Return of the Queen

Cornelius opened her eyes, groggy. A shooting pain erupted from her body, making her recall the moments before she lost consciousness.

They had driven to the ‘moon’. Or rather, what they thought was the moon. Somehow, it was a lot lower in the sky than they expected, causing them to crash right into it. Their ‘Jeep’ flew right through it, and suddenly, they were met with a white ground quickly approaching before their eyes.

In an attempt to soften the landing, Katalina pulled up, letting the wheels crash first. The impact flung them both out of the vehicle and onto the hard surface.

And now, the two of them were sprawled around the demolished experiment, unsure of where they had ended up.

Cornelius reached forward and clawed at the ground, hoping to prop herself up. But then, a sparkle emitted from her fingertips. It caught her attention, and she stared intently at the oddity unfolding before her.

A layer of ice spread from her touch, crawling upon the ground and fanning outwards. Unlike the feeling of mana simply being transferred from one object to another, a miracle seemed to be created. The raw form of ice amidst a warm day with nothing but a thought – it was so mesmerizing that she didn’t notice someone approaching her.

“Fascinating! To think that mana can transform into magic directly like this! And not requiring a medium of transformation! That creates a huge number of possibilities!”

The voice of excitement caused Cornelius to scramble up in a panic, her hand still aglow but no longer chilling the environment further. She was met with Katalina’s bubbling eyes that scoured every bit of the discovery.

“The mana here feels completely different! More free and accessible! The tools that I could make here would be so amazing!”

Cornelius held up a hand to calm her friend down. There were more important matters first.

“Where is ‘this place’? It doesn’t seem like the moon, but rather, a whole new land. There is definitely something off about this whole trip!”

Katalina paused and looked around. A lush greenery seemed to spread everywhere, interrupted by civilization nearby. Rather than an enclosed community that they were used to, the horizons stretched far and wide, giving off a sense of freedom. She looked down at their own bodies which held a purplish glow. And finally, her gaze went to the sky. A circle hung up above, just like the moon that they had seen before, but this time, the color was different yet familiar.

Her eyes darted back to the white ground that they stood upon, a smooth surface that was created by someone. And finally, she understood. The strange colored circle was the ground from where they had come from, the ruins where they lived. They had been transported via a gateway in the air to some unknown location.

“It seems like we should explore this place to get a better idea…,” Katalina looked over to the smashed Jeep, “but our ride has been compromised.”

The flying vehicle that had brought them here was out of commission, suffering a great impact upon landing. Fortunately, she had the time to activate a barrier device around the two of them, lessening any damage from the crash.

Cornelius perked up suddenly, putting a hand on Katalina’s shoulder. A look of caution dotted her face.

“Apparently, we have a welcoming party. How lucky for us, but I don’t think they are thrilled at our parking job.”

Picking up her sarcastic tone, Katalina pulled out her broom. Fortunately, mana flowed readily into it; she could feel it levitate on command. Her hand reached into a bag, pulling out a small device. Not thinking that she would encounter enemies, no weapons had been prepared. The best she could do was to overload the handheld object and let it explode like a bomb.

Meanwhile, Cornelius raised her hands in front of her, doing a few test fires. Ice spears shot out, stabbing into the ground ahead. She nodded her head, satisfied that she had some offensive ability.

In the distance, a line of people marched forward. As it came into focus, the two of them knew that they would be far outnumbered.

“That’s a sign that we should run….”

“That would give us the highest rate of success, yes….”

Jumping onto the broom, they fled from the scene. From what they could tell, their pursuers came from the large city in the distance. They would have better luck elsewhere. Maybe, the forests in the distance would offer some shelter to hide in.

The air whipped around them as they sped across the open fields. Soon, they realized that their pursuers were catching up quickly. A few bolts of Fire and Ice Magic landed around them, likely being warning shots.

“Do you think I should fire back?” Cornelius yelled.

“I don’t know. I’m a bit busy flying!”

Katalina kept her attention on pumping as much mana as she could into her broom, but it seemed like levitating two people was putting a strain on her normal rhythm. A bolt of magic came right for them. This time, Cornelius raised her hand and created a shield of ice that deflected it.

Cornelius wanted to celebrate her newfound powers, but seeing that people were speeding up to them cut that short. No less than twenty people zoomed across the ground, just like they were. Only faster.

“Is everyone on this side gifted or something?! When everyone can use it, it doesn’t feel so neat anymore!”

Cornelius complained as she formed more shields out of ice, watching as they kept shattering from the attacks. At this rate, they were going to catch up soon.

“Take this!”

In between the sets of reforming shields, Cornelius slung a few spears of ice behind them. They forced the pursuers to swerve and defend, pushing them back the slightest. Fortunately, some of them easily lost focus, breaking formation if something got in the way. Cornelius continued to spread ice all around, hoping that it would create more and more obstacles. But as she did, the magic that came from her hand grew more intense and varied.

Spears turned into columns. Shields formed plates that formed a moving wall to intercept attacks. Even a simple wave of the hand started coating the green landscape with a dusting of winter frost. The obstacles were getting more strenuous to maneuver around, keeping back those with poorer dodging capability.

Pretty soon, the line of pursuers died down to a single person, who had gotten close enough to smash the ice plates with a sword and move right into viewing range. A knight with long rose hair, flowing from a helmet, caught their gaze. With a form that was obviously female, it didn’t seem like she was riding anything, aside from a flat board under her feet.

Cornelius hurriedly shot a few bolts of Ice at her, in which she dodged side to side to avoid them all with grace. Such agility would have struck them in awe had they not been running away from her. And especially not when a gauntlet she was wearing caught fire while she was lowering herself into an offensive stance.

