Inside a heavy, rune-plated Watcher patrol car, Detective Wolfe stared out at the empty, silent streets. Beside him, his rookie partner, Monet Montallet, sat ramrod straight, her blonde bob cut framing a face that was a mixture of focus and awe.
"Alright, boot," Wolfe said, his voice a low gravel that seemed to match the car's idling engine. "This isn't your first Silent Night duty. Talk me through it. What's our job right now?"
Monet's green eyes didn't leave the street. "Sir," she recited, her tone crisp and professional, "as the primary patrol unit for this district, our duty is to ensure all residential and commercial blocks are cleared of civilian foot traffic. We are also to ensure any known homeless individuals are safely relocated to the designated municipal shelters for the duration of the reinforcement."
Wolfe glanced at the glowing chronometer on the dashboard. "And what happens if the mages are late?"
Monet hesitated, her by-the-book confidence faltering. "That... wasn't in the training manual, sir."
Wolfe let out a short, harsh laugh. "Of course it wasn't." He shook his head, a deep-seated cynicism in his voice. "Those Spire bastards have too much tea and tradition up their asses. They come when they're good and ready."
"Sir, look," Monet said, pointing up through the reinforced windshield.
Sure enough, high in the night sky, several robed figures were now visible, floating serenely into position near the faintly glowing nodes of the great barrier.
"It's still mind-boggling to me," Monet whispered, her professionalism giving way to genuine wonder. "That all of our lives, this whole city, is hanging by a thread. That we're all at the door of a death god if a few mages are late to their shift."
Wolfe pulled a cigarette from his pocket and lit it, the flare of the match briefly illuminating his tired, grey eyes and messy hair. "That's the fragility of it," he said, exhaling a plume of smoke. "Every month, on the dot, they have to come out and reinforce that barrier. If they don't, it weakens. The night has never been kind to mortals like us."
Monet smiled, a small, resilient expression. "But it shows our perseverance, doesn't it? That we do this. That we keep the night at bay. That's a mortal aspect too."
Wolfe took another long drag from his cigarette, considering her words. He looked up at the mages, now glowing with contained energy. "Alright, the mages are in position," he grunted. "Let them do their Abjuration." He put the car in gear. "We'll continue our patrol. There's always some stupid criminal who thinks the Silent Night is the perfect time to try something."
…
Meanwhile, Erwin arrived at the mouth of the alley leading to Café LeBlanc. The street was now completely deserted, cloaked in an oppressive silence under the faint, pulsing light of the great barrier. He hurried down the narrow passage, the urgent warning from the Watcher echoing in his mind.
He was just reaching for the café's doorknob when the door was flung open from the inside with explosive force. Sebas, his face a mask of calm urgency, rushed out.
"Master Erwin, get down!"
Sebas didn't wait for a response. He shoved Erwin hard, sending the commander stumbling backward through the doorway and into the café. At the same moment, something impossibly fast and utterly black shot down from the sky, aimed directly where Erwin had been standing.
It was a projectile of what looked like solidified ash, but it moved with a hungry, sentient purpose. Sebas, turning to face it, didn't even flinch. His skin took on a dark, metallic sheen, a subtle transformation that rippled across his butler's suit. He raised an arm to shield himself.
"Iron Skin," he muttered.
The ash projectile slammed into his forearm with a deafening SKRAAANG of tortured metal. Sparks flew as the entity scraped against his seemingly unbreakable defense. Inside, Zero and Soma rushed to help the thrown Erwin to his feet, their faces pale with shock.
Outside, Sebas calmly deflected the lashing tendrils of ash. He was about to press an attack, to neutralize whatever it was that had assaulted them, when the sky lit up. A squadron of robed mages, glowing with the pure white light of Abjuration magic, streaked across the sky toward a small, jagged fissure in the barrier—a Tear from which the ash had emerged. They moved in perfect concert, weaving a patch of brilliant light that sealed the breach shut.
One of the mages, a woman with a severe expression, descended into the alley. She saw Sebas, standing perfectly composed, calmly brushing a few lingering flecks of dark residue from the sleeve of his immaculate suit.
"The Tear is sealed," she said, her voice sharp and authoritative. "Go back to your house. It's dangerous out here."
Sebas gave a single, slight nod of acknowledgement and turned, walking back into the café without a word.
