Arden, United Federation of Elysia.

  May 1st, 1427.

  Anderson stepped out to the balcony of his apartment on the 5th floor, casually sipping a cup of instant coffee as he overlooked the damage from the storm. Plastic bags and tree branches littered the previously clean and organized urban street down below, creating a messy and hectic atmosphere. He frowned at the sight, shaking his head at the mess as the Army and emergency services roamed around, continuing their search and rescue operations in the neighborhoods that had been hit the hardest by the sudden storm.

  “Big storm, eh Andy?” A voice called out to him.

  Anderson looked to his left. “Hey Brian.” he said, looking at the damage on his neighbor’s apartment next to him. “Oh… that’s a nasty one.” he remarked, pointing at the broken window and the tree branch that had lodged itself into his poor neighbor’s apartment.

  “Yeah, that’ll cost me a bit to get fixed up, the wife is already losing her mind over this. Insurance is about to go up too.” Brian sighed. “Speaking of which,” he gestured toward Anderson’s messy hair and darkened eyes. “Can’t get a good sleep?”

  “The blaring sirens and booming thunder throughout the night weren't exactly a lullaby.” Sam answered with a tired voice following a long, sleepy yawn.

  A phone untimely rang out from Sam’s small study room, catching both of the men’s attention.

  “Looks like the phone line is back to working order. I’m gonna try to contact my relatives in the suburbs now.” Brian commented, going back to the phone in his living room.

  “Good luck, Brian.” Sam said his goodbye to the neighbor as he picked up the ringing phone. “Anderson speaking.”

  “Good morning, Ambassador. We’re happy that we’re able to contact you after several days. I’m Ellen Mary, calling you on behalf of President Irwin. Are you alone right now?”

  “Yeah. I am, give me a moment.” Sam answered as he shut the window next to him, locking it just to be safe. “Alright, what can I do for the President?”

  “You’re needed on a new diplomatic mission to a new country.”

  Sam leaned forward in his seat, the unexpected assignment piqued his interest. “New country?” He asked, raising an eyebrow. “Did another rebel faction break off from one of the Socialist states again?”

  “Actually no, it’s… stranger, Mr. Ambassador. What I am about to disclose is currently classified information, but it will likely be announced in the next few days, so will you be able to tell whoever is close to you. You might want to write some notes down.”

  Sam grabs a pen on his desk and clicks, testing it on the spare note paper. “Alright, I’m ready.”

  “I’m sure you’ve got questions on how such a massive storm just suddenly appeared and vanished so suddenly, or how it came to be as we are nowhere near stormy season.”

  “Mmhm, yeah.”

  “As of now, the guys at Evalyn Aerospace are still scrambling for answers, but one thing’s for certain: after the storm disappeared and the clouds parted, we are no longer on Elysia.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “The stars aren’t in the right place, we’ve lost contact with everyone else outside the country. They’re all gone. We’ve also received reports of new coastlines where the Northern Socialist Republic of Yarik used to be from the border garrison. I’m afraid we’re an island now.”

  “How is that possible?” Anderson stood up, not believing what he’s hearing.

  “Like I said, sir Ambassador, we’re still looking for an answer.” The woman said, pausing for a bit. “Did you see two moons during the night? The storm may have obscured the sky, but I’m sure I have seen things correctly.”

  “Yeah…” Anderson paused and thought about her words. “So that wasn’t just me being sleepy. The moons, one is yellow and the other is blue?”

  “Yes, Ambassador. That is correct.”

  Anderson fell to his chair, finding himself thinking of the unthinkable. “Tell me what I need to do.” He said, regaining his composure.

  The fax machine next to him started printing documents, its data transferred from the Department of State to his private computer terminal.

  “We’ve sent you everything that needs to be known, you will be rendezvousing with the Seventh Carrier Task Force and make your way to Beckham within 48 hours.” She calmly announced the assignment.

  “The Seventh Task Force? Aren’t they stationed in Tel Aliya just the other day?” Sam asked.

  “They’ve already moved as fast as possible back to Beckham under the Navy’s orders after the storm had passed. Several massive squid-like creatures along the route were spotted, but were quickly dispatched by depth charge rockets and naval gunfire. The crews were referring to them as ‘Krakens’.” Ellen’s voice now filled with bewilderment and confusion as she steadily read the report to the Ambassador. “I can’t believe what I just read.”

  “Much appreciated for the information, miss.” He answered with a professional tone, properly reflecting his occupation as a diplomat.

  “We’re also sending an assistant with you. Eden International Airport has also reported that they have received an emergency signal from one of the Navy’s naval patrol aircraft as the military’s integrated air defense network was taken offline by the storm.”

  “I got it, do you have the details?”

