Lathea's Merova workshop smelled faintly of damp wood and incense, the kind she always burned to clear her mind before experimenting.
She hunched over a water charm, eyes squinting through fogged glasses. The crystal core at its centre pulsed faintly, but not as steadily as she wanted. Still, it was a good thing… For now.
Suddenly, though, sparks leapt from her fingertips again, leaving tiny scorch marks on the hem of her robe.
"Ugh! Why does it always go wrong at the exact wrong moment?" she muttered.
Her fingers trembled slightly, a mix of irritation and nervous energy.
Sora, her hovering amber orb, glimmered anxiously nearby.
[Lathea… magical fluctuations detected. Unstable readings are emanating from the south] it said. Its male-orientated voice was calm, but could somehow betray a hint of tension hidden underneath the slightly robotic sound it uttered.
'How can a Module even have emotions. It doesn't make sense… Right?'
But before she could ever find a single clue of what it was that made her companion so strange, her brain clicked.
She froze mid-breath.
'The south… toward the market district?'
Letting a shaking breath, Lathea shifted uncomfortably and shook her head.
"Impossible. There hasn't been any rift activity here in ages." she whispered, brushing a loose strand of hair from her eyes.
Still, instinct twisted her stomach into knots.
There was no denying the hum of energy building beneath her feet, almost like an ominous heartbeat she could feel through the floorboards.
Before she could dwell further on this foul feeling of unease, a sound disrupted her train of thought, making a shiver run through her spine.
She started to feel nauseous under the probability of a sudden catastrophe.
A distant howl echoed through the streets, rattling the windows and sending a small stack of spell components clattering to the ground. Lathea's heart raced.
'That's no normal sound… that's not even natural.'
Yanking her robe close around her, Lathea twisted her sash tight and slid her boots on.
"Sora, ready the defensive charms, and the supporting protocol too. We might need them!" she exclaimed, trying to calm herself with the familiar rhythm of preparation.
She hurriedly ran to the nearest window and took a look at the outside.
For some reason, life continued on this part of the district, as if nobody had heard this dangerous-sounding howl.
In fact, it seemed that she was the only one to hear it.
'Curses!'
With a leap that sent a few stray sparks into the air, she bolted from the workshop, weaving through Silurad's crowded streets.
Children darted between legs, carts rolled by, and street performers juggled fire. She ducked under a low-hanging banner, nearly tripping over a stray dog.
"Sorry! Watch out!" she nearly screamed, as she squeezed past a group of wide-eyed merchants.
Sora pulsed brighter.
[Energy surge increasing! Gate signatures detected! High risk!]
Lathea's chest tightened.
'Of course it's high risk. A Gate is about to start its opening right in the middle of a market.'
She drew a deep breath and circulated her Kovatar internal energy, letting the familiar flow of water beneath the streets respond to her, quivering under her hands like an extension of herself.
'Focus. Calm. Protect.'
By the time she reached the southern streets, the atmosphere had dramatically changed. From the pulsing joy and life of Tolan district, it shifted to a mad painting of destruction and violence.
The plaza was already in chaos.
Smoke spiralled upward, thick and acrid, carrying the sharp tang of ozone. Shards of wood and glass littered the cobblestones, toppled carts blocked pathways, and the screams of panicked civilians cut through the air.
And there they were.
…The Hoppers.
The grotesque humanoids spilt from a swirling portal at the centre of the plaza. Their elongated limbs jerked in unnatural rhythms, snapping in directions that no normal joint should ever bend. Their black, reflective eyes scanned the panicked crowd like predators sizing up their prey.
Lathea's stomach twisted, but she didn't falter.
"I won't let you hurt them," she muttered, signalling to a group of civilians the nearest escape route, as she was extending her hands.
Water from nearby fountains, puddles, and even damp earth curled upward in shimmering tendrils, forming barriers to shield the civilians.
"Go! And stay behind me! Now!" she shouted, her high-pitched voice sharp and commanding.
A mother clutched her child, frozen in fear, while a boy tripped over a broken stall leg. Lathea reacted instinctively, sending a gentle current beneath his feet to lift him to safety behind a pile of debris. Relief flickered briefly, but she couldn't dwell on it — more Hoppers were coming.
The first of the beasts lunged toward a merchant. Lathea twisted, unleashing a torrent of water that slammed the creature into a stall, splintering wood and sending fruit flying. It jerked violently before dissolving into mist, the motion unnerving even her practised eyes.
She moved like a dancer through the chaos, spinning, twisting, and directing currents with fluid grace.
Another Hopper lunged at a child running toward his mother's skirt. Lathea shot a slender column of water beneath the child, propelling him safely over debris.
The mother stumbled backwards, clutching her child, but Lathea extended a sweeping wave of water to lift her and guide them both to safety.
"Move! Keep moving!" she cried, pointing fleeing civilians toward safer streets.
She conjured bridges over overturned carts, lifted debris to create barriers, and flung attacking Hoppers into walls of water or toppled stalls. Each spell was a combination of instinct, intuition, and frantic improvisation.
Her robes were soaked, hair plastered to her face, glasses fogging, but she didn't falter. Every civilian she protected, every monster she repelled, sharpened her focus even as exhaustion crept in.
Her pulse throbbed in rhythm with the energy of the plaza itself, feeding her magic in a chaotic harmony.
Still, it wasn't enough to stop the evercoming tide of monsters.
…So, she continued to focus, calm and protect.
***
After what seemed to be an eternity, she was still standing in her little place of the plaza, where a dozen corpses of Hopper were lying, most of them already dissolving in the air into thin particles of dark dust.
