บท 4: Chapter 1: Astral Awakening
"Bold italic": Talk in mind
Bold: Coms
Italic: Thoughts
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3rd Person Pov
It's a beautiful morning in Tengu City, everyone in the city is doing their usual morning routine. People can be seen walking down the side road heading to their workplace, some are also standing at the bus stop waiting for a bus. All in all, it seems normal like any other day in the city. Everyone for the most part has recovered from the huge spacequake that happened 30 years ago. It caused many deaths and billions of yen in destruction.
Meanwhile, in the middle of a forest near Tengu City, a crystal-clear water lake is located. This lake is famously called Stargazer's Lake, one of the most crowded tourist spots during the holidays. It's famous because of the crystal clear water that acts as a perfect mirror of the night sky. But this place also has a history that many tales have told. Many believe this lake is where the first spirit was born. The stories about it always mention how it healed people but at a cost. The cost varies from story to story as it is different for every person and situation. Although the stories vary, two things that stayed the same between all of them are the spirits' calming aura and name, Spirit of Origin.
Near the lake, two figures appear to be sisters. While one looks like a teenager, the other one appears to be younger. The scene is a wholesome one as both of them are sleeping with the younger one leaning on the older sister.
The wind blows softly around them, and the sun's rays pass through the canopy of the forest as nature celebrates the birth of the first neutral spirits. Neutral spirits are the only peaceful type of spirits when compared to the other types.
The city's people have loved neutral spirits since the first one was born shortly after the great spacequake 30 years ago. This is only possible due to the neutral spirit's peaceful nature, kindness, and the fact that they rarely cause intentional destruction to their surroundings. This has allowed neutral spirits to be accepted by the general population and allows them to have a relationship of mutual benefit with the city and the AST. This allows them to roam around with no worries of being captured. Unfortunately at the present people only know of neutral spirits from stories, rumors, and from the very few written accords of them.
The sisters slowly regain consciousness. Both sisters open their eyes and blink twice before looking around to get their bearings. As the older sister slowly sits up and starts to focus, the younger sister decides to move closer to her.
???#1: Ugh, my head... Where am I?
???#2: Onee-chan...? Are you okay?
Only after hearing the unknown voice did she notice the younger girl. The younger girl meets her gaze with a look of concern.
???#1: Huh? Who are you?
???#2: *pout* Griseo onee-chan are you serious? It's me Astrae.
Griseo: Oh, it's you, Astrae. Sorry, I must have hit my head a bit too hard.
Astrae observes Griseo closely while putting her hand on Griseo's forehead. She fortunately finds nothing out of place.
Astrae: Griseo onee-chan are you okay?
Griseo: I'm fine Astrae, just a bit dizzy from earlier.
Astrae: That's good, here let me help you get up.
With Astrae's help, Griseo gets on her feet while still a bit shaky from the dizziness from earlier. After a few moments, she regains her balance as she recovers. Finally shaking off the dizziness Griseo takes a closer look at her surroundings.
Griseo: Astrae, where are we?
Astrae: Onee-chan? *pouting* If you don't know then how would I know.
Griseo: I see a lake nearby, should we check it out?
Astrae: *with sparkling eyes* Yes!
With a plan of action they make their way toward the lake, when they arrive they see that the lake is crystal clear. The closer they get to it the more noticeable the resonance with the lake they have. This is because they are neutral spirits.
In normal people's eyes, the lake looks like an ordinary lake but in Griseo and Astrae's eyes, despite it being the middle of the day, the lake is almost a very bright neon with swirls of colorful energies. The energies range from lightest greens and blue to the darkest reds and purples that are always moving forming intricate patterns that last but a mere second before moving to another.
Astrae: Wow, onee-chan being close to this lake makes me never want to leave.
Griseo: I agree, it feels nice and peaceful around this lake.
Astrae: Onee-chan look! Do you see it, the lake is glowing
Griseo: Yeah, I see it.
Unbeknownst to them, their resonance with the lake was seen far and wide by the pillar of light emitted from them.
Astrae: Onee-chan, can I go for a swim in it, please?
Griseo: Maybe another time, we still need to figure out where we are, and find a place to stay.
Astrae: Awww, if you say so onee-chan.
Griseo: Be that as it may, I also want to stay a bit longer before we go.
Astrae: Yay!
A while later the pair suddenly hear the footsteps of multiple people are heard heading towards them.
Astrae: Do you hear that onee-chan?
Griseo: Yeah, I hear that.
