Pandemonium

"Asta? Asta!" Asta opened his eyes to see Sylbia sitting next to him. "Asta, wake up!"

Asta stood up and rubbed his eyes.
"What is it now Sylbia?" He asked. He looked around. It seemed he had fallen asleep in a playground tube. He quickly got up, and crawled out of the orange cylinder. The morning sun, almost on the verge of shifting to noon, shined down on them brightly.

"Asta, I'm hungry. Let's get food." Asta nodded, his own stomach grumbling. Foodstuffs were not that hard to get on Nyseros, but, due to it's status as an Outer Colony planet, it rarely ever got any attention from the Central Government. Still, the city Asta and Sylbia lived on had, in theory, good architecture and a good connection to the skyports. At least, if it wasn't way past it's prime. But thus was life in the Outer Colonies.

"Alright. What do you want to get?" Asta grabbed Sylbia and helped her down. Though he expected some humorous, ridiculous example, that was part of the fun, was it not?

"Let's get tacos." Sylbia nodded to herself, proudly. "I feel like tacos today." Perhaps not, that was a reasonable request. Shame too, Asta had wanted to see what crazy fantasy Sylbia would come up with.

"Aww, no unicorn clouds or...uh, golden cakes?" Asta asked her, in a joking tone.

"Who ever told you I would want to eat that? That sounds lame." Sylbia said. "But...I wouldn't mind if it's with you!" Sylbia grinned, then jumped up and down. "Even if you come up with lame food combinations."

"You're a lot more creative than me, Syblia. Maybe you should try being a writer someday. I'll publish for you, and do all the boring business stuff, and you can write." Asta smiled. "Maybe we can make enough money to get into the inner colonies."

"Inner colony, inner colony, is that all you talk about?" Sylbia said. "You should have some fun, Asta. It's not fair that you're always..."

"Always what?"

"Nevermind. I want tacos!" Asta laughed as he walked by a few old propaganda posters, something about a reclamation war. The alleyway towards the city center was always dotted with these types of posters. Had been for as long as he had known. Today though, the atmosphere was notably different. Asta ignored it and went up to the taco truck. A small television sat upon the counter. Asta paid it no attention as he ordered the usual, Sylbia's favorite, the Salsa Chicken Taco and dumped a handful of cash onto the counter. He was glad he had learned how to deal with money at the old orphanage now. Asta drove his hand into the ketchup packet box, and grabbed a handful, both for himself and Sylbia. The taco man frowned as he saw Asta take the ketchup packets, but when did he ever smile anyways?

"Asta, are we being invaded?" Sylbia pointed to the swarms of black starships that were bearing down upon the Avalonian behemoths on the television screen. Asta bit his lip in fear as he saw the large ship get torn asunder by the enemy craft at short range. He remembered, Avalon was currently in the process of being invaded by Yirben since three days ago.

"It's...just a movie." Asta pulled Sylbia away from the screen. "Don't look."

"I'm not dumb Asta, I know that's the news-aak!" Asta pinched Sylbia's cheek and pushed her aside as he grabbed their order.

"No you don't, because you're a silly idiot!" Asta said, grinning. He may as well tease her a little bit. As the duo sat upon a bench, eating their tacos, Asta decided to prank his sister, by taking a bit of the ketchup off his tacos and rubbing them onto the tip of Sylbia's nose.

"Hey!"

"Your fault for not paying attention."

"Oh yeah?" Sylbia took a ketchup packet and squirted it all over Asta.

"We don't have much cash left Sylbia, I don't know if I'll be able to find a cleaner..." But in his heart, Asta felt like firing back, and as soon as Sylbia had calmed down, he took a ketchup packet and squeezed it out onto her hand. "Gotcha!"

"Hey! I'll get you back, you know!" Syblia said, as she giggled. Asta laughed too. He hoped this moment could last forever.

And then he woke up from a dream of a long bygone memory to find himself as Iwen Au Atrean, trapped in the dark brush of the Colakian forest.

~~*~~

"Lady Claudia!" A young soldier ran up to the regent and knelt before her. The woman looked over from her dinner, a large, partially eaten feast gathered before her. Several of the palace's ministers were serving the woman, and they all looked over at the intrusion, annoyed. Even the two soldiers of Valor Company that stood guarding the dinner looked at him with annoyance in their faces.

