City Series:Volume6e Prologue

Panzerpolis Berlin 5 1943 Erste-Ende

Someone asks me if I can hear that.

I want to tell them I can.

There are some things I must not do, but I want to use every other power I have – and even borrow an inhuman power of steel – to find my answer. Because that will surely lead to the next question.

If I do not find the answer, the questions will end there. Nothing will change if I do not answer the simple question of “can you hear that”.

I want to answer that question and ask a question of my own. I want to ask them what their answer was.

Opening Quote

“The piece does not need a name.

All you need to know

Is that there it depicts a single hero battling their enemies.”

-Strauss, about the tone poem “A Hero’s Life”

Prologue: The Promise Prepares

8/22/1943 17:21 – 20:18

I have landed in Germany

I must first find a safe place

Or so I thought

Part 1

The light inky sky was damp and colored by a misty rain and heavy air.

The inky color gradually darkened as the rain grew heavier and the night arrived.

The sky looked so much like blurry dark waves and the vague shapes of dark mountains covered the earth.

The weight of the gray sky and white mist pressed down on the many slopes of that vast land.

Concepts as vague as the misty rain and dark night were gradually taking over this world as night fell.

But one notably unvague thing traveled from the ground and into the sky: a sound.

Something in the forest sounded a lot like stone hitting stone.

It was a gunshot. The bang of the bursting gunpowder echoed through the mountains and spread through the mist. Its lingering echoes rattled the misty air and mixed with the other sounds in the air.

The deep sound rose into the rainy sky where water burst and the rain grew stronger.

The rain fell on a narrow mountain path running between the forest’s trees.

A single person was running down that rainy path.

The woman’s long blonde hair was a mess from the rain and she held a white sword in one hand.

Her eyes were different colors. The left one was a brown feline eye and the right one was a blue human eye.

Both eyes were facing dead ahead and the mouth below it was busy releasing white breaths into the chill of the misty rain.

She stared at her own white breaths for a moment and then smiled bitterly.

“But it’s only August.”

She kept running. Her footsteps were light on the wet dirt and she ran softly across the ground by kicking off with her toes.

A sign was carved into a tree on the side of the path, naming this place.

“Borderson. Armed conflict isn’t allowed in this land.”

She removed the poncho she wore over her clothing and wrapped her sword in it.

She covered the plain white sword in the forest camo green, giving it a long package.

The hem of the poncho swayed loosely past the end of the sword.

She checked her pockets for something to tie up the hem with.

The choker around her neck and a red gem pendant spilled from the collar of her inner clothing.

She tugged on the choker’s string, but the rain-wet cloth had gone tight and she couldn’t get the knot undone.

“But I can’t use the pendant. It’s too important.”

She put the red gem back in her clothing.

She hesitated a moment before continuing the search and pulling out dog tags on a thin chain. She quickly wrapped the chain around the package and used the dog tags as a clasp to hold it in place.

The wet dog tags caught the light, revealing the name carved into them: Hazel Mirildorf.

Hazel held the tightly closed package under her arm and nodded.

…Only I came down with the chill of a Live disease three days ago, so I went to Germany first.

They would meet up again in two days’ time. At midnight of the 24th in an inn on the outskirts of Germania.

They had to stop Tristan before the History Lives could begin another loop.

According to continued research by the AIF’s prophets, the pressure sent back through the ley lines would cause Tristan to lose control at 3 AM of the 24th and the loop would happen at 4:42.

…If we stop Tristan by 3 AM, this world will remain until 4:42.

But if they stopped the Wheel of Destiny, the Spacetime Lives would be freed from the loop and connect to the future Spacetime Lives. 4:42 AM was the moment of truth regarding the loop.

…There will be a revolution to create a world without the Messiah, but we will finally have a future again.

The Allies didn’t believe any of it and had rejected everything the AIF tried to tell them.

But they had accepted the AIF’s plan to stop Tristan and were paying careful attention to it.

A one-way transmission from the Allies had said the ACBS being used in conjunction with the ley line pressure would be launched at 3 AM. And it would arrive in Germania at 4:42.

But if the AIF managed to destroy the dome before 3, the ACBS launch would be canceled. To meet the conditions laid out by the Allies, the AIF was gathering almost all of its forces in Germany.

Hazel had intended to spend a day in Borderson and then head there.

“But I’ve been on the run ever since I arrived!”

