Arcadia

Prologue & Chapter 1

“Are you sure about this, your majesty?” a man with wavy white hair asked the long-haired blonde man seated on the throne.

“I am. They are all part of the Aphospera galaxy, they are all still somehow related to us.” the other replied.

“But earth is not in the Aphospera galaxy, they are in the Milky way.” the white-haired man said in a matter of fact-tone.

“They were formerly part of the Aphospera until a huge supernova exploded here in our galaxy and they were blown away. We’re simply just taking back what’s ours.” the blonde man shrugged.

“Oh, right. I almost forgot about that.” the white-haired man murmured before furiously shaking his head, “So you’re saying that you’re going to drag earth all the way from the Milky Way back here?!”

“Teleportation exists! Do I look like I control the stars and everything?!” the blonde man replied in frustration.

“I have made my decision and I have decided that we are sheltering our fellow worlds until Arns is defeated. And we’re getting Earth back. No. Matter. What.” the blonde said before slumping back to his throne.

“So you’re going to shelter them for free?” the white-haired man rolled his eyes.

“Of course not.”

“Then what else are you planning?”

“I’m planning on having them trained and become Magias. I mean, I agreed to take them in so that we could get more soldiers to fight the Arns. And I’m convincing the leaders, no matter what.” the blonde.

“Convince, as if they’re not gonna listen to a word you say. They would even gladly lick your feet and all you have to do is say the word.” the white-haired scoffed.

“Fan Eiru, you’re being mean to me again.” the blonde pouted.

“Your majesty Dai Lum, how is that being mean? I am merely stating facts.” Fan Eiru replied and Dai Lum just pouted more before standing up.

“Whatever. Come on, we have worlds to rescue and a planet to get back.” Fan Eiru bowed as Dai Lum walked past him.

“Please lead us, Magia Emperor Dai Lum.”

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“I hate math.” Nadine heard her friend, Tresha, say as she slumped next to the girl.

“Don’t we all do?” Nadine scoffed.

“Hayst, there’s nothing we can do. If we fail that subject, then we fail the whole grade level.” Joshua said as he took a bite on his lunch.

“Which is utter bullshit. I mean, how would the theorems of the circles help us out in our future?” Nadine sneered.

“Calculate the angle of the rope you’re going to use when you finally hang yourself up?” Nadine threw her hands in the air, fork almost hitting her other friend, Kyle.

“Of all the things you can use as an example.” Her cousin rolled his eyes at her.

“But admit it, I did have a point.” Nadine smirked.

“Yes, yes you have a point, now move.” Kyle said as he motioned Nadine off.

The girl moved and made space for the boy to sit down, she played with the egg in her lunch box before looking up in the sky.

“If you’re not gonna eat that, then give it to me.” her cousin spoke and she pushed her lunch at him.

“Hm?” her eyes lit up a bit as she saw a small halo in the sky, now that’s not something you see every day.

“Where are you going?” Joshua asked as Nadine rose from her seat on the long bench.

“Bathroom.”

She made her way to the nearest bathroom and was about to enter a cubicle when someone pushed her aside and occupied the cubicle that she was planning on using.

“What the-” she stopped herself and just shook her head. The rest of the cubicles were occupied, so she just went to the bathroom near the gym.

“Ugh, it’s far as hell for me.” she complained once she finally entered a cubicle. She settled down and did her business.

She was washing her hands when there was suddenly a strong shake, it felt as if something heavy landed on the ground.

A few seconds later, shrieks erupted from outside. Nadine started to panic and ran out of the bathroom.

“What’s happening? Raven?!” she called out her cousin’s name and ran back to where they were having lunch.

She was halfway near where they were sitting when a large sword almost hit her and she fell down. She looked up and saw a big man dressed in heavy silver armor. He plucked his sword off the ground and aimed back at her but she was pulled aside immediately.

