The last thing I remembered…being stabbed through the chest.

The feeling of crystal that drained my warmth coating my body like a parasite.

Finally, the young Hime declared I will participate in a war and I must win.

I shot into a sitting position, coughing roughly before a few deep breaths. Feeling my lungs fill with air, I began to calm at a steady rate, though that feeling didn't last long.

Pulling my clothes down, I exposed my chest. Feeling around in the relative darkness of the room, I distinctly remembered her stabbing me but felt absolutely nothing. "Where'd it go?" A cold sweat overtook me, my hands began to press into my chest and stomach to feel for a stab wound that wasn't there.

My heart was beating out of my chest, a series of steady beeping that was only rising before starting to subside as I figured out where I was.

"Why am I in the hospital?"

I was in gowns and wearing a set of robes over it, tilting my head— the confusion only grew as I saw a few doctors rush in and do a double take.

"You're awake?" As the (presumed) head spoke up, a few of them started to share glances before they collectively stepped into the room as the light turned on. The sterile room was a definite change compared to the almost unending sand, the ruined castle, and above all, the young Princess.

"Why wouldn't I be?" I asked in confusion, looking around, I stared at the night sky through the window. An incredibly heavy snowfall, a blizzard.

"Weird, we're not due for a blizzard for another couple of days…." My verbal thought was more a recounting of a passing memory of the weather report I saw the previous day. As I looked back, they exchanged glances turned more awkward as it clicked in my head.

"That's not good…"

My expression turned blank, watching as one began to check my vitals, there were 100 things I wanted to say and I powered through the awkwardness, wanting to simply do as the doctor ordered before declaring the facts.

"I promise, I feel fine, better than ever actually. I actually wondered if I could go for a walk—" I tried to make them slow down, though it definitely worried me. I know I'm in a hospital and I had to assume the 3 day sleep was a cause for greater concern than comfort.

"Yes, you just need to wait until the tests are done. Afterwards, we can help you stretch your legs." They were quick to respond, a three day coma was certainly problematic and I doubt they wanted to take a chance on me being actually sick.

"Hah, If they find anything wrong with your body— I'd eat crow!" A familiar voice declared aloud, although, no one else heard her.

"Where are you?" I asked aloud, getting a bunch of confused looks.

"Don't speak aloud. Just get somewhere alone, we'll talk then." Hime replied.

"Eri is in the waiting room, we'll contact her shortly."

Looking around, my expression turned confused before I shook it off.

I began to calm down, staring down at the blank white bed sheets as I put my focus into my meeting and its ending with a sword. It all felt so real, no wonder. I suppose trying to argue a dream is out of the picture. I really met the young Hime.

A strange buzz filled my body. I was restless, more restless than I had been in my entire life.

"I slept enough, I'm not staying here." I thought, keeping an eye on the people outside.

After they finished their check up, I took a moment to wait for them to leave before beginning to pull the various devices off of my body. I could hear the machines start to beep before coming to a sudden stop as I started to leave the room, trying to ensure I was unseen.

"Very daring, I half expected you to be a good little boy and stay in bed." The voice remarked, a hint of mischief present in her tone.

The real question I had: Where is Hime?

"I suppose I can worry about it later, where would the waiting room be…" I was thinking aloud, needing to hear something other than the unnerving silence of a hospital and the strange voice filling my head.

"And what are you doing out of bed?" A familiar voice cut through the cold and hollow aura.

My posture straightened up as I turned to see Eri. Her outfit was a bit of a jumbled mess, different shoes, her colors not matching in the slightest (though I thought it looked fine enough). Her hair was completely undone and left in a basic ponytail so it wouldn't be everywhere and she lacked any makeup. By her definition, a total mess and without an ounce of additions to try making her appearance more perfect.

I really must've worried her. Last time I was in the hospital, she still kept to her beauty routine (although just breaking my arm isn't much compared to a minor coma).

Without an ounce of warning, I could feel her arms wrapped around me in a tight embrace. Her warmth caught me off guard, though it was something I appreciated. Feeling her hold me, it was almost like nothing could go wrong anymore and my arms quickly did the same, holding her closer and refusing to let her go until she broke the hug.