As the mage flew back up to rejoin her patrol, a disquieting thought wormed its way into her mind. 'Did that butler... just block an attack from the Ashen God?' She shook her head, dismissing the absurd notion. 'Impossible. No mortal could survive a direct touch of the Ash, let alone block it.' She could sense mana signatures, and the old butler's had been barely a flicker, a perfectly mortal amount. She looked back one last time at the quiet, unassuming café in the dark alley, then brushed the thought away again, refocusing on the vital, unending task of guarding the Silent Night.
Sebas stepped back inside the café, the door clicking softly shut behind him, sealing them in from the unnerving silence of the night. Zero, now standing on his own, his face a mask of confusion and lingering adrenaline, looked from the stoic butler to the spot outside where the attack had occurred.
"What happened out there?" Zero demanded, his voice tight. "What was that thing?"
Sebas turned, his expression as placid as ever, and gave a slight bow of his head toward Erwin. "I believe Young Master Erwin has the answer to that, sir."
Erwin, leaning slightly on Soma for support, nodded grimly. The commander had already processed the available data, assembling the chaotic events into a coherent report. "Yes," he began, his voice steady despite the ordeal. "On my way back from the library, I gathered what information I could. The city was shutting down. The Watchers were clearing the streets." He paused, his blue eyes meeting Zero's. "Tonight is what they call the 'Silent Night'."
"The Silent Night?" Zero repeated, the name meaning nothing to him. "What is that?"
"A monthly reinforcement of the city's magical barrier, it seems," Erwin explained. "And a period of increased danger from... whatever that was." He gestured vaguely toward the door. "A full debriefing is required." He looked around the café, at the waiting dinner plates, and his pragmatic side took over. "How about we discuss this after dinner, and over some coffee? We need to recover our strength and assess the situation from a secure position."
Soma, who had been quietly supporting Erwin, let out a sudden laugh, clapping the commander on the back. "Our little detective already showing his prowess, ahahaha! Figuring things out already!"
Erwin brushed Soma's hand off his shoulder, his expression turning stern. "I'm taller than you," he stated simply, a direct assertion of the new pecking order.
"Hey!" Soma shot back, jabbing a finger at him. "How can you say that when your other card makes you a seven-year-old child?!"
While the two of them began to bicker, their argument a strange mix of military seriousness and sibling rivalry, Zero just shook his head. He and Sebas exchanged a brief, knowing glance. They were the adults in the room.
Without a word, Zero and the ever-silent Sebas turned and walked toward the stairs, leaving the other two to their squabbling as they ascended to the relative peace of the living quarters.
…
The last clink of cutlery hitting a clean plate echoed in the quiet loft. The meal, delicious as it was, had been a tense affair. Now, with the business of eating done, the real debriefing could begin.
Zero moved with a quiet purpose, preparing four different drinks at his small upstairs coffee station. For Soma, a rich, dark hot chocolate with a hint of chili, something to match his fiery, creative spirit. For Sebas, a perfectly steeped, traditional black tea, elegant and uncompromising in its simplicity. For Erwin, a sharp, black coffee, no sugar, no cream—a drink for focus and long nights of planning. For himself, a calming chamomile tea. He placed each mug before its intended recipient.
"Okay," Zero said, taking his seat and cradling the warm mug in his hands. "Now that our bellies are full, you can start, Erwin."
Erwin sat ramrod straight, his posture that of a commander addressing his war council. "Let's start with the elephant in the room," he began, his voice calm and methodical. "The Silent Night. First, I know the name from overhearing conversations among the city's populace on my way home. Second, I know it is a monthly occurrence."
"You can tell that just from observing?" Soma asked, surprised.
"You can tell a great deal from observing people," Erwin replied, his gaze unwavering. "And it is based on our own arrival. We have been here for less than a month. The nights prior to this one, while the city's nightlife was non-existent, were not this empty, this completely shuttered. Therefore, we can deduce it is not a daily occurrence."
"How can you be sure it's monthly?" Soma pressed. "What if it's a yearly thing?"
"The people are too familiar with it," Erwin explained patiently. "There was no panic, only a resigned, practiced urgency. Even without the Watchers ushering them, they all knew to go inside. The patrol units were also too familiar with the routine. For a city Watch that has only been established for a few decades, a yearly crisis of this magnitude would still induce a level of panic in their ranks. They were too used to this. It is a regular, predictable threat."
