After grabbing a backpack of medical supplies from another store in the hub, Audrey and I move quickly to the elevator to go and meet up with the rest of my team.
The elevator door opens into a huge military-style hanger. The hanger is cavernous, definitely dimensionally expanded, and has multiple high-tech-looking transport carriers sitting around. The transport carriers themselves look like a strange hybrid of some kind of quadcopter and a plane. They have four wings, each with multiple large rotors placed inside in a way that makes me think it can both hover like a helicopter and fly like a normal plane. We stand beside one such transport, its bay door open to reveal rows of relatively uncomfortable-looking seats.
The rest of Team Picnic stand around me, looking just as uncomfortable as I am, while soldiers carrying high-tech rifles stream around us. One such soldier who has the air of a commander is talking with Audrey, who had taken charge of the other mentors upon arrival.
Oddly, unlike with Ratchet, Audrey doesn’t really seem friendly with the other sentinel mentors. Rather than as a friend, the others seem to look up to her as some kind of commander. It’s strange to me how quickly she’d taken charge, but I suppose it shouldn’t be. Audrey had been doing this for a very long time, even if she doesn’t look that old.
In fact, I notice once again that, even among the sentinel mentors, there isn’t a single person I would place as older than twenty-five. That… does not speak well for the mortality rate of sentinels.
I look to Akari and Baylee as we watch our surroundings with nervous expressions. My grip tightens and releases on my new bow’s handle over and over, and I can’t seem to stop fiddling with the straps of the small pack the medical shop had given me to carry the rest of my supplies. Even Celeste seems nervous, fidgeting on my shoulder.
For the umpteenth time since I’d gotten it, I double-check that the little silver shield is still pinned securely to my shirt. I had been assured that it wouldn’t come off unless I did it intentionally, but that doesn’t stop me from being cautious. Who knows whether the last resort shield will end up being the only thing standing between me and certain death.
To my surprise, Akari seems to be holding up the best of all of us. While she does fidget nervously, she looks far less concerned than everyone else. I wonder why? Maybe her experiences with her family had primed her to be able to better handle these kinds of situations. Even as I watch, she turns towards me and offers a small smile, reaching over and giving my hand a squeeze.
“Don’t worry, Serena. We’ll be okay,” she says softly enough for only me to hear.
Suddenly, I find myself extremely grateful to have her by my side. I had thought before that her decision to protect me was sweet but ultimately unnecessary. Now, I question whether or not I’d be able to force myself into that transport carrier without Akari by my side.
Audrey is great, but I don’t really know her. I’ve already spent a few days with Akari, and under all of her self-loathing, she is really a sweet girl. It hurts me every time I think about what she’s gone through, and I just keep redoubling my resolve to make sure that she doesn’t ever have to experience being alone like that again.
To my other side, Baylee, our ostensible team leader, clears her throat to get our attention. “I know we’re all nervous,” she says as we all turn to regard her. “But remember, we are sentinels. This is what our powers are made for. Going into this incursion zone, we need to remember that we have every advantage. We just need to focus on protecting each other and getting out alive. No unnecessary risks, no stupid mistakes, and no straying from our group. Agreed?”
We all nod, and Haruto offers a nervous smile. “My mentor says that the primary reason for this is to help us get some sub-ranks under our belt. We’ll need to be more than E-1 to be useful to anyone.”
Baylee nods, “Haruto is right; we do need to earn more magic — to protect the populous and each other. Do not go chasing for extra fights to advance faster, though. Remember what I said: stick together and trust each other. That is how we will get through this.”
“I feel a lot better about this knowing I have Little Blue to patch me up if anything goes wrong,” Claire says, for once staying focused on the conversation. From how her hands wring together over and over, I know she’s worried.
I wince, “I, uh, I don’t actually have a healing ability yet. I have a lot of inscribed bandages and some magically infused medicines in my pack, though.”
Baylee smiles, “You’ll most likely get your first healing spell at E-2 or E-3. All of us are going to be operating at minimal capacity until we get to at least a few more abilities. Good thought bringing those bandages, though; I’m glad you are taking your role on the team seriously.”
