Shannia

It's no use calling her now. Her fight against them is creating bursts of light and thunderclaps within the haze. I spread my arms and bend my knees slightly to orient myself facing down. Then a few seconds later, l fall out of the clouds.

All I see is a vast landscape! I can see no horizon in every direction. Things just fade into the blue like how you see a mountain from the distance. Is this world not round? Below where I'm falling, there is a vast jungle with huge ancient trees. Flying animals with leather wings fly above the canopies. Further, in the direction where my head is, an insanely enormous desert stretched far until it fades into the blue. I make myself spin to the right and see an ocean. Island castles dwell in its watery kingdom. I can even see a leviathan serpent surfacing above the water. Next is a world of ice and snow. There is a towering cliff made out of ice and beyond it is just a land of ice. I can see some giant man-like figures made out of ice. They're moving! They must be called ice-giants or something like that. Then in the other direction, a mountain range that never ends! Ruins of civilizations are scattered on the plateaus. Broken bridges, towers, and strongholds are ample! What a sight!

I swallow, thinking that this is too much to take in. This is unlike what I learned in school. I was taught and showed that every planet is round and has a horizon. This world doesn't. It just goes on. Real-world logic does not work here. It's an entirely new world. This is. . . Shannia!

I hear a jet-like noise coming from above. It's Alice! "Gotcha!" she says grabbing my hands. As I hang below her, I can see her Angelic face smiling at me. I look away.

"Where do we go now?" I ask.

"To the Underworld."

"Let me guess, your home."

"Exactly! Wow, you're so smart!"

I couldn't judge whether or not she was just being sarcastic. *Sigh* Just let it be. I'm tired right now. Silence is what my introverted soul needs. But I gotta say, her Angelus avatar looks attractive. But this is just a game, I must not confuse it with reality. Shake off that thought, man. . .

We are heading towards the desert. Pyramids appear from the distance. They are scattered hundreds of miles apart from each other. Some of them exist in groups. Some of them are isolated. Judging from this distance, they must be so massive. They could be fifty times more massive than the pyramids of Giza back on our mother planet, Earth.

Earth is gone now, swallowed by the sun when it turned into a red giant. It happened 500,000 years ago. I wonder if Earth looked like— No, "felt" like this. . . I've seen pictures of Earth but always wondered how it felt like walking on the surface of the planet without a dome overhead to obstruct the view of the sky above. Well, now, I'm experiencing it. Though, I still doubt that humans of the past feel like this when they were on Earth. Maybe it felt more magical or maybe they were blessed enough to take it for granted. In the Shelter, such a thing is impossible. Not while on a volcanic planet. We can't even see stars. We only learned in VR.

We're in the desert now. I can feel that the sunlight is hot but the wind cools me off instantly. Hours later, and just as the sun is setting behind us, Alice starts to gradually lower our altitude. I can tell that we are heading towards this pyramid in front of us. I'm guessing that the entrance to the Underworld will be there.

"Is the entrance there?" I ask.

"Yup!"

We land on the summit of the pyramid. It is flat and has structures all around it. Weathered pillars and old flailing flags spread all around. If you're looking for something more dreadful, there are skeletons and skulls. In the center, there is a statue of a woman carrying a basket on her head. It's remarkable that it's still standing although most of it is weathered.

"What is this place?"

"An old Anthropic kingdom," she answers. She has her hands on her waist as we look at the statue. "All of the lands on the surface belonged to the Anthropae. The desert, jungle, sea, mountains, and even the glaciers. Now, they're all empty."

It's terrifying to know that all of the humans in this world have been wiped out. This is genocide. This has also occurred throughout human history in the galaxy. I never thought that a game could show me how horrible it really is. I could only imagine how hard these people built their civilization only to be wiped out.

A pat on my back startles me. "Here she comes," says Alice, looking at the sky behind us. An Angelus lands in front of us, creating a dust cloud. After the dust cloud settles, Alice says, "You're a bit late, Lucy."

"I'm sorry, about that, Your Majesty," says the girl, sticking her tongue to the side, winking, and scratching her head. "Got into fight acquiring this Portal Vial."

She shows us a small vial filled with dark fiery essence. The content is pitch-black but there are small embers flickering constantly. Her hair is brown and short. Her armor is white and her wings are brown like her hair. She has a shiny silver bow mounted behind her back. Her smile is wide and I think if I do that, I would get tired after five seconds.

I nod and smile awkwardly as she looks at me. "Who's this?"

"My friend back in where I come from," Alice answers.

"So, he's like you too?!"

She begins to inspect me like I'm some kind of exotic animal. I just let her do what she wants because I don't want to appear rude to someone I just met. When she raises my arm to see my armpit, I stop her.

"That's off limits," I say, grinning but I don't have the motivation to raise my cheeks so my grin looks like a grin of disgust.

"He's like a baby," Lucy says.

"I'm not!" I argue.

"You're right," Alice says, taking her side.

Ugh. . . It's enough for one person to make fun of me. I didn't ask for another one!

"So, 'Your Majesty'?" I ask. "Why did she call you that?"

"Are you kidding?" Lucy reacts. "You are in the presence of Queen Zaori!"

"Queen?"

"I am," Alice smirks.

I feel that they're just lying and bragging about it. I still have a lot to learn about this world, so I could not say against what they're telling me.

Lucy pulls something from her pocket. It looks like a black obsidian ball the size of a marble ball. "Here, take this," she says, handing it to me.

"What is this?" I ask, looking at it closely. It is heavy and I feel some kind of power emanating from it.

"That's a Frame," says Alice. "Put it in your Slot."

"Slot?"

"Right. . ." She grabs my shirt. "here!" Then she lifts it!

"What are you doing!"

Huh? What is this? Why do I have three navels lining from the center of my belly up to the center of my chest? It looks weird and disgusting! What the hell?!

"What is this!"

"Your slots. All of us Frame users have these. Gimme that." She grabs the Frame from my hand and puts it in the bottom-most slot.

"Ugh!!!" I groan in pain, curling and bending over until my knees hit the floor. It's like needles are slipping through my intestines! "What have you done to me?!!"

"Relax, the pain is temporary."

As she said, the pain fades as the seconds go by. I look at it and. . . ugh! The veins are black around it! The Frame has been buried more than halfway into my navel! I feel I want to get rid of it! I don't like it at all.

Alice says, "Now, transform into a Daemon like us."

She and Lucy transform into their Daemon Frames. Lucy has more fire and shorter horns. Maybe Alice's huge horns serve as her crown. That's one speculation but I'll know soon enough.

"Cancer?" she says.

"Oh, right. . ." I'm startled from my wondering.

Now, how to transform? Oh, I feel some kind of "extension" within me like an extra limb that I can't see. This could be the Frame. So, I focus on that. Starting from my belly, my body transforms into a Daemon.