Part 2 Prologue: Meetings in The Dark

A black, smoke-like substance rose from the ground for many Ker. This substance was the telling factor of Irradiation, marking the land as an Irradiated Sector. This land had not always been like this. The main contributing factor was the many massive skeletons that dotted the landscape. The remains of the once great race known as Dragons.

This was the Dragonsung Wastes. Their last great act of destruction against humanity after the first Irradiated Winter.

An inhospitable portion of land settled in the middle of the World End Mountains on the eastern edge of the continent, Kronul. Stretching 200 Ker inland from the coast, the Dragonsung Wastes created a gap in the mountain range 100 Ker long.

The many Dragon skeletons dotting the wastes spouted large amounts of Irradiation, even nearly 300 years after their death. Because of how thick the Irradiation was within the Dragonsung Wastes, many humans believed it to be a death sentence to walk through it for the longest time. On the other hand, thanks to their increased Irradiation resistance, many Demi-humans pass through the edges instead of scaling the nearby mountain range. But even for Demi-Humans, it is widely believed that even slightly prolonged exposure to the area would result in one acquiring Irradiation Sickness.

That’s what everyone normally believed. So if anyone was to see the hooded figure riding a Gigant Bear through the middle of the Dragonsung Wastes, they would surely faint from the shock.

The hooded man chuckled as he thought about this.

Soon a large overhang came into view. Many other people, both humans and Demi-Humans, were standing in front of it. They wore a variety of different clothes and armor.

But each one had the disgruntled look of a revolutionary working towards change.

They were the hooded figure’s fellow revolutionaries.

Most didn’t understand their goals and instead called them bandits.

“Halt!” One of the revolutionaries, an older gentleman that the hooded figure recognized, called out to the newcomer.

“Master, it’s good to see you again!” The hooded figure called out to the man as he got off the Gigant Bear he had been riding. With a small tap, the monster bowed its head before turning and rushing off into the distance.

“That voice…? Is that you, Alec?”

Alec turned around as he used his left hand to remove the hood, revealing his face. Compared to the man in front of him, Alec seemed to be a young boy, barely into adulthood. The thing that drew most people’s attention though was the massive scar that ran the length of his entire right side of his face. It cut straight through the always closed right eye.

“That’s right, Master. Now is there any chance I can get through? I have a message for her majesty.” His master tried to grab Alec as he walked by, but his hand only met the emptiness of the cloak covering Alec’s right side. Where there should have been an arm, there was nothing.

“What happened to you…?”

Alec stopped. Not because of what his Master had said, but because he heard the rest of the murmuring around them.

“No way, is he the one-eyed Tyrant?”

“What!? But he’s so young. There’s no way.”

“But he’s missing both his right eye and arm! That matches the description perfectly.”

The story of how he lost half of his eyes and arms was seemingly being exaggerated by some. But for Alec, that didn’t matter. If anything, it would be helpful in the long run.

“Master. It seems that the rest of the revolutionaries stationed with you know the story. Why don’t you ask one of them?” This time, when Alec addressed his former teacher, the title he gave him was dripping with poison.

For just a second, Alec’s true feelings slipped through.

He left the entrance guards in the dust and descended into the base. Only the entrance to the base was located above ground. Almost all of it was below ground. The further down one went, the higher one had to be in the revolution.

Alec went straight to the bottom.

The lowest point in the base housed only a handful of rooms. And each one belonged to the person who sat as the head of the revolution. They were their personal work spaces, as well as the room that they slept in.

As Alec reached the hallway leading to these rooms, he entered the first one he saw. He knew that the person he was looking for would be there. They always were.

At the center of the room was a metal contraption. Alec had never learned what it was or how it worked, but he knew that it made images from light that one could interact with. It was always interacted with by the same person.

In fact, that very same person was currently interacting with it.

Long white hair, so pristine that it almost seemed to glow, flowed down to her waist. Alec knew that when she turned around she would have a fair face with eyes as red as rubies. When she would appear in front of anyone else, she normally wore an exquisite red dress that matched her eyes. But in this room, in front of Alec, she wore far more normal clothes. “They were more comfortable to work in” was the reason she had given Alec the first time he saw them.

“Your majesty.” Alec quickly dropped to one knee and bowed his head.

To the rest of the revolution, the woman in front of Alec might as well have been God themself. That was the amount of reverence they held for her. But for Alec, he simply held the reverence he believed one should hold in a superior.

