City Series:Volume6d Chapter1

Chapter 1: The Ruin Activates

7/24/1943 04:01 – 04:15

Reunions are a cause for joy

But

Not always

AIF Personnel

Hazel Mirildorf (AIF Soldier)

An AIF Tuner. Was implanted with the High Organ eye Messiah. A Werecat living in LA. Our protagonist.

Dog Berger (AIF Soldier?)

M. Schrier’s underclassman and a Knight Striker. Used to help people escape Germany, but joined the AIF in ’42. Wields the High Organ sword Gelegenheit.

Corelle Sevan (AIF Air Force Transport Division)

Boss of the AIF Air Force Transport Division. A fortuneteller who uses the 47 Telling Cards.

Pale Horse (AIF Combat Division Leader)

Hard Wolf general who made a name for himself in the previous war. Has a connection to Heiliger.

M. Schrier (AIF General Commander)

The young leader. Was deeply involved in the Berlin Conflict and took command of the AIF after leaving Germany. Former subordinate of Oscar’s and upperclassman of Berger’s in their college days. Was also Hazel’s tutor.

Lehrer (AIF Spy)

A female spy in Borderson, Germany.

Oscar Mirildorf (Civilian)

M. Schrier’s commander who currently lives in LA. Former German Air Force Major General. Hazel’s father. A hard puncher.

Part 1

The sun shined down through a dry easterly wind.

With the blue sky above and the red ground below, the wind arrived at some white and gray structures.

The gray was a long runway and the white were the several buildings at the end.

The wind swept across the white letters spelling out “USIF Arizona – Area 001” on the runway.

The wind crashed into a building, making its white wall creak before blowing in through the windows.

There were no lights on within the large space inside.

The wooden building was the mess hall for the AIF’s US branch. There weren’t many people inside. But the wind passed ticklishly between the few people who were there and then gently settled down.

At the same time, the clock on the north counter began to ring on the hour.

It rang four times.

The loud ringing was joined by the rustling of dry clothing.

The ten or so people in the mess hall were all wearing gray military uniforms and they were now headed toward the counter. Toward the table placed below the clock on the counter.

Their eyes all gathered on the table for a brief moment. The table was big enough for eight, but only two people sat at it. They sat on opposite sides, facing each other.

One was a large elderly man. He had short, gray hair and two prosthetic arms.

The other was a well-built middle-aged woman. Her hair was pulled back in a bun and she wore a green flight jacket.

Several cards were lined up in front of the woman.

She spoke while viewing the face up cards.

“Two weeks have passed since Hazel accepted that request from the Allies. Do you think she arrived in Germania today? To give Berger his orders from the Allies.”

The man nodded once and then raised his right arm to place it on the table.

The table creaked below the large metal prosthetic.

But he ignored that as he extended a metal finger to tap one of the lined-up cards.

It depicted a group of people in black with another person standing above them holding seven reddish-black stars.

“Corelle, what’s this card?”

“I know you know that already, Pale. It’s Noisy Card #5, the Disavatar. Those are the people above Hazel.”

Pale pulled his arm back, frowned, and crossed his arms.

Corelle hit him with more words.

“I get that the Allies want Berger’s help as a guide for their bombing of Hamburg on the 24th. After the success of Cologne, why wouldn’t they? But doesn’t it seem odd for the Allied European HQ to personally name Hazel as the one to send that dumbass his orders?”

“…”

Pale said nothing and Corelle stared at him with puzzlement in her eyes.

He kept his frown as he looked back at her with his one eye.

She shrugged.

“There’s something else I’ve found odd. Pale, ever since you returned from Borderson last year, you’ve been awfully interested in that girl.”

“What’s wrong with that?”

“When you’re in your fifties, it makes you look like a pedophile.”

“Sounds like you want to die.”

“I’m only kidding. You’re supposed to laugh at women’s jokes even when they aren’t any good. It’s called being polite.” Corelle gathered up the cards on the table. “But back to Hazel and her current mission. Ever since Borderson last year, I get the feeling you and M. Schrier have been hiding something about her.”

“Me? What would I be hiding about the AIF’s best Tuner?”

His response was answered by a solid clack as Corelle tapped the deck of cards against the table to straighten them out.

The pleasant but neurotic sound repeated itself a few times as she asked a question.

“I know the Geheimnis Agency is doing everything they can to get their hands on Hazel. But she isn’t stupid. Even if they do abduct her, she’s already made up her mind about what to fight against and what to follow in this war. She’s not a little kitten who will do whatever someone tells her to do.”

“But it would invigorate them if they acquired their Messiah.”

“So you want to eliminate that possibility? What a lame excuse.”

Corelle’s expression changed from confusion to a smile.

She took a quick glance around at the soldiers looking their way.

“Everyone here has had their life saved or been rescued from a tight spot by Hazel’s Tuning on more than one mission. She’s done a bang-up job ever since she survived Cologne last year.” The smile left her face. “Why don’t you trust the woman who has done so much for the AIF, Pale? Do you have reason to think Hazel of all people would betray her beliefs and oppose us if the Geheimnis Agency got her?”

Pale said nothing, but that didn’t stop Corelle.

“I hear you and M. Schrier negotiated with the Allies to keep Hazel away from Germania, but the Allies hinted they would refuse to let us join any future operations if we didn’t send her. Why was the bet raised so high over just one Tuner?”

“Don’t believe all the silly rumors you hear.”

“Hazel is too easygoing for her own good, so it’s up to the older generation to worry for her. …She was ecstatic that she could bring Berger the serum for those Live bullets. She legitimately thinks she will simply hand that off to Berger and then be rescued by an Allied aircraft on the Swiss border.”

“…”

“I hear the Allies have already contacted Berger once and they chose a hideout in Germania for their rendezvous point. He’s expecting ‘a contact’ to arrive with his orders the day after he arrives at the hideout.”

Corelle paused there.

She looked away from Pale and at her left hand holding the cards.

