The brilliant golden sun was slowly setting towards the horizon. It inevitably got enveloped by the land and what came after was darkness, which was the night. The gloomy darkness shrouded everything as the day had ended. The ocean-blue heavens faded and what came after was a night sky covered by tens of thousands of twinkling stars.
The onyx night signified the end of the light, making the spirits all over the land shrouded in darkness return to their homes. Such night also was the awakening of abominations and monsters hidden within the wild of Spectrum. But such things shouldn't be spoken for now. After all, it was still the city of Anfang's chance.
The city of Anfang was a massive settlement generally found on the outskirts of a spirit empire. It was a gigantic city, the border between the spirit empire and the far lands. It was a trade and commercial city where various diverse goods from other regions and countries were sold.
One could say that it was a wealthy city with its giant walls and peculiar buildings.
Anyhow, within the city of Anfang were two recent visitors. They were walking in the streets while being surrounded by the darkness of the night. They had fun during the entire day, and one of them knew that the money spent was more than what they had used in their whole life.
Even then, none of them had grieved upon the money they had spent. After all, the day for them was enjoyable. It was their first time enjoying something without worrying about enemies and plans. Maybe that was the life of those who consider themselves normal. An intriguing lifestyle for them.
Alastair walked through the streets shrouded in darkness. It was brightened by the street poles right beside the sidewalk. Soteria was walking right beside her while carrying the materials they needed for their life in this city. Soteria seemed strong as she was not bothered by the heavy things behind her back.
It made Alastair wonder about Soteria's strength, though it wasn't the main thing Alastair had in mind.
"This is the first time I walked through a city without fear and hate right beside me. After all, even the allies right beside me in my old life were fearful of me. It was relatively disappointing, yet I got used to it." Alastair silently uttered as she turned her gaze towards the night sky.
Such beauty which she had always seen no matter what world or realm she entered. The calm and silence in the heavens were the things that gave her peace not too long ago. But now... The heavens weren't the only things that gave her peace. She had gained important pillars of her life.
'Pillars?'
Alastair questioned her thought as various hidden memories deep within her consciousness appeared one after another. Upon such a stunning wave within her mind, Alastair stopped walking, which was instantly noticed by Soteria. Soteria stopped and questioned with a calm yet worried voice.
"Are you okay, Lady Alastair?"
Unfortunately, Alastair couldn't clearly hear her worried words. A headache was occupying every bit of her mind and attention. She felt nausea and wanted to throw up. Her body began to shiver as cold sweat dripped from her forehead. At that moment, Alastair's sight got covered in black.
She collapsed...
Alastair couldn't understand what had happened. She didn't know why such a severe headache struck her out of nowhere. She couldn't feel anything, nor could she see, smell, or hear anything. She was confused as her heart began wildly beating for no reason. It didn't take a while until a small light appeared in her sight, covered in darkness.
Without any hesitation, she took hold of the light, which then disappeared. Though, a second later, it exploded from her and enveloped her entire perception. It was like a flashbang, which lasted for a long time. Seven seconds later, the flashbang faded as Alastair's senses returned back to her.
Alastair immediately opened her eyelids to observe what happened to her. What she saw next shocked her. She was sitting on a chair while a teacher was discussing right in front. The classroom highly resembled the one in the military academy, which even made her more confused.
Words then sounded right beside her.
"Oi, Alastair... Did you have a nightmare?"
A beautiful girl said with a soothing tone. The girl was none other than Elpis, Alastair's first friend. Upon seeing Elpis, Alastair furrowed her eyebrows as she questioned with a calm voice. "Where is Soteria? How did I get here?" Such were the questions plaguing her mind.
Noticing Alastair's confusion and questions, Elpis loudly chuckled without any hesitation. Their classmates immediately turned their gaze towards the loud one while the teacher discussing upfront raised an eyebrow and warned with a calm voice. "Be quiet, Elpis. Do you want to meet the guidance counselor again?"
After hearing the words of the teacher, Elpis immediately shut her mouth. She would rather not meet the guidance counselor, no matter the circumstances. For her, that woman was nothing more than a demon pretending to be a beautiful lady. The emperor probably summoned that demon.
Elpis looked at Alastair and uttered with a smirk plastered on her face.
"Did you have a realistic nightmare, Alastair?"
"Well, I also got that yesterday, and it was extremely realistic. I even wondered if it really happened." Elpis questioned herself with a smile plastered on her face. The two of them had been best friends for a long time, and they were about to graduate from this academy.
"Realistic nightmare?" Alastair wondered with a questioning tone as she couldn't remember what she had dreamed of. The only thing she knew was that it was a long and bad dream which consisted of her future. She went through a lot of things and was finally in a life she could consider excellent along with someone she considered important.
But who was that someone important?
Alastair was sure that it wasn't Elpis as that one was too gorgeous to even be compared to her friend.
"Oi, why do I feel like you are insulting me in your thoughts?" Elpis pouted as she had always been right with her instincts relating to Alastair. While thinking about Alastair, an event that happened yesterday then echoed throughout her mind.
"Alastair, did you like the clothes I bought for you yesterday?"
