12th October, 1137

  Silvia

  She stood by the platform where Forget-me-not was supposed to arrive an hour ago. The wind brushed her silver hair as she positioned her soft beret hat on her head. Silvia yawned, she had just pulled an all-nighter, analyzing the experiment’s data with her lab partner- Ferr.

  Noon’s sunlight shone through the glass ceiling of Rinstadt’s main train station. The runes shine so dimly, almost flickering in a manner of dying candlelight that she once lit in her old home’s attic, looking at rocks and twigs she found in the Remnant tide. But the days like those were gone. Around her, people went about their day, going from train to boat and the other way around. She felt out of place, not rushing to her lectures or rushing to the convenience store to catch the morning discount, she just stood in the busiest area of the city, idle, unmoved, as if she were a cat on a nice Saturday. The howling wind of trains passing and stopping brushed Silvia’s gray hair as she held her soft hat. Right as the trains stopped, the three-note melody Silvia was so familiar with rang in the announcement.

  “Attention, the train from Grand Dome to Havel on platform five is delayed due to an unforeseen accident…” the voice channeled through the runes, shining one after the other above her head.

  …I could’ve slept in if not for the WE delaying…

  Silvia thought about her experiment again. All those jars and flasks- filled with extracted blood and concentrated solutions from all kinds of abnormalities and arcane items. The data she was collecting for her thesis, that beacon Ferr had made to record data of the Realm, was now lost in it. Waiting for Forget-me-not to find it. The anchor was Ferr’s best work, one that was proven multiple times to be functional at recording the scents of arcane items, abnormalities, and register the waves of casting Realm-art. If only someone could go into the Realm and fish it out… No attempts at entering the Realm of Gaps have been successful; therefore, what makes Forget-me-not so confident that he could do it?

  She wished her topic were easier, but many of her previous theses were rejected by the committee, and only this one had a better chance.

  Her eyes wandered aimlessly into the city far away. A city built around the river Rine, old classy houses and manors mixed with bold square buildings, metal bridges connecting the two sides- a web. A spider web in which everyone was the spider and the prey. Consumed, eaten, and struggled in the web. The river sent sails and boats away as more boats and trains came to the city. Silvia liked Rinstadt, but she longed for life in that small town. This city was too big for her, yet too small at the same time.

  She was lost in her mind again. Reminiscing about the old home in the town, she had already forgotten the name. Closing her eyes, drawing a breath, a surge of wind, and a wailing halt of the train broke in. Silvia opened her eyes. All of a sudden, the train station was empty, all the crowds were gone, and all the noise faded. A twilight in the countryside, but not even a city was singing. Silvia’s heart accelerated, like a solution stirred by a mixer. She had not encountered such things before, not this sudden, not this unprepared, heck, Silvia didn’t even know what had happened. Silvia didn’t have a Realm-art, nor did she carry any arcane items. If Ferr were here, then perhaps things weren’t so back, but she was all alone, only accompanied by silence.

  “Three rules of abnormal encounter…” she whispered. Stepping back from the platform.

  “Stay calm,” Silvia said to herself while she ran down the stairs, “observe.”

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  How? How do I stay calm when I’m facing the unknown? Observe? What do I observe?

  “If said encounter is related to Existences, ignore the second rule; if not, wait for help,” she cried, standing by the end of the shaft. The runes shone silently, and the posters and advertisements stood there soundlessly. All colorful pictures seemed to be dull and plain. Colors washed away.

  “…What could this be?” Silvia said, panting. Was it the assassins the School of Faust sent again? Didn’t they know I didn’t have the thing they were looking for?

  As Silvia leaned onto the red brick wall, the cold sensation pierced through her thin clothes, and she heard footsteps. She peeked behind it. In the empty tunnel leading to the exit was a man in yellow. His clothes were torn and uncared for, the type of clothes a haggard homeless person would wear. Yet he walked with confidence in his steps, fingers snapping a rhythm as he hummed a strange melody. She stepped backward, hoping that the man in yellow didn’t notice her, toes first, then heel, quiet and gentle, as if it were the nights she woke up and went to the kitchen for a snack while not making a noise.

  Then a sound, a pen piercing through a paper. The smell of soot and smoke quickly surrounded her as Silvia heard a chaotic footstep, the steps similar of an inexperienced dancer. She stared at the red brick wall before her, wondering where she could go, back on the platform. Then go over the railroad to the other side of the station? But the two exits were connected. What if they arrived there first? As the lucid sunlight shone through the staircase, painting the dull colors slightly lighter, Silvia heard sounds of clashing, heat, and strange sensations that she only felt when Ferr was casting his Realm-art. A battle between two casters, no place for an untrained, non-caster like her. Silvia could afford a Realm-art implant; she could own the strange and bizarre power of it and make her life easier, but she avoided any implant, only resorting to arcane items when needed. She drew a deep breath, feeling her heartbeat. As she counted down from five, the clashing still persisted. This time, Silvia heard it clearly. The sound of a fist contacting flesh, groaning. She tried to ignore them as she strode back to the platform. Silvia comforted herself, trying to find pieces of evidence that the casters wouldn’t come to her as she ran up the stairs.

  The bright sun made her squint her eyes. Having run back to the platform, she looked around. Still empty. Silvia scratched her right arm- a habit of hers when she was nervous, glancing at the yellow and black stripe before her. Beyond it was the railroad, a few flowers, and grass blooming here and there.

  Silvia swallowed. She concentrated on the sounds in the background, eavesdropping on the battle she didn’t even see. The sound was faint, faded, and filtered, but they stayed where they were before. It felt like her heart’s strings were loosened. She leaped down the platform, running on the track as she reached the other side. Silvia pulled herself up, feeling the fear in her as she panted.

  The other side of the platform was similarly empty, after confirming that nobody was there, she walked down the stairs. Her footsteps, despite how light she walked, felt loud and echoed in her head. The red brick walls bled their colors in her eyes, the handrail reducing her temperature. It felt cold, a chill slithered around Silvia as she walked. The smell of ammonia whispered from the stained corner of the tunnel, the exit was near, only a few meters away–but the splashed blood gave its final verdict. The man in yellow appeared out of nowhere, his shoulder stained by blood, his face pale, unnaturally pale. The yellow coat burst crimson as a blue figure thrust with a faintly glowing spear.

  “What are you!? Answer me, you calcite-faced moron!” the man in blue yelled, pushing the creation of Realm-art deeper. His eyebrows furrowed, his eyes filled with anger. Anger that Silvia had only seen in paintings depicting tyrants. Yet there was something more to the man in blue, something Silvia had seen in her mirror reflections- confusion. The man in yellow smiled, glaring at Silvia as he snapped his fingers.

  “You are getting close,” the man said as Silvia felt a current of heat and wind lashing onto her. She felt a warmth in her eyes as a drop of tears rolled down her face. The words of the man made her feel like she wanted to hide, hide from the eyes that she couldn’t even point out where they came from. Where did he know those things? The air vibrated while the man in blue stood before her. Stay calm, observe, wait for help, stay calm, observe, wait for help…

  Silvia collapsed; the last thing she saw was the shine of a yellow sigil and the fading figure of the man in yellow.