Avallon: a world with six continents and eight seas. It is known for its staggering imbalance of power and is controlled by the goddess Esteria, who placed statues of herself throughout the world. The statues change their form depending on how the people perceive the goddess. Yet the world is also occupied by a system called Dillt. This system grants a chosen few humanoids and other races special affinities during birth, making them indifferent to common folk.
The world has multiple power kingdoms, and among these kingdoms, there's only one kingdom that has more power, enemies, and worth than any other kingdom. This kingdom is Melcelut, also known as Kingdom by the people inhabiting the world.
Melcelut is advanced in every way, producing weapons of science and other living expenses for its people. Its tall structures rival every kingdom on Avallon, and it has a population of over one billion. And every year during the celebration of the king's birthday, its skies are filled with brilliant hues that shine like young auroras throughout the kingdom. As it just happened, the people were celebrating the king's birthday.
Everyone was enjoying themselves, buying cheap products from all over Avallon, and spending their money on drinks and other essentials. Yet as this was taking place, a ripple tore through the sky from a distance not so far away from the capital of Melcelut.
Though the people of Avallon had magic, only a single person took note of the ripple's presence. She was a girl with flamingo-pink colored hair and lime-green colored eyes; her skin was pale.
She wore a black dress that stopped just past her knees, and was carrying a rapier sword. Her name was Yomeko.
She looked at the sky with a blank expression as her fingers wrapped tighter around the rapier.
"Anything the matter?" Rin, right next to Yomeko, asked, looking at Yomeko with a grave expression.
Rin had long silver hair that stopped right below her back, and she had mismatched teal and sky-blue eyes. She wore raven-black trousers that she accompanied with her ice-blue T-shirt.
"Someone created a ripple," Yomeko stated.
"What race are they?" Rin asked.
"It's hard to identify, but something came out of it and—" Before Yomeko could finish, she suddenly stopped.
"Hm?" uttered Rin. Her grave expression softened, slowly turning to a somewhat curious one. "What is it?" she continued.
"The ripple vanished," Yomeko replied, still looking at the sky. "But I sense something else in the area... It's giving off an immense aura, though it seems unstable."
Rin remained silent for a second as Yomeko pivoted and stared at her with eyes belied by any emotion. And the two seemed quite identical to each other when calm or pondering, yet the difference was as clear as day.
"Go investigate what it could be. As far as we know, it might be useful. And if that's not the case, you are free to do as you please." Rin shifted her gaze back to Yomeko, her face shifting back to its grave expression. "Also, remove anyone who happens to witness your presence."
"Trouble might follow you if you are careless. I don't need any more trouble coming our way."
She hovered a hand in the passing air, and at the same motion, a thick mist began to envelop her hand before a few seconds later, two portals made of thick dark-blue mist appeared before her and Yomeko.
The portals radiated brilliant hues which seemed to drew the eyes of small creatures in the area. Though the moment the creatures got near them, they became motionless, turning into stone before crumbling to nothingness.
Yomeko walked towards one of the portals, at the same time readying her rapier for anything she might encounter on the other side of the portal.
"Don't get yourself killed," Rin said.
◇◇◇◇
Shortly after, Yomeko reappeared in the middle of a vast forest that seemed endless from all sides. The dark mist of the portal closed behind her as glowing insects welcomed her.
Just in front of Yomeko, a few feet from where she was standing, dark crimson blood formed a trail leading to a location where there seemed to be a campfire.
The trail wasn't ordinary. It looked like something or someone had been dragged after meeting their demise by whoever ended their life.
Either way, Yomeko still followed the trail of blood with an indifferent expression.
A short moment later, she arrived at a turned-over campsite. All the structures were in shambles. Human, elf, dwarf, and centaur bodies lay all over the ground. Some headless and some filled with deep cuts.
Whoever killed these people didn't care if the person they were killing was a man, woman, or child.
The stale stench of iron filled the air around the campsite so heavily that not even insect creatures dared to approach it.
Yet, the presence Yomeko sensed was still there. Only weaker this time than before she was with Rin. And it was coming from one of the people lying motionless on the ground.
Hence, Yomeko began searching, looking in places where the presence was the strongest.
She turned over corpses.
Stabbed them to find out if some of them were pretending or truly dead.
Yet, after a long time of doing this to almost everyone there, the corners of her lips slowly began to curl upward. She was having fun. And there were almost a hundred people there. Some hidden in shards, while some resting below other corpses.
And finally, she ran into one of the corpses. Or rather, one of the survivors.
A child about the age of three years old with white, messy hair and pale skin. Lying face down on the bloodied ground.
Beside her was a woman with long white hair and porcelain-pale skin. Her arm was pressed against the three-year-old child.
She had a deep cut on her back. And from her appearance alone, it was clear that she was the child's mother, only now a corpse who died trying to save her daughter.
Surprisingly, the presence was coming from the child. Though she needed immediate assistance because from the looks of the body, the attack had happened long before Yomeko sensed the ripple and the presence.
***
Elsewhere, to the middle east of Mel. Rin was standing in front of a weapon shop. She stood next to an abandoned boy who looked halfway dead due to his bruises, which were on his face, hands, and back.
She looked at the boy with her emotionless eyes, and the child hesitantly stared back at her with a smile.
A moment later, the boy collapsed.
Rin continued staring. Seeing him collapsed, she approached him to check what had happened to him to end up in that condition.
Later, Rin was passing by one of the goddesses' statues, which was located in the capital of Melcelut.
It was a tall woman carrying six books in her left hand and a long, upside-down spear that almost made contact with the ground in her right hand. Six stars hovered over her head like a crown. A calm yet serious expression was on her face. Standing tall, almost the size of the Statue of Liberty, she wore only robes and, beneath them, feminine knight armor with a cross shaped like a star on the breastplate.
Below at its feet, there were words written in an elven language called Sylvinier.
Peace, Hope, Victory, Knowledge, Leadership, Faith, Death
The words were written in a uniform line, each carrying its respective symbol at the end of each word.
Rin came to a halt and glanced up at the statue with a calm yet serious expression herself.
"The sun sets once a day," she murmured. "What comes next is up to you and you alone to decide." A soft breeze carried her silver hair, making it dance softly before falling back in place.
A man in customized knight armor passed behind Rin while riding a horse. He carried some sort of paper scroll, though it appeared to be more like blueprint paper than a regular one.
"Yomeko should be done by now," she muttered under her breath.
Without any warning, auroras slowly pushed away the darkness in the skies to the west of Melcelut, and for a brief moment, Rin's mind went blank.
The aurora in the sky wasn't normal. This was a surge of mana being released by someone who knew what they were doing, and the signal was addressed directly to Rin.
Though she wasn't surprised by this. She knew exactly who the person behind this was. And she also knew their current location just by closely observing the aurora pattern in the sky.
There will be a meeting in Dol, and you'll be needed to keep some of our guests in check, Rin said inwardly. Reading the colors in the sky.
After a moment, without wasting any time, the dark blue smoke started gathering around her and formed a portal.