“Why were the Allies so insistent on Hazel doing this? Why were you and M. Schrier so insistent on hiding her? Is this about the bombing of Hamburg? Is it to keep her out of the Geheimnis Agency’s clutches? Or-”

“I can tell you one thing.” Pale cut her off. “M. Schrier and I are not in league with the Allies here.”

“In that case,” said Corelle, pulling a card from the deck. She flipped it upside down and slammed it onto the table in front of her. “M. Schrier told me something this morning. Operation Gomorrah, the upcoming bombing of Hamburg, is an experiment for the bombing of Germania planned for August. The data acquired there will be used for the ACBS being developed by the Allies and for the new bomb being developed at Detroit.”

She viewed the card in front of her.

“With every tick of the clock, we approach the moment in August when the world’s History Lives end. He said if I have the will to fight the destiny I’ve seen in the cards, I need to join the Allied 8th Aerial Fleet as a support craft during Operation Gomorrah.”

“The will to fight?” echoed Pale.

Several other sounds filled the mess hall then.

The sounds of chairs moving and of people standing, walking, and running.

Among it all, Corelle placed the card on her hand.

She flipped it over.

A ring of people had formed around them and they groaned when they saw it.

It depicted a naked man and woman sleeping back to back on a waveless beach.

“Noisy Card #13, Laziness. It indicates stagnation and decline.”

“Are you saying that’s our fate?” asked Pale.

He was answered by some sighs in the surrounding people, but Corelle smiled a little.

“Don’t be silly, Pale. I’m the only one who flipped it over just now. This is my destiny – our destiny. But…listen, Pale. If you can turn us into a proper team, then we can change this destiny. Add your own destiny on top of this, and you can change it.” She took a breath. “Pale, tell us about this secret of yours. I want to see our destiny when it includes you.”

Pale viewed the card in front of him and Corelle continued speaking.

“If you do that, then we can create something else. Are you interested in changing our destiny?”

Without answering, Pale suddenly flipped the card upside down again.

He gave an uninterested snort, but he did flip it face up again.

The image hadn’t changed. The surrounding ring of people gasped. But…

“I knew I could count on you,” said Corelle.

The card’s image slowly changed before her eyes.

The change started at the bottom. First, the ocean vanished and a lion was drawn in its place. A hand was holding down the lion’s head. The hand belonged to a young woman and she was holding a sword in her other hand.

“Harmonic Card #5, Strength. The lion and the dragon are both symbols of the Geheimnis Agency.”

With that, Corelle stood up. Pale did the same.

An uncertain stir ran through the ring of people.

Corelle turned toward them and raised her voice.

“What are you loafing around for!? It’s time to go meet the bearer of the Wheel of Destiny!”

Part 2

Germanian nights were bright.

The lights of the underground levels joined together to shine up on the surface and the dome shined down from the sky.

The dome was formed by a giant cross.

The cross was located in northwest Germania, just to the side of Tegel Airport. The dome spread from there and it covered more than just Germania itself. It also covered the bases situated around the city and Germania’s own management bases.

It was a powerful protective umbrella.

A single pair of eyes looked up at it from the center of Germania’s 1st level.

That central area had been left intact because it included so many historical structures. The pair of eyes was located in Berlin Central University located in the very center of that central area.

A large road passed through the university’s main gate and trees were planted along the sidewalks on either side.

The owner of those eyes was crouched at the base of one of those broadleaf trees.

The large man wore a black combat coat. He was big in general, but the prosthetic arm sticking out from his right shoulder was especially noticeable. Big and blocky were the best words for him.

On the solid-looking face below his close-cropped blond hair, two blue eyes looked up into the sky.

His left hand held a thick wooden staff. It was the staff he launched from the cannon attached to his prosthetic arm.

Small maintenance tools were scattered around him like toys.

But he didn’t do anything with the staff or the tools. He simply viewed the sky.

Until a scratchy voice reached him from behind.

“Hey, Hellard. You’re wide open out here, buddy.”

Hearing his name, Hellard Schweitzer turned toward the voice.

The red gem on the earring he wore on the left ear caught the light as he turned.

A man stood within arm’s reach.

Schweitzer was crouched down, so he first saw legs wearing army pants and boots.

Then he saw a combat vest with all the pockets bulging and a hand holding a long sword.

His gaze continued up to find a slender face surrounded by long hair.

Schweitzer frowned when he saw that face.

“Do not sneak up on me, Alfred.”

His chiding received no response and Alfred pulled a small battlefield sheet from a vest pocket. He used just the one hand to unfold the green sheet on the ground next to Schweitzer and sat in it.

“I received word the Messiah has entered the library in cat form. Not long now until we move in to capture her and transfer her to Hamburg Base and the Ton lab there.”

“Yes, we can inject German Tons into her there.” Schweitzer nodded but also frowned a little. “But I never imagined Berger would be hiding out here.”

“Agreed. It sounds like it wasn’t you, me, or Marsch that the director-”

Alfred stopped himself from finishing that thought.

Schweitzer said something else instead.

“Stopping Berger is going to be a challenge. I saw the photo taken of him entering the library. He walks subtly differently now. He must have spent the last year training himself.”

“Just the last year? So have I. I’ve been training myself nonstop ever since Cologne.”

Schweitzer’s eyebrows rose a bit at the mention of Cologne.

Seeing that, Alfred smiled thinly in realization.

“I’m fine. Lady Lillie is at work searching for any remains at the Requiem’s crash site, but…I feel like the gentle greenery there this time of year may be enough to let her rest in peace.”

Alfred ended his statement by pulling something like a bookmark from his pocket.

He held it up so Schweitzer could see it was an ear of wheat held between a folded piece of paper.

The paper had a few letters written on it and a range of dates: 1942 – 1943.

“I heard this was sent as a present to the people invited to last year’s wedding.”

Schweitzer silently nodded and pulled an identical item from his pocket.

He stroked the ear of wheat with a finger.

“I saw green ears growing in the Borderson wheat fields last year. These are likely from there.”