Audrey had been the one to help me prepare my whole pack. I suppose it’s her job to get me into my role, and carrying the team’s medical supplies is absolutely something a blue sentinel should be doing. Still, I wonder just how many little things she’s already done for me that I haven’t even noticed.
We stand together for a while longer, nervously chatting amongst ourselves. Finally, something seems to change as a number of the armed men around us start moving into the transport carrier. It appears that around thirty GDF soldiers will be coming with us, in addition to our mentors.
As the men enter the transport and find their seats. Audrey and the commander-looking soldier move over to us, flanked by a group of four more experienced sentinels, who I presume are the other mentors.
Looking at them, I feel a lot better about our chances of success. Having an entire contingent of soldiers, along with an entire group of experienced sentinels, watching my back makes the whole situation seem a lot less dire.
“Alright, Team Picnic, listen up and listen well,” Audrey says, her normal voice replaced by that of an experienced commander. “In the next few minutes, we are going to be moving to and entering a nearby low-grade incursion zone. Low-grade, however, does not mean weak. There will be dozens of volcora in the incursion that are plenty capable of wiping your entire team along with the soldiers aiding you. You are to avoid these volcora, but when that is impossible, the other mentors and I will eliminate them.”
“We will have two goals in this incursion zone,” Audrey continues. “First is to find and eliminate the anchor. This will be a volcora, or object, that anchors the incursion to our reality. We will need to destroy this anchor before the incursion zone begins to break down. If we fail to do this, the volcora within the incursion zone will start being disgorged into physical reality, where they can attack the general populace. This cannot be allowed to happen. Let me be perfectly clear on this: there is no backup team; there is no second chance. We either stop the incursion, or a lot of people are going to die.”
Audrey pauses a moment to let that sink in before going on, “Our second goal is simply to get you all out alive. Incursion zones are dangerous, and even with a mentor looking over your shoulder, it is possible to get hurt or even killed. I will not tolerate any behavior that puts yourself, your teammates, or any of the soldiers under our command into undue danger. Is that understood?”
We all nod, scrambling out a hasty and rather uncoordinated, “Yes, ma’am.”
Audrey gives a slight smile, “Well then, the clock is ticking on this incursion zone, and we’ve already waited too long. Let’s load up.”
Scene Break [https://i.imgur.com/Z04uyRy.png]
The transport carrier is near silent but for the purring engine as we fly over the top of Shinara’s skyscrapers. Our team huddles close together, all of us seeking solace in our shared situation. Akari keeps a tight grip on my hand as we both look out the small porthole window at the city zipping away below us.
My thoughts drift back to my father and what he would think of my current situation. He would want me to quit, to walk away and go back home where it’s safe. He wouldn’t want me anywhere near an incursion zone, and I can’t say I disagree with him. Yet, one thing Audrey had said sticks with me. If we fail to stop this incursion zone, the volcora inside will be released upon the people nearby. People will be hurt; people will be killed. I cannot allow that. I want to protect people. And if not me, if not us, then who? Who would go into these zones to stop the volcora? Audrey can’t be everywhere, and there are so few sentinels. It’s time for us to step up.
With shaky fingers, I take my small cell phone from my pocket and type out a message for my father. I would make a phone call, but I don’t want to intrude on the people around me. I type out and delete several messages, unable to find the words to express how I feel. I would never lie to my dad, but I also don’t want him worrying himself sick. Maybe it’s better to just say nothing. But… if I die in this incursion zone and I never told him that I loved him one last time… No, I have to send something. Finally, I end up with a message that is in no way good enough.
Hi, Dad. My team and I have been tasked with helping out in a low-risk incursion zone today. We have a team of powerful sentinels to watch over us, so we shouldn’t be in any actual danger. I’m not sure how long this will take, so I might be home kind of late. Don’t worry, I have Baylee and Akari here to help me. I love you so much. I’ll see you soon. I promise. <3
Hesitantly, I press send and put my phone back into my pocket before returning my attention to watching the buildings disappear below us. Slowly, the skyscrapers get lower, and the streets become less organized. Soon, we move out of Shinara proper and into the slum city that had sprung up around it.
