Notes: < blahblah > means thinking

Dimension Nine

Prologue


White streams of clouds swirled and slowly drifted by, covering the brilliant sun every now and then. More clouds started to form and attach themselves to the others, gradually covering up all the crystal blue. A strong wind was picking up.

“It’s going to rain.”

A young woman with long light brown hair and strange red eyes was staring up at the sky from her bed of crisp green grass in the middle of a field; she pulled some of it from the ground and began twirling it around her fingers. Nearby, an older man by only several years was leaning against a tree several feet behind the girl and was staring at her with impassive blue eyes.

“Looks like it,” he replied simply. 

The girl sighed, “They’re late and we’re going to get caught in the rain. Lets just go, we’ll meet them back home and tell them how rude it is to keep people waiting.”

“Be patient, Mira. They’ll come.”

The girl named Mira Ilidan sat up and stretched, letting the blades of grass fall from her hand. She then glared at her companion, “Easy for you to say, Sebastien.” 

Standing, she straightened her pale yellow skirt and redid the front flaps of her sleeveless white shirt into a tight knot. Under the skirt, she wore black leggings and soft brown leather boots. Mira dug her hand into her skirt pocket and took out two long pieces of yellow ribbon, holding them carefully so they wouldn’t fly away with the wind. Facing away from the young man, she begun tying the ribbons in her hair and making two small ponytails in her hair, one on each side of her head. 

“We’re going to be assigned here, aren’t we?” she said, her hands busy with her hair. 

“It seems like it.” said Sebastien, who was wearing a pair of white sneakers, jeans and a dark brown coat over a gray T-shirt, as he wiped a few strands of gold hair out of his sky colored eyes.  

“Damn.” Mira finished the last bow and stared grumpily at the horizon. “I didn’t think I would be assigned to Earth until after I graduated.”

“The situation must be very severe if they’re sending a novice. It’s getting desperate.” Sebastien said, his voice carried none of the emotion the words suggested and his eyes were just as blank. 

In fact, his voice and eyes had remained emotionless from the time when they arrived and have been that way long since then. Mira, who had gotten used to it years ago, faced him and smiled sarcastically, “Aren’t you optimistic.”

“They’re here.” Sebastien said; his eyes focused on something behind Mira’s shoulder.

The girl blinked in surprise and quickly turned around. Yards away were several people standing together. They wore long red scarves around their necks that flew with the semi-strong wind.

“Lets not keep them waiting.” A hand was briefly placed on Mira’s shoulder. Mira looked up to see Sebastien at her side.

“Right, right.” Mira said unenthusiastically. 

They walked together across the large grassy field with the wind blowing against their faces, causing their hair to fly. There wasn’t a "human soul" for a few good miles, which is why it was excellent for their purposes. The few trees nearby creaked and moved with the wind and the sound of thunder echoed above. The yellow sun and clear blue sky was now gone and a long sheet of stormy gray clouds replaced them. Though it was quite windy, Mira, with her short sleeve shirt, wasn’t cold but simply agitated and wanted this to be over with.

The group of people consisted of three men and two women, all looking extremely serious. They were wearing all black except for their scarves and one of the men was carrying several folders filled with documents. One of the women stepped forward; she had a young face, straight black hair that almost touched her shoulders and was blowing with the wind, and red eyes, similar to Mira’s. The man holding the folders also had scarlet eyes.  

“Warrior Apprentice, Mira Ilidan and Guard, First Class, Prince Sebastien Elynand.” the woman said when the two stopped in front of her. When they nodded to confirm their identities, she continued, “I am Soldier, Second Class, Aida Celeste, your temporary Assign Officer since your current Officer is extremely busy elsewhere. I am to report that you two have been hereby assigned to investigate the presence of the enemy on the planet Earth of Dimension Nine. We have the reason to believe they are hiding among the humans in a ‘public school’ of a city, nearby of this location. Because of this, you, Mira, have been already enrolled as a transfer student at a ‘high school’ we believe the enemy may be hiding in. Unfortunately, young Prince, we weren’t able to place you on the staff, so you must use your own methods of being close to your charge. Do you both understand?”

Mira and Sebastien nodded. Mira remained quiet though she had a million complaints and questions. She knew they had to wait…Meanwhile, the thunder grew louder and nearer.

Aida Celeste then waved to the man with the folders, who walked forward and gave her the documents. Mira looked at them with curiosity as the Soldier took it from the man and passed it to her.

“Here is the information of the city you’ll be living in and the surroundings. There are also “legal” documents that you must have here on Earth. They are needed for your presence at this school: a ‘Social Security Number’, ‘Birth Certificate’, and what they call a ‘Drivers License’, which entitles you, my Prince, to operate a piece of machinery that the humans use to travel to one place or another on solid ground. The instructions to this machine are in there as well. Earth has restrictions of ‘minors’ to operate these things, so Mira is thereby prohibit to use one. Yes, I know, (she said quickly, since Mira raised an eyebrow in confusion) these humans consider people of the age below eighteen to be children and aren’t allowed certain privileges. But you must obey their laws at all cost, Mira Ilidan. You must not attract attention of the enemy or the humans and you must keep your true identity a secret. As you both know, Earthlings are completely ignorant of our existence and the existence of our enemy, other beings, and any other dimension besides their own. So, you cannot show any signs of abilities that are considered impossible by the human race in front of them. Do you understand?”

