chapter 11

“Look at the Star Pillars.” Said a hooded figure as he peeped through the telescope in the observatory near the shores of Dutch Korji. “The hooded figure saw the moon slowly approaching the cosmic line. He saw the luminous string of light that connected the balls of light together. Through the large telescope he could vaguely see a different colour for every Pillar he could see. ]

[Synthetic plot]

        “Have the Serviteurs announced it to the colonies?” He asked his companion beside him. His companion nodded. “Yes, the Serviteur Noirs will flock to the lands very soon.” He answered. “Good.” The man in the telescope answered. 

        Meanwhile in a quiet dark room, a lady sat alone with no candle to light up. The lady had her eyes closed as her cloak and staff were placed beside her. She sat quietly without saying a word, so quiet she could not even hear herself breathe. After a few seconds later she took a short breath and then suddenly as she opened her eyes, 

        Everything was pitch black, all except for her.

        She stood quietly in a world where she was alone, she slowly walked over to hear waves of water flowing everywhere as she stopped in front of a large, pool-like place engulfed in pitch black. She hopped and let the water submerge her until she found herself on the other side of the pool. As she found herself on the surface she walked over to see nothing, except from above. She looked up to see all eight star pillars and found herself in the middle of all of it. 

         Each star pillar emitted its own colour as a golden glowing ray of light called the cosmic string connected every single one of them so that it engulfed the entire continent. She then blinked her eyes to see the moon inside her world, slowly aligning herself to the first pillar, the one in front of her, then as the moon finally aligned itself to that star pillar she then heard a large chime of a bell, like that of a large clock tower, ringing like it’s midnight. 

        She then started to hear screaming from several voices as the moon and bell started to take form and noise. The lady stood silently as she bowed her head, letting herself hear the all the noises. As the screaming got louder, she clenched her fist and then gripped on to her shirt. She then closed her eyes tightly as she then started to hear a large humming. And then, once again, she opened her eyes to see herself in her room once more, dark and alone.

        Meanwhile, Isuzu continued on with her morning routine, but this time. “Get ready Isuzu.” Shouted Celeste as Isuzu passed through the angel as she ran. She headed towards a large rock as she got ready to pull herself out on the last second. As she felt close enough, she then closed her eyes and then. As Celeste blinked her eyes, she realised Isuzu had suddenly disappeared. She laughed and cheered as meanwhile on the other side, Isuzu managed to take her entire body to her world. She stopped for a bit and got back to running, this time in her world as she jumped off on the pool, letting her be submerged by the waters that surrounded her. She got back to the surface and once again ran outside the garden. 

         She then watched out for any rays of light above her as she ran past the crystalline objects and flowers. As she took a turn, there she saw a ray of light above, but not before seeing crystals with labels on them, she raised her hand and out came with the speed of light crystal shards that penetrated those targets. 

        She jumped up as high as she could and saw herself on the other side of the woodlands. In front of her placed a small table with a wooden, dummy rifle and a bayonet. Meanwhile, hiding from Isuzu was Iowa with a similar dummy rifle and bayonet on her arms. 

         She watched as Isuzu fix the bayonet on her rifle and held it accordingly and ran to her destination. And as she ran, Iowa jumped from the bushes and charged at Isuzu. The girl however managed to parry the captain’s attack and took a defensive stance. Iowa did not waste her time however as she followed several more attacks as thrusted her bayonet over and over again.

        Isuzu barely managed to parry most of them, some even managed to scrape her clothes, but she managed to hold her on anyway. “As long as you don’t fall down.” Iowa said. Isuzu nodded as she panted, waiting for Iowa’s next wave of attacks. Then Iowa thrusted forward, but making a mistake as she used her wrong foot. 

         Isuzu realised this and took the opportunity as she recalled her bayonet and thrusted it at Iowa. The captain leapt back however as she smiled and took out her pocket watch. Without thinking, Isuzu closed her eyes as Iowa pressed the pocket watch. 

        Time suddenly slowed down except for Iowa, but was too late to capture Isuzu. Iowa pressed the crown back and waited for Isuzu. Isuzu hid in her world as she dropped herself from a portal below. She waited for Iowa to look back and when she did, she grabbed Iowa’s heel and pulled her down, making her crash on the floor. Isuzu opened her eyes once more to set her back beside Iowa. 

        “I win!” Isuzu laughed as she ran to her destination, leaving Iowa to see Isuzu run away. Celeste approached Iowa as she stood up and brushed the dirt off her uniform. 

        “There she goes.” Chuckled Celeste as Isuzu ran away from their sight. Isuzu reached the other side of the woodlands in front of the house and fell down the ground to catch her breath. She heard Celeste clapping as she walked over to Isuzu. “Congratulations!” She smiled as Iowa walked to her and lent her up.   

        “Phew!” Isuzu laughed. “Right, now let’s do a run again, see if you could do it a lot quicker this time.” Iowa said. “Sure!” Isuzu smiled, filled with a sense of achievement as she got herself sorted out once more. 

        As Isuzu walked over to the starting point, Celeste and Iowa discussed something privately, “How many days before Sanctum Day?” Iowa asked. “About a week. Celeste answered. “What about Isuzu?” Asked Iowa. “I think Mel is planning on bringing her to the mainland soon.” Celeste said. “What? The mainland? Wouldn’t that be a bad idea?” Iowa asked as she felt shocked by Celeste’s answer. She nodded, “I don’t know what Mel is going to do but, she’ll tell us sooner or later, at least before we leave this place, so use this day to train Isuzu properly, OK?” Celeste told the confused captain. “OK then and what about Sonia?” Iowa asked once more.