“I don’t get Heidengeists. An ear from a field of golden wheat sounds nice, but in Europe, a land of golden wheat is reminiscent of Valhalla. It’s a bad omen,” complained Alfred, sticking the wheat back in his pocket.

Schweitzer smiled bitterly when he saw that.

“It’s just like you to question it but still carry it with you.”

“The owner’s memory Tons reside in things like this. …We need that.”

Alfred twisted around and reached his left hand out to touch the earring on Schweitzer’s left ear.

“By this point, my ring and your earring are probably soaked more with our memories than hers.” He pulled his hand back and looked to the wheat in Schweitzer’s hand. “It’s ironic, really. If their wheat is growing this well, Borderson must have plenty of food while the war rages on. But once the war ends, Germany will be in need of resources no matter who wins. Food in particular is always necessary after a war.”

“It would be ironic if Borderson’s wheat ended up saving the country.”

“Right? So are those golden fields a part of Valhalla or are they salvation in the real world?”

Alfred sighed.

He looked dejected, almost like he had just remembered something unpleasant.

“Come to think of it, I noticed another irony recently.” He crossed his arms. “About our savior, the Messiah, who arrived here tonight.”

“You mean that the Allies used her to carry their plans? That is ironic, I suppose.”

Schweitzer barely seemed to care, so Alfred lowered his voice.

“What’s with you? I’m saying the Allies have basically sent the Messiah to us.” He sighed. “And I heard we gave them data on our Wort Bombe in exchange. Is that really a good idea?”

Schweitzer did not immediately respond. First, he inserted the staff into his right hand’s cannon. And…

“Those political issues are none of our concern.”

“But did you know the Allies are using information on our auto-ramming ship leaked from Poland in order to build something they call an ACBS? We are in trouble if they load a Wort Bombe on that, Hellard.”

Schweitzer said nothing, letting Alfred’s words wash over him.

He slotted the bottom of the staff into place within his prosthetic arm and locked it with a twist. Then he locked the other end in place by tightening the screws on the ejection point sticking out from his elbow.

The sound of the metal fitting together was joined by Alfred’s sighing voice.

“Schweitzer, the scales of this war are already tilting. And I’m not just talking about the Sofort Lesers around the world finding they can’t read any History Tons past August. We’ve been forced to withdraw from the USSR and the Allies have landed in Sicily. A lot of people have already died, like in Cologne.”

“So you’re wondering why they even need to set up some trick using the Messiah?”

Alfred just about said something on reflex, but he silently nodded instead.

“Try to contain your anger,” said Schweitzer. “Development Division Chief Elrich and the rest of us are working around the clock to stabilize Tristan. The Panzerpolis Project is complete, Germania is well fortified, and the Vaterlands around the world are being boosted, so we and the military will have an easier time fighting and escaping death than previously. Also,” he added. “If we can inject German Tons inside the captured Messiah at Hamburg Base, she cannot escape us again. Then Lowenzahn will work to convince her personally. …We will do everything in our power.” Alfred did not respond. Instead, he sang a song.

The wind blows / The night blows / The dragon awakes /The people move /The dragon roars

The wind arrives from the north / A path arrives from the north

The knight descends as a knight / The dragon soars high as a dragon

All is a path to the north star / All is a story of an insurmountable wall

He sang with a gentle but lingering rhythm.

“Lowenzahn’s latest prophecy was identical to the Unreif Germane’s 12th Section of the Soaring Dragon. I was pretty disappointed when I first heard it.”

“Why?”

“We’re here to capture the Messiah, but that prophecy is clearly about a wind from the north. That probably means another bombing like that last one. So…our mission here isn’t protected by our commander’s prophecy. I doubt this is going to go well.”

“You worry too much. The emperor should trust in the new world, if you ask me.”

“But the emperor is a symbol of the old world. Creating a new world is the hero’s job.” He laughed quietly, folding up the sheet and standing up. “Ha ha. Oops. When did I start complaining so much?”

“Hard to say. Was it when you started working for Heiliger?”

“Don’t make fun, Hellard. That was probably part of it, but not all of it. I…” He thought for a moment and then took a much more serious tone. “I don’t think I believe in this Messiah who travels with destiny. When I saw her escape with destiny four years ago…I couldn’t help but be reminded of Eryngium eight years ago.”

Schweitzer looked up at that.

He viewed Alfred’s face. Alfred was smiling while looking up at the giant cross called Tristan. There was no mockery or irony in that smile. It was a powerful smile with eyebrows raised.

Alfred opened his lips a crack while smiling up at the cross.

“…”

But he stopped. He turned away from Schweitzer with a single footstep.

“I’m gonna take a look around the area.”

“The library hasn’t changed. You can even see the director’s repairs to the plumbing.”

“I’m just taking a look around.”

There was a hint of a smile in his voice as he walked away.

Still crouched, Schweitzer smiled too. Then he looked up toward what Alfred had been looking at.

A black cross towered into the sky there. He had been looking at it before Alfred arrived.

He brought it into the center of his vision and touched the earring on his left ear.

“To develop, to fight, to protect, and…”

He stopped talking there and suddenly stood up.

He looked back from below the broadleaf tree and found Alfred was already gone.

After one last glance up at Tristan, Schweitzer began walking as well.

He could see some armored vehicles gathering on the road beyond the main gate.

Part 3

Hazel awoke in darkness.

She was lying on her side and her right shoulder, back, and thigh felt some leather warmed by her own body heat.

She was lying naked on a sofa. The darkness remained when she opened her eyes. A blanket covered her eyes.

She sensed the warmth of someone sleeping in their clothes next to her.

After shivering from waking up, she pulled the blanket down from her face. She could see who was lying next to her face up with mouth slightly open.

“Oh, Berger. You haven’t been shaving, have you?”

She sighed and laughed quietly.

She relaxed and twisted around to nestle up against him. She felt the warmth of his body through his shirt. She pressed her cheek against his shoulder and caught the scent of cheap soap.

