Author Notes: I'm going to attempt to update when I can a bit more frequently, last time life got in the way which is why it took forever to update. Also, the city Avril showed to Louise around the second chapter should be in my profile so check it out. AKA Madu City.
Something akin to buzzing hit Saito's skull as he slowly opened his eyes. Everything was blurry at first but a few blinks cleared his vision enough to where he could see. Only it was nothing he remembered being before. It was a forest of some kind but he didn't ever remember ever being in this one in particular, the tree's and landscape had a completely different appearance and feel to them then the ones he had been.
I would also link to thank a reviewer for pointing out the title wasn't spelled correctly. It should be fixed now.
Wait...Ameya!
Panicked, Saito turned around only to see his sister sound asleep and seemingly unharmed.
Relief instantly came to him and he allowed himself to relax, if only a little. He didn't know why she was in her dragon form but after a moments reflection it made sense. They were in some unknown forest with Anya knew what kind of predators wanting to make a snack of them both. Ameya wasn't exactly the best defense since she wasn't fully grown.
She was only about the size of a large dog, not counting wing span or her tail. Ameya overall had the the tale signs of a Western Dragon just not fully grown.
It didn't help her red scales basically were neon lights for any predators that might be in the forest.
Still, he needed to make the best of the situation and adapt just like his father had told him many times. Though of course, being tossed possibly into some unknown realm or who knows where exactly. He began to dig into his back pack to find what was useful. Much of the stuff was useless; a pencil would have no use for the most part. The meager bit of food he took with him, his laptop and of course his Sync Device given to him by his father.
The last item was a worn out pocket knife. Saito frowned as he picked it up before putting it into his pocket. Probably useless against anything bigger then a wolf but its better then nothing.
Now the bigger question, what the heck were those things that chased us?
It didn't make sense to Saito. Wouldn't there be some announcement by the news and Nobus if some type of monsters were prowling about? Then a portal opened up ahead of them. It normally wasn't a good idea to run through dimensional portals or holes like without it being checked as safe such as a Nexus Gate. In best case scenario's you could end up somewhere you haven't been. In worse cases, having your insides turn inside our some hostile place where you made a nice lunch wasn't exactly a pleasant experience.
He shook his head as he put his things away. He would think about it later, because at the moment there was nothing he could do about it. He needed to focus to keep both of himself and his sister in one piece here.
Wherever 'here' was.
It was best to get a move on, the quicker they got moving the faster they could hopefully find some sort of civilization. There was the worry they landed in some strange place where he and Ameya could easily be killed for some stupid reason. It was probably best to make her shift back into human form when they reached something while not fail safe, humanoids were a lot more common then dragons.
Saito really wished he had paid more attention to Dimensional Theory in school.
"Ameya, wake up." He gently roused her touching her scales. It didn't take too much as she slowly opened her yellow eyes and yawned.
"Where are we?" Ameya asked finally, Saito still found it amusing how her voice didn't change what so ever in either form.
"I don't know. But we're safe for now. Come on." Saito waited for another moment for Ameya to wake up before he got to walking; his young sister taking a place by his side before too long.
"Thanks for keeping a eye on me while I was sleep." Saito said. "I'm pretty sure that's the reason we're safe right now."
It was harder to read Ameya by facial expression in that form, but he could tell she was happy. "Mhm. Had to keep big brother safe..but what were those bad things chasing us?"
Saito really wished he knew himself.
"I'm not sure," He didn't tell Ameya he thought someone had purposely baited them to entering this world because of the timing of the portal saving them. "We'll find out when we get back home."
Ameya slowed her pace slightly in her trot behind him, but didn't question it anymore as she kept her pace besides Saito. Occasionally she stopped if she heard things—or sniffing the air. Dragons, no matter what race of dragon typically had sharp senses so it wasn't a surprise. They weren't the Apex predators of earth just for show even if she currently didn't act or look the part.
The forest itself was a bit too quite for Saito's liking however. Maybe there was more going on but he really couldn't hear anything. He hoped he wasn't just being paranoid, but most forest had a bit more noise to them then this.
In the distance, Saito could make out what seemed to be a village though it couldn't be from the Earth Realm. For one, while there was places that were secluded from of the more frantic city life style the design was off. It didn't look like the typical designs he was used to, and it didn't seem elf-made either.
He of course could be wrong. It wasn't like he was a expert on these sorts of things and he had a limited experience in which to draw his conclusions from.
It was to say while there was a small chance he was in the middle of nowhere on earth, he doubted it.
Saito turned back to his sister, he wasn't going to risk it just in case. "Before we hit the village, you should turn back into your human form. It'll be safer."
The request confused Ameya. "Why?"
"Because," Saito started, crouching down to eye level. "We don't know if we're home or not and there might be bad people living there that might hurt you and me."
"Why would they hurt us? We didn't do anything wrong." The confusion in his little sister grew further.
Saito sighed slightly. "I don't understand it either. Some people Ameya are just.." He tried to think of the words but it took him a moment. "Wired differently I guess. They see something like you and it scares them so they lash out. People are strange like that Ameya. And we don't know where we are or what kind of races we might run into here."
While obviously not happy about it, Ameya seemed to understand as she backed up away from her big brother slightly. A moment later, her form was bathed in a white light. The light grew brighter and then died down; revealing Ameya back into her human form, fully clothed.
He didn't understand the mechanics of how dragons shifted back and forth, never mind still keeping their clothes. Saito knew there was science about it but it made his head hurt just like Dimensional Theory and all that other crap at school. Only thing he was glad of was that Ameya didn't run around naked in the elements.
"Just stick by me and you'll be fine." Saito assured, wishing he knew a bit more before going into a unknown village. But it was that or chance it out in some unknown forest so there was risk either way he looked at it.
Around the moment Saito and Ameya stepped foot in the village was around the time he instantly saw humans, or at least they appeared to be. That didn't mean anything considering the different 'human-looking' races around or those who could alter their appearance.
Saito was leaning towards human though. The clothes reminded him of older times in Earth's history maybe around the 16th century? Or earlier. Damn. He really should have paid more attention to history class as well. It wasn't his fault his teachers made what should have been a interesting subject boring, at least the parts he was studying.
Though, he did basically have someone with him that could pick up race by scent. It almost made him wish his senses were like that. He kept his next words low so only Ameya could hear.
"Ameya, they smell human to you? Just nod."
The young girl nodded, but then wrinkled her nose. "..Something smells funny though."
"What smells funny?"
Ameya paused, her face thoughtful and then:
"I dunno."
We'll that was helpful.
Pushing that aside, Saito went to speak to the one of the residents of the village nearby. The closes was a woman with short blond hair, a short sword and a musket. No one used muskets anymore. Sure, the elves used magic to have seemingly primitive and outdated stuff on the surface when it was just on par with current earth things but not actual muskets. That and the woman didn't have pointed ears.
"Excuse me." Saito said with a cough to get their attention and as they turned around it was when something else hit him he should have seen much earlier.
