The sun beat down on the desert ruin, baking away at the land causing heat waves to pulse up in the distance for miles. The site that Stars Team had been sent to through the old Belkan dimensional transfer array offered no sanctuary against the harsh sun, and already Subaru felt a desire to return to base, where it was oh so much cooler.
“How much longer are we gonna be here?” the girl complained, her shoulders sagging from exhaustion and boredom.
“You know we’re staying until Professor Scrya says we can leave, Subaru,” Teana grumbled, shooting a sidelong glance at her friend. Even then, sweat poured down the redhead’s face and neck, staining the fabric of her barrier jacket.
Down the pillar-lined pathway from the transfer array, the aforementioned scholar stood within a ring of stone and metal, examining the ancient words etched into the stone. Working at a nearby pedestal in its center was another man in drab colors, studying the device before him intently.
Some time ago, Riot Force Six had been pursuing a lead on what was possibly another one of Jail Scaglietti’s facilities, possibly a Gadget Drone production facility or another one of his research laboratories. While the lead had quickly proved itself to be unsubstantiated, they had discovered this ancient ruin instead. What more, they had also discovered what could only be a Lost Logia, older than the Belkan ruins around and just as mysterious. There were no outlying ghost towns, no long-forgotten roads, nothing that indicated any sort of significance to the Belkan civilization—only an old, magic-powered dimensional transfer array, an uncommon but not unheard of feature on Belkan-colonized worlds.
Naturally, it hadn’t taken long of Commander Hayate to assign them a mission to figure out the possible dangers of this Lost Logia, as well as its purpose. To that end, they had been joined by Yuuno Scrya, who was quickly enthralled by the ruins and whatever secrets that it may be hiding. A previous mission to the location had also revealed that it wasn’t as undiscovered as they had previously believed; another scholar had already arrived, and had been there for some time. But the man proved harmless, and Yuuno had felt it best that he stay, so that they could possibly pool their knowledge on the ruins and the Lost Logia.
Stars Team, however, were only there to set up some monitoring equipment and as protection for the two professors, against native Scarlett Dragons should they wander too close to the ruin, and to seal the Lost Logia should it prove to be dangerous. Thus far… it had been uneventful, even boring by Subaru’s standards. There were a few Scarlett Dragons nearby, but each of them seemed content to stay where they were, rather than attack the ruins and be destroyed by the Ace of Aces.
Of course, if the environmental conditions changed, that could easily change and send the worms racing for them in a berserk rage.
“Now, now, Yuuno-kun’s a reasonable man,” Nanoha spoke up, smiling and looking as if the sun couldn’t touch her at all. “I’m sure we’ll be done before the Scarlett Dragons realize we’re here.”
Anyone want to explain that to Mr. Scrya? Subaru thought, sparing a glance back at him at the other end of the ruin.
Yuuno removed the sketch paper from the wall and examined it, coming to the conclusion he had expected. “I think I’ve seen this kind of writing before,” he spoke up, expecting the other scholar to be listening. “It’s similar to a dead language on Non-Administrated World #97, called Latin.”
He walked around to the front of the Lost Logia’s altar and laid it down against the stone to get a better look at it. The other scholar looked up and leaned against its edge, waiting patiently for the archaeologist to explain his findings. “Now near as I can tell, the main body of the text represents a planetary history,” Yuuno explained, delighted to hear that there may actually be other signs of civilization on this planet—they had thought it to be yet another Non-Administrated world with no value whatsoever, but this proved that there could be more to it than just this unknown Lost Logia.
“I agree,” the other man said, removing his sunglasses for a moment and wiping sweat from his weary-looking eyes. “But shouldn’t you and your team to return to Mid-Childa?”
Yuuno didn’t hear him, too caught up in his findings. “What I don’t understand is what this is, some sort of… control mechanism,” he continued, causing the other man to sigh and pull a PDA out of his knapsack. “It’s obviously still in working condition compared to the ruin, but I wonder if that’s significant…”
The other scholar frowned. “There’s a magnetic storm is approaching, Dr. Scrya,” he said, looking back up at the man. “It’s going to upset the local wildlife. I’m sure that’ll make it dangerous for you and your team.”
“Oh, don’t worry about it,” he waved it off, gesturing back unconcerned. “Nanoha will be sure to let us know when we have to leave. Now, this line recurs several times…”
Once again, the scholar sighed, mild irritation flickering across his face as he listened to Yuuno speak the old language, but he quickly schooled his expression and racked his mind for the translation. “Conquerer of… time,” he said to Yuuno, sounding a bit uncertain. Yuuno was looking down at the paper, but shook his head slightly.
“Well, in this context, it’s more like ‘Master of the uncertain past,’” he corrected, though he looked somewhat unsure himself.
“You’re a skilled linguist, Dr. Scrya,” the scholar complimented, smiling a bit.
