The light God could not know.

The story had concluded, the Gods leaving the fate of the world in the hands of the cursed fist. Yet again, humanity had come together to pave the way to their future. However, amidst humanity's union over the threat of the Gods, there was still a lingering aftertaste in the mind of the world. The Curse of Balal had been removed and humanity could connect, but...

"Hey, Leia, what's this?"

The woman tapped a glass beaker on a display, one filled to the brim with a grainy substance. She was always curious about the things her sister was doing in the lab, since she never had the knack for alchemy. All she saw was chemicals, powders and rocks, not to mention all the papers that were strewn across the table. No matter how much they explained what she was doing, the girl couldn't understand a single thing. As the sound of tapping glass rang throughout the room, the girl behind her immediately stood up, snatching the beaker from her with a furrowed brow.

"Don't mess with that," she spoke sternly, examining the beaker to make sure that its contents remained unsullied. Despite the two being identical twins with only three minutes apart from each other, they were polar opposites. While they have the same last name, they couldn't be any more different.

The older twin, Laya, was a carefree soul, one who was always free and never thought too hard about anything. In contrast, the younger twin, Leia, was always calculated, constantly being meticulous due to her older sister's antics. Because of these differences between the two, Laya was constantly being reined in by Leia, making sure she stayed out of trouble, though it was mostly because she created the trouble herself. This was why Leia never wanted Laya in the lab with her, since there was always the chance of messing something up.

As Leia took the beaker from her, Laya crossed her arms, pouting like a child. This was one of her signature moves against her sister, even though its effectiveness has waned over the years.

"You could at least tell me what it is," she huffed, though she knew the answer to this comment. The alchemist rolled her eyes, sitting back down to finish typing a code into her computer as she retorted, "Even if I did, what would you do with that information?"

This was true, Laya wouldn't know the first thing about why she would need salt for any sort of alchemy. If anything, it would be bad letting her know, considering her track record of sneaking materials just to see "what they would do together". This caused Laya to be quiet, looking off to the side as she realized that the ball was bounced back in her court. She lost the pout, clearing her throat as she turned away from the substances on the table. "W-Well, that's not important! Guess I'll never know," she exclaimed.

She got her there. However, there was something that she had come into the lab for, so she didn't leave just yet.

"H-Hey, Leia..."

Leia turned back from the computer, typing in the last of the code onto her computer before running the program she had been working on for months. Each attempt was a failure, but she had a feeling that this one would work. If not, she would rework it from scratch, she didn't mind doing that considering how many times she had rewritten the formula.

The program began to run in the background, Leia's attention now on Laya as she waited for her comment. As she did, Laya pointed in the direction behind her with her thumb. It was pointing to a wall, but Leia knew exactly where she was pointing. It was something that Laya had been talking about for the past few months, but every time she pressed the topic, the topic was promptly shut down. Before she could say anything, the younger sister already had an answer.

"No."

This response caused Laya to stomp her foot down, a couple of containers shaking a bit with the force that rippled through the floor.

"Come on! You always say that," Laya rebuked, starting the beginning of her usual tantrum about this specific topic. She was oddly passionate about diving down the massive hole that laid beside their home, though every time she brought it up, Leia had the exact same arguments that dissuaded her. Three of her fingers went up on her right hand, each one going down individually as she listed off the same things that she spouted off every week.

"Okay, assuming I even allow you to go down there... not only do you not have a way back up, but you also don't even know what is down there, and finally, assuming you do have something for both of those, what would even be the point?"

She waved her hand over to the drawer, tapping it lightly as she turned back in her swivel chair. The code continued to run, finally reaching the point where it usually found the error. It allowed her to tune out whatever Laya was saying, which was a common occurrence when this came up. Leia had learned how to deal with this, though it was just to let her older sister get it all out of her system. Arguing never came to a conclusion, so she figured to just not argue with her.

Meanwhile, Laya was livid, now that Leia had rejected her for the umpteenth time.

"You haven't even tried to figure out what's down there, and yet, you...!"

She realized that Leia wasn't listening to her anymore, causing her anger to subside. Yelling at a brick wall wasn't going to do anything, so instead of letting her anger out at the situation, she let out a soft sigh, dejected.

