1st Universe: I
Part 1
"Open up! Will ya? Ugh, come on! Let me out of here!"
A young girl cried as she banged her fist against the steel door.
"Is this any way to treat somebody? I know you can hear me! Open this tin can up!"
But once it became clear no one was coming to save her she gave up hope and sat in front of the door holding her knees close to her chest.
"I told him we should go home. But did he listen, no?"
A white puff of air escaped her mouth.
Then she noticed, standing at the center of the hall.
A boy with his back to her.
The boy had pale skin and long unkempt hair with a long torn up coat that hung over his shoulders.
She only knew this because his arm was clearly out of the sleeve as he toyed with a device over his right ear.
With a stern expression, the girl marched towards the boy staring off in the distance.
"Um, hello!"
With a sigh, the boy turned around to face the girl with a cold expressionless face and uncaring machine-like eyes.
The air around him was colder than anywhere else in the room.
But the temperature was the last thing on her mind as she glared back at him.
"I'm having a crisis over here. Maybe you want to try not ignoring me? Most people, when they see a girl in trouble they try to find out what's wrong."
The boy briefly scanned the girl pouting in front of him before turning around and spoke with an uncaring tone.
"You seem fine."
"Oooh... Chelsea always says tears are a girl's best weapon. So much for that theory." The girl bitterly mumbled under her breath.
The boy didn't pay her too much mind as he was busy with his own devices.
"...I guess we have more important things to figure out right now. Talk isn't gonna get us out of here. And I don't suppose we're any better off being trapped together... Any idea what all the fuss was about?"
"No idea-"
"Yeah... me neither. It all happened so fast. Next thing I knew, the place was empty..."
The girl let out a sigh.
"What are we gonna do?"
As if on cue, the door in front of them opened. After a moment of silence, the boy started moving towards the doorway.
Then he felt a weight drag on him. He reared his head to see a hand wrapped around his wrist and a girl staring up at him with narrowed eyes.
"Don't tell me you're thinking about actually going deeper into this place?! Are you crazy? This is a RELIC site. Who knows what could be down here?"
The boy pulled himself out of her grip and continued to make his way towards the door.
"Not so fast!" The girl ran out in front of him.
"If you run off by yourself you could end up dead-or worse!"
He didn't respond.
He just stared blankly back at her for a brief second before walking passed her.
"Argh, Fine! If you're going, I'm coming too!"
The boy turned around- momentarily stunned by the sight in front of him the girl staring back at him with wide warm-coloured eyes.
Words of someone he knew flashed in his mind, like an image.
-[I will stay with you until the end]-
His heart wavered as he shifted his eyes away from the girl and spoke in a harsh tone.
"Fine. But if you're coming along, you will do as I say. That is if you want to live."
"Alright. Yeah. I'll follow you... Er, I don't think I caught your name."
"...Cyruss."
He reluctantly mumbled out his name,
" Cyruss, Huh? Haha, I never woulda guessed."
The girl smiled as she extended her hand.
"Well, Cyruss, nice to meet you. I'm Emilia. Emilia Percival."
The boy looked down at her hand with a puzzled expression.
"Huh? Is something wrong?"
The girl asked.
"No, it's... nothing. Nice to meet you. Emilia."
The boy shook her hand.
"Like it or not, we're in this together."
She said.
Part 2
Leaving the current sector they moved down to the floor below them.
The sound of high pitched roars filled the halls accompanied by the sound of slick and wet sounding footsteps slapping rapidly across the stone floor.
"This place is crawling. Figures. And why do I get the feeling they aren't going to let us through."
Emilia quietly complained as they hid behind some rubble.
Cyruss had identified their enemies as "Evil sharks."
Reptilian creatures that usually travel in small groups to hunt for their next meal but- by the sound of it, this wasn't just one small hunting group.
They had made this part of the relic site their territory. And with the entire site active, they seem more riled up for some reason. Meaning, if they were caught, every monster in the area would be on them. And it would be game over.
"Move forward in caution... No gunfire or No technics.
We move quickly and take them out before they could make a sound. Got it?"
He turned to her awaiting a response but she silently looked away with her hand gripping her sleeve.
"What is it?"
"Umm, There's something I should probably tell you...
You see, I may be armed but- I haven't been in all that many fights... None to be exact."
'Ugh?!' The boy's face stiffened up from hearing that.
As this not only restricted their options, it also meant if things went bad he'd have to protect her from potentially dozens of monsters roaming the floor.
But- he figured it was his fault for not asking her skillset ahead of time.
The girl looked back at him with a smile after getting that out.
"So, good luck! I've got your back." She softly cheered.
He let out a sigh as something like a wand appeared in his left hand.
"Alright... Nothing changes. Just follow me and keep your voice down. Don't move unless I say so."
