City Series:Volume6e Chapter9
Final Chapter: The Promise Turns[edit]
8/23/1944 23:38 – 23:53
This is one answer
It is an important promise that began with some small words
It is a happy story protected by the wind and destiny
And
It is our hidden memories
That we can continue questioning forever
Part 1[edit]
A man sat in a room surrounded by metal walls.
He was a large man in a black combat coat and he sat in the chair next to a small bed. The square face below his short blond hair was silently lowered.
His eyes were on the book sitting open on the ordinary prosthetic right arm held in front of his chest.
He was reading a picture book called the Neue Unreif Germane.
The book had few pages, so he soon finished it, shut it, and reopened the first page.
The only sounds were the flipping of pages and the wind blowing through the small round window next to the bed.
The night sky full of clouds was visible out the window.
The clouds were dark and positioned not far above the window’s position.
Occasionally, a round light would shine on the clouds and sweep along them as if searching for something.
The trembling sound of the blowing wind was interrupted by three solid knocks on the door.
The large man looked back to the narrow metal door.
“Bermark?”
“Indeed, Captain Schweitzer.”
“It’s open.”
“Excuse me,” said a tall, skinny man as he opened the door and entered.
The elderly Sein Frau was built as sharp as a pencil and he looked to the picture book Schweitzer held.
“You have been glued to that thing.”
“Yes. I never imagined she would give me this today.” Schweitzer shut his eyes. “I suppose that was half a day ago now.”
Part 2[edit]
That morning, Schweitzer stood within a golden color below the sunny sky.
He was atop a large hill.
The color gold rippled in the wind across the hill thanks to the wheat nearing harvest time.
A dark forest was visible past the gold and the mountains loomed high past that.
While listening to the blowing wind and a distant waterfall, he turned around to view a dirt road with deep wheel tracks located a few paces behind him.
A green military wagon was stopped about 100 yards down that road and Bermark sat in the driver’s seat. That artificial green stood out like a sore thumb in the natural gold.
Schweitzer sighed when he noted Bermark wasn’t even looking his way from within the green.
He faced forward again.
The wheat swayed before his eyes and someone stood up from the wavy gold.
The young girl with her brown hair worn in a braid was Lowenzahn.
She stood in front of him in a dirt-covered shirt and skirt and with her hands on her hips.
“You look bored. Yet I’m busy as could be tending to the field.”
“I’m not bored. Just…surprised.”
“By what?”
He looked around to the gold, black, and blue colors around them before answering.
“By…”
He shut his eyes, nodded, and faced forward before opening them again.
His eyes were on Lowenzahn, her hands on her hips and her head held high.
He kept his eyes on her and only her.
“By how well you’re doing.”
“It’s been nearly a year now. And Lillie’s letters have taught me so much about the past. …So how is my adoptive dad doing? He sounds really busy from his letters.”
“He has been burning the midnight oil ever since you appointed him commander-in-chief. I have been taking on some of the workload by commanding a unit to assist with the military’s retreat from France.”
“Didn’t a prototype Wort Bombe stop something a lot like the Nibelung in France? I heard it eliminated some anxiety Tons there.”
“Yes, Elrich has confirmed it. He said it turned out well because everyone there wished for happiness.”
“Then next time you see Elrich, tell him we need to build a lot more Wort Bombes and launch them all over the world to clean up the rest of the anxiety Tons still out there.”
“The countries that do not understand will see Germany as a villain. I doubt every country will see this as a happy ending.”
“That doesn’t matter. I’m willing to play the villain if it can eliminate all the anxiety Tons.”
“You really don’t change, do you?” Schweitzer smiled bitterly. “I still can’t believe the Fünf Leithammels chose to send you, our commander, to live in Borderson in order to preserve the Geheimnis Agency’s connection to the Neue Kavaliers.”
“Is that something we can’t afford to lose?”
“Perhaps so. But…how is the village?”
“Like I wrote in my letters, the reconstruction is complete. Heidengeists are surprisingly interesting people. Their unique traits show through in their lifestyle, so…how should I put it? Their quirks really stand out when you live with them.”
Schweitzer looked across the wheat field.
<The wind is blowing.>
A golden wave swept across the hill.
Lowenzahn brushed up her bangs with a dirty hand and viewed the wind.
“Germania is gone, but the country has still evolved using the Erklärungs created by several years of ley line modifications. It’s strange, really. A power meant to bring destruction ultimately protected the country and is now giving it its own unique power.”
Schweitzer said nothing.
And he checked the large military watch on his left wrist. Lowenzahn followed his gaze.
“Sorry. I need to get going.”
“Hey, wait a second.”
She stepped out onto the dirt road.
He followed in confusion to find she had a something sitting on the edge of the road. It was a patchwork bag primarily made of red cloth.
She pulled a picture book from there and held it out to him.
It was titled the Neue Unreif Germane.
He accepted it and she looked up so their gazes met.
“The people of the next village over gave me this the other day. You can have it. It’s pretty interesting, so make sure to read it.”
Then they heard a rumbling engine.