What else could she do at this point?

She turned around to leave as the code stopped running, providing Leia the same error it always did. Leia smacked her lips, shutting the program down as she stretched her arms above her head. Now that she saw that it failed yet again, she was going to have to pull multiple all-nighters again. It was here that she was thankful for the documents she had and the notes she wrote down, so she knew all her steps and could just backtrack.

It was only a matter of time before they could use the tools they had, but for now, they had to focus on making sure that it worked instead of being sidetracked with other adventures. As such, she went back to her notes, back to the first page of many as she completely disregarded Laya.

Seeing this, Laya couldn't think of anything to say, so she followed routine. After an argument, she trotted back to her room, only to take her anger out on the snacks that laid beside her bed and the mecha shows that she could turn her brain off at. However, as she made her way to the door of the lab...

"Here..."

Laya swiftly turned around, her eyes darting all over the room as she tried to find the source of that voice. It was neither masculine, nor feminine. It wasn't malicious, but she could tell that it was desperate. Her gaze fell on Leia, who had just pulled out a pen to start to scrawl on a half-written sheet of paper in her spiral notebook.

"Did you hear that," Laya inquired, her tone serious.

She had hoped that she wasn't crazy, but judging from Leia's expression of rolling her eyes, her question was answered. "Listen, I get that you really want to go down that hole," she replied, "but you can't just gaslight me into thinking you heard something from it. You already tried that before." Laya stomped her foot again, only this time, nothing moved. She was no longer in the middle of the lab, so Leia had no worries about her older sister rattling anything from that far away.

"No, I'm serious this time, did you not hear that," Laya cried out, recalling the time where she did use that excuse on her younger sister. While that previous time was a lie, she was sure she heard something earlier. Whether it was from the hole or not was unknown, but Leia's mentioning brought an idea to her mind. While she believed that she was too dumb for alchemy, her intuition was top-notch, even though it was much smarter to follow Leia's instructions.

"No, it's too coincidental," she thought to herself, her fists that were originally balled up in anger now tightening in anticipation.

In an instant, she rushed out of the lab, much faster than she had ever left before. She had to know if this really was from that mysterious hole or not, if it was the last thing she'd do. Leia noticed this, swearing under her breath as she took off after her older sister, hoping she didn't do anything stupid.

Laya stopped when she reached the massive pit outside, gazing down into the endless abyss that engulfed the light that shined above. Leia was correct, there was not only any way of getting back up from this, but she also had no way of figuring out what was down there, so Laya wanted to think of a plan, just in case she did need to find a way back. However, that same voice replayed in her mind, only this time, it was much clearer, making her look around from side-to-side like a crazy person.

"Down here..."

Once she heard those two words, her gut took over, any other thought processes that were in the middle of creating some kind of plan ceasing as her eyes fell into that abyss. With no hesitation, her legs moved forward, sending her down the spiraling chasm that she had longed to leap into. In the seconds she spent freefalling, she felt a sense of freedom, much more compared to every other time she performed a dangerous action.

Even though she jumped without a plan, she still felt a sense of duty that she had to find out who that voice belonged to. It sounded familiar, even though she couldn't put a face to it, but from this death-defying leap, it looked like she'd have all the time in the world to think about who it was when she reached the ground. She continued to fall, noticing a glint as she wondered when exactly she would hit the ground. Before she had the chance to guess what that sparkle was, she heard another voice echo in the chasm, one that she knew all too well.

"You idiot!"

An arm wrapped around Laya's side, pulling her close as her savior came to the rescue, the boots on her rescuer flashing with a bright blue light as they began to decelerate and their positions began to stabilize. Laya knew exactly who caught her, her eyes lighting up as she saw the mirror image of herself now holding onto her.

"I knew you'd show up!"

Her savior, Leia, smacked her lips yet again, this time, more livid than ever. She wanted to go off on Laya, tell her that she's an idiot that got both of them trapped down there with no one to save them. She was a moron, but... she was glad that she was still safe, at least. "I'm going to have some very choice words with you when we get out of here," Leia snarled, though this wasn't scaring Laya. She was over the moon, happy that her younger sister rushed to her aid without a moment's hesitation. She'd happily take any punishment as long as they got to the bottom of this.