After a moment’s hesitation, she rubbed her neck against his shoulder.

She rubbed her scent onto him.

His shirt’s fabric was rough, so it felt nice against her neck.

After enjoying that for a bit, she breathed a satisfied sigh and turned her somewhat sleepy eyes upwards.

They were in a small but tall room. It was surrounded by bookcases on all four sides and the only light came through a small hole in the ceiling. The light was the lamplight of Germania she had seen earlier.

…I must have dropped through that hole, landed on the sofa, and fallen asleep as a cat.

Berger had arrived before her and failed to notice when she dropped onto the sofa.

So she had crawled under the blanket next to him.

“And then I went to sleep.”

She smiled bitterly and lowered her gaze to find the room’s exit down by their feet. There was something odd about the area above the closed wooden door. That part of the wall was discolored.

A square about a foot across was paler than the rest, so a frame may have hung there at some point.

She didn’t know what that could be, so she only tilted her head and moved her gaze to the side.

She found Berger’s sleepy blue eyes looking at her from only a few inches away. His eyes gradually focused in on her in the dim lighting.

“…What?”

He sprang up from the sofa. Or tried to. His prosthetic hand failed to grab the soft sofa behind him and slipped, causing him to collapsed backwards.

She panicked a bit, but…

…There’s nothing I can do.

She heard a dull thud from below the sofa.

She took a look down with the blanket gathered around her hips.

“Are you okay?”

“That hurt like hell. Which means I’m not dreaming. They sent you, Hazel?”

He spoke in the same voice as always in the same irritated tone as always.

His legs were still up on the sofa, so he pulled them down and sat up on the floor.

Their eyes met with a slight height difference.

“You Altered again, didn’t you?” he muttered from the floor. “What time is it? Oh, I guess you can’t wear a watch in that form.”

He pulled out his own pocket watch, opened it, stared at it for a bit, and then showed it to Hazel.

The watch said it was 4:12 AM.

“We still have nearly an hour until the arranged time.”

“Now’s fine. You brought my orders, I hope?”

“I did.”

Hazel searched through the blanket near where she had fallen.

She found nothing. She only found the Wheel of Destiny card.

“Huh?”

“Looking for this?”

Berger pointed at a white envelope caught in his shirt’s collar.

“Y-yes, that’s it.”

She watched as he grabbed the envelope and noticed a small bitemark on the edge.

“This reeks of cat. You drooled on it while running around with it in your mouth, didn’t you? Gross.”

“Now you’re just being mean. It isn’t gross.”

“What makes you so sure?”

“Because last year you made me swallow yours and licked all over my body. You wouldn’t have done that if it was gross.”

Silence fell.

Berger said nothing and let nothing show on his face as he tucked the envelope into his breast pocket.

“I know this is sudden, but I think we need to talk,” he said.

“About what?”

“Early this year, I met this AIF contact who happened to be a woman. She said some nasty things about me and then mentioned some bullshit about how devoted to me you are.”

Hazel thought for a moment, directing her eyes upwards.

“Um,” she said. “I didn’t tell them anything weird. I told them we discussed our futures at Borderson and that you asked me if I trusted you before you pinned me down in bed.”

She reflexively brought her hands to her cheeks as the memory came back to her. Her cheeks felt somewhat warm to the touch.

“And I said you kissed me, touched me, licked me, and bit me. …Oh, but I didn’t even tell Corelle that you spread my legs, so don’t worry about that.”

She gave a bashful smile and viewed him through the fingers covering her cheeks. For some reason, he looked ill. In fact, he looked deathly pale. And the color didn’t return to his face as he asked a question.

“Hazel. You know exactly what you’re doing with that, don’t you?”

Something fell from Berger’s shoulder to the floor: a small hard box.

That was the ampule case Hazel had brought with the envelope. Unlike the envelope, it must have been caught inside his collar. She lowered her hand to point toward the white box.

“Your serum is in there. The one to heal your Lives disease.”

“It’s done already?”

“Yes, but they said they can’t make any again. Shortly before I came here, the Live research facility in Detroit started working with a lab in Los Alamos to develop some new weapon.”

“So the Allies don’t have time to spare for the AIF, huh?”

He opened the ampule case while she watched.

“Whoa.”

A dark liquid flowed out and wet his hand. He dropped the case on reflex and it spewed shards of glass when it hit the floor.

Pieces of the syringe were scattered among the spilled liquid.

“Hazel.”

Hazel held a hand to her mouth and gasped, her heart skipping a beat.

“I did end up in a battle on the way here…”

She wasn’t sure what more to say, so she started by working to calm herself.

…Um.

“R-right, there is a spare, so don’t worry. There is another ampule in a locker at Potsdam Station along with my luggage. You can use that.”

She showed him the locker key hanging from her choker.

He dropped his eyes to the key.

“And you expect me to go get it myself? Me, the second busiest guy in the world?”

“But we have more than an hour of extra time now, don’t we?”

“Yeah, what about it?”

“How about we visit Potsdam together? I can turn into a cat, so you can carry me on your shoulder. After all, I need to get my clothes out of my luggage there.”

“Why not go on your own? While naked.”

“Maybe I should let everyone know that you’re into exhibitionism.”

He froze.

“Let’s visit Potsdam together,” she said with a smile.

He didn’t respond, so she tried something else.

“Aren’t you going to answer?”

“Shut up.”

His eyes were on the syringe shards littering the floor, not on her. When she noticed, her shoulders tensed and she wondered what to do.

“Um,” she said.

He turned toward her and met her eyes, so she kept her voice low but serious.

“I do have one piece of unadulterated good news for you.”

“What, you mean that the Allies are developing an auto-ramming ship they call the ACBS?”

Hazel beckoned him over instead of answering.

He tilted his head, stood up, and took a step toward her.

She scooted to the side to create space on the sofa, so he sat there.

Before he could say anything, she took his right hand.

She wiped away the serum fluid remaining on his hand.

“Um, I really am sorry about the ampule.”

She softly placed his hand on her left breast.

