Fiana stretched as she woke up. Getting out of her bed had proven to be a challenge for those past 2 years since her arrival on Earth. She sluggishly sat up, rubbing her eyes in a vain attempt to chase the sleepiness out of them, before going to the bathroom.
She was inside of a modest apartment located in a small town in England, one of the places that she uses as a temporary stay to travel around the world. Other such houses had been acquired, or rented this way over the years. When Fiana made it to this world, she didn't know a lot : Elysia's knowledge was literally 50000 years old, after all. So, she traveled around the world for the majority of those 2 years, learning about the world and herself.
As it turned out, multiple and diverse cultures formed in this new world. It was sometimes very similar to the Previous Era, and other times, the two civilizations seemed to have nothing in common. Fiana enjoyed watching this. Seeing such differences, such novelty kept awakening new emotions in her. One could say that these 2 years truly made her look at herself as a human. Along the annoying aspects that come with it, of course. One especially more hurtful than the other for the girl.
Fiana was still a Herrscher. That truth would never change. Her powers were still given to her by her creator, the Cocoon of Finality. However, a realization that touched her greatly was brought to the young girl a few months after her arrival on this imperfect world.
...
Fiana had decided to know more about her own existence. After a few months on Earth, she realized using her powers would be necessary for her, powers that she still didn't completely have a grasp on. After some research, she then decided to head at a point on Earth where she would be alone. It was a good testing site for Fiana to begin her little experiment : point Nemo, the farthest place from human civilization.
She would of course do her best to not damage the life in the waters below her. 'I would never her the end of it if Onee-chan were to know about that.' she chuckled as she prepared to dive into herself. Unfortunately for Fiana, a "surprise" awaited her.
"I-I... I can't use...my authority ?" she said with a dumbfounded face and eyes filled with disbelief, floating above the ocean. Back then, Fiana had wanted to ascertain her powers and their limits, away from civilization due to the risk of such experiment unintentionally harming humans. That was when she decided to name the ability she could use as Mirage of Herrscher. She could only use the 12 authorities she had access to in a limited manner, so she named their incomplete manifestation as Mirages. After she ascertained she could summon the Mirages from Reason to Corruption, she naturally wanted to see for Finality. Of course, she didn't want to really use it : simply judge whether it was possible or not. There was no way to know what would happen if she took hold of it, after all.
But it was not possible to even touch it. And that truth hit Fiana far harder than expected.
'But...no, I...this is some kind of mistake...!' she shook her head, as if to deny reality.
Logically, she could understand. Even though the Cocoon gave 12 Authorities to humans, it went through the trouble of giving the source of these Authorities, the Authority of Finality, to a being that it created from scratch, whose sole human trait was its look. (Well, if the gigantic size was ignored.) Now that she switched to the human side, it cut her from the power she always had.
Fiana wasn't especially attached to the authority of Finality. Or so she thought. She hadn't herself realized how much it meant to her.
Fiana, as a person, possessed few things to define her as herself and had a small personal history. As such, she treasured her few anchor points. Since that authority had always been there for her, she subconsciously assumed it would always be. She felt like an unknown limb of her body was ripped apart. What was important for her was the emotional value she attributed to its presence, the support it gave her. She purposedly averted her eyes from the rational possibility that it wouldn't be. A naive and foolish, yet very human behavior. Tasting a pain she hadn't expected, her heart was helpless, and bled.
"Ah !" she shouted reflexively as she plunged into the water. She was so shocked by this development that she stopped to fly with her wings. She went up in the air once again, not bothering to dry herself. Her Herrscher dress and her wings wouldn't be affected by this anyway.
Her throat tightened as her eyes began to burn, looking at the sea below her without seeing it. The bangs of her silvery-white hair were a mess. Her arms were around herself, trying to come to terms with this new emotion. A question echoed in her mind. 'Why ?'
Why was she feeling so sad ? So, shaken ? 'This shouldn't even come as a surprise...'
The answer for her pain was simple. Fiana knew it: She simply refused to accept it. But rationality forced her to confront reality. One of her anchors was no longer here. It was never really her anchor in the first place. It was one of her first true, hard look at reality. The girl now knew that things cannot always go the way you wanted them to be.
That experience helped Fiana grow as a person and taught her one valuable lesson : to rely on herself and her own two hands first and foremost.