        Celeste paused. “Come on, you should at least something.” Iowa reacted as Celeste gave her question some thought. But just before she could answer, a strong gust of wind blew through them. Celeste looked at the direction of the wind a she said, “Go get Isuzu!” “Why?” Asked Iowa. “The wind, it’s angelic, go get her!” Celeste answered as she covered her face with her arm. Iowa nodded and ran to Isuzu as the wind got stronger. Celeste, alone, then took out a piece of paper from her pocket, the one Isuzu received as she unfolded it to see the number XII on it glowing a bright light. She looked up the sky to see, from the distance the nearest star pillar to see it glow brighter than usual. 

         Celeste sighed and folded the letter back and ran to Iowa who was looking for Isuzu. Meanwhile Isuzu walked over to their usual starting position and felt something weird going on as she started to feel whispers in her head, and as the wind got to her too, she took cover on a nearby log and closed her eyes.

        However, the loud whistling of the wind was loud enough to put her away from her focus, but from training she learned how to focus on it above all else. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes and as she opened her eyes,

        Everything was pitch black, all except for her. On the pond, she immediately heard the whispers on her right, the east side, but nothing on the west. She walked east to follow the whispers and grew more curious as it grew louder, but then she started to recall her encounter with the unknown thing. As she felt 

chills crawl down her spine as she thought of that person, she decided to walk back and place herself back into the world, but then, as she closed her eyes and opened them, she was still there, she tried it again, and again, and again, but to no avail. 

        She started to sweat and her heart started to sweat as she could not get herself back up while the whispers got louder. Meanwhile Celeste ran to Isuzu, holding the piece of paper as it glowed brighter and at the same time, the whispers inside Isuzu got louder as well.

         She could hear a voice as the whispers got loud enough, a voice she felt nostalgic, like someone she knew right now. But then, the thought of that person arriving still lingered around her head still. 

         Celeste ran to Iowa as the two of them headed to the starting point and in the logs they found her on the ground with her eyes closed. And inside, Isuzu realised the whispers were calling her name in a voice she thought familiar.

        “Isuzu.”

        “Isuzu.”

        “Isuzu.”

         The whispers told her. Meanwhile outside her world, the storm got more violent a seconds pass by. Iowa shook Isuzu several times, trying to get her out of there but as Celeste looked at the paper she suddenly took Isuzu’s hand and placed it on her. 

          The moment Isuzu heard those words she was suddenly pulled out of her world after a blink. She saw the violent winds crashing though Iowa and Celeste as they waited for her to wake up. “Come on!” Said Iowa as Celeste took the letter and pulled her up. The two ran to the house for shelter and finally, as Iowa closed the door, their ears calmed down as the whirring became background.

          “What happened?” Isuzu asked. “The wind, its angelic, must be because of Sanctum Day.” Celeste answered. “We should ask Mel what she’s planning next.” Iowa stated. “Right, I’ll try to get in contact with her.” Celeste said as she walked upstairs. 

          Iowa then noticed Isuzu who seemed a little off, “Is everything OK?” Iowa asked. Isuzu smiled and nodded. Although the whispers did not stop circling around her head despite it being gone now. 

         Meanwhile in South Britain, Eleya and Mel sat on her office when they felt the wind. “You feel that?” Eleya asked Mel, “Yeah, angelic wind.” She answered. “Wait so that means-…“ Eleya did not bother to finish her sentence as she looked at the window to look for the nearest star pillar. “It’s glowing.” Eleya said in a nervous tone. “They have already announced the day, next Sunday.” Matilda answered. 

       “I’m pulling out the troops in the mainland tonight, and hopefully I could contact Celeste and the others now.” She added.

         “Well, better pull them out now, the Divinity’s going to do something big even you couldn’t think of how big it is.” Eleya warned. “Yeah…” Matilda answered. 

      “Anyway what about the soil in Korji, any luck?” Eleya asked. The general shook her head. “No, the colony is under trade lockdown and their government is being investigated.” She answered. “They must’ve used them all by now…” Eleya assumed.  

         The two then heard a knock on the door. A soldier walked in the room and saluted Matilda and reported. “Ma’am, Captain Campbell and Ms. Celeste has been reported to be stranded on this location.” The soldier walked to the table and gave her the coordinates. The general looked into the report and asked, “How did they send this?” She asked. “Carrier pigeon, ma’am.” The soldier answered. 

       “Right, Eleya I need you to stay here while I pick them up OK?” Matilda asked as she stood up and took her sabre. Eleya nodded and watched as she told the soldier to ready the horses. She looked at Eleya and waved goodbye as she closed the door. Eleya looked at the window and watched the wind.

       Meanwhile in the mainland, inside the lady’s room she heard a knock and then a voice, “My lord, the conversion is complete.” A man said through the door. “How many?” The lady asked. “Two-hundred.” He answered nervously. 

       “Good, we ride at night.” She answered. “Yes, my lord.” He answered as she heard him walk away. The lady looked below her as she recalled the screams she heard a few hours ago. With them in mind she slowly stood up and took her cloak and spear and before she left the room, she asked,

        “Have you heard them?”