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Look, if you had one shot or one opportunity
To seize everything you ever wanted in one moment
Would you capture it or just let it slip?

City of Neuropa / Concadia Province / The Sic semper Imperium of Plaugetopia / June 5th, 2016

Another day.

Em tries to put a spring in his step, some kind of extra energy into him, but it didn’t work, despite it being his birthday recently. He was now 19. Bundled against the morning chill, he makes his way to his work, somewhat dreading what awaits him, as he descends a flight of stairs.

Suddenly, he felt a shove at his back, sending him tumbling down the stairs, bouncing off the railing on his way and coming to a stop on the landing. Em felt an aching pain and slowly tried to stand up, noticing in shame the stares of passerby. He then felt two hands roughly hauling him to his feet, and found himself looking right at someone else’s maskless face.

The person, who was proceeding to pat off the dust that had gathered on Em’s coat, had kind brown eyes, and short dark brown hair that seemed to almost flow like a river.

“There you go,” they said, grinning like an idiot. “Now, I’ve got to run. See you!” And they took off in a dash down the alley, closely pursued by two Imperial Police officers, wielding stun batons.

Em stood there stunned for a moment, processing. Something was urging him to follow them, an instinct that came from the gut. Some may call it Destiny…

“HEY! WAIT!” He seemed to shout not of his own volition, just as he began to run without really knowing why. He followed the Police down the street, through a dense crowd of fellow masked citizens, and into an alley, where he saw the two law enforcement stopped, casting their gazes about. It was clear that the officers had lost them.

A slight movement of a window caught Em’s attention and turned it upward. Something or someone had moved away from the second floor window of the nearest apartment block. A simple fire escape connected the window to the ground. The mystery man must have somehow gotten up before the police had rounded the corner, Em thought. He started for the staircase, hoping to reach who he now deemed his “target” in a sense, but before he could do that, he heard the clipped, modulated voice of one of the Imperial Police.

“Halt, Citizen.”

Em stopped, and before his mind could even entertain the notion of resistance, he had turned around to face the officer. The man (or woman, it is hard to tell) stood as though they were staring at him for several moments. A foreigner would be unnerved by this display, but he knew that they were likely scanning him and running his biometrics through criminal databases, in case he too was a dastardly trickster like the mystery man. After those moments elapsed, the officer ever so slightly cocked their head to the side, as if to mimic some semblance of a nod.
”Identity confirmed. Move along, citizen.”
And as they walked away, Em surreptitiously moved up the stairs, and into the window.

As he entered the second-floor apartment, a shape froze on the opposite side of the room, clearly about to leave through the window. Em saw two hands raised as they turned around.

“Alright, alright you got m… oh, it’s you.”

Em cast his mask aside, feeling fresh air on his skin for the first time in… well, a long time.
“I’m Em… Em Hitozuki. Who are you?”

The mystery man seemed almost disappointed in what they seemed to consider a lame question.
“Name’s Nolano Johanssen. I guess you could call me a drifter.”
“Does drifting involve running from the law a lot?”
Nolano laughed at that, a surprisingly musical sound.

“Well, yeah… it seems that they don’t take too kindly to anti-government graffiti.”

Sensing Em’s confusion, they decided to drop it.
“Uh, anyway… don’t you have a job to go to? Police to report to? I don’t mind, really. I need an excuse to get out of this country anyhow.”

Em suddenly lurched forward, staring intently.
“Take me with you, please.”

Taken aback, Nolano says, “Uh… sure? Why don’t you get packed and meet me at the northern city limits tomorrow?”

“It’s a deal!”

They shake hands and grin at each other, and there seems to be a warm glow in the room, as though the world is smiling at this development…

One Day Later

Em had left most of his possessions behind. He didn’t need them, and wherever he was planning to go, they likely wouldn’t work. He simply had a good-sized backpack, packed with clothes, some food (mostly bread), books, and a handheld cloud-journal, a device that would take any text entered and keep it in a server for future reference via an internet transmission. As he approached one of the many exits to the city of Neuropa, he saw Nolano.

Nolano was the exact opposite of Em when it came to packing. While Em had sparse belongings, Nolano had a ridiculously large pack that seemed to strain at its seams as though even this huge pack was struggling with the sheer mass of their belongings. Most peculiar of all, Nolano seemed not to struggle at all with what should be a massive weight.

“Right then! Shall we go?” Nolano said cheerfully.

And so they did, past the gates, out of the city, and into the world. As they left, Em cast off his mask, breathing in outside air for one of the first times, and left it behind.