She gained a somewhat troubled look at how his damp hand felt on her chest.

“Can you tell? Um, uh…”

“…”

“They’ve gotten a lot bigger. Twice as big in just the last year.”

Berger stared off into the distance.

“And what is the unadulterated good news you have for me, teacher?”

She put a smile back on her face to answer him.

“You like big boobs, don’t you? …Wait, what are you doing!?”

He rolled her up in the blanket and threw her out of the room.

Part 4

Something creaked like a wooden ship periodically.

That something was a giant vertical cylinder filled with white light.

Specifically, it was the column of black metal running down the center of the cylinder.

That was the word weapon barrel of the Gard-class aerial warship that had been remade into a part of Tristan.

The Lives needed to pressurize the Vaterlands through the ley lines were launched from the loading area up above the column and then accelerated through it.

The central column was the barrel and the cylinder was the exterior armor.

The column ran through the cylinder from floor to ceiling, but they were actually 4.5 miles long.

It continued well below the floor and well above the ceiling.

Several girders extended from the inside of the cylinder to the central column and people wearing lab coats or black uniforms were walking and talking along those.

The people were tiny compared to the column.

One girder was located almost at the ceiling.

It was more than 8 yards wide and two people currently stood on it. Both were old men.

One wore a lab coat and the other wore a suit. The one in a suit looked down over the girder’s railing. The hem of his suit flapped in the wind that blew up through the cylinder.

The one in a lab coat rested against the opposite railing.

“Is the view really so interesting, Witzmann? You keep looking down there.”

“No, I just like high places.”

“Silly child,” said the lab coat man with a bitter smile.

The man in a suit, Witzmann, replied with an exasperated nod. That was when a loud, deep reverberation came from the center of the cylinder.

The column had caused it.

The two men leaning against opposite girder railings turned their eyes toward the column.

Once they were both looking straight down the girder at the column, their gazes separated to view their surroundings.

The girder’s floor was about 5 yards from the ceiling.

Two things were attached to the surface of the column in that limited space.

One was a window.

It was a yard wide and two yards tall and it gave a view of some plastic pipes that shook whenever the column gave a roar.

The second was a desk-sized control panel made of a copper-colored metal located below the window.

The panel should have had a few keys and controls, but it was all shattered.

The left half had melted away and there was a fist-sized hole suggesting something had crashed into it.

“Heiliger slammed his Tragisch fist into it and used his Beweisen instead of operating it normally, didn’t he?” said Witzmann when he saw the hole. “And that gave it temporary life.”

“A life that lasts until the bearer of Tragisch dies. Its Ober Beweisen uses Tragisch as an intermediary to break its owner’s Tons down and fuse them with a machine. A variation on the Schreiben device, really.”

“I see,” said Witzmann, looking again to the hole on the left side of the control panel.

Another sound came from the column. The roar sounded somehow unstable.

“So Elrich. Be honest with me about the Tristan.”

“It is unstable. It doesn’t yet have the power needed to fully boost all of the Vaterlands around the world and let us oppose the Allies. The Panzerpolis Project is still missing something.” Elrich sounded sure of that. “The Tristan’s basic design was Marsch Gant’s idea, but he died before he could complete the final phase design. What we have her is the 5th Phase Tristan.”

“I had a feeling.” Witzmann slowly nodded his head and took a closer look at the hole in the control panel. “Heiliger seems like the sentimental type to me. Is he?”

“Definitely. Tragisch uses two Phlogiston Plattes built into it as fuel. High power ones created from Heidengeists. But those ones in his right shoulder…”

“Were made from his Heidengeist wife and daughter who were eliminated in ’37? He really is sentimental.” Witzmann smiled bitterly. “But there are a lot of things I don’t understand of late. For example, I am unsure what the Ober Beweisens of a few Eingeweide devices are. Like our commander’s Neue Erde, or the Messiah.”

“I can’t tell you about the latter, but our commander’s must be for prophesying.”

“But you haven’t seen it for yourself, have you? She always prophesies deep below the old HQ, so no one can say for sure that’s what her Ober Beweisen does.”

“What are you getting at?”

“Neue Erde was developed by Marsch Gant. Records from the time say he only told our commander what its Ober Beweisen does and the development division cannot predict what it does based on the designs left over from back then. And with the Messiah, only that girl knows what its Ober Beweisen does. Am I wrong?”

“Are you suggesting our commander may be keeping the truth from us? Aggressive as ever, I see.” Elrich snorted. “Let me guess: there’s more you don’t know. Like the meaning of the plate you took from the Karlsruhe knowledge storehouse.”

Witzmann’s head drooped forward, but after a pause, he started laughing.

“Ha ha ha. You noticed?”

“I could tell at a glance the material had changed. Not that I blame you. I wouldn’t have given you permission if you’d asked.”

“I still can’t read it, but it has expanded the breadth of my predictions.” Witzmann nodded. “My biggest question is ‘why’. Take the Unreif Germane’s 6th section for example. The previous five sections carry a hint of glory while leading to ruin. Those songs were apparently prophesies about events back then, but the people began to spread them after the Messiah went to sleep at the end.”

“And the final line isn’t a record – it’s calling out to someone.”

“She could see the ruin coming after the millennium of peace and she cried herself to sleep after encountering a goodbye and a wall, so why did she sing a song of new hope in the middle of all that tragedy?”

“The thing is…” began Elrich. He groaned as he tried to figure out if he should give an answer or not.

Witzmann smiled bitterly.

“Only one person out there can answer that question. And you know who, don’t you?”

“The Sylphide. The one excavated from the Alfheim Meteorite Pit in ’39.”

“Actually, I meant the Messiah from a thousand years ago,” said Witzmann. “You know what it means to find the Sylphide there, where it had been sealed for a thousand years, don’t you? It wasn’t being enshrined there.”

