In a pitch black night, an individual is standing alone in a forest, the only thing that proves his presence there, is the occasional explosions and sparks of metal clashes that happen in a glade dozens of meters from him. The individual is a woman around her sixteen or eighteen year, she has a short dark hair, tan skin, many scars and is staining with crimson blood, her left eyes socket has a injure that is bleeding.
From the glade a cryes emerge, "Martre run! Stop! You will die! We can...".
Hearing it the lonely woman shout ,"I hate this! I hate this shit!", her throat appear to be hurt. Tears began to came from her eyes, she cries, but not in sadness.
Her hands form fists as circle of a dark grey light surges around they, her hair elevates, sparks start dancing around her. The symbols in the circles began to move and change, and soon many spears forms around her, everyone of them look like thousands of small metal parts are put together by the electricity between then.
She clean the tears in her face and run in the direction of the battle.
In the way she murmured in a solemn tone, "Why! Why couln't be born in a romance?".
...
Day 1 of Dazureus - Ninth month of the year, 6822 A.F.
East of Pindorama Continent, Waterless Ocean, Xerata Yby, Unknown location.
Blue reddish and a profound orange, those two colors are separated by the horizontal line is what Maryanne mainly see through airship windows.
Even with the air conditioner switched on, Maryanne without getting up take off her vest. She could feel through her vision how high is heat that is outside, but this wasn't necessary, even the airship that she was in couldn't perfect isolates the outside heat . And yet the lady don't blame tha airship for the that, she can swears that the sun outside is three times the size that he used to have.
Throwing her vest on the seat at her right, Maryanne sight passes quickly on the pilot, that is Two arms of distance from her, seeing that he wasn't bothered by her actions her sight returns to the desert, hugging her suitcase she murmured, "Why i? ... Why i need to be in this hell like place?".
Maryanne beggins to recall the series of events that brought her there. Yesterday at morning Maryanne was personally told of a convocation by her city LawBringer, one of the local highest governmental representatives, he was someone that she hope never meet, he is a 2.5 metres high Necrodroid with the entire Empire laws at his Database who is judge, jury and executioner.
The imperial convocation implicated that she must go to a prison and has a some therapy session with its mental will inmates. Yes, convocation. If was an invitation would mean that she can decline, in a convocation is explicit that she must go or they will made her go. Maryanne adjusts her trousers and moves her hip more close to the sits back, she straight her back and look upwards.
"I never broke any law or worked in any imperial institution. With many psychologist available for it, why the empire came bother me?", she thought.
At least the empire is sincere with this and the LawBringer himself made question to explained this to her, that the task is mandatory, is not like any empyrean citizen who lived more than 3 decades in the empire would not know how things works with the govern.
"The real reason, for that unnecessary lesson, must be because those LawBringers are programed to love the sound of their voices. Can't be other thing...", she thought.
Maryanne, from a compartment of her malet she grasp a pen with teeth mark, soon she start biting it, and quietly murmured, "At least their voices are pretty good... They emit a very profound sound to a robot... !! ... What i am saying?... The heat must have made me start rave... i hope so".
Six hours ago some agents from the empire picked up Maryanne on her house, made her wear a blindfold and put her in a van, after that in a airjat, some kind of animal and finally in the military helicopter like airship that she is right now.
After all the usual imperial level spy drama, in the end she can recognizes where in the continent she is in, Xerata Yby of the Waterless Sea. How the name implicits the Waterless Sea is a desert, being more exact he is the bigger desert in the planet, in this desert there is the region of Xerata Yby, one of the most inhospitable places in the world, this region isn't know for being painful hot but for being hellish hot. The geography books that Maryanne read at college's times taught that, in Xerata Yby, outside a controlled ambient a normal person would feel like she is burning and literally breathing fire.
With much less atmosferic mana than normal level of the world, Xerata Yby has a wildlife adapted in this resourceless land, at its standard levels being more clever and voracious than what other animal would need to for being considered demoniac.
Poison, ambush and herd strategies is a must of every specie that survived this ambient, a peaceful death here is not a option, what change from the way that every species here kills, from smaller 0,3 meters tall DireAnt to the bigger 100 meters long HellWorm, is the proportion between dreadfulness and nastyfulness.
Imagine while you are burning, feeling heavy and out of breath because have less than a tenth of the usual mana in the atmosphere to recharge yours veins and demonic beasts are hunting you in groups, with them in their home ground, that is Xerata Yby for you.
"For Algera sakes, i was sent to hell", murmured Marianne to herself.
As depressive thoughts started to emerge in her head, suddenly she is hear.
"A lovely place isn't!?", sherfully exclaimed the only other person in the airship.
While she was drowning in her thoughts, Maryanne forgot the existence of the man piloting the aircraft. A pilot with a serious face, military haircut and soldier build, he is her escort since the empire agents had leave her in the last point, she can tell that he is truly different from the others imperial agents. She notes that his hand point at something outside the airship.
On the ground some couple of hundreds meters in the direction appointed by the pilot, besides the usual red-orange sand has five huge white beasts, they are on average 21 meter high and 14 long, looking like a slug that was inflated just like a balloon and is scaping some boiling red gas for some holes at its tops.