"Amane, what happened to you? After our call, we found you passed out in the cold." She questioned, looking up at me. It was clear she was more than a little annoyed at the suggestion she'd leave me in a hospital and in retrospect, that was pretty stupid, I knew she'd stay. Though that does leave a bigger question.

"Did they not tell her about the crystal or did they not see it? If even a fraction of that was real, they would've mentioned something." My mind was swirling with questions, a long streak of confusion as I seemed to have a quick response.

"You're really over think everything, don't you?"

"What are the odds this is all in my head?"

"How should I know? I'm the voice in your head." Hime replied once more, quickly backtracking. "Oh, wait— you weren't actually asking me, were you?"

"Seriously, where the hell are you?!" Now I'm getting annoyed.

"Find a window!"

Pushing past the strangeness of this new voice, I took a moment to consider the events before giving the story as I began to walk down the hall, sighing deeply and rubbing my face. "I don't know, I just remember falling in the hallway and getting everyone's attention." I could feel my chest tighten as I recalled the memory, the idea of everyone looking causing me to shiver and the memory bringing dread. "The eyes of everyone on me... I-It made me shatter."

"Coward, honestly. Having all the eyes—"

"Shut up."

"...fine, rude boy."

"No wonder you broke down, but I didn't know an anxiety attack could cause you to sleep for so long. Do you feel sick? Faint?" Eri was beginning to ask her hundred questions as her hand began to press against my face, I shook my head and instinctively pulled my body back.

"I'm fine, I promise." My tone became more forceful, catching her wrist and pushing it aside.

Eri looked a little confused, stepping back with a nod as I released her wrist. "I suppose." She commented with a nod, her smile returning for a brief moment before her eyes gained her distinct fire. "With that said, you're still staying here until you're given a clean bill of health!" My sister's hand raised, aiming her finger between my eyes as she took a more serious tone and completely ignored those who shushed her. Her tone, the fire in her eyes, and the seriousness she exuded, It was undeniable that I'd lose any fight that wasn't a complete acceptance of her terms.

"Right, I will, I promise." Giving a nod, Eri then glanced beside me, waving at someone.

"So, he's finally up!" A familiar voice projected, only for Eri and a few others to shush them. We were still in the hospital after all.

"Ahh— sorry." As I looked over, I saw Hana as she suddenly pulled me into a hug. It was normal for friends, right? As the hug broke, Hana stepped aside and as I traced her with my eyes before slowly turning to the snowy city before me.

"....?" I turned towards it in full confusion, walking towards it to get an unobstructed look.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"Yeah, it's really coming down. I don't think Hana can get home until morning…" Eri chimed in, my eyes focusing on something else.

"Right…" I muttered as I noticed the strange sight.

There she is.

Hime was standing in a similar dress to her previous one, The outfit was now solid black, pink and purple highlights, almost neon against the snow. To make it weirder, the snow was passing through her, almost like a ghost.

".....Wait." My expression darkened again, a strange annoyance forming.

As I turned to Hana, now it was my turn to be loud and I knew people would be angry.

"Why are you here?! Didn't you see the weather report? You had to have known a massive snow storm was coming!"

Hana looked a little shocked, though it quickly turned to a look of hurt.

"What?" Confusion spread across my face.

"I was worried, I thought our talk in the hallway was the end of our friendship." She replied, looking aside with embarrassment.

My eyes turned wide, shock spreading across my face. I could feel a strong sense of guilt pulling on my heart, only for my eyes to glance aside and away from her. "Don't worry, that's not the case."

"Promise?" She asked, looking at me and I nodded in return.

"Promise."

The rest of the night was a blur, the three of us spent time in my room while the storm raged on outside. Hana gave me a few study packets to keep up with while the night wound down, along with some updates on the school.

Some classmates were found out to be dating, our Kendo team won a tournament, and we had a few meetings about sensitivity training (which I only assumed was in response to me).

"Finally, Sato is taking a few days off, something about a family emergency." Hana remarked, taking a bite from my yogurt.

