Note: The series might not suit for every audience. Progress with caution.
Note 2: This is a slow burn fan-fic. That includes only 4 Female Leads.
That's all! Enjoy.
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It was a sunny day like any other. Snezhnaya's never-ending winter was as brutal and cold as ever, despite the sun hanging in the sky.
Columbina, the Third Seat of the Harbingers, was in her private garden, looking through the glass dome. What she was thinking, only she herself knew. The flowers around her were tinged with hints of blue, sometimes shifting from light blue to bright blue, reflecting her inner emotions.
Hm?
A presence broke Columbina's dazed state. She tilted her head toward the sky. Though her eyes remained closed, her senses were as sharp as ever.
She felt a presence—strong yet weak—rapidly advancing toward her garden from above. But Columbina made no effort to move. The world itself rejected her existence, and protecting herself with her power was more than enough.
As the presence grew closer, she could finally see it: a man. A man wearing nothing but his boxers, barely covering himself.
Before Columbina could register his appearance or her shock, the man crashed into her garden with a loud BOOM.
Glass shards flew. The flowers, infused with Kuuvahki over centuries, were obliterated from existence. The man lay in a six-foot-deep crater he had created upon impact.
Columbina, being Columbina, instantly shook her head, dispelling any shock or curiosity. She walked softly toward the crater, her bare feet never touching the ground—tiny droplets of Hydro element forming under her feet, acting as shoes.
Moments later, she stood beside him and could finally inspect his appearance more clearly. Though the man was almost entirely naked and injured in every direction, there was a certain charm to him that made Columbina drop her guard—not completely, but not slightly either. She still didn't open her eyes, but she could sense the full extent of his injuries.
Except for his face, every part of his body bore scars, from small to large. The most obvious feature was the dragon tattoo covering his back. Despite all the damage, the tattoo remained completely intact, actively healing the wounds around it.
Before Columbina could react, one of his hands moved and grabbed her left leg.
Columbina froze.
After a fall like that, even abnormal beings should remain unconscious for days.
"You..." His voice was rough and cold, yet Columbina could sense the wariness and exhaustion beneath it. It was genuine—not fake, not an illusion. And that made Columbina feel something she couldn't name. Expectant? She didn't know what to call this emotion.
Before she realized it, her hand moved to his head. She spoke her first words since this brute had destroyed her garden.
"It's fine."
She didn't know who she said it to—herself or him. He didn't know either. Nor did Columbina.
But one thing was certain: when he heard those words, for a brief moment, he felt like he could trust his life to this strange yet beautiful person.
With that, he lost consciousness again. His strength slipped away completely, and his grip on her leg loosened.
But Columbina didn't let go of his head. She patted it softly, humming an unknown song.
While she patted his head and hummed the unknown song only she knew, Columbina finally opened her eyes.
Through the holes in her white blindfold, she looked at him. Truly.
Her hand moved before her mind could catch up, resting on his cheek and tilting it softly, giving her a clearer view of his face.
Handsome.
That was the word that surfaced first. Columbina wasn't the best when it came to judging appearances—she simply didn't care enough to try—but she knew someone like him was certainly more handsome than her colleagues. Tartaglia, Scaramouche, and the others she couldn't be bothered to remember.
But beyond his appearance, her mind drifted to other questions. Who was this man? Why had he fallen from the sky? And why... why did she feel more complete around him?
She didn't know.
Her only wish had always been to return to the moon that belonged to her. That was why she served The Tsaritsa. That was her purpose. Her singular focus.
But none of it mattered right now.
Because the man before her felt close. As if she were seeing the moon—her home—with her own eyes.
Even now, she could feel it: the world's rejection of her existence loosening its grip the longer she stayed near him. It was a foreign sensation. Unfamiliar. Strange.
But she didn't hate it.
Not even in the slightest.
Columbina knelt there for a moment longer, her hand still resting on his cheek. Then, with a soft sigh, she finally moved.
She didn't think about why she was doing this. She simply acted.
Her power, Kuuvahki, stirred at her command. A gentle, almost invisible force lifted the man from the crater, cradling him like a child as she began the walk toward her home.
During the walk, her mind kept wandering about the man she was carrying. The feeling she got from him wasn't familiar, yet it gave such a familiar feeling that she didn't know it existed.
Besides that strange familiarity, she was also curious about the dragon tattoo covering his back. And how—and why—he had fallen from the sky without dying.
Every minute of the walk to her house only made her more curious about this mysterious, almost naked man. She had been planning to leave the Fatui after her promise was completed. But perhaps... staying a few more weeks wouldn't hurt after all.
