Cent. Calendar 10/05/1639 (DD/MM/YYYY), Ministry of Defense, Tokyo, Japan, 21:30
It was getting late at night in the Ministry of Defense in Tokyo, Japan. The air in the ministry was hectic at best and depressing at the worst-a scene that echoed the entirety of Japan's woes in the three weeks since appearing in Asherah. In one of the rooms of the highest echelons of the ministry toiled away Okada Masako, Minister of Defense. Checking reports and approving and denying papers and such, she worked on her computer as the distant wails of sirens continued to play out outside the building. Due to rotating electrical blackouts and a limitation imposed on electricity usage, an effort to curb the consumption of now extremely precious non-renewables, the only objects in her office that still consume electricity are her computer and her telephone. While opening the window to let more air in would have been a bad choice before the transfer, the lack of cars, given that unnecessary road travel was prohibited, meant that the air was cleaner. As she finished the reply to an email, she heard a pattern of knocks on her door, which she immediately recognized.
"You don't have to knock on my door, Matsumoto-kun."
The door creaked as it opened slowly, revealing Matsumoto Akira, a man in his late 20s and secretary of Minister Okada.
"I still think it's down to respect, Minister."
Matsumoto responded with poise as he closed the door behind him.
"Should I take that as a compliment, then?"
Okada retorted without looking away from her screen, still finishing her reply to an email. As Matsumoto drew closer to her desk, Okada finally let her eyes off her screen to look up at her secretary's fair face and young eyes. Wishing to head home for the night, Matsumoto simply raised his hand, which was holding an envelope, and said, "Here's the report." Just as he was about to leave it on the desk and leave, Okada cried out.
"Wait."
He looked back at Okada with a face that said, "Yes?"
"Come over here."
Matsumoto hesitated, not knowing what the command meant. Seeing his confusion, Okada looked away from her screen, kicked herself a distance away from her table on her office chair, and beckoned to her secretary with her hand.
"Here."
Now understanding her command, Matsumoto navigated around the desk towards Okada's side.
"Turn around."
Following her command, Matsumoto turned about-face towards the wall with his back facing Okada. Moments later, he felt the warmness of a person's arms locking onto his entire waist along with the sensation of a person's warm, periodic breathing on his back. Knowing it deep within but still holding doubts, Matsumoto spoke.
"Minister Okada?"
After some moments, he finally got a reply from the Minister, whose face was planted onto the broad back of Matsumoto.
"Don't move."
Heeding her command, Matsumoto stood still as Okada's embrace tightened. Forcing himself to sigh internally since he wanted to go home already, Matsumoto laid down his arms and held Okada's slender arms, which wrapped around his abdomen. Feeling her secretary's firm yet gentle grip on her own tired, droopy arms, Okada loosened her guard and let go of her steely demeanor.
"God... I'm so tired, Akira-kun..."
Jerking from his superior's sudden use of his personal name, Matsumoto quickly started sweating bullets, having prior knowledge of what was to come. Hoping to redirect the topic back to work, Matsumoto quickly raised his left arm, still holding the report that he was supposed to give to the Minister.
"Minister... The report... It's regarding the Lourian troop buildup... The recon flight has returned..."
Silence.
Okada simply tightened her grip, presumably in response to the mention of work.
"Why did they send it physically?"
"Minister... You asked for it."
"Oh..."
Hearing his superior's relatively wimpy "Oh..." had Matsumoto blush. While he had caught glimpses of his superior's soft side before, he wasn't expecting to witness it personally.
"Okay, you can put it on the table."
Just as Matsumoto left it on the table, he heard a very faint sniff coming from his back. Despite Minister Okada's steely disposition in public appearances and in meetings, he somehow finds it natural for her also to have her breaking points.
It has been a very shitty three weeks, after all...
