Chapter Text
Shin woke to the cacophonous cry of cicadas, shrieking like the voices of the dead that never left him. The humid air of Summer clung to his skin; it felt suffocating, as if constricting his neck itself. When he opened his eyes, Shin found himself in his usual room at the barracks in the 86th District. It was muggy and smelled of wet dirt, but it was the room he was all too familiar with. He felt exhausted, but he tried to get up.
Tried.
He couldn't move.
Hands nor arms nor feet nor legs. He couldn't move an inch. The most he could do was look around the room. He couldn't even move his neck. He tried calling out for someone, anyone, to no avail. His voice simply wouldn't come out.
He tried calling out to another. To—who was it again? It was someone he knew he could rely on, someone he had been seeking for as long as he could remember, someone who had given him hope, that precious smile that met him at the end of a long journey. How could he forget someone as important as that? He tried to cry but was unable to even produce any tears.
This paralysis akin to death—he was familiar with it, as if his head had been disconnected from the rest of his body.
Ah.
He rolled his eyes as far right as he could, catching his reflection within the blade of his knife that was stuck into his desk.
His head had been severed.
Then he heard a voice, resonant and all-encompassing. He felt it reverberate through his body, and he felt small, insignificant. It was like the voice had physical weight, and he was completely under its command. Even a mustard seed was pungent when consumed, but he even lacked strength as small as that. He was helpless. Mortal.
Ashamedly human.
His eyes were fixated on his reflection from the blade—rather, he had lost control of them. He could only watch as his deep, black eyes morphed into a shining gold, like the sun's flames, almost too bright to look directly at. Only then did he realize the source of the voice.
< I AM ME. MY EXISTENCE SIMPLY IS. >
It was himself.
Shin jolted up from his bed, waking to the cacophonous cry of cicadas, shrieking like the voices of the dead that never left him. He was panting, sweating through the humid air of Summer that clung to his skin; it felt suffocating, as if constricting his neck itself, but he found himself not within the usual muggy room of the barracks in the 86th District, but in his new, much cleaner room within the Federacy of Giad—one actually fitting for a human to live in.
That's right. He didn't live in that nightmare anymore. His breathing slowed.
Shin shook his head, holding his forehead within his palm as he focused his breathing some more. When he finally regained composure, he gazed towards his desk, which had a small paper calendar sitting on top. A date was circled multiple times in a bright, bold red. He recalled Raiden doing it.
July 12 - Lena's birthday. Don't forget, idiot!
Her birthday was a week from now. Shin wanted to do something for her, but he didn't know what to do. Gifts and celebrations weren't his strength, after all, but, still, she had given him a purpose to live. Her tearful smile when they met face-to-face on that long awaited day was etched into his heart, and that conviction was further cemented. They had come all this way in the battlefield and finally met. He didn't want to be separated ever again. At the very least, he should put in a little effort to give her something for her birthday.
He touched his neck. His old childhood scar stung a little.
A few knocks sounded at his door. "Shin! You up yet?" It was Raiden calling out to him.
"…yeah."
He opened the door, only to see Shin still in bed. "Liar. You haven't moved at all!"
"I just woke up."
"Alright, whatever you say. Just get ready. We're having a mission briefing soon. Try not to be too late."
Shin nodded wordlessly, and Raiden shut the door with a sigh.
He graced his scar with his fingertips once more, recalling the nightmare he had. It had been some time since he and the rest of his friends had reconnected with Lena, but Shin still found himself having the same nightmare from time to time—losing his body and his memories of what made him a person.
Forgetting her.
It was a fear he'd carried for a while now. He'd feared turning into one of the Legion, losing himself like his brother and Frederica's knight had, being forced to fight his friends.
And Lena.
His thoughts always returned to her. Things were different now after meeting her. He gained hope, but he also feared losing it much more. When he fought in the Republic within the 86th District, he wasn't sure what he was living for, but now…
…he certainly had to live.
But last night was the first time his dream included that voice. It wasn't like anything he heard before. It was distorted, neither obviously male nor female, like a menagerie of voices of people of different ages. The voices of the Legion's Shepherds traveled far, and he could clearly hear those voices, but this voice carried a sense of absoluteness, like whatever it spoke was truth.
The Voice of God.
Having lived with a priest as a child, Shin was aware of god but didn't have any strong feelings about His existence. He had the knowledge, but his belief ended there. In any case, even though it wasn't exactly the same, the voice he heard was similar to those of the Legion, the ones that he was used to. Still, if he had to relate that voice to something in the end, his mind wandered back to that possibility.
