#soldier 11

When I said "mostly these two" I actually meant entirely these two.

Chapter 1: Unlikely Alliance

“I don’t know. I don’t like this,” Harumasa, the archer, mumbled. His voice was unusually serious as the elevator, illuminated by one weak light and made of bleak, dark metal, descended. “When was the last time we worked with HIA? When you met Belle?”

“Yes.” Miyabi, the youngest void hunter in history, arguably the strongest fighter in New Eridu, and the most awkward talker ever, replied. “Quite a while ago, now. Really, I was hunting Nineveh, and didn’t see much of the soldiers.”

Harumasa nodded, crossing his arms. “Exactly my point. If they’re asking for our help, then doesn’t that mean we’re facing something just as bad? If not worse?”

Miyabi was often oblivious to the social cues of the world. However, she wasn’t heartless, and she knew her team. Her red eyes turned to the archer, softer than usual. She put a hand on his elbow, as she’d often seen Yanagi do when calming others, and squeezed ever so slightly.

“We will handle it.”

It worked. Harumasa seemed to relax a fraction, even if he also seemed slightly confused by Miyabi’s suddenly tender act. The fox thiren’s ears twitched slightly, a hint of pride in her thoughts.

Social interaction training had paid off.

The elevator finally came to a stop after what felt like forever. The metal doors slid open to reveal a long, dimly lit hallway, with LED lights built into the roof every few feet and white paint on the walls indicating the locations of certain rooms.

Harumasa sighed. “Alright, let’s see why they brought us all the way here.”

It didn’t take much longer to reach the end of the hall and enter the conference room. Miyabi knew where to go; she’d been here once before when HIA had tried to recruit her personally, and it was much as she remembered: A large conference table sat in the middle of the room, going left to right, with around a dozen seats. Behind it, across from the entrance, was a large series of screens tucked tightly together into one large wall. Similar to the last time Miyabi was here, two people were waiting inside.

Commander Roland. A common face, given his command of Scott Outpost, and their history of working together. As usual, he had his uniform on, his hair combed neatly, and serious but alert eyes. Sitting beside him was someone the chief had never seen: A tall woman, taller than Roland, with soft green hair, wearing a heavy black dress that was clearly not standard issue. It had red accents and gold stitching at the hips, with slits to reveal the skin beneath.

Fashion did not make sense to the chief of Section 6.

“Chief Miyabi,” Roland said first, standing up and fixing his orange and yellow striped tie. “Officer Harumasa. Thank you for joining us. Please, sit.” Roland waved at the chairs and returned to his seat. He sighed, nodding to his companion. “This is Colonel Isolde. A peer of mine.”

“Good morning to you both,” the colonel followed, nodding gently. “We appreciate your timeliness.”

Miyabi didn’t hesitate to pull her seat out and join them, with her companion choosing to stand behind her like a guard. “My team agrees this meeting is very unusual. Please, tell us what has happened.”

“It isn’t exactly what has happened,” Roland admitted, putting his elbows on the table and clasping his hands together. “It is what could happen. There is a situation in the Hollows.”

“There’s always a situation in the Hollows,” Harumasa dramatically sighs, his voice taking on that laid-back, playful tone of his. “Come on, tell us what you need. We can handle it, after all.”

Both the commander and colonel shared an uneasy look. It was Isolde who spoke first.

“This is different than the usual issues,” she said. “This isn’t a powerful enemy, such as Nineveh, or a concentration of rebels, nor a threat to the Shiyu towers. This is something of an exploration issue.”

“Exploration?” Miyabi frowns, ever so slightly; to most it might be imperceptible. “I don’t believe the Defense Force has ever called upon Section 6 for simple exploration.”

“There’s no easy way to explain it,” Roland muttered, rubbing his forehead, frustrated. “Rifts are opening up in Hollow Zero. Not fissures. Rifts.”

“Commander,” Isolde chided, her voice as calm and collected as ever. “It isn’t like you to be impatient.”

He shrugged, looking downwards. “We have little time. This situation is delicate and needs to be handled quickly. We need Section 6 on this.”

“Commander Roland,” Miyabi’s voice had turned louder, firmer, and she gripped the hilt of her sword as she stood up. “We can handle this.”

Isolde and Roland shared another look. After a few minutes, he nodded, and she pulled out a remote, pressing a button. The screens behind the table flared to life, depicting a large map of Hollow Zero and marking five specific locations. The commander stood up, clearing his throat and waving an arm to the screens.

“This is our most recent data on the Hollow, used in the carrots of the last squad we sent out,” he explained. “Their mission was to explore these five points to investigate what we are now defining as Hollow rifts. Unlike fissures, we are small tears that can transport you between different parts of a Hollow, at a relatively short distance, and open and close often. The rifts function differently.”

“The squad, under my command, entered the first rift. They reported seeing buildings that shouldn’t exist within this region of the world. Sighs of the different nations, different continents, from the Old World.” She clicked another button, and the screen changed, revealing a blurry image of a tall, steel tower, the bottom curving upwards into a single point. “This was known, a long time ago, as the Eiffel Tower, in the continent of Europe. Even flying it should take several hours to reach, not to mention the Dark Wall.”

Roland continued, pointing at the screen as it changed again. “The Dark Wall is supposed to be impenetrable. To the best of our knowledge, the world beyond it is lost. However, the existence of the rifts, the discovery of the Eiffel Tower, tells us that it isn’t true. There is a world out there, even if it’s small pieces of land such as ours.”

“But…” Harumasa stared, wide-eyed, his usual aloofness replaced with shock. “That- that would mean there could be other people. Survivors of the Hollows. Even cities like New Eridu.”

“It would change everything,” Miyabi finished, staring unblinkingly at the screen.

The room turned silent as the soldiers let their guests absorb this world-changing information. It took the Void Hunter all of five seconds before her back straightened and her eyes hardened.