After only a few more seconds, the two reached solid footing, with Laya taking a deep inhale and exhale after her little stunt. She was relieved that she didn't splatter to the ground after her impulsive leap, but she knew that Leia would come to her rescue no matter what. Meanwhile, Leia reached her hand behind her sibling's head, pulling back on her ponytail with excessive force. Had Laya not known any better, she'd believe that Leia was a gorilla with her strength, though she would have to be considering the things she's seen her carry in and out the house.

Leia shifted the sleeve on her lab coat, revealing a silver watch that never left her wrist. While it was originally given to them by her mother, it had been augmented accordingly, proving useful as she pressed one of the buttons on the side. The shutter on the top of the watch slid to the side, a bright light illuminating the space they stood in. While they were finally able to see, there appeared to be nothing of note for them to see, they were just surrounded completely by sediment.

Laya was a bit disappointed, though she didn't know what to expect when she finally reached the bottom. However, a twinkle she saw flashed into her mind, making her wonder exactly what had made that flash of light in the abyss. Her question would be answered momentarily, her sister being the one to bring up something out of the ordinary, though nothing in this situation was ordinary.

"Hey, take a look at this."

Laya followed the source of her sister's flashlight, now standing before a door of immense stature. The fact that they didn't even notice they passed it while falling shook the two a bit, but it didn't stop them from wondering what a door was doing all the way down here.

The door stood above the two, but there were two noticeable aspects about it that brought questions in the twins' minds: the first thing being that it wore some sort of black smudge markings on it. From what it looked like, the door had already attempted to be broken into, just with explosives. This would explain why the lower area was so cleared out, but if there were some people trying to blow open the door... they should have noticed, right?

The other thing was the writing on the edges of the door, being nothing but symbols that made no sense to the two. However, they knew it was writing, but as for what language it was... they wouldn't know. Laya tried to make sense of it all, walking up to the door to brush some of the dirt away from it. Even if it was gibberish, something told her that there was a character that she would notice.

As her finger touched the door, the ground below them began to rumble, causing Leia to start looking around in a panic and flashing her light everywhere. Did they trip a wire or something? It didn't make sense as to why the area around them was shaking. On the other hand, this series of events did not disturb Laya, her eyes now fixated on the door. She waved her hand to call Leia over, who barked at her in distress.

"Why the hell are you so calm!? We should be worrying about where that's coming from!"

Distress was an adequate response for her to be feeling right now. The thought of collapse in a confined space was more than enough for her to be on edge, which only made her more upset that her sister was completely calm in the exact same situation. Before Leia could utter another word, her serene companion put her hand up, letting out an explanation.

"It's letting us in..."

Leia's eyes widened. How in the world did she know that? Assuming it even was the door, it wasn't like there was a big red light flashing to indicate that. She went to berate her older sister, but before she could, a ray of light flashed into her eyes. It wasn't from above, that much was clear. From within the chasm, the entrance looked miniscule, as if it were nothing more than a single star in the night sky. This was part of the reason why Leia didn't want to investigate in the first place, since they didn't know how deep the hole actually was.

However, as her eyes tracked the light, the source was just as Laya had described. It was the door, sliding open ever so slightly. While it wasn't by a lot, it was just enough for a person to walk inside. Perplexed by this reveal, Leia immediately went to warn her sister about entering. They already went far enough entering the hole, so running through mysterious doors was not going to make the situation any better without determining risk. Before she could, Laya had already slipped behind the door, marveling at the scenery that was displayed before her.

"Y-You...!"

Leia grunted, rushing after Laya and turning the flashlight on her watch off. She was definitely mad at Laya for not waiting, but deciding between choices was not the girl's strong suit. As Leia slid through the crack of the door, her eyes were greeted with the same view that Laya was seeing.

