Fleeing

Before we get back to it, let me just say: isn’t it incredible that Sayane could be reborn in a realm that somehow spoke Japanese?! Like, what are the odds?! How utterly convenient! Anyways!

Sayane lay weeping on the ground.

“Why would they throw her in here with us?” asked a silky voice.

Sobs were finally subsiding, and Sayane’s eyes dared to open. Another menagerie of surreal creatures both cute and terrifying sat before her as she turned to face them. As they realized she was waking, all of them turned to greet her.

A round, fuzzy ball with four eyes and a body-width mouth of fangs smiled up at Sayane, causing her to flinch and pull her legs inward in terror.

“No no no no no, please don’t eat me!” Sayane begged.

“Eat you? Why on earth would I do that?” laughed the fuzzmaw.

The other creatures all laughed.

“Why are you in here, she-hume?” asked a large translucent bird.

“I… I don’t know… I don’t know what’s happening! I think I died…” Sayane cried as she put her hands over her face.

“What do you mean?” asked the bird.

“I was singing on stage, but I got crushed by something very heavy. Then I woke up in a strange room surrounded by all these unusual instruments unlike anything I’ve seen, then I got questioned, then thrown in here…” Sayane sighed.

None of the creatures spoke. Something seemed off. There was an air of dread and wonder. Finally, the fuzzy mouth spoke.

“You… you are a songstress?” it asked.

It stuck with Sayane that this was the second time she’d been asked such a question.

“Yes…” she replied as she forced herself up on to her palms.

“ I was singing to myself in that room, thinking I was going to die, then I woke up here…”

“You sang?! Out loud?! Surrounded by the forbidden instruments?!” the bird asked in utter shock.

“Was that bad?” Sayane asked, still very much confused.

“No!!!” they all replied with a laugh.

“Wow! Imagine it! Hearing a songstress sing in the presence of the lost sounds! What wonder!” said a small rodent with ears the size of its body.

All the others agreed. None of this seemed right for Sayane.

“Why is that special?…” she asked.

Her cellmates all stopped and looked at her in surprise.

“Are you truly not from here?” asked the rodent.

“I… I don’t think so…”

“Music has been banned for almost one hundred years. The Silence made sure no one could ever hear it or perform it, thus making sure that magic was never used again…” explained the bird, as though that made sense.

Sayane shook her head in confusion. As she did, the heavy footfall of the large beast echoed from down the hall. All of the creatures looked up in legitimate fear.

“You told them you were a songstress?” asked the fuzzy fangs.

“Yes… they said they gave me a truth drink…”

All of the creatures gasped and sighed.

“Oh no no no…” whispered the bird.

By now, all the creatures seemed terrified.

“They’re going to try to take her song!” growled the fuzzy mouth.

“What?!” asked Sayane.

“We have to protect her! When he arrives to fetch her, we must lay down our lives for her!” commanded the rodent, to which everyone agreed.

“What?! No! Why?!” Sayane screeched in shock.

None of them answered. Each footstep was bringing the beast closer.

“For the revolution,” whispered the bird.

“For the revolution,” replied the others.

“What are you doing?! What is happening?!!!” Sayane asked in desperation as the creatures all began to stand.

“Stay alive. We will stall him. Flee down the hall. Do not stop running, she-hume,” ordered the rodent.

“No, please! What is happening? I don’t want this!” Sayane pleaded, but it was too late.

The beast was there. As soon as the lock was undone and the door was opened, the entire cell rushed forward in a flurry of roars and screams, and all of the creatures began to claw, bite, tear, rip, and pull at the roaring beast.

“Run she-hume! Run!!” screamed the rodent just before the beast’s enormous fist crushed it into a pulp.

Shock propelled Sayane forward to the door. As she limped forward, the beast ripped the bird’s wings away and flung the corpse into the wall before lurching forward to pursue her. The remaining creatures desperately leapt in its way, but all of them were crushed and broken in a single swing of rage. Screams of pain mixed with roars of frustration as Sayane spun across a corner and continued down the hall away from the cell.

Behind her, the beast was swiftly gaining on her. Every step felt like a knife blade was stabbing into her knee. Each breath seemed to fail to provide any oxygen to her lungs. Tears had returned as Sayane began to realize that wherever she was, it was very much real. This wasn’t a dream.

“Please! Help! I need help!” Sayane whispered to herself in terror as she nearly fell over.

