[January 10th, 2024. Miami, Florida. Two days after the Empress was revived.]
Swarms of men dressed in somber black suits trampled over the once desolate graveyard. Each of them wore dark sunglasses that hid their sharp eyes and had small earpieces.
They all moved in perfect sync and coordination. No one stood idle, each man moved like clockwork. In tight formation, they fanned out among the crooked headstones, murmuring in clipped jargon as they swept the grounds.
Men crouched down in the grass to analyze cracks in the soil, and others sat back to take photographs or wave around bulky, unknown instruments.
By the twisted husk of a dead tree, one agent crouched and scraped a pinch of dirt into a glass vial. He then held the vial near a handheld device, causing its screen to flash a bright green.
He rose without a word and strode toward a dark red shed tucked into the far corner of the graveyard. Its door hung open, and he could see two distinct figures moving around inside.
One was squatting down next to an eerie, empty coffin. She had a childish, youthful face. She looked no older than a teenager, with short reddish-black hair tied into uneven pigtails that stuck out on either side of her head. Her black dress shirt was buttoned up, tucked into a pleated skirt.
Standing across from her, one hand on her hip, was a much taller woman. Long, glossy chestnut hair draped down her lower back in a gentle cascade. Both sides of her head were braided intricately and tucked behind her ears, revealing a pair of silver earrings. A pressed, simple white shirt and blue jeans hugged her figure.
"Doesn't this suck?" the older looking woman sighed, tilting her head to glance toward the rising sun beyond the shed's doorway. "We get sent to Miami, and instead of having fun, we're stuck having to play detective in a creepy place like this. Seriously, I might just quit."
The younger-looking girl unenthusiastically listened to her partner's ramblings. She didn't even bother to look up as she replied.
"Yeah, yeah. And when you quit, you should pack your bags for Atlantis. I hear it's just wonderful this time of year."
"Really?! You think so?" The older woman's eyes lit up.
The younger girl blinked slowly. Whatever amusement she had evaporated like mist. "Dense idiot."
Behind the two women, measured footsteps could be heard approaching the shed's open doors.
Looking back, there was a suited man standing at the entrance. He straightened out his back and put a fist to his chest in salute.
"Ranking officers, Miss Meiying and Miss Farra! I have a report regarding our findings."
Farra, the older-looking girl, gave a heavy sigh.
Meiying, the younger-looking girl, gave a simple wave of her hand. "Hurry and spit it out."
The man nodded.
"Residual traces of spiritual energy have been found throughout the graveyard in large quantities. High saturation, slow decay rate. It's consistent with specter activity."
He pointed to the floor of the shed.
"Blood traces have been found both inside the shed and on the dirt nearby. At present, we've yet to confirm what race they come from, but signs point toward human."
Farra leaned sideways and peeked inside the coffin. "Any chance it was a human that came from this thing? That'd make things a whole lot simpler. A lot less work, too."
Meiying shot her a dirty glance. "Stop being so lazy and get serious. We're standing beside an unknown, unranked, never-before-seen magical tool, and you think some random Joe Shmoe was the one cooped up inside?"
Farra's shoulders slumped.
"I thought you didn't read the report for this case."
"I didn't, but it's not like I need some report to tell me something I can see for myself. Now, can you quiet down and focus?"
"But... Our Miami vacation..."
"Another stupid statement from you, and I'll really leave you swimming down in Atlantis." Meiying finally stood and turned to face the suited man. "You mentioned that there was specter activity. Well, isn't it time that you told me what happened to them?"
The somber man's voice wavered. "We've... We've yet to identify what happened to them, but they aren't here."
Meiying narrowed her eyes.
Farra tilted her head. "Erased? What, like someone hit the delete button on a bunch of angry ghosts?"
The man hesitated. "That… We aren't entirely sure as of yet."
Meiying's expression hardened, her small frame radiating quiet authority. Farra leaned back against the shed wall, arms crossed, waiting for the man to finish stammering.
But instead, he gave a startled gulp, eyes darting between the two women.
The man in the suit flashed a scared look on his face before yelling out. "We'll get right on looking into it, ma'am!" Then he ran off.