The boy peeked out from behind the rubble and waved the wand into the air.
Five small lights slowly rise in the air, fluttering like flower petals drifting in the wind.
"Visualizing the targets... and... Strike!"
Following his softly spoken command, the lights quickly turned into sharp nails that cut through the air piercing the reptilians' scaly chest for an instant kill. Rushing forward with the petals he summoned a large, two-bladed saber in his right hand and with cold-blooded efficiency finished off the remaining two before they could even tell who attacked them.
Without looking back at their hiding spot he gestured with his hand telling her to stay close behind.
If they lingered for too long they'd surely be found out.
As dumb as they are, they would notice if a group of them went silent in their territory.
This operation wouldn't be so risky with a party of four decent fighters, and a cakewalk for the number of teams that showed up to scout the place.
But the cards didn't fall that way, so there was no use in thinking about it.
What he needed to focus on was escorting the girl to safety as soon as possible. Once she's safe then he can decide what to do next.
Because of the creatures' cold-blood, they were difficult to detect, rendering his visor almost completely useless.
Thus he only had his senses to rely on to discern the enemy's positions. Fortunately, they made a lot of noise, making it easy to tell when there were a lot more than he could take.
Following close behind Emilia watched as he continued to take out small groups with cards, small laser-like projectiles, used by those with a high [TEC] grade.
[TEC] measures a person's ability to utilize photons, an energy source that serves as the heart of Gurhal's civilization...
Newmans are naturally gifted with high [TEC], but most of them focus that power towards mastering TECHNICs, a catalytic reaction between one's spirit and photon energy.
To put it simply, If photons are the oxygen, their [TEC], or rather their spirit would be the match, and the resulting flame would be the TECHNIC.
Cards work similarly, but they are a bit more like bullets projected by, the gun, the photon generator within the wand. Once launched the shooter's [TEC] grade determines the power of these "bullets."
"I think we're safe for now. We should catch our breath while we have the chance."
The leader said, however, he would keep moving if he had a choice.
Cards are difficult to use even for the Newmen, with each throw having a high possibility of failing to kill its target instantly.
The risk alone had him completely drained, as he had been gambling with a life.
In short, it wasn't good for his heart.
"You really are a mercenary."
The follower sounded amazed.
"I gotta admit, I'm relieved. With you around, maybe I'll actually get out of here."
"...I have to ask. If you've never fought, why are you here? This isn't a place a beginner should be running around."
"Hey! It's not like I wanted to come into this death trap! I'm only here because my boss made me! Says, I'm lazy."
Boss? Who would hire someone with no experience? He wondered.
The only reasons he could come up with were that she owed him some huge dept.
"How irresponsible..."
"Right?! Finally, someone who understands... Okay, so I can be a little picky about work some times, I get it. And it's been a while since I did any... But-"
The boy raised a brow as he turned his head.
His thoughts remained the same: [How irresponsible].
"Hey! What's that look for?"
She turned away with her arms folded.
"Whatever. With your help. I should be able to make it out of here in one piece. Then he'll get a real earful! 'The SEED are gone' he says. 'The relic site is completely safe' he says... Yeah right."
Relic sites- Now that she mentioned it, something bothered her. A question they have been neglecting to ask.
Why did this place activate?
"Have any relic sites ever gone active when the SEED wasn't attacking? Well, maybe some have, I suppose. It's kinda hard to say for sure. I've heard the relic sites react to the elementary particles emitted by the SEED. But does that explain the disruptions observed in the magnetic field? Hardly. In any case, the last of the SEED was driven out three years ago, but that didn't stop this place from activating. So if this whole site is run by some master program, it follows there must be some sort of trigger...Or, uh... yeah. Something like that."
She turned back to the boy staring at her with a dopey dumbfounded expression. It took him about 4 seconds to process what she had said and all he got out of her tangent was that: "the SEED couldn't have been the cause. Therefore, something else must have triggered it..."
When he thinks of it like that, it should be obvious.
But what he found strange at how familiar she seemed with this topic. As if it were something she knew at the top of her head, prompting him to ask the question-
"Uh, are you some kind of expert?"
She seemed more surprised by his question than he did about what she just said.
"Who? Me? That's all common knowledge."
"Really..."
The boy remarked with a raised brow.
The girl scowled in annoyance.
"Look, ask any mercenary you want. They'll tell you the same thing- Just forget I said anything... No one ever believes me anyway."
The girl went back to pouting as she turned her back away from him.
"Actually- I do."
Emilia felt her heart stop by those simple words.
She turned her head to him expecting him to laugh at her, and say something like "Just kidding," but he just stared at her with a straight face.
"Really? You do?"
"Is there a reason I wouldn't? I don't believe you'd lie to me for no reason. So, if you know something I don't, I want to hear it."
