"What the hell was that?" Brent asked when they were back at Elena's house. It was a simple, open floor plan home. Three bedrooms, four bathrooms, not quite big enough for her. Nobody was home so they could talk openly.
"I'm not really sure," Elena replied as she tried her hardest to be less confused. She clutched the device like her life depended on it. Maybe it did. She couldn't fathom why she suddenly wanted to go back and steal the komainu statues. Nor did she understand her sudden fear of what might be lurking in random shadows. The reporter on the TV was explaining that the explosion at the museum was under investigation and that nobody was hurt. Apparently only a few artifacts were damaged, and only three exhibits would need repairs.
"Why do you have that thing?" Brent asked when he noticed the silvery device. "Is that what caused it?"
When he reached for it she jerked away. "I don't know. I just... I just wanted to take it. I don't know why."
"Dude, the police," he began, as all stoners do, with intense paranoia. "The police are gonna be all over her. We're gonna be in so much trouble."
"No we aren't, " she promised, trying to calm him down. "Nobody saw me take it and nobody's going to miss it. Just go home now. Smoke a joint, calm down, you'll be fine."
He was still scared, but he left without another word. She locked the door and went to her room, where she locked yet another door.
The device opened up unbidden, again displaying the solar system but instead as a hologram. Nothing was to scale, otherwise it would have taken up her entire room, but it certainly got the point across. It showed nothing bey don the asteroid belt, but resting in it was some kind of wormhole. At it's mouth was a massive ship of black steel and iron. Black tornadoes surrounded it as if in orbit.
Closet to Earth, orbiting slightly closer than the moon, was a craft the color of polished marble. It had yellow accents and lights that danced up the sides.
Even though Elena couldn't read the labels, it was obvious which was the good guy here. Just like in old western movies: the good guy has a white hat and the bad guy has a black hat.
"Show Florida," she commanded the device. Maybe it was voice activated? Worth a shot.
The solar system faded as the screen ran a series of symbols and letters. Eventually it settled on English characters. The translation was rough, and probably off the internet, but it said, "Incoming massage."
This thing was worse than Siri. Elena still knew it meant "message," so she said, "Open the message."
A pre-recorded message opened. It showed three people in strange clothing on what appeared to be a space ship. Two boys and a girl were visible. The boys were obviously related, they were identical aside from the fact that one boy was a redhead and the other had pink hair. The girl had the same shade of fire on her head, but was clearly taller than either boy.
The pink haired boy did all the talking. He was thinner and paler than his brother, cuter but not as handsome despite the nearly identical faces. The language they spoke sounded like very primitive Latin mixed with Gaelic, but luckily there'p were poorly translated subtitles. It came out something like this:
"Hello, we are officers of the Nanairo Planetary Patrol. My name is Jett and this is my brother Ajax and our friend Talia. We come from a distant star system in pursuit of a foe called the Krawl. Our main weapons against them are creature called Spectrobes. Certain people have the potential to awaken them from fossils and train them. The device you found is called a "Prizmod." It will allow you to control Spectrobes that you awaken.
"We sent it to you because we need your help to protect your world from the Krawl. Once this message has played through, a beacon will be sent to our ship. You'll be picked up not long after. You may not be a warrior or a genius or a hero, but you're a Spectrobe Master and that's all we ask of you. You have something invested in this planet whether it's a lover or a sister or a friend. Now you have to defend it. We'll see you soon."
The message concluded and a sort of home screen popped up. The English was getting better and it seemed like the Prizmod had internet access.
She scrolled through it using her finger as she pondered the message. Maybe it was all an elaborate prank? The message certainly seemed unrehearsed. But that was impossible, just like aliens and spaceships and whatever the hell a Spectrobe was.
As she went through the device she found an "inventory." When she opened it there was only one thing in it, a komapod. A hologram of it appeared and she realized immediately what it was.
"Komainu? How? What? When?" Before her eyes the fossil materialized. Somehow the Prizmod had stolen it from the museum.
Before she could even put down the statue, more words appeared on the screen. "Wake up," she read aloud.
In a flash of blinding light, the komainu did exactly that. Where there had once been a fossil now sat a red watchdog with blue swirls from its face to its rump. It waddled over to Elena and nuzzled her gently, like a baby cub to his mother.
"I just woke up a fossil. I have a pet komainu. I'm a Spectrobe Master." Each statement took her breath away, which was bad because she liked breathing. She was one weird thing away from an asthma attack. The Japanese fairy tale creature looked at her strangely, tilting its head. Did it understand her? "Okay, okay. My name is Elena. and you're an ancient Japanese alien lion-dog. Do you have a name?"
It stared blankly at her as if to say, "Wow. Much Spectrobe. So Elena. Many Japanese. Very alien." But instead it said nothing.
"Okay, how's Caesar sound?" She said it as the traditional Latin kai-zar instead of the anglicized see-zer.
He seemed to like it because be did a backflip. Before she could try to ask why he did a backflip, a deafening sound invaded her ears. It was like a jet engine crossed with a giant hummingbird. But then it was silent.
She looked out the window and saw the white ship from the hologram sitting in the middle of her cul-de-sac. It was bigger than she expected, probably had two floors. And it had almost certainly invaded US airspace. Unless the dismounting people had student visas, there was going to be trouble.
"The Spectrobe Masters have landed," one shadow reported in a thin, whiny voice. "They've found the planet's master.
The other shadow interrupted, "I followed a faint Krawl signal to the planet. I could not locate the one which you seek, but I did find a small sample in a place called Nellis. It's from Giorno."
If this shocked their mistress she didn't show it. Instead of appearing as a tangible shadow, she was in her human form. Blue patterns traced their ways up her pitch black skin and ice tangled in her flesh. "Tell me more," she quietly commanded. She did not need to speak loudly to inspire fear, nor did she need to inspire fear in her own shadows.
The deep voiced shadow continued, "Long ago, a ship from Giorno crashed at a place called Roswell. It held the Spectrobe Master you battled, his wife, and a faint Krawl presence that likely caused the crash."
She loosed a cackle that could shatter bones. "So poor old Aldous died in Nanairo and Ouran never even got there. A fitting, if unexpected boon. What intelligence have we gathered of the Spectrobe Masters?"
The shrill one spoke again. "The children of Rallen, twin boys. Is a Spectrobe Master, one is not. They fight using the Cosmolink. They have a personal rivalry we can use against them. Talia, a Master from Lindor is their companion. She's a Flash specialist. The girl they found has only awoken a single komainu. She's clever and calculating, but opportunistic. She would sell them all down the river if we make her a better offer."
"Excellent," the mistress replied, needing only a second to figure out what had to be done. "One of you take our offer to the girl at your earliest opportunity. Make sure she understands why she should join the winning side. Offer her control of the Earth, don't tell her what will happen to its population. And you, go to this 'Nellis' and cripple them. Bring back any technology that will aid our cause. Take as many Krawl as you need and leave no survivors.
The two shadows dissipated into the vacuum of space and a swarm of black vortices emerged from the ship. Soon the Earth would tremble beneath the power of the Krawl. Soon they would all fear her name: Nyx.