He wasn't even sure he could properly communicate with the people here or there would be a language gap. Thinking things through completely had always been a blind spot.
"What do you want?" The woman said shortly.
Never mind. It seemed the gap was cleared. Forget that, the woman didn't sound too pleased with being interrupted with whatever it was she had been doing.
"Me and my sister are new here. I was just wondering if you knew where a hotel is?" Saito hoped there was something they could work out. In hindsight..where ever here was, did it even have hotels?
The blond eyed Saito, as if boring through him, before her gaze swept to Ameya. For a brief moment, her eyes softened just slightly before she decided to answer him. "There are no hotels here. There is a Inn in the far back called the Blue Moon. You can't miss it. If' you'll excuse me."
Saito had turned when the directions had been given, seeing a large building in the distance. "Thank you miss.." Saito didn't get to finish when he turned around as the woman was gone already.
Okay. That was strange. Not Earth Realm strange but still.
"C'mon kiddo, we'll head to this Inn and call it a day," Saito noticed Ameya had been quite. "Something wrong?"
"That lady seemed sad."
Sad? She seemed more short and in the hurry to him but he let it slide.
When they reached the Blue Moon place, it wasn't really busy as Saito thought it might be. Instead there was a lone woman behind a desk who looked up upon hearing them approach. They looked middle-aged to Saito. "Can I help you two?"
"I was hoping you had a room available. Do you accept Chromes?" At the puzzled look of the Inn owner, Saito pulled out a few coins the size of a quarter. Some were red in color, others were green or white but they seemed to be made of crystal of some kind.
"I've never seen anything like this. You aren't from around here are you young man?" She was looking the offered exchange currency with a critical eye. "Hm, these might actually be worth something I'll need them appraised to see what they're made of exactly. But-"
Here it comes.
"-I can't have you just stay here without knowing the value of these things. So to make it fair, if you're willing to work I'll be willing to lend you a room for the night. Deal?"
All right, so not so bad. Normal labor he could do. Not so different from the many jobs he had done in the past.
"Sounds fair." Really what else was he going to say to that? It was better then the alternatives.
"Just take the stairs up and on the right side most of the rooms should be free," The woman said, looking down at Ameya to Saito. "Where are you two from? Your clothes are different and you have a strange accent."
Accent? That confused Saito a bit more. He had been to other places and from what he was told the people in Nexus City did have a certain subtle accent but the people here in this strange world understood him well enough.
"We're from Nexus City!" Ameya had answered, Saito blanched and the older woman had a look of complete confusion. "But this place is nice too.." She finished in a small voice, thinking she had said something wrong by their reactions.
Saito couldn't really be too mad at Ameya, it was like kicking a puppy.
If said puppy could breath fire and bowl over grown men. But really unless you made of Poptarts or honey Ameya was harmless.
A small laugh came from the woman, a bit of amusement dancing in their eyes. "Your sister is going to keep you on your toes I see. I have not heard of this Nexus City but I'm guessing its in dessert somewhere. Can't be the Holy Lands though, the elves would have gotten you both then."
This puzzled Saito further. Why the worry about Elves? Were they at war with them here?
"I'm confused." Saito started. "But where are we exactly? And this is going to sound strange but what language are we speaking?"
To Saito it looked as if he asked her if the sky was blue or not.
"Tristian." The woman finally said after looking them over. "You're also speaking Tristian, I'm guessing you have some sort of translation spell so you must be a Noble. Both of you really but its strange for you to be traveling in a village like this. There isn't much for most Nobles here."
Forget it. This was making his head hurt. He'd ask fifty questions later. "We'll, thank you for that. We're going to get settled in our room."
Wordlessly, the Inn keeper nodded before handing them a key then went back to what seemed like some paper work. Whatever it was didn't interest either of them.
Taking the first room, Saito opened it with a key only to find it a bit underwhelming. He had been expecting something a bit more..we'll he wasn't sure just different. It was a nice room though. Wooden floors, a bed and basic necessities.
Ameya found a spot and plopped on the bed before Saito took another seat, pulling his backpack open and in front of them as he dug into it; opening a Poptart before handing one to Ameya and the other for himself. The last item, his Sync Device was still broken as ever. At the moment it was a useless necklace with a pendant but if he could get it to work again somehow it would help them both.
Especially in a unknown possibly very dangerous world. For now he was going to just count his blessing as it could have been many times worse. Saito only knew a few more things he didn't know before but they were important.
One, this definitely wasn't Earth. At least their version of it.
Two, whatever had sent them here had done something to take care of any language barriers.
Three, Elves were apparently at odds with the humans here. Mentioning the leader of his world currently was a half-elf would probably be bad for their health. Though to be fair elves and humans hated each others guts for a long time. Then again, none of native races had exactly been buddies in the old days.
Four, his Poptarts were on the stale side. That sucked.
Louise kept trying to convince herself mentally she had done the right thing by leaving and it was the smartest choice to get help before their school was completely overran by demons. A part of her was still partially in denial about that, demons couldn't be here in the school and they couldn't be attacking. Except she knew that wasn't true, she couldn't deny what she had seen with those things.
She repressed a shudder at the memory of the things, banishing them back into the corner of her mind for now. If her mother had seen her reaction, Louise couldn't help but think she'd definitely disapprove so she was thankful she hadn't been around even if she managed to pull herself together and act instead of sitting there like a defenseless commoner.
"You all right?"
The youngest Vallerie turned seeing her rival looking at her with thinly veiled concerned. Louise wasn't sure what to make of it. It seemed so strange to her with these kinds of reactions instead of their usual bickering back and forth.
Maybe there was a heart hidden in there somewhere Louise grudgingly admitted to herself.
There wasn't any need to be hostile and she had been civil. Louise nodded. "I'm..fine." Lie. She was scared and worried but she wasn't going to tell anyone that. Much less Kriche.
Kriche looked at her a bit longer, before slowly smirking. "We'll good. I was worried I was going to have someone carry you with your shaking legs."
Louise retracted that statement about having a heart.
"For your information," Louise began, eyes narrowing at her rival. "I was the one who did most of the damage to those demons."
"Please. You only did the work after my flames doused them away."
"Your flames didn't do anything but annoy them, and Tabitha was the one who held them still."
"If that what makes you feel better."
Louise glowered at the Zerbst and decided she wasn't worth the time and effort. That look of concern had to be an act of some sort, she convinced herself. Tabitha hadn't said a word through their bickering but she wasn't surprised. Tabitha only spoke unless spoken to or she had something to say in her little experience with her.
She wasn't as on edge anymore after her banter with Kriche at least. Briefly a thought occurred to her if it had been done on purpose but dismissed it. That was too smart and kind for the Zerbst.
"This is kind of boring, when are we going to fight something else?" Louise looked down to see her annoying sword, Derf.
"Stop whining. We should be there soon." Louise couldn't say for how long though, as she had never taken something like a dragon or anything flight-capable to their current destination.