They nodded again. Mira appeared to be a disciplined warrior listening intently, but inside she was feeling even more agitated. <"Everyone one knows that Earth and its inhabitants are under the Restriction Code. Does she really have to remind us?!">

“Very well. We have arranged for the both of you to live in an 'apartment'. An apartment is like one small house among several inside a large building where you must pay monthly fees to keep,” the Soldier explained. “You will have to find temporary work to gain this fee, but we were able to convinced one of the human’s system of government to give you monthly amounts of currency. All this will be explained in the documents. You will also have different names, since yours are too popular with the enemy, we want them to be unaware of your presence until necessary so you will have the advantage.”

Another twinge of annoyance for Mira <“ I do have some experience in battle you know!”> 


“The rest of what you will need is at your ‘apartment’. We will contact you again after you are settled to give you more information on the whereabouts of the enemy. Good luck.” Aida concluded and bowed. The others bowed as well and Mira and Sebastian bowed in return. 

Aida then threw her scarf over her shoulder as she turned around and started walking away, her companions at her heels. She only walked for a short distance before she drew her arm up in front of her, and a sudden brilliant light appeared before them. They walked right through it and disappeared. The light remained only a few seconds after the last Soldier disappeared before vanishing, leaving not a trace of them behind.

Mira let out a heavy sigh and let her shoulders drop, giving them a break after having to keep them straight and stiff for so long. 

She suddenly looked furious, “Grr…stupid…hag! She acted as though I just stepped out of the academy doors! This is not my first mission, you stupid, second class…idiot!!!!!”

Sebastien calmly looked at her, “But this is your first mission on Earth, and the rules are much more complicated. The Earthlings do not know or believe in things that are more superior than them, yet because of that they are also a very naïve race.”

“Hey, I studied them at the academy, and they aren’t naïve as you would think.” Mira replied.

“True, but they are naïve considering…”

“Yeah I guess.” Mira said putting her arms behind her head in a childish way.

“Plus, I believe this is no ordinary mission. There has never been a mission so complicated as this. Usually when the enemy hides out here, the Soldiers or Warriors sent here usually just lure them out to a desolate location and then confront them there. Never have I heard when a Warrior had to emerge this deeply into the human society, neither have I’ve heard the enemy do the same. ” 

Mira looked at him, he was looking at the gloomy sky, his eyes cloudy with thought. Her eyes dropped to the ground and a frown appeared on her face. “This could be difficult,” she muttered under her breath. 

She then remembered the files in her hands. There were two, one for her and one for Sebastien. The file themselves seemed to be very intriguing to the young apprentice.        

“Hmmm…paper, such strange material,” she mused. A streak of lightning flashed across the sky, followed by thunder and rain.

“Strange, yet damaged when wet.” Sebastian said unemotionally as he took the folders from her hands and put them inside his coat. “Lets go, before we get soaked,” he said before walking away.

Mira looked up at the sky. Drops of water fell at a rapid pace toward the ground and wet her face and clothes. She had only experienced this once, on a different planet and Dimension. The young warrior in training found it rather annoying.

Mira raised one of her arms above her head, pointed her index and middle finger at the sky and closed her eyes in concentration. A soft glow of blue light radiated from the tip of the two fingers. Suddenly, the rain started to fall around Mira instead of on her, as though an invisible barrier surrounded her. 

She opened her eyes and smiled, “Yes, much better. Now who’s going to get soaked, ah Sebastien?” 

Sebastien, who stopped to see what she was doing, simply blinked. He was completely drenched yet seemed unaware of it. 

“You shouldn’t use your magic, Zoë. It will draw attention to you,” he said and began walking away again.

This time Mira blinked, “What do you mean?! We’re in the middle of nowhere! And…hey, wait, what did you call me?”
 
“Zoë,” Sebastian repeated, without stopping or looking at her. “According to this file, it’s your new name while we’re here. We should start calling each other by them so we can get familiar with it.”

“Zoë? Man, couldn’t they think of a better one? It sounds more suspicious than my real name.” Mira complained as she ran over to Sebastien’s side. “So, what’s yours?”

“Matthew.”

“Matthew? Hey, that’s not bad. Why do you get the good name?”

Sebastien just shrugged. “Maybe, because I’m a Prince.” 

Mira looked at him suddenly, studied him, but found no emotion.  She sighed and looked at her feet as they walked off the field and toward the road, “Yeah, I guess so. 


Before they reached the road, Mira stretched out her arm and a brilliant white light engulfed them, and they were gone in a blink of an eye.


To be continued…