Highlord

Episode One: Incursion - Part One

I find myself alone under a dark, crimson sky, trudging through seemingly endless snow. The only things around me are trees and thousands upon thousands of skeletons, crawling, holding their loved ones, all still as though they were frozen in time. I continue walking, the only sounds being that of the wind and the rustling of leaves. I stand in a familiar place, but different at the same time. An old, burnt out homestead. The wood is still warm to the touch. I step inside, the roof has collapsed, and ashes are scattered throughout the structure. One thing sticks out more than the others, a single fully stocked, completely intact bookcase. I stepped towards it and pulled out one of the books. On the cover was a picture of the moon, cracked open like an egg, and seeping out a black, inky liquid. I reluctantly opened the book, and began reading. It was complete gibberish, like every word in every sentence was shuffled in the wrong order. As I read further, the words began shifting, until only a single word was left. "Visitor." I began hearing a loud ringing noise as the word filled my mind, as if a million ghosts were chanting it.

The noise suddenly stopped, and I slowly opened my eyes. I'm in a bed, my bed. It was just a dream. I hear someone yawn, and look over to see Kita, my oldest friend, turning off my alarm clock.

"Good morning." She sighed, exhausted.

I groaned as I slowly sat up from my bed. I placed my hand on my head.

"Headache...sucks..." I whisper.

"Tell me about it." She stretches. "Did you have another one of those weird dreams?"

"Yeah." I said, stretching.

"I still think you should get checked at the apothecary, you could be sick!"

"I'm fine, Kita." I stood up, stumbling briefly before balancing myself on the bedside cabinet. "Did you have any?"

"No, I dreamt about my mom's house." She sighed, looking at a calendar above a desk placed against the center wall of the dorm room, between our beds. The current date is May 13th, 2216. May 16th is circled and labeled 'Visit mom.' and May 15th is labeled 'Tempest announcement.'

"You should stop stressing about it. Everything's going to be fine." I stood next to her and placed my hand on her shoulder.

"It's been months since I last visited!" She started freaking out, "What if dad's mad at me? What if something happened to mom?!" She began hyperventilating.

"Hey, hey! Come here!" I pulled her into a hug, she started calming down.

She hugged me back, and sighed, "It's just that...ever since she fell ill, it's been really hard for dad to take care of her alone. She sacrificed all of her life's savings just to get me into this school."

"I'm scared that my selfish desire to come to this academy is gonna tear my family apart." She starts sobbing quietly.

"Kita, do you really think that?" I looked her in the eyes. "They gave up their fortune for YOU to be able to become a hero, and look what you've done with that chance! You're the best student this academy has had in over two hundred years!" I patted her on the back, "If anything, they'd be immensely proud of you."

She sniffled, "Thank you..."

"Hey, how about this? I'll go with you, and we can deal with whatever happens together!"

"That sounds lovely, thank you." She wiped the tears from her eyes and stepped back.

"Don't sweat it." I smiled. "Did you have any plans for today, besides classes?"

"Yeah, actually. I've been meaning to tell you." She opened the desk drawer and pulled out a notebook with a bookmark in it, and flipped to the bookmarked page.