Among the desolate landscape of delipidated buildings and bygone structures of the past was a looming city in perpetual solitude. Above it were fragmented skies of a forgotten era, bestowing an eternal grey of nothingness. It was the consequence of humanity delving into matters beyond their comprehension.
However, this wasn't a tale of the past but rather the chronicle of the present. In the splintered heavens was a shattered lapse of reality, a fracture of light which gleamed with an unrivaled brilliance. It pierced through the subdued ambiance of the ghastly world, akin to a beacon of luster to the bleak setting.
Ejected from the cryptic fracture were two silhouettes who made their quick descent and softly landed on the ground with unspoken proficiency. Naomi opened her eyelids and observed their surroundings with undeterred scrutiny before reservedly commenting. "It has been a while."
Pat narrowed his gaze as a neon glint escaped from his irises for a moment. He glanced at the ruined buildings with a hint of nostalgia, his cybernetic eyes scanning every nook and cranny nearby. "Alcyone, huh?"
"I remembered our first mission as a squad in this macrocosm. It felt as though it was yesterday." After sweeping the surroundings with his sensors, he checked his remaining arsenal of a dozen grenades. 'This should last us for a while.'
Naomi gazed indifferently upon the barren landscape filled to the brim with ruined buildings of a long-forgotten era. It was leftovers of an old civilization, a vast city of isolation. Those who stepped inside would be lost and consumed by the tendrils of the macrocosm.
They would have received the same unfortunate fate if not for their boss getting spewed away from them during their descent into the fracture. With a pleasant yet ugly smile of relief, Pat expressed his satisfaction. "Fractures really are dreadfully unreliable and dangerous."
"But I'm glad that it is the former."
Naomi stretched her limbs and checked her sheathed blade for damages before inquiring with a listless tone. "Do you have a plan in mind, Pat? I can't strategize that much, so I'll leave it to you."
He briefly raised his eyebrows at her inquiry but realized that she wasn't the type of person to handle problems strategically. She was simply someone who would gladly march in the direction pointed out by her superiors. With this in mind, he promptly pondered to himself in silence.
"Since the boss is outside of the macrocosm, there's no doubt she'll try to get us out. At the very least, we won't be trapped here for a long time." Although, it was far from being actually muted. "Unless, of course, something else occurs to the boss."
"But I doubt anything will happen. After all, between the three of us, the boss is the strongest." Pat grinned while winking towards Naomi, who pouted and crossed her arms in a detached manner. "I wouldn't have followed anyone weaker than me."
"At any rate, we need to head an anchor within the macrocosm. SIGIL should have those machines planted throughout Alcyone for their Investigators. As long as the Inquisitor the boss hired is adept in macrocosm exploration, we should inevitably meet near anchors."
It was a proper and compelling plan, but Naomi nonchalantly shook her head and rejected the proposition with indifference. After all, there was something they needed to do first before locating an anchor within the macrocosm.
Pointing towards a particular direction, she aloofly expounded. "The briefcase Robin carried managed to break out of her fingers and plummeted with us, shortly disappearing into another fracture. It contains the artifact relating to the commission. We need to find it."
The moment he heard her, Pat sighed to himself and mumbled. "Why did you even bother asking me for a plan?" To which Naomi responded by merely tilting her in apathetic confusion. He was further dismayed but understood that it was simply the usual antics of their vanguard.
"Regardless, you're right about locating the lost briefcase. The boss worked hard to acquire the commission, so it would be disappointing if the artifact was absent when we leave this macrocosm." The edges of his lips transformed into a smile, forgoing whatever occurred moments ago.
"Since it descended with us, the briefcase shouldn't be far away. Can you detect it, Pat?" Naomi distantly stared at the muscular man, who sighed to himself and expressed in capitulation. "Even my eyes don't have that much range within the macrocosm, Robin."
"Otherwise, I would have become an Investigator instead of being stranded in the middle of nowhere." Pat patted his pockets before taking something out of it. "Luckily, the boss was prepared about the scenario of the lost briefcase. I'm glad that I didn't lose this during the fall."
"It's a locator given to me by the boss in case we lose the briefcase one way or the other. Although the locator isn't working well because of the spatial and temporal interference within the macrocosm, it should be..." Pat lightly tapped the locator screen, compelling it to utter a ping.
"The briefcase is sending us a high-frequency ping, but it practically becomes a beacon as nearby receivers might also be able to detect it." He returned the locator to his pocket and pointed in the opposite direction of where Naomi formerly directed her finger.
"Alright, let's go. We don't have the time to dawdle around despite the peculiarities of the temporal anomalies that flood this place." Pat pressed onward while the indifferent girl followed from behind. They navigated through the devastated streets crowded with remains of ruined buildings.
While crossing through the desolated landscape with Pat on the lead, Naomi glanced at the bygone structures of the old civilization and reflected. "Nothing really has changed. Even after that battle, Alcyone seems to be in a perpetual state of solitude and concrete futility."
