211 Departure

Michael and his friend's departure from Halkeginia have permanently altered the fate of the world. Not that anyone was aware of it yet, as far as most denizens of it know, the World War that was happening was the direst thing to address.

Albion is soon conquered by Germania, King Wales is killed in battle while defending the capital from Germania's army. Germania also declares war on Tristain for Loutiel and Matilda's invasion of their lands... Not that it matters.

Tristania gets sieged by Gallia, the bigger Empire relatively easily conquering it, and forcing Princess Henrietta to flee to Valliere lands like she had done when King Gramont rebelled against her... Only this time, Tristain's military was completely exhausted.

Karin de la Valliere is well aware that Tristain has lost, and decides to side with her family instead of her former country. This leads to Princess Henrietta getting captured, and sent to Gallia in chains... Unfortunately, Princess Henrietta decides that with the death of her lover, King Wales, living in chains isn't living at all, and throws herself off of a wall and to her doom, her head splitting like a ripe watermelon as it hits the hard ground below.

With the Princess's death, Gallia easily takes over the rest of Tristain, the nobles lowering their heads to their new overlords in hopes of gaining ranks similar to what they held under Tristain. Though, this is often not the case.

A year passes, and the war between Gallia and Germania continued to escalate... Despite Germania's larger military, Joseph de Gallia's intelligence and Void abilities allowed him to slowly whittle away at Germania's land.

He first took Albion and stationed a large portion of his air forces on the floating continent and used it to perform raids when the continent gets close to Germania's territory.

A quarter of Germania's territory is subjugated when King Joseph de Gallia turns his attention to other ventures... Specifically, taking back the holy land. Surprisingly, Romalia gives Gallia their full support in this venture, providing priests and other forces to assist in the invasion.

Louise Valliere is furious that her new country is assisting Gallia, who was responsible for the death of Princess Henrietta, who despite their disagreements, was still her best friend, even while separated.

She doesn't act however, knowing that she'd only perish under the might of Gallia if she did... During her stay with the Pope, she attempts to resummon a Familiar since Michael had not been heard of for so long, only for said summoning to fail, showing that Michael was still alive somewhere out there.

With Germania on the defensive, Gallia's war against the elves goes on unabated, but none were surprised when the first army was utterly annihilated by traps set up between their land and Gallia's. Trees pull themselves out of the ground and charge the infantry.

The earth rises and transforms into huge moving snake statues that throw themselves against Gallia's fortifications, easily destroying them. The rain above the soldier's heads turns to acid, melting their armour, weapons, and even their bodies if exposed long enough.

The acidic rain actually falls in concentrated amounts, creating makeshift moats of acid between the holy land and Gallia. Any boats laid down in it disintegrate, and any foolish enough to try and swim across it never make it to the end, meeting an agonizing demise as they dissolve completely.

To combat this, the Pope personally intervenes, casting magic that nulls any other magic in the area, turning the acid moat back to water, turning the tree ents back into wood, and turning the giant snakes back into stone.

With the war between humanity and the elves continuing, most don't even notice the wandering green-haired woman who searches for unique kinds of magic... Indeed, none even notice when she enters Romalia, seeking the assistance of a certain Pink-haired girl who'd been publically outed as a Void Mage.

All in all, Halkeginia had been brought low into constant war, with the peasants suffering from their noble overlords. All of this harm could be directly or indirectly blamed on Michael, as his intervention in the world was not for the better... Indeed, the world would have faired better if anyone else had been sent in his place.

Unbeknownst to anyone, an ancient slumbering dragon begins to awaken, though, how long that would take is anyone guess... The blood staining the soils of the land is but one catalyst that hastens the process...

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Anyway, back to Michael and friends...

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Michael and everyone else locked in his arms screams in utter terror as they flip, tumble, fall, and cascade through the almost doctor who-looking portal. Around them was a churning cyclone of smoke and mist that'd occasionally light up and explode with colour, multicoloured electricity striking in front, behind, at their side... Generally just everywhere!

It's a good thing Michael had the idea to lock arms with his companions, otherwise they'd have all spun apart and been separated by whatever the fuck was happening. Is this how Alice felt when she fell down the rabid hole? Or that boat ride in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory!?

Michael of course isn't able to focalize any of this, as the only thing that exits his mouth is a continuous scream that is matched by the others. He wasn't even sure if he could breath right now, nor how he had been screaming so long. Maybe they should have allowed Tiffania to practise the spell a little more?... Regardless, nothing they could do about it now.

Now, where was he? Ah yes, *Ahem*, "AOOOOOOOOOHAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! ARHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHGGGGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSMORGENAHHHHHHHHHHHHHRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"