Author's Note: This is made for the Elsword forums people. No Elgang at all. Enjoy.
Chapter 1 – Another Beautiful Tragedy
Velder, Commercial Area 1, Year 627
Cries filled the air, but not that from human mouths. Demons littered the broken streets, crying in agony as blue flames licked at their flesh. Demons still standing fresh backed away from their fallen comrades as they all stared ahead at the figure that attracted their attention. The figure, a hooded human, silently stepped towards the dark invaders. The human took a hand out of their pocket to adjust the small stick between their teeth.
"Oh shut up," the human spoke. The demons felt a cold shiver run down their bodies as the human smashed their foot into the screaming snout of a fallen demon. The blue flames that ate at their body burned faster until not even the demonic skeleton remained. A satisfying crunch echoed throughout the quiet, followed by chewing noises as the human munched on their lollipop.
With one last look at where their fallen comrade had been, the demons mustered up their courage and lunged at the human. The human didn't even seem to bat an eye as they flicked their finger at the demons. Blue flames sprouted from thin air, scorching the attacking demons and once again filling the air with screams.
"What a nice sound," the human said rather cheerfully to the flame they held near their ear. The melting flesh of the demons became a noxious gas that wafted upwards like a smoke signal as more demons showed up seconds later. One of the demons cackled happily with bright red flames at its fingertips. The human eyed the red flame demon and smiled almost childishly. With a clap of their hands, several balls of blue flames erupted in the air around her. "Silly demons! I'm the only arsonist allowed here!"
Imperial year 627: The demonic invasion in Velder was halted by the combined help of several guilds and the Velder Militia. From that invasion only fourteen citizens were killed, including soldiers. Eighty-five percent of the once grand city was reduced to nothing but wreckage and ashes. The cause of such destruction was later traced back to a single arsonist.
Despite none of the victims coming from this arsonist's actions, the Velder Royalty have decreed that they shall be locked up in Elder. Among the whispers and rumors of the Velder refugees, a name was given to the arsonist out of fear of the arsonist's strange blue flames. The arsonist's flames were said to burn like flames but were cold as ice. As such, the arsonist's given name was "Flame Heresy".
Elder, Elder Jail, Year 632
"I keep telling you, that lottery was rigged!" the black-haired girl snapped angrily while kicking at the jail bars. Her hair barely reached her neck as she continued to slam the bars. Directly on the other side of the bars, a purple-haired girl sat on a backwards chair, resting her arms on the chair's back with her head on them. Next to the girl stood a light blue-haired man, with his arms crossed silently over his chest. The girl in the chair sighed as she eyed the inmate.
"Kyou, you caused a riot just because Ariel won the lottery and not you-"
"I'm telling you, Val! My number should have won! I saw it win in the future when nobody picked it!" the inmate Kyou spat back and shook the bars with her hands to no avail. The girl in the chair called Val sighed again and took a small lollipop out of her white lab coat's pocket.
"Then what if you picking the number changed the future?" she asked rather bluntly. Kyou froze up, and then immediately started rambling swears and slammed her fists repeatedly on the wall. Val stood from the chair and adjusted her coat's collar as she looked to the blue-haired man.
"Let's leave her in here, Kira. She'll take a while to cool off," Val said before she slid the lollipop into her mouth and sucked on it lightly. The man Kira nodded his head and slowly uncrossed his arms from his white and gold top.
"Then it's back to the castle with you," he spoke sternly which made Val sigh again.
"Fine, I needed a recharge anyway," she murmured under her breath so Kira wouldn't hear.
Wally's Castle, formerly Wally's, was made into a makeshift jail after the Velder invasion incident. Though many people objected to letting the criminal inside its walls roam around, Elder's chief Hoffman stated that it'd be safer for the citizens to give the criminal some leeway. The criminal was given access to anything inside the castle, but was only allowed outside if monitored by someone Hoffman approved.
Kira unlocked the castle's door with a small key before sliding the door open. Val stepped in past him and spun on her heel to face Kira. Neither said anything or even smiled as Kira closed the door and locked it back up. Val rubbed her shoulder slowly and retreated into the interior of the castle that seems to be alive with something...
The moon shone down at the wall surrounding Elder as a shadow slowly made their way towards it. The shadow gripped at the cloak covering them, their breath ragged as they made haste to the town entrance. Out of nowhere, several black-hooded figures surrounded the cloaked person with blades drawn. In a silent motion, the hooded figures all charged but were just as quickly knocked back by the appearance of a tall man wearing all white, his eyes covered by a golden visor.
"Ferdinand... dispatch them!" the cloaked person commanded between ragged breaths. The man obeyed and held his mechanical glaive out with one hand. In a flash, Ferdinand slashed each of the hooded attackers with ease, going from one to the next with no wasted movements. As the attackers fell to the ground slain, Ferdinand paused for a slightest of seconds before swinging his glaive down in front of him. With a loud clash, the glaive was skillfully caught by a large robotic hand. The cloaked person flinched as Ferdinand was stopped in his tracks.
"Geez, shut up," an annoyed voice scowled bitterly. The cloaked person shifted slightly to see who had caught Ferdinand's attack only to see that the voice's owner was not the one that caught the glaive. Standing in front of Ferdinand was a large silver Nasod, its core shown clearly on its head. Standing beside the Nasod was a clearly annoyed human with purple hair tied back in a ponytail. Her white lab coat had several lollipops sticking out of the chest pocket as she took one out and put it in her mouth.
