Did you ever thought how hell looked?
When I was a child I thought about it a lot.
Is it completely red with those gigantic fires and demons running about?
Or maybe it's totally black, where every light is swallowed by the darkness of the abyss.
I can't know for sure.
.
.
.
But there is something I know.
The screams of help and dread combined together became a symphony of horror.
Altogether with the thunderous sounds of explosions and fire it looked like a catastrophe was happening right there.
But everybody knew it wasn't a catastrophe.
I knew it wasn't a catastrophe.
It was the start of hell on earth.
.
.
.
However…
That doesn't concern us.
We are here to complete 'his' mission.
Everything for the wellbeing of 'our' people.
And if 'our' hands are covered in innocent blood for decades or even centuries.
.
.
.
Everything was worth it.
As this is the only way to make a change for the better.
On the backstreets of the mobile city Zela, a group of people dressed only in black was passing rapidly between the gigantic flames with total ease. Their entire bodies were covered in such colour making it impossible to see even their faces.
They are the predecessors and bases for the Black Raincoats, called here and now the Shadows of Lungmen. Their existence is almost a legend to many, revealing their greatness at completing tasks without getting revealed.
"Team S4 and S5 are already done." The shadow which is ahead of others communicates to a radio glued to the upper part of his chest. "Without their support this is going to become a bit hard. Tell me little Wei, what now?"
It says with a small laugh.
And is responded with a strained voice coming from the same radio.
"…Don't call me that. Continue with the objective. Right now we need the documents from-"
"Wait, there are Royal Guards in front of us." The shadow interrupts the individual called Wei.
At the end of the street an incredible group of royal guards appear, but only a handful enter the backstreet. They entered, but didn't see the shadows in front of them thanks to the smoke and ash flying freely everywhere.
"…Will you able to pass them?" The voice in the radio says a bit worryingly but without emotion at the same time.
"Hehe… If these are capable of contending with me, your plan already failed did you know?" He says mockingly.
"Then I take that as a yes. Don't leave any-"
"I know. We were together for a good amount of years, don't think I need your reminder 'mom'." With that he laughs harder.
"Who are you?! Identify yourself!" A guard shouts after seeing the men totally in black. The shout wasn't of terror or fear, more of a warning and alarm to call the closest to him.
"Me? A simple nobody… Although…" The shadow with the radio says with emotion and mockery while a smile crept in his face. Even if it isn't visible by the ones blocking their path, such a smile would make anyone have caution against it. "You can call me… Lin."
With that as a start, the guards ran through backstreet with the momentum of a train behind them.
But it was a mistake.
Without knowing when, a rain of sand engulfs the guardsmen, and like that they disappeared.
Like they didn't exist before.
"Let's end this fast- Oh I said it to late didn't I?" The shadows says jokingly. "Let's continue and get those documents. Like this we can-"
However he was interrupted by the same voice in the radio as before.
"Lin! Get the documents and come back as soon as possible! Shit! I wasn't expecting them to do this!"
The emotion behind the voice makes Lin appear worried. And a bit troubled.
"Tell me, what happened?" He responds calmly.
"The empire had spies right under our noses! Shit! *Tak*" The sound of something being hit is heard through the radio. Probably a desk knowing Wei. "Hurry up! The amount is no joke and they are making a disaster!"
"Alright. We'll get the documents and go as fast as possible. For the time being hold on-"
"What do you think I am doing?!" The voice shouts before ending the transmission.
"Hehe. He is still as temperamental as ever." With a last laugh he says. "Now." He looks back at the others following him "This time we won't have stops. If somebody runs into a guard, forget them and continue. Even if it sounds wicked, we need to get the documents to end this conflict for the time being… any objections?"
The ones following him are already know the importance of this mission, so nobody backs out.
"Great." He says with a nod. "Now let's go! For the Great Lungmen!"
"For the Great Lungmen!"
The shadows cheer instantly as a response to his leader.
History isn't built only by the historical figures, but by their shadows too.
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.
.
"Found it!" A Shadow yells in the desolate facility.
"Finally…" Another one says.