“Oh, thank you, I have the opportunity to study it back in the Infinite Library a year or so ago,” replied Yuuno, looking back down at the paper with the sketching.
A loud, electronic noise caught both men’s attention, coming from the scholar’s PDA. “What’s that?” Yuuno asked, frowning slightly.
“The geo-magnetic disturbance is reaching its peak,” the man replied, looking both delighted and nervous at the same time as he suddenly became more animated. “I have to act now.”
Yuuno looked back at the girls, all three of which seemed unconcerned at the far end of the ruin. He returned his gaze back to the Lost Logia and the other scholar, only to find the man holding up a Storage Device card, ready to use.
“I don’t understand,” Yuuno said, already knowing that the man intended to use the card against him.
For a brief moment, the scholar looked guilty, but in an instant the card disappeared in a flash of blue light, and energy swept over Yuuno before he could do anything, stunning him into unconsciousness and dropping him to the ground with a quiet thud. The three TSAB soldiers at the other end of the ruin missed the sudden attack, not hearing Yuuno collapse over the building wind.
The scholar sprang into action, trotting around the altar and dragging Yuuno behind one of the nearby pillars, out of sight. He returned to the front of the Lost Logia, where Yuuno had been standing, and after one quick check behind his shoulder he began his work. He pressed down on one of the tablets in the center, and then another, and another. Each press caused another tablet to lift up, and after six presses, he reached over and touched a crystal interface on one of the altar’s upraised sections to the side.
Immediately the tablets began to move themselves, sliding up and down in a pattern. Two more tablets were manually pressed in by the scholar, and energy built up through the ruins.
“That should do it,” Teana announced to Nanoha and Subaru, wiping sweat from her brow. “All of the equipment’s set up.”
“Good, let’s see if Yuuno-kun’s ready to go now,” Nanoha said, standing up from her seat on the transfer array’s steps.
Yuuno-kun, ready to get going? Raising Heart said that there’s a magnetic storm coming in, she sent telepathically to her childhood friend and former mentor.
She frowned when she got no response from him.
Yuuno-kun?
Subaru and Teana shared a look as Nanoha started down the path to the Lost Logia, and quickly followed after her. It was then that the three of them noticed the scholar at work, and heard the rising hum of energy, like static electricity building up all around them.
“Nanoha-san,” Subaru muttered, looking about nervously.
She already nodded. “I hear it too,” she said, her expression hardening.
Electricity suddenly swarmed over the nearest pillars in front of the ring, quickly focusing into coherent beams of mana that pierced through the smaller pillars lining the path, straight to the old Belkan array. A large, triangular Belkan magic circle manifested across the floor, swirling as it called up a transfer window for the briefest of moments. It collapsed, but the magic circle stayed as it spun and began to change.
Halfway across dimensional space, panic erupted at Riot Force Six’s rebuilt headquarters as they detected the incoming dimensional transfer from the location that Nanoha, Yuuno, Subaru, and Teana had been sent to. “What’s going on?” Fate asked as Hayate rushed down to the site. She had bandages covering her arm and chest, from an accident in her previous mission.
“Something seems to be amiss,” Signum said, frowning as she looked down at the magic circle that appeared. Soon, energy began to spray out from the circle, causing her to blink in shock.
“What is
that?” Fate demanded, looking shocked.
Back at the ruins, the three girls quickly rushed to the Lost Logia, intent to shut it down.
“Are you doing this!?” Teana demanded as she pulled out and activated Cross Mirage, aiming at the scholar.
“Yuuno-kun!” Nanoha exclaimed in shock as she spotted her friend, unconscious on the ground. She quickly rushed over to his side, making sure he hadn’t been killed.
“Get away!” the scholar screamed at the three of them, looking panicked and angry.
“The heck are you doing!?” Subaru shouted back, charging forward alongside Teana, tackling the man and trying to pull him away from the Lost Logia.
“No! Stay back!”
Nanoha looked up just as four beams form the corners of the ring struck her two subordinates and the scholar, covering them in bluish-white light. “Subaru! Teana!” she exclaimed as the energy overtook them. The hum of energy reached the breaking point, and the three of them disappeared into the light.
===flicker===
Light filtered out of Subaru’s eyes, and she blinked as her sight returned fully, showing her… a spoonful of breakfast cereal held before her mouth?
Voices reached her ears. “… anyways, I’m sorry, but that’s just how I happen to feel about it,” said the voice of Vice Granscenic. “What do you think?” he asked the girl.
The cyborg blinked, now completely unsure as to what was going on. The strangest feeling of déjà vu overtook her. “What?” she asked, confused.
The man shared a look with Alto beside him and then back at Subaru, and patiently restated, “What do you think?”
Subaru merely looked around, feeling as if this had happened before. She only looked more and more confused.
“Subaru, something wrong?” Alto asked, looking concerned for the other girl.
The girl considered it, looking back down at her breakfast.
“Maybe?”