Sebas, who had been listening silently, added his own observation. "And I believe the shimmering phenomenon in the sky is a barrier," he said, his voice a respectful baritone. "I have been observing it since I first noticed it from the window. It was weakening, and it seemed there were mages who were required to reinforce it. The attack occurred at a 'Tear'—a breach in that defense."
Erwin nodded, incorporating the new data. "Which brings me to my final point." He paused, his blue eyes sweeping over each of them. "I want to return to Cecil's last words to us. He stated that this world is several times more dangerous than the DC Universe. An event like this—a monthly, city-wide lockdown to defend against an attack from a seemingly god-like entity—seems to align perfectly with that warning."
Zero rubbed his chin, the pieces clicking into a terrifying picture. "You don't say," he muttered. "But it does align. If we compare this city to Gotham, you could say it's far more dangerous. As dangerous as Gotham is, they don't have a scheduled monthly godly entity trying to tear a hole in the sky to get at them."
Soma took a sip of his spicy hot chocolate, a thoughtful, almost academic look on his face. "Well, to be fair," he said, "if Batman just killed those villains, his city would be a lot safer."
Erwin took a calm sip of his black coffee, the bitter liquid doing little to change his composed expression. He placed the mug down with a soft click.
"As for the world we now inhabit, Aetherion," he began, his voice cutting through the quiet of the loft, "my initial suspicions were correct. We are in a city that is the geographical and cultural analogue of New York City. We are located within the Granite Cape Duchy, though it is more commonly referred to by the name of its ruling house: the Evercrest Duchy."
"So, New York is just a duchy's territory, huh?" Zero mused, trying to wrap his head around the scale of it.
"No," Erwin corrected patiently. "This city itself is the heart of a county known as the Hudson Reach. This county is led by a Margrave of House Warren, who in turn answers to the Duke of Evercrest."
Soma rubbed his head, a look of profound confusion on his face. "Wait, wait. Are we in a duchy or a county?"
Erwin calmly took another sip of his coffee. "Both," he said simply.
"Aagghh! That's so confusing!" Soma groaned, slumping in his chair.
A faint sigh escaped Erwin's lips, the first sign of strain he'd shown. "Okay," he said, shifting his approach. "Let's compare this side-by-side to the America we knew. Think of the entire continent as one kingdom, called The United Realms of Averidane. At the top is the Royal House, which rules over all. Underneath them are seven other Great Houses." He held up a hand, ticking off the points. "Three of these are Archduchies—think of them as massive regions, like the entire West Coast or the Southwest. Then there are four Duchies, which are smaller but still vast territories, like our own 'state'." He looked at them pointedly. "What you need to remember for now is the duchy we are in: the Evercrest Duchy, led by House Evercrest."
Zero and Soma both nodded slowly, the analogy beginning to click. "Okay, we follow that," Zero said.
"Good," Erwin continued. "Now, under Duke Evercrest, there are lower nobles who manage his lands for him: Margraves and Earls. The Duke splits his territory into these 'counties' for them to govern, making it easier to manage."
Soma raised his hand like a student in class. "What's the difference between a Margrave and an Earl?"
"They both manage a county, which you can think of as a state from our past lives," Erwin explained. "In that way, their rank of nobility is similar. However, a Margrave typically governs a border territory and is chosen for their military prowess. An Earl tends to govern a more internal, stable territory and is chosen for their political and economic acumen."
"So which 'states' does this Evercrest Duchy have as its territory?" Zero asked, leaning forward.
Erwin answered without hesitation. "The lands analogous to New England, New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey."
Soma and Zero stared at him, then at each other. "Holy shit," Soma breathed. "And this is just a Duke we're talking about? Not even one of the Archdukes."
"Correct," Erwin said, his expression grim. "Look, what we are lacking now, more than anything else, is intelligence. While it is good that we arrived in this world as adults, our general knowledge is dangerously lacking. We are operating blind." He looked around the table, his gaze settling on each of them. "We need information. Reliable, actionable information."
As the weight of their ignorance settled over the room, a new voice, quiet and respectful, cut through the silence. It was Sebas. A slight, almost imperceptible smile touched his lips.
"Regarding that, Master," he said calmly. "I believe I may have something in mind."
**A/N**
~Read Advance Chapter and Support me on [email protected]/SmilinKujo~
~🧣KujoW
**A/N**