Chrome Shelled Regios:Volume1 Prologue
Prologue
Everyone held their breath to seal the flood of terror rising in their throats.
“……”
Nina did the same.
Sitting at the back of the bus, she looked out the window, peering past the short, fat businessman sitting before her, his head tucked beneath a pair of trembling arms. On the other side of the dirt-smeared window was a vast wilderness. Cracks crept across the dry earth. Jagged cracks of earth rose to upward from the ground. A tall, dark mountain loomed before Nina.
But everyone on the bus knew it wasn’t a mountain.
“That's……Blitzen,” murmured the man sitting in the middle of the bus. He observed the dark shape through a pair of binoculars. Nina could see big dropls of sweat on his face, his large Adam’s apple bobbing as he gulped nervously.
Nina squinted at the dark shape. It wasn’t a mountain. It was a city. What looked like the mountain peak was in fact the peak of a tower. On top of that tower was a tattered flag, fluttering in the wind. Nina couldn’t make out the crest on the flag that carried the city's name. She couldn’t confirm that the city’s name was indeed what the man had uttered.
A strong gust of wind blew against the the bus, rocking it.
“Hey!”
Startled and surprised, the passengers bent in their seats and held their heads down. They curled up, instinctively trying to hide. Instead of covering her head like everyone else, Nina held her breath and continued to stare at the city, trying to see any kind of reaction from it.
The city was already dead.
The bus squatted on its legs, immobile.
The buildings in the city were also dead. Terrible wounds were carved into most of the buildings near the edge of the city. Nina could see that a part of the city’s edge had been gouged away, creating a mountain of debris. Columns of smoke rose everywhere. The attack on the city must have happened recently.
It would be impossible to find any survivors just by looking at it from the bus. Nor could Nina get to the city to see if anyone was still alive. The bus was weak and insignificant outside the city. Nina understood that there probably weren't any survivors; humans couldn’t breathe without the air shield around the city, and this city had lost its shield.
Next to her, Harley said in an anxious voice, “Nina…”
“Don’t worry. We haven’t been discovered.”
Nina realized her voice was trembling. She felt compelled to lick her lips, but she repressed that desire and gazed resolutely at the attackers hovering in the sky above the city. Even though her mouth was dry, cold sweat broke out on her skin.
“This is the world we live in, Harley,” she said to her childhood friend, but she did not get a response from him.
The effortless movements of the cruel attackers above the city made them look regal. The attackers...they were called Kings of Nature — filth monsters. They flew lower, flying slowly between buildings.
“Now!” someone roared shrilly.
The driver started the engine. The legs of the bus rose, raising the body upward.
Nina’s line of sight rose with it. The bus moved forward in a skipping motion. It was better to leave this place. The bus continued to run. Nina looked back at the shrinking city.
After they had put some distance between the bus and the city, Harley sighed. “It’s safe now.”
As the tension in the bus eased, Nina clenched her fists tightly and said “…We’re so weak.”
The sound of huge feet trampling the ground at the edge of the city rang in the peoples’ ears. The footsteps of the city drowned out all other sounds — even the furious roar of the wind.
“Are you still not giving up?”
It came from a voice loud enough to be heard over this din.
A girl spoke to a boy at the roaming-bus station in the city. Strong winds shook her golden hair. Her clear blue pupils rested directly on the boy. Her face, appearing younger than her real age, was full of disapproval and unease. She gazed at the boy standing at the bus stop.
Looking troubled, the boy kept glancing back and forth between the girl and the bus waiting to depart. A chain held up the long multi-legs of the bus that were folded and bent. The body of the bus swayed along with the movement of the city, bumping against a cushion pad. Since it was dangerous when the city moved, the driver and all the passengers were staying in the small waiting area. This kind of bus was built to withstand up and down shaking, but it couldn’t stop from swaying sideways.
“Layfon!”
The only passenger not yet in the waiting area – Layfon, looked away from the bus. He had tea colored hair and blue eyes. His face showed an expression that came from the loss of adolescence. This look was now coupled with a powerless smile.
“Even so, I can’t stay here anymore, Leerin.”
Layfon didn’t raise his voice, so Leerin stepped closer. Even with her expressive eyes right in front of him, Layfon didn't feel attracted to his childhood friend.
“But! You didn’t have to pick a school so far away!”
“Even here……” Again, the sound of the city’s movement drowned him out. A strong gust of wind blew past them. Layfon reached out and placed a hand on Leerin's shoulder to steady her.
“That can’t be helped. The only place that I obtained a scholarship for is Zuellni. The money at the orphanage can’t be spent on me, right?”