They turned around to see a truck driving up from the bottom of the hill.
It was green.
It drove past them, swaying gently on its way to the village.
Schweitzer noted the license plate.
“That truck is from Cologne. Is the village interacting with humans now?”
“To a limited extent. A lot of people took shelter here during last year’s Battle of Germania.”
“I see.” Schweitzer watched the truck driving away. “Heidengeists and humans interacting. I wonder what the Messiah would have thought if she were still alive.”
“Oh? You think the Messiah is dead?”
“Isn’t she? Even if she returns to the present day, she dies at Hamburg. And Sylphide travels through each new loop. The two of them will always meet the same…”
He trailed off there.
Because he had heard something.
The wind was carrying a series of sounds to him from the Village of Pardons located beyond the forest.
The gentle musical notes were played by an organ.
The music seemed to grow and shrink as it rode the wind.
“The Unreif Germane?”
“Yes. The village’s school has its lessons this time of day. They’ve invited in children from the next village over and from the Cologne region where their schools were lost in the war. The one teacher and one assistant are doing the best they can.”
Lowenzahn turned toward Schweitzer and gave him a teasing grin.
“What’s that look for? I can play this song too. I’ve been practicing so I can help out.”
A singing voice reached them as if continuing on from Lowenzahn’s statement.
The female voice began with a flowing “la”.
Schweitzer raised his head when he heard the voice.
“That’s Eryngium.”
“Yes, she’s the assistant.”
The song was carried by the organ music sweeping across the hill.
In the deep darkness of the Black Forest
Born from the abyss
The wheel emerges
- It whips up the wind and speaks with the dragon
- It reads the wind and sings
- It carries power in its hand and hesitates
The one-armed man guides the Messiah
The moonlit pair returns to the earth
The dragons gather and dance tonight
Every last thing looks to the beginning
The wind blows, the night blows, the dragon awakes, the people move, the dragon roars
- The wind arrives from the north / A path arrives from the north
- The knight descends as a knight / The dragon soars high as a dragon
- All is a path to the north star / All is a story of surmounting the wall
Follow the path to a familiar you / To confirm who you are
Make sure your hand and voice reach them / Stretch your hand out to the moon
The gatherers begin their party / A wall separates the pair
- As they follow the same path with the same song
The party begins and the village dances / The dragon roars and the knights gather
The Messiah remains uncrowned / She leaves her words and her power with him
Thus she is alone / She dreams in this land
Do not fear your own pain / If you wish for the power to fight
- All is found beyond the screaming pain
Do not fear your own trembling / If you wish for the power to protect
- All is found beyond the embracing sorrow
Do not fear your own weariness / If you wish for the power to advance
- All is found beyond an unending new beginning
The wind is with you, he is with you / Seek out your own words
- All hesitation exists to tear through that wall
Schweitzer lowered his head after listening to the song.
He tried to say something.
“…”
But no words came.
Lowenzahn smiled at that, but silently nodded for him to leave.
He turned away from her and began walking.
As he went, he raised his prosthetic arm’s forearm to say goodbye.
That prosthetic arm was only designed to mimic ordinary human actions. But he did clench his fist.
He heard Eryngium singing through the song again as he left.
He heard the children’s voices and a new voice join in this time, but he did not turn around.
Part 3[edit]
The song still rang in Schweitzer’s ears.
In the cramped ship’s cabin, he looked to Bermark and shut the picture book.
“It’s strange. I feel like the songs in this book used to be different. It’s like they changed at some point. Don’t you think so?”
“You must be imagining things. You tend to overlook a lot of details,” replied Bermark, his expression blank.
Schweitzer frowned and started to say something, but a loud noise ran through the entire space around them then: an alarm.
“An enemy?”
“Yes, that is what I came to tell you.”
“Then be quicker about it.”
Schweitzer clicked his tongue and stood up. He set the picture book down on the bed and grabbed a staff.
He turned off the lights, opened the door, and stepped out.
He passed by a lot of soldiers while choosing to climb the stairs to the roof.
“Captain, that is not the way to the bridge.”
“I know. I’m going to the roof. No Neue Kavalier goes to the bridge to protect people.”
He placed his feet on the steps and climbed. And…
“Which country is this? Nowadays, it could be France, America, or England.”
“The navigator says this one is unidentified. It appears to be moonlight resistant because it is moving rapidly above the clouds.”
Schweitzer came to a stop, his eyes on the thick metal door to the roof directly in front of him.
“That might be Sylphide.”
“Let’s not be ridiculous.”
“It is possible. Because the Messiah intended to set everything free.”
He placed his hand on the door’s opening ring and turned it.
The door shook heavily and then moved. The chilly wind blew in through the gap.
Walls of light shined all around him.
The high-altitude air blew in from beyond those virtual barriers.
Schweitzer ignored that wind and pushed the door all the way open.
Past the thick door, he saw the dark and cloudy night sky.
He walked all alone into the darkness and wind.
He walked outside.
When his feet were pushed by the wind and stepped on the darkness, he hesitated for just a moment.