Really, she knew the sword could be useful as Avril explained but there were times she wished there was a silence spell she could cast on them.
Louise was going to ask Tabitha how long she'd think they would be until they arrived at the capital so they could gain assistance the back of her hair stood up. It was a subtle feeling, she couldn't place but something felt wrong and Syphid began acting some what strangely.
Suddenly she jerked violently making Kriche cry out and Louise tighten her grip from the sudden dangerous movement.
"What are you doing?!" Louise shrieked. "We could have fallen off!"
Louise heard something that sounded like a distorted screech causing her to whirl around to spot not just one but a few dozen of demons.
Winged demons. They were humanoid, much like the ones before that had been attacking them on the ground earlier. The only new ones, which Louise expected the shriek had came from were almost made Louise recoil from their appearance.
In simple terms, they were giant insects at least twice the size of any dragon she was used to encountering. The red, armored exoskeleton along with the mandibles that snapped open and close a few times as the closes one gave chase made it obvious what its intentions were.
Louise hated anything insect-like at the best of times, supposedly demonic insects made her insect phobia even worse.
"Down." Tabitha's soft command was heeded by her familiar without another word. The other students acted on reflex to keep from falling off.
Kriche gripped on the dragon tighter. Louise screamed, clutching for dear life as she buried her head as her stomach did a number of flip flops from the sudden and intense shift of gravity and the feeling of going down. She wasn't afraid of heights too much normally, but at the moment terror had taken a hold and she wasn't sure if she was more afraid of plunging to her death or the monsters that would surely eat or tear her from limb from limb.
Using her wand had only came to her mind briefly but it had vanished the moment Syphid began making aerial movements to stay one step ahead of their enemies. Louise could try, but she didn't trust herself to get the concentration needed for any of her infamous explosions off.
The flight steadied enough that Louise wasn't beside herself with fear of falling off to look to see if they had lost their enemies but they were just as close as ever. Maybe, just maybe if she had another moment or two she could get a spell off. Never mind how effective it would be, but if it would possibly take out at least one of them it would make their collective lives easier.
Louise didn't fully stand up, that would be foolish with what was going on but she did move more to a crouch as she began chanting under her breath for another spell.
A bit more willpower wasn't going to completely drain her if she didn't over do it.
Her concentration much to her dismay was interrupted again by the fact they had to take a sudden sharp turn to the right to avoid a fireball twice the size of her own body. The lost of balance didn't make her fall but it did make Louise drop her wand down below.
She could always get another wand, but they didn't have the time for that and Kriche to her left wasn't able to muster the concentration needed for a spell. In Louise's opinion, she probably had wands stored somewhere very inappropriate for a spare anyway if she lost her first one.
What was she going to do? Derf was useless in this situation and she wasn't a swordwoman.
The shriek was heard again, this time closer and to her side. Louise turn to see the same ugly creature from before even closer this time. Louise was more repulsed by its appearance now that the thing was closer but it didn't give her time to think of much else before it attempted to ram Sylphid and by proxy the rest of them to death on the ground.
A transparent blue sphere covered them and Louise instantly recognized the element being used; wind if she guessed correctly. It would hold against the attack, Louise was sure. After all Tabitha was one if not the best student she knew of in the academy so a overgrown insect wouldn't be able to break it.
Louise felt her hope plummet just like her wand when it continued its motion to ram them, promptly going through the shield as if wasn't there.
It was only the fact that as a last ditch effort to avoid being hit did Sylphid starve off the blow that weren't knocked out the sky, but the force of it still sent them reeling a bit and off their present path. At this point, Louise felt her insides once more twist more uncomfortably.
If she lived through this, Louise swore she wasn't going on anything airborne again unless she absolutely had to.
There's more of them..
Louise didn't know how many of them there were only that they were ahead of them in addition to the ones relentlessly chasing them. There was no way they fighting all of them off and they were cutting off angles of escape more and more with the increasing numbers. She almost felt a hysterical giggle bubble within her chest at the pointless finality of it all.
She going to die. All of them were.
It wouldn't even be in some glorious battlefield of being something noble. They weren't going to have anyone remember besides their families and those close to them. Louise couldn't honestly even say they would go down having accomplished anything. Pride, family honor and what her mother may think was in the furthest thing from her mind at the moment.
She didn't want to die. She had too many things to do and finish.
As the situation rapidly declined, Louise couldn't help but wonder if her mother had ever felt scared when she came close to death like this.
To everyone's confusion, a few of the demons were struck by what looked to Louise and the others miniature arrows made of blue light. The only other clue was the sound of some type of musket that echoed with each vicious burst. Whatever attacked them had pretty much torn the demons down to their bones and flesh by the sheer amount of firepower thrown at them.
Their pursuers were confused only for a moment as they attempted to spread out and avoid whatever was attacking them only for the sound to be heard again as more of those strange arrows rained down on them.
The ugly insect that had pursuing them was hit with the same arrows, except it didn't pierce their armored skin. Instead there was a 'cling, cling, cling!' with each round not too different from the sound of metal hitting against each other. It recoiled in slight pain, shrieking as it turned its rage to whatever had attacked them only to be hit by a massive bolt of lighting.
Wind Mages? Louise felt a stronger surge of hope. Maybe the Griffin Knights had heard of things and been sent to help? Lighting after all was something only high level wind mages could do. But she hadn't ever seen lighting that big before.
When a massive fireball followed up to finish off the beast and exploded with enough force not only destroy it, but the others within its radius to ash she began to rethink things.
When the unknown saviors had revealed themselves Louise realized she was horribly wrong.
The owner of the arrows was some sort of strange airship? Louise wasn't sure but they were far too small and she didn't remember them having such a horrible design. What was that thing over head that was rotating rapidly? That couldn't be what was keeping it flying; it had to have Windstones. Then it had some strange musket she guessed it was. But it had such a ridiculous design! How was it so effective?
Following behind it were a few dragons, except they were at least three to four times the size of any dragons she was used to. Their scales came in different colors anywhere from gold, to red but that wasn't too unusual. The only strange thing about them besides their size was their apparent battle capability as Louise quickly realized where that massive fireball had came from.
As for the last one, it felt like Louise's disbelief almost broke in half. Flying and zipping around were as far as she could see Winged-People. Except they couldn't be. As far as she knew they were peaceful and didn't fight and they didn't wear those strange uniforms. Making visible swords made of lighting and tossing thunder bolts around killed that theory swiftly.
This had to be the strangest group of mix matched allies(if they were) ever. Maybe she was dreaming?
A quick painful pinch later said otherwise.
"What's going on?" Kriche finally asked, her wand like Louise seemed to be missing as well.
"..I don't know." Was the only thing Louise could say. Nothing made sense anymore.
Two of the large dragons went to both sides of Sylphid to, what Louise looked like they were trying to protect them. The others did a similar thing but kept a bit further distance while the others seemed to be fighting off the airborne demons.
And from little Louise and the others could see, the demons were losing badly.