She focused on her ears. A new sound had joined her footsteps and the falling rain.

She heard running water.

Quite a lot of water was flowing by a bit to the right of the path.

Her gaze was drawn rightward by the sound.

The forest here was thinner and she could see a river of about 20yd across through the trees. The river was fuller than usual thanks to the rain, but its water hadn’t been stained by mud yet.

The dark green water seemed to swell up at the surface as it flowed downstream.

“If I follow that river over the hill, I reach the Village of Pardons.”

Hazel sighed. She broke through the white breath with her shoulders as she continued forward. She removed her eyes from the river to face forward again as well.

She saw a bridge through the forest. It was a simple design – two logs placed end to end to connect the banks with a boulder sticking up from the middle of the river. The bridge was hard to see through the mist rising from the river, but it hadn’t been washed away yet.

She could still cross.

If she ran down the straight mountain path for another 20 yards or so, she would reach the side path to the bridge.

Then she heard the grass parting behind her.

It was pretty far away, but the rustling of the grass soon changed to the footsteps of someone in pursuit.

She frowned.

…Someone’s still after me?

“They don’t give up,” she muttered, leaping right before reaching the side path.

She ran through the forest, taking a shortcut to the bridge.

The pursuing footsteps did not enter the forest. They chose to remain on the path.

She did not look back.

In the shadowy forest, she held her cloth-wrapped sword to her chest and ran along the knee-deep grass and soft humus.

She saw the side path through the trees up ahead. As well as the small clearing at the end of the bridge.

She sped up, kicking the humus back behind her.

Her speed whipped up the wind, shaking the branches around her.

The sound of the rain doubled as more drops fell from the tree leaves, leaving a spray of water in her wake.

She arrived at this end of the bridge, but then her face stiffened and she stopped running.

Two small silhouettes in raincoats were on the bridge made from two logs.

One was a small girl down on her knees, nervously watching the river below as she crawled across.

The other was a boy taking careful steps in front of the girl to make sure the log wasn’t too slippery.

Hazel saw the two of them and they turned around to look at her.

The two pairs of eyes within the raincoats widened with surprise and then looked behind her.

When she noticed that, she twirled around, her blonde hair trailing behind her.

A slender woman carrying a handgun stood at the entrance to the side path leading to the bridge.

She aimed the gun with the pale light of the main mountain path behind her.

Hazel just about ran into the forest on reflex, but…

…The children.

She stopped herself and prepared to raise her poncho wrap as a shield.

But before she could, a gunshot rang out and she felt an impact in the center of her chest.

Before she even felt the pain, she found her feet had left the ground.

Her airborne body was first caught by the empty air rather than the dirt ground.

And then the water caught her.

All of a sudden, she couldn’t see anything other than the inky gray sky. But when she felt a tugging on her back, water splashed high toward the sky on either side of her vision and she heard rushing water.

At the same time, the sky seemed to shake unsteadily in her vision and then it was covered by a thick layer of water.

The water felt ticklish as it surrounded her cheeks and neck.

Her mind resisted the ticklishness and the chill, but her mind was dragged into darkness by shock.

Her senses of sight, hearing, and touch all faded away.

Part 2

The pit was easily half a mile deep and more than 100 yards across.

Light filled it from the inner walls and a thick metal column pierced it down the center.

Several walkways connected the inner walls of the cylinder to the column.

A large man stood on the highest of those walkways.

He wore the black combat boat of the Geheimnis Agency Air Force Division and he stood next to the column with his right prosthetic arm entirely motionless.

He was staring at a desk-sized control panel installed on the side of the column about 8 yards in front of him. The control panel had a fist-sized hole on the left side and it was not currently functioning.

His gaze climbed from there.

A glass window was installed on the wall above the control panel. It was 2 yards tall and a yard wide and several plastic pipes could be seen crawling and intersecting on the other side.

But something else stuck out from between the pipes twisted in a wild but flat arrangement.

It was a skinny arm. The feminine right arm had the frail lines unique to sickly people and it stuck out toward the window. The open palm was pointed upwards and it was so close it touched the inside of the glass.

An ear of golden wheat sat on the palm.

The man’s eyes narrowed at the wheat.

Just then, he heard a voice from behind him.

“Captain Schweitzer. You were in here again?”

Schweitzer turned toward the voice.