Hearing the sounds of police sirens getting louder and louder outside, Matsumoto remembered his own tribulations in the horrible period that were the previous three weeks. In the moments after he looked up and sighed, he felt Okada's embrace loosen for the first time. Moving away from each other, Matsumoto turned to face a different Okada from the one he had last seen before turning around. Hoping to save some face from her own secretary, Okada hurriedly wiped away semblances of tears from her eyes and cheeks. Despite her best attempts, she could not put away her red eyes and wipe away the tears that had stained Matsumoto's jacket.
"I'm sorry that you had to deal with that."
Returning to her usual, formal manner of speech, the mood in the room was on its way to returning back to normal. With the words stuck in his throat, Matsumoto struggled to say something to the still recuperating minister. Before he could finally release them, Okada raised her hand.
"You may go home now."
Swallowing the words that had just reached the tip of his tongue, Matsumoto sealed his mouth shut and bowed before taking his leave. Taking one last look before closing the door behind him, he saw the same scene of Minister Okada toiling away on her computer, having now returned to her sense of duty and professionalism.
Cent. Calendar 07/05/1639, somewhere in Hyogo prefecture, 15:00
"Shit!"
Pestered by the incessant ringing of her home phone while tending to her daughter and her homework, Izumi Hikari had tripped on her matting after struggling to get up. With the ringing telephone mercilessly blasting away its annoying chime in endless repetition, Izumi recovered from her fall and fixed her now messy chestnut hair. Travelling to the other end of the room to pick up the phone, she was bothered by another noise coming from behind her.
"Okaa-san! What does 'shit' mean?"
Irked by her 4-year old daughter, now learning how to curse, she cursed herself for her blunder as a single mother.
"I'll hafta get back to ya, Sayaka!"
Kicking the can down the road, she finally picked up the phone.
"Hello?"
"Yo, Hikari-chan! 'This a bad time?"
Instantly recognizing the voice on the other end of the line, Izumi let out a loud, hopefully, audible-to-the-other-end sigh. Coupling it with a facepalm, she finally responded to the other person's greetings after 2 seconds of disappointment and recovery.
"What is it, Kita? It's our scheduled break from the mandatory labor program... Curse my luck!"
The person on the other end, Kita Michi, was a close friend of hers. Having gone through middle school and high school together, they went their separate ways when Kita was held back a year in high school while Izumi moved on to Keio University in Tokyo, taking up Archaeology and then later a Masters and a Doctorate in History. Kita followed suit, taking up Archaeology at Hiroshima University and later moving to Keio University for her Masters and Doctorate. Both of them ended up teaching Undergraduate courses at Keio University. After the transfer, when higher education institutions were either closed or forced to operate at reduced capacity to redirect labor towards urgent and important sectors, Izumi returned to her home city of Kobe in Hyogo prefecture. Since the transfer, she hasn't spoken to many of her colleagues in Keio, including Kita.
"Same 'ere! Anyway, did'ja receive an email from your department?"
"My laptop broke after the transfer, and I can't get it fixed since most shops have closed down."
"Your phone?"
"Sayaka has been playing on it, and I don't really get the time off to check it..."
After a momentary pause, Izumi realized what receiving an email from the department may mean and quickly broke the silence.
"Wait, are we being called back?"
"Nah, Keio U's still closed... Anyway, I'll forward the email over to ya, so check your phone!"
Hearing her phone notification chime go off, Izumi quickly walked over to get it. Accessing her phone, she opened her email and checked the newly forwarded email on the topmost part. There, she saw and read out loud the subject title.
"Recruitment for a commission from the government regarding Asheran archaeological sites?"
"Yeah! That's da one!"
"Not gonna lie... I have been interested in the cultures of this supposed new world. If only there weren't so many pressing problems at hand!"
"True that. Anyway, I suggest ya read further. There's more to it than just archaeological sites."
Following her friend's suggestion, she scrolled down to read the main body of the email. Going past the formal introduction from their department, she went straight for the juicy parts.
"They're recruiting archaeologists and historians?"
"Not just any archaeologist! Read deeper, damn it!"
Ignoring her friend's friendly banter, Izumi looked further into the recruitment details, finally getting to the weirder parts.