That confirmed Louise a bit more but it left the question of who sides these strange people were on. They couldn't be from any country she knew of, but at the same time if they were enemies they wouldn't be protecting them right? Another thing that had bothered her besides the obvious were the dragons or what they didn't have.
Riders. Not a single one of the dragons had a rider on them she could discern.
Off the corner of her eye, Louise saw more of the strange group break off and head straight back to the academy. Maybe they had been sent by someone or something to help.
The sounds of fighting seem to die down as the last of the enemies had been cut down leaving a tense silence in its wake besides the sound of those strange airships and the large flapping wings of the dragons; two of which had broken off to give them some space once the threats had been dealt with.
While she didn't know what their intentions were, Louise didn't think it would be a good idea to head to Her Majesty like they intended with the people being complete unknowns. It was true they had saved them but they could have their own reasons for doing so.
"Go down."
That was why Louise was utterly surprised when Tabitha spoke again.
"Wait," Kriche said speaking up. "Wouldn't it be better to stay in the air?"
While Tabitha didn't turn to look at them, she spoke without missing a beat."We don't know who they are and Sylphid will get tired. It's best to land and meet with them to see who they are before we go anywhere near the capital. Staying in the air would be foolish."
Louise almost blinked even if Kriche didn't seemed the least surprised. So used to Tabitha speaking no more then a few words that had completely been caught her off guard. It made logical sense though, thinking about it. Tabitha always struck her as a woman of few words and directly to the point. So even if she didn't like to, she'd talk more at length if that what was needed.
It didn't take them to long to land, which was basically a open field. There was nowhere to run or hide which made Louise even more anxious with the loss of her wand. To make matters worse, she could only assume Kriche had lost hers as well leaving Tabitha and Sylphid the only ones that could fight.
So they waited for any of them to show up, but it wasn't too long before a few did. There was more of people with wings, but Louise was seriously doubting they were actually anything she knew of starting from their first entrance. Two of those abnormally large dragons and people covered from head to toe in the strangest white armor followed.
Tabitha tensed slightly at their approach, holding her staff. "Stop," She said, watching them carefully. "What do you want?"
None of them got closer, but one of the armored people reached their helmet before taking it off revealing a man with red-hair, maybe middle-aged. "I'm sorry for startling you kids. My name is Daisuke Eto and this motley crew behind me is my squad. We don't really want anything, except a way to get back home. You just happened to be around when those Infernal bastards were acting up, lucky we got there in time."
After the explanation, Tabitha relaxed her stance a bit more but still kept a eye on them. "..Where is your home?"
"Far away." The man said sighing. "A place called Earth. You won't find it on any map. We've been here for just about a week. Wife's going to kill me when we finally get back home."
..Earth?
Louise had heard Avril mention it a few times. So these people were from earth? Maybe that would explain the strange accent.
But thinking further about it was how were they able to even talk to them? Logically, they would have a different language. Even different countries did such as Germania's native one compared to say Tristian.
"How are you able to talk to us if you're from so far away?" It was actually Kriche who had voiced the question. Louise would give her credit when it counted.
"Hell if I know," Daisuke shrugged. "That's more for people who study that sort of thing. I think one of the scholars was explaining about the nature of portal—or whatever it was that pulled us here. Getting to the point, we're in a hurry still so you want us to escort you or leave you be?"
Louise wasn't sure. It was a tempting offer, the strange group was actually very powerful, besides the dragons there was nothing that inherently screamed a threat Louise knew of. Not even the winged people even if she had seen them move with the same strength that reminded her of Avril.
Seeming to mull it over further, Tabitha nodded. "We need to talk first."
"Fine with me. I'll give you guys a few minutes to sort it out."
Tabitha motioned for the group to move further away, and when she gained further distance she turned back to them. "I don't think we should allow them to follow us."
Kriche, while abnormally quite for her usual self still spoke up. "Why not? They saved us."
"It could still be a trap," Tabitha reasoned. "It's true they saved us, but the timing seems convenient. Too much so. They could be trying to gather information as much as they can before doing anything and need to lay low before. Leading them to the capital where the Queen is a bad idea. If they are a enemy then she wouldn't be safe."
"You're over thinking it," Kriche disagreed, shaking her head. "If they wanted to do that they would follow us without us knowing and not announcing their presence and they could have just let us die out there."
"Avril mentioned Earth."
This made both stop their argument to turn to Louise, who flushed lightly.
She wouldn't back down though, she felt it was the right thing to do. "If they're from Earth and they wanted to take over even with everyone together with the Elves we would probably lose. She showed me things..I believe her. Plus, she said Earth were mostly decent people. She doesn't know a lot more though."
The comment about them losing with the elves was hard to swallow, but Tabitha made no comment and Kriche merely crossed her arms. "I don't know about that elf comment, but if you trust her with this then I'll trust you with it. How about a compromise Tabitha? Let them escort us halfway just in case?"
Louise was taken back. Really? She was expecting more push back. Damn that Zerbst woman knocking her off guard.
In the mean time, Tabitha closed her eyes as if thinking before nodding. "Acceptable."
With the plan of action decided, all four of them including Slyphid came back to Daisuke and his strange group. Daisuke seemed to be in the middle of a conversation with one of the winged-people before turning their attention towards them. "So have you decided?"
"Only halfway but no further." It was the only thing Tabitha said.
"Okay," Daisuke said simply. "I had something like that in mind. No offense, but we're the new kids on the block so we're not sure who is going to freak out seeing us. We didn't have much of a choice when Infernals started acting up."
"Why?" Louise was confused. "Your dragons are big, but we have those. Having Winged-People is a bit strange but it could be explained."
"The dragons," Daisuke started with a brief pause. "Aren't exactly like yours besides size. Two, their race is called Ralphlim. I have no idea what it is you just said, but its safe to say they're two different things. I've taken enough of your time, we're both in a hurry."
Kriche watched Daisuke leave, the other dragons taking off before too long. "Curious group. We'll, we can't keep your princess waiting can we Louise?"
At first Louise nodded, then the words sunk in and she blushed. "W-what are you trying to imply Kriche?!"
"Nothing, nothing," The other woman waved Louise's ire off. "Just you're looking forward to it."
Tabitha mostly ignored the bickering group in favor of getting on Sylphid as she waited for the others to get on. They had wasted enough time already as is. Louise did wonder why Sylphid seemed to twitch more then usual in the presence of the dragons but dismissed it as unimportant.
How could such a peaceful day come to this?
Only a few hours ago and things have been proceeding smoothly, but much to Osmond's regret he hadn't gotten approval for the different female uniforms but he had gotten a few other things done that he had been putting off.(It wasn't his fault the paper work was that tedious)
It had started off normal enough with him having to finish a few other things and Colbert explaining a few other discoveries of his. While they were interesting in their own right, Osmond didn't see the use for most of them so he only listened with half a ear, half to humor him and half to pass the time.
"Headmaster!"