The walls of the room were lined with drawers, similar to filing cabinets, all amassed into a single corridor. While this by itself was already weird, Leia noticed something even weirder; it seemed to be endless, the walls going up indefinitely. She tried to make sense of it all, as the drawers continued with no end in sight. With the entrance to the hole, there was still something that they could see as an "endpoint", but this time... that "endpoint" was nowhere to be found.

Her mind kept trying to wrap her head around it, but Laya was different. Within this space that was flooded with a white light, Laya heard a voice yet again, the clearest she had ever heard it before.

"I'm here..."

She took off down the hall, her instincts telling her that she needed to find this voice, wherever it was. Leia noticed this, chasing after her in tow as she screamed out, "W-Wait, you idiot! We don't even know what this place is!" Despite these warnings, Laya did not listen, dashing down the corridor with determination in her eyes. If this voice was making itself known to her, it must have wanted to be found, but Laya wouldn't know the reason.

The two continued down this corridor, though each drawer they passed was identical to the one prior. Leia tried not to look too much into this conformity, as the situation was already weird enough as is. What's more, she wanted to keep her attention on what direction they were going. While it was just a straight line, the further they got, the smaller their entrance looked by comparison, until it completely faded out of view. If they got turned around and lost their sense of direction now, it would be disastrous.

It would only be a couple more minutes of running before Laya finally stopped in front of one of the cabinets, looking down at a drawer with the same symbols as the door.

"Great..."

Leia groaned, pulling her phone out to examine the cabinet's writing. She assumed that no matter what the inscriptions were, there'd be something to help her translate it. She had grown to use two different Octaves of Aristotle at once, a mere translation from a different language should be child's play. However, the more she tried, the deeper into despair she fell. Not a single translator could recognize the language they were seeing, so the two were at a loss for words.

At least, Leia was.

Laya, on the other hand, was different. "Nothing we can do about it now," Leia muttered, twirling one of the strands on her hair. She always did that whenever she felt pensive about a situation, but that wasn't often. Any situation she was a part of, there was always room for error and a backup plan, not to mention any contingencies considered the backup plan failed. She liked to be two steps ahead, but she couldn't do that here.

"The black dragon..."

Her finger stopped twirling her hair, her eyes now trailing up to Laya as she examined her sister. Was Laya... reading that...? No, that was impossible. There wasn't a way she would be able to read that mysterious language, especially when modern translation apps didn't have a way of tracing it back to anything other than gibberish. She scoffed at Laya, crossing her arms as she remarked, "There's no way that's what it says."

Laya turned around, her face now in a pout. She couldn't believe it either, but somehow, she knew exactly what the characters on this plate translated to, like she knew how that phrase was written her entire life. Laya wished that her sister had more faith in her, but for this specific situation, it was understandable why she was so apprehensive to believe her.

Before the two could begin to bicker again, a hiss began to reverberate throughout the hall, a fog seeping through the compartment that they stood in front of. The two stood on guard, not knowing what was next. The fact that something had activated was already enough to put the two on edge, so Leia was ready to sprint out with Laya the next moment they needed to. If something was activating here, then that brought the possibility that they weren't alone. Their worries were soon alleviated once the drawer before them opened, revealing two white fangs that sat atop a piece of contrasting black cloth.

"Fangs...?"

The two uttered in unison, their attention now diverted from each other to the open drawer. They looked on in confusion, trying to figure out exactly what a pair of animal fangs were doing in a drawer like that. If they were here to be held onto, like a fossil, they should have been kept in some kind of protective barrier, like plastic wrapping or a protective coating spray. Instead, they were just laying out in the open, as if they were tossed in without any foresight in mind. Then again, with how large the fangs were, they couldn't have been that harmed by simply being unprotected.

Each of the fangs seemed to be a little bit larger than their hands, so regular erosion wouldn't get to them as easily as a rock on their porch. The drawer also appeared to be sealed tight, so it wasn't like there was no planning for its preservation. Laya began to recall the words she had just read, her mind now trying to connect the events over the past few seconds.

"The black dragon... these have to be from that dragon!"

Laya's eyes showed optimism, as this was the first time she was able to be ahead of Leia in some regard when it came to analyzing something. It seemed far-fetched, but all the evidence pointed to this conclusion. Leia, however, was not willing to start leaning onto the idea of something she considered to be "make-believe". The thought of dragons existing was not on her list of things to keep track of in her mind for the day, but more importantly... it was just too outlandish.

