As the sky glows pink and orange, the golden streamers of dusk sailing through the sky, Leanna squints upward.

"We should make camp soon, before it gets dark."

Zack nods in agreement.

"There's a good spot up ahead which hides us from view. It'll still give us visibility on any intruders, though."

"That sounds good to me." I say. We'll get there and check it out.

Zack leads the way and soon we reach the clearing. Once Leanna and I inspect the area and are satisfied, the three of us begin setting up camp. I roll out my bedroll near the campfire, sighing with expected disappointment when it flattens to a wafer-thin layer over the ground. I quickly check, confirming with a groan that there are no methods by which air could be added. Well, there's nothing for it. I sweep the area beneath it, locating and extracting all debris. Following a combat trial, I determine that my leather will be an essential layer of padding, but it is doable. So many things about this place make me feel like I'm on some kind of military exercise.

Still, a yawn escapes my lips as I lay back. It does, however, only take the reminder that food exists to rouse me. I sit back up, my gaze suddenly drawn to the night sky. I stare up at it, awestruck.

I recall the one time in my youth that I looked out at a sky clear enough to see through. In the memory, the moon was on the other side of the planet, and brazen Venus pierced the city's eternal glow, joined only by a few meagre attendants. While I was watching, something I now recognize as Anchor sailed through the night, the few ships of the Coalition Intrasolar Navy flickering about it. The vision I now behold, however…

Nothing from home can compare.

The sky is lit with a sea of stars, their whites, blues, and dim reds casting spare illumination that I normally associate with streetlights. It isn't nearly so bright as a city, but its splendour outmatches one by far. Nebulas are strewn haphazardly, as though the night is an elaborate piece of abstract art, with what can only be the Milky Way, or whatever Terra's name for it is, crossing the world in an elaborate band. Far to the north, I spot the distant glow of an aurora, ribbons of light in greens and blues scattering in the magnetosphere. Closer to the earth… the terra?... the ground seems to glow in tandem with the tapestry above. Hanging at the edge of one horizon, however, is a known entity. The moon hangs in the air, its pockmarked craters not quite the way I remember. While it dominates its personal segment, this hardly detracts from the brilliance of everything.

Terra, I think, is a world of light. Everywhere I look there are wonders to behold, sights to see. I have heard accounts of how the Earth was once, and seen movies showing them, but it never made any sense to me.

My heart tightens.

How much damage did we do to Earth? How much damage did They make us do?

I think I trust those accounts now. Terra is above and beyond any of them, and it is a real place. Millions of humans call it home. And their home is marvelous, without any of them realizing how lucky they are.

I finally breathe out, still enraptured by the glorious sky. Finally, a voice breaks through my silent observation.

"What are you looking at?" Leanna asks. I look over to her, noticing that she is carrying two bowls carrying a steaming substance. I eagerly accept one of them, and return my gaze to the heavens. She sits down besides me, and I can feel her smiling. It is odd that I can already detect that from her, as it took me a few months to figure out Dilyp and Yunna. I guess I'm getting better at it.

"I'm stargazing."

I take a deep breath, returning my sight to the sky.

"I thought that the bright blue of daytime was a wonder, but this… this is more than I thought the world could be asked to be. If I didn't know better, I'd think I was on the receiving end of some kind of universal favouritism, but that doesn't exist and…"

I sigh deeply, a streak of light flashing across the stars.

"...Anyone from my home would find this as amazing as I do."

"How come? You mentioned that the skies are cloudy, but surely that can't blot out the stars every night."

"Weather patterns dictate that it doesn't, but there is also light pollution. Our cities are the only places most humans still live, and they cast off enough light to rival the sun, at least locally. On the nights where the skies are clear, you get a few of the brightest, maybe. And Anchor Station, periodically."

Leanna follows my gaze towards the sky.

"Right, it's a little harder to see the stars in town than it is out here. But in order for them to drown them out, your cities must be massive…"

"They are. The largest have downtown areas that would take days to walk across. We never stop moving, so the lights are on throughout the night."

Her mouth falls open, eyes widening in surprise.

"Why? None of the kingdoms have cities that large. How many people live in… Vancouver, you said you were from. How many people live there?"

A figure jumps to mind, likely too large for Leanna to comprehend. I decide on a simple comparison tactic.

"How many people live in Havengarde?"

She thinks for a moment.

"I think it was about 78 million as of last census, which was two years ago. We're the largest population-wise."

"That's actually really good for a medieval-style society. I have no doubt that magic plays a big role in supporting a population like that. Vancouver houses…" I do some quick math in my head, "five times that. Global population is about seven or eight billion, so it's a fairly average megalopolis."

