Chapter 1

Woosh, a artificial gale passes bringing the thundering noise of waves crashing into land. The annoying laughter of seagulls soon replace the receding water.

Repeating, the deafening noise causes Poppy's ears to twitch and turn in hopes of finding silence. It's time to wake up. Poppy chants to herself and rouses her sluggish body. Years of waking at the exact same time, when will she finally become a morning person.

"Good Morning Poppy Le," the familiar female robotic voice greets her at the end of her alarm. "It is now Tuesday, September the third. Military curfew has ended and public hour has officially begun. No events are scheduled for today."

Tuesday... no-no that can't be right. Poppy's eyes shoot open but they immediately loose focus. Pappa, Juniper and Gwendal just came home yesterday. It should be Saturday.

Poppy reaches out to find her phone for confirmation, but all she feels is something loose and gritty shifting beside her. Coming back to earth and seeing what lays before her, Poppy's chest tightens to an unbearable degree. Her breathing quickens as if she's unable to hold her breath. A hot sour burning builds on top of everything before retching out of her.

Utter chaos seemed to enshroud her. The wooden building and thatched huts where all collapsed and set ablaze. The screams and cries of people broke through the roars of fire. The smell...oh the smell of burnt and burning flesh invaded her nose triggering her empty stomach to spill out anything remaining.

"Poppy," a distant voice shouts her name.

Wanting to follow the voice, she tries to get up but her waist gives out beneath her causing her to fall roughly back on the ground. Large tears fall from her eyes as a searing pain erupts between her legs. A forgotten sense of familiarly starts to creep in the back of Poppy's mind. Again... a sinking feeling further grips Poppy's tightened chest as if trying to drag her into an endless abyss.

"Poppy!" A woman shouted and grabbed her shoulders forcefully lifting her up.

"Doctor Hoffman," Poppy replied through gritted teeth as her muscles ached and begged for rest.

"We have to go," Doctor Hoffman prompted leaning Poppy against herself and forcing the two out of the wreckage and into the unknown of the nearby woods.

Filled with questions, Poppy occasionally glances at the tall yet unfathomably strong brunette who is supporting almost all of her weight.

"Doc-" Poppy is immediately intimated by a pair of steelie chestnut eyes. she could almost see the guarantee to silence anyone to maintain the recent stillness around them.

A chilling cold washes over Poppy as she is carried deeper into the depts of trees and brush. Unconsciously, her tail reaches over to Doctor Hoffman for reassurance and comfort, but Poppy dumbly remembers that humans don't have tails or seek reassurance in this manner.

Listlessly hanging off of Doctor Hoffman, Poppy numbingly follows her lead as she tries to remember how they got in this situation.

Her memories and mind are scrambled yet scattered at the same time.

Poppy breifly sees an unfamiliar man looming over her and saying she was filled with so much 'heavenly energy'.

Poppy tries to focus on that memory but the scene scrambles before a familiar laboratory materializes.

Poppy had just showed up for work, as Doctor Hoffman's assistant, like she always does. Doctor Hoffman was given orders from the brass to replicate and test the efficiency, affects, and safety of the new spacial gate formation created in another outskirts base. This experiment was suppose to be relatively safe before approving it for use in the empire's capital. How did everything come to this?

-----

The silence was eating at Poppy. She desperately wanted to ask Doctor Hoffman everything she has bottled up, but she knew better than to go against the person with actual field experience in foreign land.

They continue to walk in the woods and at fixed intervals Doctor Hoffman would lead them near the edge to look over the village that was being pillaged by its own inhabitants.

"Just a little longer, Poppy," the doctor mumbled a barely audible whisper before carrying on their path deeper into the woods.

Groaning in disagreement, the exhausted Poppy just wants to collapse, but she believes in Doctor Hoffman's promise to keep moving.

Time passes and sunlight breaks through the trees' canopy dispelling the mysteries of the woods.

Woosh, a familiar sound begins as the crash of waves and cries of seagulls physically startles Poppy.

"Phone alarm," Poppy meekly states while patting herself down to turn off the alarm.

Doctor Hoffman grabs her hands and keeps Poppy moving forward.

"No one but you can hear it. All technological advances from our world, like my light brain or your phone, have been fused to our being some how." Doctor Hoffman explains as her brows furrow in a knot.

"I don't understand all the ends and outs of their current operations, but I am able to use all functions of my light brain. Whether they still need to be charged is still to be determined."

"I recommend using it sparingly until we can secure a replenishing magicule source." Doctor Hoffman releases a deep sigh, and Poppy finally becomes awake of the change in her environment.

Although exhausted, Poppy's body instinctively searches the air vibrations to find it lacking any magic catalyst. Then she turns the search inwards to find herself containing a low amounts of magicules.

"Doctor Hoffman, what happened to my magicules?" Poppy panics about her situation.

Doctor Hoffman goes ridged and her stony expression finally breaks in embarrassment. Ashamed, Doctor Hoffman turns away from the innocent Poppy.

"You don't remember..." Doctor Hoffman's voice goes back to a barely audible whisper.