The sound of the dry leaves being crushed as they go by fill their ears. The smell of dirt reaching their noses. The shadows of trees and leaves cover them. A blonde-wavy haired girl, and white-haired slim girl, a fluffy haired slim guy, all in standard lightweight armor, with form-fitting mail, shirt, bottoms, boots and bags, and an old lady wearing a single purple gown tied to the waist and simple sandals walk through the Stardust forest.

“Now this is weird” says Aversa.

“Something is indeed not right” says Tomoe.

“What is the matter?” says Titania.

“I’m not the only that was feeling bothered eh?” says Lacus.

“I don’t understand” says Titania, turning to each other “what is not right?”

“Can’t you tell?” says Tomoe.

“Sweety, don’t you hear?”

Titania stops walking, takes a deep breath, and closes her eyes, taking her hair out of the way of her ears.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t hear a thing.”

“That is exactly the issue sweety” says Aversa, as she puts her hands together “This is a forest, it is supposed to be alive, noisy, but…”

“It is silent as a grave” says Tomoe.

“So that what was bothering me” murmurs Lacus aside, putting a hand to his chin.

“I don’t know if it is as silent as something as a grave though” says Aversa, bringing a hand to her mouth “but it is strange.”

As they continue the road, they notice that many trees have been uprooted and put aside the road. Other trees have been burned, and the ones still in place have the marks of claws and burns on them.

“For the time of the year, there are too many leaves in the ground” remarks Tomoe.

“Did the animals and magic beasts had a fight with each other?” wonders Lacus.

“Can’t be. They fight all the time yes, but not at this level” says Tomoe.

“You seem familiar with the forest, sweety” remarks Aversa.

“I’ve been here a couple of times in my life. I’m just familiar with it” says Tomoe, with a smirk on her face.

“Forest, eh?” says Titania.

“Something the matter?” asks Lacus.

“Ah, no, I was just wondering things.”

“The road may be large sweety, why don’t share what is troubling your mind? As long as your fine with it that is.”

“Oh, no, it is nothing serious, really.” Says Titania, as she rubs the back of her neck with her right hand “I was just wondering about something I was told a long time ago, about my… ancestors. It just came up to my mind right now.”

“Oh, history? I have a brother in the city, the old rascal, he wanted to study the history of our world even when everyone told him to not go for it and dedicate himself to more useful things.”

“Really now? But being a historian doesn’t pay very well” says Lacus.

“It is his passion sweety, certainly he has a lot for it, especially if it concerns the history before the Wolf of the End, you know, that giant wolf appeared in our world, eating half of the world, taking even memories away. But look at me, babbling and rambling along. This isn’t about me, what were you saying sweety?” says Aversa, as she giggles a bit and they resume walking.

“No, well. I was just wondering if the Weiss people had a connection to nature since times long past. Someone told me that this was the case… a long time ago.”

“And you don’t know if it is true, right sweety?”

“Pretty much” says Titania, while sinking in her shoulders “since I was told this, I have always watched the Stardust forest from home, and paid attention to the plants around me, but… I kinda don’t feel any kind of special connection with them.”

“Don’t fret sweety, you aren’t the only one that has asked herself those questions I can assure you that. Many, many people have always wondered what was life like before the Wolf of the End appeared in the world, but it is a useless enterprise to search for it” says Aversa. Taking a stop, she sighs and looks at Titania “half of the world, half of history, almost all of the old magic, our very memories, and records. The Wolf took all of that. Have you ever seen a book of the old times? If you open it, if time hasn’t turned it into dust, you will find it completely blank. No secrecy there, no invisible ink. The Wolf took it, and we can’t do a thing about what we lost.”

“To think that our very history was wiped out from the face of the world” says Tomoe.

“It is indeed something to fear” says Aversa “What kind of being has such power? Of robbing our own identity from us without we being able to do anything, at all. But, and this is something I personally think, I don’t think it was a completely bad thing.”

“How so?” says Titania, blinking repeatedly and they resume walking, once more.