He saw the walkway leading to a large door on the pit’s inner wall. That door sat open and a tall, skinny man stood in front of it. He spoke the name of the elderly man who wore the same black coat as him.

“Bermark. Do you need something?”

“With martial law and a strict security alert in place, I have a lot of spare time. As do you.”

That comment put a bitter look on Schweitzer’s face. He sniffed the air blowing in from the door.

“Is it raining outside?”

“Yes, a large craft will soon be landing on the high-altitude launchpad at the end of the hallway.”

The two automatic doors sitting open behind Bermark led to a long hallway. That led to another door which led to the launchpad hangar.

Schweitzer walked forward and Bermark nodded.

“Are you returning to your quarters?”

Schweitzer frowned at the question.

“What are you trying to say? Are you suggesting I stay here forever?”

“Not at all. I was merely asking if you are heading back…which would mean you are not going anywhere.”

Schweitzer sharpened his gaze and looked to Bermark.

Bermark gave him a much calmer look in return.

After a bit, Schweitzer sighed.

“Where are you taking me?”

“You misunderstand. I have no intention of taking you anywhere.”

“You are the most irritating aide in the world. Where is it I am apparently going?”

Bermark nodded and pointed toward the corridor behind him.

It continued to the left, right, and straight ahead, but he pointed at that last option: toward the launchpad.

“You cannot just choose to leave during this alert.”

“I am not ‘just choosing’ to leave. Because I imagine a few different people want this. Also, do you have no intention of confirming what the fräulein wanted?”

That shut Schweitzer up.

His gaze wandered for a moment, but he finally looked back toward the hand visible through the window.

“She once told me to believe her lies no matter what might happen. And if this is what she wanted…”

Bermark stopped Schweitzer from continuing.

“Perhaps she did want this, but can you accept it?”

Schweitzer slowly turned back toward Bermark.

He found Bermark was not looking at him.

He was looking over Schweitzer’s shoulder toward the window on the column.

“Captain. I hear that, when Hazel Mirildorf lost the Sylphide, she grieved, but she did not give up.”

“And so I shouldn’t give up either? She did not want that to happen. And if you claim to be her ally, why did you let it happen?”

Bermark raised his right hand a bit. He wore a white glove over it.

He moved the fingers in the glove, producing a quiet mechanical sound.

“I am a non-evolving Sein Frau, so I do not know what it is like to have a ‘heart’. My tooth-fueled Freischütz remains undeveloped, but that is why I do not obey the decisions made for me. I-”

“Enough. Tell me where I am going.”

“To the old HQ, captain.”

Bermark placed his right hand on his chest.

Then he sang a song for Schweitzer.

Follow the path to a familiar face

While walking side by side

Your hand and voice might reach them

But the moon sees it not

The gatherers begin their party

A wall separates the pair

As they follow the same path with the same words

After singing the gentle melody in a low, steady voice, he looked up at Schweitzer.

“The fräulein’s final prophecy was the 6th Section of the Ending God, but…”

“You mean the prophecy Lowenzahn left us with before entering Tristan, claiming the true purpose of the Panzerpolis Project would be fulfilled if we followed it? You want me to obey that?”

“No, do not forget how this has always worked. Back in ’37, we were not obeying the prophesies – we were fulfilling them. This is the same, captain. Will you grieve, will you give up, or will you hope for something else? Hazel Mirildorf should have reached the point where she can accept both grief and resignation. If you wish to reach her level, you should consider all of these things with what you will obtain at the old HQ.”

“I have just one question regarding this long speech of yours.”

“What might that be?”

“Whose side are you on?”

Bermark narrowed his eyes and finally closed them. He even inclined his head forward.

“I am your aide, Captain Schweitzer. I am yours to command. Where will we be going?”

Part 3

A small room made entirely of wood functioned as a house.

A lamp without its shade sat above the fireplace in the back of the room, shining a brown light on the room.

In the fireplace, a few pieces of charcoal burned red with the firewood ashes.

The windows in the left and right walls showed only darkness on the other side.

Raindrops and their dripping lines decorated the exterior of the glass.

The lamp light flickered, affecting the single shadow near the entrance on the other side.

Two people sat across from each other at the small table next to the door.

One was an old man in casual clothing. He did not cast a shadow on the floor or wall. Not even the shadow of his crooked nose could be found anywhere.

The woman sitting across from him did cast a flickering shadow on the floor and wall.

