Fire…
Fire everywhere.
All around me.
There's fire.
It hurts to walk. It's hot, too hot. My skin feels like it's about to fall off.
But I can't stop. If I stop, I'll die.
I don't want to die.
I don't want to burn here.
So I walk…and walk…and walk…until I have no more strength in my legs.
I eventually simply fell down…As rubble fell upon me.
I could only think to myself.
'Is this the end?'
'Will I die here?'
'Were my efforts…for nothing?'
Internally, I cried with defiance. I didn't want to die here. I wanted to live. I wanted to…to…
I don't know what I wanted.
However, before I closed my eyes…
I heard a sound.
Digging.
The voice of someone. A man.
And then I saw light again…as my body was dug up.
I saw his face.
Tears were flowing freely.
He was overjoyed, having found a survivor.
Because I saw how happy he was…
It was almost like I was the one to save him.
He held my hand, and said it over and over.
"You're alive."
"You're alive."
"You're alive."
I couldn't help but feel awe, despite barely escaping death.
"Thank You."
He said, grateful for something.
"Thank goodness I found you."
"Even if I saved just one…
It's still redemption."
My eyes opened. The first thing I noticed was how sore my body was. It was like I got hit by a truck.
The second thing I noticed was that I was in some room, and that there were three girls in here too. One had white hair and blue eyes, one had dark purple hair and eyes, and the last one had silver hair and gray eyes.
Graye was on Purple's lap, while White was complaining about something. I think. It's hard to say. There was a ringing in my ears that made it hard to understand.
"Yeah…soooo incredible…Mei loves her the most…me by the…"
The third thing I noticed…was that there was no fire, and no man. Did he leave me here, or was that not real?
With a grunt, I sat up. This action of course caught their attention.
"Ah! You're awake!" White said…more like screamed.
That's loud. My ears hurt.
"Kiana-chan, not so loud. She just woke up." Purple said to Kyana-chann as she looked back towards me. "Are you alright? How are you feeling?"
"...Like I experienced a tragedy caused by an evil God wannabe which led me to becoming buried under rubble and dug up by a wannabe hero."
What are the words coming out of my mouth? And why does Purple look so surprised?
"...Okay…What's your-?"
"WAIT, DID YOU JUST CALL ME A WANNABE HERO!?"
Kyana-chann screamed suddenly after finally processing what I said, but this time it didn't hurt my ears as badly. In fact, I responded instantly.
"If you felt called out by a random mention of the words 'Wannabe' and 'Hero' then that says more about you than I could ever."
She seemed oddly stunned by it. Odd, since I only told the truth. I turned back to Purple. "So…where are we?"
"..." After staring at Kyana-chann for a bit, Ms. Purple looked back at me. "Unfortunately, still in Nagazora…currently in an apartment. We found you buried under some rubble, thankfully not turned into a zombie unlike the other people…" She said, her eyes moving down for a moment, likely saddened by this tragedy. "...My name is Mei Raiden, what's yours?"
I rather slowly processed her words.
"...Lady, I neither have any idea what this 'Nazagora' is or what you mean by 'zombie'. Nice to meet you though, May Raiden."
"...It's Nagazora."
"That's what I said, May."
"..."
"..."
"...Sigh…so, what's your name?" She asked again, seemingly having given up on something. "And where are you from, if not from Nagazora?"
"Why of course, I am from…" I paused. "Where was I from again?"
While I mumbled to myself, trying to figure out the answer while May's face was slowly filled with concern, a voice sounded from May's Lap.
"Mei Nee-sama, Da Bronya believes this subject has a high chance of experiencing Amnesia." Graye said, sitting up and looking at me with analyzing eyes. Da Bronya? Sounds Russian. Especially the 'Da' part, unless some Dad is named Bronya and is sending her information without me seeing it.
"I see…"
"Mhm, yeah, I can't remember where I'm from. I don't actually seem to remember shit! That's crazy!" I'm very bothered, as you can see. "My name seems to be gone too. That's sad. Anyways! You can call me…「Emiya」."
Like a tingle went through me, the name settled in my mind. Emiya. It sounds so familiar, so right yet not. So incomplete. I love it.
"You, Russian girl, you seem smart, can you explain what's going on for Miss May to be mentioning zombies and snakes?" I asked with a smirk, while thinking about what to do depending on the answer.
Unfortunately, Kyana-chann decided to go back into activity.
"Hey! I'm much smarter than Bratnya! And what do you mean by snakes?"
"Subject Kiana has 0% chance of beating Da Bronya in Intelligence, alongside 0% chance of properly explaining the situation to Subject Emiya."
