It was finally time for things to be made clear. Azores was in no doubt a strange place. After hearing about the broadcast from Sharaku, Mae had went straight home to do some digging into the matter. Sure, she had heard several rumors about both the Broadcast and some of the kidnapped students, but Mae didn't pay rumors any mind these days. For the most part they were either fabriacted, or they didn't interest her in the slightest. Exceptions did exist, of course... There just weren't that many of them. The rumored broadcast did cause quite a commotion among the Azorean public, at least, that's what Mae had heard. And now that Sharaku had told her about the subject in a bit more detail, it was about time for Mae to witness this event with her own eyes.
After searching the web for a short while, Mae eventually found what she was looking for. She leaned forward, and played the video...
At first, it seemed like a normal weather forecast but it didn't take very long before things started to change rapidly. Mae was now staring at a woman she had never seen before. But her sudden appearance wasn't the strangest thing about this video... It was the things that this woman said...
"So another year has come and gone.....I hope you guys enjoyed yourselves! This is your friendly neighborhood reporter chiming in!"
Mae stared blankly at the screen, not believing what she was seeing. The girl on the screen cleared her throat and continued.
"I had noticed that after a certain....game we'll call it started, some of you out among the islands have been trying to figure out what has been happening or at least awoken to your inner abilities. For those who do not know, don't worry, I just had to say it. It's amazing, and I am very impressed by....one second."
Next, the girl on the screen pulled out a small piece of paper and started reading it's contents out loud...
"Naomi Epona, Alphonse a.k.a Project Sentinel, Sharaku Rikei, Shunnosuke Kurosawa, Hyde Mizumi..."
Wait... This was a list of... Names. Some of them familiar. Both Sharaku and Hyde, she had met them not too long ago, were mentioned. Mae sat there slackjawed, incapable of uttering a single word. The girl on screen continued...
"Rita Arisato, Oki Akumura, Add, Nilo Lockwood, Kazuya Fujiwara..."
The girl had mentioned three more people Mae had met her first two weeks here... What was going on? How did she know all these names? Why did she broadcast them all across Azores? That's an invasion of privacy! Unable to tear her eyes off the screen, Mae continued watching as the girl continued reading through the list of names...
"Sheva Lionhart, Mayu Takayamina, Julian Remming..."
That last name caused Mae to pause the video... "
What is this? Why are their names listed? I... I don't understand..." Mae could see now why this Broadcast had caused such a fuzz. It was downright unsettling... Maybe the rest of the video held the answers she was looking for, so she pressed play again, and listened to the girl finish up reading the names. Phew... No more names she recognized. That's good, at least...
"I know you must all be confused, so I shall explain. You see, these people have awoken to supernatural powers, very complicated stuff. They can travel through portals to other worlds that are anchored to your world."
What...? Supernatural Powers...? Portals...? True, Mae had seen some odd "objects" around San Malarus, but she hadn't payed them any mind. The first one she had seen had freaked her out, but after the first one, she started to ignore them. It wasn't like she could touch them anyway. She had tried to do this a couple of occasions, each time the result was the same... her hand had just passed straight through, as if the "object" hadn't even existed...
"Of course to many of you this sounds silly. But I will show you."
What the girl on screen did next, Mae did not completely understand... But she guessed it was something you could only really experience live...
"You all were part of something you all had no idea was happening under you. You see, my friends are hiding out in those other worlds, and all you have to do is find them. You'll be told more as you go. Easy right? Well, you guys have a couple friends roaming around in this world trying to cause trouble. One of them is hiding out in this world, and it would help alot if you guys could help the people I mentioned in figuring it out. They would love it. I shall assist you as we-."
And then the video cut off... What was this girl talking about...? Other worlds...? And why did the video suddenly cut off... Mae sat there blinking in the darkness of her own room. "
Julian... You're not in any trouble, right?" Mae said to herself... Unfortunatley for her, these were the last words that would come out of her mouth before she was knocked out cold, and kidnapped. Little did Mae know, that when she would wake up, she would find herself in a realm far away from her own...
// Continued in "The Foolhardy Orphan" //
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