The Maid and Her Princess [On Hiatus]

Elise's Plan (Fall 7)

VII.

The stars were the first thing Madoka could see when she opened her eyes. She heaved and clutched her heart, sitting up straight. The ground was smooth to the touch. Madoka realized she was dead, gasping and heaving from the revelation. This was merely all a dream before it all fades away, right? However, the stars twinkled oddly and some moved to quickly flashing different colors. Madoka felt the hole in her dress. She was surprised that she still had a physical form. After all, she died and this was the afterlife.

I'm sorry, Princess, Madoka closed her eyes. Perhaps I should have left when you asked me to.

Madoka did not fade away or whatever she envisioned what might happen in the so-called afterlife. Instead, she felt raindrops splash on her nose and her clothes. Was this heaven? She opened her eyes once more and gasped at the sights before her. She was on a balcony of some kind, with symbols floating above its railings. She tried to touch the symbols. She figured she was dead and the risk would not matter anyways. To her surprise, the symbols bent around her fingers and did not seem to harm her.

Beyond the symbols was an endless night surrounded by never ending rows of towering fortresses full of bright colors she has never seen before. The symbols she traced suddenly vanished and a glowing eye appeared in midair staring at her.

Just where was she? She wondered as the eye used some kind of magic to scan her. It did not harm her, like she thought it would. Instead, a strange incorporeal being floated in its place and began to speak to her. Somehow, Madoka realized the stranger was speaking in Noble.

"Welcome to Neocity, stranger!" The being said with a jolly tone in its voice. Madoka instinctively bowed. How could a celestial being address a maid like her? The being seemed to not notice and continued talking. "Please stay here for a moment as custom agents will be arriving shortly to retrieve you."

"Please," Madoka choked. The being ignored her. "Am I dead? Where am I?"

"Welcome to Neocity, stranger!" It repeated.

Madoka scoffed and ignored the strange apparition and looked down the railings. Beneath her, the towering skyscrapers stretched down into the void. Many flying objects whirred by in every direction. She could not tell if they were animals but they looked like metal birds. They emitted a bright light with a roar that seemed to propel them to wherever they wanted to go. The overwhelming sights horrified her and she started to feel dizzy looking downward so she looked up instead.

Above her head was the same. Those towers were lined with similar balconies spidering along many of their odd asymmetrical walls. Large signs with symbols dotted with moving paintings depicting strange beings similar to that apparition that greeted her. Madoka chuckled. Even in the afterlife she could not read. They were walkways like the one she stood on. She was not even sure where the ground was from this tower. Madoka gasped as the place was suddenly illuminated by a great light source.

She saw a whole world looming above in the night sky with a celestial glow. It was a pure and blue moon. Madoka gasped in awe. It must have been the largest moon she could dream up. It did not match the moons back home but it was beautiful. A massive dark storm flashed on the edge of the moon's horizon. Madoka could not fathom the size of a moon like the one above her. The stars she saw before were not stars at all, but more of those metal birds. Their shadows were easy to see with the blue moon's light. Rain soaked her maid dress and she fiddled with the tear in it.

One of the metal birds flew close to the balcony, terrifying Madoka. It was much bigger than she thought and it blotted the view of the world above her. Was this an angel? She cowered behind a large pot that contained a glowing plant. The angel merely floated nearby before it began to emit a beam of light on the ground. It was casting magic of some kind, forming a circle where the beam landed. Madoka had to shield her eyes from how bright it was.