Shattered Skies: The Morning Lights

CHAPTER 12: Found and Lost

Chapter 12: Found and Lost

-VERTEX THREE: 8.333882^10-

Noble Academy, Yumegahama

Simultaneously

The sky was not broken, it was black.

Solid black, from one horizon to the other, without a single point of light. No sun, no moon, no stars, only darkness. Every few minutes, frightened eyes looked out of the windows of the boarding school, scanning the ominous sky for any changes and finding none before turning away.

Most of the students and staff of Noble Academy were well used to strange occurrences by now: giant monsters, aggressive strangers in weird costumes, people suddenly falling asleep and waking up in strange places with no idea how they got there. They were the kinds of things everyone experienced sooner or later, but no one talked about. What would they say? That a selection of bizarre figures had been seen in and around Yumegahama for months, demanding to see people's dreams? That there were a disproportionate number of seven-meter-tall monsters, random explosions, and strange flashes of sparkling light on campus? That the school's Groundskeeping Committee was kept in a constant, wearying state of struggle against mysterious patches of torn-up sod on the lawns, not to mention the pockmarks, burn marks, small craters, broken windows, and cracked walls that accumulated on the outsides of school buildings every week or so? There was simply no explanation for these things, so better to just ignore them.

The sky turning pitch black, however... that could hardly be ignored. Most of Noble Academy's students huddled inside their dorms, frightened and confused, while the faculty convened and spoke together in urgent, hushed tones.

However, there were five girls that looked out at the darkness and saw it not as some strange, terrifying unknown, but as a challenge to be overcome. They had faced crises like this many times before, after all...

"Is it DysDark, do you think?" said one girl, staring out at the darkness with ocean blue eyes. Even when uncertain, she had a calmness about her, which in turn inspired calmness in others.

"Who else could it be?" said the second, far more casual. She tilted back in her chair, crossing her arms behind her long brown pigtails. Star-shaped earrings jingled as she moved. "Sorta fits with their MO, doesn't it?"

"I'm not sure," said the redhead closest to the window, the smallest of the group. She twitched with more than her usual nervous energy, anxious to get out and stop whatever this was. "Something doesn't feel quite right. When it's DysDark, it's usually... loud, you know. And obvious."

"Regardless of who it is, we must stop it." The fourth girl spoke in overly formal, courtly speech as she rose and smoothed out her skirt. Her apricot-colored curls were carefully arranged to hide a distinctive pair of pointed, elfin ears. "Yui," she said to the fifth, "you know what to do. Please ensure the other students stay inside."

"Got it," said Yui Nanase, nodding and adjusting her thick glasses. As always, she couldn't join the fight with the others, but her own duties were no less important. "Good luck, everyone... I'll be watching and rooting for you!"

Moment later, the school's main doors swung open, revealing Minami Kaidou, Kirara Amanogawa, Haruka Haruno, and Towa Akagi, the defenders of dreams, the girls chosen as the four Princess Precure. As one, they drew their enchanted keys, placed them into the Princess Perfumes, and called out:

"Precure, Princess Engage!"

Light blossomed on the school's doorstep as the transformation took hold, energy resolving into colorful dresses. The Precure took their signature poses and began the ritual: