Fun Fact: Sitting at a whopping size of ten million square kilometres, Surone is the largest country in the world.

An urban jungle filled to the brim with technomagick, the country is characterised by the distinct purple colour of arcani; a testament to how much magic men have imbued in the environment.

Formerly a country with many provinces, the Suronian empire finally united the country after countless civil wars.

The capital, Surone City, was renamed after the brightest constellation visible at night, Sirius.

----------------------------------------

“Keep it down, will you?”

“I’m sorry. I’m trying, I’m trying…” Parthena winced as another glass shard cracked under her feet.

Kleopatra kept her rifle faced forward, moving with enough precision and furtiveness to match even the most professional of covert operatives. Cleric Elpis Nerva had prepared her for much worse situations while she was still a Guardian trainee. Elpis was a good teacher, no doubt about that; even when she turned out to be a hyper religious nutcase.

The Guardian raised a closed fist, but Parthena bumped into her anyway.

“Something’s wrong.” Her rifle darted around. “It’s too quiet.”

“What-”

Rubble crashed into Kleopatra as a scaly claw put itself through the wall beside her. Flashes of white burst out. She ducked downwards, narrowly dodging the sharpened bones that lodged themselves in the wood just above her.

Gritting her teeth, the girl let loose a hailstorm of energy pulses at the red points of light still hiding in the darkness. Shrieks were heard, but they were not sounds of pain. Another claw burst out without warning.

Kleopatra screamed as blood spurted from her shoulder. The claw dug into her flesh, sending fresh waves of pain through her body as it roughly dragged her towards the monster. She raised her weapon towards it, but a tentacle simply swatted it away. She wheezed as appendages wrapped around her and began squeezing the air out of her lungs.

A beam of light narrowly missed her head, putting a hole in the ceiling. Rubble dropped onto the abomination’s head. It roared in irritation, tossing its captive at the girl still knocked over by the weapon’s recoil.

Air burst from her lungs as Kleopatra crashed into Parthena. She propped herself out groggily, struggling to catch her breath.

“Kleo, no…”

Kleopatra looked up at the source of the voice; a figure with a glaringly bright orange aura. It was charging towards the abomination.

“You…You FIEND! I’ll destroy you!”

The monster leapt towards the figure in response, but was promptly sent flying back by a backhand. Kleopatra furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. Is that Gaius? Since when did he possess such prodigious physical strength?

“You think you can hurt my friends?! You’re nothing!” Gaius was smashing the monster’s head on the ground repeatedly now, sending tremors along the floor with every hit. “You’re nothing but a pathetic little boy!”

The abomination screeched as Gaius ripped all its limbs off with his bare hands and flung it out of the building. It quickly halted its tumbling and attempted to regain its bearings, but the Sorcerer was having none of that. He swung his hand down, burying its head in the gravel road before it could make another move.

Kleopatra watched in slight terror as the boy slowly rose up in the air, presumably carried by the energy peeking out from his soles. A huge blast of energy burst out from his face, disintegrating the abomination instantly.

Gaius hovered for a moment, before dropping to the ground abruptly.

“G-Gaius…? Are you… alright?” Kleopatra approached the boy, lifting a hand to him cautiously as though he was some kind of wild animal. He turned around without warning.

It took all her willpower not to jump back in shock.

Gaius’ orifices were replaced with the energy she had seen him throw out so many times before. His skin was cracked, as though still struggling to keep the light from bursting out. His shoulders were heaving, and she could sense turbulent arcani swirling around him like an uncontrolled river current. She stepped back unconsciously.

“I’m alright. I think…” Gaius took a deep breath, and his facial features began covering up the glowing holes in his face again.

“What happened to you?”

“I guess I lost control of my emotions. My magic was never stable, and this corrupted air is only destabilising it further.” The boy looked at his hands. “But with this power, I felt different. I felt… so strong.”

Orange flickered in his eyes.

“I like it.”

Kleopatra opened her mouth to voice her concern, but a shimmer of light on the floor caught her attention. She walked over to pick up the strange tear-shaped crystal sitting where the abomination was.

“A B’javiar tear? What’s this doing here?” she muttered to herself. The B’javiar tear was a natural shape that occurs only at dense arcani spots such as volcanoes. Why would it appear in the middle of a mild-mannered town?

“Kleo, I think we gotta get Parthena back to the refugee camp.”

Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

Right, almost forgot about her.

She spun around. Jealousy bubbled within her at the sight of Gaius holding the limp girl up, but she quickly pushed it back down. There would be plenty of time to fight for the boy later.

“What’s wrong with her?” Kleopatra sounded as concerned as an alcoholic in an insurance scheme.

“Physically, nothing. But emotionally, she’s close to death.”

“Well, whatever it is, this is no place to be having a casual conversation. We have no idea if there are any abominations roaming here,” Kleopatra replied behind gritted teeth. “Let’s head back.”

“Agreed.”

----------------------------------------

Felix yawned. The journey to the southern outskirts of the country had not been a particularly smooth airship ride, and its eternally frosty reception was not the most gracious of hosts. He leaned against the freezing windowpane, listening to the icy winds howl, almost as if they were protesting the Guardian Council’s unwelcome arrival.