Not taking hits in life was impossible. Recovering from them and learning was the important thing.
...
The current Fiana had crafted herself an identity and a past, forged with the uses of her Mirages.
She was Fiana Sterr, born inside the ruined Russia 17 years ago. Sterr was an ancient name that meant "stars" from the Previous Era. It was one of Elysia's favorite words so Fiana took it as her family name. She chose Russia because a child could more easily be born unnoticed there, due to the damage the 2nd Eruption did.
Common sense, educational basis, general knowledge about the world and its history... The sheer amount of what she had to digest to live a proper life could be daunting for other people, but not for her.
...
"Excuse me mister, I would like to borrow these."
'Something is wrong. That, or I don't know what children are anymore.' was what came to the mind of the librarian as he saw the mountain of books before him. He stared at the girl who wanted to borrow all of these. At first glance, she didn't look to have any particular emotion on her face, and her tone had been polite, with her voice almost too calm. But he knew : he could practically see her eyes shining with curiosity and childlike excitement. She burned to read them all.
His sympathy was gained almost immediately. "Well, young miss, I'm sorry to say that you can only borrow up to three books in this library. Furthermore, it is your first time coming here if I'm not mistaken. Have you registered ?"
"Oh...no, I'm sorr- I mean, yes, yes I am. I just...forgot my library card there. I'll put these back in their place and come back to borrow these in a minute." fired Fiana from her mouth as she hurriedly left with the extra books and kept her favorite three in front of the man.
Said librarian now had a lot of questions though : Fiana was still the only one that was inside the library since it was very early, him excluded. As such, the man noticed that she had stayed in one side of the library for almost a whole hour without moving much. After replacing the books in their shelves, he saw her immediately going on the other side of the library. She said that she forgot her card, but why would it be on the complete opposite side ?
'I really don't get the youngsters these days.'
...
Fiana could imagine Elysia looking over her with a pout on her face. 'I'm sorry.'
She then closed her eyes.
Mirage of Corruption.
Mirage of Reason.
Using these two Mirages, she infiltrated the library's network, creating records of her being registered and created a library card. She already got the composition of the card by discreetly analysing the one on the librarian shirt.
Fiana knew that this wasn't a good way to use those Mirages but she couldn't resist. There was no other way for her to have these books in the time being and she would. Have. Them.
However, the guilt stung a bit when the librarian gave her these books with a smile. 'I have to do better.' she promised to herself and her scowling big sister in her head as she got out with the books.
Turns out, she had quite the intelligence and an excellent memory so she learned pretty quickly. And she wanted to learn.
...
In short, her first two years on Earth were very busy. But now that she had a decent footing in this world due to the knowledge and skills she quickly picked up, Fiana was beginning to think about her future. Since she was now human, she knew that she had to fight the Honkai if she wanted to live. One thing that got a dry laugh from her was the fact that even though she was one of the closest Herrschers to the Cocoon, she didn't know its actual objective and how to surpass it. Meaning that she needed the help of this world's Anti-Honkai organizations.
'I really was just a tool.'
...Enough brooding. She had to look forward, to the future, not the past.
...
...
...
This was official.
Sleeping like a log in one of Nagazora's buses was one of my favorite activities now.
My class was on a special trip offered by the school. It was freaking cold outside, the bus was cozy and warm : I couldn't resist. Though, as expected of a bus from Nagazora : we were progressing at very good pace on the road, comfort was great, this all but announced a good time.
The trip was supposed to happen on an archeologic museum. Chiba Academy and its desire to spread the wonders of our world's history didn't really seem to fascinate the majority of the students, however...
Well, for my part, I was modestly looking forward to it. Never saw a museum dedicated to that after all.
We got out of the bus as it stopped in front of the museum. As for what happened before entering and beginning the visit, well...I was half-asleep and failed to pay attention to the whole thing.
"Tanaka, Suzuki, what did the teachers say ? Do you think they saw me ?" I asked in a low voice, panicking.
Suzuki snickered and ran his thumb across his neck.
"Stop that." rebutted Tanaka." Don't worry, they said nothing about you. Here's what we have to do : take notes during the visit with those tablets because there will be a quiz on them the return trip."
"You're no fun, Tanaka-kun."
He then gave me one that had my name on it. "Well, time to get to work." I switched gears as I followed the group to the first exhibit.
