Introductory

July 2054. The day we lost our home.

The planet Earth was caught in a battle against two unknown alien forces. Each side had sheer attack power that shook us to our very core. We knew that Earth was going to be under attack but we didn't realize the seriousness of the threat. Firepower was misdirected at the Earth's surface, obliterating it and reducing it to rubble and ash. We did the only thing that was available to us at the moment of time: Evacuate.

We made preparations for when Earth was going to be the battlegrounds and made ships, Arks if you want to call them that. These Arks housed people that were fortunate to be selected and boarded each one. The unfortunate, and I regret saying this for the record, were left behind and watched their very home crumble as they perished along with it.

Thousands of arks, holding millions of people, launched up in the atmosphere in hopes escaping our blue planet, our home for the past four and a half billion years. Out of all the thousands of Arks launched, only a small hundred of those managed to escape the crossfire including the one I'm travelling in: The White Whale.

As we travel further and further into space, I see a blast aimed towards the planet and in an instance, it shattered. I felt a small tear roll down my cheek and I lost all willpower standing up. Earth no longer existed in the star charts.

Two years passed since the destruction of Earth. We were growing restless as we looked out into the vast open sea of stars and planets, trying to find the one suitable one we can call our new home. But as fate had it, our past caught up to us. Quite literally. We were bombarded from the same alien forces that took out our planet and we tried to fend off what we could. If not for the actions of a lone hero, we wouldn't be able to make it out safely. His sacrifice will not be in vain.

The White Whale already suffered a lot of damage and was pulled by a nearby gravitational force of a nearby planet. Crashing and burning, we had no choice but to disengage the city that was attached to the Ark and watch as it burned up and was scattered across the new world. The city was burning up towards a nearby coastline and we braced for impact. We found our home.

Since then, two months have passed…

Chapter One: A Lost Star

*Running System Diagnostics*

*Warning: Attempt of External Unlocking Identified*

*Login Required/Please Enter Credentials*

*Login ID: Elma*

*Password: *

*Credentials Accepted. Initializing Mim Stasis Unit*

*Attention/External Access Confirmed/Disengaging in 10 seconds.*

*10…*

*9…*

*8…*

*7…*

*6…*

*5…*

*4…*

*3…*

*2…*

*1…*

*Disengaged from Stasis/Standby for Recovery*

*Releasing Hatch/Please Stand Clear*

*Beep* *Beep* *Beep*

That's the first sound I awake to. Just Beeps being repeated over and over again. Where am I? I try to move my limbs but they feel frozen in place, like I slept on top of my limbs for so long and now it went numb. That's the only way I can describe it.

A couple of seconds of struggling lead to control of moving my arms a little bit. I guess that was enough. I look around but all I see is pitch black. I don't like this. I hear some cranking sounds and next thing I know is the wall in front of me opening up to a bright light where I have to shield my eyes.

My vision adjusts and I see a woman dressed in red clothing in front of my standing place holding a flashlight that beaming on me. Behind her, I see the rain falling down upon the trees and I hear the rain drops making small impacts upon the grounds she stands upon.

"Hey there." She says, lowering her light. "Looks like you're all in one piece."

I place a hand on the capsule that held me in place and took a step forward, only to find myself feeling weak and having the mysterious woman catch me as I barely pull myself together.

"Whoa. You feeling alright?" She asks. I shake my head. "Relax. It'll take a couple of seconds for you to get your senses back."

I felt the raindrops dripping down the back of my neck and I slowly got back up on my own, still feeling a bit dizzy. I look around and all I saw was dark clouds raining upon a green open area where I stand in.

"Good to know you're getting your senses back quickly." She said. "Your life pod was the only one around this area that managed not to get a dent on it."

Life pod? I thought to myself. I guess that was that metal container that was keeping me safe. I looked back at the woman and thought to myself Wow. She's breathtaking with her white hair and tan skin still glistening in the rain.