Not like there were any town guards left to chase them out though.

“Here, drink this warming elixir.” He offered the tincture to a still shivering Aglaia. “This ought to keep you nice and toasty for the rest of this mission.”

The cabin doors opened, and the reconnaissance party walked out briskly, accompanied by the Guardian Council leader. Cybele signalled, and the main guard hurriedly picked up their weapons from the floor.

Felix took another swig from his elixir flask, watching the Guardians scurry off in search of survivors. That should take them no less than three hours. More than enough time for him to do what he came here for.

“Aglaia, I need you to do me a favour.” His eyes glowed as he held the girl’s hand, projecting a psychic signature into her mind.

“I can’t connect to other minds without physical contact, but you can. Lock onto these people, and search for their whereabouts.”

“B-but… aren’t the Guardians already searching for survivors?” Aglaia blinked her eyes in confusion.

“This is the first time the Guardian Council has done anything like this,” Felix replied. “I can’t trust them to be thorough enough. I made a promise to someone to find his family. I need to do this myself.”

“Felix, Leader told us to stay here in case their communications system breaks down. I have to stay and coordinate movements; I can’t leave.”

“I’m not asking you to leave.” Felix gave a small smile to the flustered girl. “Don’t worry, I’ll be back before anything happens.”

“O-okay…” A warm blue light shone from Aglaia’s eyes as she concentrated hard. A small image formed in Felix’s own mind as well, and its location gradually got clearer and clearer.

“Got it.” The psychic boy released her hand, severing the connection between their minds. “Thanks, Aglaia. Oh, and if anyone asks, this never happened.”

He leapt out of the open window.

----------------------------------------

The solitary Guardian found his quarry in less than five minutes. They were huddled behind a rotting wooden door under a few flimsy pieces of aluminium, which was a pretty decent lodging for a pair of disaster victims, all things considered. Felix gently pushed the door open.

“No!” A small scream made him jump. “Please don’t hurt us anymore. I have no more arcani to spare; I need more time to recover…”

Sure enough, a woman and a young boy were sitting on the ground before him. Colour had long drained from their parched lips, and the woman was cradling her child to protect him from the biting winds. The boy shivered further as cold air intruded the cramped space, so Felix closed the door behind him. They pressed up harder against the wall in response.

“Missus Doukas, am I right?” Felix squatted down, offering them a flask of warming elixir. “I mean you no harm.”

“W-who are you?” The mother seemed to relax her body, receiving the tincture.

She brought it to her child’s lips. “Are you with the Meta Liberty Fighters?”

“Pardon me, I have no idea what that is.” Felix shook his head. “I’m from the Guardian Council; they’re on a mission to rescue any surviving stragglers still trapped out here. But I’m here for you on behalf of Nero.”

“Nero? You know my husband?” The woman’s eyes lit up. “Oh thank the gods he’s alright! Did you hear that, Cato? Your father is alive!”

Felix smiled at the boy, but Cato only returned it with a glare colder than the outside winds.

“You Guardians are bad people,” he hissed. “You left us behind. You took my father away and abandoned us here!”

“Cato!” the woman exclaimed. “Don’t be so rude!”

“What? It’s true!”

Felix raised a placating hand before the boy got scolded by his mother further.

“I can’t speak for all Guardians, but this is no place to be huddling in the cold.” He stood, offering a hand to help them up. “Come with me. I’ll take you back to your family.”

The woman did not budge.

“I’m sorry, but we don’t exactly have a choice in this matter.” She shook her head, showing a pulsating technomagick device on her wrist. “You’re one step too late. This place belongs to the Meta Liberty Fighters now.”

Felix frowned.

“What the hell is that?” he asked, irritation seeping into his voice. “C’mon, we don’t have time to be lingering here.”

“The Meta Liberty Fighters is a brotherhood of metas who managed to kill off the monsters in this town. As such, they’ve taken over and are ruling this place now.”

“They’re clearly not doing a very good job, or you two wouldn’t still be half frozen.” Felix rolled his eyes. “So why not leave?”

“Like I said, we can’t.” The woman fiddled with the device on her wrist. “The Liberty Fighters have chased out every magi and put these devices on the rest of us metas. They demand daily payments of arcani in return for their ‘protection’. If we don’t comply, all they need to do is press a button and it’ll mess up the attunement of arcani in our bodies. The pain, it… it’s unbearable.”

Cato shuddered, and his mother hugged him instinctively.

“I appreciate you coming all the way here, but magis are powerless in this place.” The woman cracked a pained smile. “Please… please tell Nero that we are doing fine for now.”

Felix clenched his fists, fighting down the anger bubbling within him. He was not expecting much from his own race, but this was a new low.

We should be sticking together. Dammit, we shouldn’t be even fighting each other, especially during a time like this. Why is everyone so gods-damned greedy and selfish?

“No need.” The psychic waved his hand, and pink spheres scooped up the mother and child without warning. “I’m a meta as well.”

He gestured to the devices strapped to their wrist. “Don’t worry, the Guardian Council will get that sorted out.”

“But-” The woman began to protest, but a loud crash followed by more commotion cut her off. Aglaia’s voice buzzed in Felix’s head.

Felix, can you hear me? We need your help!