She looks shocked and skeptical.

"How could a society possibly have that many people?"

"Really good medicine and resource utilization, as well as working with space. The tallest buildings are in the ballpark of a kilometre or so."

She places her head in her hands.

"You said something about seeing… 'Anchor Station'? What is that?"

I smile. It is always fun to boast on humankind's behalf.

"It's a space station. Part naval base, part defense platform, part tourist destination. It's kind of like a port that hangs above the sky. Based out of it are a number of 'space-ships', which allow us to travel between places in the solar system. Have you noticed that some stars move?"

"Yes." Leanna answers despite her stunned disbelief.

"Those are places like Earth or Terra, and yet not. At least in my world, none support life. The spaceships allow us to travel between them. There are countless places beyond, but we cannot sail so far just yet."

I dig into my meal as Leanna places her chin in her hands. A combination of the fact that this soup is my only meal today and the sheer quantity of information I've shared means that I am finished before Leanna says anything more. I decide to check on the capacitors that have been soaking in energy for the past day and a half.

Peeling them off of my arm, I link them together with my MP3 player, placing the antiquated earbuds in their rightful spot before hitting shuffle. I look up at the stars again, leaning back on my bedroll. The night is peaceful as my music plays just overtop of the crackling fire. I am, however, soon interrupted by poking from my right. I look over, removing one headphone.

"What are you doing with those?" Leanna asks.

"Listening. They play music."

"Really? Could I try?"

"Certainly." I hit pause, removing the earbud opposite Leanna and offering it to her. I then return the other to my ear in demonstration.

She catches on quickly and inserts the one in her hands into the correct ear. Then, she frowns.

"Is it not working?"

"Don't worry. I just haven't turned it on yet."

I flicked through the menus, selecting the playlist I labelled 'Alasdair's Choice'. I then leave it up to random chance. A very familiar melody strikes up in my right ear. After a short while, the words of one of my all-time favourites begins to play.

I'm not surprised

Not everything lasts

I've broken my heart so many times

I've stopped keepin' track

I look over at Leanna, and notice the smile on her face as her head bounces slowly. I hum to the tune myself, keeping time with the melody of a song all but forgotten back on Earth. This was one of the few pieces I had managed to save, spending sleepless nights delving through more recent Golden Age artefacts that are capable of interfacing with modern devices. I found another instance of this one on a nearly-broken laptop, and broke the copyright encryption on it with a technically illegal program found on a rather shady site. As of three months ago, it was posted to a public domain media site, and has started making its rounds. Every now and again I saw someone at Triumph listening to it, and it brings a smile to my face every time. It really is sad that the audio quality on these earbuds is too bad for re-recording, and the device itself was made in the late 2040s. I'd have to take the motherboard and SSD apart to get it to connect to a modern computer for download, and that has a really good chance of killing everything inside. Still, it works, and as such it remains my personal music player. My little slice of the past.

And I know someday that it'll all turn out

You'll make me work so we can work to work it out

And I promise you kid, that I'll give so much more than I get

I just haven't met you yet

As the song ends, I pause, removing the bud from Leanna's ear and placing everything back in my pocket.

"Thank you. That was really nice. Do a lot of people have something like that?"

"Yeah, but mine's special. It's a prewar player I fixed up myself, and as such many of its songs are one-of-a-kind. I've done my best to track down ones I can share, but there are only so many places you can look."

She looks right at me.

"What's your world like?"

That - is a very big question.

"What would you like to know about it? There is a lot to discuss."

"Let's start with something simple, then." She says, then asks: "Why are the skies so cloudy?"

"You have chosen to ask a question with an extremely long answer. I've only had it told to me a few times, but I'll do my best to tell the story well."

I shifted myself about so I could face Leanna without having to crane my neck, took a deep breath, and began recounting The Great War.

In the mid 2080s, humanity was beautiful. The world, despite the damage dealt to it during earlier industrialization, was beginning to heal as the fossil fuels that were bleeding our planet were rapidly phased out. At later times, this century was to be known as The Golden Age of Man. Unlike other golden ages throughout history, however, this one's demise could not be predicted well in advance. There was to be no slow decline followed by a precipitous crash.

On April 22nd, 2089, military space surveillance satellites and the Lunar Observatory, totalling to twelve of Earth's most powerful nations, began tracking a group of objects in the Kuiper Belt. By the time civilian observatories noticed them crossing the orbit of Saturn, it was revealed that they were almost certainly alien in origin.

And on a direct course for Earth.

"What is an 'alien'?"

