Cold, wet asphalt bit into Aiko's cheek. The familiar smell of exhaust fumes, stale garbage, and damp concrete wafted into her nose.
As she pushed herself up onto her elbows, she found her vision was still strangely blurry, but when it eventually cleared she found that she was sitting in the middle of a four-lane road. One that was seemingly empty despite it being the early hours of the morning.
Sat there in the serene, hazy warmth of a summer morning, she thought for a brief moment that the past couple of hours had all been a dream. A strange, messed-up dream.
Yet, when she braced her hands against the asphalt to pick herself up, all notions of last night's events being a dream quickly dissipated. She looked down at her hands resting on the asphalt. Her breath hitched, catching in a raw, unfamiliar throat.
Her skin was translucent. Clear, crystalline skin that seemed as thin as rice paper, revealing swirling rivers of glowing violet light flowing up and down her arms.
As she traced those violet streams up her arm, she found the translucent skin stopped at her shoulders, replaced by skin so pale that it resembled a statue's. Her reflection in a nearby muddy puddle confirmed that her body's marble skin continued all the way up to her face, and seemingly even to her hair, which hung loosely at shoulder length in thick, coarse bundles. All of this whiteness only highlighted the only feature with color on her face, her eyes, which glowed with violet light.
She was Rift-Touched. Monstrous.
A wave of nausea rolled over her. She scrambled to her feet, her body protesting but obeying with unsettling, unfamiliar strength. She leaned against a nearby pillar, trying to steady her breathing, the cold violet beneath her skin pulsing in time with her racing heart.
Her panic was interrupted when the pillar she was leaning against started moving. She recoiled in surprise and found herself standing underneath a fifteen-foot monster with various claws and insectoid skin.
"Grumbles?"
The monster stared down at her wordlessly, seemingly unable to give a verbal response.
"Have you been watching over me?" Grumbles bobbed its head, which she could only assume was a nod. "Are we back on Earth?" Head bob. "Do you know how we got here?"
Grumbles didn't respond.
"Do you know how to get back? Or how to contact Elara?"
Grumbles didn't respond.
Aiko looked around herself at the quiet street around her, seeing that Grumbles seemed to be the only one of Elara's familiars around. Then she noticed how strangely empty the buildings that lined the street were as well, realizing she was probably the reason for that too.
"Have I been out for quite a while?"
Grumbles bobbed its head once more.
"Since there is no one around, we could just wait here for Elara to pick us up, surely she would notice one of her familiars is missing and come looking for you."
Grumbles responded, but not with a head bob. It pawed with one of its scythe blades on the asphalt below, its expressionless face trying to convey a matter of urgency.
But before Aiko could press further, streaks of light slammed down onto the rooftops framing the intersection. Both Aiko and Grumbles looked up to see a team of four Luminaries staring down at them, all of whom had their weapons drawn.
"Target acquired! Alpha-class Rift-spawn!" the red one yelled, her voice sharp and commanding. "Gearloose, fire a volley to get its attention!"
The brown one, whom Aiko assumed was Gearloose, was dressed in a set of brown overalls with various baubles hanging from her belt and stuffed into every pocket. She had a cartoonishly large pair of goggles on her face and a staff made of various bolts welded onto a thin metal tube with a shiny yellow gem at the tip. Gearloose aimed with her staff and fired. The seemingly makeshift weapon unleashing a terrifyingly strong bolt of pure magic.
Grumbles tried to weave under the bolt, but got one of the arms on its back caught in the blast. Roaring in pain as the bolt tore through the limb and severed it from its body.
Lunging forward Grumbles tried to rush the brown Luminary, but was stopped in its tracks by the green one who wielded a full-length tower shield. Oddly enough he was dressed in a bright green, bespoke suit of all things, with his gem clipped attached to the pocket on the right side of his chest where one would usually store a handkerchief. And even though he was the tallest of the four Luminaries, Aiko still watched in amazement as they managed to hold their ground against Grumbles as the monster slammed itself directly into their shield.
As Grumbles and the green one were locked in a stalemate the blue one leapt into action. Dressed most like a traditional magical girl out of the four, she had a cute blue dress with various bits of white lace and ribbons. The dress paired nicely with her white gloves and boots, with a sparing use of gold accents on every garment tying the whole outfit together.
She wheeled around behind Grumbles, leaping upwards and aiming to impale one of Grumbles's heads with their spear.
"Look out!" Aiko yelled, reaching out with her hand as she tried to warn Grumbles of the attack from behind. Yet, as she did so the attack stopped, the blue Luminary having halted in the middle of the air. Something invisible seemed to be holding them around the waist, given how they were visibly trying to break free from whatever held them suspended in the air.
Grumbles responded to this opportunity by grabbing the blue Luminary with one of its claws, eliciting a gasp of pain from the blue Luminary as they dropped their spear to the ground.