“Cryogenic storage.” Elrich nodded. “It has to be in a sealed container with conditions similar to deep sea or a vacuum, but the life of the passenger could be preserved. It would have to be set to thaw on a timer or with external controls. If the Sylphide was set to only power its self-repair function and the cryogenic storage, it could preserve the passenger for a thousand years – or even several thousand years.”

“The same conclusion I arrived at. The question is who spent a thousand years inside there.”

“A question we can never answer since the AIF stole the Sylphide.”

Both Witzmann and Elrich stopped talking there.

Instead, an emotionless voice spoke from the opposite direction of the column.

“Seeking that answer may be going a step too far.”

They both turned toward the voice where the door leading out onto the girder had opened and a man walked out.

He was tall and pencil thin and he wore a Geheimnis Agency Air Force Division combat coat.

“Bermark Vier,” said Elrich.

Bermark stopped walking and saluted.

“I have new orders from the fräulein. I know the Messiah will be visiting soon, but she asks that you two head to the old HQ.”

“Why there? That place is nearly deserted.”

“You are being given a month of leave to help you recuperate from your hard work and prepare for the true battle to come. Unfortunately, the Allies have entered Germany, so you must remain inside the old HQ for your own safety.”

“Ha ha!” laughed Elrich. “So we’re under house arrest!”

“It would seem so. I was thinking of stopping by there soon anyway. I have a historical interest in the phase space lab built below that building. Our commander may intend to lock us in there, but that simply gives me the time I need to investigate.”

Witzmann’s comment stopped Elrich’s laughter.

Witzmann nodded when Elrich gave him a puzzled look.

“Bermark’s presence is all the answer I need. I do not blindly trust our commander. After all, she more or less gave the Allies our Wort Bombe research document in exchange for having the Messiah sent to Germania.”

But…

“I may come to trust her depending on the answer I find for my question of ‘why’.”

He stepped away from the railing and walked toward Bermark.

“What about our men?”

“She has already had Sir Heiliger arrange for replacement chiefs to the development and intelligence divisions. We are always training for such eventualities, so you have nothing to worry about.”

“I see.” Witzmann stopped next to Bermark and slapped his shoulder. “Sounds like we have a busy vacation ahead of us.”

Part 5

<The room is dark and silent.>

<Bookcases line an unlit and deserted library.>

Hazel sat alone in the valley of bookcases with the blanket over her head.

She had emerged onto the floor here less than a minute ago.

After Berger had thrown her out into a dark space, she had realized he had no intention of opening the door behind her. She had groped around in the darkness, trying to walk until she found some stairs leading up. Soon after climbing those, she had bumped her head against the ceiling.

Holding her aching head, she had groped at the ceiling and found it moved. Pushing up had opened an exit for her.

The entrance to the stairs sat open by her feet. She sat on the edge of the stairs and peered down into the darkness where she had left Berger.

“Maybe I teased him too much.”

She pressed her knees together, held the blanket around herself, and sighed with the Wheel of Destiny in hand.

She thought back on what had just happened. She recalled Berger’s pale face when she had let him touch her chest.

Then her shoulders shook and quiet laughter left her throat.

…He’s surprisingly cute.

With that in mind, she decided to become a cat. She knew he would emerge from that darkness in a bit. If she was already a cat by then, she could ignore any complaints he made about what she had done. Because cats couldn’t speak.

She pulled the blanket over herself and gently rubbed her right eye with her right hand.

The High Organ eye’s Beweisen let her take control of other High Organ devices.

…I don’t know what its Ober Beweisen does, but I can’t help that.

She had left the country shortly after having it implanted, so she didn’t know how to use it or why it had been built. All those answers had died along with its creator – Marsch Gant.

“The only other person who might know is that Geheimnis Agency Commander.”

…She said I was a tool for them when I met her last year.

The phrase “Wheel of Destiny” stuck in her mind. That was the name of the card Corelle had given her and that she held now.

The card’s image hadn’t changed.

She still carried that destiny of ruin. She used that thought to let her pulse take over. But then…

“Eh?”

She looked up.

She had heard footsteps inside the supposedly deserted and silent library. Two sets of them.

One set came from the darkness below. They were rushed and running.

The other set came from the aisle behind her. They were calm and walking.

Since she had been letting her fear take over, she chose to first turn toward the danger behind her.

The dark blue shadow cast by a bookcase contained an even darker silhouette approaching her.

The tall, slender man carried a sword in one hand. He spoke without bothering to hide the sharp light in his eyes.

“I believe this is our first time meeting when I wasn’t Schreibened.”

He stopped about four yards in front of her.

When she met his eyes, she realized his gaze carried the red color of killer intent.

She couldn’t move.

He might just cut her down if she moved in the slightest. She simply squeezed the blanket tighter in her hands.

She heard the footsteps from below. Berger was running up the stairs.

Only after hearing those footsteps kicking off the hard stairs did she manage to get her voice out.

“The Kaiser’s pilot?” she asked, looking at the man’s sword.

“Correct. I am ‘Kaiser Schwert’ Alfred Maldrick. I am a descendant of the Maldrick family, one of the four knight families that fought for the Messiah a thousand years ago.”

His words were drowned out by a shout from the darkness below. A shout made with Berger’s familiar voice.

“Hazel, it’s a trap! Those orders were fake!!”

“Now, enough words. Now is the time for strength. You are coming with us whether you want to or not.”

Alfred grabbed her right arm through the blanket and tugged her to her feet.

Her fight and flight instincts warred with each other, causing her to hesitate and freeze up.

That was when Berger burst from the darkness below.

He poured on his full strength from the start.

<Destiny severs connections.>

Hazel saw him draw Gelegenheit at five steps down from the top of the stairs.

The dark blade trying to slice horizontally through the dimly-lit library was 3 yards long. It took a curving path, slicing through the bookcases on its way to Alfred’s hand on her arm.

Gelegenheit could sever the threads of fate. If that black blade swung through them, it wouldn’t harm Alfred’s hand or her arm, but it would rewrite reality to say her arm was not restrained.

She let it happen.

But the man holding her arm did not. He turned his eyes toward Gelegenheit’s blade.

