Mom? Where are you? Mom, it hurts. We'll always be together right? I'm scared...

Prologue: The Bell of Lost Souls

September 25th at 9:00 in the morning was the day the world died.

Well, it would be September here...that's my best guess. We didn't have the same calendar that you do in this dimension. I woke up planning to go to school and spending the day with my friends. We were going to paint pictures and maybe dance in the sunlight when we were let out to play. It's strange how you remember things like that so clearly they hurt and the things you don't become questions burning in your head. Well, that's how I feel now.

I remember the sky darkening as I ate my breakfast, except that there were no clouds. It wasn't like the sun was covered and would come back later. Even if it was, there would still be some kind of light showing through but that wasn't what happened. It was like the sun was a candle and someone just blew it out. Then the wind began to pick up until I could hear it screaming outside our window, throwing itself against walls that I had grown up believing were invincible. It only got louder.

Then the lightning started. I remember looking outside the window as the wind threw small things this way and that. I wasn't afraid but the flashes of light surprised me. I jumped back a little and my heart did a little backflip but it was okay. Then the flashes started getting faster and faster. I thought there was lightning everywhere, it was all around me and I was scared that it was going to come down somewhere inside the house. My mom came to me then and put her arms around me, but even the weight of her presence couldn't hold me down. I kept on shaking.

"It's alright", she said to me, "the weather report says that it's just a storm and it will pass soon so don't worry. Go get ready for school."

I was sure she was right. I won't ever know what she really felt during that time but she couldn't stop me from shaking. Maybe she didn't really believe everything was going to be alright herself and that's why she couldn't help herself. Or others. I went about getting ready as normal and for a time I forgot about the scary lightning and the wind that was howling right outside my door. It's a skill everyone should learn, being able to focus on a task and screen out all other distractions. For mages it's a simple thing like breathing, to help you make a clear shot, but that's not important right now.

The television was talking about the storms outside when it suddenly began flashing red and giving this high pitched tone. It was like the opposite of music, just pure noise for the sake of noise and I hated it. Looking back I think it was some kind of emergency alarm system and it was telling us to run. My mom and dad came running out of the sitting room and grabbed my hand, not taking the time to pack anything or keep anything of value with them. They just told me we had to go now and that we would be able to come home later. They took me out into the heart of the storm and I...

I wasn't scared anymore. It sounds strange I know but I was much more afraid when I was inside a house behind powerful protective walls and watching the disaster raging outside than I was when the wind slammed against my face. The lightning flashed so close sometimes I could have sworn it was going to hit us and kill us all but somehow, at the heart of everything the shaking stopped. I think it was because when I had walls to protect me I was more afraid that the storm was going to take that protection away from me but once there was nothing else stopping it I was fine. I was still alive. I wouldn't be killed. We joined a group of people who lived on my street and ran towards the old park where a giant monster made of metal was waiting for us. It opened its mouth and began to swallow people whole, but I understood then as I do now, that it would be taking us somewhere safe. Somewhere away from the storm where everything would be bright and quiet again. There was no light from the sun anymore, only the lightning let us see where we were going. No, that's not right. There was an orange glow as well and I started to feel hot wind coming from behind me. I looked back to see trees and houses on fire and it was spreading quickly, a bit like the lights on the side of roads at night.

Everyone started running faster. Too fast maybe, a lot of people tripped and fell but no one was there to help them up. Then they disappeared. At first it was one or two people but then I could see why they had gone. Holes were opening up in the ground and dragging them into the centre of the world. We never saw them again. The holes became wider and there were more of them, and I started jumping and weaving whenever I felt the ground about to give way underneath me. Mom and dad told me to run and not look back so I didn't see whether I had missed dying but I could hear their screams as they fell. They were just as scared as I was. Maybe even more. But there was one other sound that I could hear through all the screams. It was the chime of the bell from the church, just across the street from the park. It kept ringing in the wind even with no one to ring it, like it had a life of its own and could see what was going to happen. It couldn't do anything about that. That church sounded a bit like someone crying and when I turned to see why, I probably started crying too, a bit. The metal monster had eaten its fill of people and was flying away without the rest of us. They would all get to go somewhere safe but we...weren't so lucky.

The ground falling away. The bell tolling for the monster that had flown away when it could have saved us. Those were the only things I could think of when I was thrown to the grass and squeezed my eyes shut, wanting to be back in my bed waking up to the smell of those delicious eggs my mom used to make. I wanted it to be just a dream. I think we all wanted it to be just a dream. Even that church. When I opened my eyes I was still lying on that field in the park but that orange glow was everywhere. The fires had spread and there was nowhere for us to go. I didn't understand why some people were crying and other people were running back in the direction of the fire. No, maybe I just didn't want to understand. If I did I would probably have been running along with them and trying desperately to find a way to escape from this impossible situation.