And of course, my attention was ,once again, taken by the exhibit in question : a fascinating skeleton of some flying animal, which made me miss more than half of what the woman that was in charge of the visit said on it. 'This isn't the first time that my head is in the clouds ! Get it together, damn it !'
I sighed, even more tired. As I dejectedly moved to the next one, a tablet came in front of my eyes with the necessary info. My face lit up as a giggle reached my ears.
"It appears that someone isn't in his best shape today." giggled Mei as our eyes met.
"Umm, Thank you very much Raiden-san." Sheepishly thanking her, I quickly copied what I needed from her and resolved to listen properly.
"It's rare to see you like that. So even Tengo-kun has moments like this , hmm ?" teased the purple hair girl.
Teasing, huh ? You chose the wrong opponent, girl. "And I didn't expect you to help someone cheat."
"Huh ? This isn't cheating !" she answered in a shushed voice.
"Really ? Then you shouldn't give answers to bad students that doesn't listen. Geez, to think the model heiress was a bad student too." I further attacked, widening my eyes and putting my hand in front of my mouth in fake shock.
"That is ..." she tried to retort but sadly fell short of words.
Her face morphed into a pout as I grinned. "It's 50000 years too early for you to try teasing me, little girl."
'50000 years...weird, why did I say that ?'
Apart from this little event, everything went well. All in all, it was a good visit. Though some of the skeletons really felt like they had their place in a horror film. We did the quiz as the bus was driving back to Nagazora.
"Aah, finally over." I threw my tablet on my lap as I rested my body on my seat, and drank some water from my bottle.
"Hey guys, are you finished ?" I asked, turning to the other row of seats on the bus on my right.
"Yeah."
"Yep. Tengo-kun, you gonna sleep ?"
"Can't miss this opportunity of a high-class shut eye after all." I joked, getting a chuckle from the two of them. Relaxing myself, I slowly closed my eyes.
...Or I would have, if not for the feeling of danger that shot through my spine.
Shivers went through my whole body. Even though the bus was warm, I felt like a frozen hand was holding my heart in its grasp. I opened my eyes, all sleepiness gone and my body ready to move. 'Something...Something really bad is coming! I-I, I have to stop the bus !'
My mind taken over by panic, I failed to realize that I didn't even know what that 'dangerous something' was at the moment. It was an instinctive reaction that completely pushed aside confusion. I was moved by the certitude that something extremely bad was about to happen and that the bus needed to be stopped.
Noticing the alarm button, I got up like a spring, removed its cover and pressed it with all my strength. An alarm blared inside the bus as the driver then immediately stopped the bus on the emergency lane. Already in an instable position, I fell on the bus's floor.
The teachers and driver fired questions "Is everyone alright !?" "Who pressed the button !? Are you okay !?" Students, confused about this, looked around and voiced pretty much the same things along with "What's happening ?!" and "The heck !?"
'...Why did I do that ?' On the ground, I was bewildered by my actions. Without any rational proof, I just forced the bus to stop. No hiding that it was me : I was the only one on the ground and close to the button with its removed cover.
I got up, the growing horror in my heart making me shiver. The bus had fallen silent by the time I stood upright. All looks were on me, and not of the nice kind. Oh boy, I was so white.
One of the teachers asked me the question that was on everyone's mind. "Tengo-kun, why did you do it ?"
My heart pounded in my chest, stress growing by the second. I opened my mouth, with my brain going in circles. "I..."
And right at this moment, I was saved. "What the hell ?" one student exclaimed, seeing the tablet in his hands bugging. No one turned towards him though : pretty much everything electronic in the bus was malfunctioning. Including the bus himself : the roof's lights and the driver's control board flashed and kept changing colors.
The attention was taken from me, something I was thankful for, but I began to shiver for another reason. Was this the danger I felt ?
'If something like that happened while the bus was still moving, we would have had an accident for sure.' Seems like the other passengers of the bus were of the same mind, judging by the whispers. I took the chance without hesitating.
"Sir, I saw one of the lights flickering and heard some weird electric noises, so I...panicked and pressed the button." I spoke with a less than assured voice. Man, I still think that was honestly one of the worst lies I told. Yet, no one pursued the issue. Everyone was beginning to realize my impromptu action had saved their lives, and probably decided to let me off the hook.
