Eik stared open-mouthed at the regal woman as she spun in place, her robe billowing around her like the blossom of a colorful bell flower. Her smile was wide and completely unconcerned with the hostility of the onlookers. Her mannerisms reminded Eik more of a stage performer than the spearhead of an inter-dimensional attack force. Alien entity invading Earth through a spatial wormhole was not the first notion that would pop into anybody’s mind when they looked at her.
Besides her rather strange attire, there really wasn’t anything that made her stand out as a being from a different world. Maybe her bright, bubblegum pink, shoulder-length hair could have put off a grumpy, old man somewhere, but even that wouldn’t have been that odd of a sight nine years ago.
As her little performance seemed to come to an end, her vivid, blue eyes scanned the crowd with uncontained curiosity. But for a moment her intense gaze met Eik’s, sending a shiver through him. There was something deep in those eyes. Something ominous.
Even with her strange behavior, that gaze was filled with power. More power than he had ever seen. More power than Sock Fist Bart. More power than Andrew Brooks or the spear woman Cecilia. And more power than even Olivia.
It was a power that felt utterly bottomless.
If this woman decided to drop the good humor and pleasant demeanor she had displayed thus far, nobody in Forest would be able to rival her. She could annihilate them all. Eik could sense it. But her eyes never lingered on him, because unlike the strength that he had seen in her, she saw nothing special in him. He was an F-ranker. He was a nobody.
She was being bombarded with shouts from everywhere at once, orders to get on the ground or surrender herself, but she didn’t appear to care about any of that whatsoever. She just kept looking around at them.
Her gaze finally locked onto a man standing in the front of the circle, a little more than 90 degrees from Eik’s position in the circle.
She raised a hand, palm inward, and gestured for him to approach with a casual gesture of her finger, a motion he didn’t obey. Her smile never faltered.
“Bra’askum minyo Atla kamatashi kulan makil.” she said, her tongue and lips twisting absurdly as she pronounced the nonsensical words. “Di re gat mahum?”
Her smile faltered somewhat when all she got in response from the man was a puzzled look of disbelief and caution. His posture spoke of a readiness to engage in battle at any moment, should she threaten them. “Huntashi ayan kura’am gihan mukubu?” she seemed to ask, even as her voice was challenged by a dozen others.
She caught an arrow an inch from her eye, studying the projectile for a moment before snapping the shaft in two between her fingers. She looked around the large circle of hostile Awakened again with confusion, appearing to find no recognition in the faces of those she spoke to. The arrow she threw aside as if it hadn’t been a direct attempt at her life.
She felt around her throat with her fingers, pressing here and there before she eventually cleared her throat and spoke again. “これで分かるんだろう？ね？通訳能力の呪文をかけたヤツを見つけたらぶっ飛ばすぞ！”
When the man for whom she had gestured to approach simply looked back at his comrades with a look of pure confusion, she put her hands on her hips, looking miffed with the whole situation. She poked around her throat some more, aah’ing like a sound technician doing a microphone test. “Ah ah, aaaah. Aaaaaaaaaaahh. Seriously? Somebody’s going to get an earful for this crap when I get back.”
The man raised his hand with hesitation at that. “Uuh, we understood that one.” He didn’t seem to have the slightest clue about how to best deal with a situation as peculiar as this. Many onlookers were clearly eager to just go on the offensive against the stranger, but this man must have noticed the same might in the woman with the pink hair as Eik had, because his look of caution was mixed with a healthy portion of fear.
For one comical second, her face was astonishment incarnate, quickly replaced by an explosion of unabashed glee. “You got that?” she beamed. “Yesss!”
If not for the terrifying depths of power Eik had witnessed in her eyes just moments earlier, he might have chuckled at the sight of the bubblegum-haired woman pumping her fist up and down in delight.
She cleared her throat once more. “Let me reiterate then. My name is Atla of the Nidafjeld Alliance. May I ask who you are?”
“I’m Travis Lockwood. B-ranker. What do you want?” he asked with narrowed eyes, energy crackling in his palm.
So that was Travis Lockwood. Eik obviously knew of the man, being a B-ranker and all. Olivia had spoken well of him, but not highly. Apparently he wasn’t terribly interested in the politics of power in Forest, so he did his best to avoid participating. Eik had always sympathized with that notion. Seeing him step up like this, when it mattered most, only reinforced Eik’s opinion of the B-ranker.
