
“A Sacronian attack?!” one soldier spat.
“I’ll go inform the others!” another said, breaking into a run.
“No, no,” the old man barely mumbled, slightly wheezing, his eyes wide as he looked around, “it’s, it’s monsters!”
“…What?” spat Revol after a short but very shocked silence.
Glancing at the sea, so calm and reassuring mere minutes ago, he felt like he could see it—just behind the fleeing boats, there were large, black shapes moving on the sea surface, riding the waves.
Creatures of darkness were coming.
As always, Zade was taken by Alima to the small room with the moldy smell. He didn’t like it there. She acted so used to all of this, but even after all this time it felt as strange and alien as it did the first time.
Unlike the rest of Marmony—the capital and main base of the Stroba—it was made of mostly rock rather than ground. A patch of luminescent mushrooms grew from the carved table at the center, casting a ghastly but powerful light on the surroundings.
“Ah, Zade and my dear Monan,” a soft voice welcomed them. It belonged to an already seated fairy who had a thick, wide barrel-like body and a smile even wider than that, their hair a mess of dirty golden locks.
“Moanin, you can’t keep calling—“ Alima argued.
“Enough. They won’t notice anyway,” Moanin, the Ruler of the Stroba, said with a smile.
Zade scowled while thinking to himself. Were they talking about him…? He felt like he both could and couldn’t understand the implications of their conversation. It was giving him a slight headache, so he lightly shook his head and just stopped thinking about it.
“…Why have you called us here today?” Zade found himself asking instead.
Moanin wore one of their creepily wide smiles. Zade found them very disturbing, like they were some kind of hungry toad. “It appears that the deserters have made contact with Kalden.”
“Those guys,” Alima muttered sadly.
“Kalden… that was the place with the other people like me, right?” Zade asked, immediately feeling a spark of rage flickering inside him. He clenched his shaking fists and set his jaw.
Moanin nodded gravely. “Such foolish children they are. What do they hope to achieve by that, I wonder? Do they really wish to set the wrath of Kalden upon us?”
“Can’t our spies do anything?” asked Alima, something pained in her expression.
“They are currently extremely limited. Boum and their unit were our best, and since the Ruler changed, they cracked down hard on any Stroban involvement… only very few still remain. Not to mention that nearly all of our tunnels had already been closed off.”
Zade noticed that for some reason Alima flinched at those words. She was always a kind and caring woman, so perhaps she sympathized with the spies’ plight.
“What can we do?” he then asked desperately. He couldn’t really understand all this complicated talk, but the conclusion was obvious enough—they were still powerless against Kalden. His head was hurting him again.
“Indeed, about that.” After their solemn talk, Moanin’s mouth widened yet again. “How much do you know about Demons?”
“Demons…?” It was an unfamiliar term.
“I think they call them Gods,” said Alima. Something was strange about the way she phrased this, but that made him understand.
“Oh, the Gods. There are many stories about them. Like how they created the sun, and all that… and how they exiled all of you to another world.”
Moanin leaned forward and whispered, “One of your so-called Gods is now here.”
“…What?”
Even after delivering such a shocking announcement, Moanin kept smiling. Alima was just as speechless as Zade, though. Perhaps even more.
“That’s impossible,” he muttered.
“Is it, now? Well, perhaps it is. However, whatever it is, a foreign, powerful being now resides near Somalir, a town not far from here. That is a fact. And it doesn’t seem that Kalden knows what to do with it, either, if it really is a God… how about you?”
Zade never really believed in the Gods. Perhaps he even disdained them, considering what happened to him. He couldn’t even begin to imagine what could be done with them or how they operated.
“Sorry. I wasn’t big on religion, really.” However, he then recalled another fact and spoke. “But Alima actually came from Sacrona, a country where they worship the Gods. Maybe you know something?” He turned to her.
Alima blinked in confusion for a second. “What? Oh, um… yes, you’re right, of course. But, err, those things never really interested me… haha. Sorry, Zade.” Zade couldn’t understand why she was suddenly so flustered while answering that, but apparently she didn’t know much about the Gods, either. Right, that hardly ever came up in their conversations. They both wanted to forget about their pasts.
“No matter, no matter,” Moanin said cheerfully. “I am sure we will find something eventually. I have a good feeling about this… Demons, wretched as they are, seem to be connected to you faeries. If the Ruler of Kalden was unable to find rapport with it, perhaps you will…”
“Yes!” Alima also sounded happy. “I know you’d be able to do something, Zade. You’re so strong and determined, after all.”
Faced with a distorted, creepy smile on one side and a lovely smile that had something vaguely wrong with it on the other side, Zade felt a chill rock his body and mind.
“Are you sure about this…?” Gen asked her. “Isn’t it a little cruel?”
What was even the point of asking about it now, minutes after Niu had already settled their plan and launched it? It made her a bit angry to hear that from Gen, really.