The sword hit the ground again and this time, it made a huge c***k on the ground. She finally registered the scene around her. Corpses of her schoolmates are littered everywhere. Fresh blood is oozing out of their sliced-up bodies. There are many more guys like this man, slaughtering the other students.

Raven.

Where’s Raven?

Where’s my cousin?!

“Nadine! This is not the time to space out!” Kyle yelled at her and she immediately snapped out of her trance as Kyle dragged her. She immediately stood up when the big guy started to lower his big sword at her again and the two of them ran away.

They avoided swords and axes and arrows that came their way as much as they could, but Kyle was hit by an arrow on his shoulder and he fell over in pain.

“Kyle!” Nadine called out as she bent over her friend. A chuckle was heard in front of them and Nadine turned to see another big guy with a huge hammer in hand. She took Kyle in her hands and jumped away just before the hammer almost hit them.

Kyle slowly stood and Nadine assisted him before the two started to play a game of dodge with the man with a hammer.

They tried to go behind a statue placed on the court but the big guy just smashed it with his hammer and the two fell over. The hilt of the hammer almost pierced Nadine’s hand and the two were frozen in fear when the hammer was hovered above their heads.

They both closed their eyes shut, knowing full well that no matter what they do, they would be crushed by the hammer.

*Clang*

The crushing pain never came but instead, the sound of heavy metal clashing on another metal resonated in both of their ears. They both opened their eyes and saw a woman (or is that a man?) with pink hair in front, spear in hand.

“It seems that we’re late, no wonder you ambushed us.” pink-haired said, voice soft and masculine. Oh, so he’s a man.

“Men! Rescue those who can still be rescued! Get them to the spaceship immediately!” he loudly commanded and he swung his spear at the big guy with the hammer, effectively slashing his chest and killing him.

He turned to Nadine and Kyle, who were cowering behind him.

“Please don’t cut us?” Nadine said in a trembling voice, trying and failing on pleading the pink-haired man not to kill them.

“If I was here to kill you then I would have cut you up earlier.” the man scoffed at them and he pointed his spear at them and they squealed in surprise.

“Now go away and follow those men, they’ll guide you to the spaceship.” he said and motioned to the men wearing white, carrying different weapons and helping the other students out.

“Spaceship?” Kyle raised his brow at the man and the man rolled his eyes and sighed in annoyance.

“I’ll explain later. Right now, it’s either you go on the spaceship or I’ll seriously skewer you.” he said and threateningly pointed his spear dangerously close to the two and they immediately ran away.

“Wait!” Nadine pulled Kyle to stop the guy from moving any further.

“Where’s Raven? Where’s Tresha and Joshua? Where’s Raven?!” she asked in a panic.

“Raven ran off looking for you. I don’t know where he is. We just ran off in different directions when this one guy with a machete started attacking us.” Kyle tried calming her down. It didn’t work though.

“Machete?! So you’re saying that my cousin is potentially being chased by a big ass guy with a damned machete?!” she shrieked in horror.

“My baby!” Nadine ran off in search of her cousin.

“Nadine! Hey!” Kyle ran after her.

“What the heck are they doing?!” the man with pink hair groaned in frustration as he saw the two teens, who he was pretty sure he had just instructed to go to the spaceship, running around with the girl yelling, “Raven!”

He grunted before slashing two of the enemy and running after the two.

“Raven! Raven, where are you?! Raven!”

“Nadine, he might already be in the spaceship-whatever! Instead of finding him, we might end up dead!”

“Then you go ahead to the spaceship, I’ll continue searching!” she said.

“Fine! I’m leaving!” he said and turned around but heard his friend shriek. He turned to look at Nadine and found her being chased by a guy with an axe.

“Ah! You heartless, unloved by their mother and father, mass murderer, where is my cousin?!” Nadine spat at the guy chasing her.

“Hey! My dad loves me, thank you very much!” the man shot back.

“Must be nice to have a dad. Where’s my cousin?!”

“How am I supposed to know that!”he swung his axe towards her and she barely dodged it.