"That is the magic of macrocosms, Naomi... Nothing ever changes. Even if you bomb the entire place into damnation, it would return to its original form moments later. You can consider this place as temporally eternal." Pat replied and continued guiding the two of them.
Maneuvering through derelict buildings of the bygone past, the two wandered in covert silence. They avoided the open and devastated street as though it were their bane and sneaked between the alleys of towering and desolated concrete.
Their steps, muted yet determined, marched through the macrocosm as their eyes scanned the surroundings with piercing scrutiny. The dangers of the setting weren't merely through temporal and spatial anomalies. There were far greater threats, abominable creatures of corruption.
As Pat took a step forward, he suddenly halted and gestured for Naomi to stop moving. He squinted his eyes and tapped the locator before turning his gaze toward a specific direction. "The briefcase is 50 meters away, but we need to be careful. I sense something astray nearby."
His words were hushed and grim, prompting the indifferent girl to nod in understanding. The two of them muffled their steps and eased their speed while utilizing massive rubbles as cover. It didn't take long for the trouble to surface.
In the distance were abominations of the macrocosms, former humans corrupted by the imbalance of aetherion, mutating into monstrous beings of destruction and death. These monsters were an amalgamation of flesh and concrete, compositing them into agile and enduring beasts.
The SIGIL cataloged them as Aberrants, corrupted savages of the macrocosms.
"Three dozen of them are a couple of meters away from the briefcase. It seems that, for some unknown reason, the artifact inside is attracting their attention." Pat stated while staring at the Aberrants from afar. These monstrous abominations were pale and faceless, unnerving and dreadful.
The corrupted monsters had diverged and mutated far from their original forms. It was a defilement of nature, but the natural laws of the macrocosm stated otherwise. Pat squinted his gaze and remarked with a strained chuckle.
"While I would desire to maintain our covert status, the situation demands something else."
Naomi softly patted his shoulder, earning the attention of the brawny man. As he looked at her, she aloofly gazed upon the horde of Aberrants and affirmed with apathy. "I will be the vanguard, Pat. You should be in the rear and take care of my back."
It was straightforward without the strategizing and mulling aspect of their circumstance. "Although we don't have much of our gear with us, dozens of Aberrants should be easy to take care of. After all, we can be considered as incredibly experienced in this line of work."
Naomi unsheathed her blade, triggering a snap of lightning to crackle beneath the metallic edge of her armament. When Pat heard of her short and aloof speech, he sighed to himself and cracked his knuckles. "Of the three of us, you are the bravest, Naomi."
Glancing at his belt, he grinned and held a stun grenade underneath his fingers. "Regrettably, I didn't bring my launcher. Otherwise, I would have blown all of these monsters to dust. Regardless, these grenades should keep them busy."
In the wake of Pat's support, Naomi sauntered away from their cover, her steps graceful and confident. She confronted the horde of Aberrants, who seemed ignorant of her presence. Their crude behaviors remained the staple of their movements.
Closing her eyelids, she took a deep breath, attracting the attention of every Aberrant in the area. These abominations were predators, ready to pounce at a moment's notice. But as they stampeded towards her, stun grenades soared through the air and landed before the incoming horde.
What followed were brilliant lusters that pierced through the air and the ground. They blinded everything nearby, disorienting those who dared to gaze upon the radiance. It also brought about a deafening screech, unnerving the ears of monsters and humans alike.
With the horde of Aberrants befuddled from the flashbangs, Naomi opened her eyelids and abruptly shifted her body. Cracks of lightning escaped from her blade as she bolted onward like thunder, leaving a trail of electricity behind.
Since the dawn of the macrocosms, humanity has been divided into two groups. Those who couldn't withstand the imbalance of aetherion and those who could. The ones who survived the initial state of imbalance become the warriors of humanity, crowned the Jaegers.
---
Outside of Alcyone, Alexander opened the trunk of the sable-tinted SUV. Beside him was Robin, who stepped forward and took out a large briefcase from the trunk alongside a duffle bag. He glanced at her and raised his eyebrows, wondering about what may be inside.
"You look curious..." Robin noticed his curiosity and promptly grinned at him. Alexander lightly coughed and avoided her gaze while retorting. "Don't mistake my inquiry for idle curiosity, Miss Robin. Your duffle bag looks heavy. I presumed there to be equipment inside."
He maintained his calm and professional stature, earning a quiet chuckle from Robin. "The briefcase contains my armament, and the duffle bag carries theirs. Interested about our weapons?" She tilted her head with the same smug smirk as before.
It seemed that she had regained her usual and easygoing self, far from the aloof and cold girl he accompanied in the SUV. Alexander tightened his tie and folded the sleeves of his band-collar shirt. "No need... Time will tell for your supposed armaments to unveil themselves."
"I'm not impatient. After all, within the macrocosm, I have all the time I need."