Tremors under her feet told her that the beast was close. Outside, beyond the wall, the booms were stronger and more frequent. Everything seems to be shaking. Vision began to blur. Nothing made sense in this place. The beast was on top of her now. A single swing of its clawed fist threw Sayane across the hall and into the wall. Her body collapsed over itself as her ribs cracked on impact and she let out a scream of agony. That didn’t stop the beast. It stepped forward without hesitation and reached for her, but just as it neared her, there was a ground splitting boom outside.

The entire wall exploded away in a concussive burst that moved through the air without a single visible hint. Rubble fell over Sayane as the beast let out a roar and turned to the gaping hole in the wall. Now Sayane could see outside, and the brief image she saw was of a gray blue sky filled with strange airships and streaks of blue energy firing from the ground into the sky while brown smoke billowed in the sky. All above them was a gargantuan sprawling machine city on a massive plate structure that supported by skyscraper-sized columns. Sayane didn’t have time to fully process what she was seeing. Just as the beast let out a roar, something otherworldly landed in the opening.

It was large. As large as the beast. But it was metal. It’s body was similar to the form of a human, but it’s arms were elongated and reinforced with machinery and gears that whirred and pumped as it moved. It’s chest featured a cavity held a single glowing stone. Seeing it caused the beast to roar once more, this time as though it was preparing for battle. The machine did not respond, it merely rushed forward with deafening steps and locked hands with the beast.

Sayane screamed as she crawled along the wall as the two massive beings threw one another to and fro. More stone walls tore away, and Sayane took that as a chance to flee. Gathering all of her strength, she rushed forward from the destroyed hallway and into the battlefield.

“Songstress!!” a voice cried from behind her.

Sayane turned to see the fuzzy mouth, bloodied and torn open, running after her.

“Fuzzy!!” Sayane screamed out as she ran to it and scooped it into her arms.

“My name is Attis!! But I like Fuzzy!” said the wounded creature.

“I’m Sayane! But songstress works too!” Sayane screamed back as she limped towards some nearby ruins.

Beside them, the machine caught a glimpse of her helping the creature before the beast’s punch snapped chunks of metal bracing from its headpiece. There was a hissing sound and a beam charged within the machine’s hand as the blades on its knuckles began to glow. The beast stopped in fright, but it was too late. In a single motion, the machine swung forward with a glowing blue fist and sliced through the beast, severing its head from its body.

Out on the battlefield, blue beams zipped past Sayane and Fuzzy as the two of them reached an outcropping of ruined columns. Explosions tore the ground apart near Sayane’s feet and she screamed as thoughts of being torn to pieces from the impact raced through her mind. Fuzzy crawled from her arms and pressed itself against the wall. Out of the field, Sayane saw white, ashen beings in metal armor fighting with creatures of all sizes. A small fawn screamed nearby as its legs were pinned under a collapsed chunk of stone.

Without thinking, Sayane rushed out to help.

“Songstress!!” Fuzzy screamed.

“I can’t just leave it!” Sayane shouted as she dragged herself onward.

Within a second, Fuzzy was with her, and soon they were at the fawn’s side. More explosions silently ripped away at the world around them, and more screams of terror left Sayane’s mouth as she fought to lift the stone, but it was too heavy. Then, the machine was there. Pressure valves opened and steam hissed from the giant’s metallic shoulders.

“Move! Let me help!!” said a deep, growling voice from inside the machine.

“Azag?! Is that you?!” Fuzzy shouted.

“I’m here!” said the voice.

Sayane stepped back from the rubble and the titan hoisted the stone away with ease. As the stone was lifted away, Sayane grabbed the fawn and pulled it free. Once the fawn was safe, the machine dropped the stone and extended its hands.

“Climb on! I’m getting you all out of here!” shouted the voice.

Not fully understanding why, Sayane agreed and climbed into the metallic palm of the machine driven by the one named Azag. Soon they were fleeing the battlefield, leaving behind the horrible explosions, screams of death, interrogation room, and strange hall of forbidden instruments. As Sayane watched all of it vanish, new tears of horror ran down her dirtied, bloodied face.

This realm was nothing like the world she had known. Her world of rehearsals and recordings seemed like a distant echo now. Every hardship she’d ever experienced now paled in comparison to what she had just experienced, and Sayane found herself begging to wake up. But this was no nightmare. This was Illarios, and this was her new reality.