A collective sigh is heard.
Right now the shadows are in the building of the objective, the Research Facility of Zela, located almost in the heart of the city. It's one of the most important departments of all Ursus, as it has a connected database with the other facilities through the country.
Thanks to the disaster outside, the protection in the facility is close to none, as the majority of the attention is where the 'terrorist' group is.
They entered the building and easily dispatched the almost inexistent amount of guards and researchers inside, making the construction totally silent.
This might seem impossible, but for a reason the Shadows of Lungmen are so legendary.
"Great! Let's go back!" The same shadow that has the radio says.
"Yes! And…" One of the shadows start saying to Lin. "if it isn't a lot I can go and tell you my findings, leader. There is a lot of great information about different projects where 'he' is involved!" The shadow says excitedly.
The problem is that the info wasn't as easily extracted as they thought. The real reason that the facility didn't have that much amount of guards was that there wasn't any need. The info in the database was guarded behind lock after lock after lock, and they could only access it thanks that some researchers 'voluntarily' helped them.
Of course even with that, they wasted a good amount of time, searching both virtual and physical documents.
They only know that the information is there, so only after an hour and a half and with the help of the researchers, yet again, they were able to find it. In that time the shadows found other documents with some special info, which will help against Ursus in the future and specifically 'him'.
"… I shouldn't butt in, but I think little Wei won't have a problem with me looking at them a little. And he will tell me later anyways, so what is the problem? Hehe…" Lin says with interest and fun in his voice.
"He… he…" The other shadows laugh with him, but not with the same spirit.
After exiting the building, they see that the flames became dimmer in the distance, signifying that their time is running out.
"Let's go. Start telling me while we go."
With that they start running to the outside of the city, and one of the shadows start saying:
"First our principal objective was the information of Koshchei whereabouts and his involvement in the politics of Ursus. Secondly, we found different projects where he is involved both directly and indirectly with the different research institutes of Ursus."
"Ho?" Lin says with curiosity. "Continue."
"There is a good amount of them. He supervises three projects directly, and then ten indirectly." After not receiving a word from Lin he continues. "I'll start with the three as they look the most important. The first one is called the Possessed Snake project. The only information is that it's completed and the title. Year, time of competition, people involved and the like is gone."
"Of course." Lin shakes his head "That snake will destroy all information if he completed his objective, even the ones involved in it. Although the name intrigues me I can't do anything with only the name. Next one."
With a nod the shadow continues.
"The next one is called the investigation of the Blood spear. It's a weapon of unknown origin found in the country of Sami in one of the latest invasions. They found out that the weapon is a natural catalyst for arts, and it's capable of reinforcing the user and the closest to him."
At the end of his words, Lin whistles in amazement.
"That is a great weapon. Not only it is a catalyst, but at the same time has a positive secondary effect? Now that's rare."
The world already found out a good amount of these natural catalysts and they are much better than an artificial catalyst. The problem with them is their secondary effect. The majority of them come with heavy drawbacks, like every time it's used, the user experiences such an excruciating pain, that the majority of its users become vegetables at the end.
You can think of them as cursed items.
Although sometimes a blessed one appears between them.
"It could be pretty useful for little Wei… Where is it?" Lin says interested.
"Yes…" The shadow says with weirdness in his voice. "The problem is that it's in the hands of the general Buldrokkas'tee-"
"Nop. Never mind. Continue." He cuts in half what the shadow following him was going to say. "Like hell we go against that guy. Even if Wei comes with his greatest plan yet and I help him, he can easily destroy us with brute force."
The Last Wendigo isn't a pitiful title, but one of power.
That means he defeated the majority of them, as Wendigo are usually cannibals both of their own and external tribes.
Plus they are a sub-race of Sarkaz who love to fight too.
How powerful must he be?
"Tell me the last one and that's it. We are nearing the extraction point."
"Yes. This one I didn't read it completely, but it looks important. It is known as Project Mikhail, and it's the most recent. It's initial base was in the city of Omske, however a catastrophe appeared and razed the city to the ground. It's objective…" The shadow stops talking for a moment.