<A powerful wind blows down as if to push him back and causes his black coat to whip behind him.>
But he planted his hesitant foot down firm and looked up into the sky.
His lips moved to speak a few names and the names of their devices.
Vaterland.
Freischütz.
Sylphide.
Mondnacht.
Requiem.
Tragisch.
Kaiser.
Gelegenheit.
Messiah.
Neue Erde.
The last one he didn’t speak out loud. He simply held up his staff and opened his mouth wide in the wind.
He listened to the song of the racing wind, narrowed his eyes, and released his voice.
“…!”
His roar raced straight up into the sky, but it did not stop there.
He spoke his Text to fulfill his promise.
He shouted a heaven-striking song and refused to stop.
The wind roared in response and nothing could stop it now either.
It was asking a question.
A new question.
Closing Words[edit]
Despite the scale of what happened on that night, most of it never became public knowledge thanks to the Allies covering it up and the Geheimnis Agency and the AIF staying silent. But there was no hiding that the prophets around the world could suddenly read the future’s History Lives again after that night. This was given the following explanation: “For some unknown reason, the previously cut off and unreadable History Lives were reconnected to the ordinary flow of time at 4:42 AM on August 24, 1943.”
Afterwards, the Allies began attacking Berlin which was no longer protected by the dome. On May 7, 1945, Germany declared an unconditional surrender, ending the war, and Berlin was split between the east and the west. In 1962, the Berlin Wall was constructed, physically dividing the city that had been so changed by the efforts of Heidengeists, machines, and humans.
But that wall is no more. It was torn down and crossed in 1988 by a few youths.
And it is said most of those youths were accompanied by machines that responded to their Words.
You may be tempted to ask whether it was man or machine that put an end to that mistake, but that question has already been answered.
8/24/2001. On the morning a certain girl sang.
-Michael Schrier
Neue Unreif Germane[edit]
1[edit]
“This is a story of when this country was still in chaos and full of anxiety.”
In the deep darkness of the Black Forest
Born from the abyss
The wheel emerges
- It whips up the wind and speaks with the dragon
- It reads the wind and sings
- It carries power in its hand and hesitates
2[edit]
“One day, a man visited a woman who was friends with a dragon. He referred to the woman as the Messiah and said that her power was needed.”
The one-armed man guides the Messiah
The moonlit pair returns to the earth
The dragons gather and dance tonight
Every last thing looks to the beginning
3[edit]
“The Messiah gathered the country’s knights and worked to bring order to the people’s chaos and the dragons’ chaos. She worked to bring peace to the anxious land, sea, and sky.”
The wind blows, the night blows, the dragon awakes, the people move, the dragon roars
- The wind arrives from the north / A path arrives from the north
- The knight descends as a knight / The dragon soars high as a dragon
- All is a path to the north star / All is a story of surmounting the wall
4[edit]
“A long battle followed. But after traveling north and defeating a large black dragon, the clouds cleared away.”
Follow the path to a familiar you / To confirm who you are
Make sure your hand and voice reach them / Stretch your hand out to the moon
The gatherers begin their party / A wall separates the pair
- As they follow the same path with the same song
5[edit]
“Below the full moon in the sky, the Messiah smiled with everyone. The knights rejoiced, the people danced, and the dragon roared.”
The party begins and the village dances / The dragon roars and the knights gather
The Messiah remains uncrowned / She leaves her words and her power with him
Thus she is alone / She dreams in this land
6[edit]
“The one-armed man accepted a sword from the Messiah and departed the morning after everyone threw a party to celebrate their newfound peace. He went to inform the king that the fighting was over.”
7[edit]
“The king began an emperor and the knights rejoiced.”
“But the one-armed man did not return. He left on a journey. The Messiah said nothing. She simply wrote many letters.”
8[edit]
“But one morning, the Messiah ended her silence and gathered everyone. Then she promised them that their peace would last for a thousand years thanks to their efforts.”
9[edit]
“Do not forget to develop ways to fight and to protect and do not forget who you are. Never forget that and this hill will turn gold every year. And you will never build walls between any people of any background.”
10[edit]
Do not fear your own pain / If you wish for the power to fight
- All is found beyond the screaming pain
Do not fear your own trembling / If you wish for the power to protect
- All is found beyond the embracing sorrow
Do not fear your own weariness / If you wish for the power to advance
- All is found beyond an unending new beginning
The wind is with you, he is with you / Seek out your own words
- All hesitation exists to tear through that wall
“The Messiah said she would sleep for a thousand years at Alfheim and awaken once chaos returned to the world. Once she was asleep in her shrine, the one-armed man returned. He erected two gravestones next to the shrine and spent the rest of his days guarding them…until one evening he breathed his final breath as peacefully as if he were falling asleep.”
“A thousand years has passed since then. Surely the Messiah has already awoken and is living somewhere in this country. All so she can hear someone’s words once more. Yes, I am certain of it!”
“Hazel! Can you hear me, Hazel Mirildorf!?”
Panzerpolis 1943 Erste-End
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