Chapter Text
Even sure I am about to die, even sure my Master is about to die I want to laugh. I return from failing to steal Castalia's stone and not only does Melpomene not seem bothered, but she just wants me to inspect some artifact she found? And then when the stupid thing misfires it somehow launches us into an insane abyss that manages to feel far more alien than the dark world ever did? I am not that lucky, and the humor of being proven wrong for once is almost enough to overcome the agony of knowing that whatever the artifact did my Master did not want this. A blue scar in space hangs behind us as Melpomene grabs me by the back of my shirt, suspending me in midair as the bed Melpomene was sitting on when we were thrust into this place tumbles into the void.
"Luna!" My Master hisses. "What just happened? Where are we?"
Right, I should probably be present in the moment. As absurdly lethal as a situation this would be for a normal human neither myself or Melpomene fits that requirement. The air is thin and cold, but nothing there is nothing that would make survival impossible as the initial violence of being transported here suggested, not for an Earth Guardian like Mel.
"I have no idea," I respond. "My best guess is that the artifact created an artificial convergence, though only because the mechanics were similar to being thrust into liminal space. We were brought through, the bed you were touching was brought through, but nothing else."
The transit somehow broke open my storage space too. I was decidedly not wearing my skinsuit before, but now it has been ejected right back onto my body, and it landed there wrong. The remnants of intent in my spell seem to have prevented it from it from straight up materializing in my arm and being destroyed, but most of the wires to regulate expressions and the like failed to hook up. At least most of my sensors made it. If a magical effect had been specifically targeting my storage space I doubt my skinsuit would have survived, so it likely was some tangential effect of transit, not a threat I need to be thinking about right now. The only other things present in the void with us are occasional mats of bio-luminescent algae, spare detritus, and the sparse concrete structures much of the aforementioned junk is resting on. The otherwise empty space does expand the effective range of my sensors though, and after a few moments of scanning in every direction I finally detect something we can use.
"We need to go that way," I say as I point into the distance. "There is a faint emotional signature a few miles away, and that must mean something is alive over there. Hopefully that means there will be somewhere we can set down and try to find our way out of here."
"Do you not still have the artifact? Activate it again, bring us home! This is not the time to disappear, not when this was our chance to challenge Castalia! How incompetent are you that a simple inspection of that damn trinket lead to this?" She seethes in response.
"Yes, I still have it, but a bunch of the circuits burnt out when it misfired," I sigh, "And besides, this is what happened when it activated the first time, do you really want to do it again?"
The only response I get is a burst of frustration and disgust, but she starts flying towards the hint of emotion in the distance anyway.I look down to inspect the artifact that brought us here. It is little more than a greebled football with an air intake and a few unlabeled buttons. I had barely picked the thing up when it sent us here but I think I understand it a bit better now. The air intakes seem to be designed to take in miasma and store the magic contained in it somehow. Otherwise there is a button I suspect would drain out the miasma slowly, one that would release it in an explosive burst, and a port for power to be siphoned out into some other machine. The intake and storage chambers look corroded, as if there was simply far too much magic contained in a small package. This thing wasn't built to handle density like an LCI, but it was sitting in the dark world successfully compacting magic presumably since the great execration. My handling must have disturbed all that magic, teleporting us here. Is density of magic what makes Dark World shards collide with Earth? If that is what happened there wouldn't be a way home, which... I don't need to worry about right now.
I cut the budding spiral off as our destination becomes visible in the distance, banishing the artifact into my storage space with a quick spell. The source of the emotion I sensed is a network of glowing threads connecting to flat white cubes 4 meters a side, all in the shape of a skyscraper. Fear and a hint of anger are bleeding from the whole construction at once, made more difficult to read by how diffuse it is, each box and wire producing emotion that, when taken together, is only the output of a relatively standard soul.
Before Melpomene can set me down three girls twist into existence in front of us, as if stepping in from a higher dimension. I feel my mind slow as I begin to assess this unknown new threat. On the left is what appears to be a red mage, with a goth design to her dress and an eye whose scelera is black and her iris red. As soon as I look lower than her eye-
Automated alert: Don't think about boobs
-my eyes slide to next girl. At the center of the formation flies a joy mage in a pleated skirt and white blouse with yellow frills. A dragon tail that is notably nothing like what dark world corruption could ever produce sprouts from her back, an iridescent white making her look like Melpomene's not-evil-twin. Finally the third girl has shining blue eyes, fangs, and an otherwise standard guardian uniform, though she is feeling far more anticipation (and lust) than a blue mage should. These three should be impossible. They're Melpomene's age. There are no Earth Guardians as old as Melpomene and Castalia. The telltale auras of emotion that follow Earth Guardians in their incarnate forms are completely absent as well, which should be similarly impossible given that they are flying barely 15 feet from where Mel is still dangling me from the scruff of my neck like a rowdy kitten.