A smirk formed on Meiying's face as she heard him.
She muttered silently to herself. "Ma'am... Don't get that kind of respect too often. Feels good to relish in it."
"Of course you don't, you look like some school brat."
"Shut up, it's just—"
"Your curse? I think it'd be a dream come true for me."
"Stop talking and quit already."
Farra chuckled. "We're at the age where eternal youth doesn't sound too bad. You should try and look at the bright side and—"
"I swear to every god in the heavens that I'll have you meeting all those fish-faced fucks in the Mariana Trench before nightfall if you don't shut your stupid jaw this god damnned instant."
Farra raised her hands in mock surrender. "I get it, I get it. If you keep acting so wound up, you'll end up with wrinkles... Though I guess..."
The intensity of Meiying's glare caused Farra to halt whatever it was that she was about to say. She wasn't immortal after all.
Meiying rolled her eyes and stomped toward the shed door. The wood creaked under her polished shoes as she stepped out into the hazy morning light.
Farra trailed after her, stretching with a yawn. "You wanna get breakfast once we wrap things up here? Might be a good chance to try out a local diner."
Stepping out of the shed, the pair walked into the busy graveyard. Black suits filtered between moss-covered headstones with frenzied purpose. They were worker bees in a hive.
The moment the two officers exited the shed, several suits nearby snapped to attention. Anytime the two passed by a worker, they stopped whatever they were doing to give a salute.
Meiying didn't even glance their way as she moved past them.
Farra gave one of the suits a lazy wave and a wink. He flinched.
"Heh. Still got it," she mumbled under her breath.
Meiying shot her a withering look but didn't say anything. Instead, she marched straight through the sea of graves, her boots crunching over dry leaves and soft earth. Farra strolled behind her with hands laced behind her head, head tilting lazily toward the gray sky.
They passed through the wrought-iron front gate, where two agents promptly stepped aside and opened it wide without a word. The metal groaned faintly as it swung, revealing the neighborhood that lay beyond.
The pair stepped out and glanced from side to side.
A row of suburban homes stretched out before them, painted in light colors. At one point, they were undoubtedly beautiful, but whatever mystique they had was now faded. Chipped, partly broken fences lined the sidewalks. Lawns were overgrown. This place was weathered, but what was left still managed to make the mind wander about what it could have been.
At its peak, this area may have been peaceful and serene. The ideal place for a happy, nuclear family to move into, the kind of place where children played together in the middle of the street and had cars happily stop for them.
"Hey, tell me something," Meiying spoke dryly, "What's this neighborhood called?"
Farra put her hands down and groaned. "Well... Okay, this might sound a bit weird, but I've got no idea..."
"Huh? Aren't you supposed to be a database or something? The hell do you mean? You have a glitch or something?"
"No! I mean... Listen, no matter how much I asked or looked into it, I just couldn't find any information on this neighborhood."
Farra furrowed her brow, hands now at her sides. "It's not listed on any map I could find, not even in the Archive. A couple of records say there was a block here, but no real details, plus the name's been erased. No postal data and no property history. It's clear that people did live here at some point in time, but we've got no clue who. Hell, I don't even think we've found a single local that knows this place so much as exists."
Meiying clicked her tongue and looked back at the graveyard gate behind them. "Erased specters. An unknown neighborhood. Blood stains. An empty coffin. God, I know this place is called the Magic City, but this is ridiculous."
Glancing to the side, Meiying spotted something odd. A house with a broken window. It wasn't the first that she'd seen since they entered this neighborhood.
Farra kicked a rock off the sidewalk, watching it skip into a patch of dead grass. "Urh... It's gonna be a ton of work too... The higher-ups seem to be in a frenzy over this..."
"The most powerful organization in the entire world and a single graveyard in some backwater have their balls in a twist. How ironic."
They turned a corner, the concrete sidewalk crunching under their steps. The row of homes continued, one nearly identical to the next. It felt like it'd continue on forever.
Farra yawned. "That's just how things are. If you're used to holding power, then even the slightest change will make you anxious. If you ask me, this is getting blown out of proportion. A coffin was opened, and something came out. What is this, the Walking Dead?"