Nodding, my eyes gently glided over the notes, stopping after a few moments before looking at the window next to Hana.

Eri then pulled on my sleeve . "It's not like you to get into an argument, what happened between you two?"

Hime was inside the room now, standing next to the window and keeping a more gentle expression.

A moment passed, the two of us exchanging glances before Hana replied. "I was trying to tell Amane about the Masked fighters."

"Is that what they call us?" Hime commented, retaining a fair bit of ego as a smirk formed.

"I just kind of assumed they were a fad, nothing real." My response was quick and honest, the idea of Masked superheroes in the real world was weird.

"Wait, how do you not know?" Eri spoke up with a clear amount of shock.

"I just…didn't? Was it that common?"

Hana stepped over, putting her phone in my face. A website, it was just a bunch of videos with comment boards in place.

"The government has been restricting all of the information on them, if he didn't go looking for them, there's a good chance that he wouldn't have found them."

She then selected a live stream, a stand-off?

Two people with masks were just staring each other down, only for something absurd to happen.

The man just lifted a car with such ease, as simple as a finger being lifted.

Hana continued her explanation as I kept my eyes glued to the screen. "They first showed up a little under a month ago, people thought they were a publicity stunt but when the damage started showing— everything changed." The fight was progressively getting more intense, snatching the phone as I began to study every frame.

The man was standing on a floating car, the woman creating…energy bolts? Some kinda laser beam, rapid firing and using the force they produced to blast herself around like a cannon. It would've looked like a cheesy superhero cartoon with admittedly good effects if it wasn't for the fact it was from a security camera.

"They'd show up at some empty places without people, use their powers, and fight. They occasionally destroy a small building or car but they certainly could do worse..." Eri was summarizing the fighters, keeping it digestible.

"Why haven't we seen more of this?" My fingers pressed against the screen, scrolling to watch the comments as I tried to fish as much information as possible.

As I stared intensely at the screen, I quickly noticed Hime behind us in the phone's reflection. Her hands were around my shoulders, leaning closer and getting between me and Eri— though I immediately stood up to get away and started to pace while watching.

"I was watching that!" Hime childishly called out, though I mostly ignored her as Eri continued her explanation.

"They mostly fight in places filled with empty space, abandoned malls or train yards, way out in the sticks, or on a beach. This one is the first real city fight." Hana spoke up with a bit of nervousness in her tone, a sudden bang audible and we looked out into the city, only for the screen to gather our attention.

The fight was progressing to a final clash. The Masked man raised a car as a way to block some kinda energy grenade and the remaining fuel in the tank was ignited from her attack, causing it to destroy the car, along with the camera and it was immediately replaced with one that wasn't damaged.

"Wait, this fight was live streamed, how did they change camera's so fast?" My mind once again began searching for answers, although only one made sense.

"Quiet, you're distracting!" Hime ordered.

They were both thrown back, only for the man to get up first. The smoke was disrupting the feed, though we could see a few of her laser bolts punch through the cover.

The fight held on this angle until the smoke cleared with the man standing victorious over the woman, a few random pieces of the car acting as spears that were raised high and brought down just as fast.

Before the attack could connect, the screen was covered in white with text in large and emboldened letters. The victor was colored blue, the loser red.

VICTOR: Shihai

LOSER: Blazer

That name was familiar.

"And now he's 4 for 4…" Hana commented aloud, a small look of disappointment on her face. "Blazer was a good matchup for him, too."

Scrolling through the site, we could see several nicknames given by an Admin— Shihai was in the top 20, now the top 10.

"Wait, if the government is restraining the information, how is this site even up?" This question wasn't the first one that came to mind, though it felt the most pressing considering how we were watching this.

"The head admin is someone named Cheshire, they somehow keep the site running. People think they're a masked fighter with some kind of ability to control technology…"

"And the Masked fighters are, what? Just people with powers?" I asked, trying to put it together as I stood up. "Why are they fighting?" Approaching the windows, I looked down towards the point in the city where their battle happened but Hime was standing before me.

"I told you, Amane. We're here to wage war!" Hime's tone turned more petulant, arrogantly staring up at me.