Osmond almost didn't even look up from his desk, thinking it was another trivial matter. "Now, now. There's no need to rush, you'll be giving a old man a heart attack. Why don-"
"No time! Demons are attacking!"
Osmond actually looked up at the female staff as his old features slowly turned into a more serious look. "Come again?"
They simply shook their head and pointed to the window.
Osmond stood up to approach the window to see what was out there:
Only to be taken completely back to see honest to Founder demons just like they said.
They came in different sizes and shapes but it was easy to make out their forms, grotesque or nightmarish all of them apparently were. Not only were they attacking his school, more importantly they were attacking his students.
The attacks made his blood boil. As carefree and aloof he may have acted, he did care about his students. He wanted to go out there and smite each and everyone of them but he was too old and frail for that. His power had waned since then and his body wasn't suited for the stress of combat as it was in the past.
That didn't mean he'd sit idle while these things butchered his students.
"Where is Colbert and the other staff?" Osmond wasn't waiting; he was already out the door at a brisk pace causing the woman to hurriedly go after him.
"P-professor Colbert I'm not sure sir. A-and the other staff are scattered, I really don't know where everyone is right now."
Osmond only gave the woman a glance, who turned away as if ashamed before continuing. His mind was going into overdrive as years of training and experience from his youth came flooding back. How many of these demons were there? What were their capabilities? How had they gotten here?
He lacked information to think of a more proper plan and cursed himself for not thinking of a back up plan for a emergency. It was possible this academy could be under attack, just extremely unlikely and as a result they were utterly unprepared.
First, they would need to get as much students as they could any place for holding and try to hold off the monsters they best they could. They would also have to send for some help. If they were lucky then the Griffon Knights or any other friendly force would be sent. If they were unlucky, which the more cynical side of having reached his tender old age was correct that was very unlikely.
A burst of inspiration struck him. It wouldn't be a ideal plan but he did have something in mind.
"We're here. Just find a spot."
Avril moved to the side to let Guiche and Montmorency inside the 'safe room' as it was dubbed located underground. A dozen or so students were there, most seemed all right for the most part but one of them, a young girl stared out into space with a blank glazed expression.
Avril had seen that look before. The look of someone who had seen something they shouldn't that had traumatized them.
She had been the cause of that look as well. Too many times.
A small part of her wanted to comfort her, but really what could she say or do to someone who likely just witnesses death of a acquittance or loved ones? She didn't think herself suited for such things. Not really.
"Thank you." Montromency mumbled under her breath, shifting uncomfortably before finding a spot.
Guiche lingered a bit more before coughing. "I want to apologize for my ungentlemanly behavior towards you the first time. You also kept both of us safe during our journey here. For that, as a noble, a Gramont, I owe you a great debt."
Is he being serious? Avril couldn't see the young man being insincere by their facial expression and body language. She couldn't begrudge Guiche too much. Compared to the things she had done in the past he may as well been a saint.
"It's all right," Avril said. "I'm not one to hold a grudge. Besides, we all do stupid things. So from now on just consider it even."
"Miss Avril, we need to talk."
Colbert had a tired but determined look on his face as he came over. Since the very brief time Avril had known him he had always been the slightly absent-minded professor, that while eccentric was harmless on the surface. Avril knew better. The subtle things they did and said. There had always been a slight edge just underneath the surface.
You didn't survive in her previous profession too long without the ability to pick up small things like that; never mind blending in for periods of time.
Avril glanced back at Guiche. "We'll talk later."
Colbert motioned for Avril to follow them to the side before speaking again. "The situation is worse then I feared. Myself, you and only a few of the staff can fight. And out of those only a few have the stomach for fighting. Other students might be safe if they managed to hide but.."
"But we don't know for sure," Avril finished at his troubled look. "If we want to make the best of it we'll have to leave together quickly. I'll cover you the best I can but we'll have to avoid fighting them in large numbers."
"It'll have to do," Colbert said simply as they walked to one of the female staff hanging around. "Me and Avrill will be leaving."
"If you think that's a good idea. Please be safe."
Colbert gave a brief nod to them before heading out along with Avril who was keeping pace with him on his side.
This can potentially be a lot better or worse then I thought.
As far as Avril could tell, the magic style of this world that humans used had three glaring weaknesses: it required a wand or some type of conduct and chanting. The former wasn't always around and the later could be a death sentence against fast opponents.
The last problem were Halkgenia mages were 'squishy' for lack of a better word. They had nothing to boost themselves beyond base line normal humans.
It wasn't always a problem, of course. Though against the type of opponents they were facing being physically frail was going to give them much grief. It also meant she was going have to focus on keeping Colbert from getting cornered in a fight despite his skill. If they got too overwhelmed, Avril suspected she'd actually be the first one to go down.
If only these damned runes weren't acting as a limiter. While she couldn't say she'd win against them completely on her own it would have put her in a much better position. The only good point was she could tell was it was slowly going away which meant she'd have her full strength sooner or later.
Avril couldn't really hear any chaos at the moment, but she assumed it was because they were underground so even with her hearing she couldn't pick up anything. When they reached the surface her and Colbert were greeted of the sight of blood, bodies that had been disfigured but there was no signs what so ever of the demons.
Blood and carnage was hardly anything new to Avril as she'd seen her share but even with all that she had never enjoyed seeing people hurt who shouldn't have. The students were too young to have to deal with this. They shouldn't have too.
The creatures thought they could run around without consequence and instill terror as they fed their depraved urges.
She'd be more then happy to amend that for them.
Colbert was taking in the destruction a lot worse then she was. He wasn't new to this judging by his reactions but it was clearly obvious he was far more deeply effected. There was sorrow with each pile of bodies he witnesses and something else just as apparent.
Cool and controlled rage.
Nothing Avril could say could do anything for Colbert or the fallen students, but she could at least make some work of taking out these things that been the cause in the first place. This was what she was made for; why not put it some good use for once?
Colbert motioned with his staff for Avril to move closer to his left, which she did while at same time quickly scanning their surroundings for anything unusual. The fact they weren't running into demons from the get go was actually a bit off putting. There was obvious signs of them but they weren't physically present at the moment as far as she could see.
Until they bumped into a bit less then a dozen of them moving around some of the ruins they had made.
"Do you know what these ones can do?"Colbert said, his voice low.
"No," Avril frowned a bit. "From my brief fight all of them are just physical but seems to depend on the type. They seem to be looking for something, guess that explains why they aren't chasing more of the students."
"We could flank them from the right side and try to pick them off. Or.." Colbert was thinking rapidly as he thought of a battle plan. "Or try to flush them somehow to pick them off."
Avril couldn't see that working; Colbert was too frail to be fighting them alone even if he did have the fire power to put one down himself. "No offense, but as is that's a bad idea to be separated at all. There's no way to sugar coat it, to be blunt you don't have the physical stats to keep up with them in a large group. And I'll get overwhelmed trying to fight everything alone."
"Perhaps," Colbert didn't seem entirely convinced but he was still thinking. "Unless we can.."
