Suddenly a voice rose behind him.
"Hello, sir."
He turned.
A tall man stood there—light-blue eyes dull with exhaustion, a ragged beard clinging
to his jaw, worn-out shoes barely holding together. He looked less like a passerby
and more like a ghost drifting through the streets… a hobo shaped by misery.
"I heard you speaking to that officer," the man said quietly, voice trembling at the
edges. "And… my sister… she's missing too."
"Huh?! W—What?!"
"Y-Yes… please," he stammered, tears streaking from his face. "Please… help me.
You… you look refined, well-taken care of, powerful… I—I beg you."
So I wasn't wrong.
Lyra did come here. But what the hell happened?
That customer… could he have done it? Possible.
A foreign invasion? Maybe.
A terrorist attack? No—if it were that, the whole city would've known by now.
No… this is something else.
Something deeper. Something way more suspicious than it looks.
Wait.
Dead bodies.
No bodies… not even traces of one. Either someone cleaned this place with
precision…
or the victims never hit the ground to begin with
"Yes, sir. Understood. Shall I go? Sir… SIR?!"
"Y-Yeah… sorry. What was I saying again?"
"Sir, you really are quite sharp. I'll look into it right away. Thank you.
And sir remember, the sky isn't always what you think it is. Look too closely… and it
might blink back at you."
With that, the beggar hurried past him.
"Wa–Wait—"
But the man was already out of earshot.
Kael frowned, a sharp chill running down his spine.
"What… did I even tell him? What was he saying? And why can't I remember saying
it… myself?"
He spoke while staring at the sky. The sun blazed brightly overhead.
Flicker.
What?! Did the sun just… go out?
No. It had to be my imagination. I'm losing it.
I really need to see a doctor.
***
Light stabbed into Lyra's eyes.
She gasped awake, breath catching painfully as cold stone pressed against her
back. The air tasted of rust and damp metal. Her wrists ached—bound. Her head
throbbed.
"Where… am I…?" she whispered, panic trembling through her voice.
A rough laugh rolled through the darkness.
"Oh! That bitch finally woke up."
Heavy footsteps approached. From the shadows emerged a towering man wearing a
black mask—nearly seven feet tall. His arms bulged beneath a filthy vest, veins
standing out like cables. A cruel grin split his face as he looked down at her.
"What do we do now?"
"Wait for the boss's instructions… Oh boy! We're finally going to get a taste of real
sunlight, water, and rain. Heaven!" he said with a wide grin.
Lyra finally realized what was happening. She was inside a spacecraft. The towering
man beside her was clearly the bodyguard, while the other, thinner masked man sat
at the control panel, piloting the vessel.
The craft itself was small, containing only two rooms. The first was where the three
of them stood now, crowded with the control systems and blinking panels. The
second lay beyond a closed metal door at the rear.
"Uhm… where are we going? Who are you?!" Lyra asked, struggling to keep the
panic from spilling into her voice.
…
"HELLO?!"
"Shut up, lady! You don't want to make the big guy angry now, do you?" the thinner
man snapped. Then he leaned closer and whispered, "Although… I doubt he'd still
be alive if he so much as touched you."
—
Two hours later.
"Hey, fatass. We've arrived. Wake the girl up—and be careful. She's an important
package. And she can kick," the thin man said lazily.
"Yeah, yeah," the big man grunted as he crouched beside Lyra and shook her
roughly. A creepy grin slid across his face.
"Y–Yeah… I'm awake," Lyra muttered sleepily, pushing herself up from the floor.
She looked around, then snapped her glare at them.
"Where are we? Can you finally tell me now?! ASSHOLES. Was that respectful
enough?"
The thin man chuckled.
"You know, I'd have beaten the shit out of you if it weren't for the boss. But
anyway—welcome to Myoureneth Terra!" he said as he pressed a button. "The real
world."
The door slid open.
Greenery stretched as far as her eyes could reach. Towering buildings scraped the
clouds, their metallic surfaces catching sunlight like mirrors. Floating vehicles drifted
between them effortlessly.
And people—people were flying.
Her breath hitched.
"Wh—What…?"
"This," the thin man said smugly, "is the Upper World. The place underground where
you came from? That's the Seraphim Void."
He gestured lazily at the sky.
"The sunlight you felt. The rain that touched your skin. The plants you saw.
Hell—even the air you breathe—every bit of it was supplied by the Myoureneth
Empire."
Lyra's legs trembled.
"This is the true world. The natural world," he continued. "Beautiful, right?"
"H–Huh…? Wh–WHAT?!" her voice cracked.
Lyra's knees threatened to buckle. She stared at the people floating past, at the
buildings that shimmered like they were alive, at the sun shining brighter than she
thought possible. Her voice came out barely a whisper. "This… this can't be real…"
"Real? Oh, it's real, sweetheart," the thin man said, smirking. "You should be grateful
we dragged you out of that hellhole you were stuck in. Welcome… to the true world.
The natural world. Beautiful, isn't it?"
Lyra's hands trembled. Her heart raced. Every instinct in her screamed that she had
just crossed into a place far beyond comprehension, and that nothing would ever be
the same again.
"You should be grateful we dragged you out of that hellhole," the big man began.
But before he could finish, the thin man cut him off.
"HEY!!! Shut it!!!"
Suddenly, the sound of footsteps echoed down the corridor—fast, sharp, growing louder with every second. A small man stepped into view, his face hidden behind a conical mask that covered it entirely. He wore tight leather jeans and a dark green shirt that looked like it belonged to some military unit or organized faction.
"Hey, assholes!" he barked.
Despite his size, there was no mistaking who was in charge.
"Why are you all screwing around?" he snapped, his voice dropping into something calm—but dangerous. "If the boss finds out… well, you already know what happens.
Right now, sir is very terrified, for some reason. I don't know why, but he was quite terrified and angry. He was mumbling about some prophecy. I didn't fully understand it but DO NOT ANGER HIM right now."