I set to creating a spell to set my skinsuit right. I am not interested in fighting anyone whose capabilities I don't understand, and since I'm inevitably going to need to to carry the diplomatic efforts I will need to be able to emote like a normal person. I settle on plugging in cords with a shitty, inefficient telekinesis because I don't need speed or precision so much as I do subtlety, and this way I don't need to speak the spell aloud.
"Who are you and why are you approaching Todai from fourspace?" The white dragon demands, breaking the silence.
"My name is Melpomene dear. Now might I ask who you all are? and where we are? I don't recognize the name Todai so I suspect you have me at a disadvantage," Melpomene responds in her in her melodic about-to-fuck-up-a-sales-pitch tone.
This does not seem to set the dragon girl at ease in the slightest, and I begin typing furiously on my phone, hoping I can cut in before Melpomene says something disastrous.
"I'm Opal and these are my fellow Radiances Sapphire and Heliotrope. The building you are approaching is lighthouse tower, our base of operations, and this area is restricted both in realspace and in fourspace. Now please tell me why. You. Are. Here."
Melpomene begins to bristle at the curt answer, but luckily I am a robot and have finished typing already.
"Hi! I'm Luna, so sorry about the confusion and trespassing, but we are very far from home and I am beginning to suspect we are far further than I thought. Are we still on Earth? Do you have a way out of whatever this is? If you do could we please take it and talk there? I'm not sure how the oily air out here is going to affect me but I doubt it will be good for my immune disorder," my phone blares at a still unimpressive volume. Hopefully a little deference and a bit of guilt tripping with my made up disability will get us out of the most immediate danger, which is being left out here without a way back.
The trio's eyes all slide to me, and past the initial cursory glance they acknowledge me as a participant in the standoff for the first time. 'Opal' looks somewhat guilty when I bring up my fake disability and she shoots a glance at Heliotrope, who gives a small shrug. Seemingly taking that as permission she turns back to address us.
"Yes we can talk somewhere more comfortable. I do expect to talk, and for you to answer some questions though," she says before turning to Sapphire. "Hina, if you would?"
Melpomene gives an annoyed hum, but acquiesces and takes one of the two proffered hands when the girl apparently named Hina flies up to us, smile on her face. I take the other, and with a twist in the surroundings my sensors can barely make sense of we land in a shockingly mundane conference room. I waste no time in breaking into the local wifi, finding and sorting through Todai's Wikipedia page as quickly as I can. Moments after connecting though the network stops responding to me completely. Running the signal through my phone first buys me another moment of connection to confirm neither Castalia nor Preservers return much of anything before I my phone's signals stop responding as well. Sapphire takes a seat at the far end of the table, and the door opens for Opal, Heliotrope, and an android to file in. The Radiances take a seat alongside Sapphire, but the android walks right up to me and glares.
"Take the disguise off. And no internet until we can trust you."
My gut twists with the thought that I have failed to keep my Master's secrets for the second time today, though when I glance up at her she just nods her assent without so much as looking at me.
"[Sᴋᴇᴛɪsᴏʜ]"
"Holy shit, they aren't flame bearers, are they?"
I first had the thought when I saw Luna ask if they were still on Earth through Alice's body camera, but had initially dismissed it with Occam's razor. Far more likely that this was some strange trick than something more unique. But the disappearance of the disguise without any kind of ripple at all? The not-glyphs circle that appeared as if snapwoven? The fascinating robot at least as unique as Ebi, who the Peacies wouldn't waste on a stupid trick? This was something real, something far more interesting than a lie.
"Is that what you meant by something more then?" Takagiri asks wryly, having clocked my interest from her position pacing behind me and Amane. "Don't get ahead of yourself, making a show of yanking something into fourspace without ripple isn't impossible. The spell circle could be smoke and mirrors."
"I- well yeah, I suppose she looks a bit like what I meant by that," I stammer out, "but it isn't just that, remember the way they were talking? Neither of them recognized the name Todai, and they weren't sure they were even on Earth anymore! Does the dragon lady look like much of a liar to you?"
While we were talking Hina had been busy sniffing around Luna, even popping partially into fourspace for a few moments. Melpomene finally pointedly clears her throat, prompting Hina to back off.
"Sorry, sorry! It's just that trick was fascinating, your skinsuit wasn't just offset a few feet ana or kata, was it?" Hina hurriedly apologizes, vindicating me forever.
Before Luna can comment on the observation Yuuka cuts in, "We aren't playing twenty questions kemeno, if you gave them a chance to answer Alice's questions maybe we could be done with this before 4 am."
Luna nods, her speakers firing back up in response, "Yeah, we should stay on topic because any introductions are going to need to come with a history lesson. We are on a whole different Earth, Mel. No Preservers, no Earth Guardians, and a completely different magic system."