The pink-haired man suddenly appeared and kicked the guy on the face and sent him flying.

“I told you to go to the spaceship, didn’t I?! Why are you running around like an i***t?!” the pink-haired man yelled at her.

“My cousin’s missing, ok?! I need to find him!” she yelled back.

“You two are the only brats running around the school now, so your cousin is either in the spaceship or dead!” she let out a horrified gasp at this.

“Now it’s either you come with me to the spaceship or you might never see your cousin ever again!” he said and carried the girl like a potato sack. 

“You guys take care of the remaining Arns, board the spaceship right after!” the pink-haired man instructed before running off, Kyle running behind them.

The pink-haired man suddenly carried Kyle and jumped from the rooftop and up the big tree in the field. A rope ladder was lowered and they climbed there, Nadine still being carried like a potato sack.

“This space craft is not the place where you’re going to burn us alive now, no?” Kyle asked as he looked around the spaceship and the pink-haired man glared at him.

“Then pray do tell me why would we go all the way to rescue you if we’re just going to kill you?” he spat back.

“Fair point.”

“Nadine!” they turned to see Raven and Nadine immediately wriggled her way out of the pink-haired man’s hold.

“Raven!” she immediately hugged Raven and the other hugged back. “Are you ok? Are you hurt? Anywhere?” she asked as she cupped his cheeks. Raven shook his head and his cousin sighed in relief.

“Hey, man. Glad you’re safe.” Joshua patted Kyle’s shoulder.

“Yeah, almost got squashed by a hammer though.”

“Please, I almost got sliced open with a sword.”

“Tresha! I’m glad you’re safe.” Nadine turned to hug her friend.

“Yeah. Almost had a heart attack when I couldn’t find my brother, though.” Tresha said as she held her younger brother.

“Hey, Dylan. I’m glad you’re also safe.” Nadine ruffled the hair of Tresha’s younger brother.

“Attention students and teachers.” a voice said from the speakers and they all turned to see the pink-haired man speaking to them.

“I am Asstolfo La Atonia and I would just like to inform you that those people who just wrecked havoc in your school just now are people from Arns. They are a world whose goal is to conquer all the galaxies that they can conquer, and conquering Earth is also their goal. We are merely helping you out because we don’t think that letting Arns rule over Earth and kill all the human population is something that we’re gonna want. That’s why we’re bringing you over to our world, Arcadia. However, this help won’t be coming for free, we need you to train to become Magias and fight Arns along with us Arcadians. It is the only way to drive Arns away and have Earth back for yourselves.” he paused and looked around the sea of students in front of him, some were literally still too young to fight. Most of them were trembling and crying, traumatized to see their schoolmates, classmates and even family members get killed in front of them or missing.

“I know that this is not the right time to force things upon you, but to be able to be accepted in Arcadia as a legal citizen, we need you to think of a whole new name, one that is different from your name on Earth. I don’t know why, but that’s the Magia emperor’s order.I’ll give you a day and a half to think over it. My men will go around and give you a sheet of paper to fill out your names. For now, they will lead you to rooms ,go collect yourselves in there and take a long good rest. That’s all, have a good rest.” he said before he turned around to leave.

“Collect yourselves, he says. Hell as if! Our parents are not even here! My older sister is all the way in a different city and I don’t see her anywhere nor do I even know if she’s alive and breathing or now a skewered or rotting corpse or something.” Nadine complained and Joshua gave her a look.

“Sis, I don’t think that’s a thing that we should be thinking as of now? I think mr. Astolfo is right, maybe we should calm down for a second.” Raven said as his voice trembled a little.

“I agree with Raven, we just witnessed our schoolmates and classmates and teachers get killed. If we add more stress to it, I don’t think that it will give us any good.” Tresha said as they each sat on the beds sprawled out to the room that was given to them.

“That’s easy for you to say, seems hard for you to do it though.” Kyle weakly smiled at her as he saw how bad Tresha’s hands were trembling.