Huh, so the Chann part is just an attachment? Bratnya is clearly an annoying insult of sorts, but May doesn't seem like the type…so Chann is affectionate? Hmm. Kyana is simpler than Kyana Chann. Also…
"Heh. Imagine not getting the snake joke." I said.
"Indeed. Subject Kiana doesn't have the required IQ level to understand." Bronya said.
We looked each other in the eye, and nodded. This girl ain't bad.
"You two…"
"Please calm down Kiana-chan. And you two, stop teasing her." May said, butting into the conversation as she put a hand on Kyana's shoulder. "We need to figure out how to get out of Nagazora."
"Hmm…sounds difficult for some reason. So, can I get that explanation?"
"Da Bronya would explain, but Da Bronya doesn't know much either. People started changing into Undead-like entities and Beasts appeared, attempting to remove living beings around it. Does Subject Emiya know how to defend herself?"
Well, that's an explanation. Works for the time being, I suppose.
"I'd say I-" I cut off my own answer as a chill went down my spine. "Move!"
I grabbed May and Bronya and just barely moved them away from the wall before it, and the entire part of the building…just got smashed away by a huge lance.
For some reason, I feel like they'd be just fine anyway but my shout gave us extra time to move and land on the roof.
I took a look at the thing and- "Damn that looks epic as fuck." It was tall as hell, taller than a lot of buildings around. Its right arm was a lance, while the left one was a huge-ass blade. It had a dope color scheme of white and purple, and looked kinda robotic in a way. "Nice design, 8/10." I gave it a thumbs up, only to be grabbed by the back of my collar by something and feel my body being moved away.
"This is not the time for jokes, Subject Emiya. Da Bronya thinks we need to focus on getting to safety."
"You have a whole-ass stand!? Damn, I want a stand…" I focused on the correct thing, looking at the floating robot-looking thing that just appeared.
"Why are we running? I can take that thing!"
"Kiana-chan, we should avoid fighting."
"Yeah Kyana, why are you so aggressive?"
"Da Bronya agrees with Subject Emiya."
It felt rather humorous despite everything.
"Everyone, please stop joking in this situation!"
"Party pooper." Me.
"Da Bronya agrees with Mei-Nee-sama." Bronya.
"If you say so, Mei." Kiana.
"...Simps." Me again.
We kept moving, having lost the monster thing for the time being. Moving through rooftops is interesting. I can see the so-called 'Zombies' below in the streets, and for some reason there is an odd tingle that I can't put my finger on. Like, the whole place is kinda…energized? Static? Odd.
"...So…you guys seem pretty fast." I point out after staying silent for a bit. "Is that some kind of superpower or something? Did y'all get the Manhua treatment, starting the Apocalypse by gaining superpowers?"
"...Emiya-san, I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Subject Emiya has watched too much anime, Da Bronya concludes."
"Haha, and you call me dumb."
"...Sigh. I'm surrounded by uneducated people. Oi, Vodka girl, let me down. I can run by myself." I said, and was promptly let go. If I wasn't ready, I would have fallen on my back. We paused for a bit. "Let's just get to a good look-out spot first. I'm gonna take a guess and say the internet doesn't work?"
Their looks said a lot on the topic.
"Can't be sure if it's just here that this happened then, right? We might just go from the frying pan into the fire. That's how it usually is with zombies anyway…the more people in a city, the greater the danger."
"...Da Bronya concludes that Subject Emiya is correct. However, Da Bronya believes there is a bigger chance of death by staying."
This girl…
She's full of shit.
Not the part about it being more dangerous to stay here. That's true…
However she keeps saying less than she actually knows.
And that. Is. So. Fucking. Annoying.
I know I said she ain't bad earlier, but that was beforehand.
If it wasn't for the situation at hand…well, I would have done something unpleasant.
Suddenly, there was a rumble.
"Tch, did it follow us?" I once more saw that monster moving towards us. It's really fast, huh? I'm surprised we weree able to lose it before…in retrospect, it might be 'cause Bronya pulled me away before I did anything stupid. Unfortunately, it seems that it's not very willing to let us go this time around. It moved behind us, leaving a path of Destruction and Flame in its wake…
That pisses me off somehow.
"Alright motherfucker…"
Suddenly, it felt like someone was guiding me. A grin crept up onto my face. I rolled up my sleeves as lines became visible on them."Let's see what you're made of."
My hands moved into a grip.
"『Trace On』"
…That was certainly a chapter 1.
I appreciate any ideas you can give. Or something, idk.
A bit too fast-paced. I'll need to work on that.