"Mh? What is it?"
"It's…" He says with disgust. "Experimentation with different genomes of all the races and an unknown tool called the sarcophagus on the body of new-born."
"What?" Lin says in bewilderment and almost stops for a moment.
This one is more vicious compared to the other two!
"Yes. It's objective is to create an ancient with a lot of characteristics for military purposes. There were Sankta, Ursus, Aegir, Liberi, Vouivre… Hell! It's almost all known races in the world! It's the same as making the mythical beast, a Chimera!" The shadow says alarmed.
"… This is something of incredible importance." Lin says seriously for the first time in the mission. "Did they get results before the city went down?"
"…Unfortunately we don't know. The last info we have is that it was a failure as no new born was able to endure the genomes…"
"Any names apart from Koshchei?"
"…No, nothing…" The shadow says dejected.
"It's still strange… That bastard should have deleted everything if it was a failure, so why is the info right there?"
No answer.
Now even if the mission is successful, the talk of the last project is powerful enough to put some of the shadows with a bitter face.
The shadows aren't their only identity. They have normal lives too, and some have children that they want to protect, so the talk of the last project puts a hard question on their mind.
'…If it was my son/daughter…'
After a minute of silence Lin talks again.
"…It looks like we have a bleak future ahead of us if the empire continues with this…"
All the shadows who were listening nod to this.
"We need to get back and use the information to find Koshchei. After that we need to prepare ourselves better for the future." Lin says determined.
"Yes!" the rest respond to him.
At that he looks at them with pride and says with a smile.
"I am happy to be a Lungmenite."
Even though he said those words with love to his people, he can't help but think about that last project…
The Empire knows that Lungmen is the one behind this attack, but they don't want to cut ties with us, so they are using spies to make the same damage that we did here. Maybe they'll use the same response, that the same terrorist group is attacking Lungmen too.
Lungmen will become a troublesome place in the next years…
If my little Yuhsia is subjected to this…
He stops thinking for a moment.
Maybe I should rethink about her staying here and let her go with her friends to Victoria...
However his thinking stopped right there.
"…! Boss, The Emperor's Sword is here!" A shadow shouts so nervous that almost deafens Lin.
"…!" He shows an expression of fear. Thankfully the mask protects his face if not his subordinates would have seen the true terror in his face. "Full on retreat! I'm sorry, but if you stay behind this time we will really continue forward!"
The last time he said that was in reality a farce, as if it's a little group of Royal guards there is no problem at all and can easily dispatch them.
However the things change with the last group.
The Emperor's Sword.
Most people think that the Shadows of Lungmen are a match for this legendary force.
That's a total lie.
Even the Head of the Shadows, Lin, was almost helpless against one of them.
One of the normal swords, not their commander.
He won the battle, but he sustained pretty heavy wounds in it.
They are the very reason that Ursus is the only empire of Terra.
However Lungmen wasn't the only one that used the opportunity of the attack to get information.
In an unknown location, there is a rustic office which is more like a library than anything else as it is filled with rows and rows of different book spanning from robotics to bioengineering and even history. In it a light blue haired Aegir woman wearing a scientist gown is looking with interest at the tablet in her hands while seated in front of a desk, which in turn, has three strange but at the same time handsomely looking individuals awaiting her orders in line, almost like soldiers.
The one on the left has a fiery red hair which combined with his harsh facial expression and black eyes, he is capable to intimidate anyone who looks at him. He is a Pythia thanks to his slim reddish snake looking tail, and between the three he looks the most normal.
The one in the middle has a tranquil feeling plastered all over his face, and with the golden threads he has as hair plus the blue eyes, he looks someone taken out of some royalty. However his gigantic height and pair of draconic horns plus the equine tail, can tell you that he is a Kirin.
The rightmost counts with long jet black hair covering his whole face expect one of his eyes. Said eye, is totally golden looking like he is blind. Totally dressed in black, his scorpion tail extending from his backside can assure you his race as a Manticore.