As it turns out, this particular incursion seems to be happening within the slums rather than outside the city where most of them appear — at least on the news. The transport carrier begins to lower towards the buildings below, the run-down housing and potted streets coming into clearer view as we descend. All around us, the GDF soldiers stand and move towards where the bay door would open, even as the transport continues its descent.
Looking out the window, I see the people on the crowded street below looking up at the carrier, although I can’t make out their expressions. Once it becomes clear that the carrier will be landing on the street, whether or not there are still people or vehicles in the way, the pedestrians start running to clear the area.
Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.
The bay door is opening before we even hit the ground, and the armed soldiers swarm out as soon as we make contact. Likely making sure that everyone is clear of the area.
Audrey stands, and, in a flash of pink light, she’s in her full regalia as Stardust Angel. Around us, the other mentors also go through similar transformations, showing a green sentinel, a silver sentinel, and two red sentinels.
Audrey looks us over, her body flaring brightly with power. “It’s time to shift states. You don’t want to be seen by the people outside as your civilian identities.”
I swallow nervously and glance over to Celeste, who sits on my shoulder. “A-Are we ready for this?” I ask nervously.
Celeste’s ears droop slightly. [Probably not. We should have received months of training before entering an incursion zone. However, the situation is truly dire. We need to grow, and there is only one good way to do it.]
I take a deep breath, “Well, I suppose we can think of this as on-the-job training,” I tell my familiar before willing myself to Shift.
For a moment, blue light flares across my body, and I can feel my clothes shifting and changing. In mere moments, I’m once more clothed in my assault state. Glancing down at myself, I notice that the shield pin had transferred, as promised, over to my assault state’s outfit.
I’m about to discuss with Celeste further but am cut off by Audrey. “Come on. We need to get moving. We don’t have all day,” she orders before striding out the bay door.
Blinking, I come back to reality to notice the entire rest of my team had also shifted states. I look on in surprise, startled to see the teenagers I’d come to know now looking like proper sentinels.
Akari looks like a cross between a ninja and a samurai. Her outfit is tight, with a cloth drawn up over her mouth. She has light-looking armor strapped across her body in an asymmetrical pattern, even including an epaulet on one shoulder. Her armor is a deep black color covered in glowing violet highlights. On her breast is a symbol that looks a lot like a violet, crescent moon, and she carries a long, curved blade in one hand.
On the other hand, Baylee looks much more like your classic girly sentinel, a lot like Cherry’s outfit. Her outfit is a flashy, pink, feminine ensemble, with a short pink skirt and a large pink star symbol across her chest. Baylee holds what looks like a wand but with a pink star on both ends. She seems to radiate a sort of self-assured confidence that I could never hope to match.
While the rest of us, even Akari, look as expected for sentinels, Claire and Haruto evidently didn’t get the memo, looking more like medieval knights than classic sentinels.
Haruto wears vivid green plate armor across his entire body, including a helmet that encases his head. Already the tallest on the team, he seems larger than life in his heavy-looking armor. In his hands, Haruto holds a truly massive hammer that looks far too heavy for even the large man to hold. Emblazed on his chest is a symbol resembling a green turtle.
Claire’s outfit looks like Haruto’s in that it resembles that of a medieval knight, but that is where the similarities end. While Haruto’s armor looks thick and protective, Claire’s seems to be built with offense in mind. Her crimson armor has sharply aggressive lines and points all over, and, also unlike Haruto, she doesn’t wear a helmet, her crimson lock of hair waving in the wind produced by the transport carrier spinning down. She holds a massive broad sword that, while smaller than Haruto’s hammer, also looks far too heavy for me to lift. Her symbol seems to be an image of that very same sword, crackling with incandescent, red lightning.
Shaking my head to break myself out of my contemplations, I quickly move to follow my team as we stride out of the transport carrier. Blinking against the bright light of the afternoon sun, I consider my surroundings.
Our carrier had landed on a poorly maintained road, tightly weaving around the numerous randomly placed buildings of the slums. The road is tightly packed with people, all being kept at bay by the soldiers. Still, dozens of people hold phones up above the crowd to record us as we exit the carrier.
