—It was a dream of a moment long lost to time.

"Are you scared?" The Arcanian woman sitting next to me asked with a prod. Although the whirring noises of the helicopter was deafening, we could hear each other's voice with no problems with the headsets we had been given.

—Even in a dream, she remained no less remarkable as she always had been.

"Scared?" I scoffed. "I don't even know. But nervous though? Definitely. After all, who wouldn't be, knowing where we're going?"

My stomach hurt as I tried to hold a smile for her. But I knew that the smile was nothing more than a hollow one, a meager coping mechanism for my brain to not fry itself at the sheer ridiculousness of the situation to come.

She clapped her hands in excitement when she heard me speak.

"Ahh! So you can talk after all! My name is ———. What's yours?"

Her tail, which was slender and dark like obsidian just like her horns, shook, as if brimming with excitement at the novelty of my response. It brushed against my leg lightly but I felt it through my pants. It tickled slightly.

"Edmond. It's Edmond. Nice to meet you," I told her simply. But when she did not respond after a long silence, I began to worry if I had done something wrong.

"Pardon me, but what does this gesture mean?" She pointed at my outstretched hand, something which I had not even noticed myself.

"Ah, this. This is how people on Earth greet each other when they meet. We grab each other's palms to shake our hands."

"Is that so? Like this then? Am I doing it correctly?"

At the same time I felt her hand clasp my own, I was made distressingly aware of the sweat that had gathered on my palms. I said nothing about it however and bore with the feeling of embarrassment as I waited for her to clumsily adjust her grip and I walked her through the entire process of the greeting.

"Yeah, just like that. Now we shake it up and down, just like this."

"Hehe," she chuckled, "I learned something new today."

—Breathless… Watching her laugh, I was left simply breathless.

As a Draconian from the otherworld, although she looked scary and even intimidating at first, with her blazing features that stood her out from a crowd a kilometer away, she was surprisingly sweet, charming, and also perhaps even a little bit cute the way she awkwardly fit the headset to accommodate her horns.

"Are you still nervous?" She asked me.

I nodded in solemnity.

"I see. I understand."

It was then that she tapped her staff against the floor— and almost immediately, I felt a warmth envelope me from the inside. It was a gentle warmth, but like a fire in the dark, it warded away all my anxieties and even brought about a sense of security which I had not felt since childhood.

"Don't worry, I'll protect you."

She smiled. It was a smile that, at that moment, was dedicated to nobody in the world but me… and it was a smile that I swore to myself I would never forsake—

—A smile that I would… never… forsake…

…

…

"Verretheia…!"

Gasping, I awoke with my hand tightly clasped onto the pendant that hung over my neck. Glinting pure of Alabaster Gold, the old school jewelry served as the proof of binding ceremonial of Draconians to exchange with their partners on the day of their pledges. Two decades have passed since I have worn it.

Already twenty years… it was unreal for me to think about.

I sat up on the bed and as I did, a wave of nausea washed over me.

"Urgh, damn, what the hell did I do last night?" I complained. At the exact moment I woke up, I had been so sure I had gone to bed sober the previous night, but now? I was no longer so sure of myself.

*Beep Beep Beep*

The alarm went off. I was already awake though.

"Off," I commanded as I stood up. I was talking to the home assistant module installed in most homes since ten years ago. It was quite the useful thing and it made living alone much more manageable. Although it cost a premium over homes without it, it was well worth the price of admission.

"Good morning, Edmond. The current date and time is August 21, 22 AR, 5:46 AM. You have one event for today. Should I read about the event?"

"No need. Start my morning routine."

The news turned on at my command, and at the same time the sound of water beginning to boil started from the kitchen. It would not be long until the aroma of freshly brewed coffee would fill the apartment. I then walked to the bathroom for a quick shower and to keep up with my daily hygiene.

"…the Blue Knight Satellite will be visible passing over Singapore soon. Hopefully the weather will continue to cooperate with us like it has, that way everyone will be able to see it streak across the night. So keep your fingers crossed and be sure to keep your eyes peeled at the sky!"

"People say the Blue Knight Satellite has been in the skies for as long as humans have gazed at the stars. With how it is shaped like a knight's sword, where do you think it could have come from? Could it have been aliens?"

"We already do have aliens walking among us today. Don't forget about the Arcanians. Even though, officially, it's been 22 years since the stable rifts have opened, don't forget that the Archmagus 'Professor Dumbledore' had arrived thirty years prior to that. What's more, according to him, Arcanians have long been appearing on Earth by virtue of being 'spirited away' by spontaneous rift events much the same way some humans have been 'spirited away' in our history and gone missing without a trace."

"You're right. Who would have guessed that the so-called mythical creatures of past folklore were just poor Arcanian saps who were unfortunate enough to be kidnapped from their homes and dropped here on Earth, hahaha…"

It was around ten minutes later that I left the bathroom with a towel over my head. Already, there was a steaming cup of coffee, made just the way I liked it, placed on the dining room table where I normally sat. I had come out just in time to see the robot arm module folding back into the ceiling.

"God, I love this thing to death."