I sat back at my seat very awkwardly. Tanaka and Suzuki gave me the 'explain later' look and Mei looked my way worriedly from 3 seats away. I smiled to reassure her but I'm not sure I managed to be convincing. In hindsight, probably not. And just when I began to relax...
...the worst and most bizarre thing happened.
I heard something stomping the ground. But like, something real heavy. The bad feeling came back immediately, much worse this time. After that, things happened too quickly for me to act.
Something white and pink flashed from the left side of the bus. The bus was hit from the left side as I made out the thing to be a giant hand.
Shouts. Cries. Panic and a second of weightlessness that seemed to last for an eternity. And then, the bus landed on the right side. Glass shards from the window had miraculously not hurt me too badly. I didn't even feel the pain, the adrenaline in my body taking care of that.
I was completely disoriented. Looking around in a panic, I stupidly freed myself from my security belt and fell on the ground. The impact wasn't strong but the shock somewhat cleared my thoughts.
'The bus is attacked ! What the hell was that hand !? No, that's for later ! We need to get out. If whatever attacked us has that much strength, the bus is no protection. But there's no cover outside !'
The situation was bleak, to say the least. I stood frozen in the buss that was now a mess of screams, pained moans and adults trying to restore order. I was trapped in indecision, my breath quickening and my heart rate jumping.
*Thomp*
Silence. Everyone in the bus stopped moving almost at the same time. Seeing such a special coordination would have deserved some applause normally, but no one felt up to the task right now.
"That's..." a student unintentionally spoke out, words leaving a terrified face. The creature was outside and walking towards us. A despair filled silence occupied the bus. All I could see was people trembling, crying or unmoving on the ground, or still attached to their seats, no one daring to make a single step.
*Thomp*
We were going to die. Right here, right now, in a few seconds. It wouldn't matter if some made it out of the bus : on the road, there is no place to hide from it.
*Thomp*
It was odd. Despite the fact that things only got worse, I felt myself calming down. A warmth spread from my chest to the rest of my body. My mind sobered up from the frenzy as my body moved. I knew what to do.
I grasped the seats and used to prop myself up. I heard someone calling my name, but I didn't stop. Passing through a broken window, I got a few more scratches but that barely registered in my mind. I jumped down from the bus and faced the creature.
'It's huge.' It was something I had never seen. White flesh with purple veins, a little taller than the bus, and a very...beastly and menacing outlook. Really the stuff of nightmares in reality. Facing such a being, I raised my hand. The warmth that I felt earlier seemed ready to burst through my arm towards it. As for the beast, it roared and raised its monstrous hand, ready to squash me. I had no doubt that the full force of that hit would squash me.
But it wouldn't connect anyway. No need to worry.
Go.
A purple-blue root shot out from inside my coat's sleeve. Before the creature could move to attack me or defend itself, it pierced its head, killing it on the spot. After a few seconds, I lowered my arm, jerking the root back as the corpse fell on its back. The root acted as I willed it, as if it was an old part of my body I forgot to use. Just like the warmth earlier, nothing about it felt any foreign to me. My calm was extremely weird and didn't make any sense. I looked around to see anymore threats, or I would have, if my head didn't start hurting.
"Gaah !" Never had I felt that bad. The instant before everything was fine, and the next I was on my knees holding a head that hurt so much I felt like something was trying to pry open my skull. The root vanished as a sudden tiredness hit me. That combined with the headache sapped any energy I had. I fell to the ground as I felt someone getting closer and shouting something I couldn't make out. The last thing I saw was purple eyes filled with worry.
...
...
I sank. Deep, deep into the continuation of that dream.
...
"Hop !"
I jumped between the branches of my tree as I rejoiced. My mission here was accomplished. It had been a little harder than expected, but it was our win in the end. I sat on a branch and looked below me. My smile grew slightly wider as I saw the devastated state of the fortified city.
"The humans here sure put up a great fight. Alone, I wouldn't have been able to win." I sighed as I fiddled with a small branch beside my right leg. "But they couldn't handle a team of two Herrschers. Come to think about it,..."
'You okay, Herrscher of Reorganization ?' I transmitted between our link.
'Sure, I am coming to meet up with you.' the lively thoughts of a girl answered me.
'The humans of this city sent a distress signal to the other fortresses. We need to pull out.'
'Ehh, why !? Let's just go destroy the reinforcements, then !' Such a muscle-brained method.