"What is it now?" Claudia asked, annoyed. "We were discussing the upcoming harvest season. Make it quick." She took a sip of wine.

"My lady, our scouts have located that the forces of the Empyrean are now advancing onto Eldingenau city." The ministers began to mumble amongst themselves. "It's not a small scouting force, we believe it may represent their entire force."

"What?" Claudia stood up in shock. "That deep, already? Why did we not detect their forward elements in time? And how did they manage to move such a large army without us detecting them first?" She wiped her fingers against a tablecloth, wiping some of the gravy off.

"I cannot say, my lady..." The messenger dittered.

"My lady, we just moved our soldiers out of Eldingenau!" The war minister looked up at Claudia, quivering as he put down his fork.

"You did?" Claudia looked at the war minister. "You useless oaf! Why did you move your soldiers out when you knew the possibility that Eldingenau would be attacked?" She angrily pointed her spoon at the greying old man as if it were a staff.

"My lady, the reserve soldiers must return to their homes for the harvest season..." The Minister of Taxation gingerly spoke up. "We cannot afford to look weak in front of the Ordeanian visit, and we need extra money we can gain from the harvest-" She bowed her head in fear, avoiding eye contact with Regent Claudia.

"My lady, we are just as puzzled as you to realize that the enemy army has already reached Eldingenau! There is no possible reason the entire Empyrean army could have reached it in time." Claudia lowered her fan. "Even so!" The War Minister continued. "Our forces are not weak surrounding the city! We have soldiers to the north and the east, who can hold the line until the central army arrives!"

"Well...perhaps, that may be so. Does this mean that the city could hold?" Claudia stood up and began to leave her dinnertable. Food would have to wait. An inquisitive looks appeared on her face.

"Your highness, this messenger is clearly devising a ploy! There is no way - no way that the Empyrean Army has reached Eldingenau in two days, and even if they did, they would have to get through the forward fortresses! And if their armies aren't ground to the nub from that, they would have to face an entire bastion city! " The War Minister turned pale, and quickly pointed a finger at the messenger, who began to tremble as the man motioned the two guards to aim their spears at the soldier. "This is clearly a ploy! Who do you work for?"

"I concur!" The Finance Minister stood up. "Our state coffers are empty, to suggest the idea that we pull together yet another army out of nowhere would be ruinous! Your highness, I compel you to imprison this fool!" The messenger began to shake. He looked over at the taxation minister with a look of concern, as if he was tossing the responsibility over to her.

"Why yes, yes, we can hide an invasion. We cannot hide bankruptcy or debt. I say we -"

"Silence!" Claudia slammed her fist onto the table. "I will not be played for a fool, good ministers. Your actions insult House Au Atrean!" She walked over to the men and women that flanked her in their ministerial robes, her face full of disgust as she dismissed the two guards on duty. "Do you see me for a fool?"

"No, no!" The ministers grovelled. "We are certainly not!" Claudia sighed and walked over to the War Minister.

"And get your act together, our dear War Minister, or I will have you sacked." She snarled. Composing herself, she turned to the soldier who sat kneeled in front of them. "Where does the Empyrean strike from, messenger?"

"My lady." The messenger said. "The Empyrean approached from the South, my lady. From the Colakian Forest. The city walls are weak there." Claudia looked over at him, puzzled.

"Colakia? The forest should be impassible!"

"Convoys of mercenary companies regularly run through the Colakian Forest, my lady..." The War Minister said, timidly. Claudia bitterly started at the War Minister. "The crossing usually takes roughly two weeks however, not two days!" He quickly added. "I still find it improbable that such a large army can move through the forest in such a short-"

"I see no reason the Empyrean Army would be less capable than them then." Claudia interrupted. "However, their supply lines are weak. The forest is infested by daemons and orks. There is absolutely zero reason to believe that they would be capable of resupplying without raiding the countryside. Which would sap their manpower and prevent them from bringing in siege equipment. Eldingenau will starve them out." Claudia nodded. "We will not do anything until the end of the harvest season. We must believe in our men."

"What?" The messenger asked. "My lady, the soldiers in Eldingenau cannot survive that long, the people of Eldingenau cannot-"

"We cannot afford to look desperate in front of our neighbors, can we?" She smirked to the crowd of fawning ministers, who now clapped at her so called genius plan. "Seria is still in control. Seria is always in control."