Now, let us recall the events from August all the way to the tenth of February, the time that Simon spent searching for freedom to his heart's content.
—Hello, my name is Saber-Cry Abyrion-Iscaria Soul-Trapped-Blood, and I will tell you the story of Simon Crest, the Bird Who Fell From Grace. The Master I wished would succeed.
The memories are both sweet and bitter, an odd flavor that is hard to make out as you swallow a handful of candy with no context of what they are. Yet, Simon cannot deny that these memories are the things that have allowed him to delude himself this far.
...If you can call it delusion.
Whether he was right or wrong, it doesn't matter; the only thing that matters is that he made the decisions and got six people killed. Their blood is on his hands; the guilt must be unbearable, if he can even feel at this point.
My mind is wandering again, isn't it? Sorry, it tends to happen every now and then. To put this into perspective, it all started in August, the beginning of his descent into madness. That was when his desires were reshaped, but never forgotten.
The date is August twelfth, and Simon is leaving for his first day at the Cognitive Hollow World Enforcement Bureau.
It was a particularly normal day; the sun rose high like a beam that threatened to leave burns on his skin. His first few hours were nothing short of boring, filling paperwork that would most likely lead to cold cases.
Simon wore a simple black suit and an undershirt, but he wore no tie. He was pulling off his gloves, stuffing them into the pocket in the obsidian suit.
However, Simon was still thorough with the reports. Not just for the bureau's sake, but for his own. It took three entire hours to get through all of it, but he was finally done.
His guardian, Naomi, had massively reduced this paperwork due to her status in the bureau. She was a retired officer, working both before his birth and well after it. But Simon learned, if she did something for him, he shouldn't question it.
Now, he was assigned to a new mission from his squad captain, Evelyn Lewandowska. A scout from an Attack Force had caught a glimpse of a new dimension that had appeared dangerously close to New York's bureau HQ, Heaven.
These dimensions were usually formed around new activity from Entities, so Simon had to be careful. Additionally, Simon's Signature was not meant for fighting, so for the time being, he would have to use a contracted weapon.
The building he stepped into was rather basic, reeking of oil and metal. It hosted a variety of weapons from daggers to handguns.
Although to Simon, these guns were useless. Most of the bullets weren't made from Hollow Beast tusk, rendering them useless against the threats of the Hollow world, and the other half didn't work.
He snatched twin, ruby red daggers, stuffing them into his belt. Before his father had died, he had trained him to use these types of daggers. This was because his family had a unique fighting style, almost like an heirloom.
Just as he left the building, stepping into the azure blue-lit hallways of Heaven, he bumped into Evelyn.
Hup!
"Ow!" A soft voice below him called out.
The woman was rather short and wore a violet-blue coat at least twice her size. Her long, jet-black hair was in tangles and knots, giving it a spiral-like look, her beautiful eyes jade green, and her socks mismatched.
"Are you hurt, Captain?"
"I told you to call me Evelyn, Captain makes me sound scary!" Her expression was supposed to be furious, but came out looking like an angry kitten. "And yes, thank you for asking."
"Evelyn just seems far too formal."
"I'm only two years older than you; it's not a big deal, Si."
"Si?..." Simon grimaced.
"Yeah, like Super Intellectual!"
"...Okay, I guess?"
Simon arched an eyebrow, but he didn't even try to question it. From the moment he met her, she was like an overgrown child! Besides that, he still had to go over a few things about the mission with her.
"So this mission, what exactly is it that I'm investigating?"
"Oh, that! About three miles from the Gateway in Queens, there's a new dimension that has appeared. Normally, we would leave it alone, but this one seems large in scale. Plus, it's far too close to us."
(I see, if that's the case, then this really is a problem. Even if it isn't, it's better than sitting here doing paperwork all day. Still...)
"When you said this dimension was large, how big are we talking? A few acres of land?"
"I mean, the scout said she saw an entire city, but I don't think that can be true. Maybe you should ask Alina. I heard she's in pretty close contact with—"
"My, I didn't expect me to come into this conversation..." A cold, controlled voice called out from behind Evelyn.
This woman was Alina Korolyova, and she was the complete opposite of Evelyn. Her short, silver hair was neat, steel-blue eyes shining like topaz gems. She adorned the same uniform as Simon, which fit her as if sculpted, except hers was white and blue.
"Eep! Gosh, Alina. Stop doing that! It's scary!"
"...Sorry. You didn't sit with me. I don't trust that you ate on your own time either."
"Oh, that! I forgot, because of my paperwork!"
"...That's why I invite you."
Simon stiffened in place awkwardly for a few moments. As they were chattering, he tried to slip past them. He knew Evelyn had just told him to speak to her, but there was something about the way their eyes met that made his skin crawl.
"Where are you going?" Alina turned her head like an owl.
"Uh, I should probably get to my mission..."
Alina didn't respond for a while, scanning deep into his onyx eyes. She held his gaze for longer than normal. It felt like an obsession.
She quickly turned away. Evelyn tracked Alina's eyes, shifting her head slightly.
"Don't worry about her, Simon, you can go," Evelyn said, shifting her gaze towards Simon.
Simon let out a sigh of relief. He wasn't easily shaken, but something about the way Alina looked at him made him uneasy. He shook the feeling away — he had more important things to focus on.
The Hollow World was dangerous, so it was best for him to know a bit about the area he would be investigating. He opened the file he was given by the exit and read it carefully.
Within the Attack Forces' weekly scouting, they had found a new area in the south. Next to a subway was an entirely new dimension, and reported a sighting of a city.
This was impossible; everyone — or rather, everything that could have the Energy to do this should be dead.
Simon's mission was to determine how far the range of this dimension spread. The bigger the area, the larger the threat posed to not only his life, but to the entire world.
While this was a simple job compared to someone on the Attack Force, there was still a chance that whatever created this dimension stood its ground. That would be the worst scenario.
Not only would Simon have to either flee the area or deal with the threat, but he would also have to deal with the flooding Hollow Beasts. Whenever these dimensions were created, Beasts and Entities flooded toward it to claim it.
—To become the dimensions king. Entities were hesitant to leave their own land, but Beasts weren't particularly known for their smarts.
(No matter how strong the beast is, they're still animals. It would be an insult to myself to believe that one can hold such power over me. Unless physical.)
With that, Simon got into a bureau-provided car to drive to his destination. The car was made out of metal mined in the Hollow World. This was because the bureau had to use everything gathered there, so humans wouldn't question these things.
He set the folder down, putting the location into his phone, and began to drive away.
(To think that something would be so bold as to do this. Does it want chaos? Either way, I shouldn't have to explore too far to understand the scope of this situation.) Simon thought as a smile crept on his face
(But understanding the situation is far less of a reward than claiming it.)
Even as Simon thought this, his heart couldn't stop telling him the opposite of his brain. He could sense something was seriously wrong.
(Maybe I should have backup just in case... Actually, I doubt that I'll need it. There's no way one of the Eight Immortals would randomly come out of hiding.) He sighed.
Although this was his first day, it had probably been the weirdest of his life. On top of this, when doing paperwork with Evelyn earlier, she was far too touchy for his comfort. He could only let out a sigh of relief now that he was out of the building.
However, that didn't matter at the moment. Simon would soon reach the location, and he needed to prepare himself as best as he could.
He double-checked that he had everything on him that would be needed — phone, daggers, and more importantly, a few healing ointments.
"...Alright, you better have something for me."