Chapter 1: A Beautiful Day
In Newber-City a brown haired, average looking girl was walking down the busy street, happily.
Today was a beautiful day. She just finished her day at the Academy, spending the day learning about the ins and outs of the government and society.
She was heading home, after a very important exam, which she of course aced.
Looking around the city and the wonderful sky without any cloud in sight, she was thinking: 'Today is a perfect day and nothing could ruin it.'
While walking down the street, she passed her favorite bakery and stopped dead in her step, nearly tripping other pedestrians.
"Watch it girl!" An especially rude person called. He seemed to be in a rush somewhere.
Of course the girl haven't noticed it. She just turned around and went in the bakery.
There weren't too many customers at this hour, since the afternoon rush hasn't started yet. After waiting 5 minutes it was finally her turn.
"Good afternoon Mrs. June" called the girl while smiling.
"Hi Sera, what can I get for you today" said Mrs. June kindly.
"Can I get half a dozen doughnuts, three cupcakes and an apple pie" said Sera with enthusiasm.
She was already salivating, just by thinking about all the tasty, sweet pastries.
The baker looked at her with surprise.
"Are you celebrating something, this is a lot of food. "
"I'm in fact celebrating. I just passed one of my final exams, two more and I can leave the Academy and join the work force" said Sera with pride in her voice.
The women smiled and said: "Oh then allow me to congratulate you first. But are you sure about this order, there is a lot of sugar and other nasty stuff in these pastries. If you don't want to look like me, I suggest eating less desserts. "
She said while chuckling and pointing at herself. Mrs. June wasn't too overweight, she could lose a couple of kilos maybe, but with her baking that seems almost an impossible task. But even looking like this, she managed to score a good husband and a happy family. Now that she thought about it, the whole family seemed to be in need of exercise for some reason.
"Don't worry I'm not eating all of them myself, I'm going to leave some for my parents as well" she said while laughing.
"Speaking of your parents, how are they doing?" asked June.
"They're doing well, just the usual, always busy with work, especially now" the last part was barely audible.
"Well they're doing very important work for the upkeeping of Newber, so give them some slack."
Sera breathed a sigh of relief. 'She didn't hear the last part thankfully, mother would've killed me otherwise.'
"Yes I know and I'm not mad about it at all. It's just wishful thinking, that in a perfect world we could spend more time with each other" she said with a bit of longing.
Her parents were actually quite crucial for the city's inner workings. Her father was a lead electrical engineer, responsible for the power grid on the north side of the city. And her mother was one of the chief civilian officers, responsible for the wellbeing of Newber's citizens.
So yes her parents were important. And with important jobs comes very little free time to spend with their daughter.
Noticing the sadness in her voice June said with a very gentle tone: "They're going to be very proud of you when they hear the result of your exam."
"Of course they will be" Sera said with a wide smile.
That got a laugh out of June and she started packing together her order.
While waiting for the huge order she made, Sera listened to the other people in the bakery.
"Have you heard the news?" asked a man.
"What news?" asked the other sitting in front of him.
The first man looked around and answered in fearful, hushed tones: "Copen is lost, destroyed by a Realm Gate opening." The man was trembling while he said it.
"How is that possible? Weren't the Evolved prepared! This should be there specialty." Grumbled the other man. He didn't seem too heartbroken about the rumor and the loss of life.
"It was a Class 3 Gate and their Transcended, who could've fought it off was out of the city for the Opening."
'So the rumors are already spreading' thought Sera. Copen was one of the closest cities to Newber, so the panic is understandable. But also Copen was way weaker, than Newber ever was, their strongest Evolved was only one Transcended, while we have not only multiple Transcended, but also one Stellar. A puny Class 3 Gate wouldn't be nearly enough to cause a problem for the city.
Still the news was really sad. There were very few survivors, most of them Evolved and some regular humans whom the Evolved managed to save.
'When they learn that it isn't a rumor, but it actually happened there's going to be panic. Mum already has a headache because of this.'
As she was eavesdropping on the conversation, Sera saw that June was ready with her order.
She went and picked it up, payed, said a quick goodbye and started heading home yet again.
Sera was trying to hold herself back, but in the end gave up and began eating one of the doughnuts.
While munching on a bite, she looked around again and smiled with powdered sugar all over her face.
'Today was a beautiful day indeed' while she was thinking that, suddenly everyone stopped dead in their tracks.
The whole city started to shake and the building next to her disintegrated.