"Wait! Grumbles, don't kill her!"
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But Grumbles never got the opportunity to, as the red Luminary made their move. Leaping from the rooftop and slashing through the claw in one elegant motion. They tumbled through the air, leaving a streak of crimson energy from their blades, before landing perfectly a couple of paces in front of Aiko.
"Aqua Intance, help Aegis and Gearloose with the Rift-Spawn, I'll handle the Rift-Touched."
Aiko shrank back as she realized the red one was talking about her. Slowly backing away as the Luminary walked towards her.
As the red Luminary slowly approached her, fiery blades raised in a combat stance, Aiko was taken aback by how young she looked. Despite the near full set of body armor, the red Luminary wore no helmet, letting her long, flowing orange hair drift behind her startlingly young face.
'She can't be any older than sixteen.' Aiko thought to herself, a pang of bitter recognition cutting through her fear. 'If she was chosen at fourteen like all the others, she most likely has been a Luminary for only two years.'
The Celestials claimed that the magic within humans burned brightest before adulthood fully settled in. Which was why they started recruitment at fourteen when those with talent would start showing it, before locking each Luminary's age at the late teens.
Some of the original Luminaries would have been in their early thirties by now, but instead they were stuck looking like teenagers playing at being Earth's immortal guardians. Being thrown at the monstrosities that the rest of humanity was powerless to fight.
"Please, just leave us alone. We weren't hurting anyone." She pleaded, desperate to avoid a fight.
"Eventually, you would have." The Luminary replied coldly, "I don't know what your scheme is, but it ends here."
Aiko raised her crystalline hands defensively. Violet light flickering erratically beneath her translucent skin. "Please. I don't want to fight, I just want to leave!"
"Leave?" The Luminary echoed, her tone skeptical. "To where? Back to the hole you crawled out of so that you can try again another day to cause more chaos?" She took a step forward. "Your kind brings nothing but destruction."
The Luminary lunged forward, slashing at her with one of her two blades. Aiko raised her hand to shield herself, internally bracing for a strike similar to the blow that so easily tore through one of Grumbles's limbs.
But the blow never came. Instead, the sword bounced off a violet barrier that had formed between the two of them, abruptly halting the Luminary's forward momentum and knocking her off balance.
The Luminary wheeled off her heel and struck again with her second blade, which similar to the first bounced off with a spark of violet energy.
"So you can use magic." The Luminary commented as she took a moment to steady herself. "I thought it was strange for Aqua Intance to mess up like she did, turns out you were interfering in the fight from here."
"Please stop, I don't know what I'm doing. I could accidentally hurt you!"
The Luminary ignored her pleas, dashing quickly to the side in an attempt to circle around her barrier. Aiko shifted her outstretched hands to follow her and managed to block a second blow that came from behind.
"Claws of the Nidhogg!" The Luminary yelled, causing her blades to light up with even more intense flames. Swinging both blades at once she struck the barrier with much greater force, causing a small explosion that knocked both her and Aiko back.
The Luminary tumbled backwards through the air, performing a full backflip before landing gracefully on her feet. Aiko on the other hand fell back and landed on her bottom, the asphalt cracking under the impact of her incredibly durable butt.
Aiko barely had time to register the ache from her backside before the Luminary threw one of her blades directly at her chest. Barely managing to tumble out of the way before the blade impaled. However, the motion left her sprawled on the ground as the Luminary charged her once more.
"Get away from me!" She yelled, thrusting her hand forward in an attempt to set up the barrier once more, but instead of a standing barrier the wall of violet energy launched itself forward, smashing into the Luminary and sending her careening into a nearby shop front.
The shop itself looked to be a clothing shop, with a glass facade that stretched vertically across the entire floor. A facade which instantly exploded when the Luminary crashed into it, sending bits of glass everywhere as she was thrown straight throughâ¦
And presumably into a pillar, because as her red form disappeared into the shadowy interior of the building's ground floor, the rest of the building collapsed directly on top of her. Burying the girl in three storeys of concrete and steel.
Aiko stared at the pile of rubble, then at her own hand, then back at the rubble.
"Oh god, oh shit!" She scrambled to her feet and towards the pile of concrete, desperately digging through with her surprisingly strong hands, "Are you alright? Please tell me you're still alive under there, give me a sign if you can and I'llâ¦"
Aiko froze as a blade was pressed against her neck, the red Luminary pulling herself out of the rubble with one hand as the other was occupied with holding her blade against Aiko's throat.
The Luminary leaned forward, glaring at Aiko with her piercing red eyes. Her expression a mix of annoyance and exasperation.
"What are you playing at?" She snarled at her, pressing her blade forward as Aiko tried to back away. "You're a Rift-Touched, why are you acting so concerned about my well-being?"