The woman called “majesty” turned around after hearing Alec’s voice. Though Alec didn’t see it, she had a small smile on her lips after seeing him.

“Oh, Alec! It’s been a bit longer than I expected. How did your journey up north go? Also how many times do I need to tell you that when we’re down here, you don’t need to kneel?”

Hearing her soft footsteps coming towards him, Alec stood up and looked at the woman’s face.

Alec was 189 Cer in height, while the woman was roughly half a head shorter, so Alec was looking slightly down while she looked up at him.

“It would’ve gone well if that Ito Swordsman hadn’t been with the Shogun. Sorry, but the Shogun is still alive and kicking.” Alec spat the name Ito with almost as much vitriol as he had used when talking to his former teacher earlier that same day.

Alec was confident in his own capabilities with the sword. He knew he was stronger than most other sword fighters. But Ito was a step above even him. If Alec still had both arms, he might’ve been able to fight with the sword master on even terms.

Seeing the pain in his eyes, the woman reached up and cupped the left half of his face in her hand. It was a gesture she always used to calm him down. And it only worked because of who she was.

Alec put his own hand on hers as he closed his eyes and took a deep breath in.

“I have some other news as well, Ruby. About the operation in Sanum.”

The next time Alec spoke, he used the woman’s actual name instead of calling her “majesty”. He was probably the only one crazy enough to do it.

Hearing her actual name caused Ruby to smile widely before removing her hand from Alec’s face and turning back around to the metallic object in the center of the room.

“The operation in Sanum? I assume it was a success.” Ruby flippantly dismissed any sort of news with an assumed completion. She didn’t see how anyone in Sanum could have possibly stopped the operation.

“It failed.”

Alec gave her the truth. It was something that not even he fully understood. But it was the truth. Their plans to flood Sanum with Irradiation had failed.

“It… Failed…?”

Ruby had stopped moving. Her hand hovering over one of the images created of light.

“Everything was seemingly going according to plan, but after the creation of Irradiation started, someone… Well… Someone absorbed it all.” The last thing that Alec said was full of confusion. He didn’t understand how something like that could happen.

But it was clear that Ruby knew something. The second she heard what he had said, she was in his face. There was a hint of desperation in her eyes.

“Alec, what year is it?”

“Umm… 294 years since the first Irradiated Winter?”

Hearing that, Ruby began pacing. The desperation in her eyes was joined by confusion and a hint of fear.

“The only people who could’ve done that are them… But they shouldn’t gain that ability for another 200 years. Unless… Did she find out my plan and help them? Alec!?”

“Yes?”

Ruby was once again in his face.

“We’re moving up the timetables. Go get the battalions ready. We are marching for Kyoku as soon as possible.”

“What!?”

Alec shouted in confusion. He wasn’t about to disobey orders from Ruby, but he at least wanted to know why first. And to move up their schedule that much? It was an almost six month speed up.

“Why?”

Ruby took a step back and seemed to think for a second. It was clear that whatever the reason was, Alec was possibly not trusted enough by her to know.

“There is only one group who could have caused the Operation in Sanum to fail… And if the Verilo’s have broken their restrictions 2 centuries early, then our entire revolution is in jeopardy.”

As she said those words, the flag of a rising sun that was hanging on the wall stirred with her words before falling to the ground.

The thud of something hitting the ground jolted Yuuki Ito awake. The room she was in was covered in shadows. Faint moonlight strayed through the open window alongside a chilly breeze. But her cat-like eyes pierced through the darkness.

An intruder had entered her room.

Yuuki was in the medical room that she had been recovering in for the past two weeks. In an incident that threatened to destroy the City-State Sanum, Yuuki had forced her body beyond its limits.

There were three types of people in the world. First are those born with magic. For these people, manipulating the magical energy in the air comes like second nature. Second are those born of parents who can use magic, but they themselves can’t. For people that fall into this group, sensing magic energy is easy, but actually trying to manipulate it takes some effort. And finally there are those born of parents without magic who don’t have magic themselves. For those in this group, they must train to be able to feel magical energy, and then train even more to be able to manipulate it.

When using Magical Weapons, as long as one has even the slightest ability to touch magical energy, then they would be able to use a Magic Weapon’s magic.

However there is a limit to how much one can use that magic. It grows the more someone is able to touch and manipulate magical energy, but it's there and always looming.