The middle-aged woman wore a stole over a blue dress.

She looked to the old glass bottle and the glass sitting on the table.

The liquid in the glass shined a dark red in the brown lamplight.

She turned to look at the bottle’s label.

“That wine is from our mansion’s cellar. I completely forgot my sister brought that here.”

“You were still children back then, weren’t you? She left one of your family’s wines here so Lady Melda of Borderson or the regional lord could drink it if they visited.”

“Ellis really loved acting like an adult. She brought five bottles over in all. A child like her couldn’t know how it actually tasted, but she grabbed whatever looked most expensive and carried as much of it as she could manage.”

“It was quite a surprise to learn it was meant to be offered to the imperial family, Lady Lillie.”

The mayor sounded amused and Lillie smiled bitterly in remembrance.

“We can laugh about it now, but the Telmetz family declined after that, the mansion fell into disrepair, and I lost all of the wine, furniture, and people. It must have been the curse of the stolen imperial wine.”

She viewed the bottle.

“So how many have you gone through so far?”

“This is the third. Take the remaining two with you when you leave. That is all this village can do to thank you for your consideration.”

“No. I’m the one who should have done more. This village has done nothing but look after me and my sister. Even if it is a Heidengeist village, the military’s current orders go too far.”

“Let us not discuss that right now. I have already informed the heads of the households. We will simply start moving. Calmly, like nothing is amiss.”

“I suppose so,” said Lillie, reaching for the glass.

She drank some of its contents, giving her a view through to the other side.

“I don’t know what to make of it. Everyone except me is moving on. And without doubt or hesitation. I want to follow them, but I can never seem to find an answer for my doubts and I can’t bring myself to do it.”

She set the glass back on the table and tilted it a bit.

She watched the dark red liquid rippling.

“I was supposed to collect Lady Rose’s gem from the wreckage of the Requiem that crashed last year.”

“You mean the giant ship that crashed on the border between Borderson and Hamburg?”

“Yes. I was to give that gem to the Messiah when Tristan is fully switched on tomorrow. As a good luck charm. Yet I took a job from the military and here I am.”

The mayor’s eyebrows reacted ever so slightly to the word “Messiah”.

“I was so worried when you left with the Neue Kavaliers waiting outside the village.”

“I know. But I failed. Now, I hear a villager took in a cat earlier.”

“Yes. When a man from the Eldering family took his kids down to the waterfall basin, they found a sword, some clothing, and a Flektierened Werecat washed up on the bank.”

“I assume the sword was left with you. So did you see it?”

“It was Rein König. The Messiah’s Werkzeug passed down by the Maldrick family.” The mayor looked to Lillie. “The Messiah is currently in the Eldering home. In the care of a woman with the maiden name of Ilfheim.”

“Ilfheim? That was Lady Frobel’s maiden name.”

“It is a variation on Alfheim. I do not know Lady Frobel’s family history, but the Messiah once gave the Ilfheim family a protective necklace. She had them promise to watch over the country’s prosperity and to act as its guardians. She also allowed them to mix with other families.” He took a breath. “The main branch apparently compiled history books at a library in Berlin, but they were killed off during the Heidengeist purge in ’35, with the sole exception of the daughter…who lost her memories.”

Lillie gulped at the mayor’s explanation.

“Where is this necklace now?”

“I do not know. It was lost during the previous war. And the Ilfheims born to other families would not know where it is or even be aware of their own duty. Nevertheless, the strong connection between the Neue Kavaliers and the Heidengeists continues to protect the Messiah.”

“But the Neue Kavaliers are no longer with her. Heiliger is still only ordering her capture, but we are focused more on the AIF’s attack on Germania. If the Messiah arrives with the AIF, we will have no choice but to fight back and prove which of us is in the right.”

“What do you intend to do? You know she is here and you are under orders to capture her.”

Lillie kept her smile intact, but closed her eyes.

“I am a simple woman, so it all comes down to one thing: I cannot forgive the Messiah.”

She tilted her head and sighed. She untangled her hair from her neck with her free left hand.

“I think the Messiah must pay for those who have died. She is trying to change the present for a better future, but that will negate all the efforts of everyone who has fought to preserve the present.”

Lillie straightened up and touched her index finger to the edge of the glass.

She tilted the glass back and then spoke more quietly.

“I fight for the past and she fights for the future. Let’s see which of us right.”

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