"The objects were artificial, but they were not made by humans. Another world like Earth had given birth to them, and they had travelled between stars to reach us."

The world was, for the most part, struck with jubilation. We were no longer alone. The void above, which for so long had been silent, empty, had finally deigned to notice our little home. But as attempt after attempt at communication fell on deaf ears, worry replaced our joy. They either could not respond… or they did not wish to.

With billions of people's worth of paranoia crying out, a massive international project was launched. The Orbital Defense, Industrial, and communications Network, or ODIN. Above our world we built great fortresses of steel, armed with our finest weapons, crewed with our best men and women. Preparations did not cease until they arrived. It's too bad that our work meant nothing.

When they finally reached Earth's sphere of influence, they announced their intentions by annihilating our few bases on the moon. When they dipped into our lower orbitals, the bastions opened up, deploying fire that could level cities. Their ships swatted this aside, and their hypervelocity projectiles carved through our defenses. Then, with the skies in their hands, they rained destruction upon the blue-green world below. Over a billion people died in the opening few hours. But then someone had a crazy idea.

During ODIN, we had mapped out our orbitals. We knew where everything was, and where it was going to be. So by moving a few hundred satellites into opportune places, we were able to create a Kessler event. Our network of orbiting cameras, telescopes, space stations, and communications arrays were torn to shreds by wave after wave of space junk, and in turn joining the event. This storm built with every passing moment, turning everything we had sent up over one hundred and thirty years of space travel into a tsunami of metal, all moving fast enough to threaten a spaceship. Timed to perfection, a coordinated ballistic missile launch from silos and submarines around the world followed: weapons designed to end humanity now prepared to save it. The two struck as one, and the alien's weapons and defenses were overwhelmed. Their mysterious energy barriers, it seemed, had not yet recovered from our defense platforms, and one by one these bubbles shattered, revealing the far more fragile ships beneath.

Explosions wracked the sky as alien starships lit up with the power of humankind. But even two world-ending cataclysms would not be enough to stop these creatures. While their weapons and defenses were broken beyond repair, they were unwilling to give up this world, and the skies glowed with alien dropships. They bore similarities to Earth's lizards, though they were warm-blooded and far more intelligent. We never learned their language, and it was never clear that they learned ours.

For the next seven years, mankind would fight a desperate war for our world and for our survival. Wherever They gathered in force they could not be stopped, so we engaged where we could, burying their smaller battlegroups in overwhelming numbers. They were more advanced, but we were born to fight, we outnumbered them, and we still had our nukes. As the war progressed, they learned to focus their forces, smashing us with their gargantuan war machines. So wherever they gathered in force we deployed weapons which burned worlds. Even today, an eighth of the planet is covered in craters following this style of warfare. Even with that advantage, we were forced to give ground, and at the height of the war they occupied over a third of the Earth's total land area. The few refugees from occupied territories told stories of the terrible atrocities dealt to us by the invaders, and spires which poisoned the skies, scorching them with ash and soot for some mad purpose.

But even in the furthest reaches of occupied territory, there was resistance. Guerilla operations disrupted their supply networks, and slow attrition pushed their manpower to the limit. Despite all of the devastation, we still had a military industrial complex, and billions of people willing to fight and die for humanity's right to exist. And from that, was born the Sol Coalition. With the governments of the prewar nations of Earth all but destroyed by the war, the military stepped into the void, marshalling our resources in a great campaign of liberation. Our aircraft brought down their assault wings one at a time, and tank divisions prowling in the boneyards of ages past gunned down their greatest tools of warmaking. We stained the land with blood, Theirs and ours in equal measure, for every centimetre of shattered ground we took, but we were finally winning. As we bottled them in at their original landing site, they left, having given up. And their one remaining ship limped out of Earth's orbit, eventually disappearing in the outer reaches of the solar system. The Earth was ours once again. But the fight was far from over.

For forty years after, human civilization existed on the brink of collapse. Billions of people lacked food and homes, the Earth's industry was in tatters, and the global economy had been all but erased. With little between our species and total extinction, The Coalition assumed the responsibilities of civil governance. Faced with the aftermath of the greatest disaster in human history, the ethics of the measures taken to ensure our survival are still debated today. Strict rationing on all resources, a mandatory one-child policy, draconian reversals on social norms. Millions more would suffer and die in vast relief camps, where the barest necessities were exchanged for grueling physical labour, while opportunities were afforded only to those whose abilities would benefit this great effort. We paid in our luxuries, our values, our lives, for the cost was immense, and even those in governance, who were afforded some halfhearted mockery of the plenty that had come before, were appalled by what was needed to maintain our people. They swore that their sacrifices would not be in vain.