“Sweety, history is history for a reason, isn’t it? It is in the past, and look at us, we have been living well enough in the present without it. You can’t do anything for what was lost, so the only thing you could do is living life now, you being you. What matters if the Weiss people had a connection with nature before? Even if this were true, you would be still you, and I would still be me. Don’t let the past put you shackles sweety, and don’t trouble yourself for it.”

“That-” Titania starts saying, Lacus interjects and completes the sentence “was a good advice that no one asked for.”

“Not saying that knowing your roots is bad or anything” Aversa says, giggling “but I believe it is better if you focus on the now, to be a person of good heart. Also, if even Lord Hazuki couldn’t restore the old world, we may as well not even try.”

“A person of good heart uh?” says Tomoe.

The forest road starts to open, and the group enters a wide space without trees. Walking a bit further, they get to the Butterfly lake.

Looking up, Tomoe sees the gray clouds that are gathering on top of them, trying to prevent the sunlight to reach the forest.

As they get to the shore of the lake, Lacus’ eyes catches a figure, sitting by the shore a bit further from where they were.

“Who… who is that?” Lacus says.

“Uh?” says Tomoe, as she and Titania turn to the direction Lacus is pointing.

“You old senile!” says Aversa, letting a loud voice escape her, as she goes to were the figure is.

“Will go with her” says Lacus, following.

Tomoe and Titania stand there, looking at how Aversa gets to the figure by the shore, and the ensuing yelling starts.

Looking at the end of the lake, by the side of the road that continues onward, they see the old statue sitting there, with a giant old disk. Tomoe touches the bag she is carrying, feeling the bong that her mother entrusted her with.

“Wonder what will happen if we sound the disk with the bong” says Titania.

“If it happens that we are being invaded… somehow, I guess we will find out then”.

“Any idea on how it could help us?”

“No, but my mother told me that it would.”

“Lady Aquamarine eh? She certainly seems to know more than one might think at first.”

“Since I have memory, she has been always like this, and always being right about everything” says Tomoe “Come on, we need to keep going.”

“Right.”

The girls move along the shore, to where Lacus and the old couple is. The sound of the breeze disrupting the mirror like surface of the lake.

“Is everything ok?” says Titania, as the girls get close enough.

“Oh sweety, there you are.”

“Lacus?” says Tomoe.

“Nothing severe, but the old man has almost run out of Aura, so he was in a tight spot. He can’t even muster the strength to talk.”

“What to do? I can’t take him by myself all the way back. I know you are on a mission, but could you spare more time to help us?” says Aversa.

Putting a hand to her chin, Tomoe gives it a thought. While she meditates, Lacus says:

“I’ll stay back and give the old man first aid.”

“What?” says Tomoe, leaving the thinking pose “do you know that we may actually need you further down the line?”

“I know, but-” says Lacus, looking at the old couple “I just can’t leave them here.”

“Wait a mi-” starts saying Tomoe, before Titania puts a hand on her left shoulder, and interrupts “Lets leave him here.”

“What are you talking about Titania?”

“I know it bothers you, but the old couple are also Aquamarines, and we have the duty to protect them too” looking at Lacus, then looking back to Tomoe, she adds, whispering “he may need it too.”

Tomoe turns back, rubbing her eyes with her fingers.

Titania adds “besides, if we are two, we can move better than being three, and if this a mission of speed, wouldn’t that be better?”

Tomoe lets a sigh escape, and says “that just depends on the situation”, then, turning back once again facing Lacus, she says “But it is true, our mission is to protect the lives of the Aquamarines, our fellow citizens, our family.”

Hearing this, Lacus’ eyes widen, and a smile is drawn on his face “thank you.”

Aversa comes closer, and also says “Thank you sweety.”

“No need ma’am, it is our job” says Titania.

“Still, once again, let me thank you, from the bottom of my heart.”

“Titania, since we are going with one less, let's engage our Auras and reach the outpost faster.”

“Roger that” says Titania, with a smile in her face too.

“Come on Aversa, I’ll need a bit of help from you” says Lacus, while he crouches again besides the old man.

“Sure sweety, anything.”