  “Your first priority is to establish diplomatic relations and recover the two lost pilots, if they’re still alive that is. We’ll also send you pictures taken by satellites of the nearby landmass and the crash site that we’ve discovered as soon as the weather has calmed down. You should pack your bags and remember to be at Beckham naval base within the designated time frame. They will be departing within two days on the aircraft carrier FES Emery.”

  Scribbling down the note, Anderson lets out a sigh. The fax machine continued to rumble on, diligently printing the now twenty pages long document and still continuing. “Roger that. I’m on my way.”

  The Great Sea, First Azurian Eastern Fleet

  May 5th, 1427.

  Water splashed gently onto the ship’s hull, providing a peaceful ambience as Captain Hayvan admired the setting sun. Golden rays skimmed past the water, illuminating the ocean with a beautiful glow as the evening crept into the sky. The Azurian flag flew proudly on his ship’s mast, waving along with the wind without a care in the world. His slumbery, dreamy state was interrupted by one of his lieutenants, who seemed to be quite confused as he tapped on his superior’s shoulder.

  “Hey, Captain?” He asked, peering into the distance as he clutched a spotting telescope in his hands.

  Captain Hayvan groaned, somewhat annoyed that his peaceful relaxation was cut short. “What is it? Spotted the Dwarven Navy or something?” He joked. The Dwarven Union has no Navy, being a landlocked country located in the Central mountain ranges of the Celestial continent.

  “No, nothing like that. Your jokes are getting old now, sir.” He tapped the Captain’s shoulder one more time, pointing at the emerging silhouettes. “I’ve spotted several islands out on the horizon.”

  “Islands? There aren’t any out in the Great Sea, at least not on our patrol paths. Your attempt at humor disappoints me.” The Captain chuckles at his subordinate.

  “I’m serious, Captain. Over yonder.” The lieutenant pointed towards the horizon, slightly annoyed at the unprofessionalism being displayed by the Captain.

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  Grabbing his own telescope on the hip, Hayvan peered at the direction that his subordinate had pointed. Squinting his eyes, he could make out the silhouettes but there was something off about them. “They don’t look like islands, the overall shape is too angular. It is likely these are ships.”

  The lieutenant viewed the objects again. “Goodness Miritta… They’re much closer than before. They simply looked like islands earlier…” he trailed off. “Captain, shall we investigate? There shouldn’t be any other patrols out here aside from us.”

  The sudden appearance of unknown ships was certainly not expected, perhaps it’s from an unknown island nation out in the Great Sea? Who knows. But he has a job and duty to investigate.

  Hayvan nods his head. “Agreed. Helmsman!” Hayvan called out. “Take us northeast, we’re going to investigate the presence of these unknown ships!”

  The helmsman complied, and the previously sleepy ship bustled with activity as the Azurian sailors redirected their ship. Rowers below decks helped turn the ship around while sailors on deck adjusted the sails. Captain Hayvan continued to monitor the ships on the horizon, noticing that they seemed to be closing in quite quickly at unnaturally high speed.

  By the time his ship had fully turned around, the unknown fleet of ships had become visible, their ships having furled their sails yet maintaining a mind-boggling velocity. Soon enough, they approached his comparatively tiny vessel, and he looked up at the immense shadow of the metal ship before him. He carefully analyzed the vessel, noting that it had two large cannons placed near the bow. What he had previously mistaken for a mast turned out to be some sort of steel structure, complete with windows, spires, strange spinning panels and lights. Several smaller cannons adorned the sides of the vessels, accompanied by tubes and other alien devices. On the hull of the ship, a white phrase presented itself: ‘FES Stalwart’. Hayvan surmised that this was likely a designation for the vessel, as other ships had similar, yet different paintings on their hulls.

  As the ship approached, Hayvan noticed several beings — people, to his surprise — aboard waving at him and his crew. He waved back, and the crew aboard the metal ship pointed somewhere behind their vessel. Within a few minutes, the metal ship had passed him, along with four other metal ships of the same make as well as two even larger ships, seemingly forming a defensive perimeter around the enormous ship ahead.

  The size of this flat-topped vessel was such that even its large escorts were dwarfed by it. The height of the flat-top was immense; Hayvan stared at the ship with his mouth agape as he attempted to make sense of the size of the behemoth before him. The vessel, a floating fortress to him, was many times the length of his own ship. If he had to estimate, the vessel clearly had the equivalent length of at least 10 times compared to his warship and a height of at least 3 times higher, mast included. The width of the vessel could be compared to 3 or 4 of his own ship, side by side. Much like the ship they had passed before, another massive name was painted with precision on this vessel: FES Emery.

  “What kind of ship is this…?” The lieutenant asked, a combination of fear and wonder written all over his face.

  “It is no ship... Such a massive construct that makes those other giant vessels look like ants… it is like a fortress of steel!” Hayvan exclaimed. “Still, we have a job to do… Contact His Majesty’s Royal Navy Command, they need to know of this. Get the men ready, we shall board them and investigate the vessel!” The Captain ordered as he regained his composure.