In addition to its being crowded, the area outside the carrier is loud. People yelling questions, talking amongst themselves, and the commander barking orders, all with the loud whirring of the turbines in the carrier, forcing everyone to shout to be heard.
“Number one rule of being a sentinel in public!” Audrey calls over the noise to my team. “Always look like you’re in control! That means stop gawking and look like you’ve done this before!”
My eyes go wide as I realize that I have, in fact, been gawking at the spectacle around us. Still, there is a lot of commotion that I really hadn’t expected. For some reason, I had pictured us ending up on some dark abandoned street or creepy forest. Honestly, though, this is worse. If this is the place where the incursion zone will start dumping volcora if we fail to destroy the anchor, then all of these people will die.
With that realization, my heart hardens with resolve. This is what we do, this is why I had chosen to accept Celeste’s bond. I’m here to heal and protect these people, so I will do so to the best of my ability.
“What do we do now?” Baylee calls over to Audrey, who seems to be looking around for something.
“Now, we look for the aperture!” Audrey calls back, although the noise level had started dying down as the transport carrier finally finishes spinning down. “It will look like a spot of darkness somewhere nearby. Only sentinels or those with inscribed tools can see them.”
“Like that?” Claire asks, pointing towards one of the nearby buildings. There’s only a hint of fear in her tone, although it’s clear she’s just as scared as the rest of us.
Following her gaze, I turn to see what I assume is the aperture into the incursion zone. Audrey had been right in describing it as a spot of darkness. It looks almost like a pin prick in the side of the universe. A void of infinite black hovering in place just a few steps away from the doorway of what appears to be someone’s home.
Audrey nods, striding over to the pinprick with a relaxed gait. The other sentinel mentors following behind her. “To open the aperture,” Audrey instructs, “all you need to do is force a bit of mana into it. Just by touching it, you will feel how to do it.” She glances over to us, “Serena, come over here and open this aperture. You will all need the experience, but you can do this one.”
For a moment, I freeze, and Akari steps forward, looking as if she were about to offer to take my place. Before she can, however, I straighten my shoulders and give Audrey a nod. Hesitantly, I start towards the little black tear in the universe, pausing just before it.
This close, it’s impossible to ignore that something about this spot is profoundly wrong. It feels like a violation, a trespass. Even still, I have a job to do. Unable to talk myself out of it, I tentatively extend my hand into the black spot.
A wave of dread and instinctual knowledge slams into me. In an instant, I understand. I know that horrors lay beyond this point. That there is another layer of reality attached to ours only through this one tiny pinprick. Within that layer lay nightmares made manifest.
My vision abruptly shifts, and I’m standing in a different slum. The buildings around me are ruins, collapsed roofs, and toppled walls. The sky is dark and overcast, billowing gray clouds sprinkling a light rain down onto me.
Looking up, I can see the skyline of what should be Shinara. The buildings are in ruins, overgrown by a sickly green moss. The buildings mostly seem to still be standing, but large chunks of them are simply missing. Those chunks can be seen floating impossibly in the air nearby. Like a giant had torn sections out of the skyscrapers and left them floating in the air.
Strangely, as much as the skyline resembles Shinara, there are a lot of details missing. Buildings are slightly out of place; the Sanctum Collective building is entirely missing, and the skyway bridges are nowhere in sight. It’s as if this false Shinara had been built using an incorrect memory of the real thing.
Floating among the skyscrapers amidst the rubble are… shapes. Black tendrils and strange entities moving amongst the carnage of what once had been my home city. They are too far away to make out clearly, but they are horrifying nonetheless.
Overlaying it all is an overwhelming sensation of dread. It pushes down on me, covering me like a damp blanket. Instinctively, I know that I can push back against it and do so. Once more, my body shines with sapphire light, and just as fast as I’d arrived, I’m back. The sky is bright and sunny once more, and my team stands around me. I can still feel the cold drops of rain on my skin, however. That had been no vision. I’d really been there.
I scramble backward, away from the now-expanding tear in reality. I’m so focused on escaping that I hadn’t even noticed Akari stepping in front of me, katana raised against the newly formed black portal.
“W-What… what was that?” I ask, my eyes wide as I regard the portal with terror.