If he doubted anything it would be the fact what she said was common knowledge, but even then, he couldn't argue something he wasn't certain about, so all he could do was believe in her.
"You...? Um, Well...I "
This wasn't something she expected, so she didn't know how she should react and she started stumbling over her words.
Her face felt warm as she shook her head and stood back up.
"Argh! This isn't really the time or place. Let's hurry up and get out of here!"
Without thinking, she wandered off into the next sector on her own.
"Just who is this kid?" He wondered, scratching his head.
Part 3
For a while, the next sector seemed empty. With no monsters roaming around, but that's what kept them on edge.
Why hadn't the Evil sharks come down here? What could have warded them off?
Deeper and deep down the rabbit hole they went. A stinging sensation passed through the girl's head. The walls seemed to be closing in... She grabbed at her throat. Her body felt as though it was slowly losing air the longer she stays down there. It was as though she were suffocating beneath the ocean floor.
The dormant statues surrounding them didn't help matters either.
"How much of this place do we have to search before we find a way out." She complained.
"All these machines around here-they're the site's automated defences. I feel like they're watching me. What if they went live...? Argh, how much longer until we find a way out of here?!"
A shockwave shook the ground as the eyes of the surrounding statues came to life. beetle-like creatures, as well as sword-wielding giants, surrounded the two.
"You've gotta be kidding me!"
The girl immediately regretted opening her mouth.
It was as though the universe had conspired to make her life difficult at every turn.
Her body trembled as the sentinels walked towards them. There chances of beating them all were low... and Cyruss seemed to agree. "Come on!"
He shouted as he grabbed her by the hand and ran through an opening and down the hall until they noticed a door slowly closing in on them.
They ran towards the door, as a growing crowd of machines chase after them... The boy muttered something under his breath bitterly. His cold hand suddenly became gradually warmer as they picked up speed before leaping through the closing metal door.
The two sprawled on the floor as the door closed shut.
"Sorry-Are you alright?"
Cyruss asked the out of breath girl as helped her to her feet.
"Y-yeah, I think so. Thanks. I thought we were dead..."
She sighed in relief as she dusted herself off.
"Where are we?"
They looked around, the room seemed fancier than others with enormous stone pillars scattered across the empty room. They seemed to be giant pipes that diverted water throughout the Relic site.
But what really caught their attention was a large door at the end of the hall...
Since the door behind them lead to a hallway filled with mechanical monsters, this was the only way out.
And if they were lucky it would be an exit.
"This door! This HAS to be an exit, right?!"
Before he could respond, the girl had already run-up to the terminal.
"Emilia!"
Appearing, seemingly from out of nowhere. An iron giant, a steel axe arcs down towards the girl.
A scream rang through the hall.
A large stream of red spills across the floor.
A body flies through the air and slides along the ground.
"Huh? I'm alive?"
A sense of relief passed through her body.
"Cy-"
Then, her heart stopped.
The boy sat slumped forward with his back to a red-stained pillar. The relief in the girl's heart was replaced with a sharp, heavy feeling. Before she had even realized it she was running towards the boy.
For the boy, the room was dark. A burning sensation filled his chest... His mind racing with a single question that threatened to drive him mad: Is she okay?
Then it went still as the sound of footsteps approached him. There were a few seconds of silence as the girl tried to process the sight in front of her.
"Why? Why did you-?" A sob filled the girl's throat.
This should have been her.
So, why was he the one-? Why would he?
Her voice was all he could hear, a voice that quelled his worries.
"I'm so glad" Were the words lost within his final breath.
A peaceful smile formed on his face as his eyes slowly shut.
For him, this was the only choice.
"H-hey! Get up!-"
The girl desperately shook his lifeless body.
"Why aren't you getting up? Come on! At least open your eyes!"
Tears slowly started to form in the girl's eyes as she continues to shake the smiling boy.
She was all alone again - abandoned even by him. It wasn't fair.
"No, I won't let you leave me like this. You have to wake up! Please! Don't leave me alone!"
She cried harder than ever before, unaware of the death that slowly crept up behind her.
She held onto him.
Denying what she knew, refusing to accept the reality in front of her.
This was all just a [Nightmare.]
"Someone help! Somebody has to help me! Please-" The girl prayed with all her heart room to anyone whoever may hear.
"Don't leave me alone-"
[You are never alone.]
A brilliant light filled the room dissolving the iron giant. The girl lost consciousness. She put a hand on the boy's chest and a yellow light entered his body.
The fatal wounds quickly healed, yet slower than she had thought.
Almost as though something was hindering the process, regardless it would eventually heal. The unconscious young man moaned in pain, his smile from before completely vanished.
"I'm sorry."
She said with a forlorn expression.
But there was no time for regrets, she needed him. She needed to escort the two of them out.
"We'll talk later."