“You must have forced yourself to choose such a distant place. There are closer places you could have gone to. If you take the exam for scholarship next year, you can find a better school that is also closer, right? Then you can stay here with me...”
It didn't matter what words came next; nothing could change Layfon’s mind. To emphasize that point, he shook his head slowly.
“I can’t give up on leaving.”
Leerin held her breath. He couldn’t bear looking at the hurt in her clear eyes, so he moved his gaze to his hand on her shoulder. His hand was like that of an old man’s: hard and rough.
“I’ve made my decision and I won’t change my mind. Nobody wanted it to be like this, not even me. But Her Majesty wants me to experience the outside world. Besides, she doesn’t wish for my presence here.”
“I wish for it!”
This time, Leerin's powerful and persuasive words caused Layfon to hold his breath.
“The light is my wish. Is that not enough?”
To Layfon, Leerin's crying gaze and words were too cunning. He tried to find some words to pass this over, but couldn’t find any. He felt pain, pressuring him to convey his feelings.
Layfon’s lips trembled, as did Leerin’s.
They were each trying to find the right words to say.
In the end, they realized that the right words to pay lip service didn’t exist. No matter who wanted Layfon to stay, nothing could change the reality of his leaving. Layfon himself didn’t intend to stay, so no one could change the outcome. And it was impossible not to hurt Leerin by making her agree with him.
A shrill whistle sounded behind him.
As if to tear them apart, the simple sound of the whistle squeezed between the sound of the city’s footsteps and that of the furious howl of the wind, echoing in the bus station. It was a warning that the bus was about to depart. The driver, having blown on the whistle, entered the bus. He started the engine. A vibration different from the city’s radiated out in the vicinity of the battered body of the bus. The passengers in the waiting area took their luggage and headed for the vehicle.
Layfon’s lips stopped trembling. He took away his hand from Leerin to take up the luggage beside his feet. That was all he had with him now. His other belongings would be given to the kids at the orphanage or tossed away.
“I’ve to go,” he said to the red-eyed Leerin. As if feeling this was a truth she couldn’t change, Leerin’s trembling also stopped.
She gazed at him with reddened eyes.
“Since the decision’s been made, I want to start anew. I can’t return to the orphanage or to Her Majesty's side. That is the consequence of my action. I’ll make up for it no matter how much I have to pay. But nobody wants that; they just want me to disappear. Even so, things can’t be resolved with me going away……”
He couldn’t continue his words. He didn’t want to just say some nonsense. Yet, even if he were to tell the truth it’d only sound like an excuse. He hated himself for acting like that.
“Even I haven’t really made my resolution.”
He added weakly, “Though I really want to start over in many areas……”
“Enough!” Leerin cut him off coldly. Layfon held his luggage tightly, not daring to look at her.
The driver blew his whistle again. The time for departure was close.
“I’m going now.”
Dejected, he turned his back to Leerin.
“Wait!”
The small voice stopped him.
What happened next was one single, brief moment.
Leerin grabbed hold of Layfon’s shoulder and forced him to turn around. Her face was so very close to his.
It was only a moment as they overlapped.
The rough but soft pressure dominated Layfon. In that swift moment while he was numb and spaced out, Leerin jumped away. Her smile was stiff but that meaningful expression of having played a prank was familiar to him.
“You have to send letters though. I don’t think everyone wants you gone,” she said, and ran away. Looking at her figure flying past in a flurry of skirts, Layfon realized why he felt so strange.
(Ah, I see…… because she’s wearing a skirt……)
The lively Leerin didn’t like to wear skirts, but she wore one today. And there was also the sweet and soft feeling of that swift moment left on his lips. As if to feel the warmth left on them, he touched his lips with his finger.
(So naïve)
While mocking himself, he quickly moved to the bus.
I’ll write when I get there.
Yes. He had decided.
The bus started. Wishing to take one last look at the scene, Layfon sat in the last row, gazing at the city he had always lived in until now.
Regios could be seen in every corner of the world. The existence of these cities was as natural as breathing air. Numerous buildings were built on the tabletop-like surface, spreading out and lowering in height from the tallest structure in the center. Located beneath the table were legs — huge metallic legs that lined up close beneath. Walking with precision, those legs moved together as if to take the city far away from the bus.
Layfon gazed at the tallest, tower-like building at the center of the city.
The huge flag at the peak of that building bore the pressure of the wind. On the field was a dragon with the body of a lion that seemed to be breaking a sword with its teeth, but the sword was unyielding. The flag with that crest weaved into it danced a wild dance in the wind.
Layfon stared at that huge flag, wondering what the first line of his letter to Leerin would be about.
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