“Right. Now, now Raven. There’s no need to cry, ok? Everything’s going to be fine. Aunt and uncle are probably safe. Hush now, dear.” Nadine turned to her younger cousin as he started to tear up. She gently wiped tears off of his face.

All of a sudden, the room was filled with cries.

“Dylan, don’t cry bro. We’re safe, ok? We’re safe, nothing’s going to hurt us. Calm down now. Please.” Tresha held her younger brother as they both cried, Dylan crying harder than her.

“Kyle, don’t cry. Toughen up, I’m sure that the rest of our families are safe. Sir Astolfo said it himself, right? That Arcadia is going to help us out.” Joshua tried to calm the other guy as Kyle nibbled on his nails. Joshua himself has tears gently pouring down his face.

“But what if they were late as well? What if my younger sister was already killed? What if mom and dad are already dead? What if-”

“Stop with the what ifs!” Nadine yelled as she cut off Kyle’s sentence.

“You always say this to me, so stick this to your damned thick heads. Think positive things only, ok? I’m sure the rest of our families are safe and also aboard a different spaceship than us, so stop with those negative what ifs.” she said, voice strained as her own sobs hindered her from speaking without her voice breaking.

Sobs filled the room, they can’t specifically remember when they decided to turn off the light and lay down in bed, but Nadine found herself staring at her cousin’s sleeping form, watching his chest rise and fall. She gently broke out of the cuddle that Raven insisted on and she went out of the room.

She found herself in what seems to be the lobby, with a vending machine on the side and Astolfo sitting on one of the chairs.

“It’s past midnight, why are you still awake?” the man asked her as she sat down a few seats away from her.

“Can’t sleep, and even if I do, I bet that I’ll just have nightmares.” she said and he sighed.

“Do you want anything to drink?” he asked her and she hesitated for a moment before nodding.

“Cold chocolate’s cool for you?” he asked and she nodded with a smile, he immediately slipped a coin into the vending machine and purchased the drink, “We call it iced chocolate.” she chuckled.

“There’s no ice in here, so cold chocolate it is.” he said and handed it to her.

“Thank you, sir. My sister used to love this drink.” she smiled as she popped it open and took a sip, and boy was it delicious.

“Used to? Is she dead now?” Astolfo boldly asked and Nadine shook her head.

“Before the Arns-whatever, she was still alive. After the Arns I’m not so sure. But she just changed preference, that’s all.” she said and looked at the potted flower that she had never seen before.

“Well, there were many Arcadian troops that were sent all around Earth, so maybe you should not stress over it.” Astolfo shrugged.

“I’m trying not to. But I just really can’t help but worry about my mom, my sister, my aunt and uncle.” she took a big sip and Astolfo raised a brow at her.

“And your dad?”

“Oh, right. Yeah, I’m also worried about my dad, of course.” she looked away.

“You just made a face that seemed like you just remembered about your dad.” he told her.

“Yeah, I think it’s natural? I spent most of my childhood with him missing in every frame. I only see him once a month, sometimes once every two months after his fall out with mom. I’m still genuinely worried about him, he cares for me and my sister and I know that he loves us very much. I just forgot to mention him, that’s all.” she reasoned.

“Sounds like you have extreme daddy issues to me though.” Astolfo looked away when the girl turned to look at him.

“Yeah, I think I do.” silence reigned over them after that for a few minutes. Awkward, uncomfortable silence, that is.

“Have you thought of a new name yet?” Astolfo asked, as he attempted to break the awkward silence.

“Not yet. I’m bad at naming, trust me.” she gave out a weak chuckle.

“In that case, how about Aeliana Anadine La Atonia?” he turned to her and Nadine stared at him with confused eyes.

“It’s good. But isn’t Atonia your last name,sir?” she asked him and he nodded.

“Indeed, it is. What I’m trying to say here is, I’d like to adopt you and your cousin. I want the two of you to be my son and my daughter.” he said as he stared at Nadine, dead serious in the eyes.