A few moments later both of them see a lot of people and journalists coming. This certainly scared both of them. It doesn't take long before both of them are surrounded.
???#1: Wow, so the rumors are true.
???#2: Yeah, they exist alright.
Griseo: Uhm Astrae what's going on?
Astrae: I don't know.
The group of people surrounding them start bombarding them with questions. Griseo and Astrae are still incredibly confused about what's happening around them and can't answer the questions thrown at them.
Meanwhile at Ratatoskr
Reine Pov
Kotori and I quickly rushed toward the command center of Fraxinus after getting the report that two spirits appeared. Kotori quickly went and sat down as she looked at the other crew members to get updated on the situation.
Kotori: What's the status?
A hologram screen appears in front of Kotori showing the 2 spirits surrounded by civilians.
Kannazuki: The two spirits that just appeared are seen at the Stargazer's Lake and it seems that the pillar of light they emitted has attracted many people.
Kotori: WHAT?! Shouldn't they evacuate? Why have they surrounded the spirits instead?
Minowa: That's because when those spirits appeared there was no space quake at all. It's like they just popped into existence.
Kotori: Huh? No spacequake at all? Are we sure they are spirits then?
Me: No spacequake huh? Could they possibly be... I should tell the commander about this.
Me: A suggestion commander.
Kotori: What is it, Reine?
Me: I suggest you and I approach them and then run a scan. I have a feeling they are neutral spirits.
Kotori and the other crew except Reine: Neutral spirit? What is that?
Me: From what I have read, neutral spirits are a very special type of spirit, even rarer and less known about than inverse spirits. From their history, it was written they appeared for the first time after the Spirit of Origin appeared.
Me: According to the people who lived back then and what is written about them, neutral spirits are believed to be the children of the Spirit of Origin.
Kotori: I see, but that still doesn't explain why the people are not scared of them.
Reine: Well, it's also written that they are pretty friendly and passive unless provoked. It should also be noted that neutral spirits have two documented emotional states, the first one is very nonchalant and laid back while the second one is noted to have very fragile emotions, so until we know which one these spirits have we must watch our words.
Kotori: Noted, anything else?
Reine: If it's confirmed that they are indeed neutral spirits, I can continue to investigate further.
Kannazuki: Commander you and Reine should go now. The spirits are making their move since the crowd is leaving.
Kotori: Then we should go now. Reine, you're with me.
Me: Affirmative.
With a plan in place, we quickly make our way to the teleporter room. We enter the teleport chamber before setting our destination to the edge of the city closest to the lake. After we get teleported to our destination, we look at each other
Kotori: Now then, let's find those spirits.
Meanwhile with Griseo and Astrae.
Griseo Pov
We finally managed to escape, the people were only satisfied after an hour of questions. It took a while after that but all of them finally left and we were once more alone in the park. I look at my younger self who proclaims that she is my little sister. After a few moments of thinking about it, I accept that as a fact and move on. Astrae looks incredibly tired from answering questions nonstop for an hour.
Me: Are you feeling alright? You look drained.
Astrae: I'm fine, just tired. I could use a drink though.
Me: Same here, we should go explore the nearby city and find somewhere to stay.
Astrae: Sounds like a plan onee-chan.
A few minutes of searching later we find the path that goes towards the city. It took us a few hours and getting lost a couple of times to finally make it to the city. We met several other people on our walk who gave us directions and pointed us in the right direction. A little way after that we found out that both of us could float above the ground and it thankfully made our travel faster.
As we step out of the forest path and enter the city all the people in the vicinity stop what they're doing and look at us. Astrae and I notice right away that almost all of them whispering among themselves.
Astrae: Uhm, onee-chan where do we go now?
Me: I don't know, let's just wander around the city for the time being.
As we continue walking around, we seem to be getting even more attention. I noticed that it made Astrae quite uncomfortable. Some of the people tried to approach us but they always pulled back at the last second.
After a while of aimless wandering, we ended up sitting down on a bench in the city park. The park wasn't that big with a small playground on one end, an open grassy area in the middle, and a slightly forested area towards the other end. Thankfully the bench we decided on had plenty of shade. Almost as soon as we sat down Astrae leaned on my shoulder before finally getting comfortable.
Astrae: We have roamed around for a while now and still don't know much about this city or where we are.
Me: Yeah, I get you. I feel like I know some things but can't figure out what it is.
While we were too focused on talking with each other, neither of us noticed the footsteps approaching us, and the armored girls that were above us watching us.
???#1: You two seem confused, do you need help?
