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5.
Dreams of the Shore Near Another World 1

Usagi awoke to the sight of a looming, cerulean sky and the garbled screams of hell in her ears.

"Don't give the bastards any quarter!" a girl's voice shouted above the din. "Don't let 'em pass through!"

The noise was far and apart, but she could hear them as if they were being made right next to her: The earth quaking under the pads of her fingers; gunshots cracking in the air like fireworks; steel clashing against steel, slicing through malleable flesh; animal growls and avian shrieks lusting, craving, thirsting for blood.

It sounded so close, like a puff of rank breath caressing her cheek.

"Is that all you got?" the same girl taunted. "Come ON! Show me what you can do! Show me…YOUR TRUE POWER!"

"Gods Above!" a second, female voice growled in exasperation. "Shut up and concentrate! They're breaching the barrier!" Her words were drowned by an abrupt, teeth-rattling explosion.

"GODS-DAMN MOTHER—!" The first girl swore. There came a second blast, louder, closer, which was followed by a distant war cry.

Usagi's heart lurched to her throat. She looked around to find the world a sun-baked, starving wasteland which stretched beyond the horizon. There was no vegetation, no trees, no buildings.

No life.

A high-pitched, strangled roar; mad, eye-rolling laughter; dumb, primal rage; all shattered serenity.

Hard, labored pants escaped clenched teeth. "S-S-S-Someone," she croaked, barely above a whisper. "H-H-H-Help...H-H-Help…. S-Somebody…."

"It's okay."

She looked up, up into the face of another girl with gorgeous pools of ruby wine and shoulder-length pink hair. Her simple, knee-high dress was spotted with glossy blood. "Don't be afraid," she said with a reassuring smile. "We're here for you."

"What…What's going on?" she asked. "Those noises—"

"They're monsters," said the girl. "They're trying to get to you. Feed on you."

"Feed on me…?"

"Yes, and they're very relentless. But it's going to be alright, because my friends are doing everything they can to protect you, and so will I." The girl's smile vanished, replaced by a solemn frown. "Failure…is not an option, and if we fail you will lose your only chance."

"Chance? Chance for what?"

Somewhere over that horizon a red light shone, and somewhere in that light she could hear the first girl speak in a voice full of power and strength:

"Our Father
Who art in heaven
Hallowed be thy name…."

"The chance to be free and to set free," the girl answered.

"Thy kingdom come
Thy will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread
And forgive us our debts
As we also have forgiven our debtors…."

The light grew stronger, brighter, and the cries of wretched beasts rang wild and harried as steel chanted and struck without abandon.

"What do you mean?"

"Our lives have not been made easy. We have fought and killed, sometimes with meaning, other times without care. We are not perfect and we are without sin, but…deep down…in our hearts and our souls…we're beautiful. Beautiful, lonely creatures." The girl smiled to herself. She got to her feet and with sure, measured movements brought forth a longbow of dark polished yew.

"Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us…."

She withdrew an arrow from the quiver tied to her back and knocked it on the bow's string. "It's not too late," she murmured. "We can still change the future."

"And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil."

"We can still make our own. All we need is you…."

"For thine is the kingdom,
And the power, and the glory,
Forever and ever!"

"YOU WILL NOT PASS!" the second girl declared, and the beasts howled and recoiled from the brightening, compacted glow.

"And maybe then…maybe then…."

Hands clasped together, a thunderclap to rival the wrath of gods. "AMEN!"

The girl blinked, and the tears flowed.

She let the arrow fly. It disappeared over the horizon with a piercing whistle.

Nothing happened.

Then, a flash of lightning, followed by an ear-shattering explosion. A pink and red mushroom cloud bloomed like an ill-gotten flower. A shockwave fell across the land, carrying dust, sediment, and cordite.

Usagi couldn't move. She breathed in a lungful of desert and death and coughed until her chest ached. A miasma of fog and mist suddenly billowed from between the cracks in the earth. In seconds the land was covered, the sun shrouded. Darkness descended.

"Who are you?" she cried in between coughs. "Who are you?"

There was no answer, no sound. The air became chill and damp.

Usagi rolled on her side and curled into a ball, praying for warmth.

She heard a faint beep, and there was.