No, no. He shook his head. There was no way a god existed in this world. If a god truly existed, after all, how could the atrocities that he and the other Eighty-Six experienced even occurred in the first place? He was sure of it.
Eventually, Shin finished donning his steel-blue military uniform. It technically wasn't perfectly ironed, but he figured it was prim and proper enough to avoid rebuke. After the mission briefing, he would have to seriously think of ideas for Lena's birthday present. Since he was meeting with everyone else later, they would probably have some ideas. He shoved the nightmare to the back of his mind for now.
Satisfied enough with his appearance, he left his room, with the remnants of last night's voice lingering inside his head when the door's lock latched shut.
Within a briefing room, Lena stood at the front with a clipboard in hand and a projected screen by her side. She stood resolute, her face carrying a certain sense of seriousness, more so than usual. Only the Spearhead Squadron sat in the room, and all heads turned to Shin when he entered.
"Took you long enough," Theo snidely remarked, leaning back on his chair with his arms behind his head. Raiden, who was seated next to him, just sighed, knowing that he'd be late. Frederica, who sat behind Raiden, sighed with him, her arms crossed.
"Sorry," Shin answered plainly as he took his seat. He nodded towards Lena, who greeted him with a smile.
"Now that Captain Nouzen is here, we can finally get started." With that, the screen beside Lena flashed, now showing a map with a red marker in the center of a city and another further out. "As you're aware, much of the Republic's territory is still under Legion control, and we've been steadily trying to reclaim it; however, something…different came to our attention recently."
She had an unnatural pause to her explanation, as if she wasn't quite sure how to explain it. Nevertheless, she advanced the slide.
"There is a certain ruined city on the outskirts of the Republic. There's nothing particularly remarkable about this location. It holds no strategic value and is far from any significant resources. According to the Federacy's intelligence, even though there is supposed to be an abandoned factory located here, it was only highly active for a couple of weeks before the signal became weaker, but there isn't even any Legion presence here to show for it." She paused for a moment, glancing at Shin for confirmation, who nodded.
Lena returned the gesture and continued. "There are two points of interest. One is within this city, where we intercepted that…odd signal a couple of weeks ago as I said. What's more, outside of the city, the naturally arid area suddenly began to experience accelerated desertification, and at the same time as this started happening, we intercepted another…odd signal."
There was that pause again.
"Colonel," Shin finally spoke up. "If there's something bothering you, please speak freely. It doesn't help if we're vague on the details."
"Sorry, I'm not trying to be vague on purpose. It's just that we've never received a signal like this before."
"Could it be a new type of Legion?" Anju asked as multiple members of the squad narrowed their eyes at her. A new type of Legion would certainly be concerning.
"That's within the realm of possibility. Actually, that's the leading theory, that the first signal was the factory creating the source of the second signal. The troubling thing is that the signals don't exactly match what we know from the Legion. So, we attempted to investigate them with unmanned drones, but whenever we send drones out to the area…well…It's easier if you see for yourself."
Lena played a video next. It was a grainy recording from one of their unmanned land drones. The screen rocked as it traversed the rocky landscape, but soon enough, the environment quickly transitioned to sand—it was a true desert, with no vegetation or animals in sight.
Within minutes, the screen was filled with sand as a sandstorm seemed to erupt out of nowhere, engulfing the drone. The audio playback was horrible, filled with noisy static from the constant grains of sand pelleting the drone's metal hull. Then, the screen began to shake violently, and the ground before it split apart into rocky hills and valleys, as if something were burrowing underneath the ground. The drone was stuck. Too much sand had clogged up its gears. A low rumble or roar, like the creaking of some kind of massive, metallic object, was heard before the video feed was terminated. The shifting landscape had crushed the drone.
"And that's all we could see before the drone was destroyed. All of our attempts to approach the desert, let alone reach the city, have ended like this."
"So, in other words, we're supposed to investigate the cause of the desertification—the second signal—to get to the city, where the first signal is," Raiden summarized.
Lena nodded. "Yes, that's correct."
"That city," Frederica said, pointing to the location of the first signal, "it used to be a fairly populated location, was it not? I find it difficult to believe that there is not a single Legion hiding within." She looked across the row to Shin. "Shinei…"
"Yeah. It's as she—Colonel Milizé—says. I only sense one presence within the city, and another within the desert. There don't seem to be an active Legion presence there."
"Hm…If that is what you say." She sat back in her seat. She trusted Shin's ability, but the facts still didn't sit right with her.