And they swore rightly. As the century turned, the situation began to improve. The first agronomy arcologies were raised in ancient city centres, lit by the mimicry of the sun's power that the children of Earth could wield. Laser complexes cleared the orbits for a new array of communication satellites. Industries began once more to churn out manufactured goods, the first of which were put into the reconstruction of the shattered cities. Finally, manned spaceflight resumed, and the dissection of alien wrecks led to startling new discoveries and areas of research. And in the year 2124, the purpose of The Sol Coalition was deemed achieved: Earth and its inhabitants were now safe from annihilation. As such, plans were set in motion that would see the emergency power dissolved, and a new power take its place. There were many concepts: some people wished that it be replaced by a new global government like ones from The Golden Age, others that a new style of rulership be tried, and a few suggested that the Earth be divided into several states resembling the prewar nation-states.

In a planet-wide referendum, the first of what is now two of its kind, the fate of humanity was placed in the hands of humanity alone. In a stunning landslide which no polls were permitted to predict, we placed our faith in the system which saw us through reconstruction, and The Sol Coalition was restructured into a true civilian government. As the Captain-General of the old Coalition retired with the title he held, he made a promise that one day humanity will reach for the stars. That we would hunt down the creatures that did this to us, and let them know what they had done. All those who watch from the void will learn that this kind of act will not be tolerated, especially not by humankind.

As the story ended, I am dragged out of my reverie, returning to the real world. Leanna's face is a mixture of emotions: anger, sorrow, pride, and others. I know because I recognize it. I saw it in pictures of myself and others every Victory Day.

"Why would they do such a thing…"

"No one knows. We never learned how to talk to them, and it was never clear why they attacked us, or why they brought so little to do it with. If their invasion was a true, wholehearted effort, we wouldn't have stood a chance. As it was, our willingness to sacrifice anything to win was barely sufficient."

Leanna looks again at the stars, a newfound appreciation for them softening her face. She smiles.

"You're right. The stars really are beautiful."

We fall into a comfortable silence as the tranquility of the night envelops the campsite. Every now and again my heart darkens as I am reminded of what I -what Zack, Marshals take it, it wasn't your fault- what I did. But the night on Terra is as welcoming as a parent's embrace, wishing that I forget, just for a little while. My mind swims idly from thought to thought. After a little while, Zack approaches us.

"It's getting late." he states, looking at me strangely. I freeze as I remember he might've been in proximity of my tales of Earth.

Leanna nods.

"I'll take the first watch so you can rest." he continues.

Leanna doesn't take more than a moment to consider.

"Alright, I'll take second watch."

"Welp," I say, "that just leaves me with third."

Zack stares unblinkingly at me, while Leanna coughs nervously.

"That's okay," Leanna says quickly, "we had an early start and I'm sure you're tired. We should rest up and sleep through the night."

"Hey, that was true for at least you as well. Besides, I'm never going to get into military mode if you guys don't let me help out."

I smirk sarcastically.

"It almost sounds like you don't trust me."

Although my tone is light and joking, Leanna looks guilty. She compulsively changes the position of the crystal in her manipulator.

"No! That's not -I mean- it's not that we don't trust-"

"Yes." Zack says succinctly.

Leanna looks sharply at Zack. His arms are crossed but his expression doesn't change.

"Would you care to share what caused you to judge me as such?" I ask, slightly irritated despite myself.

"Simple."

He nods towards Leanna.

"She's a part of the Mage Guild, so I know she won't try any tricks. I don't have any guarantees about you."

"I'm sorry… but I agree."

Leanna seems ashamed of her suspicion. I nod to myself. I don't have any way to prove I am worthy of trust in this world other than consistent action. Zack's caution is entirely healthy, and lashing out would only prove that it is warranted.

"I suppose that's fair… for now. There is no way I'm letting you two shoulder a burden such as this for any longer than you feel is necessary."

Leanna seems to feel better at my answer. That's good.

"I'd better get some sleep then. Goodnight."

"Goodnight." I respond.

Zack simply nods.

Leanna deigns to present us with a final smile before crawling into her bedroll. As she lays down, Zack positions himself against a tree and takes a seat. I shrug.

If we're going to be travelling together, I had better make an effort to get to know Zack. Learning what kind of person he is will go a long way towards determining how to act around him.

Then you need to exploit that to stop him, a portion of me said.

Killing people doesn't make someone capital-E evil. The Coalition had to do it almost on the scale of billions. Sometimes it is necessary. While it might not've been for you, it certainly was for him.