I looked around for my parents but I couldn't find them. I think I broke a little then, I don't know now since its been so many years, but I couldn't stop calling for them even as everyone else around me screamed or begged. It was all noise. The fire was closing in around us like a hungry animal. The air was hot and it hurt to breathe or even to speak but the wind kept carrying the hot air into our mouths and our noses so we didn't have a choice but to breathe it. So for a lot of us, we spent our last moments in pain long before the fires ever caught up. That smell...it was weird. Smoke I guess. That was the first word that came to mind when I breathed in and started coughing. It was hot and I was having trouble seeing, so I decided to catch my breath and sit down for a little while, but then my legs wouldn't move the way I wanted to and I started falling. Strong hands caught me then and I felt myself being carried away from the fire, through the air. I remember that sensation of flying too, even if I wanted to go to sleep so badly. Those hands were strong but also gentle, it almost felt like I was actually flying on my own instead of being carried by a white angel.

I felt as though the angels had come in my final hour to carry me away from all the fear and the pain. One white, one black. The black one went down to try and save other people I think, but the white one was carrying me and couldn't join her. She flew higher and higher until I saw another creature of metal, but this one wasn't scary or a monster. How could it be when it was white like the angel? Even so, it opened its mouth and I was brought into the inside of that metal creature. There were other people inside like me. They had blankets and food, and they were all scared. At the same time, I think they were happy to be here instead of down on the ground with the fire and the pain.

Then the white angel said to me, "Don't worry. You're safe now."

She was gone then. I don't know where. I never saw her again. Down on the ground, the bell on the church continued to toll for all the souls that would be lost on the dead world, but by that time nobody was listening. The world had died. The rest was...silence.

"...and that's the story of how I was saved by angels", the girl concluded with a grin, "so you see? The Saint loves me more than she loves you."

All the children laughed, creating a harmony of sorts with the water flowing from a nearby fountain. The girl had told them this story many times before but on Midchilda there was a proverb about a boy who kept on telling people the sky was falling. After awhile none of them believed her and went their separate ways to buy sweets, toss small coloured balls around or a multitude of other things that small children do to keep themselves occupied. The storyteller assumed an expression of mock hurt and humiliation, staring wide-eyed at her lost audience as if imploring them to come back and listen to her tell another tale. It was clear that no other easily-enthralled dupes were forthcoming so she decided to head back to the seminary before anyone realised she was late for her lessons. With a self-satisfied smirk on her face she turned away from the fountain and broke into a run, only to have that run killed before it ever began by an iron grip on her left ear.

"Telling tall tales again, Novice Sascha?" came a quiet voice. She could tell he was laughing on the inside even if his speech betrayed none of his humour.

"Umm...yes Brother Matiel but, you know, it's just as you taught me. We should always remember who we are and where we came from, right? Or, something like that..."

"Bringing out what I have said when it suits you, as usual. But I think you left off a very important part of the lesson: those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it!" Matiel said as he began walking.

"Ouch! Ow! Not again! Don't p-pull me by my ear!"

But Sascha knew that her protests were ultimately futile and knew better than to start making a fuss over the matter, even with a person as tolerant as her tutor. Instead they walked in silence, contemplating the buildings around them in their earthy tones of gray and brown and the waters in the fountain square they were leaving behind. At last, she broke the silence.

"So how did you know I was here?"

"There is no particular reason. I just happened to be passing through on my way to the seminary", Matiel replied.

"A likely story...your path has been crossing mine a lot in the past few months", Sascha pointed out.

"Well then, that is rather fortunate. Perhaps it is the will of the Saint that I find you in time to keep you from wandering off the path?"

Sascha remained silent. Obviously the Saint tended to help those who were more willing to help themselves. She decided that discretion was the better part of valour and bit back that particular retort but in her mind she was already crossing that part of the city out as a place to find a captive audience for her stories and her entertainment. It was time to find a new place to play.

"But really", Matiel remarked, "I would like it if you could be a little bit more serious about your lessons. A ward of the Saint Church should set a good example for the rest of the children. Besides, wasn't it your dream in the first place?"

"My dream..." Yes. To meet the angel who had saved her five years ago. But why magic, of all things? Why did she have to become strong?

"We still have a bit of a walk ahead of us so if your ear is really hurting maybe now would be a good time to practice those lessons you have, in theory, been paying attention to. Remember, whether it is the modern or classical Belkan system you will need clarity and focus to control magic..."

Above them, the bell tolled.

Ah, my first attempt at Lyrical Nanoha fanfiction. Please don't expect too much. Also, be sure to sit at least 3 metres away from the monitor in a well-lit room while reading. Canon characters seem to be conspicuously absent from this chapter but it's only a prologue. Well, you know...it seems our narrator is a little unreliable.