"So they have info on Blood spear… Too bad that we aren't capable of stealing the real thing for research, however we can make a base with this..." The woman says while reviewing the latest info on her tablet. After looking thought it a bit more she says to the individual on the right. "I want you to trade this info with Rhine Lab for some of the latest info they have on the Originium research. If you can't get it then just tell them to add a plus on the usual monthly fund. They will know what I want with that."
"Yes Mistress." It responds.
After that exchange the right individual disappears from the room in a flash, going to complete the request of her master.
"I am sure they will start the divine weapon research sooner with that info…" While stretching she continues. "Mh~ I shouldn't be so crooked all the time. My back is killing me." She looks again at the tablet, this time with interest in her silver eyes. "Well then… There is the Snake one… nothing I can do with it, but the last one…"
As she says that, a crazed smile appears in her face. "Project Mikhail… so that old snake lied to me… it was a success!" Happiness rousing in her voice. "If it was a failure I would only have info of the title knowing Kosh, but… Hehe." She utters with an even bigger smile. One so big that would freak anyone seeing it. "However… I don't have 'his' whereabouts… After the institute in Omske was destroyed I lost contact with all the participants that were involved. Such a shame~" She says while shedding crocodile tears and rotating with the chair. "Well, I only need to wait. He will come sooner or later to me."
With those words she gets up from the seat, hands the tablet to one of the individuals and takes a strange object covered in a beautiful white silk from the desk in front of her. And while looking at it, she starts walking while reciting the same thing over and over…
"My beloved Mikhail… soon we'll be together."
With those words she flushes and starts walking excitedly.
And it should have ended there, however…
"Mistress, we have the next batch here." The same individual that vanished earlier appeared in front of her.
"…" After stopping for a moment to think she responds to him. "Put them in the Gu. We need to see if some of those have worth first."
"Yes Mistress." And like before he disappeared.
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.
.
"Now that I think about it, little Kosh lied to me." She says harshly. "It looks like he needs a bit of a punishment."
With a final crazed look at the object in her hands, she starts walking to gods knows where.
"If this continues a full on battle will spark between the two nations…" An old man says in a defeated voice.
In one of the most grandiose building of the Great Lungmen, the leader of said city, Wei Yenwu is incredibly troubled thinking.
"We thought that they weren't going to respond like this. We even used the attack here as an excuse, but they turned the deaf ear and insisted on attacking us…" Someone says while taking out a puff of smoke.
Right now, in said building a discussion about the future of Lungmen is taking place. In it is Wei as the leader, and the different representatives of the diverse sections which the totality of the city is made of.
"We refuted everything and gave even credible evidence while lowering our heads in shame, so why?!" One of the different representatives shouts in anger while hitting the table.
"…They want a scapegoat to this trouble, and the easiest is Lungmen thanks to that fucker..." Another one affirms.
"Koshchei…" A new one appears and says the name in such hatred.
"Only if it wasn't for that son of a bitch."
Even if it is a crude way of talking, they cannot help it when the individual in question is the same one that complicated the life of all of the representatives.
Koshchei is known to want Lungmen as his territory for more than 30 years! This obsession with the city resulted in various attacks in different forms, and in those attacks some previous representatives were killed, weakening Lungmen over the years.
Of course they couldn't take it anymore. So they did the attack on Zela.
However it wasn't only because of a thirst of revenge, but there was another reason. According to the Intel that they had, the duke was preparing to invade Yen and try to take the mobile city by force, so they went against Zela to not only get the upper hand, but at the same time to find about Koshchei whereabouts and get rid of him before he started the invasion.
They used the disguise of a terrorist group to not only steal the info of Research Facility, but to weaken Koshchei's closest city to Lungmen.
However…
"We couldn't find him." A Lung looking ancient says helpless.
The info gathered had a location of Koshchei whereabouts, but even after days of searching the area, they found nothing. Not even a trace.
"This plan is a failure…"A Feline says gravely.
"And with the attack recently…" Yet another one talks.
The attack on Lungmen was greater than the one done on Zela. They almost lost a section against the 'terrorist' group which attacked them.
A section almost crippled is a heavy price for not getting rid of the duke.
