A Distant Reverie

Chapter 109

It hurts.

Her vision blurred in and out of focus. Muffled, disembodied chaos resounded in her ears. When she tried to make out the sound, all she did was realize the high-pitch whine echoing in her eardrums.

What's going on?

Her head spun. Something wet and sticky clung to the side of her face. A familiar ferric taste filled her mouth. Blood. The recognition jolted her out of her daze. Her heart began to race. The hair on her skin rose. Her fingers trembled as they searched for strength.

Blood meant danger. Her life was currently at risk. Her inability to move properly meant that she had been incapacitated. And that needed to change. Now.

She closed her eyes and reopened them. Vertigo seized her for a flicker of an instance.

And then, clarity.

I was fighting. Fighting off specters and monsters.

She recalled being stuck in the salt storm. With her senses deprived, she went mad. Specters and monsters filled her vision. They clamored for her death, beckoning her to descend through the gates of hell to be tore apart for her sins.

She raised her head. Down this labyrinth-like hallway, she found herself staring at another wave of those same monsters. They were relentless. Disembodied heads hovered over their metallic torsos—jaws dropped, moaning and screaming.

She paused as she squinted at the faces. She recognized them. They had names. They had stories. They—

"Ngh!"

Her skull suddenly felt like it was about to split open. A flood of images and information inundated her mind without warning. The missing pieces in her recollections suddenly clicked into place.

Right.

Memories were a fickle thing.

I'm Marine Houshou.

For a moment, everything felt like a lucid dream.

Leader of the Houshou Pirates.

And then reality snapped back into focus.

Feared. Renowned.

Cunning. Merciless.

Envy of the underworld. Scourge of the aristocracy.

She eyed the monsters in her view. Their horrific visages suddenly faded into oblivion. What was left were quadrupedal machines, vaguely resembling beasts, with menacing gun barrels pointed at her direction.

Incursions.

And I've been pulled into a world outside of my own.

The metallic barrels vibrated. Marine could see the air began to stir. An attack was coming.

Before she could pull herself onto her feet, a shadow descended in front of her. An energy blast erupted from the closest Incursion's barrel. The figure extended their arm, letting the limb take the brunt of the strike.

Dissonance echoed. The energy blast pierced through the figure's arm, severing it cleanly at the base of their shoulders. Something heavy slammed into the floor beside her. Marine realized this was the person's severed arm.

"Kiara!"

Marine lunged, grabbing the young lady by the waist as she pulled her out of the direction of the oncoming projectiles. Energy blasts whirled above their heads, tearing into the scorched chassis of their broken Exos. Marine took cover behind some wreckage. The hallway was a mess. Dust and debris shrouded the airspace. The floor was littered with malfunctioning Exos and ruins of the collapsed ceiling. It took an instant for her to regain her bearings and take notice of their situation.