“Lovely to meet you, Travis Lockwood,” she said and pulled out a stack of papers from her robe, clearing her throat for a third time. “Dear inhabitants of TX497—”
“Stop, lady, stop!” Travis said briskly. “Are you from… Earth?”
“Earth? Is that what you call your world here?” she asked. “No, I’m from the Nidafjeld Alliance, one of the greatest and most influential societies in the Unified Mass.”
“Anyway,” she said and looked back to her notes. “Dear inhabitants of TX497—81414, my name is Atla and I am from the Nidafjeld Alliance. As a major authority within the Unified Mass, we’d like to extend a sincere welcome to your people as you enter the second phase of your induction.” She looked up and around the crowd, smiling warmly.
“Furthermore, as a show of good will and trust, we’d like to invite you to become a part of the Nidafjeld Alliance. Your very existence as a civilization newly inducted into the Unified Mass is a perilous one. We’d like to stand by your side as you find your footing in your new normal.” Ten out of ten for the sales pitch, but Eik doubted the leadership would jump on board with some vague bull crap like that.
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“And the other settlements on Earth? Surely there must be many besides us. What did they say to this little tactic of yours?” Travis pressed.
She smiled. “We only have the coordinates to your city for now but if I find something interesting here, then I’m satisfied with that. We can talk to other survivors later.” It was impossible to tell if she was speaking the truth, or if she had simply annihilated the ones who declined.
Travis eyed her with suspicion, backing away slowly toward the other high-rankers behind him. “Could you just give me a moment?” he asked. “I’d like to confer with my colleagues.”
She waved for him to go ahead.
They spoke for a a good while, never taking their eyes off her or their hands off their weapons. Atla simply looked around at the buildings and people curiously or studied her notes without the slightest hint of impatience.
Finally, Travis returned his attention to the pink-haired woman. “Can we get some time to think about it?” Neutral, soft rejection it was then, as Eik had expected.
Atla pouted with hands on her hips and tilted her head. Eik sincerely hoped she wasn’t annoyed. “You know, I’d really rather have an answer now, but I understand. It’s not an easy decision,” she said.
“Thank you,” Travis said with a respectful bow.
“Let me just say,” she continued. “If, for some reason, you decide to decline our offer, you will not be making us your enemy. However, it will leave you vulnerable to attack from other civilizations. As your world receives and assimilates the forces and energies of the Unified Mass, it gradually becomes capable of supporting the presence of stronger beings.” She pointed to herself with a thumb.
“You’re protected for now, the Upper Laws of the Unified Mass proclaiming you as a warded civilization, but that is only going to last for so long, and then you’ll have to fend for yourself.”
Her tone was matter-of-fact, but the implications were frightening. This was only the beginning. What had yet to come would be more than what they could handle.
“I understand,” Travis said, his mouth a thin line. “Nonetheless, I think we would appreciate some time to think.”
“That’s perfectly understandable,” she said with a smile that was hopefully genuine.
Atla knelt on the cobblestones and gathered her papers into a neat stack before she stood back up. “I appreciate the calm reception,” she said, as if she hadn’t been shot at, and shook Travis Lockwood’s proffered hand with an expression of puzzlement. “It’s more common than not to be met with—”
A commotion on the opposite side of the circle from Eik drew Travis and Atla’s attention away from their conversation. Before long the front rows began to undulate as people were pushed to the side by something. A bald, beefy man emerged from the crowd, clad almost exclusively in skins and furs that made him look like a barbarian.
The man took a moment to decipher the situation he had put himself in the middle of. He looked pissed. He was next to Travis in a second. Atla back stepped a bit, likely sensing a drastic change in the tension.
“What is going on here?” the muscle-bound man bellowed with impressive volume.
Travis tried to put a hand on the newcomer’s shoulder but it was batted away without a glance.
Atla bowed, respectfully but with not a hint of fear. “I apologize for the late introduction. My name is At—”
“Shut your mouth, stranger!” the man shouted. “You speak when I say you can speak! I am Boulder Fist Gary, the rightful head of this city.”
