#celestialprayer

Mizuki walked into her teacher's office in a certain pocket dimension with a bright smile- One that only widened as the vampire grins in turn.

"That's right. I've got a job for you, girl."

Evangeline stood, half-sitting on her desk as she continued, "We've got news about a magical anomaly. It started about 36 hours ago- Some invisible force giving off a lot of magical energy and scaring away the wildlife- I want you to look into it."

"Oh, like... What, some kind of leyline? A font of magical energy?"

"I don't have much more than that to work on- Which is why I'm sending you. Karin's still in Palestine, that book is in Megalomesembria, and as you know, Tempesta's busy. You're the only one I can count on to come back in one piece if things go sideways."

"...Heh." Mizuki chuckled slightly under her breath- It might have seemed like faint praise to some, but she knew her master didn't trust easily- The fact that she was saying something like that openly really did speak volumes about the trust Evangeline placed in her. "Alright, I'll do it! Where am I headed?"

The vampire leaned over and tapped one sharpened fingernail against the enter key of her keyboard with a sharp clack as she spoke, "I've just sent you the exact co-ordinates- And, as you know, we'll cover any expenses. You're off to-"

Caravelí, Peru

A 20 hour flight, 12 hour drive, and a modest amount of regret about not just teleporting later, Mizuki finally reached her destination, cresting the peak of India Vieja and taking a deep breath. Their sources were definitely right; she could feel the mana permeating the area deep in her bones, and the unnatural quiet further pointed to the wildlife being disturbed by the unusual magical presence.

So, she got to work- First recording the amount of mana coming off of whatever this anomaly was, noting the complex magical signature it held and the differences between it and the magic of her own world. "It's definitely not from here," she mutters to herself, "And it seems like some kind of pocket dimension..." She quickly wrote up her findings and sent them over to her master, before stepping forward, holding her hand out towards what seemed to be the centre of the magical disturbance, and whispering to herself. "Well, here goes nothing..."

She focused magic energy into her hand and through it into the source, weaving magic together to open the dimension... And, after a moment, there was a bright flash of light as the unstable pocket dimension collapsed and a woman fell from it.

"Woah!", Mizuki shouted, reaching out almost on instinct to catch her before she hit the stony ground- And once she had the other woman cradled in her arms, Mizuki took a quick second to look her over. She didn't seem to be injured in any way, which was good! But her outfit definitely suggested she wasn't from around her... And, even at a glance, Mizuki could tell she was something special-- She had among the most amount of mana in her she'd ever seen.

Finally, as the other woman woke in her arms, Mizuki gave a soft, concerned smile. She had a lot of questions, but she knew well it wasn't time for that just yet.

"Hey, are you alright? Seems like you might have been out of it for... a while."

"This is..." How to explain it, to a girl who is so alike, yet unlike her? "...our sanctuary, one might say. A place outside the bounds of existence, of every universe that is or will be. Even the gods cannot step foot in this realm, for they are no more than false demiurges, divinity stolen from the aether of reality."

The Echo lifts a hand as she begins to slowly walk toward Zena, and as she does, a metal railing forms beneath it, more of the railing appearing beneath her hand as she walks, until she's roughly a few feet away from the blonde.

"And yet you are able to join me, here. There are only two possible explanations; one, you are a purely spiritual being, only existing as a lost soul. Or two, you are much like myself, and have since lost your place in the grand cosmos. And given your stable physical form and consciousness, the latter is the only logical conclusion."

❝ Donald! Goofy! Tarzan! Check this out! ❞

"Yo, you a'ight? That sounded pretty loud."

What had been a normal day of patrolling the streets of Shibuya for problems to solve quickly escalated into Chao face to face with quite the baffling sight. When the sound of a loud -THUD- was heard amidst the corners of the city, Chao rushed onto the scene, expecting another group of douchebags with bad intent to be harassing some teen who happened to have some money. That was always the case, wasn't it? As nice as the city seemed on the surface, if you knew where to look, you could always find the seedy underbelly of it. When crowds are this big and people always come and go as they please, it's easy for the snakes to blend in. Indeed, that should of been what this was.

—But instead, where he expected a group, he only saw one person, flat on the ground... but there were no signs of violence here? If people had tried running, he would of heard footsteps, for sure. And upon closer inspection of the person, it only brought more questions.

A woman in... very out there clothing, given the trends of the streets. Certainly not something you would expect to see normally. However, she also seemed... mostly unharmed in general. The fall sounded bad, but she didn't look like she was in any urgent danger.

... What, a cosplayer practicin' a routine or some shit?

That was the only conclusion he could come to. This girl had to be some cosplayer. (And credit where it's due, the outfit seems fantastic!). Why she was in a place like this, he couldn't fathom. Perhaps she needed space to practice something to go along with it, or perhaps her parents didn't approve of such a thing and she needed space. Those parts weren't his problem, but they were at the very least explanations for such a strange sight.

Regardless of the reason though, this wasn't a safe spot to be. And as much as he doesn't wanna get involved in something as mundane as a cosplayer falling on their ass, everything about this was too strange for him NOT to engage. Plus, well... She may not genuinely know.

Jeez, you'd think people would learn to stay away from places like this by now...

Doing a double check to make sure there were no noticeable injuries, Chao offered his hand to help the strange woman up.