✦|•1: Nebula Awakening

The year 7123 had become nothing more than a shadow of the past.

People lived in darkness, literally.

History books spoke of a blue sky that once existed. Of white clouds drifting across the heavens.

But those stories were considered myths now.

A bedtime story.

“Amaya-senpai!”

A girl’s voice rang out as she ran toward me, her handbag bouncing wildly at her side. Beneath the dim glow of the streetlight, her smile shone, bright and unguarded.

I snapped my book shut just as the black-haired cutie skidded to a stop, straightening her posture and standing at firm attention.

“Good day! Senpai!” she beamed.

“Good day, Eiko-chan,” I replied, returning her smile softly.

Eiko Yuki.

A strange name for a strange girl.

I’d never seen her without a smile. Her almond-colored eyes always seemed to gaze straight into one’s soul. If she stayed quiet, just for a moment, you might mistake her for a princess from some faraway kingdom.

“You cut your hair?” she asked, taking a seat beside me with practiced elegance. Her bag rested gently on her lap.

“Uh… yeah. It was starting to obstruct my view.”

“Obstruct your view? Couldn’t you have just cut your bangs?”

“That would’ve taken too much effort—”

“Well, I bet you’d look good with any hairstyle.”

She cut me off, tilting her head slightly.

“So, why did you cut your hair again?”

I let out a small sigh.

This girl really did move at her own pace.

The students at school had started calling her the ‘Forgetful Princess’, thanks to her short-term amnesia.

“Oh!” She clapped her hands together. “You said something about it covering your eyes!”

“Something like that,” I chuckled, turning my gaze upward.

A black void stretched endlessly above us.

It had been like this for as long as I could remember.

Long ago, time was said to be divided into two cycles, day and night.

Now, even that was treated as a fairy tale.

“Do you know what stars are?” I asked quietly. “Or asteroids?”

“Stars? Asteroids?” She blinked. “Is that some kind of secret code?”

I giggled softly. “To some people, maybe. To others… it tells the story of the world before the Great Mist.”

The Great Mist had occurred five hundred years ago, in the year 6623.

According to school records, a pure white mist had suddenly blanketed the earth, while a black miasma swallowed the sky.

That miasma was now known as the Void Sphere.

“I wonder what the world was like before it,” I murmured.

Eiko laughed awkwardly. “Senpai, you say such weird things sometimes. There is no ‘before the Void Sphere.’”

A fake smile crept onto my lips.

“I guess so.”

“Eiko!” a girl from a nearby group called out.

“Well then, senpai,” she said, standing up. “I’ll see you tomorrow at school. Take care on your way home!”

“See you tomorrow.”

She ran off, waving once before disappearing into the darkness with her friends.

Only after they vanished did I pick up my bag and head in the opposite direction.

The wind brushed past me—

carrying with it a metallic scent.

Blood.

The world was about to undergo another change.

One unseen by those who believed the blue sky was nothing more than a myth.

***

North of the city stood a broken-down cathedral, reachable by a cobblestone path lined with cherry blossom trees.

A question often crossed my mind:

How could flora grow beneath the Void Sphere?

The answer lay in the circular golden object that occasionally appeared beyond the black sky, its light piercing through the void.

It wasn’t visible now.

It only appeared once in a while. At the exact same time and then it would vanish.

I’d deduced it was the forgotten cycle of day and night.

Pink petals drifted around me as I approached the distant structure.

A white cathedral.

Vines crawled along its cracked walls, blooming with faint blue flowers.

I pushed the door open and stepped inside.

Rows of benches stretched endlessly before me. Stained glass windows, carved with intricate designs, decorated the otherwise plain walls.

They were beautiful.

Especially the window set into the ceiling.

A quarter circle gradually forming a full circle, surrounded by strange white lights.

I think the circle was called a moon.

The lights, stars.

The patterns they formed were known as constellations.

That was how the night sky once looked.

To the side, a lone mirror stood.

I walked toward it, and a beautiful girl gazed back.

Black hair. Blue eyes.

She spoke when I spoke. Blinked when I blinked.

I placed my hand against the mirror.

Our palms met.

She was the only one I could talk to about the stars.

About the moon.

About that golden circle in the sky.

Everyone else refused to understand, or simply didn’t care to try.

They were content with comfort.

Like Eiko.

“Mirror, mirror, on the wall…

Mirror, mirror, standing tall.

Mirror! Answer my call!

Tell me—when will the Void Sphere fall!"

If it ever did, the world would plunge into chaos.

Some would scream in terror.

Others would rejoice.

I glanced at the girl in the mirror.

She was smiling.

An obsessive smile. An expression I could never make.

Why?

Was she happy?

Excited?

No.

She knew it was only a matter of time.

“Just a bit more—”

BOOM!!

The doors exploded inward.

A figure spiraled through the air, carried by a violent gust of wind, before slamming into the back wall. Stone cracked. White dust and rubble filled the air.

My breath caught.

The figure rose slowly, leaning on a strange sword. Blood dripped from beneath a black hooded cloak.

“Tch.”

They clicked their tongue and swung the blade.

The force alone ripped the hood away.

A girl stood there.

Blonde hair.

Black eyes.

Her sword hummed with a low, ominous sound.

Those eyes—

They weren’t human.

Five white lines curved downward, forming a half-circle.

Like a bicycle wheel cut in half.

“H-Hey—”

Another voice interrupted, calm yet sharp.

“Luna Celes Mistia… what did you do to make an enemy of the Society?”

A chuckle followed. “That’s quite the achievement.”

A man stepped forward, clad in white robes embroidered with black, spiked vines spiraling across his back. At their center bloomed a single black flower.

“Shion the Sightless Swordsman,” the girl scoffed, wiping blood from her lips. “You’re weaker than the rumors suggest.”

His closed eyes curved, a faint smile on his lips.

“Am I… really that weak?”

He tapped the wall with his fist.

The cathedral screamed.

A massive dent cracked instantly. Every stained glass window shattered as a shockwave tore through the building.

My ears rang. My legs gave out.

I collapsed to the floor, heart pounding wildly.

This wasn’t a dream.

These people weren’t human.

Every instinct screamed at me to run, especially from the man named Shion.

And then I noticed it. I couldn't move.

My body felt heavy.

As if an invisible force pressed down on me.

Forcing me to bow.