"If we could at least negotiate with them, we can stop the future problem of a war with Ursus, but…" One says while wiping his bald head with a handkerchief.
"…They won't talk with us as equals. They talk the same as looking at an insect in their backyard." Another one says while puffing smoke out of his mouth. "I reckon we prepare troops and go against them."
With that suggestion all the representatives look at him with shock.
However that shock is temporary, as laughter filled the room.
"Go against the empire?! Haha!"
"Yeah sure!"
"Haha!"
It wasn't a laughter of fun.
It was of helplessness.
A war against the Empire?
It's better to be the enemy of all the other countries in the world!
The face of the one making the suggestion is one of shame-
"Why not?"
With that affirmation everybody stops laughing as they found out who said it.
"W-Wei, you know what a war against U-Ursus means right?" The bald man says to Wei nervously.
"Of course." He says with total serenity in his voice while getting up. "We already made everything we could. Now we need to prepare." He says while walking the room and inspecting the face of every one of his companions.
They look at him like a madman.
"I assure you. We won't go against a war against Ursus."
With those words a collective sigh comes.
"We need to defend ourselves. Knowing the emperor, he will let this matter go under the rug as the one who lost the most was Koshchei. The warning was that, a warning. However Koshchei will use it as an excuse to attack… even if it means not having the empire's favour with him. Remember the Empire is still a big country, and it's confirmed that infighting is occurring. The emperor of course won't help us, but we can use the help of someone who wants Koshchei's power too."
"And this person is?"
At this question Wei stops for a moment.
"…An old friend." Wei says slowly, making everyone to look at him with worry. "She is trustworthy, don't worry, and will surely help... however the form of communicating her is… a bit hard."
After ending that sentence his face becomes a bit weird, however after some seconds he shakes his head and continues walking.
The faces of the representatives are bitter, but understanding.
With a cough he continues.
"Anyways. If someone has something to say against this, raise your hand." He says changing slightly the subject.
At that statement, nobody did anything.
"Good. We can't go to war against Ursus, as that is suicide." At that everybody nods. "But we can defend against what Koshchei will do. As he is still alive for the moment, an invasion will occur, so we need to be ready against him." He takes a moment to take a breath. "This is going to be one of the harshest moments that the Great Lungmen will pass, and I hope I can get all of your strength for this."
With that said he looks at the representatives and-
"Wei. How many years do we know you?" The old man says to him.
At that question of course he answers.
"Some almost fifty years and others around five years."
A good amount of the representatives changed thought the years, because some stepped out or were killed.
"Then I want you to answer us." With a smile the Lung says to Wei. "How many times did we say no to your plans?"
"Almost never."
"Then that's it. That's the reason." He says like nothing. "Almost never your plans go awry. And when it does is because of something beyond your scope. This one time it was that son of a bitch. Let's not make it a second time."
"Yeah. I want that snake to bite the ground for good." Another representative says.
"Aha." Another one nods.
With a round of confirmation, Wei is grateful to them. Even if in moment of elections they can be a bit of an ass, when Lungmen is in problem they will stop everything and unite to stop the enemy.
"Thanks. I am grateful for your help." Wei says with a bow. "The invasion will take time to form, so in the meantime as we prepare I want all of you to have caution. We already experienced an attack some days before, and I am sure it won't be the last." He sighs for a moment. "We'll meet again in a week to continue planning the defence. For the Great Lungmen!" He shouts so that everybody can hear him.
"For the Great Lungmen!" The representatives say in response.
Like that the meeting ended with Lungmen preparing against Koshchei forces.
Days later after the attack on Zela, I heard on the news that the group attacking the city was a terrorist group trying to show a message against the Empire teachings.
That's total bullshit.
I know that there was a conflict this year involved with Lungmen, as even Wei Yenwu himself affirms it in the game.
So why would Ursus news say that?
…
Argh! I would like some connection to the internet to make my own investigation! I can only know about the Ursus part of the news. If you think that the news that the Ursus say are 100% truth, then poor you. I want to know the stance of Lungmen! This is important because I can know better the future with Lungmen, as the game is based the majority in said city.