Earlier with the AST
Origami Pov
After putting on my AST realizer I quickly make my way toward the meeting room. My squad has just been assigned another mission and we are being debriefed. Upon entering the meeting room for the briefing I head to my assigned position.
Ryouko Kusakabe: The higher-ups have given us a new mission.
A holographic screen appears in front of us and a video of two spirits appearing from thin air lying on the grass, appearing to be sleeping near Stargazer's Lake.
Ryouko Kusakabe: As you can see, these two spirits are different from the others. They just appeared out of thin air and didn't cause a spacequake like normal.
The holographic screen shows another picture of the two spirits being surrounded by civilians followed by one showing them roaming the city.
Ryouko Kusakabe: The spirits even act friendly toward the civilians. This behavior is not normal
ASTmember#1: So, what's the plan commander?
Ryouko Kusakabe: The plan is simple we will capture those spirits for further investigations. First, we will try to get as close as possible to the spirit while the HQ scans them. Any more questions?
AST members in the room: No commander!
Ryouko Kusakabe: Then we will be departing in 10 minutes. Go and make your final preparations.
The room echoes with a loud "YES COMMANDER" from all AST members present.
Back to Present.
Griseo Pov
Two strangers approach us, asking whether the both of us need help. Taking a closer look at the two strangers that just approached us we notice that they are dressed quite differently than anyone else we have seen so far. Astrae instinctively gets closer to me for protection, seemingly scared of the two strangers.
Me: ...
???#2: Aw, your sister is adorable.
Astrae grips me tighter letting me know that she is very uncomfortable.
Me: Enough, what do you two want?
???#1: Relax, we were walking by until we saw how both of you looked incredibly confused. So, we decide to approach and see if everything is fine.
Me: I see, well my sister and I are new to the city so we are a bit confused.
???#2: We could help you two to get familiar with the city. How does that sound?
Me: That sounds like a great idea, what are your names?
???#1: I'm Reine, and my red-haired companion is Kotori.
Kotori: Nice to meet you two, what about- WATCH OUT!
Right as Kotori said that I instinctively grabbed Astrae and luckily dodged a strange device that came from out of nowhere. I immediately put my guard up and looked around only to see several armored girls slowly descending from the sky with their weapons aimed at me and Astrae. Astrae seems to know what she needs to do and climbs onto my back while I glare at Kotori and Reine.
Me: *angry* So you tricked us and intentionally got close to us so they could capture us.
Kotori: Wait, this is all a misunderstanding.
Me: Sure it is.
Noticing another device coming towards us I quickly dodge it. Astrae holds tightly onto me as I start running. The armored girls continue flying after us while launching more of their devices at us. The people in the area have their eyes on us, I see that a lot of them have a worried gaze.
Me: Tch, we need to lose them. Any ideas?
Astrae: I'm thinking onee-chan.
Continuing down the sidewalk I manage to dodge the devices shot at us, with a few close calls. Soon we reach an intersection and make a sharp right turn. All of a sudden a hand suddenly appears and grabs us and pulls us into an alleyway. The person then quickly puts a hand over both my and Astrae's mouths.
???: Shhh, don't make any noise or we will be found.
Shouting is heard from the area we just left.
AST Member#1: WHERE'D THEY GO?!
AST Member#2: They were just here, how did we lose them?
After a couple of minutes of searching, the flying girls having no luck finding us, left the area to search elsewhere. As they left, the person uncovered our mouths and stepped in front of us, allowing us to get a look at our helper.
???: Are you two okay?
Astrae: Yeah, thanks to you MS.?
???: My name is Miku Izayoi, I was walking around and saw you two being chased. It's an honor to help neutral spirits such as yourselves.
Me: *on guard* And how do you know what we are?
Miku: From the media, it spread pretty fast around the city. Besides, it's not hard to connect the dots with your unique appearance
Me: I see, well thanks Miku-san but me and my sister have to be on our way now.
As I am about to walk away Miku suddenly grabs my arm while looking at the finally asleep Astrea on my back.
Miku: Why don't you two come with me?
Me :*turns around and faces Miku* Huh? Are you sure about that Miku-san?
Miku: Yes, I don't mind at all. Besides, my house has a lot of unused rooms.
Me: I see, If you're sure about it then lead the way Miku-san.
Miku does just that and leads us toward her "house" while I continue to carry Astrae on my back as I don't want to move her and wake her up.
Me: This will be interesting... I do hope Astrae and I can find peace in this city...
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