Cornelius had a feeling that she needed to muster all the ice around them for protection.

“Explosion Fist!”

A loud impact erupted from where the gauntlet met stacks of ice. It created enough force to send a shockwave right past any protection. The broom and its riders tipped over and hurled uncontrollably through the air. Moments later, Katalina and Cornelius crashed into a grassy knoll, stopped by the unknown board rider.

Looking up at the armored knight, they couldn’t hope to escape from someone so used to such maneuvers. She walked right up to them, sword drawn, and then abruptly paused. Talking a step back, it was clear that something bothered her. To their surprise, the knight then got down to one knee. Removing her helmet, rose hair spilled out and revealed a youthful, pretty face before she bowed.

“My queen, Lord Reichenstein, you have both returned!”

The two of them looked at each other, having no idea what the knight was talking about. But as more knights reached them, they too fell into the same pose of fealty. And soon enough, the entire squadron caught up and did the same.

During this whole time, Katalina and Cornelius looked on with star-struck expressions. It felt like they were in some kind of dream, a case of mistaken identity amidst someone’s fantasy or whatnot. But then, the first knight from before stood up and approached them.

“Do you… not recall who we are? It is I, Violet Lingonberle – Captain of the Valkyrie Brigade. And you two once helped rule this Kingdom of Sistina.”

Katalina and Cornelius shook their heads, not following what was going on. The latter was the first to speak up.

“It would be foolish to blindly associate ourselves with those supposed persons of renown. We have never stepped foot upon this land until just moments ago.”

“Strange…,” Violet cocked her head, “that mysterious contraption and your Ice magic… they feel rather familiar for it to be a mere coincidence. We had received reports that the two of you, along with everyone else visiting the Forsaken Lands, had gone missing over six months ago.”

“Well, we feel fit as a fiddle, so I’m not sure what happened to them, because I’m sure we have been doing other things elsewhere for more than six…”

Cornelius trailed off as she thought about it some more. She couldn’t recall where she was that long ago. It felt like she had been living in town around the ruins for far longer than that, but any concrete details of them suddenly became murky. She turned to Katalina with questioning eyes.

“I, too, don’t recall what I was doing before then, as I have been measuring time by the objects I created for the vehicle. Before I had the urge to reach the moon… what goals did I even have?”

When asked if they lived in that town before, it certainly felt like they would say they had. But when asked to recount specific memories… there was a gap that didn’t line up.

“Anyways, how about we take the two of you back into town and clean you up? The only reason we came out here was that we detected a large spike in mana, so we had to be prepared for any kind of issue.”

Violet reached out with her hand and pulled them up to their feet, and along with everyone else, they were ushered into the city.

It took only five minutes for them to get sidetracked upon entering.

An ever-curious Katalina bounced from object to object along the streets, staring in wonder at the technology that fused magic and science together. As excited as Cornelius was to experience the place, she had a certain tact in her actions.

“With those eyes of excitement, I cannot find it in me to disregard her as our queen,” Violet joked.

“Your queen has an eclectic personality, I presume?” Cornelius had her own definition for such behavior.

“Weird, but practical… I suppose. After all, our queen invented most of the objects that we see here – from the everyday gadgets to the power grid that lights up the city.”

“Sounds like everything that Katalina wants to be. Maybe we really are the people you are looking for.”

Violet and Cornelius had a laugh at that, which stopped only when Katalina came back to them.

“I am in love with this place! Can we stay? Can we stay? I’ll synthesize anything that you ask me to, oh but wait, I would need to fetch a replacement cauldron.”

“Well, it’s not like we can just go back and-”

Cornelius cut herself off when the sounds of swords were suddenly drawn. It seemed like the Valkyrie Knights had noticed a cloaked figure in their way, with every intention of approaching them.

“Who goes there?!” Violet cried out, but the figure ignored her and kept walking forward.

Cornelius and Katalina looked right at the person with wide eyes. They knew exactly who it was. They had visited his shop numerous times. And he was the one who had given Katalina the blueprint for the Jeep.

The shopkeeper in town.

Two knights swung their weapons at the cloaked figure, but he simply dodged out of the way and patted the backs of the two, sending them tumbling to the ground. A few more tried to attack, but swift motions tossed them aside as easily as the rest. Even Violet’s Explosion Fist ended up being cancelled by a quick twist of the arm.

With a stride that was barely interrupted, he made it all the way to Cornelius and Katalina. And then, with a glowing hand, he tapped the two of them on the head and walked right past them. He didn’t stop until he was past the city gates and outside.

Violet approached the two of them, wondering what had just happened. But to her surprise, Katalina suddenly wrapped her in an embrace.

“Ms. Lingonberle, it seems like you have grown quite a bit in my absence. Thank you for your service.”

“M-My queen? Is it you? Do you remember?”

“Yes, just now. I recall a horrible battle. And then, being granted a second chance with no memory of my life before. But I am back now, thanks to him.”

“The man in the cloak? But who is he? Should be send some knights to follow?”

Her only answer was a finger to the lips. Katalina shook her head, asking for the situation to be left alone. Cornelius walked up to them with a familiar dandyism restored.

“Knowing him, he has something that he has to take care of, being all secretive and everything. So I say, let him be for now. He will return when the time is right.”

Violet looked between the two who seemed to know exactly what was going on. Now, she felt like the only one missing something.

“Besides, it looks like we have a task to take care of ourselves.”

Katalina held up a letter that had been shoved into her pocket, presumably when the cloaked man walked by. Smiling as she read it again, she skipped forward, leading the knights back to the castle. There was much that she had to catch up on. And as Cornelius said, he would be back some day. She had to fulfill his request by then.