Of course the second most know country was Ursus, but still. It's so gigantic that the majority of the information I have is between Chernobog and Lungmen, only two mobile cities on all the empire.
For now, my principal objective for the moment is to get access to internet. With that not only I can search for info, but at the same time I can learn more subjects required to enter the Victoria Royal Guard School.
.
.
.
And I want to use the internet for fucks sake!
I did a good job lasting these seven years without a touch of internet!
I trained, studied and even had advanced classes to go better than my peers!
I want a reward please!
I just want a laptop or a phone!
.
.
.
But I am too young. That's what mom and dad say all the time.
With that in mind, my head hits the desk in front of me in defeat.
"Micha are you okay? Why did you hit your head against the table and… why do you look so beaten?" Misha says while tilting her head cutely.
I turn my head to look at her.
If only I could pinch those cheeks of hers I could feel a lot better. But I am sure that counts as breach of personal space so never mind.
Right now I am at school. We didn't have school for a week because of the terrorist attack as everyone was pretty shocked about that.
But of course the children have to be educated! So they opened the schools earlier.
I still want to know what the hell is with the nobles of Ursus and their thought process.
"Nothing I was only thinking." I say to her as a response.
"Ah really? Then what were you thinking?" She rephrases her sentence with a soft looking smile.
…
Fuck, she is cute.
Please stop that.
My heart can't handle that smile.
"Well I was thinking of the news lately…" I say while looking at her.
She grew up a lot since the first time we met. Of course, I am bigger, but still. In comparison to the other classmates she is pretty big too.
If only she knew that in the game she will be pretty short.
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.
I remembered why she was so short in the game and I want to punch myself for thinking that.
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.
"News? Why do you watch something so boring!" She pouts while relaxing her whole upper body on the desk. "You need to come more with me and Alex to play! All you do is boring! Study, train, watch news, study, train, watch news, study, train…" she repeats to the infinite.
"Well, it's something we all are going to do one time or another, so I want to prepare myself..." I try to say a logical answer.
I mean-
"Do you have fun doing it?"
"…?"
Those words halted my thought process.
Do you have fun doing it?
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.
.
Now that I think about it…
Do I really have fun studying? Or training? Or watching news?
.
.
.
I like training, but I don't have fun per se. Especially with Yith. I hate training with Yith.
Studying… I never like studying. But if I want to go to the Royal Victorian Guard School I don't have other way.
And watching the news… It's more of a necessity thanks to a lack of information.
.
.
.
Now that I think about it…
Why does this always happen?
Everybody does questions so hard to answer and make me think too much!
Is this going to happen all my life?
I don't want that!
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.
Or maybe I am overthinking them.
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.
…maybe I am overthinking them…
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"…Micha? Micha!"
"Eh? What?" I say stunned as she breaks me from my stupor.
"There you are! Thinking yet again!" She says a little offended while using her finger to drill my forehead. "Sometimes you need to stop thinking so much! If not your head will hurt a lot! …That's what my mom always says."
"…"
I look at her for a moment and after some seconds I decide to softly pinch her cheek.
"Eh?!" Misha says surprised. "What are you doing?"
The surprise remains for some moments, but it's rapidly filled with doubt in my actions.
"Nothing. Healing myself." I say monotone.
"What do you mean by that?"
With that and a totally resigned face from her I stop.
"…Now that's enough" I declare.
"Enough of what?!"
I look at her and how she caresses her cheeks. Of course I didn't do it too rough. I don't want to hurt Misha in any way, and maybe Alex won't let it go.
While thinking and looking at her a smile appears in my face.
"Eh? Now why are you smiling?" Misha says defeated. "I swear you are strange."
"Hehe. Yes, I am strange, nice to meet you." I say jokingly to her.
"What! That such a bad pun!"
She says that, but she still laughed.
…
Yes…
Maybe I am overthinking too much…
I mean I have around 20 years before the game starts…
So why not have a bit of fun right?
*ring*
I still think how the teacher doesn't worry about our manners in the classroom.