"It was hard for me to decide as every clothing you wore seemed to make you more gorgeous. So I bought everything in the store. I remembered you trying to stop me, only to get countered with the money speech. That was fun." Elpis sighed as a lot of things had happened yesterday.
'That was right... Elpis bought me clothes yesterday. Did it repeat in my dream?' Alastair thought to herself as the confusion within her mind was beginning to clear up. Elpis gazed upon Alastair as she noticed the soft confusion plastered on Alastair's face. A slight smile formed on her face as she asked with a soothing tone.
"Was the dream scary?"
"It wasn't just scary... It was long and hard. I didn't know what to do. I was confused. I was angry. Why am I saying this?" Alastair explained her dream, which she questioned at the end. She couldn't clearly remember it, but she still felt it. The sorrow, pain, hate, and anger.
"The first time you slept in class. You got a long and horrifying dream. How unlucky are you, Alastair? Aren't you too paranoid? Why don't we visit my place after class? My parents have been meaning to meet you." Elpis wanted to introduce her best friend to her parents.
"Oh, right... I didn't manage to meet your parents." Alastair said while shaking her head.
"Of course... After all, you were too shy and scared to meet my friends. You were probably thinking. How could I meet the great parents of my gorgeous friend?" Elpis said with a teasing tone as Alastair raised an eyebrow and denied it with a calm voice. "I believe that's not me."
"Ain't that too blunt," Elpis remarked as Alastair immediately replied without any hesitation. "Blunt or not, if I say something like that. It might be my secret twin or a clone secretly created without my consent. That is the only possibility. Nothing more, nothing less."
As always, the two friends were constantly bickering with each other. However, in the friendship between the two, Alastair was the weird one despite Elpis being too noisy. For a simple explanation, Alastair was the most straightforward person for no reason. She would always say things within her mind without hesitation or fear of social repercussions.
Such was the reason why no one within the academy wanted to befriend her. Alastair wanted to change such a fact, so with this in mind, Alastair rarely talked to anyone other than her best friend. But even then, when her mouth opens, only bluntness will escape from it.
During Elpis's entire time with Alastair, she became dense enough to Alastair's remarks which were why she lasted so long. Besides, she also took a liking to Alastair's straightforward personality. Elpis also managed to create a counter-plan against Alastair's bluntness.
It was fighting with logic.
With enough logic, Elpis would be able to counter Alastair's personality. That was the reason why she managed to forcefully buy Alastair a lot of clothing from the store. It took a lot of training to create such a counter, and Elpis was proud of it.
"A clone of you, huh? Wouldn't that be interesting... Two Alastair's hitting each other with their bluntness. Now that I think about it, such a situation is extremely intriguing." Elpis uttered as if an idea had emerged within her mind. Alastair noticing Elpis's action, immediately resisted.
"Don't do it... Also, cloning technology hasn't been achieved, so don't bother."
"Oi, oi, Alastair. Did you know what my parents taught me?" Elpis asked with a smirk plastered on her face. Alastair furrowed her eyebrows and questioned with a calm voice. "What is it? To be a perfect noble for all to follow?" Elpis slightly chuckled and replied. "Aside from that..."
"With money, dreams can be achieved. If it doesn't work, then you simply aren't using enough money."
"That's a bad lesson... You should replace money with violence." Alastair gave a suggestion to that short speech of Elpis. Once again, the two of them enjoyed their time together. Alastair's time in the academy was the best thing that had ever happened to her life.
It was like the Valhalla for Alastair, and she was willing to do anything to protect it.
The teacher was looking at the two from afar and sighed. One would be extremely satisfied if the troublemakers graduated from the academy. Let the imperial court handle them instead. Such were the teacher's thoughts, and as time was almost reaching graduation. He was about to meet his peace.
Elpis continued talking to herself about her future plans. Alastair calmly listened and sometimes denied some of Elpis's dreams without any hesitation. Alastair chuckled when she saw Elpis pout, which always resulted in Elpis's anger. Alastair hoped that even after graduation. The two of them would still continue being best friends.
Alastair gazed upon Elpis and said with a tranquil voice.
"Thank you, Elpis. I had already given up the chance to have a normal life. But even then, you were there to give me this chance which I had already given up. At first, I thought of you as a haughty noble like many others. Though, you still have your own dreams, which I lacked."
Elpis stopped talking about herself as she froze upon hearing Alastair's words. She didn't know what to say as she found herself shocked. Elpis never expected to hear such words from her friend, who she considered a merciless girl.
"I do not know if you had heard of this, but... You were the best thing that had ever happened in my entire life." Alastair sincerely smiled.
For some reason, small tears escaped from Alastair's eyes. She wondered why such tears emerged, and she questioned why she said such words without any further consideration.
But, seconds later, images that Alastair had seen in her nightmare emerged before her eyes. It was an instant glimpse that she couldn't clearly see. Alastair then looked at Elpis, who was frozen. It still took a while for Elpis to get out of her trance.
After getting out of her frozen state, Elpis smiled at Alastair and replied. "Thank you-"
What came after was the beginning...
*BOOOM!!!*