War.

The word weighed heavily on the Dwarf’s mind. He knew that this day would come. He’d been aware that it was looming from the moment they discovered the truth about the Puer Kingdom— when the crime lord Didar had been apprehended by Melas.

Gennady Usenov thought it’d lead to this. The only thing was, he never expected it to happen so quickly.

The tensions that flared between the Taw Kingdom and the Puer Kingdom quickly cascaded into war. A full-scale invasion was launched— prepared and instigated by Puer— and allowed them to conquer most of the southern provinces of Taw with ease. When the Taw Kingdom had just been about to begin a counterattack, a new proposition was placed at the House of Or’taq.

The approval to use new, experimental weapons in this war against Puer. There had been so many discussions for years about the ethics of it all. Part of the reason why Gennady himself had left Jahar’taw was because he didn’t agree with it; he believed his resignation might’ve swayed the minds of enough of his peers. He was wrong.

In the period Gennady had been away from Jahar’taw, the opinion on the use of the experimental weapons of the MTC grew from ambivalence to a majority approval. That didn’t mean everyone approved of it or it wasn’t controversial— it simply received enough support for it to pass through the government.

And then it was done. The Taw Kingdom allowed the first ever use of a Mana Bomb in the battlefield. It was, by the designation of the Holy Xan Empire, a super weapon. One that should never be used against people. One that should not even exist in the first place. The disaster it wrought would render the life of an individual entirely worthless.

While there were many things about that logic that Gennady disagreed with, and while he often found himself opposed to what the Holy Xan Empire supported, he fully agreed and believed with the conclusion they reached: the Mana Bomb shouldn’t exist.

“Such terrible destruction…” He shook his head, looking at the numbers scribbled on the piece of paper before him. “This is terrible.”

“It is what it is, my old friend,” a voice said, drawing his attention. Adilet, the King of Taw, approached Gennady from behind. “Times change. You know that just as well as I do. Technology will keep advancing. The things of the past will be rendered null, and new tools, machines, and weapons will replace them. This is just how the gear turns.” He patted Gennady on the shoulder.

“It shouldn’t have to be the case.” Gennady gritted his teeth, crumpling the sheet in his hand.

“But it is now.”

The Dwarf King stood, solemn, before a glass window. It showed the city of Jahar’taw in all its glory. The city that was built into a mountain. An inactive volcano. An impenetrable fortress,unsiegable, protected by the thick stone walls forming an open dome overhead. The greatest force of the world was nature, so why not use it to your advantage?

“You could’ve prevented this. You never should’ve let Bertrand come.” Gennady glared.

Adilet took a deep breath. “I did what I thought was right,” he said. “Believe me, my old friend, when this war concludes and as few of our people lie buried beneath a graveyard, you will see that I made the right decision.”

With that, a deep rumble ran through the mountain city.

—--

“Come back here you stupid cat!” I burst out of the room, charging after Luna as she scampered down the hallway. The black cat paused. She turned around, facing me with a cocked head. I hesitated. “Well… I didn’t really mean to call you stupid, you know? I meant more like— it was a figure of…”

And she dashed off. I blinked.

“Oh, are you saying I’m the stupid one? Get back here!”

I made a break after her. She darted around a corner right as I was about to grab her by the tail. The black cat escaped freely with a piece of chicken in its mouth— my last slice of chicken— as I face planted on the floor.

“My meal…” I groaned. I tried to get up, steadying myself against the wall. Then the world around me shook. I stumbled back to the ground, feeling a strong tremor wash over the earth. I felt like I’d been struck by a tsunami.

My legs wobbled, even as I tried to get back up. There were the sounds of objects crashing, falling from tables and clattering over. I looked up, wide-eyed, seeing a large vase falling right at Luna. I raised a hand, casting a quick levitation spell to catch it before it shattered all over the black cat. The shaking continued for a moment longer, before, finally, the earthquake stopped.

“Ugh…” I dusted myself off, standing up. I heard the distant worried voices— Dwarfs asking if their machines and blueprints were safe. Then, once they were certain whatever they had been tinkering got out unscathed, they finally decided to check up on each other.

“Damn earthquake spilled me booze—”

“Yer booze? Yer booze ruined me fuckin’ schematics!”

I glanced over at a nearby room, its door flung open, the floor covered in dust. Dwarf Scientists stood inside, grumbling and recovering anything that survived. They really should have known to better secure their items. These earthquakes had been happening more and more frequently as of late.

A purring pulled my attention ahead. I saw Luna sitting before me, her head tilted to the side. “So, do you feel bad for stealing from me?” I asked, crossing my arms. “I saved your life.”

The cat, obviously, didn’t understand a word I said. It just licked its whiskers. I paused.

“Oh. You already finished my meal. You jerk.”

It wheeled around and walked away. I watched it go.