Seconds after she made that silent decision, her house finally came into sight.
Unlike the private estates of other Harbingers, Columbina's home was modest. It looked like any other house from the outside—dark wooden beams framing white-colored wood as the dominant shade. It wasn't too big or too small. Just enough for a family of five to live comfortably.
She carried him inside without effort, ascending the stairs to the spare bedroom she never used. The bed was plain but soft. She laid him down carefully, pulling a blanket over his still form.
For a moment, she simply stood there, looking at him. Then she turned and left, descending the stairs to the living room below.
She sat down on the couch next to the window, her gaze drifting toward the landscape outside. Toward the false sky. Toward the moon.
No one knew what her thoughts were. Her face was completely unreadable with her eyes closed. The only hint was how the six white and pure wings behind her head flipped gently, as if telling the world she was in a rather good mood compared to other days.
Hmm~ hmmm~ mmmm~ hm~
Once again, she started to hum her unknown song. Her sweet voice gave life to the empty space. Snow fell outside while the house remained warm and cozy. Her humming only added more warmth to it.
But a soft cracking sound broke the rhythm. She startled for a millisecond before remembering she had a guest in her house. It was so rare that it had slipped her mind for a moment.
She looked toward the stairs and saw him walking down. Surprisingly, his eyes were closed like hers despite being awake. He looked confused yet cautious. Still in the same black boxers.
What made her even more curious was how he looked. There were absolutely no injuries. Only a few hours had passed—at least, that's how she measured it—and his body was now perfect, with no sight of any scars.
As much as she was looking at him, he had also started to look at her. Both inspected each other with curiosity and a hint of wariness.
Finally, he broke the silence first.
"You..."
His tone was much softer and warmer than it had been in the garden, though still guarded.
His words made Columbina tilt her head slightly, as if remembering something. When she did remember, she actually giggled. It was soft and lullaby-like.
"You said the same thing twice." She spoke after her giggling faded, her voice still soft and gentle. Her head remained tilted, expressing her curiosity. "You fell into my garden and destroyed my plants."
He didn't answer for a moment. Long enough to make Columbina think he wouldn't answer at all. But just as that thought crossed her mind, he spoke—as if he knew what she was thinking.
"I fell. Because it was my only chance of escape." His voice carried a coldness that was chiller than the snow outside. But instinctively, she knew that coldness wasn't targeted at her. It was aimed at Celestia. "It might seem ridiculous, but I was held captive there as a test subject."
While she thought over his words and their implications, he also found it rather shocking that he had explained his real situation to this girl. It was a gut feeling of his—it had never failed him before—but he never expected that he would feel so much more relaxed and calm after telling his ridiculous-sounding story.
As if a centuries-held burden had been lifted from his shoulders without any prior notice.
Columbina was silent for a long moment, processing. Then, softly, she asked the only question that truly mattered right now.
"What is your name?"
Her question were answered after she gently waved her head front of him. Breaking him from his train of thoughts..
"Aleph. You can call me Aleph, no surname." He answered, holding her hand in the progress making it freeze in its tracks. Before Columbina withdrawn it with an awkward atmosphere.
But such atmosphere didn't last long before Columbina introduced herself, her voice soft as before but now had a hint of something that Aleph couldn't progress with his current messy and chaotic mind.
"Columbina. Is what they call me, like you I have no surname as well. What a coincidence.."
After both of them introduced themselves, A silence fell into the cozy room. It wasn't a suffocating silence but rather a comforting one. A type of comfort that both person in the room would remember it with a happy smile.
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SOOOO This was the chapter one HAHAHA
I originally wanted to write more but in the end I held myself. I didn't wanted to write everything into one single chapter, since this one is already pretty long I thought I should hold myself for the sake of my well being and as well as for the readers. This might sound like me trying to produce extra chapters but it isn't if it sounds like that, the chapters are already gonna be slow-burn as stated at the start but I thought I should say it again one last time in the chapter since I do not plan to mention it in any further chapters. (unless someone asks it on the paragraph comments etc things like that.)
Also! The next chapter there gonna be a timeskip! Warning before hand so it doesn't come as ridiculous or anything like that, there will be reasons for that as well if you see them in the chapter of course.
Anywayyyy, that's all I got to say. I hope you guys liked the chapter. If you did so, please throw some power stone on my way or tell me how was the chapter in the comments! Any contribution is appreciated. Even reading the series without commenting or anything fancy. I love all of my readers.
(can't promise with stable updates tho...)