Twenty years had passed, since a frail woman, barely able to support herself on her staff, had set foot on this desolate land.
While she was here, Tari's tattered monochrome banners still flew in the wind, above the few buildings that remained upright. Now, even the buildings were gone, leaving only piles of rubbles and rusted steel skeletons amongst the wild vegetations. It was like the nation was swallowed into the earth overnight.
Again.
Her ashes were long scattered to the wind. Only her hat lay at the center of the faded ritual circle, the red dragon decoration stained by years of rain and dust. Such a funny object was of no use to scavengers, who only took away the jeweled staff, and briefly overturned one of the stones inside the circle, to check if there was anything valuable underneath.
They did not see the three crystalline shards, obscured beneath the black witch robe, which she once held to her heart as she uttered her most ambitious spell, her proudest creation in a desperate whisper, feeling her magic draining out of her body and her flesh disintegrating in the scorching light.
Now that the fabric had decayed into a mess of dirt and slime, the shards were exposed once again. Without people's faith powering them, their light had completely faded away, leaving only a sliver of dull glint as the moonlight reflected off their smooth surface.
Twenty years had passed, since Lady Verdna, former head of the oldest Adventuring Guild in Lowee, arrived at the ruins of Tari.
After two decades of dead silence, a low hum rang through the air, and the ground trembled beneath the faded ritual circle. As if something was calling out from the hollow darkness, awakened from its slumber in the depth of the earth.
And the three Sharecite shards began to glow again.
Rei Ryghts had been standing on the pavement for a while now, fidgeting with the handle of her umbrella.
It was not that she had too much spare time on her hands. No, at this very last hour of her extended community service session ("The...the damage done by these delusionary monsters can't also be my faults, right? J-Just asking!"), she only wanted to collapse onto the nearest solid surface and never get up again.
Unfortunately, just when Rei was on her way home, taking a shortcut through the city park, it started to drizzle. She stopped to retrieve an umbrella from her bag, and, by complete accident, she caught a glimpse of a petite figure, slumped over a nearby bench in a deep slumber.
Something about this girl felt really familiar at first glance. Maybe it was that nervousness in her pinched lip and furrowed brow, or her elegant, suit-like uniform with a red and gold bowtie, or the triangular accessory on her head that bore an uncanny resemblance to Rei's own.
This fleeting feeling of Déjà vu, however, was quickly overwhelmed by a more immediate dilemma.
Should Rei wake her up, or leave her be?
It would be rude to just shake someone awake, and the girl might get really mad at her for disturbing her rest. Or worse, start panicking and begging for mercy, because of what Rei did back then—though, with a recently averted disaster still fresh in the citizens' mind, the other one which she had started might have faded a little from their memories...
But leaving her in the rain, and risking her catching a cold next morning? That'd just be a terrible, heartless move.
Do something! Quit standing there like an idiot! The rain is getting heavier—she would wake up, all wet and miserable, and see you holding your umbrella like you just enjoy watching a complete stranger getting caught in the downpour! All because you can't make up your mind about such a simple thing!
Egged on by the shrieks of her inner critic, Rei finally bent down, reached her hand out, and made a light poke at the girl's shoulder. No response. She must be dead tired. Maybe, even if Rei woke her up, she couldn't find a dry place to sleep, and Rei would just be creating more troubles for her tonight...
Wait, couldn't she just leave her own umbrella there, to cover the girl, so that she could sleep soundly without getting drenched?
The moment this idea popped up, Rei almost wanted to slap herself on the face for not thinking of this sooner. How stupid could she get today? The soreness must be clogging up her mind. She shivered at the cold as she put down her umbrella on the bench, and carefully covered up the sleeping girl.
Water drops immediately blurred the lens of her glasses, the moment her comfortable shielding against the weather was gone. Oh dear, it was truly a downpour now.
Maybe if she ran really, really fast, she could still return home without getting all of her clothes wet...
A bolt of lightning suddenly flashed across the sky, painting everything monochrome in a burst of blinding light, followed by a deafening thunder that almost made her jump up in fright.
Right at that moment, the girl jerked awake and looked straight into her eyes.
"Ah-Ah! I'm sorry!" Uttering an apology out of habit, Rei unwittingly stepped back, nearly slipping on the wet pavement in her panic.
The thunder was not her fault, sure, but she still woke up the girl after all those stupid indecisive ponderings! If only she could think of that good idea sooner and put down her umbrella and walk away like she had never been here—
But the girl was not hearing her words. Her vacant scarlet eyes seemed to glance right through Rei. Slowly, she stood up, emerging from the shadows beneath the umbrella. The veil of rain was obscuring Rei's vision, leaving only a faint silhouette standing underneath the cold street light, moving closer and closer.
The girl was trembling, her hands clutched tightly in fists. Rei didn't know if she was terrified and ready to strike, or so angry at her that she could not utter a word, but her heart started thumping like mad at this observation.
They were almost face to face now. Rei knew it, she was one of those people who still had not forgiven her for going mad with power and wreaking havoc on their city, her apologies wouldn't be heard, and the girl was going to throw a punch at her, any second now—
The last thing Rei expected was for the girl to drop down, and kneel before her on one knee.
It was a fluid, graceful movement. Like she had practiced the gesture for countless times in the past. She stayed there, still as a statue, her right hand clutched against her chest. Her head was lowered, her eyes obscured behind wet bangs, and she almost looked afraid to glance up.
"Lady Cyan Heart, First Goddess of Tari..." Her voice was a faint whisper, barely audible in the pouring rain.
Then, she finally raised her head, with a small smile on her face. There was an aged, thoroughly exhausted look in her eyes, one that was so jarring in comparison with her youthful face.
"Lynka, last CPU Candidate of Tari, hereby begs for your forgiveness."
The girl lowered her head again as she extended her right hand towards Rei, revealing the object she was clutching.
It was a piece of broken crystal, emitting a gentle blue glow in the darkness.
A Sharecite shard.
Just, five things.
1) Everything that happens in the duration of the main story is made up, with little correlations to actual events in the game industry.
2) However, most things in the characters' backstories are generally based on IRL gaming history until 2017, unless stated otherwise.
3) Almost all named OCs are based on actual game companies, or game consoles, or are expies of game characters.
4) Expect a lot of obscure retro references, and not-obscure-at-all, in-your-face references.
5) The story is pre-written and finished, so you can expect an update every Wednesday and Sunday.
Please leave a comment, and tell me what you think about the story!