<Not even destiny could stop the powerful current of reality.>

First, she heard something like shattering glass. Then she saw a spray of darkness.

Gelegenheit’s blade had shattered.

“!?”

All Hazel had seen was Gelegenheit’s blade suddenly break as it passed through a nearby bookcase on its way to her and Alfred.

“Aerial Words?” she muttered, confused.

…That makes no sense.

“Aerial Words are more formulaic and always include the High Organ name.”

Alfred answered her with a bark of laughter.

“Ha. Did you forget what city you’re in. Thanks to the Panzerpolis Project, this city contains the world’s most advanced Eingeweide devices. You could call it a city of concept weapons.”

He pulled Hazel away and turned toward Berger.

“I’ll show you something neat. Just for fun.”

Part 6

<The room suddenly grows bright.>

<The bookcases have all been removed.>

The darkness and the bookcases vanished before Hazel’s eyes.

Instead, she saw the overhead lights illuminating a corner of the library sans bookcases.

She was surrounded by a 15 yard tiled space.

“What!?”

Further Aerial Words ignored her voice altogether.

<You are surrounded by Geheimnis Agency soldiers.>

The words came true.

She gasped as the surrounding group in black stared at her.

The gazes of those Neue Kavaliers, both young and old, carried the red Live color of curiosity and expectation.

“The part of the city you destroyed earlier has been repaired with Erklärung. We intentionally avoided using Erklärung during that battle so we could assess your strength.”

Hazel could not bring herself to speak while Alfred blandly explained.

But…

“Go to hell!”

Someone else’s words cut through her tension.

<Destiny severs connections.>

They were Berger’s Aerial Words.

He slammed a Phlogiston Tank into Gelegenheit and swung the black blade.

Alfred frowned and spoke his own Aerial Words in disinterest.

<Destiny cannot even cut the air.>

Gelegenheit’s blade struck the library’s air and shook.

With a loud metallic noise, the blade dug into the air, scattering black sparks.

The black line lost to the Aerial Words and bent, quickly approaching the breaking point.

Berger continued swinging Gelegenheit while slamming three new Phlogiston Tanks into the back.

<Destiny is unbreakable!!>

When his shout reached the air, the bending blade snapped back to normal, grew longer, and sent a stir through the people surrounding them.

Hazel heard Alfred click his tongue as Berger’s black blade swung between her and Alfred.

<Destiny severs connections!>

The next thing she knew, she was free of Alfred.

She spun around on the tile floor and took a single step away from Alfred in the library’s lights.

She raised the Wheel of Destiny card in her right hand.

…This feels like a scene from a school play.

Gelegenheit’s blade swung through again as if to agree with that assessment.

Berger ran up the remaining five steps while adding another Phlogiston Tank.

That meant a total of four Size Cs. The black blade grew to 16 yards.

“Hazel! Get down!”

She obeyed him.

More than crouch, she threw herself to the side.

Her hair didn’t follow quite as fast, so a few strands were cut away by Gelegenheit’s blade as it swung around just above her head.

Alfred leaped over the blade as Berger swung the blade around to Hazel’s right like he was trying to slice through the entire library.

Below the white lights, his black coat danced behind him and the black blade sliced through the ring of people surrounding them.

<Destiny only recognizes the Messiah.>

After a sound of paper being cut, the ring of people vanished.

So did the light.

The bookcases were back in their original well-ordered positions.

Part 7

Hazel raised her head and looked around to find the library had returned to its dark and quiet state. All the gazes gathered on her were gone. The only other people here were Berger in front of her and Alfred behind her.

Then she heard a sound like tearing cloth but repeated over and over. The bookcases had been sliced through and the top halves were sliding down.

With a creaking sound, the split wood and books slid along the cut and spilled to the floor.

With the top halves scattered across the floor, the bookcases were now a lot shorter.

The destruction did not reach the windows beyond the bookcases. The windows still showed the scarlet sky of Germania and the cityscape filled with gaps.

…There’s no one here. Like everything I was just seeing was never really there.

Hazel placed her hands on the floor and spoke, ignoring the blanket slipping from her shoulders.

“The words affect reality…”

“I don’t know what’s real and what’s not,” said Berger, standing next to her.

He pulled all the Phlogiston Tanks from Gelegenheit’s hilt, reached into his pocket for the envelope Hazel had given him, and threw it away.

“Unfortunately, the authorization seal on the orders was fake. A really well made fake.”

“How can that be!?”

“Don’t get upset, Hazel. It’s not your fault. Blame the people who gave you a fake.”

He took a look around the quiet library.

“This city is real pain in the ass. Can you place words on top of words and make it all real?”

He turned toward Alfred who stood a few yards behind Hazel.

“Yes, our words can overwrite reality. The library’s bookcases really have been removed and it really is full of Geheimnis Agency soldiers.”

Hazel realized something from that.

She viewed the silence around her.

“So this silence was created when I came up here?”

“It is a false silence created by my words. I used my earlier Erklärung to pull back the curtain and show you the truth. And his Gelegenheit only managed to cut through that top-level Erklärung.”

Berger smiled bitterly at that.

“So the question is whether I placed my words on top of yours to create a further fiction or if I cut through your words to reveal the truth, huh?” He took a breath. “Either way, we can break through it all.”

Hazel looked up at Berger.

…He said we.

There were only two people in the AIF – no, in the entire Allied forces – with a High Organ device capable of Aerializing words: Hazel and Berger.

The Allies were researching High Organs, but they had only succeeded in creating exact copies. The AIF was working on creating a remote control device based on Hazel’s ability, but they had yet to develop their own High Organ devices.

It was with that in mind that Hazel looked up at Berger and nodded.

He kept his eyes on Alfred and reached his prosthetic left hand toward her.

She reached out her own hand to take that mechanical one.

<But first, Der Held’s voice fills the library.>

<The Hero greets the Messiah.>

Hazel realized a bluish-white line of light had moved in between her and Berger.