A horrified scream halted Colbert's speech, causing him to curse under his breath. The scream didn't go unnoticed by the demons who had been almost idle as they rummaged around the ruins to turn their attention of where ever the noise had came from.
So much for stealth.
Why didn't stealth ever work in these situations? Maybe she had pissed off some higher beings somewhere.
The scream belonged to a female student who was moving faster then normal, it had to be one of those wind spells. It didn't matter though. The same demons from before were attacking with no different ones which was the only good sign.
Avril only shifted once before bolting towards the girl and the nearest demon who was distracted, connecting with their turned back with a blade that had popped out from her palm. It went through and bone but she wasn't yet finished. Even as she felt its life drain out from her attack, as she tossed the corpse into the pursuing enemies.
The momentum carried with her throw collided with the attackers and through the wall of a ruined building.
Colbert seemed briefly surprised, and the girl having saw a chance made a bee line towards them.
Naturally as with most good things in her life the element of surprise didn't last long.
Having lost at least three of their number in the surprise attack, the remaining demons turned their attention and wrath on Avril and Colbert.
"Get behind us and run to the back!" Colbert barked as he moved to cover the young girls escape. His staff seemed to hum with power as he recited a spell quickly under his breath. Whether they could sense the magic build up or the fact he was just around caused him to be the center of attention.
To the left, one of the demons which Avril hadn't seen before. It was humanoid like the others with overly long arms were but they seemed bloated and over weight as if they were burst at any moment. It's mouth opened that seemed a bit too small for its body before a burst of thick flame went straight towards Colbert.
Cursing under her breath, Avril moved to intercept only to find out she didn't have to. On contact, instead of turning Colbert into a pile of ash, the flames seemed to halt before they curved around the teacher and back towards its owner.
It screamed as the fire burnt through flesh, a few other casualties were caught in the cross fire in the destructive blaze.
So he had a more tricks she wasn't yet aware of. That only made sense.
Avril cut the distance from her previous position, practically vanishing from where she was as she cut in on the closes demon to Colbert. Had her opponent been human, or at least nothing out of normal human ability they wouldn't have been able to react to her movements at all.
She never had it that easy.
It's outstretched arm lashed out at her but having gotten a bit used to their attack patterns and angle of movement she fared better then her first encounter when Louise had been present. She ducked under the blow coming up from underneath hoping to get a kill by the neck with her hidden blade; only to have that other damnable over grown arm to block.
Again. She was really getting out of practice.
Tch.
Annoyance aside, Avril could already feel her opponents arm shifting from the pressure of blocking from their power struggle and promptly disengaged. The sudden lack of pressure for the demon caused it to lose balance.
And that was all she needed.
Before it could recover, she capitalized on the opening before she was awarded from her timing as she felt the all too familiar feeling of bone and flesh give away from the throat. Avril didn't consider the target gone until she could check but was unable to stay before something hit her.
The impact sent her sailing but she managed to recover enough from being sent airborne, turning her body into a roll instead of just landing on the ground in a boneless heap. Mere seconds before a large fist slammed down where she had been, creating a small crater.
Avril continued her roll behind her enemy, rising to her feet and lunging at their exposed back leg.
She felt, in her opinion, too much satisfaction when her blade pierced her target and broke the back of their leg receiving a roar of pain in return. It also caused her current target to fall backwards allowing her what was basically a free shot at putting it out of its misery; by simply bring her blade down through its neck and into the ground.
It struggled briefly before going limp as she dislodged her weapon to turn to the others which were focused on Colbert. Though far as she could tell they were unable to reach him due to some sort of hastily put fire wall that cut himself off from the attack. While it halted any physical attack it did put the teacher in a bind with unable to retreat or advance as he was. Luckily for them it seemed the demons they were fighting were little more then animals intelligence wise so jumping over the fire didn't occur to them.
At the moment whatever enemy that could quickly and easily be dispatched that was close was her prime target.
The only thing that briefly bothered her was she didn't seem to be losing any kind of control unlike her ill-fated(or timed) duel with Guiche. It was something to look into and think about but at the current time she had more pressing concerns: such as keeping them both alive.
No matter how much she was loathe to admit it, there was almost primal part of her core that enjoyed not only the fighting taking place but the feel of it. How she reacted and overcame her enemies or the all too familiar feeling of bones cracking. Even without a outside influence controlling her movements that darker aspect was still there.
It was frankly disturbing to her but again, priorities.
Her first target—or prey as she mentally dubbed them was completely unaware of her approach since it and the rest of them were focused on Colbert. Really, while she wasn't the more exciting person to be around all this ignoring was starting to make a girl feel neglected.
With its back turned, it allowed Avril to reach the back of its neck in a head lock, pulling them down backwards before slamming her palm-blade through their skull. Instead of letting one of their friends just roll over and die as they had almost been prone to doing in their disorganized attacks, a few of them attacked; one on the right and one on the left.
"Avril, move!"
Seeing Colbert from the corner of her eye preparing a spell she didn't need to be told a second time.
When she judged them close enough, Avril weaved out of the way when both were within almost touching distance. To their credit, both did try to grab the retreating android but she was far too fast for them to latch onto anything. In their hastiness to attack Avril they had ignored Colbert which turned out be a fatal mistake; a fire ball roughly or a bit bigger then a adult crashed over them.
It didn't just burn them, but seemed to explode on contact. If the burning hadn't killed them then the force behind the explosion would have.
Seeing as the last of demons in the area had been destroyed, Colbert began walking to Avril's side again. "We need to keep going."
Avril mutely nodded, she was of the same mind. They both knew what they had to do and they both knew what was at stake. They didn't say too much together as they continued their search for more students but Avril suspected the ones that hadn't been killed were either on the run or in hiding. The later meant it would be a lot more difficult to round everyone up.
"How many do you think they are?" Colbert asked, scanning the area while keeping a firm grip on the staff. "If there aren't too many, maybe we can get rid of the rest on our own?"
"I doubt it unless there's a lot less then it looked like," Avril said more unsure. "I honestly don't know how many there might be. If I was working one hundred percent I could probably make a more educated guess."
Colbert simply frowned a bit to that. At first it seemed they were going to say something before stiffening from view, his grip on his staff tightening.
At first Avril thought he had seen more demons and her carelessness meant they had escaped her noticed but instead she saw something that took her back entirely. In the direction Colbert was looking at she could make out dozens people in white armor. More on the top, the rest was more of a dulled gray color. Just behind them were people with wings, a quick scan alerted Avril of what they were.
That didn't explain anything though. What were Earth Realm forces doing here in the first place?
"Are you in charge here?" One of the armed soldiers asked, they had 'Charles' written red letters on the front of their vest.
"No, but I am a staff member here." Colbert watched the strange group with more then a bit apprehension. "I mean no offense, but I'm more then a bit cautious at the moment and we're both in a hurry. Who are you people? You look like you're in the army."
