Selenia marveled at Tigata’s festival as it went into full swing. It was an annual celebration by the city residents. Of better days before the End War, when the people here had been on the surface. Despite how the small city may have seemed, with its brick and stone architecture that reminded her of more historical times, in contrast to the more modern designs of steel and glass used by both the Gaia Sphere Federation and the Settlement Front Alliance.

  It was like a world within a world. There was so much life here in a way that she hadn’t ever seen before or thought possible. The laughter of children running around. Happy people with cheerful dispositions. Bright colors of banners and overhanging decorations. The sounds of fun carnival rides and games. And of course, the food and drink. The smell of it made her mouth water.

  Selenia was awed at it. She had so rarely been to anything that hadn’t been so clean and sterile in her life in the orbital and lunar colonies of the Settlement Front Alliance. At least, to things that she had been to, which had been devoid of any of the bright colors of life.

  The fairy children, the quintuplet Letta sisters, tugged at her as they stopped by one of the carnival games, headed by a local shopkeeper. The young woman smiled at her, offering her a pellet gun. Behind her stood rows of many fast-moving targets that moved so quickly that they blurred. To the side were fluffy teddy bears of all sizes, from ones that you could hold with both hands to giant ones that sat taller than she was.

  Selenia took in the sight with a stride. Was this some kind of scam?

  “Care to try your luck?” The shopkeeper said.

  “I think I’ll pass,” Selenia said.

  The fairy children tugged at her elegant robes with hopeful looks on their faces. They pointed at the biggest teddy bears.

  Selenia sighed. “Actually, sure, why not. I’ll give it a try.” She took the pellet gun from the shopkeeper.

  She tried to strike the moving targets but failed spectacularly.

  The fairy children looked disappointed.

  “Need some help?” Aster said to her side, approaching her and the fairy children with food in hand. He passed around meat skewers to the fairy children, who took them with delight. Bridges and Troise accompanied him.

  “Ya,” Selenia said, passing over the pellet gun to Aster.

  “You don’t mind if I try hard to win, do you?” Aster said to the shopkeeper.

  The shopkeeper shrugged. She laughed. “All the stuff is already paid for by the Federation, so go crazy if you want.”

  Aster smiled, raised the pellet gun, and shot as fast as he could, striking every target dead on in rapid succession until all the targets had been hit.

  The shopkeeper chuckled at the smiling faces of the Letta sisters as she passed the quintuplets a giant teddy bear that took all five of them to hold up together.

  Trois stared at the sight, turned to Bridges with her typical emotional stare, her pink eyes boring upward into Bridges purple eyes.

  Bridges sighed, taking the pellet gun from the shopkeeper, and, like Aster, rapidly shot all the quickly moving targets in rapid succession, striking each target dead center.

  The shopkeeper handed Trois a massive, fluffy teddy bear. She was wide-eyed and seemingly delighted if her happily twitching white waist wings wrapped around her torso were any indication.

  They moved along, taking in the festivals as people sang, danced, and performances were put on by the local citysfolk.

  Selenia happily chewed on a meatstick, followed by a hot, steaming bun filled with an assortment of meat and vegetables.

  “Thanks, big bro!” The fairy sisters said to Aster, holding the massive teddy bear together with their arms raised above their heads.

  Trois seemed just as delighted as she happily gave Brigdes a nod, who returned it with a hint of embarrassment on his face.

  As they walked on, the Rakaila hung in the air, off in the distance, a notable dark wedge in the artificial skies of Alsium Two. A reminder that although this world seemed as if a different world separated from above, the reality could never be forgotten.

  They reached a different carnival game. One where you had to smash a hammer onto a lever to send an object up to a bell at the top to win a prize. The fairy children that accompanied them didn’t bother asking her for anything this time around. She eyed the various prizes, determined to at least win something. There was an assortment of different fluffy animals this time. Maybe she could win one of the smaller ones.

  Selenia approached, and the shopkeeper at this particular game happily handed her the hammer. He had a small grin on his face.

  Selenia took a breath, swinging back the hammer, as if readying a hoe to till soil, then smashed it in the lever as if she were stabbing a farming hoe into the ground. To her surprise and shock, the object flew right into the bell, sending a small ding. Had she actually gotten stronger doing all the farm work in Alsium Two? Perhaps she had.

  The fairy children gaped at her, jumping up and down as they pointed at the giant, fluffy, and comical-looking penguin that was the same size as the massive teddy bear.

  They walked on with a new fluffy companion, the penguin held by her and Aster.

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  Selenia smiled at the happy smiles of the fairy children. Even if she did get some stares now and then, it was easy to forget them with the Letta sisters, Aster, even Bridges, and Trois with her.

  Yet…

  Their happy smiles reminded her of her younger sister Leticia. She was probably all alone with no one to help her.

  Her smile turned into a frown.

  A heaviness weighed in her stomach like a stone. Even as bright cheerfulness around her smothered her, it did nothing to fill the emptiness in her gut. How could she be enjoying herself right now? When her sister was probably suffering.

  While playing these games…

  What was she doing?

  Selenia stopped, the others looking at her, a sullenness on her face that seemed to take the others off guard.