For Yuuki, she fell somewhere between the first and second groups. Had her family not been cursed hundreds of years prior, she most likely would’ve been able to use magic fully from a young age. But her blood has been locked from using the magic power it should be able to. Instead, all Yuuki can do is feel the magic around her.

Thud! Crash!

The intruder in her room knocked over a vase holding some flowers Sarman had brought Yuuki. Sarman was a childhood friend of Yuukis who was very important to her. To see the flowers he brought her strewn across the floor made her blood boil.

“Is there a reason why you broke into my room in the middle of the night?”

Yuuki finally spoke up, causing the intruder to stop in their tracks. They timidly turned towards Yuuki.

“Y-y-you’re awake…?”

He had a very timid voice as he struggled to ask the question to the person he had assumed was asleep.

Even in the dark, Yuuki narrows her eyes and sees a small tail sticking out of the man’s back.

He was a demi-human. Just like Yuuki.

“Of course I’m awake. Did you expect me to just ignore the thumping of you walking around or the change in the temperature? Now answer my initial question, Demi-Human.”

“Oh, uh, hmmm. Can I start a candle? It’s a bit dark in here-”

“No. If the night nurses weren’t alerted by the noise you’ve been making, they definitely will be by a light.”

Yuuki cut the Demi-Human off, dismissing his question before he could even finish it. It seemed like the person in front of her wasn’t a part of any of the tribes with darkvision.

“I see… Well,” the Demi-Human walked up to the side of the bed. “My name is Cyril and I’m here to ask a favor of you in place of my Queen.”

“A favor? And who is your queen?”

“We want your help as a swordswoman, Ms. Ito.” The person bowed their head as they relayed the request. Yuuki caught her breath hearing it. They wanted her help… with swordfighting?

“Who is we?”

The Demi-Human tensed up. It took him a few seconds before he finally said a name. The name that came out of his mouth shocked Yuuki.

“She… wants my help?”

The Demi-Human nodded. It seemed too good to be true.

“I don’t see why I can’t help out. I will be released tomorrow and then I can head to your village with you.”

“No! We have to leave tonight. We can’t afford to wait here!”

Yuuki was taken aback by Cyril’s outburst. She hadn’t expected they would need to leave immediately.

“Why?”

“We are expecting our village to be attacked within a month. Right now, our fighters are nowhere near trained enough to protect the people living in the village.”

Yuuki understood that the threat of an attack was motivating the man in front of her. What she didn’t understand is why the threat warranted leaving only a few hours earlier. If anything she wanted to at least let Sarman know what was going on. It would be even better if he agreed and wanted to go with her.

At least, that’s what Yuuki believed. That was what she wanted.

“Please! We, no she needs your help. You are one of the most, if not the most, skilled sword wielders in the current era. Please!?”

Cyril pleaded to Yuuki while on his knees.

A soft sigh escaped Yuuki’s lips as her heart panged with guilt. Thinking about it, Yuuki thought it made sense for her to just go with Cyril. There would likely be no classes at the university for a while, given the nature of what had happened with the Hunter Jack Cariatel.

And she held nothing tying her to Sarman. She didn’t have to tell him where she would be. She didn’t need to get his permission.

Yuuki slipped out of the bed she was in. Her pajamas weren’t something she should go out in. As she looked at Cyril sitting next to the bed, he seemed to realize the same thing and instantly fled towards the open window.

“I’ll be waiting outside!”

The Demi-Human practically jumped out of the window. Yuuki heard the sound of something crashing into the ground a second later.

Yuuki quickly changed out of the sleepwear she had been wearing. Sarman had been kind enough to bring a couple changes of clothes a few days prior so that she didn’t have to wear the drab clothes given to her by the nurses when she first woke up.

Opting for a more subdued look, Yuuki pulled on a pair of black pants. Now that she didn’t have to hide her Demi-Human nature, her black tail poked through a small hole built into the pants specifically for Demi-Humans with tails. For her shirt, Yuuki grabbed a dark purple long sleeved shirt that showed its age through the wear and tear. She hoped that Cyril would have another cloak that she could use as she didn’t have an additional layer to throw on.

Before leaving the room, Yuuki grabbed a piece of paper and wrote a small note to Sarman. Leaving it on the nightstand, Yuuki walked over to the window and jumped out into the midnight air.