"You can't be serious. Dragons aren't real."

Leia rolled her eyes at Laya's suggestion, realizing that, at the end of the day, her sister was still as delusional as ever. Even if evidence were to point to it being a "dragon", the general notion of such a fantastical creature once roaming this planet was beyond her. "It's much more likely it's from a dinosaur or something," she added, an attempt to dissuade Laya from any other grand delusions.

Had dragons existed, even in prehistoric times, there was no doubt that they would have been the apex predators. There wouldn't be a way for any other creature to compete, yet... why was the thought of a real-life dragon so interesting? Leia shook it off as nothing more than morbid curiosity, her thoughts running wild in a place where there was no variation in color or style. "This place is driving both of us crazy," she thought to herself, moving back to twirling the hair on the left side of her face, "first, she's making up meanings for these symbols, next, she's talking about dragons... We need to get out of here fa-"

"Keios franzell Nidhogg tron..."

Leia's thoughts were immediately derailed, hearing a voice echo throughout the hall. It was weird, she didn't see anyone else walk in with them, not that they could without being noticed. It was a single corridor with no places to hide, so there wasn't a way for someone to sneak up on them. She turned to her sister, ready to ask her if she had heard that mysterious song. If Laya had heard it, then she would be able to assure herself that she wasn't the only one going crazy in here. However, when her sister came into her line of sight, the scene shook her to her core.

Laya stood above the drawer, holding one of the fangs that had been displayed. While this wouldn't be much on its own, the fang itself was radiating with a vibrant light, one that was much brighter and blinding than the room they were standing in. Leia struggled to look directly at the light, feeling her vision go a bit as she forced herself to take in everything that was happening. The light rose from Laya's hands, the energy soaring into the air as the white light began to fade. Leia couldn't believe what she had just witnessed, but the thing that drew her attention the most was the form the light took.

Before dissipating, the shape of the light shifted for a fraction of a second, revealing the form of that same mythological creature that Leia had been ridiculing her sibling over. The color of the light had also changed, the blinding light now being completely changed to an overpowering darkness. Looking into it was... beyond belief. The black that had taken over swallowed the light that had flooded this infinite corridor, leaving the hall in utter darkness within that moment before it vanished. Leia couldn't even think straight when she saw this, the darkness being unlike anything she had ever witnessed. There was no comparison to the absence of light that they had witnessed within that moment.

"That's... a dragon, alright..."

She couldn't utter any other words, her vision starting to return to normal as the light and darkness faded. As much as she was at a loss for words, the questions that were running through her head were immeasurable. It was so much information that it started to give her a headache, but she could gather that the events over the last few seconds all started because of Laya. The voice she had heard was her sister's, without a doubt, she realized this now. The fang in her hand emitted the light, that much was clear. The questions in her mind all stemmed from one source, all starting from the exact same inciting incident.

"How did you...?"

Laya only offered a smile, her sister's face now wearing a shocked expression as a result of her explanation. She couldn't believe her ears after what Laya had told her, not being able to make sense of anything that had just been explained to her.

"It told me. The name given to it by the Custodians... is Nidhogg."

A legend states that there lay a dragon below the roots of Yggdrasil, one that sustained itself on the sins of mankind. However, once the tree of life fell, the dragon would be let free, as it marked the end of the Gods, bringing about an event that the Gods of the world labeled as Ragnarok. With its jet-black wings and immeasurable hunger, the dragon depicted in these legends that soared the skies only wore one name... Nidhogg.

Thank you for getting through this essay! The prologue is a bit long (I thought about trimming it a bit), but that's mainly for two reasons: 1. to thoroughly introduce these brand new characters, seeing as how they are completely original, and 2. to give more of a detailed description on exactly how these two even found a Relic in the first place. Not only that, but I also wanted to write the prologue in a way that omitted elements from Symphogear, displaying it as if it were a prologue from any other adventure or fantasy story, just as a test. If you made it this far, I hope you continue on with the journey of the Noires!