"Huh? Are they looking for historians with expertise in Japanese military wartime records? Why? Are they also looking for those with expertise in wartime infrastructure from the Showa period? Like those found in our former possessions?"
"Yep! It sounds intriguing, doesn't it? The commission, coming from the government, for studying Asheran archaeological sites, and they're looking for those with Showa-era expertise? Like... It sounds super interesting!"
While the prospect of the commission coming from the government warranted more than enough suspicion, the details of the recruitment were equally sketchy, if not even more so. Looking for evidence internally to quell her own suspicions, she remembered something.
"Hey, Kita. Remember that elven princess showing a rising sun flag in the Diet last week? Maybe it has something to do with that?"
"Could be... Anyway, wanna do it?"
Investigating archaeological sites in a new world felt like an otherworldly opportunity. However, her own pressing domestic issues kept her down to earth.
"I don't think I can..."
"Did you even read it all? It says here that the government will pay us fair compensation, which is up for negotiation, and that they'll provide lodging and basic necessities! Come on!"
The recruitment now sounded attractive. In reality, Izumi had been struggling with helping her daughter through her preschool, having spent the majority of her time in Tokyo and Sayaka having to stay with her grandparents in Kobe. While she felt obligated to help her as her mother, she did want to have an escape from her motherly duties and her obligations as a citizen. Taking what she still assumed to be bait from Kita, she relented.
"Alright, I'll consider. I need to know more about the details, though."
To be continued in the 'Emissaries' side story, coming soon
Cent. Calendar 19/04/1639, Otaheit, Mu 2:30
Things were... great, if not magnificent. The enemies that had once assaulted the great kingdom of Mu were now firmly defeated-a feat that the ancestors of all Muish people had long dreamed of attaining. Those bastards across the pond to the east, the Imperial worshippers of Mirish, have been silenced by the ever-present, ever expanding, exceptional Muish armies. For good. The backwater larpers, the Leiforians off to the west, gunned down to the ground, their blood to stain the earth for eons to come. On top of the overthrown statue of Mirish in Runepolis was a man so brilliant and cunning, he single-handedly led the invasion force that easily toppled the fragile Imperial forces as soon as the first boots made contact with Central World sand. Waving his hands at crowds of cheering Muish soldiers, civilians, and children, he smiled triumphantly as everyone cheered in song his name: "Theodore! Theodore! Theodore!"
Just as he began to join in the chanting, he felt that something was off. The chorus of cheers soon faded away, followed by the silhouettes in the crowd being reduced to sand. Stepping down from the toppled Mirish statue in confusion, he found himself alone in a rapidly disappearing landscape. Looking around, he came across one silhouette that had remained, staring back at him with emotionless eyes and an equally nonchalant expression. The silhouette, a woman, wore golden bright clothing, the details of which are indiscernible and unrecognizable, with the only thing Theodore being able to take from her was that she was divine. The woman continued to look at him as if waiting for him to say out loud a realization that he wanted to keep to himself, either out of shame or lack of necessity. Still...
"A dream... A century's worth of humanity stains even the best in the end."
For the first time since it started, the woman finally moved, turning half a side away from him as she put up a smile. When her mouth opened to speak, he heard a voice so painfully calming that it felt as if he would never forget it, if not for the fact that he was dreaming.t
"Such stains have been there in the first place, for life is a cloth that continues to bear stains."
Feeling mildly attacked at the truth in the woman's statement, Theodore looked away, off to the sunset that he pretended that existed.
"It's been nice talking to my subconscious. I have no idea why I had to take the form of a beautiful woman, but I digress. Farewell."
Unilaterally withdrawing from a conversation with his subconscious, he closed his eyes.
Wake up
Two seconds passed. Three. Four. Thirty. A minute.
