Prologue - The Boom
>”𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘚𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘴𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴. 𝘐 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘵, 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘣𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨—” 𝔇𝔯𝔢𝔞𝔪𝔠𝔞𝔱𝔠𝔥𝔢𝔯
(602)
It was a 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 to sleep.
There was a special joy in the slumbers and dreams that one could not resist, yet a peculiar girl was far away from it, the Seer we call her used to be. I did not dare to write for many months, as that may lead to the exposure of my identity, but this story will be largely about *HER*, her encounters both in and outside my home city, and many great things that need much time to explain and extract from her handwritten notes.
I wrote on behalf of many individuals, so there may be a slight inaccuracy.
Every now and then, the Seer recalled the Chaos. It was a steaming hot day, but there was no light, no way out. Nothing. A moment that she lost if not all: Her friend, her way back home, freedom…
“No one could wield 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 with dreams.” She once shook her head to her companion.
“You simply haven’t unleashed them all.” The boy with denim blue hair smirked. They were sitting by the seaside, with the candlelight flicking above a tiny cake.
“Happy birthday.” The boy congratulated her. They sat side by side for a couple hours, until the twilight peeked over the sea line. It was once a soothing memory, but the girl had buried it deep, for it became distant and brutal afterwards.
In a similar cold, starless night, the west wind sighed and the moon spilled its milky shimmer to an engine-whirled, hazy metropolis. Hazed by steam of factories, it was wrapped by a 100 km long, 50 meter tall obsidian-made wall. Its face gleamed an inky glow, radiating a terror of velvety, impenetrable darkness. Flashlights from lawmen stations threw endless rounds of light beams in mid-air, and one of those strands eventually climbed up the giant rampart, where on top of it stood two intruders. One of them is Sun of Southern City, which is a name to remember. You’re probably wondering who she was and why she ended up here, that’d be a long story, one that I would explain from the day of Chaos.
But for now, they had survived.
Wearing a safety belt, both of them were in glider suits and thick masks, with a Reaper in hand. The girl, with one knee kneeling down, observed the neon lights and crowded streets with her silver eyes.
“Still got 14 seconds.” The boy checked his wristwatch, and his voice turned blurry behind the air filters.
The girl said nothing but dropped her mask and revealed an elven face. Her sandy skin looked almost golden under the flying lights, dark rings under her eyes inked her rosy cheeks and her grey eyes glowed like polished iron. There was a breeze, and clouds were scudding across the sky, obscuring from time to time the half-moon. Inhaling, she tasted the sourness and pungent smell of tear gas with the west wind, which reminded her of another ghastly night they endured 3 years ago. Tonight, they had to do it again. But her fear had bloomed to wrath for a long while, and wilted to a solemn calmness.
The boy beside her wiped the sweat off his face.
At last, she asked.
“The Architect and Dreamcatcher shall be ready?”
He tucked a lock of beige hair behind his left ear, compressing the little plug slightly inside.
“Yes, it’s done.”
The girl attached her belt to a thin, hooked wire, and dug it on the cold, hard Obsidian. The boy did the same.
“Check your Reaper.”
He checked.
Long sighs of the wind swifted past them. The girl swiped the fair strands away from her forehead, then pulled up her mask and gazed at the far end of the city.
“Ready?”
“Ready.”
The Soundsleepers jumped off the cliff and opened their gilder, and embraced the dark mists of Southern City.