"Miss Val, this man is a Nasod like me," the large Nasod spoke in a very basic robotic voice. Val perked up and gave a small almost invisible smirk.
"How interesting..." At that, Ferdinand let go of his weapon and leapt back to its master's side. Val eyed the cloaked person and held out a lollipop to them. "Want one, girl? I got oil back at my cell for your robot friend too."
"Miss Val, he's a Nasod-"
"Oh shush, you know I'm kidding," Val snapped at the Nasod next to her. The cloaked girl wasn't any less on edge as Ferdinand readied himself to strike again. Val let out a sigh and then disappeared from sight for a split second before she appeared in front of the cloaked girl. "You can calm down, I'm not going to hurt you. My name's Val. Don't worry, I only disabled your Nasod's motorworks to keep him from hurting himself."
The cloaked girl glanced to Ferdinand in confusion as the Nasod bodyguard hadn't moved at all despite Val's sudden advance. The large Nasod holding Ferdinand's glaive approached and picked up the motionless bodyguard. Val smiled politely and once again held her lollipop out to the cloaked girl.
"Now then, we best get back before someone sees that I'm outside."
The cloaked girl was, to put it simply, dumbfounded by what she saw inside the castle. The inside was brightly lit by machines as Nasods of all shapes and sizes wandered around doing tasks. Several giant towers of books were piled up everywhere. The large Nasod carrying Ferdinand dropped him off on a workbench. The cloaked girl made a step towards it but Val interjected.
"Don't worry, they're just repairing him." The girl lowered her outstretched hand slowly and looked to Val under her cloak's hood.
"And who exactly are you to have so much ancient technology?" she spoke slowly but clearly deliberately. Val glanced back at her before she snapped her fingers and created a small red flame on her fingertip. With the flame, she started one underneath a teapot and motioned to a chair nearby.
"Sit down and relax," Val ordered. The girl reluctantly did so, never removing her eyes from Val's rather cold face. As the teapot boiled, Val poured a small cup for the girl. The girl politely took the cup and stared at it.
"I don't have any poison, geez." Val sighed again and leaned against the table to stare at the girl.
"Then you drink too," the girl retorted. Val glanced at the teapot and shook her head.
"I'm not thirsty."
"Then-"
"I'm also not the one being chised," Val stated and stared harshly at the girl who suddenly felt stiff at the comment. Val paused for a moment, rubbing her finger against her throat. "I meant chased."
"How did you know?" the girl asked. Val took a second to register the question before she opened her mouth to answer.
"Those people who attacked you weren't bandits from around here, and the fact you had a bodyguard, let alone a Nasod one, shows that you have some importance, either spiritually or nobility," Val stated. The girl nodded her head slowly and took a sip of the tea.
"My name is Orerries Shuren. Those men were assassins sent by Shura to kill me on Lurensia soil to start a war between Lurensia and Fluone," Orerries spoke until Val suddenly collapsed on the floor. Orerries nearly spilled her tea and stared in shock down at Val until the large Nasod stepped over and picked Val up onto her feet. Orerries watched as the large Nasod pulled a cable out of itself and lifted Val's left sleeve to reveal a small hole that the cable was then pushed into.
"Thanks, Prit..." Val murmured to the large Nasod as she opened her eyes to see Orerries' face.
"A-Are you...?!" she stammered nervously and Val sighed again.
"This is is why we need a better charger, Miss Val," Val spoke loudly. Orerries opened her mouth slightly to ask until a pile of books fell over and crashed behind her.
"Argh, shut up! It's your fault for using so much energy! I didn't tell you to waste energy going outside personally, Fenrir! Prit could've done that alone!" a familiar voice snapped back at Val. Orerries turned her head to see a girl identical to Val dust herself off, wearing a black hoodie and matching skirt. The girl's hair was also tied back in a ponytail.
"Wh-Who are you?" Orerries stammered, still surprised by the sudden appearance of the girl who looked so eerily like Val. The girl looked at Orerries, and without a word popped a lollipop into her mouth.
"Who am I? I'm Val, also known as the Flame Heresy arsonist. Nice to meet you!" The girl laughed as a small ball of blue flames hung in the air by her head. Orerries looked at the girl claiming to be Val and then at the lab coat wearing girl called Val.
"T-Twins...?" Orerries stuttered and the lab coat Val sighed once more.
"I am Code Fenrir," the lab coat wearing Val pulled her left sleeve up higher to show an "X1" on her skin, "I'm the first Nasod created by Miss Val to act as her stand-in. You may refer to me as Fenrir within these walls."
"You can also call her a giant waste of energy," Val interrupted with a scowl. "Honestly, the amount of energy needed to keep you running is ridiculous. Start cutting down."
"You're the one that made me like this. It's your fault I need so much mana to move," Fenrir snapped back as the two glared at each other. Orerries shrank back in her chair as Val suddenly jabbed her finger at Fenrir.
"From now on wear your hair differently! The ponytail look is mine!"
"Then from now on you better fix my vocal works! Having to keep sighing to rework them is annoying!"
"Wally only has junk lying around and Altera is miles away!"
Orerries put her hands over her head as the two began to argue about nonsense.
"I should've gone to Ruben..."