I grinned at the sight of this perfect scene: an impossibly tidy dining space, a polished kitchen, and a cup of freshly prepared coffee perfuming the air. Really, it was worth every Argentum. It made it hard to believe that I was really living alone. If only I could show Verretheia this thing.

"Incoming call from unknown number."

"Ignore call." I sipped from my cup. Unless I was expecting it beforehand, it was against my policy to answer a call whose number I did not know.

"…numerous Arcanian protesters have been camping out in front of the city's guild hall demanding better pay and hazard benefits. Here are a few words from the protesters themselves—"

"—Incoming call from unknown number."

"Again? I'm trying to watch the news here. Mute calls for sixty minutes."

When the news resumed, a Canis male was in the middle of voicing his resentment at the system.

"…We go out there everyday, risking our lives to protect you all from the rift events, and what for? We fight to eat and we fight until we are forced to retreat and starve so we can lick our wounds. I cannot go on living like this. My savings have already dried up. Either we die fighting monsters or we die starving in the streets. This is a dog's death. This is no way for someone in the civilized world to die."

The camera then changed to an Ursid mother who had her prepubescent son standing next to her.

"We're not allowed to own property and we're forced to live in these ghettos you people call 'Arcanian Districts.' We can't even leave the city unless we first ask for permission from the guild! What's even more outrageous is that I've been living here for ten years now on a work visa. My son was even born on these soils. But we're still not allowed to apply for citizenship? Why? How come? Many of us fight for you. Many of us die for you. Yet instead of being treated like equals, we are treated like slaves, worse than second class citizens."

The next to speak was an old Equus male, but the look on his face was just plain weariness.

"Do you know what happens to our families when one of us dies out here? I don't have any children myself, but let me help you all visualize it. We're not allowed to own property, see, and we're only allowed to live in government issued homes in designated 'Arcanian districts.' So then, what do you suppose happens once we die and the money stops flowing in and rent can't be paid anymore? Our children are left to fend for themselves. There's no death gratuity, no support, no government aid, nothing. It's bad enough for a child to be left without parents, but now they've got to survive out in the streets on their own as well. When I came to Earth, it was out of a sense of altruism for these people I've never met before in my life who were going through misery by no fault of their own. But now that I've been here twenty-two years and I've seen the way things have progressed, it makes my heart ache in pain. We protect you, but who protects us? This is the reality of our situation and I deeply hope that it will be changed."

"Things aren't looking any better," I sighed. Watching them talk left me in a terrible mood, so I began to surf through the channels to take my mind off it.

"…Reaper comes in for the ulti, he— AND THEY TAKE HOME THE WIN—"

"…The Peregrine Falcon can reach speeds of up to 89 meters per second and it is undoubtedly the fastest…"

"…Gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, 100% vegan…"

"…Its robotic arms are fine tuned with state of the art technology to be able to move a full range of 360 degrees in any direction and are delicate enough to perform surgery on a blueberry…"

This one was a show about how the home assistant modules were made. It interested me midly, so I bookmarked it to watch later.

"…Beautiful piece of wagyu ribeye right here. Hehe boy. Make sure you season it generously on all sides with salt and pepper. Now take the pan and make sure it's smoking hot…"

This one was starring a celebrity who was teaching how to cook a steak. Because of that, I was hit with the sudden craving for some as well. Reflexively, I took out my phone with the intent to look up a steakhouse to go to.

"—Holy shit, what the hell? 188 missed calls?"

Whoever it was calling, even I was beginning to feel bad they had to make so many missed calls. My mind raced as I went through all the people who could possibly have the reason to call me this early in the morning. I did not have to think long however, as the phone rang again. This time, I accepted the call almost immediately.

"Hello—?"

"Edmond, you piece of shit, pick up your goddamn phone when someone's calling you!"

A deep, almost screaming, voice blasted from the other end of the phone call. But it was a voice that I could recognize right away.

"Oryza? I haven't talked to you in ages, not since the old days! How are you doing? What's up? Why are you calling?"

"I'm still kicking, but that's not the important thing right now. Are you still in Singapore?"

"I am, why do you ask?"

"Good. I have something urgent I need to talk to you about. Come to the city's guild hall. I'll be waiting for you inside."

"No wait, hold on. You mean right now? Can't we discuss this through the phone? My morning's already booked."

"Try to get here by noon at the absolute latest. However, this isn't something I have the liberty to talk about on the phone. But believe me, Edmond, if you knew what this was about, you'd want to have this discussion in person as well."

—Oryza Levin.

The two of us had worked together in the same relief team back during the Russian Great Rift Outbreak Event, though we never became acquainted until we were both transferred to the same guild in Singapore. Although I ended up retiring just three years later, Oryza never stopped. However, even though it had been ages since we last talked, he was a man I have entrusted my life to more times than I could count in the few years we have worked together.

Well, what it all boiled down to was that if there was something he needed me to be in person for, I would be there.

"Alright, I'll try to get there by noon."

"I'll let the front desk know you're coming. See you then."

After Oryza hung up, I finished the rest of my coffee which had already gone lukewarm. I told the home assistant module to clean up after me and got to changing my clothes into something more befitting of meeting Oryza.

"And after all these years…" I breathed. "Well, I suppose it's time to get going."

…

…

(Prelude Begin)