  “Something the matter?” Aster said.

  I’m… just remembering something important,” Selenia said.

  Troise put a hand on her head, patting it.

  Selenia blushed in embarrassment.

  “Troise!” Bridges said, as if some grave offence had occurred.

  Bridges bowed slightly, chagrined on her behalf. “I apologize for her. She doesn’t understand the concept of personal space.”

  Selenia held a hand up. “It’s fine.” She chuckled weakly. “It doesn’t really matter anyway.” Selenia walked off. “I’m just going to go check something…”

  It was a weak excuse, but it was better than nothing. She just wanted to be alone for a moment. She walked along the wide paved streets, people and families enjoying things together.

  Selenia sat on the edge of a large fountain as tears welled in her eyes at the sight of brothers and sisters happily going along with their mothers and fathers.

  Was it fair that she was enjoying herself while her sister was all alone? While the Raban family used her to whatever ends they wanted? If all those selfish and greedy people manipulated and toyed with her as the sole remaining person of the Selenar family as some kind of puppet?

  Dark premonitions took over her mind. Her younger sister sacrificed at an altar for the greed and selfishness of other people. Of darkness consuming everything and everyone… terrible and horrific creatures that devoured all those that faced them.

  Selenia wiped her tears away, trying not to let it bother her. The weight of it all was hitting her all at once.

  “You arlight?” Aster said as he caught up to her.

  “I’m fine,” Selenia said.

  “You certainly don’t seem like it,” Aster said, sitting by her.

  “I guess I’m not fine,” Selenia shook her head. “I shouldn’t be anyway.”

  Off in the distance, the Letta sisters were showing their new massive fluffy friends to Arnis and Garrod, who seemed amused by how they struggled with the large fluffy teddy bear and penguin.

  “I… I don’t know what to do anymore,” Seneca said. “I really don’t. I should be doing something. Anything. Yet, here I am enjoying myself so pointlessly.”

  Selenia wiped the tears that formed in her eyes.

  “Is there something that you can do right now? And will worrying about it now help with anything?”

  “No. I suppose not,” Selenia replied. “It’s just my sister is up there somewhere. All alone. With no one to help her. And I should be doing something, anything to help her.”

  Aster cocked his head. “Well, you’re talking to me, aren’t you?” He smiled. “Isn’t that doing something? If you need to save your sister, then count me in.”

  Selenia blinked. “Really? You’ll help me?”

  “Sure,” Aster said. “You seem like a decent enough person. And well, I’m not going to turn down helping someone in need. I promise I’ll help save your sister when the time comes.”

  “How about you don’t make promises you can’t keep,” Selenia replied. She shook her head.

  “Eh. Who knows if I can’t keep them until I actually try and fail?” Aster laughed.

  Selenia arched a skeptical brow. “And who did you learn that from?”

  Aster shrugged. “It was something I heard Captain August say all the time growing up.”

  Selenia rolled her eyes.

  “Captain August keeps more promises than he actually doesn’t keep,” Aster said. “And that’s enough in my book.”

  Selenia sighed.

  “Oh, come on,” Aster said. “Things look bad now. But you have to keep going, even when things seem at their worst. There’s a saying that goes around that it’s darkest before the dawn.”

  That did make her feel better. Even though it was so cliche that it was comically bad.

  Selenia chuckled. “Darkest before the dawn? And who did you learn that from?”

  Aster coughed. “Captain August. In any case, I never said I was the best at cheering people up.”

  Selenia laughed. “Well, your promise has been duly noted. Thanks, Aster. That does make me feel better.”

  “No problem,” Aster said. “I’m the type of person to happily help a person in need.”

  “I’m guessing that also includes princesses whose lives are in danger?”

  “Especially them,” Aster chuckled. “Princesses whose lives are in danger are a rarity after all. Opportunities like those don’t come around very often.”

  “I’m guessing you go around helping every princess in need,” Selenia said.

  “You’re not the first one I’ve helped. I’ve actually helped quite a few. Like—”

  A massive explosion rocked Alsium Two. In the distance, towards the area where she had been last night, near the underground arcology’s massive, sheer cliff walls, where she had seen that ghostly child, Ernie, who had disappeared without a trace. Black smoke rose upward in the artificial sky from the place. It was precisely near where the wall had seemed filled in by thick slabs of rock, as she had seen with her own eyes the previous night.

  There was a massive gaping hole in the walls that rose high up into the sheer rocky cliff walls that seemed to open up to a path that had been blocked off previously.

  In an instant, the fun laughter and cheerfulness of Tigata city around her had quieted as hurried whispers and chatter went around amongst the soldiers that littered the city.

  The soldiers began moving as orders began filtering through communication lines. Already, some took off on vehicles to investigate while others assisted the paralyzed citysfolk to help move them along and reassure them that everything was being taken care of.

  A feeling of dread went down Selenia’s spine. A flash went through her. There was something there, down the path that had opened up in the darkness.

  The next moment, A sudden unearthly roar filled the air of Alsium Two. People flinched as their eyes went wide. Worry and anxiety filled the air as people stared straight at the darkness of the hole that had formed with fear.

  Something was coming. And whatever it was, it wasn’t good.