Audrey turns to me and gives a sympathetic look. “It’s always hard the first time,” she says before looking to the rest of my team. “When opening an aperture, you are briefly transported inside the incursion zone. You get a glimpse of what you are about to walk into before your soul gem forcibly activates to protect you and get you back out. It can be… distressing, which is why you will all have to do this at least once. Now, let’s get inside so the rest of you can see what has Serena looking so concerned.”
I have absolutely zero desire to go back to that destroyed city. It’s only the knowledge that, if allowed to run free, the volcora inside that incursion space will make the real Shinara match the fake one that keeps my feet moving forward.
I don’t consider myself a brave person. I have never had any desire to do any extreme or dangerous sports, and I don’t really understand the people who risk their lives for such unnecessary things. I like things nice and safe, a controlled environment. As such, it takes every ounce of my willpower not to turn right around and demand to be sent back home. I have a job to do here, and helping people doesn’t always allow for a safe, controlled environment. No, I want to save lives, and if that means walking into the fray, that’s what I need to do. I tell myself that again and again as I follow Akari into the black portal and find myself back in the incursion zone.
Once more, I feel that oppressive fear pushing down on me, trying to suppress me. This time, though, my soul gem immediately flares up, and my body starts to shine with a soft blue light. It’s as if my soul gem had known what to expect the second time and had pushed the feeling away without needing input from me. The feeling of fear dissipates greatly, and I get the sense that, now, the fear I feel is all natural and not artificially induced. Still, plenty to go around… great.
The scent of rain on concrete pervades the area, and the only sound is the harsh breathing of my teammates and the soft pattering of the falling rain. The air is fresh and clear but feels… dense — like there is something heavy permeating the area, something that had been causing that pervasive sense of fear. Could it be Stygian Mana? Isn’t that what’s supposed to come from these spaces?
Looking around, I see my teammates also starting to glow as their own soul gems rise up to protect them from the invisible stygis. Audrey and the other mentors had formed a perimeter around us, weapons ready. Likely making sure we are protected while we acclimatize to being in an incursion space.
More people continue to stream in from the aperture, soldiers this time. As I watch them enter, I have a realization: they don’t have soul gems to fight off the stygis. GDF soldiers have been auxiliary members of sentinel teams for a long time. Ordinary people fighting an extraordinary foe. Now, the bravery of these men and women takes on a whole new light. Every second in here must be a perpetual drain. A constant sense of fear that will never let up — that will keep pressing down until they break.
To know that such an experience awaits you every day and to still keep going into incursion after incursion. These soldiers deserve just as much respect as the sentinels they work with. If not more.
As I watch, one of the soldiers, a tall woman with close-cropped strawberry hair, approaches Audrey while holding a tablet. “Ma’am, the anchor signature is coming from inside the ruined city.”
Audrey nods, “Thank you, Margret,” she says before turning to us.
“Because this is your first time in an incursion, I’m going to explain to you how things work. Pay attention, as you won’t be receiving this lecture again. I’m not just here to hear myself talk,” Audrey says.
“Margret here is our guide; we will always have a soldier with us who can track the anchor. This is required as these spaces are often between twenty and two hundred kilometers in diameter, and incursion zones are crawling with volcora. You might not see any right now, but rest assured that they can see you. They will attack us; they will ambush us. They will do everything in their power to kill us. Team Picnic, you will be the first line of defense as you need the experience. I will decide when and if we need to interject to save you.”
Audrey gestures to the other soldiers, carefully watching our surroundings on the cramped street. “Remember that you have soldiers who are relying on you for protection, and you on them for the same. They have guns and are well trained, but bullets often don’t work well on volcora above E Rank. Working together with your auxiliary support will always result in a better outcome than striking out alone.”
Audrey pauses, seeming to consider a moment before shrugging. “On that note. Let’s get moving. How long until this space begins to break down, Margret?”
Margret, having never looked away from her tablet, responds immediately, “Nine hours, ma’am.”
Audrey winces and looks to us, “That’s less time than you should normally expect, but command likely let this space hang for a while to give us time to prepare. Anyhow, I’ll now step back a bit to let you get some experience. Team Picnic, lead the way and keep your heads on a swivel. We have work to do.”