The tide of Hoppers didn't seem to give the slightest hint of ever ceasing. And behind her, many civilians were still fleeing. Some were tucked and hidden beneath overturned stalls of inside buildings… many were no longer alive.
Casting a wall of water, she used it as a shield to defend herself against a Hooper that lunged at her.
She used her magic to change the speed at which the wall of liquid vibrated, drastically increase the pressure of the water, and also augment the density of each particle of water, all at the same time, while casting something akin to abrasive in the mix.
The resulting matter ended up being a gigantic, extremely sharp wall of water.
Of course, it took a few precious moments to achieve this result, but it was more than enough to create this weapon. Plus, all this time, the Hopper hadn't regained its senses.
Speaking of the creature, as it shook, it came back to its senses — the shock of the bashing wall of water now passed, the creature lunged again at Lathea.
Casting another, smaller wall of water, this time more liquid normal — the operation still costing a huge amount of energy — the head of the creature traversed the first wall of liquid.
But just then, the giant guillotine of water behind it parted, and came back in a swift motion that decapitated the creature. Its head rolled and stopped a couple of metres in front of Lathea. She shivered at the sight of this head, but refocused.
'I can't let myself be distracted!'
Her will rekindled, she dismissed the first wall of water. Then, she parted the water guillotine into two flowing, sharp blades whose sole purpose was to cut every enemy that would try to come at her…
And it did. Very well, even.
After some time, she threw a glance behind her and saw that the civilians had nearly all retreated. Reinforcements were also coming.
'Good!' she internally sighed.
No sooner had she dismissed this thought than her device spoke:
[Lathea, I'd recommend that you retreat. Your vitals are rising at an abnormal speed, and your energy level is low.]
Indeed, it was. Maintaining the two water blades at such an enormous size, and with their current pressure and density, took a ginormous toll on her.
"No t—"
Her sentence never got finished, as a loud bang drowned whatever she was about to say. Turning her head toward the location of the noise, she peeked at an incredible sight.
Lathea caught sight of a young man — maybe the same age as her — across the plaza. His hair — and particularly a grey lock of hair — glinted in the light as he struck down Hoppers with fluid, efficient movements.
At first, she gaped in amazement, seeing how this person made dealing with Hoppers look simple… almost easy. But then, relief and worry clashed in her chest.
'He'll handle the big part of the combat. I need to keep the civilians safe.'
A mother tripped, child clinging tightly. Lathea thrust her hands beneath the debris, lifting it just enough for them to crawl free.
She extended a column of water beneath the path of fleeing townsfolk, propelling them over broken stalls.
Another Hopper lunged toward the fountain, but she intercepted it with a spinning wave that sent it tumbling into a pile of overturned carts.
Even as she worked, she muttered under her breath:
"Focus… don't trip… don't… oh no, too much!"
A surge of water shot a little too high, splashing onto a merchant's stall and sending produce flying.
"Sorry! Sorry! Just… safety!"
Her cheeks flushed, but she recovered quickly, redirecting the current to clear a path for more civilians.
Nearby, a group of guards struggled to hold a line. Lathea raised a torrent of water, slamming a Hopper into the cobblestones to buy the guards time. They nodded quickly, coordinating with her, forming small corridors for people to escape.
The Hoppers moved with unnerving unpredictability, but Lathea adapted instinctively, her magic flowing in waves, arcs, and spirals. She lifted carts to block paths, created walls to funnel creatures, and pushed fleeing townsfolk over debris safely.
A child stumbled, and she snatched him up, twirling to avoid another monster, then gently set him down behind a reinforced pile of rubble.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the wave of Hoppers faltered as reinforcements arrived. The guards began to push the remaining creatures back, and civilians rushed to safer streets.
Lathea exhaled, lowering her hands, water dissipating into the air in faint streams. Her chest heaved, muscles trembling, and her hair stuck to her face like molten fire.
She glanced toward the young man again. He was already kneeling over one of the fallen Hoppers, studying something in its chest. The pulse of magic still radiated from the portal's remnants.
Lathea's hands tingled from exertion, her energy drained, but she allowed herself a small, shaky breath of relief.
'I saved them. For now.'
And yet, even in the brief calm, her mind churned with worry and anticipation. The portal was unstable. More Hoppers could appear at any moment. Looking again at the young man, she noticed a sort of gem, pulsating a violet crimson.
'A… core?!'
Lathea shivered. The implication of what dark idea was forming in her mind was as horrible as the announcement of the apocalypse itself.
In all of her years of studying magic, one thing has ever been certain: Hoppers had no core.
The reason behind that simple statement was that every beings were made and born with a purpose and a somewhat sentient core… an indescribable, and differing point of convergence of energy.
It could have been a shard of energy for some, and a puzzling map of vessels circulating the natural energy of the world in their bodies, toward a single point — the heart — for others.
…In other words, a soul core.
But hoppers, however… Hoppers weren't born in a 'normal' way for every other beings. They just materialised… They spawned. And as such, they had no souls.
So, the crystal this mysterious guy seemed to have found in the corpse of the Hopper, and that he now held, would surely bring even more questions.
For now, what she had understood from this single crystal core was ominous, entirely wrong even.
Something, or someone, had 'created' a few Hoppers.
Lathea clenched her fists, determination rising anew. She would fight, protect, and survive. And more importantly, she would find the answers to the mystery that announced some ominous event about to unfold in the world… and stop it.
…She would make sure no more innocents were harmed under her watch.
But that's what she thought.
As soon as she finished exhaling a breath she didn't even know she was holding, until a fraction of a second ago, the ground of Silurad shook again.
… Reality had other plans.