Just three months ago, war was declared between the Taw and Puer kingdoms. I was currently in the former country, so I’d grown worried that— especially with the dire state the war had initially been— things would become, well, worse for me. I knew that it was a selfish thought, but I needed to look after myself more than anything else.

But, with the simple use of a Mana Bomb, the course of the war changed. In just a week, the Taw Kingdom had retaken most of its lost territory. The Puer Kingdom had lost over a hundred thousand men. It was a rebound of the ages. Nothing like this had ever been seen since Xander’s time, during the Final Holy War. It was when the Great Hero Xander convinced one of the most powerful generals of the Forces of Darkness, the daughter of the Demon Lord hearself, Elara, to betray her father.

That was when the tides of war finally turned. Honestly, I never understood how anyone could betray not only their own father, but their own entire species, just because they were entranced by a man. Sure, I understood what love was— I had three different boyfriends throughout middle school and highschool in my past life, even if they were more casual relationships. But I couldn’t fathom the thought process of someone who’d be so obsessed over their love that they’d lead their own kind to extinction.

However, now that I had spoken to Elara, seeing the kind of person she was to her own daughter, I very much understood how you could be such a thoughtless person.

Anyways, the Taw Kingdom had recovered their lands. All except for the city that had been destroyed by the Mana Bomb. Ulken’taw. Not only was every single building within its walls demolished due to the blast, but there was now a deep crater at the very center of the city. The Mana Bomb was just like an atom bomb from my world— all including the long-standing effects that came after which made the area uninhabitable.

There was no nuclear radiation; it wasn’t created from uranium. The process that went into making a Mana Bomb made it unique to this world, not replicable on Earth. I wasn’t entirely sure of how it was created, but I knew exactly how its after effects came about.

It was a mana drought. The land around the explosion would be devoid of the necessary mana to sustain life. It would be just like Hell— just like the results of casting too much magic. The world would be drained dry of the necessary resources to sustain itself. It was no different from what the Church criticized and condemned spellcasters for all those thousands of years ago.

Perhaps that was why the Holy Xan Empire was opposed to the super weapon’s use. Unfortunately, other than a few strongly worded letters, there wasn’t much they could do.

“—the Taw Kingdom’s demonstration of this so-called ‘Mana Bomb’ has shown that they have no intentions to adhere to, or listen to, the wishes of their allies. The flaunting of such a dangerous super weapon cannot be allowed to…”

A man spoke on the television. He was an important-looking individual, standing on a podium as he addressed thousands before him. The backdrop was that of a vast, sprawling citadel. I narrowed my eyes, staring at the screen, before it flickered off.

“Melas,” a voice said. “I did not expect to see you here.” Bertrand stood up from his desk. Sheets of paper were strewn about, a mess, as expected from the earlier earthquake. “If I’d known you were coming, I’d have tidied up a bit.” The elderlhy man shook his head.

“Who was that?” I asked, raising a brow. “Seemed like someone important.”

“Ah, that man?” He eyed the television, placed at the corner of his office. “He is a man of great import. The one who exiled me from his country. The Emperor of the Holy Xan Empire. Xavier himself.” He spoke the name with an acerbic tongue. There was a pause— a moment where neither of us said anything. Then Bertran turned back to me, speaking kindly. “So, Ms Melas, is there anything I can help you with?”

“Oh.” I blinked. “It’s about the Dimensional Storage Box.” A while ago, Bertrand had given me a relic of the past— a box that folded space into itself, letting it hold more than it ostensibly should. I was studying it, trying to figure out its intricacies. But I had reached a minor obstacle.

“What is it?” He hobbled over to me.

“It’s nothing big. I was just hoping to borrow some of your notes on it. What you’ve discovered so far about its spatial properties— specifically, with how it seems to consistently consume mana from its surroundings ever-so-slightly.” I noticed this minute expenditure of mana that drew from the air around it. It was a spell imbued into the object itself, similar to how an enchantment worked.

Bertrand nodded. “Of course, I could fetch that for you—” He paused as the door behind me was thrown open.

“Berty!” a high-pitched voice shouted. A Dwarf sauntered in— without a beard. She was quite thin for a Dwarf, although still more plump than a Human her height. A Dwarf woman, shorter than me by a head, with her ginger hair tied into various braids. “I need to hear your reports! Father refuses to let me into his chamber to speak with him. How is the war effort? What has become of those wretched—” She paused, turning to face me with a raised brow. “Who are you?”

I cocked my head. “I’m Melas…?” She seemed to be quite blunt, so I spoke simply too. “And you are?”

The Dwarf woman scoffed. “She doesn’t know who I am, Berty, can you believe that?” She turned to Bertrand, who just smiled. “Introduce me,” she said, “I want to see her reaction.”

He scratched the back of his head as I gave him a look. Shrugging, he gestured at her, speaking in a nonchalant voice.

“Melas, meet Princess Aishat, daughter of King Adilet, and heiress to the throne of Taw.”