"Thank god I found you. My name is Elma. You wanna tell me yours?" She asked looking into my eyes.

I found myself staring too much at her before snapping out of it. My name…name…name…name…What was it?

My head felt so foggy, like there was a mist in the way of the path I was treading on and it wouldn't go away. I placed my hand on my head on hopes of trying to remember anything but nothing was coming up. I shook my head at her response.

"You don't remember your own name? Hmm…" She placed her hand under her chin as if she was thinking of a reason why. "It must be from the stasis hangover. I'm sure of it. Well try not to force yourself too hard to remember. You can speak right?"

Can I speak? I felt like I haven't said a single word at all. What does my voice sound like? I'll never know until I try.

"Yes, I can speak." I said softly while taken aback by how I sounded. Huh, not that bad.

"Alright. Well try not to force yourself too much okay?"

I try again to come up with my name. My real name. I do have a name, right? There's just no way I can be a nameless person. My head begins to hurt and I show off signs of distress before a word comes into my head.

"Soul." I said profoundly. "I'm sure of it. My name is Soul." Although that sounded very strange to be named this way. It was the only word that came out of that empty mess, yet it sounds…right to me in a sense.

"Soul huh?" She said. "I like it. You have a last name as well, or did you forget that as well?" No other words came into play so I shook my head. "I guess it's just Soul for now then. Anything else you remember?" I shake my head again.

She lets out a sigh. "Ah I guess there's no use prying any further. How are your limbs? Can you move them?"

I flex my fingers and roll my shoulders as a sense of stretching and feeling out my body. My arms don't feel as heavy and I can make circles with them. My legs feel a bit shaky but I can walk without trouble.

"I think I'll be able to walk away from here. The rain is starting to come down hard huh?" I said, looking up into stormy sky and feeling the drops of rain roll down my face. She looks up to and smiles. "The storm will be over soon. Believe me, it just rains harder on its last minutes."

"Anyways, we'll take it easy while you start to recover from the stasis. One step at a time alright?" I nod my head in agreement. "Oh, that reminds me, you need a weapon."

She pulls out a rifle from her back and tosses it towards me. I fumble around, trying to get a grasp with it before holding it firmly with my two hands. It feels strange holding this thing, yet I felt like I've used this before.

"You do know how to use a rifle right?" She asks out of concern. Seems like she's worried that I don't know how to fight. To be honest, I don't even know if I can fight at all. Yet it feels so, familiar, perhaps I was a fighter in the past.

Instinctively, I flipped the safety off of the rifle and aimed it as some nearby rocks. I let out a few precise shots before turning the safety back on and looking at Elma with a look of both awe and confusion.

"I guess I remember how to fire a weapon ha-ha." I chuckled. She smiled and said "Looks like one memory came back. Come on, let's get a move on."

She starts to walk on up ahead and I holster the rifle upon my back and catch up to her as the rain continues to pour down on us.

Questions began to rise up in my head as we continued walking: Where are we? Why was I awakened from the life-pod? Why can't I remember anything? The list goes on.

I hope they can be answered later on but for now, I should focus on the present. This walking in the rain is a bit dreadful.

I see a purple light coming from a box-looking thing up ahead so I sprint towards it with Elma catching up to me. "Ah." She says. "Seems like you got interested in another life-pod."

I stare at her with curiosity. "Is there another person inside of it like me?" She shakes her head and frowns. "Yes, but well…" She trails off.

"None of the life-pods besides yours had anybody still breathing." She looks at me with sadness in her eyes. "You were the only survivor."

I couldn't believe it. It felt like something just disappeared in me but I didn't know what. How could I be the only survivor? Just…Why?

"Why?" I asked out loud instead of keeping it to myself. I felt the rain dropping down my face as I looked at Elma for an answer. "Why was I alive?"

Silence came back to me as the answer and I understood that response.

She breaks the silence. "I'm sorry it had to be this way. But you must understand that with these losses, we must push forward at all costs. After all, that's what the people from Earth expect us to do after all."