The five are floating in the same direction, forming a line, and, presumably because of their weight, what Maryanne assumed to be its fly like legs, are scraping the ground from time to time leaving a trail in the sand.
"Hamilton, i know you for 2 hours, but.." Maryanne forgetting her trail of thoughts let escape from her mouth some littles giggles, as she felt little better for having company, continued Maryanne after taking some air, "... i am certain that our meaning of lovely is different".
As he put his hand back at the air ship controllers, Hamilton said like he was some storyteller, "Probably the meaning is the same, the difference is how we chose to see the world".
"Hum... elaborate it you smart-as...i mean smarty pants", Maryanne thinks that is better not be too intimate to someone that she met recently, principally with a soldier that she did not now his bottomline, a military life on the empire isn't easy, some lose their mints.
As he hadn't heard anything, Hamilton respond, "You look below and see a desert with overcooked sand, I on the other hand, see a desert painted in color of love, i would even say that is a romantic place".
"... Yes, you are right in a way", said Mariah shaking her head in agreement.
Before Hamilton completed the smug expression that was forming in his face, Mariah keep talking, "After millions of years from his sands being painted in blood of the heart of its residents, just like those five gastlys over there are doing, spitting the high pressurized vapor of spare blood of their preys. All this touch my heart in some ways".
Forcing himself to not sigh, Hamilton turned his seat 180 degrees to his grouchy passenger direction and have a good look of her. The psychologist Maryanne Silvercliff look like in her mid thirties, has a health fair skin, green eyes, 1,63 meter height and a curly ash brown hair cut in a ponytail. Besides her average looks, the grey professional suit make she looks like a beautiful business woman, sight to his sore eyes. Hamilton presume by its model that one imperial envoy made her wear that suit to look "proper" in her visit to the prison.
Maryanne not as quickly as she would like, hide the pen that she was biting on her malet and made a little smile to Hamilton. The pilot with a grin said, "Oh dear doctor, is this attachment to details that make you nervous like early. Just go with the flow".
Maryanne turn her vision to the orange sand outside and hug more tightly her malet, she said, "I now, i now, i shouldn't be throwing mine dissatisfactions on you".
As she returns to the ever burning sun, she continued "It's just that just two days ago i was living normally and suddenly i was told that i must go to a prison, i even didn't knew that prison still exist..." taking a deep breath, Maryanne put her bag on the floor and look back at Hamilton, she continued, "It Just... is all too suddenly, i wasn't and ain't mentally prepared to all this".
Hamilton take a breath and said, "It's normal feeling uneasy in this situation, i mean, before this job a to not knew the existence of prisons. But you are already going and you can't stop now, so just stop worrying on something that you don't control and try to take the best of this situation, leaning something or even have some fun."
Maryanne looked in his eyes and after some moments, made a slight grin and said, "Maybe you are right", she sighed deeply and continued, "Hamilton you ever thought about doing psychology?"
Hamilton responds, "Nah i just like saying things that i read on titles of photos on social medias".
The duo grin to each other, Hamilton said, "Sometimes the empire is rough, but it does everything for our good, right?"
After some seconds of silence, Mariah speak, "Yes... I hope so", the last part she spoke quietly.
"Just take this like an old school excursion", said Hamilton trying to lift his passager's spirit.
"In one of the dangerous place on the planet", speaks Maryanne.
"A hell of one lively excursion hehehe", laughs off Hamilton.
"Haha yes", even with her mouth laughing, her eyes told Hamilton another history.
The conversation dies and the trip continued.
********** **********
After half an hour, as Maryanne was nearly sleeping, she heards from Hamilton, "Oh! we have arrived".
Lifting her head and at the same time Maryanne was cleaning up some dry drool, before Hamilton look at her, she look through the airship frontal window and stopped cleaning the droll. Rock and lava is only what she could see.
Before the airship has red mountain, lava is scaping in some parts of it, tons of hot, fresh lava. With Marianne in a stupor, the airship slow comes above its tops, for what Marianne presums the vulcan is more 10 kilometers high, it is many times higher than any skyscrapers that she ever saw .
Now higher than the vulcan she can see the vulcan mouth, it's borders are 2 kilometers away from each other. At least 26 big towers with the size of 6 floor building and with countless smaller towers between them are spread by its mouth, each tower has cutting edge armament.
The bigger towers have the most enormous PlasmaCannons that Marianne ever heard about, the latest model that she saw on internet, some months ago, was 3 meters long. Those at the top the bigger towers are at least 20 meter longs , weighing tons of pure destruction. Even in a stupor she thinks, "Ohh... so is these big boys are the reasons that I pay expensive taxes".
At the center of the vulcan, suspended by 8 chains made of a misterius yellow steel alloy, thick like four trucks together, rests a dull black rock with hundreds meters of width and height, her shape vagally remembers a diamond, and, a fifty of her is under the lava. Look likes an building was carved out that rock.
Looking at the dry drool on Maryanne cheeks, çike he was trying to break her precarious condition Hamilton shouts.
"Doctor Silvercliff, Welcome to the maximum security prison of Lil'Rock!!".