the era of calamities

We were in a lounge usually reserved for high-ranking clients. The air conditioning was on, cooling the room. Brenda was lying on a sofa, a damp towel resting on her forehead. After being forced to take a proper shower, I was finally able to join the conversation.

Lucy served us each a cup of coffee before announcing,

"Brenda has only just regained consciousness. Her fever hasn't gone down yet, and I believe she's suffering from severe migraines."

Cough, cough.

"I'll be fine," she said before sitting up with some effort.

She spoke in a weak voice,

"If you're all here, it's because you want to know what happened to me."

I nodded.

"Don't rush yourself, take your time," Iris reassured her.

Her face was pale, as if recalling a trauma. Her trembling hands gripped the sofa as if trying to tear it apart.

"No, I can't… It's all my fault. I acted like an idiot without thinking."

"It all started a week ago when one of our informants alerted us to an anomaly at the city hall."

"The connection between the city of Astoria, the central government, and other cities had been cut off. The ether concentration in the air had recently increased, disrupting telephone networks, the internet, and even aircraft navigation systems, bringing air traffic to a halt. In recent years, similar situations had become more frequent, but they never caused much panic. However, when the serum supply suddenly stopped, drastic measures had to be taken by the city's authorities.

They sent a delegation to report the situation to the nearest military base, as they were the only ones who should still have communication artifacts."

She paused to catch her breath before continuing,

"But no one who left the city ever returned, not even the trains, the last remaining operational mode of transport."

"The worst part was that the serum reserves kept dwindling. Without resupply, disaster was inevitable."

I couldn't understand how I had missed all of this. Such news must have been suppressed to prevent mass panic.

It's no secret that once you turn sixteen, symptoms of an illness caused by ether begin to manifest, infecting the soul. The only way to delay the symptoms is to take the serum daily. Without it, the infection progresses until the soul can no longer withstand the ether, and the person falls into a vegetative state before dying. At that point, there's only one chance to survive—fusing the soul with ether and acquiring resonance, thus becoming an Initiate.

Unfortunately, acquiring resonance means facing death in a soul trial and emerging victorious. The mortality rate is so high that it's practically suicide. Only three out of ten people survive. One or two days without serum might be manageable, but a week would be fatal.

Brenda forced herself to continue:

"Later, all sorts of rumors began circulating in the city. Before the truth could spread, a team of Enforcers arrived, claiming to be emissaries of the Emperor. They declared that Astoria had been chosen as a test zone. They took full responsibility for the blockade, stating that this program was crucial for humanity's survival."

"Alas, the city's leaders didn't take kindly to this. They weren't willing to risk their lives for a cause they knew others could handle," I added.

"They started hoarding the city's serum reserves for themselves while issuing fake travel passes to the capital. They hoped the enforcers would be too busy preventing people from leaving the city, allowing them to escape in the chaos through one of the emergency underground tunnels—something only the mayor was supposed to know about."

She started coughing up blood.

"Yesterday… When I learned there was a way to escape, I didn't want to risk dying during my Awakening. I was so scared," she said, sobbing. "I don't even know what came over me. I made a deal with the mayor behind Victor's back. If I gave him the money Victor had been saving for years, he would take me with him out of the city when he lost his privileges."

She broke down in tears, begging for forgiveness.

"What happened after that?"

My voice was cold, forcing her to swallow her sobs.

"The passage we took led us more than five kilometers outside the city, to an abandoned mine along the mountains."

"That's where we discovered it."

She suddenly started convulsing as if reliving the moment.

"When we turned around to look back at the city from above… we saw the lifeless bodies of everyone who had tried to escape."

Blood trickled from her nose as she spoke. Lucy tried to support her, but I stopped her.

"In truth, the ones blockading the city weren't enforcers… but over a thousand Calamities. Insects of all kinds surrounded the city."

"Then… we saw it."

Her voice trembled.

"A giant serpent… green-skinned… over a hundred meters long and three meters wide.

The worst part? The so-called Enforcers obeyed it… as if they were under its control."