"You really need to elaborate…" I thought, rubbing my face.

"We dunno, it's some kinda big secret." Eri spoke up. "Thankfully, no one has gotten hurt, aside from those who participate and no bodies have actually been recovered so a lot of people think it's a big show…" As the conversation became more dour, my gaze remained heavy on hime. Curiously scanning the room, I noticed a bag of mine with a few extra pairs of clothes on one of the counters. I needed to talk to Hime, having countless questions about these power users.

"Do you guys mind heading out for a second? I want to take a shower." Looking up at the two, I gave them a few moments to leave as I turned the TV on, letting the news play in the background as I walked into the bathroom and closed the door. "Okay, we really need to talk." I spoke aloud, turning towards the wall.

Hime's body stepped through the wall, almost like a ghost as I turned on the shower. Hospitals were always a bit more cramped, though it was serviceable for a majority of patients and this was enough.

"What more do you need? It's easy. We go fight them and we win." Her explanation left quite a bit to be desired.

"Okay, who the hell is Shihai? He looked really strong." I asked, taking a seat on a small chair and staring up at the gothic lolita proncess.

"No clue." She immediately replied, not even taking a moment to think as she stayed moving- pointing randomly to sublet her thoughts. "My memories are a bit of a haze, I think the transfer to crystal may have made everything a bit more fuzzy."

"....okay, let's start with what you do know." As I prepared a list of questions, Hime immediately raised her hand to my face as I turned more deadpan.

"Don't worry so much, we're super strong and so we'll achieve absolute victory!"

Somehow, this failed to invoke confidence in me.

"We're bound to have some hiccups, you are new to the power of a shard, let alone an origin shard, but it should all work out.” She gained more confidence, giving a small pose which involved a cheesy thumbs up. Confidence in spades.

"Origin Shard? Sounds important."

"It is!" She chimed out, smiling as she took a seat on the counter.

"And you can hear my thoughts?" I asked aloud, taking occasional glances out the door to ensure we weren't being listened to.

"I live in your head, I can do a lot more than that." A cocky grin formed as she shifted her position, bringing her arms behind her back, almost like she was showing off her figure.

"So, you are a man~ I figured with how spineless you were—"

"Stop talking." I ordered aloud, looking at the counter as I could practically feel her smirk vanish for a more annoyed expression.

"You're no fun." She quipped back.

"I'm aware. Now get out so I can actually take a shower."

"Nothing I haven't seen before." She gave a coy smile, only to wave and walk through the wall as I turned on the water— sighing gently before feeling my strength give out, just sitting down in the shower and taking the time to focus on going through all of this in my head.

A few minutes passed and I slicked my hair back, looking up as I asked Hime to return. A towel set around my waist, offering a modicum of privacy.

"Okay, let's take it from the top so I can see how strong my grasp is of the situation…" I said aloud, looking forward as I let the water pepper my eyes for a good moment, just feeling the hot water rushing across me.

I felt more awake now than I had in weeks, may as well use it.

"You're from another world, that place with the white sky and castle." Then Hime gave a nod before sitting down on the counter once more.

"Yes, that is the Kingdom of Lux. I'm not sure why the castle is damaged but that is my home."

Alright, that was a better answer than I was expecting. I figured she would just make a snide or arrogant comment and wave me off.

"I can hear that, y'know?" She smirked through annoyance and I ended up waving her off. Standing, I turned off the water and grabbed a dry towel, getting dressed without removing the curtain.

"A Shard, is it some kinda magic?" I thought aloud more, to the denizens of another planet, it may be their science.

"To put it simply, it is both. We have what you call magic understood to be a science and utilize it as we see fit." Hime explained, only to raise one finger up. "Shards are a combination of natural elements from Lux and some other stuff associated with the user, it's pretty standard stuff."

"...Your ordinary is my extraordinary, don’t sugarcoat it." I responded in kind, sighing before starting to get dressed. "Okay, what's an origin shard? You mentioned that was important."

"Yep! An origin shard isn't made, it's 100% natural. An original crystallization of magic that has no limits for growth."