“Lacus” says Tomoe, coming closer to his ear and whispering “if anything happens, be on guard, I’ll either sound the bell at the outpost or I’ll let a sign made with embers flare in the sky. If either of those things happens, be on your guard.”

Walking back to Titania’s side, they engage their Auras. A blue light envelops Tomoe, while a yellow one envelops Titania. Absorbing the light inside their own bodies, mostly in their legs, they start moving with a sprint forward.

Leaving behind the lake at high speeds, they move further down the road. Trees on the ground, bashed, with claw marks, with burnt marks, a carpet of leaves covering the road. Many corpses of animals, natural and magic alike.

As they reach the bifurcation, Tomoe stops, to which Titania stops too

“Something the matter?” asks Titania, while Tomoe goes by the side of the road, searching for something. After walking for a bit, she finds it, besides a tree that is down on the floor.

“Come.”

As Titania comes closer, she manages to see what Tomoe was searching: A hole in the ground.

“What is this?”

“A hole in the ground that connects to the underground rivers that feed lake butterfly.”

“Really?” Titania says, being baffled for a bit at the encounter, and kneeling, only to hear the river going by further in the shadows.

“It is indeed true” Titania says, standing back up “But what are we going to do with this? Wait… oh, you want to Throw in our switch objects in case that we need an escape?”

Tomoe opens her eyes wide, and says “Indeed, that is exactly what are we going to do” while she brings out her switch object: a cube, that she throws inside the hole.

“Who told you about this hole?” says Titania, as she throws her own object: A really big knife.

A loud noise comes from the hole, followed by a lower one, of objects hitting a body of water.

“That cube… it was pretty heavy eh?”

“It is, and the one that told me about this hole was a teacher from my days at the Beheaders barracks.”

“I see. Well, shall we continue?”

“Yes.”

Coming back to the road, they take the right, and in a couple of minutes they get to the outpost.

Tomoe stops, while putting an arm to sign Titania to stop too. She looks at the sky, almost completely covered in grey and dark clouds.

“What an ominous sight” says Titania.

“Indeed. And I can’t see anyone out here” answers Tomoe, around.

Walking into the outpost, Tomoe signs to Titania, with her hand, to follow her. No, a sole soul can be heard, besides the footsteps of the girls as they enter the abandoned temple.

Inside the big rectangular room, Titania says:

“What should we do?”

“I was thinking the same question too” says Tomoe, whispering “as Sophia’s group is, by now, disappeared, I was wondering if the enemy was here when they got here, and took them out.”

“Ugh… Sounds plausible, at least it would explain this strong smell of burnt flesh that is in the air” says Titania.

“We are only two, and still, we haven’t been attacked yet, by anyone. And they could have seen us coming from a distance, no matter how fast we closed it.”

“True.”

“Which makes me think that maybe the enemy isn’t here anymore.”

“Now you are reaching into it,” says Titania.

“But you can’t disprove it either.”

“That doesn’t mean that you aren’t reaching,” says Titania, adding “that still doesn’t answer the question: What should we do first?”

“I was thinking into checking over the Forest corridor first, that is our mission after all. We will be in a better position having the high ground and only needing to cover two sides instead of more, in case of an ambush.”

“Sounds good,” says Titania, as they both start moving towards the belfry. They open the door at their left, walk down a corridor, and find the stairs by the end. As they are going up, Tomoe reaches first the top of the belfry. As Tomoe steps up, she is greeted with a large bell, so large that she and Titania could easily fit inside it. Then, she turns to see over the valley of the forest corridor… and the sight stuns her, robbing her breath.

Rain. The dark clouds, and the sound of rain. The only thought that runs through Tomoe mind right now is that right now it must be raining. The droplets are falling, but the sound they make when hitting the ground shakes Tomoe’s heart: Many fall without rhyme nor reason, but many others like if it were an orchestra.

Please, tell me it is raining. Fall upon me, sting me, drench me… tell me it is raining.

An army, far more than what Tomoe expected, than anyone back at the city expected, has already crossed half of the forest corridor. Their march resounding across the valley, they carry banners of war.