City of Wassertor / Tyrolen Province / The Grozzer Theokratiske Reik of Krovx Belgium / July 25th, 2016

They had trekked out from Plaugetopia, and after a few weeks, exited the country through the northeastern border. From there, they moved through the Holy Area, living off the land, and eventually, they made it to the Reik.

They were overlooking Brueskals, center of the empire, from some cliffs when Em said, “I was taught about the Reik… but I never imagined it would be like this.”
Nolano had chuckled, lit only by the distant glow of the massive city. “Yep, it’s amazing, all right. Certainly no city like it.”

And then, from Brueskals to where they were now, they prepared for the journey of a lifetime.

The two rented out a small flat on the northern end of the city, with only a few pieces of furniture and adornment. Then, they went out, buying provisions and supplies for the trek.

“Right then, let’s go over the plan one last time,” Nolano said, a day before they were set to leave.
They pointed to a map, showcasing the Reik and the bordering Northern Continent.

“We’ll leave from here early tomorrow. From there… we’ll move up the continent, to the northernmost end,” this was punctuated by a jab at that part of the map, “and set up a camp there. We’ll stay there for a while, and then maybe we’ll head back down east.” They had chosen this part of the map so they could be as uninterrupted as possible, as there were no records of civilization there, isolated or otherwise. And with that, they rested up for the big day ahead.

The next day, they set out. Hitching a ride on a ferry crossing to the Reik-controlled Exclusion Zone on the North Continent, they set out from there.

Through mountains and fields, ravines and tundras, they headed ever north. Through nations, barring themselves to the cold of the night and war, who saw them with suspicious eyes.

Eventually, according to the map, they had made it.

”Uncharted Territory” / The Northern Continent / ??? / September 15th, 2016

After a few more days of trekking, they came to a valley, nestled in the divide between a great plateau and a desert. It was getting colder, but still warm enough to camp outside, so that’s what they did.

As the fire roared to life, Em looked about, taking in the pre-dusk scenery. “This place… it’s beautiful. Uncompromising… but beautiful.”

Nolano, rummaging through their pack, nods in assent. “Oh, yeah. What say we try to climb that plateau tomorrow, see what’s at the top?”

“Sounds good…”

As they sat down, to prepare a bit of food, they didn’t notice the lights glimmering at the top of the rock…

“Ok… let’s get cookin…” Em muttered, placing a frozen pork chop onto a skillet over the fire.

Just as the meat began to sizzle, releasing its juices, 14 simultaneous sounds of metal on wood sounded all around the duo.

“What the-“ Nolano tried to start to his feet, but he found a sword at his throat, keeping him down.

Em had a sword tip to his neck as well, and found him face to face with…

“우리는 불골입니다. 여기서 무슨 일을 하려는 겁니까, 침입자여?”

The voice came from the person pointing a sword at Em, who was a woman. Em was immediately struck by how beautiful she was, before realizing how stupid it was for him to think that now of all times. She had long, reddish-black hair, and dark eyes, like pools of ink, and was clad in the same garb as the other assailants, that being a loose robe covering what seemed to be a wooden armor piece. Her expression was belligerent, but it clearly did not suit her.

But through those thoughts, Em realized something else, a fact that shocked him deeply:
He could understand what she was saying.

“I-i’m sorry - ma’am - but I don’t understand what you’re saying…” Nolano was saying, trying to reach a parlay, when Em opened his own mouth:
“나는 Em이고 이 사람은 나의 동반자 Nolano입니다. 무례하거나 침해하지 않는다는 뜻입니다.”

The assailants - or Bulgol, as the woman had called them, almost reeled in shock. It was clear that this language was exclusively spoken by this people.
It was then that they began to utter, almost as a invocation:
“선지자의 피…”

An excerpt from Em Hitozuki’s Digital Journal (Archived)

When I came out here, this is the last thing I expected… an entire Civilization here, on the North Continent, completely undiscovered! There must be close to a hundred thousand here… True, they’re nowhere near Plaugetopia’s level of advancement, but it’s impressive how far they’ve come. They’ve developed parallel inventions to our own, like electricity, in an existence almost devoid of war! Truly fascinating…

//CONTACT TRACE 125.909211 start//

//Hmm? What is it?//

//Intercepted package, text-type. Interesting details.//

//Do go on.//

//Close to 100,000 people, living in peace. Lightly armed from what I can gather. Prime.//

//Ohhh… excellent… Let us prepare, we have a bounty before us…//

//TRACE END 332.20102 STOP STOP STOP//

City of Allul'a / - Province / The Slaying Queens of Plaguetopia[/quote]