Kurena shot her hand up. "Sorry, but if it's so dangerous and the Legion aren't even there, isn't the risk too high?"
"That's…also true, but the desertification is getting worse as we speak, and with the signal being reminiscent of the Legion's, if it's truly this powerful…then it's difficult to ignore."
And that was probably the reason for Lena's hesitation, Shin surmised. There just wasn't enough information about whatever was going on, but it was definitely too significant to leave it alone. No one wants to go into a mission blind, and Lena didn't want to send them out on a blind mission like this either, but they tacitly understood that there wasn't anyone more capable for a mission like this.
Shin, who could hear the Legion coming, was best suited for a mission where sight was compromised. It was a logical decision to send their squadron out. He closed his eyes in acceptance.
"When do we set out?"
"In a few days. We'll see if we can get any other information that would be helpful, but prepare with the assumption that this will be all we have. I'll also be following along in the Vanadis so I can see for myself what we're dealing with."
"…understood, Colonel." Shin furrowed his brow a little.
"That concludes the mission briefing. If there are any further questions, feel free to stop by my room." After a salute, Lena exited the room, her heels clacking against the ground.
Soon after, though, Shin, who had been deliberating at his seat, stood up from his chair and chased after her down the hall.
"Colonel Milizé," he called out with some urgency.
"Captain Nouzen," she said, a little surprised. "What is it?"
"I don't think it's necessary that you need to come along to a reconnaissance mission like this. It's not like you have to be there in person, and you'll be able to see everything through the battle camera afterwards."
Lena pouted. "I've already decided that I have to fight along you all. Plus, communications will be easier if I'm there in person, especially in a sandstorm. I have to see for myself."
She was obstinate. Shin knew this about her, and though he respected that she had the skills to back it up—she was a great tactician after all—he still had an odd feeling about this, similar to the imperfect signal the Federacy had intercepted. He had no evidence for this, but he still couldn't help but feel that something was off.
That voice he heard last night. It was from a dream, but somehow it seemed similar to the faint voices he heard in the distance from where Lena pointed out the two signals.
But Lena stood her ground. Her stalwart eyes met his. These were the eyes that had been searching for Shin and the others across the battlefield until she finally found them. Lena wasn't weak.
He sighed. There was no convincing her. He didn't even know how to express his trepidation. What was he supposed to say? "It came to me in a dream?"
"Understood, Colonel. We'll be in your care as usual then."
Lena smiled and started to walk back down the hall again, when Shin called out once more. "Ah, sorry, there's one more thing, actually."
She stopped again, this time a little more confused. It wasn't like Shin to be this uncertain. His expression barely shifted, but something about it read as puzzled. She found it a little cute, actually.
"It's…your birthday soon, isn't it? Is there anything you would like?"
Lena tried to stifle a laugh but failed miserably as she clutched her stomach with her clipboard in a hearty outburst. Shin felt his face heat up a little, but he had to ask. Rather than risking getting pranked if he asked Raiden or the others, he decided it was best to just ask the person herself.
Once she calmed down, she wiped a tear from her eye. "Well, maybe once the mission is over, you can get me a strawberry cake or something, Captain."
The desert was as awful as the drone's footage suggested. The Reginleif was among the lightest of the Feldreß, but its weight still threatened to sink through the shifting sands if it stood in place for too long. They had to keep moving. Even ignoring that, they couldn't stay here for too long anyway.
"It's too damn hot…"
"I'm sweating…"
"It's so stuffy in here…"
It was hot.
At the peak of Summer, with the sun blazing high above the desert, the field was constantly radiating heat off of every surface, and the Reginleifs were portable ovens. The internal cooling system, while significantly better than the Juggernauts, couldn't last in such an environment for too long. Since this mission's purpose was primarily reconnaissance, once they got the information they needed, they could immediately retreat.
"H-how's everyone doing?" Lena asked out of politeness rather than true intrigue. She knew that they were definitely feeling the heat.
"Well…" Shin began. He stared out of Undertaker's display screens, but all he saw was a monochromatic expanse of brown underneath a cloudless blue sky. The difference in color was nice, he supposed, but the unobstructed rays from the sun was almost mocking. As he tried to talk, he found that his tongue was dry.
A drop of sweat dripped from his chin and landed on his pants.
"It's hot."
"Of course it is, isn't it…" Lena hung her head. There wasn't any point in asking, in the end. She glanced at the corner of the Vanadis, where Frederica had melted into a small puddle. Fido was panicking.