That little assertion was news to Eik and likely a majority of the other people present. Atla, too, glanced at Travis for confirmation, but the man only sighed and rolled his eyes. He looked like he’d rather be anywhere else than here dealing with this crap.
“I’ll speak with both of you then,” Atla said casually.
“No, you speak to me!” Gary insisted and then looked her up and down, arms crossed over his bulky chest. “But I still haven’t decided if you’re worth it. You seem… weak.”
Atla failed to hold back a grin. Maybe the main villain act was a cliché in her world as well.
“You dare laugh at me?” Boulder Fist Gary spat, revealing exactly where his dopey son got his attitude from.
“I meant no offense,” Atla said calmly.
“We’ll see,” he said, squaring up and staring down the woman who was now standing by the fracture some fifteen meters away. “I’ll make sure to test whether or not you’re worth my time.”
He cracked his neck and took a low stance, stretching as he got ready to launch himself at the envoy of the Nidafjeld Alliance. Eik held his breath as his heart galloped in his chest, eyes never leaving the scene. Travis just stepped back and let it happen, looking almost relieved that he got to wash his hands of the situation.
“Clench your teeth!” Gary roared and rushed forth in an explosion of dust and cobblestones.
When he made it halfway to Atla she suddenly disappeared from sight. She reappeared again in a blur of motion right in front of the advancing Boulder Fist, pink hair and vividly colored robe billowing as she spun in a massive wind-up. With the speed at which she was moving, Gary might as well have been in slow motion as she rammed her tiny fist into his meaty paw.
His large hand crumbled like a structure made of sand, the shock wave from her punch sending Gary flying back and into the ground, his body tearing up the square violently. As the man came to a stop near the edge of the circle and the dust settled, one could have heard a needle fall to the floor.
People looked at one another as Atla walked toward Gary who lay silent in a heap of furs and dirt. Before she made it to him, he started screaming and rolled over onto his back as he clutched his pulverized hand against his chest. When Atla stepped up to him, he howled up at her, face red as a tomato. “You broke my hand, you filthy rat!”
She let him scream at her for a good ten seconds while everybody looked on. Then she raised her hand, palm open, and slapped him so hard across the face that Eik thought his own eardrums might pop.
B-ranker Boulder Fist Gary, one of the strongest individuals in Forest, landed face-first in the dirt, the small, alien woman towering above him like a tiger towering over an ant, looking down on him as if from the peak of a mountain.
“Anyway,” she said, clapping her hands as the good-natured smile reappeared. “I guess I’ll let you figure out what you want to do then,”
She turned to Travis Lockwood and bowed respectfully. “I’ll look forward to your response. I’ll be back in a few sun cycles,” she said and pointed to the sky. Then she turned to the man she had beaten into unconsciousness. “It was fun to meet you too, Bo—, uuh, what was it again?”
“Boulder Fist Gary,” somebody said from the crowd.
“Right, right. It was fun, Boulder Fist Gary.”
Atla began marching back toward the fracture, papers tucked under her arm, and Eik felt something well up in him. As she neared the portal, he knew she would be gone soon and that he might never get this close to her again.
The words were already out before he could stop it. “Wait!”
Eik’s voice echoed across the city square and he felt a thousand eyes on him. The hands that had just relaxed as Atla had turned to leave flew back to the weapons. Atla had stopped, only a couple of meters from the fracture, and now she was looking at him with that intense gaze again.
He would have thrown up if he didn’t need his mouth to talk.
“Yes?” she asked.
“I, uuh…” Eik’s mouth was dry as a desert and it felt as if his throat had tied a knot on itself. He felt dizzy.
Atla tilted her head in curiosity but remained silent.
“I-I—, my sister… she’s sick. Poisoned! I have to help her. I need to! Please, help me…” he managed to say, tears threatening to push through, but he steeled himself against it.
For seconds, all was quiet. Even Atla seemed a little taken aback by Eik’s outburst. She put her chin to her palm, pursing her lips as if trying to decide between chocolate and vanilla ice cream. Then her thoughtful expression morphed into a grin.
“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaalright!” she said, the sound of her voice warping surreally as she vanished and reappeared right in front of him in the blink of an eye.
Without another word, Atla grabbed Eik by the collar of his shirt and hurled him, effortlessly and nonchalantly, the entire distance to and through the fracture.