Chapter 20 - End of the Harvest

Siba

One night, in a moment, the ground started to crack in Siba Capital. Around the center of the city, the earth started to pull apart, debris falling down into an emanating white glow. Soon, a ball of white energy rose slowly from the ground, stopping above the skyscrapers that haloed it and lighting the area brightly. It finished forming as a wormhole to a place unknown.

Nanoha, Fate, and Hayate were outside, looking on at the sight.

"We have to see what that is," said Nanoha. "We have to investigate it."

"I've never seen anything like it before…" said Hayate. "Be safe, you two."

"We will."

Nanoha looked over at Fate. The Enforcer nodded and reached for her device. Nanoha did the same.

"Bardiche, activate!"

"Raising Heart, set up!"

The two raised their devices and their silhouettes formed into a pink and yellow glow respectively. The glow faded away and the two were in their barrier jackets with their devices out. The two hovered off the ground and then flew towards the wormhole.

They reached the area near the edge of the energy ball. It had been pulling debris in from the nearby buildings but the force was not strong enough to topple them, yet. Fate and Nanoha glanced at each other again.

"Are you ready?" Nanoha asked.

"I'm ready, Nanoha."

The two turned to face the portal and flew into it.

Inside, at first it was just a bright white that made both mages shut their eyes tightly. But as they got used to it, and were able to see what was around them, it seemed more like a slip-space effect. Trails of particles that stood out slightly from the background flowed past both of them. The hallway was carrying them somewhere, like they were only gliding. But then, Nanoha's eyes went wide and she looked down at herself.

"Fate!" she cried.

"Nanoha?"

Nanoha stared at her hand and then looked over in shock.

"I…something's happening…"

Before Fate's eyes, Nanoha started to disintegrate. Her image just seemed to shatter into a million pieces and fade out, like a spirit redeemed to the sun. Nanoha was gone before Fate could even reach out to her.

"Nanoha?" Fate yelled. Her arm, which reach out into where Nanoha was just a moment ago, felt nothing. "Nanoha!"

Fate tried to turn around and fly against the current, like doing so would return her partner, but she couldn't do so. As much as she pushed herself, the feeling remained like being dragged forward down the translucent hallway. Then, echoing around her, she heard Nanoha's voice.

"Fate, meet me ahead."

Fate stopped pushing backwards and let herself float again, looking around.

"Nanoha?"

"I am still with you. I am always with you."

Fate lowered her guard again. She exhaled, nodding. Some part of her felt content with that answer. She spun around and continued flying forward, soon reaching another part where the white glow ahead got brighter and brighter until she had to close her eyes.

Fate felt like she had passed through something. The force she felt around her before was gone, and the place around her wasn't so unbearably bright. She opened her eyes and gasped at what she saw. In the still-mostly-white area, Fate was high above the 'floor', where there stood endless creatures of various sizes that were some turtle-like figures with geometry of land on their backs. Some of the creatures were massive; in the horizon were some of them whose size and the areas on their backs stretched up to the height Fate was at. Some were less so, but still large compared to most animals known in the outside world. Fate felt drawn to a particular creature, however - one who was laying down, unmoving, like it had passed away.

Fate flew down to it and landed in front of the creature's head. It was indeed a turtle-like creature, with brown skin that looked cracked and broken, attempting to lay on the floor but propped up slightly by the edge of its large shell. Instead of the verdant colors seen on the similar figures around this one, its shell was cracked and chipped and marred with dead leaves rotting. This creature was still large compared to Fate; as it looked up at her slowly, the height of its sideways head was almost as tall as Fate.

The creature took a pained breath and shuddered when it exhaled. It spoke telepathically to Fate.

"Child…"

The voice sounded as if it echoed through the entire area, but it was projected directly at Fate and nothing else could hear it. The voice sounded feminine, also gravely and drained. It was like the voice of someone on their deathbed. Fate stepped closer.

"I can hear you," she said.