“Are you feeling sorry for them?” asked Roah. “They’re our enemies, you know.”
“I wasn’t talking to you,” Gen grunted. “But there’s still time to overturn that decision. Don’t you think the Stroba’ll kill them?”
Not if they convey our message properly, Niu said. We have made the Stroba an offering they cannot refuse.
“I’m not quite sure about that,” mumbled Aisbroom, crossing their arms. “Historically, they have had no interest in any talks or negotiations with us. Lying to them wouldn’t accomplish much.”
After hearing the news about the Makin attack and deciding to let Captain Alsore handle it, they had returned to the main topic at hand—and so decided to work up toward freeing their fellow countryman. The Strobans had already confirmed that it was a man who came from Rumdon, much like themselves. And so Niu had decided to send a message to the Stroba. It was a bit more verbose, but went something like this:
We have some of your tribe members in our possession. We will return all of them safely if you hand over the faerie you currently imprison.
It was quite rude of Aisbroom to call that lying. Niu really would return the hostages in exchange for the captive human. Even when she knew the Stroba would never agree to that deal. Their hostages had been reluctant, but finally Sorch decided on volunteering themselves.
“We can’t just attack them either,” said Roah. “There are so many uncertainties, whether they’re the Goddess or the waves that might restart at any moment.”
“Still,” said Gen, “couldn’t we have found another way to send the message, at least…?”
Would you have rather sent out one of our people instead? Niu asked him. You know they would have killed them on sight. Besides, that fairy volunteered.
Gen opened his mouth to reply but then quickly closed it. He was apparently conflicted between his dislike of the methods employed by her and this complex situation regarding their enemies.
Regardless of initial misgivings, the plan apparently succeeded, for a day later a small Stroba group approached one of Kalden’s military posts, left a message behind, and fled.
“They have some nerve,” NiU’s voice said. “Do they really think, we’ll give up, something so important?”
The Stroba’s reply was both surprising and cheeky. The surprising part was that they agreed to engage in negotiations regarding the subject, unlike most estimations. The cheeky part was that they demanded to be given a safe and direct method to conduct these talks—namely, the newly developed communication device, the Talisman.
“That was Acrus’s favorite technique as well,” noted Aisbroom somewhat bitterly. “Pushing their luck as far as they could and thereby draw the opponent’s ire. So we mustn’t fall to their provocations.”
“And yet we can’t agree as well,” said Roah. “Who knows what they’d do with the technology? They might even find some way to reach out to Plainland—highly improbable and of dubious utility, but still.”
Niu thought similarly. The Stroba were probably intending to get out as much as they could out of such talk. After all, they knew that now that their secret had been revealed, it was only a matter of time before Kalden took action. Perhaps they even wanted them to act hastily.
“It is true, but they probably also want us to agree since sending messages back and forth like that is so troublesome,” added Aisbroom with a slight smile.
Niu smiled too. “Oh, but that is no, problem at all. From our side, at least. Why, I can respond right, here and now.”
She focused on the figure of Sorch, the so-called leader of the hostages. Marmony should be within her possible range. As long as they were still alive, she could talk directly to them.
Tell them we do not agree to the deal. I can speak to you just fine, so there is no need for any other way of communication. We will have your faerie, and that’s it.
She felt her message go through—it was a sense difficult to describe in words—which proved that Gen’s worries about the fairy’s wellbeing were needless. For now, at least.
She was quite certain that the Stroba knew about her abilities, but this individual might have not, and so they’d be surprised beyond words. If Sorch passed this message with a shocked expression on their face it would be quite good.
They did need to wait for the Stroban response, though.
Niu immediately stopped smiling. There was no real reason to feel joyed, after all. The attack on the Goddess had been thwarted, but the Stroba brought new challenges. If that wasn’t enough, a shocking correspondence from Queen Levia-O announced a new sighting of beasts as well.
After a long period of two years, it felt like everything was moving at once, and Niu didn’t like it at all. Her entire body itched for some decisive action, like the one that made her Queen—she had to take control of the situation as quickly and efficiently as possible.
“Why…?! Why aren’t they agreeing to meet us…?!”
Acting in rage, Zade’s hand flung a glass off of the table. It shattered, sending sickly sweet-smelling liquid all over the floor. Moanin seemed unperturbed, but Alima grabbed at his arm.
“C-calm down, please…”
“How can I calm down when I’ve been abandoned like this?!”
“You’re not alone, I’m here for you!”
Smile unwavering, Moanin spoke. “We knew that Kalden likes to monopolize everything they have gotten their hands on. Just like they did with Kalden itself. They probably brainwashed those poor faeries,” they said, shaking their head. “It is a pity that we cannot solve this easily.”