"Correct sir," They said inclining their head slightly. "I am Lieutenant Charles of the Earth Realm army. I was given orders to terminate any Infernal activity before they had chance to spread and protect any civilians while establishing first contact. What else I can tell you is other members of said force are keeping our friends busy."
"I see.." Colbert felt a bit relieved at the news. There were many things he wasn't sure about but if they were protecting his students then he could rest slightly easier. He still had many questions and uncertainties though. "Forgive me but what are your companions back there?"
"They," Charles motioned to what was behind them which was the winged people in question. "Are what you call Ralphlim. If you see any big dragons around or strange 'airships' those are part of our forces. You won't see them as much because we don't want any friendly fire or collateral damage and most areas are too inclosed. In the mean time, can I get your names?"
That seemed to make more of the anxious tension inside Colbert melt away a bit more as they adjusted their glasses."Quite right, I forgot my manners. I'm Colbert and this is-"
"-Avril." She cut in stepping forward. "Lt. Charles was it? I have a lot of questions to ask you and others you work for when things settle down. Right now we have children to worry about."
"Of course. But we have more pressing thing to worry about now as you said." After a moments pause they turned to Colbert. "I'll let you lead as far as direction goes since you know this school better then we do. We'll cover and assist within the best of our abilities. There shouldn't be too much problems, as Intel implied low level stuff at the moment."
Colbert stood there as if thinking before slowly nodding. "This way then."
Charles sucked in a breath before giving out a few commands. It was internal radio but Avril had picked it up the most. "Squad A, I want you to flank Colbert's right since he's our MVP at the moment. To all available Ralphlim set up shop with shields a bit further out while all infantry get into firing positions. You have permission to fire at will. All medical personnel keep in the back behind the shields, the kids are your priority."
A chorus of 'Yes sir!' was heard or variations of. Charles sighed before giving one last request. "Any free dragons or gunships let us know the layout in advance and any hostiles that can be seen. Keep frosty out there, we don't know what to expect. Charles out."
One thing Avril could say for sure even as she followed Colbert's brisk pace.
Things had just gotten muchmore interesting as they did confusing.
Siesta hadn't talked to V-X after that fateful duel with Guiche regretfully.
It had been both amazing to her and terrifying. She didn't know how they managed to so easily crush Guiche's golems with her bare hands or move as fast as she did. Only in the stories her grandfather used to tell her matched. The ones of heroes and legends from his home. In a way V-X reminded her of that of those old stories. The stories her grandfather had told had always sounded so far fetched but she had always been captivated and awed by them.
Men and women capable of destroying things as big as castles—or far bigger with not using magic; stories of far away worlds and places even races she hadn't heard before. Her grandfather had always had some interesting stories but she hadn't fully believed them. It was also the fact it wasn't until he was older he began telling them more so she and her family thought the stories weren't the most reliable.
Then V-X had came along with the duel causing something to click. What if there was some truth to her grandfather's stories?
It was naive. It was childish. But Siesta had to know for herself.
Unfortunately, she hadn't been able to contact V-X again after that. Partly because of her work load and partly due her being away with miss Vallerie, her summoner.
If only I wasn't so busy all the time. She thought wistfully.
"-Maid, you're spacing out. I wanted my food earlier."
Siesta blinked, seeing one of the male nobles with his friends at the table. She forced herself to put on her practiced fake smile as she went to set the tray down. "I'm sorry sir. It won't happen again. May I help you with anything else?"
"Not really," They said, somewhat dismissively as they looked Siesta over. "Though, if you feel that you're tired of sub-par pay my family would be happy to have you as a personal maid."
Siesta didn't like his look. But even then she kept her facade smile in place even at the growing feeling in her stomach. "I am honored for the consideration but I'm quite happy with my services here for now."
Please don't get angry, please don't get angry. She repeated like a mantra.
"Whatever. It's obvious you're happy with your bad lot." After that they ignored her presence with a casual shrug.
Siesta decided not to test her luck further and went to make herself scarce. Even as she turned she felt something wet hit the back of her uniform and her blood ran cold along with the sound of someone crushing a piece of fruit. Had one of the nobles or the one she offended tossed something at her? That meant they might do more but surely the Headmaster wouldn't let them go that...
Her thoughts were cut off in mid-sentence as she turned around; feeling her heart practically skip a few beats.
Towering over her was what she could only be described as a demon just like in the stories. It's humanoid form was pitch black, two pair of goat feet with a elongated skull head with no signs of skin or flesh. Their wings were folded back, but if they hadn't they'd probably dwarf her own form in stature.
As her mind caught up to the horrifying display she realized something worse.
The noble that had been rude to her had been ran through with the monsters arm, his blood must have been what caught on her shirt. She didn't want to think of what that 'fruit' was but now had a idea.
Then Siesta did the only thing she could do. She ran. So did everyone else screaming and pushing their way through violently as they tried desperately to escape. In the moment magic and rank didn't matter as the nobles acted as what they really were: scared children over their heads.
A few tried some last minute self defense but were quickly overwhelmed before they had the time to finish any of their chants for a spell. This only added to the ongoing chaos of what was going on.
Siesta didn't even know where she was heading. All she knew was that she had to get away, somewhere and hide if possible.
A part of her felt guilty from just running if only briefly but what could she do against monsters like these? She was just a commoner. There was nothing she could do against those things or even some of the other noble children from the looks of it.
Banishing the unpleasant images of the attack from her mind, she kept her sprint constant; she was about half way through the hall when she heard a female voice cry out.
A young girl, noble had her left leg crushed by some debris that had fallen from the building. A name briefly came to Siesta, she had seen the girl before. Katie was it? She had been one of the girls Guiche had been dating in his schemes.
And now she was stuck, crying and frantically trying to get free.
Siesta's conscious weighed on her despite her desire to flee. She didn't like nobles but..she couldn't just leave her like that. It wouldn't be right. What would her grandfather would have thought of her? She had to at least try.
When she rushed over, it turned out to be worse then she thought and her will faltered a bit before pushing it away. She couldn't give up without even trying.
"Hang on, I'm going to get you out!" Katie didn't respond, either not hearing Siesta or too scared and in pain to respond.
Siesta wasn't sure if the words were so much comforting Katie, herself or both.
She wasn't sure she completely believed her own words either.
The debris that had crushed Katie's leg wasn't as big as she had initially feared but it was still heavy as she tried to lift it. She honestly didn't expect to lift the whole thing, but just enough for Katie to get free. If her leg was broken she'd have lean on her, if just injured it would make it a bit easier. Either way she would be slowed down.
Katie made some strange noise in the back of her throat, but Siesta just assumed it was due to her current situation until felt something in the back of her. Risking a glance she saw the same monster from before approaching, about four of them.
Instantly her heart sank.
Even if she wanted to, she couldn't run since they were so close. If she was going to die then she was going to die doing something then just cowering.
Thick, black tendrils seemingly made of shadows wrapped around the neck of demon in front of Siesta making them struggle before they were pulled into one of the shadows of the room. The others instantly stopped their march to figure out where the threat was coming from.