"Earth?" I asked. "What is an Earth?" She looked at me with disbelief. "There's no way. Don't you remember Earth at all?" I felt a sense of…guilt I think that's the word for it, like I'm supposed to know what an Earth is but I don't.

I shook my head. She continues. "The stasis must have hit you pretty hard then. So far, you only told me that you remembered your name and how to fire off a rifle. Are you sure you don't remember Earth?" "I don't. I feel like I'm supposed to know though. Like it's an obvious answer."

"You also don't remember the attack on Earth, then right?" "What attack?" She sighed. "Well you don't have to remember that event. If anything, that would be one memory that I would like to forget."

"Earth was your home. Or rather, it used to be before it was…destroyed." She said. "I'm also assuming you don't remember the ship that we traveled on." I nod my head in agreement. I don't know anything at all.

"Well, I'll help you try to remember somethings at least then. I'll also have to report back about this severe case of Amnesia. That's what you have right now. Basically, you forget things when you have Amnesia, only in this case, it seems like you've forgotten a lot of essential memories."

"Anyways after Earth was destroyed, we traveled in space for about two years aboard the ship known as the White Whale. Does the name ring any bells?"

White Whale…What the heck does that even mean? That was the ship's name? Again, a flurry of questions rushed through my head. Why was I aboard that ship? "I don't remember any White Whale. Nothing at all."

"Hmm, well we'll debrief you more about the situation later because I think someone decided to show itself up ." She says, slowly drawing for her weapon. She looks over to a patch of grass and I look over in the same direction.

I see something scuttling towards us and draw out my rifle. Flipping the safety switch off, I aim it at the grass, waiting for whatever it is to come out and show up.

"It's been following me for awhile now, I didn't think that it was going to try and attack me right here. Hope you're ready for a fight Soul." "I got your back Elma. I'll try with all I got."

A small meager lie. I mean this is literally my first fight and I don't know what's going to happen. I could mess up everything and get both of us hurt. Oh god please let it be something easy.

"REEEEEEEEEEEEEEE" I jolted at the sound of that. A large…what is that? It looks like a….Bug. That's the word. Right? Yeah, It's a big bug.

I flicked the safety off and fired three rounds towards the bug. Two of them landed on the thing's body and one went straight through its front legs. I see a black ooze spurt from its leg and it screeched in pain. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Elma unholster her guns and let loose a fury of bullets on the insect.

I see more streaks of ooze coming out of the creature but it stands up taking all the shots. "Damn it." She says. "Bad day to switch out different ammunition types."

Suddenly, the insect spreads it wings out and emits a chirping sound that rings in my ears. "Soul, cover your ears!" Is that what she said? I feel…tired now. I feel very tired. That ringing is still going on in my ears. My eyes become heavier.

"Soul, cover your ears!" I think that's what Elma is saying. I holster back my rifle and put my hands on my ears. The noise is blocked out. I feel my energy coming back to me. I guess that the noise it emits makes me tired. Strange.

I draw back out my weapon and shoot at its exposed wings to prevent the sound from being emitted. Each shot landed, piercing through the creature's wings and breaking it.

"Nice shot, now for the finishing touches." Elma holsters her dual guns and unsheathes her dual swords. I didn't see it coming. One moment she was right next to me, shooting at the thing. The next moment, she's behind it and up in the air. She brings down her swords and slashes it back all the way through.

A deathly screech followed after and the creature dropped dead on the floor. She stands up and wipes the muck off of her blades. "Just wish these things didn't have to bleed out so much." She says while cleaning. I felt myself chuckle a bit and a small laugh escaped my mouth.

Behind her, I see more rustling and I raise up my rifle again. "Duck!" I shout. Elma looks up at me before ducking the array of bullets that followed after. I felt a surge of adrenaline kick in and I felt my shots getting more precise. Three more of those bugs followed after and got shot down immediately by my bullets. No more rustling afterwards and I holster my rifle, assuming the situation is safe.