Shin sighed. "So, where's our target?"
"Yeah, there's nothin' but sand out here," Theo remarked.
Lena scanned one of the screens inside the Vanadis, Lena's mobile headquarters. "The last time the signal in the desert was intercepted, it was around…here." She marked the spot on the map, which synced with everyone else's.
"Kurena, do you see anything?" Shin asked.
She focused as hard as she could as she stared against the shining surface of the sand. The feeling of sweat gathering at the sides of her headset was irritating, but what irritated her even more was the sheer plainness of the desert. There was nowhere to hide. She almost wondered if she skipped over something shining in the distance because of the mirage effect, but she was confident that she hadn't.
"Nothing. It's all just sand, sand, and more sand! I hate it!"
"Kurena, just bear with it for a little longer, okay?" Anju lightly chastised her.
Shin looked around his Reginleif. Still nothing. Not even the sandstorms that the drone had recorded. "Let's progress further in. We'll give it a little longer before our cooling systems give out."
They marched forward for another hour under the brutal sun, still without any new intel. The desert was awfully quiet, except for the occasional gust of wind that struck past, without any foliage in the way. Eventually, the wind began to pick up, kicking up sand in the air with it.
"Hey, Shin," Theo said, "don't you think it's about time we head back? Sandstorm's picking up."
Shin focused harder. He was sure he heard a little bit of something, somewhere, but every time they got close, the feeling would disappear again. He sighed. It was pointless to chase something that he couldn't pinpoint.
"Yeah, you're right. Spearhead, let's—"
Just as he said that, the ground began to rumble. Their lightweight Feldreß slid against the slippery sand, so they quickly readjusted their positioning as best as they could to try to keep their footing.
"W-woah, was that an earthquake?"
"Should probably get outta here quick then," Raiden said as he strained his eyes to look outside. The sandstorm was really picking up now. "Shin, we should go—"
"Wait…" Shin planted Undertaker's legs in the sand, closed his eyes, and listened. The feeling was back, and it was stronger than before, but given their location, they should be able to see whatever it was by now…unless…
He snapped his eyes open.
"Enemy rapidly approaching from beneath us…! Move!"
The members of Spearhead immediately obeyed, steering their Reginleifs as far away from where they were as possible without slipping, but with the sandstorm at its worst, it was easier said than done.
"Sh-Shin…! I'm picking up a signal from the desert! It's our target!" Lena shouted from the para-RAID.
The more the rumbling intensified, the stronger the sandstorm became. Visibility reduced dramatically within a matter of seconds. Shin could barely see a few meters in front of him, but at least he could tell that they had made it a distance away from the signal. Even if the enemy were something giant, like the Morpho, there were no other Legion with sensory capabilities to help aim and detect targets. The sandstorm would be their veil. The ant-like Reginleifs could easily hide.
And given the intensity of the tremors, whatever this thing was, was massive.
The ground shook, and a low roar reverberated through the surface, shaking Undertaker. Shin clenched his teeth as he struggled to maintain balance as the earth began to crack.
Suddenly, there was silence. The earthquake stopped. The roar that he felt through his chest had ceased. But the sandstorm raged. The only things he could hear was the sand bouncing off of Undertaker and his own breathing.
He brought Undertaker to a sliding stop and turned around to see if he could catch a glimpse of it, whatever it was. His eyes followed the trail of cracks in the ground to the horizon.
A distance away, he could only just barely make out the silhouette of something like a serpent snaking out of the earth. If he could still see it from this far away, it had to have been at least a few stories high. Then he saw something like a glowing, golden ring above it, like a halo. It turned around, and Shin saw a set of four small glowing dots staring in his direction.
It had noticed them.
"What the hell is that…?"
"Is that…really a Legion…?"
And he heard its voice. It came from a distance away, but even from where Shin was, he felt that death was imminent, like a deer that sensed a predator was lurking nearby. He couldn't make sense of the words coming from the serpent, but it was unmistakable. It wasn't the same, but it reminded him of the voice from his dream, and that thought was a vice against his heart.
A tremendous roar shook the sand from its direction, rattling Undertaker's hull, and a ball of light began to gather, intensifying the already sweltering heat of the desert. The air around the orb seemed to waver, and any bit of sand that approached it was instantly vaporized. It pulsated more and more the larger it became, until there was one final pulse of heat that rushed outwards. A massive surge of heat seared through the sandstorm.
"…!"
The blinding light consumed Shin's vision. The last thing he heard was the cacophonous cry of cicadas.