"Let's go and find Alex." I say to Misha.
"Mhm!" She nods with a happy face.
However we didn't need to go so far, as Alex was already waiting for us outside.
"Hey Alex!" I greet him.
"…Hey Micha." He says like always.
These years he changed a little, and now for some reason is a bit more timid towards me. I don't have a problem with that, but I prefer the more aggressive Alex.
Although…
Thinking about the future-
No!
Stop!
Stop right there!
What did you say earlier?
Stop overthinking so much!
"Micha are you-"
"Yes I am okay!" I say rapidly interrupting Alex.
"…"
"…"
"…"
I should sort these emotions one of these days.
"I am sorry, what do you want to do?" I say to the pair in front of me apologetically.
"Nothing, we were thinking of going out to the playground right now." Alex says ignoring the past events.
"…Alright, let's go. Best we hurry right?" I say happily to the pair.
The sister and brother look at each other with surprise before continuing with a smile and saying both:
"Yes!"
End of chapter 6: Shadows of war.
Author's note: ON!
Hey.
This time it wasn't so long right?
I can manage my life more easily now!
I am finally ending subjects with a beautiful ribbon on them and if everything goes well I will pass the exam to college!
.
.
.
Although that last part is pretty hard in itself, let's stop talking about me.
This is the first time I tried to do something like a third person in stories (I think? I can't remember to tell you the truth, to much math to study), so tell me what you thought about it.
Now, we have more parts of other characters than my good boy Micha, so the history will only become more complicated from now on, as we have:
-1 Micha's story.
-2 Lungmen's conflict.
-3 Strange lady with handsome bois.
And there is a fourth part in the secret (hue hue hue), but saying it will ruin the surprise.
Plus I changed the cover, as the last one wasn't up to my tastes... And it has a bit of spoiler I know, but I think it looks great.
Anyways, before I write a thousand words in the Author's note let's see the reviews and end it there.
If you ask why I didn't do it the last time is because... I forgot.
Responses from chapter 5 and 6!
Overtale: Might I know which part are repeating? Maybe I am writing the same thing twice and I don't know it. If you can tell me I will solve it.
AbleGem: The growing up part (arc?) is slow I know, I want to skip it too, but I want to introduce some of the characters before we go to the good things like fights and etc. I don't want the world building and character's to be half assed, so sorry that it's taking so long.
Goqqi: Thanks for the encouraging words!
PervyPanda:
1- Well the reasons I brought extras is because as you said it, the game has sucha rich lore, and the extras are people that complement it. For example one of the most seen extra in the history: Yith. In the game he appears in the event Code of Brawl as an extra, but is the only one seen to be capable of using REAL Time Arts. And before you tell me Mostima has it too, read her talent. Subjective Time Dilation. The subjective is an important keyword. Coming back to Yith he is pretty interesting too. He knows the Black Lock and White Key that Mostima uses and even calls them old friends. Plus when he appears in Code of Brawl, Mostima just nopes out of the scene.
2- Don't worry his past life is that. Past. Without spoilers I can guarantee that it won't have much importance at all. And the reason that Yith appeared like that as his teacher is not because I just said: "Oh. He needs a trainer." There is a pretty good reason why he appears, however that is spoiler territory. There is a lot of mysteries hiding in plain sight and they will unravel thought the story.
Sorry if I appeared rude and about the rant.
Notice me Senpai: I wasn't thinking of putting my username of arknights but oh well. It's the same as the author one: Hiogen. I have in support Lappland, Saria and best invincible defender, Hoshi.
Iam a GuyGirl: Thanks!
wwgaming: Yeah, when I started the story, to tell you the truth I knew a bit about the lore of Arknights, so when I began seeing the different backgrounds of the operators, enemies and even spoiling myself Chapter 8 of the game to see the lore I was surprised. I try to make the story as close to the lore I can so that people can see a bit of it without having to read the different medical reports of the background of each different character.
And I think that's all!
Remember the thing about the one thousand Author's note?
Well this one was half a thousand so I am not proud of it.
Anyways...
Author's note: Off!