It felt as if nothing had changed. He didn't feel the tingle in his hair strands reacting to the chill wind that would blow within his chambers. He didn't feel the ungodly cloth that permitted him to conquer sleepless nights as soon as it touched his skin. He didn't feel the gravity of the world pulling him down laterally all across his body. Wishing to deny this, he opened his eyes, shattering his expectations as he found himself in a bright, white landscape devoid of features. Worst of all, the only feature that managed to stand out from the barrage of white was the woman. Freezing in disbelief, he watched as the woman took soundless steps towards him, the unrecognizable features on her apparel reacting to the subtleties in her moves. Soon, he found himself staring at the woman's gorgeous eyes in point-blank range. As he started to sweat from subconscious fears welling up, the woman broke the silence.
"Theodore Gabrielle Leonard Aldher. A man of many titles. Sovereign of All Mu."
The woman grinned, much to the confusion of Theodore. Adding to his confusion, the woman continued.
"I am Shamash. Goddess of the Sun."
"A goddess? Boulderdash!"
Ignoring Theodore's remark, the woman who called herself Shamash gripped Theodore's right hand and held it up at face level.
"You will wake up from this dream and return to a different Asherah: an Asherah changed."
Letting go of Theodore's hand, she looked at Theodore's calmed eyes with an ominous glare.
"When you wake up again, the sun will rise, this time from the far east."
"But that's how it's always been, hasn't it?"
The woman shook her head.
"The 16 bright red rays of the sun will extend itself to the west, engulfing the world in light..."
After a slight, discomforting pause, the woman removed her ominous glare and returned to her indifference.
"...borne from the embers of a ruined Asherah, or in the glorious rays of prosperity."
Theodore shuddered. What is this woman going on about? As if listening to his inner thoughts, the woman leaned forward.
"You, as Sovereign of All Mu, get to decide that. The new sun will be Asherah's hope."
Exhaling from the pent-up tension, Theodore wanted to speak. However, before he could, he felt the highly intense heat of hellfire burning all over his body. As he struggled to put out the imaginary fires that had suddenly come upon him, the landscape turned black, lit only by the raging flames that engulfed him. Looking outwards, he saw a skyline that he immediately recognized, only perverted by the massive cloud of fire and mana that protruded from somewhere off in the distance. Immediately, he forgot the scorching heat that had assaulted him, replaced by his urge to fall down on his knees and weep.
"O... Otaheit! No!"
Just as the first teardrop formed in the corner of his eyes, something caught his attention. Far off beyond the mushroom cloud that had devastated the beloved capital of the great kingdom, he saw something parting away from the clouds of destruction-something inherently menacing. The pain in his knees gave way to jitters as terror gripped his sensation, born from continuing to spend time looking at what he recognized from some text that he had seen long ago.
"The ancient empire... They're coming back!"
Now on his rear, he instinctively scampered away from what he came to know as evil incarnate. However, before he could fully retreat, his back pushed hard against a wall, causing loose debris from the destroyed roof to fall on his head, knocking him out. Immediately afterward, the blazing heat from the dream was replaced by the familiar, chilling wind offered by the air conditioning that he usually fell asleep to. Drowning in sweat at the unforgettable dream, Theodore rose from his slumber, wiping away the perspiration that had built up over his face. As he tried to wipe his face with his clenched right fist, he felt something hard and circular inside it. Opening his fist, he saw a hard, shiny, circular object in the palm of his hand. Not knowing what it was, he got up, went to his study, and turned on the lamp to further examine the object. What greeted him under the lamp was a small, silver coin, a currency which he didn't recognize. Engraved on the coin were symbols in an alien language which said, The State of Japan, 100 YEN, Heisei 30 (2018).
"What the hell is this coin? I've never seen this writing before! How on Asherah did I get my hands on this?"
Answering him almost immediately, the intact memories of the dream that he had come back to him, reminding him of the goddess's angelic voice. Recalling that the goddess took his right hand for some moments, he concluded that the coin in his hand was definitive proof that the dream was real and that the goddess's words were genuine. Playing her words back in the honey-like voice that he could not force himself to forget, he came across some lines which he considered instrumental.
"The 16 bright red rays... the sun will rise from the far east... engulfing the world in light..."
Theodore took a deep breath as his legs shivered from the memories of the more horrible parts.
"This... This is a matter of great concern!"