Elma waits until she hears nothing more and she gets back up and looks at the mess I made. "Not a bad shot, Soul." She says. I smiled a little and remarked "I have no experience but I'm glad I could be of use." Did I really have no experience with fighting before I wonder?

I spot something shiny from one of the corpses of the bugs and went over there. I picked up the object and it appeared to be a sword of sorts, all covered in blood and whatever. I didn't have a weapon for close range so I decide to keep it.

"A long-sword huh?" She says. "Must've belonged to someone unfortunate." I see her face drop down sad for a second before her regaining her composure. "Well, you got a melee weapon now so that's bonus. Let's keep moving." I nod my head in agreement. This rain is starting to make me feel a bit sick.

We push on forward and keep a move on until Elma stopped and looked up at the sky. "The water droplets are feeling less heavy. The storm is clearing up." She turns around to look at me and smile. "Follow me, you would love to see this."

She jogs up ahead, leaving me in the dust for a bit before I catch up to her. We exit out of the area we were in and stood at an open slope. We stood on a cliff and I looked down below to see a sandy area beneath me. A long drop down that's for sure.

I look up ahead and I could see tall structures lurking in the rain and mist. They look so far yet; I feel like I can reach them if I tried hard enough.

"The sunrise is coming. Watch with me Soul."

Like a sword piercing its target, light went through the clouds and made things…brighter. The mist fades away and I could see more of the landscape. I see a tall, metal structure in the distance that spells out 'UNITED STATES OF AMERICA' with a flag that follows it. What the heck is that?

Then, a rumble happens beneath my feet and in front me of a large…uh dinosaur? That's the word, right? Whatever, just the large…dinosaur with a long neck emerges in front of me and stretches out. It's huge. Very huge.

I hear a roar from my left shoulder and I look up to see a flying blue dinosaur soaring through the air and travel through the sky.

I feel a rush of excitement and wonder. Just where the heck am I? This place feels so…beautiful. In the distance, I see a large pack of creatures travelling together across the land. Once again, I'm left with awestruck. I feel life coming from wherever I'm at. I zone out for what feels like an eternity before I had Elma snap me back to reality.

She chuckles. "Took you awhile to come back to me. I can understand that though. This place is truly special. Oh, and those creatures you saw before? They are indigenous, and we as humans, have to try to coexist with them."

I look at Elma as she talks about the landscape around us but I felt fixated on her eyes. I felt a story that came from it. The more I look in, the more I can understand. She has a bright light in her, yet I can feel something else lurking in there. Before I knew it, Elma was looking right back at me and smiled, catching me in the act.

"Am I really that captivating, Soul?" I snapped myself out of it and felt a rush of heat flowing into my face and looked away. "I'm sorry!" I said embarrassingly. "I got distracted for a little bit."

She laughs on and replies "Ha-ha, it's ok Soul, I'm just joking. Don't be so embarrassed about it. Anyways, do you have any questions?" I got the courage to look back at her and I could've sworn she had a bit of red on her face but I didn't pay attention to that.

"Elma…" I said. "What is this place? How can something like this exist?" She smiles and looks outward at the land beyond where we are at.

"This place is called Mira. You won't find this planet on any star chart. It's our new home now."

New Story, New World, and I really need to keep up with the times. First, I like to apologize. I don't know whoever read my F.N.A.F series before it got removed (By someone who I shall not name) but that's long gone now and I'm pretty sure I can't recover that story anymore so why not start fresh with a game series I love and especially one of the games that's underrated as hell. Welcome to Xenoblade Chronicles X. If you somehow stumbled upon this story while on the community, please give it try. This chapter was just a test to see if I did well on writing out this story. Chapter 2 will be coming along but I just want to see the reaction first. Anyways, I'm back from whatever I was doing and let's jump into Overdrive.