Melpomene's face turns stony, but she begins to explain all the same, "Very well then. An abridged history of the Earth Guardians: fifteen years ago unintelligent, violent, magical monsters began to invade Earth. Conventional weapons unable to so much as scratch them. Soon, the Preservers arrived, distributing magic to ten year olds so that they could fight back against the hordes. I was one of those original 50 chosen, and one of two survivors. Six years ago I finally began to question the Preservers, to question why they refused to allow us to learn about the Antipathy. Why this supposedly advanced civilization solves it's problems by feeding children to the wolves without so much as training them. When the Preservers took action to stop me I left, hiding out in a Dark World fragment, forming the Dark Rebellion. Luna is also a member of the Dark Rebellion, and when we were inspecting an Antipathy artifact together it malfunctioned and dropped us here."
Alice does not seem any more comfortable for having heard Melpomene's explanation. "I see... and is there any risk of the Preservers following you here? What are their capabilities if they do? What are your capabilities?"
Luna takes the initiative in response, "They wouldn't follow us. I don't know how preservers do cross-dimensional travel, but we know they can't find us in the Dark World, and they would have no idea we have ever left. Also, the Preservers themselves never interfere. They insist on acting exclusively through their EGs, in order to expose humanity to as little magic as possible."
"And your capabilities?" Alice prompts one last time.
Melpomene smirks at that "I am the eldest and strongest Earth Guardian, dear. Suffice it to say I am very hard to hurt, and I can level skyscrapers in mere moments."
"Well then," Alice sighs, sounding more exhausted then truly threatened, "if you would please remain here for a moment while we step outside to discuss this?"
After a brief nod from Melpomene Alice steps out into the hallway and unmutes us from the call.
"This couldn't have happened at a worse time," she sighs.
"Yeah. Even with all the bullshit we still need to kill Sugawara tonight. There just isn't time to delay," Yuuka responds.
"Are you seeing anything that would stop us from just leaving them here? It's not as if she has any problem with us," Hina says.
"That- god yeah actually I don't see them doing anything tonight. There is something in a week but... but nothing it can wait until after Sugawara is dead."
After a few minutes of negotiation and the restoration of Luna's internet access the duo agrees to wait with Amane, Takagiri, and I. Deciding on the duo's exact status at lighthouse can wait until tomorrow, when everyone has gotten some sleep. We end up huddled in the corner of a smaller conference room, squeezing in to watch a monitor oriented away from our guests, not quite ready to extend them the trust to let them watch an active combat operation yet. Ebi is on the other side of the desk, actually watching our guests as the rest of us are meant to be doing. The operation was going, well, not fine but as fine as it could be given one dead Todai employee and one tortured one. Then thorns drip through the computer monitor, and Sugawara's necrotic soul takes shape on the desk in front of us. Before any of us can react beyond scrambling out of our seats a metal hand seizes the brambles and throws them across the room, into an empty corner.
"[M ᴇ ɢ ᴀ B ᴜ s ᴛ ᴇ ʀ]"
A blue ball of energy fires from Luna's hand, detonating on impact with what remains of Sugawara, leaving nothing behind but a hole in the plaster wall and cracks in the flooring. Shouting fills the room.
"Kare wa shinda nodesu ka?"
"Double tap! Make sure it's dead!"
"Fuck!"
Luna turns around and raises her hands placatingly "Don't worry, his soul was already crippled but now it is completely dissolved. That should be it."
"..."
"Sore, Rockman no neta?" Amane asks.
Luna laughs, "Yeah it was! Spells names have to be emotionally resonant, they have to mean something to the caster, so mine are mostly video game references."
"LUNA," Melpomene cuts in, "Don't give away information about our spellcasting!"
Ebi plays the sound of a call being accepted, and suddenly the whole room is on speakerphone.
"Ebi? What happened? We lost contact with you after Sugawara rushed me and disappeared."
"Sugawara crawled through the camera and out of our monitor somehow, and then Luna was kind enough to step in and kill him," Ebi explains with far more calm than is reasonable for the situation.
"He came into the tower? Alive?" Alice hisses.
Luna speaks up, "He came through as a disembodied soul with some kind of magical structure holding him together in the absence of a brain. I'm not sure he could really be described as alive at that point."
"LUNA!"
Luna somehow manages to look chastened, despite not having a face. "That isn't even information about our magic, that isn't how-" she cuts herself off abruptly, falling back into a neutral stance. "Fine. I get it."
Alice soldiers on despite the byplay, "I don't care if he came through dead or alive, did you get him? Is he gone?"
"Hai, he is gone," Amane interjects.
"Alright, at least it's over. We will be another half hour cleaning up here, see you all soon."
An hour later and Takagiri is finally asleep, our guests have been shown to their bedroom for the night (separate rooms were offered but Luna insisted they were unnecessary), and there is one final conference to discuss whatever the hell was going on with the dimension hoppers. I pull out my flame to help Yuuka see whatever she had dismissed earlier, and hopefully to put everyone's minds at ease about the whole situation.
Yuuka nods, seemingly coming to a conclusion, "Yep, it's what I thought. We're gonna kill Melpomene in a week."