Prologue
Wind and sand don't mix well, Inei thought, trying to keep the dust out or her eyes. The desert that spread from the city to the edge of the continent had been her home for a long time, when these lands floated in the sky. But two years had passed since then.
Mintaka had mellowed out quite a bit. The once harsh and rather disliked empire had turned completely around. Some people remained skeptical that it would stay that way, but all of Alfard's residents knew better. The change in attitude was because of their new leader, a so-called 'hero', named Lyude. Inei had never seen him, she never cared much for politics. She had remained secluded to the outside world, living by herself, hunting for food and staying away from people.
People annoyed her.
She visited the city once in a great while to make sure there wasn't going to be any events that could disrupt her otherwise carefee life. It was the day that the islands fell, however, that changed her ideas. She had just stepped out ofher hut when the land shifted under her feet. She felt herself start to float, and had just barely grasped what was happening when she grabbed the doorframe of her hut and pulled herself inside the small, rather unprotected building. She had never been so terrified, but that was the reaction of the entire population at that time, as well. After the earth had felt that it had settled into it's new home, she had rushed to the capital of Mintaka to figure out what was going on. Not too many people knew exactly what had happened either. After quite a bit of digging, she found out. Malpercio ressurected by Geldoblame's hand. A small group of people trying to stop him. The result being humanities return to earth and changing an entire way of life.
People really did annoy her, she thought to herself.
Inei sighed, squinting through the cloth wrapped around her face and looking for her old hut that she had abandoned that two years ago. No longer able to keep to herself in a race of people that desparately needed a change of lifestyle, she had turned to aiding the people of Mintaka in rebuilding their nation. They were surprisingly humbled by the turn of events in their world, going form the most poweful and 'exceptional' capital ever to leaderless and weak. Some of the Mintaka nobles still kept their snootiness and a high level, but they were now ignored for the most part. Inei stepped inside the tattered, desert hut, and was not surprised to see it slowly being overtaken by sand in her absence.
Inei gather the last few of her belonging that she could carry. Some kitchenware, a couple of pictures that she had left behind, and other small things. Her efforts to aid the Alfard people had been recognized and she was paid accordingly, now having enough to move into the capital if she so willed...
She admitted living in the desert was getting boring and decided the next chapter of her life would take place in the broken empire.
She took one last look at the broken-down little hut and turned away into the blowing sand, dragging her feet towards a future she never would have expected.