Meiying didn't answer right away. Her sharp eyes scanned the street. "You know a database can hold a lot of information, but there's something that a database can't do."
Farra pouted. "You're still on that?"
Coming up to a certain house in the long line of homes, Meiying stopped walking. She turned in order to face it. As she did, a smirk spread across her face.
"A database can't form any conclusions. In other words, your opinion is absolutely worthless."
On this unnamed street, the row of homes continued, one nearly identical to the next, until they came to a sudden stop.
In the spot where another home should've stood, there was nothing.
In front of them, in place of a home, was a gaping crater.
The surrounding homes were intact, their shutters sagging and porches crumbling, but this lot was reduced to a blackened pit. Chunks of brick and foundation jutted from the earth like broken teeth. Smoke no longer rose, but the scent of scorched earth still hung faintly in the air.
"I'd bet a lot of money that whatever freakshow came waltzing out of that coffin also created this mess. You still think we've got some small case on our hands?"
Farra whistled low, stepping to the edge of the crater and peering down. "If we're lucky, then..."
Even she didn't sound convinced.
Meiying laughed as she slid down toward the center of the gaping hole. Once she finally got to the bottom, she began to examine the area.
"There's a whole load of energy still in the air. Whatever it was that went boom must've had a bunch of power."
Farra followed, her boots crunching against loose gravel as she carefully descended into the crater after her partner.
"I hope you don't expect me to dig through all this rubble with my bare hands," she muttered, half-joking.
Meiying didn't respond. She was crouched low, fingers skimming across the ash-covered soil. Her eyes narrowed as she brushed aside a thin layer of dust, then suddenly stopped.
"...Huh."
Farra perked up. "You find something?"
Meiying didn't answer. Instead, she shoved both hands into the dirt and began pulling at something lodged deep beneath the surface.
Carefully, Farra continued to descend into the crater. By the time she'd finally stepped into the bottom, Meiying had been digging for some time.
Farra watched her from a distance, unable to see what it was that the girl had been digging up.
"Is it a good idea to go around picking up random items from a blast zone? It might have... like radiation or something."
Meiying didn't reply, but she stopped digging.
She was silent for a couple of moments as she analyzed whatever it was that she'd dug up. Farra furrowed her brow in confusion.
"Something wrong?"
Getting up from the dirt, Meiying stood and turned to face her partner. The expression on her face was unreadable.
Then, without a word, she hurled the object straight at her.
"Wha—!?" Farra flinched, instinctively catching the thing with both hands. She took a moment to regain her balance.
Whatever it was that she held in her hands was heavier than expected.
Looking down, she saw what she held.
The color drained from her face.
"This is..."
The bone was scorched in places, with cracks spidering across the dome like a shattered egg. Part of the jaw was missing, and its eye sockets stared up hollow and blind.
It was a human skull.
Farra's head inched upward, her eyes uneasy. "This isn't real... This has got to be fake..."
"Nope," Meiying replied, brushing the dirt off her gloves. "It's real. A bona fide human skull... I'd know."
Farra gagged.
She dropped the skull in the dirt before taking a step back.
Meiying's reaction was far less pronounced. She merely walked forward before picking the skull up from the ground.
"Don't be so rough with it... It's evidence that someone died here..."
Meiying turned the skull in her hands, inspecting the charred bone. She lifted it to eye level, letting the empty sockets stare back at her.
Her voice was calm. "...What was it, exactly," she asked, "that caused the Magic Order to send us here in the first place?"
Farra's face was pale.
"Right... On the night two days ago, there was a massive disruption in the ley lines. It was large enough to register on a global scale... The reading spike was so high that half our machines fried from the inside out."
Meiying didn't react. "That bad?"
Farra gestured vaguely toward the graveyard. "The current theory is that it originated from here. From that coffin and whatever escaped from it."
Meiying lowered the skull slowly, her gaze falling back to its cracked surface. She stared for a long, silent moment.
"…Two days ago," she murmured, "Something came out from that coffin... and someone died... What the hell happened here?"