Altair Guardians: Prologue - Fantastical Light Altair

 

“I wish for you to fight,” said the light calling itself Luria. It spoke with a girl’s voice, probably around the same age as the two girls to which it spoke. Rena held Karin’s trembling body tight.

“Velka will pursue you wherever you go,” continued Luria.

Rena and Karin were surrounded by a warm light that danced as if to encourage them. This was the exact opposite of the hellish scene they had witnessed a few minutes earlier. Luria had rescued Rena and Karin, sisters one year apart, from their pursuers and protected them behind (what seemed to Rena to be) a magical barrier.

However, the previous scene was burned into their minds and refused to go away.

Girls being raped, men vanishing without a trace, the city destroyed, roadside trees toppled.

It was hard to believe all that was the work of Velka, a girl dressed in black, and the evil men who obeyed her. Something they had always assumed only existed in stories had actually happened before their eyes. It had been a confrontation between light and darkness – a clash between good and evil.

“You have a key within you,” said Luria. “A key?” replied Rena. Karin only trembled. Without Karin here, Rena knew she would have panicked too. She suppressed the memories welling up within her mind and pulled Karin close to keep a grip on herself. Her mind was trying to grasp what Luria was saying while also thinking about something else. That something else was mostly Karin. She had to stay calm here. One wrong step would mean losing Karin. If she lost her only family, she would never be able to bear living in that house alone. Karin was trembling, but her eyes were directed at Rena and the light. Karin was highly sensitive, honest, pure, and timid, but Rena sensed that Karin’s heart may have been even stronger than her own.

“The key is power. And life. The life of this planet you call earth. The Hypnos are after that. If it is taken, the earth will die a slow death.”

“But why is it inside us?” asked Rena.

“Because you have strong enough wills to carry the burden of the key,” replied Luria. “You also have more energy than we do.”

“Noooo! D-don’t look! Eeeek, I’m cumming, I’m cummiiiiing!!” “No! Please, don’t! G-gwaaahh!!” “Help me, someone help me!!”

Rena covered her ear with her right hand when the screams began to sound inside her head.

She was imagining them. The screams she had heard earlier still rang in her ears. Had any of her friends been caught in that? She tried to remember, but her memory of that broken city was too vague to make out any of the faces. Still, she felt somehow confident that no one they knew had been among the girls being raped.

What if Karin had been caught in that? The thought sent a chill down Rena’s spine. The word “tragedy” did not cover it. This kind of barbarism was simply unforgivable. It was the work of a demon.

“I wish for you to fight,” said Luria again.

Rena felt warmth surrounding her right hand. Karin had grabbed the hand she had covering her ear. Her younger sister had stopped trembling at some point.

“And if we refuse?” asked Rena. She might have considered it if it was just her, but she could not even consider sending Karin to such a dangerous battlefield. Even if it was a fight against evil.

“Then I would have you attempt to avoid capture while I do what I can to protect you two. Until assistance from the Alliance arrives.”

Radiant Knight Luria said she was sending light energy from far away to protect them. Rena was unsure what to do. They had to stop this darkness. If they ran away and those people pursued them, the harm would only spread. They had to stop this here. In fact, if Rena had the power to do it, she wanted to do so.

“I’ll do it,” said not Rena, but Karin. Rena started to say something to stop her, but she realized there was nothing she could say to do that.

A red and a blue light appeared in front of them. Those glowing orbs were brighter than the rest of the light floating within the magical barrier.

“This power is known as Altair. It is named after the ancient goddess who developed a means of extracting the energy within people’s hearts. If you accept this, you will be able to wear a raiment of light. Then you will be able to draw on your own energy and use power just like ours. Then you can fight back against Velka.”

They both reached out toward the light. Rena’s was red and Karin’s blue. The light enveloped them.