"Good…"

Just then, the creature shuddered violently and moaned in pain. As it twitched, a thin clear liquid seeped from its vagina onto the tops of its back legs. That area was stained already from the drainage. It was clear that this had been going on for some time during this creature's prolonged suffering. The creature breathed heavily as the episode faded. Fate had looked at the rest of its body but now looked it in the eyes again.

"What are you?"

The creature blinked and inhaled slowly.

"I…I am the lifeforce of your world…"

"My world?" asked Fate. "What do you mean? Oh, wait…Siba?"

"If that is what you call your planet…"

"No, no, I'm just a visitor. I'm trying to save this planet. Its people…maybe, your people…are suffering."

The large creature fought to take another breath.

"You cannot save me. My body is rotting from the inside out. It has been this way for so long."

Before Fate could respond, another wave of pain wracked the creature. It shuddered violently again, slamming some of its legs against the ground and screaming out again. The seepage spat out from the creature's lower region again, dripping down the cracked skin and further staining it in the pattern of the liquid's path.

Fate averted her eyes. She looked out again at the landscape around her and the similar creatures that differed in size but stood towering over the ground. None of them acknowledged the dying one at all; the rest all walked on their own paths slowly toward unknown destinations.

The creature's episode had passed, and Fate could hear the heavy breathing again. She looked back at the creature.

"I…" the creature whispered, "I cannot take this much longer. Hell has come for me and now it burns through day and night."

"What do you want?" Fate asked.

"Please, child, I want to return to the field that surrounds me. The sun…the sun is dreaming in my soul. Child, I need you to end my suffering."

Fate thought through the request. If this creature truly was the representation of the planet Siba, its status reflected the ever-worsening status of the planet and its citizens. Prolonging this creature's suffering would prolong the tragedies on the planet. But if Fate ended its life…

"Please, child," the creature begged again. "You know what must be done."

Another painful stab wracked the creature, even quicker than before. The creature flailed its entire body from the pain, slamming against the ground and shutting its eyes tightly while it screamed out. The force echoed through Fate's mind and Fate braced herself against it like it could blow her over. When the moment was over, the creature's eyes looked even more lifeless and drool dripped from its panting mouth to the ground.

Fate gripped the staff of her device tighter. She knew what needed to be done.

"Very well, I will release you," she said. "Bardiche, Haken Form!"

The yellow gem in her device pulsed as it responded.

[SIR]

The head of the staff glowed brightly and a yellow energy blade emerged to the side of the staff head. Fate walked up to the creature so she was right next to it, looking down at the underside of its neck. She took a deep breath and raised her weapon. Swiftly, she swung it down so the yellow energy blade pierced the creature's skin at its neck. However, only a bit of the blade struck through before the rest was caught on the thick skin. The creature moaned in pain again, but no more than it already was.

Fate turned her body, swinging one foot back in the air. Then, she drove her foot down and against the scythe head, kicking it with her metal boot. This force drove the rest of the energy blade into the neck as it tore through that skin. Fate got her footing again and swung upwards, slicing through the front of the neck from the floor to the top of it. As the energy blade came through the skin again and Fate reclaimed it, the blood of this creature spat out of the giant wound and the creature shuddered and screamed again with all its might, rapidly approaching death.

Fate heard a loud rumble from the sky above her and she looked up. A new opening appeared in the endless white horizon. This one looked unstable and it seemed like it wouldn't last very long. Something in Fate's mind told her that she needed to get through that tear as soon as possible. She took off again, flying through the air towards the portal. As she did so, she shut her eyes.

"Nanoha…I feel you," she whispered. "You're here, I know you are. You're all around me, in everything, in every atom of my being. You're everywhere. I can feel it…Thank you."

She smiled, feeling a warmth wash over her. But as she got closer to the portal and the noise it created got louder, she opened her eyes again and focused on it. She pushed against the hurricane-like force coming from the portal. As she got closer, she reached her hand out to it, keeping her eyes open as long as she could. With the chaotic sounds reaching a climax around her, soon she was engulfed in a pure white light once again. Then, the sound disappeared, and only the light remained.