Ever After

22

"The zombies are getting closer!" Hazuki yelled a warning as she splattered a nearby one's head with her katana.

"My shield can't hold long!" Quill added, using her device Cadeus to try to keep the ravenous undead at bay.

(Technically they weren't undead, exactly. Nearly two years ago, a mad scientist had developed a very nasty engineered virus. It's first stage worked like the flu, but even more contagious. Then the second bit kicked in, first making you trip, then making you mindlessly rabid.)

"Ewww! Why are they all naked?!" Lilith bitched.

"Well, otherwise the wastes would build up and...," Quill noted.

"NEVER MIND," Lilith growled.

Hazuki cut another zombie down as she said, "Lilith, can you get us out of here?"

"Just a moment...," Lilith said as she built up power, then in a burst of green they were gone once more.

X

X

X

Eternal City Crystal Tokyo: One

"Where IS everybody?" Lilith had to ask.

The three had appeared in grassy, rolling hills with no one in sight in any direction. They found a clear, clean stream of water and washed the zombie muck off, then used magic to dry. Lilith was concerned about all the active magic around, so Quill used Cadeus to scan for a large population. They walked and found a paved road, then followed it.

"We know there's a city out there," Hazuki noted as they walked.

"The air is remarkable clear of pollutants," Quill was still scanning, "no signs of significant industry on the surface."

"None?" Lilith asked, surprised.

"Like Mid, it appears to have become post-industrial," Quill mused.

"Or it's all orbital," Hazuki suggested, having read some science fiction.

"Also possible," Quill agreed. She frowned at a reading and asked her device, "Cadeus, please confirm number 4779 epsilon?"

"Range prevents 100% verification," Cadeus said, sounding a bit miffed, "but data is 98% accurate at this distance."

"Trouble?" Hazuki asked.

"If Cadeus is right, there are some extremely powerful beings out there..." Quill mused.

Lilith nodded, "I sense it too."

They crossed a rise... and froze.

"Okay," Hazuki said, despite hazing seen quite a lot in the months they had been travelling, "that is impressive."

The huge city was a strange combination of structures. There were gleaming crystal towers, a crystal palace, and apparently an orbital elevator. There were twentieth century skyscrapers, a monorail around the circumference, and a variety of other buildings from past eras. And no smoke or any signs of pollution at all.

"That's... almost entirely magic powered," Lilith noted.

"Well, let's get over there. I assume Hatsumi is there?" Hazuki said.

"Eve," Lilith corrected.

"Whichever," Quill said as they marched on.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0.

They ended up being picked up by a transport heading into the city. "Inter-dimensional travellers?" they asked.

"You can tell?" Hazuki asked them curiously.

They nodded, "It happens. If you're not registered, the protective shield around Crystal Tokyo will shunt you off to the countryside."

"It did sort of feel like we bounced off something," Lilith admitted.

The transport dropped them off at the city limits as they pointed out, "Don't forget to check in to customs, too."

"Thank you for your help," Hazuki waved as they drove off.

"We should check in with customs," Quill noted.

"Yeah," Hazuki agreed, "maybe they know something about Eve."

Lilith was looking around at the people, "I can't get a sense where Eve is. There's too much background magic."

The city streets weren't crowded, by design they suspected, but there was a huge variety of people of all shapes and sizes. There were clearly aliens, animal/people hybrids, what looked like elves, cyborgs, robots, very humanoid robots, and many others.

"Dimensional Customs? Third tower to the right," the near naked catwoman pointed.

"Thank you," Hazuki tried not to look at her breasts. And everything else showing.

"If you're not busy later...," the woman started.

"Excuse us, must be going," Lilith grabbed Hazuki and they hurried off.

"Oh poo," H'nor of the Knanite pouted,

Quill looked amused as she noted, "Hazuki, you've done it again."

"It's not intentional," Hazuki sighed.

The three reached the offices, which were an open and casually laid out space. An attractive young man smiled at them, "Welcome. My name is Hikaru, what can we do for you?"

"We teleported in without earlier clearance," Quill admitted after introducing everyone.

"That's fine," he casually said, "we actually like encouraging free movement between worlds as a policy." Hikaru continued, "Who was the transporter?"

"That would be me," Lilith admitted.

"We'll basically retroactively register you," Hikaru explained, taking out a plain crystal plate. "Just put your hand here."

A little warily Lilith did so, and her hand glowed golden a moment.

"There we go," Hikari nodded in satisfaction. He checked something, "I note Miss Quill is from Mid. Do you need a registry too?"

"I'm just tagging along," Quill explained.

"We wanted to ask you about an unusual traveller," Hazuki began, then explained about Eve/Hatsumi's odd reincarnation universal travel.

"That's definitely unique," Hikari admitted. "Let me check our files," he gestured, summoned a virtual keyboard, then typed. "Huh," he muttered.

"Bet you its no," Quill murmured.

"There's nothing in our records on her," Hikari admitted, "but I would suggest trying the Great Library. It not only accesses records across Earth, but the Solar System."

"Thank you for the help," Hazuki said to him politely, after they also got a free map of the city and surroundings.

"Good luck," he waved as they left.

All three emerged from the offices, taking a moment to just enjoy the sun. Then Lilith's stomach growled.

"Bad stomach," Lilith scolded it.

Hazuki wanted to keep up the search, but she was peckish too. "Let's get something to eat," she said willingly.

There were a LOT of returants, including a few odder ones. Vegetarian, several alien run ones, two different ones run by, apparently, actual dragons...

"That coffee shop has a food display," Hazuki pointed. That seemed safe...

"Welcome to Cafe Alpha," the green haired woman smiled as they came in. "Oh! Miss Lilith?" she recognized her.

"Haven't we seen you at Arisugawa's Locket?" Lilith noted.

"Yes," Alpha agreed, "though I haven't worked there since I moved to this era and re-opened my cafe here." She led them to a seat, "Coffee? Tea? Snacks?"

All three ordered drinks then something from the snacks display, and relaxed a moment in the quiet cafe. "Interesting place," Quill noted as she drank.

"What year is it, by the way?" Hazuki asked Alpha as she passed their table later.

"Old Earth Calendar?" Alpha asked. Hazuki nodded and she continued, "It's roughly... 3005, I think? We changed calendars after the Restoration."

Hazuki, Lilith and Quill exchanged glances. "Nearly a thousand years," Hazuki muttered.

To be continued...

Notes:

First bit is set in John Ringo's Black Tide Rising zombie plague series, more or less. As much as I hate his politics, man writes good books. At SOME point I want to write a LGBTQ side story to the series.

This is set ABOUT chapter 77 of my Eternal City Crystal Tokyo series. With some wiggle room.