'Sometimes I'm wondering why God chose you, my fellow Herrscher.'
'Eeh, what's that supposed to mean, huh ?' shouted an angry voice in my head.
'The systems here are resistant towards Honkai energy exposure. Also, these cities are interconnected : other fortresses have access to the data inside this one.' I patiently explained.
'Yeah...so ,what ?' I was about to facepalm here. Was she serious ?
'Meaning, surveillance systems are still operational. We only managed to neutralize it a few minutes ago, so the forces that are coming know that taking this city down cost us quite a bit. That we're in no proper shape to fight with them. We need to retreat back into our base and recover. We won't serve our God by just dying here.'
"Mmm, I guess you're right." said the disappointed voice of my comrade who caught up to me. Silver hair and lovely inky black eyes entered my vision as she sat on the branch.
I shrugged. "That's just how it is. Come on, our transport is here." I motioned to the dragon Honkai beast that settled on a platform built inside the tree. The roots attached to his body retreated, the beast deploying powerfully its wings.
"You're really good at keeping your pets alive, Root."
"Unlike a certain Reorganization, I plan before sending my troops."
"Haha."
She unceremoniously jumped on my dragon. 'I swear, that girl...' She was really such a muscle-brained idiot. Well, her authority matches up to that, though, but the Honkai beasts she creates often end up having short lifespans due to her charging like a madwoman at the enemy.
As I made my way on his back, I ran my hand on his scales. "You had quite the injuries, too. Is my boy all healed up ?"
A powerful roar was my answer. "I'll take that as a yes. Now let's go back home."
The dragon took flight in the sky. I looked at the sunset behind me. The night was going to help us safely go back, good. The view wasn't bad either. However, I frowned.
'More than half of humanity remains even though 9 envoys of God have descended in total. We need to do something. It has been quite a while since Reorganization descended. As usual, the next Herrscher should be soon. This time,...'
I looked at the other person on the back of the dragon. No sooner than I did, her body tilted forward as she fell asleep. I used a root to make her a security belt just in case as her head rested on my back. She wanted to fight the reinforcements, huh ? Geez. She was just strained, with no serious injuries thankfully.
The first stars soon appeared in the night sky we three were flying in.
...
Ki Tengo groaned as he woke up. His eyes opened slowly, taking in the sight before him. A roof that he didn't know. A bed and sheets clearly unfamiliar. He hurriedly used his arms to prop himself up and get a better view of his surroundings. White floor, multiple beds, an IV drip connected to his left warm and a nurse on his left.
Said nurse then said in a soothing voice : "Good morning Tengo-kun. How are you feeling ?" Her visible assurance meant that it wasn't her first in such a situation.
'I... guess I don't need to introduce myself.' "Umm, good morning. Where am I ?"
"You are inside the hospital of Nagazora, Tengo-kun. Everyone from the trip was brought here less than an hour ago after the teachers contacted the authorities. Stay here, I will call the doctor."
"I see, thank you miss." He bowed his head at her as she smiled and made her way out of the room.
Ki closed his eyes. 'An accident ? Does she mea-'
Everything came to his mind in a very clear fashion. The attack. The Honkai beast. Him killing it. The dream.
Mouth open in bewilderment and horror, he looked at his hands, suddenly afraid to see them transforming into roots, and checked his chest. Nothing.
'But ...everything felt so...true, so real !'
There was no difference between the dream and the accident : both felt as much as real as the other. Was he going mad ? Ki felt like the ground beneath him was an illusion.
"What the f*ck was that !?"
Voicing a question that he couldn't answer yet, the boy's eyes looked at nothing, filled with indescribable emotions.
Author's notes:
This was so hard to write, man ! 4k chapters take much more time and effort than I've thought. Hope this one is done well. The time skip for Fiana felt absolutely necessary for me. I didn't like the idea of thrusting her into the story from the get-go and making her clueless to a lot of things. That's why the two years are there. As for her talents, she's the 'daughter' of the Cocoon of Finality after all. That explains everything, right ?
Also, this is Ki's first Honkai event ! A minor one, though. But the Impact ;) it will have on him and the Nagazora arc will be huge. (Get it ? 'Impact', 'Honkai Impact', hehe...)
...Anyway, if you've liked this, drop a fav/comment on my first 4k chapter, thank you for reading and I'll see you later !