It wasn’t a pity, it was a travesty. This blinding so-called pity assaulted Zade, incurring further rage. Nothing went right during these who knows how many years. It sickened him. It infuriated him. It killed him from the inside.
First he lost Alima right in front of his eyes—his head hurt a bit—and then he went to a whole new and unknown world. It took him a while to acclimate, and by that time he’d heard that there were others like him there.
Zade had, of course, wanted to see them. He wanted to be united with people like him and handle this crazy world together. And the King… no, they weren’t either a king or a queen, since they were apparently neither male nor female—the Ruler of Stroba had promised they would help him.
At first they’d sent an attack just as the humans were being moved to Kalden. Unfortunately, that had ended in complete failure.
“Useless… why are you so useless? Haven’t you promised to help me?!” he’d screamed back then, but despite his abrasive words, Moanin had promised to do better. “Get them here… dead or alive, it doesn’t matter!”
And so, during the wave, as the Stroba had pushed for a full-blown invasion using the tunnels, they also attempted to attack the other humans. Unfortunately, most of them had been out of their reach during the attempt, and so they failed again.
“What are you even doing?!” Zade had exploded after hearing about this, nearly crying. “I need them… I need them!”
Even if he had Alima by his side, something was wrong about her—or so he felt. He needed another piece of stability. He was already losing his mind.
“It is fine,” Moanin had said, “Kalden is apparently planning a Great Feast. If we gather some of our agents, we can surely make something work. I believe that the Ruler also wishes to get rid of the faeries, even if they will not publicly admit it.”
“Please… bring them to me…”
But that too had been yet another failure. Not much later, as if to add salt to injury, the four humans had somehow seized control of Kalden itself, and there were no further chances.
“Should I just go to speak with them regardless…?” Zade wondered aloud in the present. He was already out of options.
“That… that would be too dangerous,” Alima said with uncharacteristic meekness. “We don’t know anything about them or their goals. As long as our stances aren’t at least relatively equal…”
Zade knew she was right. As part of a travelling troupe of performers, they both knew what being weak meant. Most of them were runaways of sorts, and they never fit anywhere, causing many people, especially those of a higher position, to sneer and berate them. They always had to look out for themselves.
While Zade had a Ruler at his side, the two tribes were not at peace. If so, did that mean that war was really the only option?
“…I see. Thank you for the report, and keep watching over things,” Levia said dully, putting down the rectangular device.
War was looming on the horizon.
This was no mere hunch; Levia would not often rely on just her intuition. It was merely all of the things happening around them that brought her to this almost forgone conclusion. Everything added up brought them to the edge of ruin.
Just now, she had received contact from Molton, who himself had gotten contact from the other side of the mountain with unimaginable news—of another beast attack. Luckily, it had been only a small cluster of those black monsters, and casualties were kept to a minimum. Even so, it was both shocking and incomprehensible.
This obviously called for urgent action. Following this short correspondence, she immediately sent messengers both to Salom and to the Observatory.
Within a day the details were clear, at least superficially. The very same black beasts they came to know had attacked the fishing village of Abran. There was no mistake about this. This was no illusion nor exaggeration, as all eyewitness reports confirmed it unequivocally, including the soldiers stationed there.
Those were definitely not normal marine animals, nor were they disguised enemy soldiers. Not even the most skillful application of channels such as light and weight would be able to feign something like that.
However—no matter how many times they checked the skies, checked space itself, investigated and surveyed every possible angle, there had been and there were still no signs of any new waves.
And yet the beasts appeared. How could that be?
Had they been part of the initial waves, lying in slumber for two long years, hiding and biding their time for an attack? Quite unlikely. The beasts never seemed to have any will or intellect of their own, acting only on instincts of destruction.
Had the beasts originated from Plainland in the first place? Still unlikely. Had they found another way into Plainland, then, other than travelling between the worlds? This possibility couldn’t be denied, but that also seemed unlikely.
What did this mean, then? Never mind Levia, but even Salom was completely lost.
The reemergence of the black beasts that might signal the renewal of the cycle. The Sacronian armies, including their three Saints, making suspicious movements. The rampaging and incomprehensible Goddess at the other world. And, if that wasn’t enough, Levia even heard that Lord Qumisson was visiting the capital, yet another ill omen. If she could feel anguish and anger, perhaps she would have felt it now. She was tense, though.
However, she was not completely powerless. She had an entire kingdom under her control, allies from yet another kingdom, and, of course, other secrets in her possession.
Perhaps it is due time, she thought to herself that tense morning, that I visit the Prophet again.
His smile is like a warm spring day.
He’s always full of vitality, a so-called Green Gale. Not quite like a lush forest or a verdant field, but more like the raw force of nature itself, creeping and growing splendidly without anyone noticing.
He makes up for his lack of talent with work. He loves and hates with great passion.
That is why I fell in love. Perhaps that is also why I have hurt him.
And that is also why this world will be ours.