The rest of me makes an eloquent argument, but I am still not sure about this guy. Maybe getting to know him will help with that. I'd better keep things cordial if we're going to be travelling together.

I walk over to Zack, and select a simple initializer.

"Hey."

"Hmm?" He raises his head from the surrounding terrain to look at me.

"Mind if I sit?"

He gestures for me to join him, so I do.

…

…

Obviously I'll have to lead this conversation. Good thing I have absolutely no idea what to ask.

"Sooooo… how's the weather?"

Zack stares at me, as if trying to quantify what I am trying to accomplish. Maybe a question pertaining to him will work better?

"Um, are you a cat or a dog person?"

His eyes narrow.

"...Is this going anywhere?"

Sigh. I was afraid he'd have trouble getting a lock on this conversation.

"I'm trying to build up some knowledge and trust here, but you need to meet me halfway in order for anything to happen." I speak in the hopes that simply saying what I am looking for will help me acquire it. In response, Zack looks away. Great…

"Dog." He says simply.

"What?"

"I prefer canines."

Well. Letter and spirit and all that. He answered my question, and it got precisely nowhere. Well, at least I know he's willing to answer questions.

"Oh, cool. I'm more of a cat person, myself."

As anticipated, the silence creeps back in. So much for the back and forth of standard conversation. Maybe that was too specific?

"So, we're all going to Illumia."

"Yup."

Really? Yup? Yup!

"What brings you there?"

"I'm meeting someone."

Terse and overly mysterious. Yay. I attempt to tease out more information.

"Oh, a friend?"

"A colleague."

"And what do the two of you do?"

"I'm a mercenary."

FINALLY. A proper answer that I can work with. Not only that, but I can absolutely place the reasoning for everything.

Zack notices the expression on my face.

"What?"

"It all makes sense now."

He looks strangely at me.

"What does?"

"Everything about you! The outfit and weapon choices, the angst and hard-boiled exterior, your ease at accepting killing…"

His expression changes from 'this guy is kind of weird' to 'what in the name of humanity's light is going on?' when I say the next thing.

"You're totally a brooding main character straight out of whatever Golden Age fantasy media you care to name!"

He recomposes himself, looking a mixture of skeptical and estranged, if such a thing were possible following a relationship which lasted all of one hundred and eighty seconds.

"What are you talking about?"

He stares at me and I smirk. This is exactly how such a character would react. If the rest of this place is like a storybook, then I am likely to enjoy my short time here.

Zack shakes his head violently, refocusing on what he can understand. I probably shouldn't be dropping so many 'I'm not normal' signs everywhere, but I couldn't help myself that time. This is too good.

"So why are you going to Illumia?" he asks, wanting to return to some semblance of normality.

"Leanna is taking me to the Mage Academy."

He studies me again. Even in Esarian garb, I seem to be something of an anomaly.

"Are you a mage? You don't have a manipulator."

I shake my head, putting the finishing touches on my cover.

"No, I'm looking for answers. Something about wild magic activity."

That was a concise answer which reveals very little but still explains what is necessary. I figure that something like that would work best for Zack. He nods in understanding and doesn't pry. Although I try and stop it, a yawn escapes. I strain to recapture it as it flies away, but it quickly leaves my reach, laughing the whole while.

"You should get some sleep. We have an early start in the morning."

"That sounds familiar."

I push myself to a stand.

"Goodnight."

He nods.

I lie down in my bedroll and shift about, trying to get comfortable. I try closing my eyes to sleep, but something still doesn't feel right… Oh, a pillow.

Sitting up, I search the site for anything which might be used as a pillow. My gaze falls upon Forest, who currently rests besides Leanna.

I sigh. That wouldn't be very comfortable for the little guy, now would it? Besides, Leanna's getting her chance to be with Forest. She seemed quite excited about that possibility last night, and I certainly don't want to take it away from her tonight.

Digging through my pack, I set out my Earth clothes in a simple pattern I learned from that time when my military-issue pillow broke on exercises. With that as best as it can be, I close my eyes and eventually drift to sleep.

A/N: My father used to be in the army reserve. Aside from being a wellspring of military terminology and such, he had a story about some private talking to a commanding officer. In response to an order, this guy said 'yup', instead of the formally required 'yes, sir.' The response went down in my family's history: 'Yup? YUP? I'll yup ya!', and the private was given a slap and quality dressing down so he'd learn his lesson. I decided it would be fun to have this be present in the story when original Zack said yup in this scene.

Other than that, I don't really have anything to say about this chapter, other than the original sequence was what first convinced me that Leanna was probably going to be best waifu. So I knew that my version had to be immaculate. Guess I'm a sucker for stargazing.