"I'm not acting, I was genuinely worried." Aiko replied shakily, "I meant it when I said I didn't want to hurt you."
"Why? We're enemies, and if you hadn't noticed, I was trying to kill you."
"But that's your job, right? I mean you are just doing your duty as the city's protectors, right?" The Luminary faltered a little bit, lowering her blade a little as she struggled to maintain her confrontational glare. "Look. How about I surrender now, and we can sit down and try to talk this out? I promise that there's no scheme or nefarious plan in the works; I truly was just lost."
The Luminary took a moment to consider before ultimately lowering her blade with a sigh. "Fine. We'll take you to a secluded spot outside the city where we can talk. But if you try anything Iâ¦"
She was interrupted as a bolt slammed straight into the Rift-Touched's head, sending her tumbling off to the side in an unconscious heap. The Luminary's hand instinctively raised her blade back up as she looked towards the source of the blast.
"Got her!" Gearloose cheered with a fist pump. Upon seeing that she was looking at her, Gearloose gave a friendly wave. "Crimson Blaze! We took care of the big one. You okay? You look pretty beat up, all covered in dust and all."
Aegis jogged past her with his shield sling over his back. Giving her a curt nod as he passed by. Aqua Intance almost did the same, only stopping to stare at her stunned expression with a curious glance. "Yo Crimson." She called to her, "You doing okay? You're kinda spacing out on us here."
"It's nothing." She replied, glancing over at the Rift-Touched "Is the Rift-Touched still alive?"
Aegis replied with a thumbs up. "She's still breathing, but seems to be unconscious. What do we do with her?"
Crimson Blaze hesitated. Usually, Rift-Touched were no different from the monsters that spewed out of the rift. Former humans who had lost their former selves, turned into monsters that only kept their humanoid form.
Sometimes, a Rift-Touched would retain some level of intelligence, but they were far more dangerous than their mindless counterparts. Crimson Blaze could easily list out several named Rift-Touched who had all caused countless deaths and wanton destruction.
But this one seemed different. Or at least was trying to fool her into thinking they were different.
She sighed, deciding not to act too hasty for now. Plus, the idea of executing an unconscious monster left a bad taste in her mouth.
"We take her with us to the old Lumber Mill at the city outskirts. Wait for her to wake up."
Her teammates were unsurprisingly surprised at the strange orders. But Aegis simply shrugged his shoulders and reached forward to grab the Rift-Touched...
Before the entire world exploded.
Or rather, the ground in front of the Luminaries unfolded. A jagged tear in reality itself yawned open, vomiting a torrent of pure Verge energy. There was no concussive force, but every single Luminary felt themselves be thrown back against their will, launching them like ragdolls onto the empty street.
After landing Crimson tried to push herself back up. A wave of nausea hitting her as she felt herself drowning in a tsunami of corrupted magic. She felt fear permeate her very soul as she desperately tried to look up to catch a glimpse at what was causing this.
Floating serenely above the smoldering, reality-scarred crater, untouched by the chaos, was a lone figure. Draped in scarlet wings that wrapped around them like a cloak. With a halo made of twisted red thorns. Both items looked like they had been washed in a river of blood.
Her skin was unnaturally grey, like it had been dusted in a thick coat of ash. Two long arms hung at her side, ending with long claws that reached the figure's knees. With another set of smaller arms held out in front of its chest in silent prayer.
Although this was the first time she had ever seen the monster in front of her in person, Crimson Blaze was still able to recall its name.
"Calamity." She managed to splutter out, her voice shaking as much as she was.
The monster looked down at her with her piercing red eyes.
"So you know who I am. Good. Saves me from having to convince you that I mean every word that comes next."
"Stand down. Or I will kill you all, then I will level this city and everyone in it."
When Crimson Blaze had first become a Luminary she had sworn an oath to protect this world from whatever threats may emerge from the rift. She had done so solemnly, fully aware of how dangerous the life of a Luminary was. At that moment having lost everything she had ever cared for, she had thought she would always be prepared to face certain doom with the courage and dignity that she associated with the role.
And yet, she felt her head nodding. Her knees finally gave way as she fell back to the ground.
Calamity didn't spare her a second glance. Landing next to the unconscious Rift-Touched and scooping her up with surprising tenderness. Whispering something to her that Crimson Blaze was too far away to hear.
With a contemptuous flick of her claw, Calamity tore a Rift in the fabric of the world beside her. Stepping through, cradling the other Rift-Touched in her arm. The moment both of them were through the Rift snapped shut, and with it all the corrupted energy that Crimson Blaze had felt. Leaving only the utter silence of the empty street.
The pressure she felt dissipated the moment the Rift closed, and Crimson felt her body uncontrollably gasping for air. Realizing only after the fact that she hadn't taken a single breath since the moment Calamity had appeared.