-Prologue-

At the edge of the of the crowded room, next to the door leading deeper into the unexplored ruins, is where sat anxiously awaiting the go-ahead to enter.
My heart pounded with each passing moment that felt like an eternity, I heard so many voices but couldn't understand a single word, their words were all meshed together inside my head. I began to breathe in and out uncontrollably.

Why am I here? I began to wonder.
What possessed me to finally come out and fight after 3 long years of isolation?

I tightened my grip around my blade in a futile attempt to stop myself from trembling.
Swordplay was never my forte, but since I found myself unable to draw up the courage to use Techniques this seemed like the better option.
I suppose I could have picked up a gun but just shooting one feels soulless, I was afraid I'd become dehumanized, which I'm sure sounds silly just to anyone else.

Techniques are powered by our minds and by extension, our hearts.
I suppose it was my mother who taught me the importance of the heart as a Force.
If you somehow don't know what a Force is, think about a mage in any fantasy RPG with a spell set, and that's about it.

After losing my partner I sort of shut down, their death had left its mark on both my mind and my heart.
In my current state, even attempting to use them could have caused further damage to my psyche.
On top of that, just the simple act of holding a staff caused some unpleasant memories to surface.

After what happened I found it difficult to even sleep at night... but I guess it could have been worse, right?
I mean it wasn't like I was the only one to lose someone, right? My problems seem minuscule to those around me,
I couldn't help but feel guilty for even feeling that way.

"I am a weak man," I told myself. So I forced myself back into the world.
My partner died to save it, I couldn't sit back and wallow in self-pity.

I couldn' return to my previous job so doing security jobs as a mercenary seemed like the next best thing,
and that's how I got stuck in this hole with several other Mercenaries looking for easy money.

"This site must have a hotshot sponsor to bring out this many people," A robotic voice snapped me out of my thoughts, I turned to see a silver CAST leaning against the wall next to me with his arms crossed. I tried to cover up my trembling arm with my other hand.

"There's money to be made," He continued to speak in a calm tone as he stared at the crowd.
"You look like a mercenary yourself. Not with any company, though, are you? Freelancer, eh?
I'm impressed. Of course, a place like this is bound to draw the best."

And as you'll see later, it also draws in "less than skilled" help.
At the moment I had regretted coming here.

"Should be safe here. No promises further in, though... that's uncharted territory." He didn't need to tell me that. That's the whole reason we were here. Our job was to scout out the rest of the relic site. What I wanted to know was "where the hell was this client who was supposed to give me my orders?!" In fact, why was everyone else sitting on their ass when there was a job to do?

Suddenly across the room, I saw a short golden-haired girl dressed in red with an older man in a purple long-coat.
Everyone else in the room didn't pay much mind to them but there was no doubt in my mind everyone could hear them.

"Can we just go home already? Please?!" She pleaded to the man standing in front of her.

"This is no place for children. And I'll wager she's no mercenary." Sadly it wasn't uncommon for kids her age to join this line of work.
I was her age when I became a guardian.
"Worst mistake of my life." I thought as I clenched my teeth.

"This is a relic site! A relic site! Do you hear me? Come on! You can't make me stay here!" The girl continued to complain,
but it didn't concern me so I tried to tune it out, emphasis on 'tried'.

"Remind me why I pay you." The man sighed as he shook his head in disappointment.
"Look it's safe here, I'll go find some work for you to do, just don't wander off you hear me? Stay put." The man walked away leaving the girl alone in a crowded room.

The girl began to pace back and forth nervously.

As I let out a sigh, there was a sudden booming sound that shook the entire room.
Everyone had been sent into a frenzy and running towards the large closing steel doors.
As I made my way out I felt a palm press against my back before getting shoved, the next thing I knew I was on the ground and everything went black.
Once I was able to pick myself up of the ground, it was too late, the steel doors were shut tightly.

As faith would have it I wasn't stuck in here alone.
"Just my luck..." I muttered under my breath the moment I saw the whiny girl pounding on the door.

"Open up, will ya? Ugh, come one! Let me out of here! Is this any way to treat somebody? I know you could hear me! Open this tin can up!" She cried out, though I doubt anyone on the other side heard her.

"I said we should go home, but did he listen? No." She sighed in frustration, not that I particularly cared about her crying.

I pressed the button on the little device that hung from my ear and a holographic visor appeared in front of my right eye.
But I saw nothing but s blank blue-tinted screen.
"Strange... bad reception? or Perhaps something in the RELIC site was jamming the signal." I pondered as I deactivated the device.

"Um, hello?!" I turned to see the girl glaring at me with her red eyes that seemed to emphasize her icy stare although because of her short stature it was hard to find her all that intimidating. Her hair was short but tied up into a ponytail on the side of her head by a storage disk-like accessory.
She wore a red coat unbuttoned over a brown blazer with a yellow tie.

She had a pair of pinkish-red headphones that hung around her neck.

Appearance-wise, She seemed like a typical teenager.
And I couldn't see any visible injuries.

She waved her hand in front of my face as she continued to scowl at me.
"Hello?! I'm having a crisis over here. Maybe you wanna try not ignoring me?
Most people, when they see a girl in trouble they try to find out what's wrong."

"You seem fine." I sighed in annoyance as I scowled back at her.

First impression of this girl; She's a whiny brat out of her element.
It wasn't like she was the only one trapped and crying wouldn't help us get out any faster.

"Ooh... Chelsea always says tears are a girl's best weapon. So much for that theory." she muttered bitterly.

I ignored her, I thought it would be better to avoid an argument when there were more pressing concerns in front of us.
Such as being trapped in these ruins.

"I guess we have more important things to figure out right now. Talk isn't gonna get us outta here.
And I don't suppose we're any better off being trapped in here together." That was the first thing she's said so far that I've agreed with completely.

"Any idea what the fuss was about?" She asked.

"No clue," I replied realizing I might have had a little concussion, I couldn't recall much about how I got here or what planet we were on for that matter.
It wasn't amnesia or anything, I just forgot is all.

"Yeah, me neither. It all happened so fast. Next thing I knew, this place was empty. What are we going to do?"

I glanced towards the only way out of the room.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Don't tell me you're thinking about going deeper into this place?! Are you crazy? This is a relic site. Who knows what could be down here?"

The alternative would be to sit there and wait for someone to come and rescue us.
But I couldn't do that. Sitting around would be too painful, I'd only remember what I want to forget... or I'd have to talk to her.
Between those 3 options, fighting monsters was the most appealing.

I brushed her aside and proceeded to move towards the exit.

"Not so fast!" She tugged on my coat's sleeve.
"If you run off by yourself you could end up dead-or worse!"

I forcefully pulled back my arm and continued to walk.

"Fine! If you're going, I'm coming too!" She ran in front of me with a staff held close to her chest and a determined look in her eye.
I glanced down at my sword and back to her.

"Fine..." I continued to walk as she walked by my side.

"Oh, I don't think I caught your name."

"Cyruss..." I sighed.

"Never woulda guessed. Well, nice to meet you. I'm Emilia. Emilia Percival.
Like it or not we're in this together." She said with a confident smile but I didn't expect much from her.

And that is how I met the girl who would soon save all of Gurhal from a threat no one saw coming.