…Ether!?

The line expanded vertically to surround her on all four sides. The ether line outlined a special field.

“I recognize this!”

Berger’s left hand was wrist deep in the barrier, so it was promptly severed.

Hazel suddenly found herself floating.

She was falling.

“No!”

She was falling backwards along the library’s floor.

Gravity had been redirected 90 degrees within the field. The spatial positioning in the field had been altered.

She was “falling” toward the window, taking her away from Berger.

She reached out her hand, but it wasn’t enough. She only managed to reach his severed left hand, causing it to tumble in the air.

Her fall continued.

Just before her back hit the field wall behind her, the field shattered.

Gravity immediately returned to normal, nauseating her. Her floating body fell toward the floor now.

But something caught her in midair before she could hit the floor.

…Eh? What was that?

She struggled a bit and righted herself, finding she was on top of some kind of flat surface.

She and the blanket around her were held by an enormous hand. She knew the arm’s name.

“Der Held!?”

Her shouted question was answered by movement. The arm produced a mechanical sound and her viewpoint rose.

The next thing she knew, she was draped over an enormous metal shoulder.

She grabbed at the metal shoulder and stretched out her elbows to prop herself up.

Her pulse raced and she saw the prosthetic arm’s owner was looking to Berger, not her. She recognized the square face she saw in profile.

“Lieutenant Hellard Schweitzer.”

“I am a captain now.”

She answered his brief correction by lowering her head with her eyebrows drooping.

But that was all. She then turned to look at Berger.

He stood about 5 yards away.

He had lost his left hand and he held Gelegenheit in his right hand.

He was looking her way even though it took his eyes off Alfred behind him. He looked expressionless, but there was great strength in his unwavering gaze.

That gaze brought her relief, so she relaxed her shoulders.

Then Schweitzer spoke.

“Berger. I’m sorry, but I will be taking the Messiah with me.” His tone was thoroughly businesslike. “I have one suggestion.”

He fell silent there and Berger did not respond.

Schweitzer took three breaths before continuing.

“Berger, would you consider joining the Geheimnis Agency? This request comes straight from our commander.”

The gasp of protest did not come from Hazel, who struggled wide-eyed on Schweitzer’s shoulder, or from Berger, who simply frowned. It came from Alfred behind Berger.

“What is the meaning of this, Hellard!?”

But Schweitzer ignored it all like he was only conveying a message.

“After all, Berger, you and the Messiah have nowhere left to run.”

He raised his left hand.

The large flesh fist held a broad strap. A large, rectangular brown leather bag dangled from that strap.

“Th-that’s the bag I left in Potsdam!”

“Yes, we had noticed you well before then. We examined the contents and found something very interesting indeed.” He shut his eyes. “A serum meant to fight the German Tons we injected Berger with.”

Part 8

“!”

Hazel swallowed her words and suddenly realized the feeling enveloping her was fear.

Schweitzer’s words continued as if to confirm that for her.

“We will take this with us to the Hamburg Base’s Ton laboratory where the Messiah is headed. My men were listening in on your conversation and they tell me this is the only surviving serum.”

And…

“The Messiah will be injected with the same German Tons in Hamburg. A single serum cannot save you both. …Do you get my meaning, Berger?”

Hazel looked to Berger.

She wanted to say something and her lips started to move.

But she couldn’t do it.

Her lips were trembling. All of her was trembling.

She couldn’t look him in the eye and lowered her gaze, but that brought the bag Schweitzer held into view. The bag she thought she had hidden in that Potsdam locker.

…I can’t believe they stole it.

All of a sudden, all her focus turned toward the Wheel of Destiny card she still held in her hand. Realizing what it meant for her to carry that destiny of ruin, tears filled her eyes.

“I’m…”

Her voice escaped her throat.

Her lips moved to form the words “I’m sorry”.

But someone forestalled her apology.

“Hazel.”

He started by calling her name.

“Can you hear me, Hazel Mirildorf?”

A single tear fell when she raised her head, but she did look at that young man in a black coat.

He looked a bit angry, but he was smiling. The Lives radiating from him were orange. He really was happy.

“Don’t worry, Hazel. I have just one thing to tell you: you don’t need to become a cat.”

She heard the words while viewing his Lives.

She repeated them a few times in her head and realized what they meant, so she responded.

“Okay!”

With that word, her trembling ceased.

Berger nodded and held Gelegenheit in a backhand grip.

<Neue Erde stands next to Der Held.>

<The New World rejects destiny.>

Lowenzahn revealed herself with her words.

“Did you really think I was dumb enough to use this with you around?” Berger asked her.

He put Gelegenheit away in his coat.

And then…

<The library grows bright.>

<The bookcases have all been removed.>

<The library is full of Geheimnis Agency soldiers.>

That became true and some new Aerial Words followed.

<Neue Kaiser holds an audience with the Messiah.>

With a creaking of metal and a blast of wind, the library’s window was smashed in from the outside.

Hazel wiped the tears from her eyes and looked back toward the window past the heads of the surrounding soldiers. She could see a giant white leg through it. It belonged to a Grösse Panzer wearing a Panzer Kleid.

That was Alfred’s Grösse Panzer, Neue Kaiser.

…Is he using his Aerial Words to remote control his Heavy Barrel?

The strongest Buster, Der Held, Neue Erde, and several soldiers were inside the library.

Neue Kaiser was outside the library.

…This could hardly be worse.

But when she looked back, she saw the same orange Lives coming from Berger who had his hand in his pocket. He looked entirely confident.

“So this is reality, huh?” he said, taking a look around. “I see.”

Everyone there wanted to say something to him.

Hazel saw the pressure building as they prepared to speak.

Dark red Lives – a mixture of protest, caution, and confusion – swelled out like a great wave.

Drawn by those growing Lives, Berger pulled his right hand from his pocket and slowly held it overhead.

It held a small device.

The device had a red and a blue button. His thumb was on the red one.

“Then this must be reality too.”

He pressed the button and the library exploded.

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