  “Already done so, sir. But Captain, how do we even board it?” The lieutenant asked.

  He looked the ship up and down, trying to find ways to board this massive vessel to no avail. Just as he was about to give up, a rope netting was dropped to the side of the ship. Hayvan looked to the men above on the flat top, gesturing towards the oversize rope net. “Guess that’s our way up.”

  After considerable efforts scaling the long rope up to the flat top of the massive vessel along with the help of some of the strange men on it to pull him and his inspection crew up. His eyes were greeted with the sight of around two dozen strange metal birds laid neatly along the massive deck, their wings folded up to the sky to make room for more of their kind. The crews onboard this vessel were also uniquely strange, many of them wore different colored shirts despite their uniform, some wore red, others green, white and most fascinating of all: purple.

  Purple is a highly expensive color to manufacture, only the rich and nobility could afford such a luxurious choice of dye for their outlandish outfits. Yet these sailors do not seem to care about such things, as if this is most natural for them. In fact, how do they look so clean?

  Sailors throughout the ages have always lived a hard life. Even in a relatively prosperous kingdom like Azuri, they ate hardtack every day, with fresh food only lasting at most a week or two into long range patrols. Bathing isn’t an option either, as every experienced sailor knows that fresh water can only be used for drinking, every drop must be saved and a shower is a luxury only afforded to the men whenever the gods bless them with rains.

  A group of men escorted Hayvan and his men towards the large tower with windows and skinny metal spires. From this tower, a pair of men dressed approached Hayvan, one in a sharp, dark blue uniform with golden colored stripes running down his sleeves, emanating an aura of authority and the other in a similar outfit, but with no special details beside a long, black piece of neckwear. They were accompanied by several men holding strange wooden and metal staffs, with triggers similar to crossbows built into the wooden and metal construct. This must be a weapon of sorts, similar to what the pirates were using recently from the report yet these look far more sophisticated, Hayvan thinks to himself.

  The guards’ similarly dark blue outfits signify that they belonged to this ship, however the sand-colored piece of strange fabric covered armor and steel helmet made them stand out from the rest. The big, bold words imprinted on the back of their armor “SECURITY” only confirmed his theory.

  Steeling himself forward, Hayvan gave the pair of men an Azurian salute, forming a pointing gesture using his right index and middle finger and putting it against his forehead while using the rest of his fingers to cover up his palm. The salute seemed to have its intended effect as the man in the dark blue uniform gave his salute back to him in a different fashion yet just as sharp.

  “Greetings, I am Captain Hayvan of the First Azurian Eastern Fleet. You have entered our territorial waters and we would like to know of your vessel’s affiliation and objective.”

  The man in the dark blue uniform eyes widened, breathing a sigh of relief. “Oh thank goodness, good to know we speak the same language. I’m Admiral Chester Isaac of the Seventh Fleet, belonging to the United Federation of Elysia.” The Admiral said as he introduced the man next to him. “This is Ambassador Anderson, he will speak on behalf of our country.”

  “As for our affiliation and objective, our continent was transported here through a massive storm several days ago. I’ve brought documents as well as gifts for your leaders in hopes of establishing diplomatic relations with your country. Several days ago, one of our aircraft had reported an emergency landing on your country’s territory. We sincerely apologize if this incident has caused troubles to your country and the aircraft’s intrusion into your territorial airspace was entirely coincidental.”

  “I see, so the rumors of the crashed metallic bird in Sunsettia were true then. Please excuse me, I must report our encounter to my superior.”

  Hayvan started giving orders to the men following him. The lieutenant pulls out a large, golden colored device from his leather backpack and inserts a small glass bottle containing some kind of yellow-colored glowing rock, turning the peculiar device on. The action attracted the attention of the men on the large flat deck as they stopped what they were doing to watch the scene unfold. The screen on the golden device started glowing to a certain brightness. “We’re good to go, Captain.”

  It doesn’t take a genius to understand that this is some kind of portable long range communication device. How it works mattered little to the flight crews and sailors aboard the Emery as they discussed among themselves, eyeing the foreign Captain who looked like he came out of one of the old paintings hanging in the Arden Naval Academy’s walls back home with curiosity.

  “... that will be it.” As the Captain finished his communication to the mainland, nods of acknowledgement followed.

  “That settles it then.” Admiral Isaac commented, he offered a handshake which was returned in kind by Hayvan, despite his confusion at first.

  “I will guide you towards the Eastern Strait where you can anchor your fleet, after that others can escort your delegation to His Majesty’s Capital City: Anzuri.” Captain Hayvan replied with confidence and pride radiating from his body. “Let’s go, Lieutenant. I want all of the Tears of the Wind God supply onboard used up, we wouldn’t want to be overtaken by the vessels we’re escorting.”

  “Aye, Captain.”