"If shards have limits, how far do they go?"

"You're quick on the uptake. Shard's grow in various ways that match the user. Since humans obtain Shards that they don't make, the powers are changing in really wild ways to best match their strengths and weaknesses."

"....Wait, so the powers gifted are random? I figured there'd be some kinda logic in who and what was given."

"How could we control that?" She asked, though it felt obvious in retrospect.

"So anyone could be a Shard user?" I asked, only for her to confirm with a nod. "This is just getting better and better… how the hell do I even start?" I groaned, sitting back down on the bed with a head covered in a towel.

"Perhaps with a hunt? Probably not, you're too pathetic now. Still, no better time to begin training than now!" She smirked, making a strange motion with her hand. Almost completely covering my face with her hand, she developed a massive grin while energy filled my body and a chill built deep in my blood that quickly turned into an inferno, like a cold sweat that lost its chill and became like boiling water.

A collection of words or orders hammered itself into my mind, though they all had a central idea that filled my thoughts without restraint and intruding on every cell.

Manifest!

Give Form!

Come forth!

Take my sword!

DECLARE MY NAME!

I couldn't breath, It was like this order filled my every cell. My legs gave out, a tightness formed in my chest and I couldn't keep my thoughts in order.

My hands set against my head, a massive migraine overtaking me as I fell off the bed. Gasping for air, I looked up at the sky that hung over me. The snow clouds completely consumed the night, a white sky that felt so familiar.

The simplest answer was the right one.

"Hime." I whispered.

In a wave of crystal, I felt the same black mineral take a defined path across my face. As I reached up, I couldn't breathe. The crystal was covering my mouth, I felt like I was going to suffocate— picking myself up as I approached the mirror and saw it before immediately trying to rip the mask off, though it wouldn't break.

"I wonder why the masks appear to begin with…" Hime thought aloud, showing very little concern for my current condition.

"I CAN'T BREATHE!"

"Oh shut up you big baby! You can breathe fine, just focus."

Turning to her, I reached forward— wanting to strangle her, only to start coughing as I dropped to my knees, finding my breath again and gasping for it. "What the hell… you rotten little—" Staring into her eyes with frustration filling my soul, she sighed and crossed her arms.

"Are you done?"

"...How do I turn this off?"

"Just think about it. Geez, I thought you were smart."

"Shut up!" I threw a pillow, though as I expected— it phased through her.

"If you knew that wouldn't work, why bother?"

"It helped my mood considerably…" As the mask started to deform, I watched it in the mirror. Almost like light refracted from every point and began to disassemble it in pieces, until all that was left was my face. "Something tells me this isn't going to end well." Despite the mask, I couldn't see a sword anywhere.

Hime sighed, looking more annoyed at my attitude before asserting her own questions. "I can't figure it out. We never wore Masks when we used our Shards."

Taking a seat, I stared at her for a moment before thinking. "...If our bodies are inhabited by a foreign entity, maybe it's the entity's way of showing its will? Like we're being covered by this unnatural being and the mask is a physical marker."

"If your theory holds weight, that would mean they likely can't use their magic without the masks active. I suppose that means you won't have to worry about surprise attacks… assuming you don't see the mask."

"That's reassuring."

"So, when do we start?" She asked, looking towards me.

"We don't, I don't intend to participate in your war. It's completely ancillary to what I want."

"The Shard war will find you, Amane. The concept of immeasurable power is too intoxicating for most people to resist."

"...What exactly is the Shard war?"

There was a pause, Hime was seemingly focusing on how to answer. For someone so confident, she was slow to answer a legitimate question. "It is the ultimate war for the Kingdom of Luxia, to participate in this war is to accept the right to try and take the role of Shard King…or queen." As she spoke, her expression grew into one of pride and excitement, turning to me as her hand reached for me.

"Now, Amane Toudou: let us wage a most epic war!"

"As much as I would love too, it's too late and I just got out of a mini coma. Let's not tonight..." I replied, looking into her eyes.

"I suppose trying to do this all at once would be foolish, rest well, and when we awaken to the new day: Let the War Begin!"