Siesta was more then confused. She wasn't an expert but she hadn't seen magic like that before. It didn't seem to be any of the elements either.
A ghostly green fire ball appeared in remaining demons hands, which in turn made the shadows of the corner of the room vanish. What Siesta didn't expect was that small act revealing people in tall, imposing black armor carrying stranger muskets. They frightened Siesta a little as they reminded her of stories of 'Black Knights' which were usually the villains.
"Weapons free! Don't engage with fire arms unless you have a clear shot with civies around!"
While Siesta didn't understand what any of them were saying, she did notice the demons finally attack The first reared its head back with a roar and charged the nearest 'knight' who side stepped with a unnatural speed, bringing their hand to dig into the back of their neck.
The other demons tossed the green fireballs they had formed earlier, making the new attackers to create a bubble-like shield made of shadows much like the tendrils from earlier in defense. Unfortunately the knight who had side stepped and gotten the first kill hadn't gotten the shield up and were promptly sent through the wall from the force of the attack. Siesta winced. There wouldn't be any way for them to survive that even with that armor on.
"Six is temporary disabled until they get back to us! Keep pushing!"
Forming a tight formation, they pushed forward while the strange shields were still up which held up against further attacks as they marched forward. Siesta noticed they were also expanded to cover herself and Katie as well, but they seemed a bit weaker when doing so unless she was just imagining things.
"Front is free! Repeat, front is free!" To Siesta they may as well been talking in another language entirely.
Their unexpected rescuers—or at least some of them, took out the muskets and began firing, many doing so in a half crouch. While Siesta had seen muskets in action before, she hadn't ever seen them shoot as quickly or powerfully as these ones did. They also sounded completely different.
Either too dumb or overconfident in their ability, the invading remaining demons within the current place of the building stood their ground before promptly being shredded, quite literally once concentrated fire was on them in long burst.
More shadow tendrils grew from the shield before hungrily taking hold of their prey, lifting them up as they flailed around helplessly before being mercilessly crushed then dropped.
Siesta didn't know what to do. One of them approached and she almost flinched before their hands went to their helmet, a audible hiss was heard as they took it off. The person behind it looked completely normal, nothing like what she had been expecting. It was simply a woman with black hair that couldn't be older then her own mother.
"I'm Amara, I'm going to get you out of here. I just need you to try to relax and talk to me. What are your names?" As she said that, she crouched down to the debris to take a hold.
"K-Katie ma'am.." At this point, Siesta noticed worriedly she was far more pale with a bit more sweat on her face.
"Siesta. But I don't think you can.." Siesta trailed off when the woman lifted off the thing that had been crushing the young girls leg without any help. It was then something did occur to Siesta. The feat of strength, the strange shadows..
The woman and her friends weren't human.
She'd think about it later, right now she was more focused on what was happening right now. Katie's leg was no longer crush but she saw with a grimace, that there was a piece of sharp wood stuck through her leg. The ghastly sight almost made Siesta lose her lunch but she controlled herself.
Amara frowned looking it over before moving slightly closer. "It looks like I'm going have to remove it myself. It's going to hurt a lot, I won't lie. But I have something to fix it up and numb the pain after the fact. I need you to be brave for me okay?"
Katie gave a nod, breathing still shaky. Unable to do much of anything else, Siesta gave her hand a squeeze.
"How old are you Katie?" Amara asked, hands going around the wood in preparation to pry it lose.
"S-sixteen.."
"Sixteen? I have a daughter around that age. All right, I have it. I just want to let you know you're very brave Katie. Now are you ready?"
Katie gave a slow nod, still scared. Amara seemed to pause, then pulled.
Siesta winced, Katie's grip felt it almost broke her hand.
"It hurts, it hurts!" Katie's eyes had dilated and she was practically withering from pain.
"Shh. I know, I know." Amara had pulled out to Siesta what looked like a small can before spraying it on the wound of Katie's. Like magic and much to her amazement it began to rapidly close on its own though it still left a ugly scar.
Katie seemed to pass out, maybe a combination of the pain and stress Siesta didn't know but at least she seemed peaceful.
One of the others that worked with Amara came over. With their armor on to their helmet they still looked imposing but after the brief display with Amara Siesta had a hard time thinking of them as just some monsters in armor. Seeing one of them without the helmet and more importantly helping like this humanized them for lack of a better word.
"Amara. Everything is checked out. All hostiles are cleared in this area. We've been ordered to hold here while the rest take care of the stranglers since they're ahead of us. Ralphlim for extra medical attention is under way. ETA less then five minutes."
Amara nodded briefly. "I understand. I'm going to stay with these two."
"Understood." Was the only thing they said at first. "I'll wait with you."
"One of these days Ektor, I'm going to get you to be less stiff." She turned back to Siesta. "In the mean time we could talk. I'm sure you have questions but there's a lot we can't say just yet."
Siesta did have a thousand questions, she wasn't sure where to even start. If nothing else it would give her something to do. Anything for a excuse to push the horrible images out was in her mind a good thing. "..Who are you exactly? I thought you were knights with that armor. And what about your friend?"
"I guess the easiest way to explain is I'm part of the army where I'm from," Amara saw a click of recognition at that in Siesta. She adjusted Katie's head very slightly she was more comfortable. "As for my squad mate, they're fine. Been through worse and it takes more to kill the bastard. We ran into Osmond, the Headmaster when we arrived at the academy and before we headed here in case you're wondering."
So that explained a bit. Siesta still had many questions but on the forefront of her mind was one. "I mean what are you?"
The older woman didn't respond right away. "I'm not at liberty to say too much about it. We don't know how the talks will go once things settle down; we're lucky things didn't get messed up when we had to jump in now. It's for our own protection as well as yours."
Siesta was going to respond when she thought against it. There was really nothing she could say to that thinking about her own world but it begged the question of what she was. If was anything bad she wouldn't have saved them, right?
Author Notes: I wanted to end this before it got too long, next chapter won't be much fighting but I'll be wrapping things up so we can get more into the meat and potatoes: politics, culture shock and the cluster fuck that is first contact. As stated, fight scenes aren't my thing but they are necessary for these kinds of stories since I much prefer character interaction and development. Most of the characters are about important as minor NPC's to move the story along, the main ones are of course still Louise, Avril and even Siesta will be a main.
Nexus Gate, the 'armors' in question are in the gallery on my profile, including the gunships for a actual view. One other thing that has made the chapter a bit longer to come out is SINO system(Saito in name only) I wanted to tone doing his pervertness but try to keep his other traits but writing it turned into something different with each go. It's not necessarily bad by itself depending but it turned out differently then expected so just going to roll with it organically.
The second world glossary is up after this chapter. It's not required to read but if curious knock yourself out. This story won't be "Beat down Reconquista along side Tristian" for one its over done. Two a certain Sword Art Online crossover story does it the best, and I believe the first. I have other plans in mind.