[ Luitol Castle ]

A man kneeled in front of a tall figure, it was a woman with blonde hair, sitting on her throne with her legs crossed, "Lady Shamhat, preparations are ready for the next phase," the man said as he stared at her with pride in his eyes.

The tall woman took a sip of tea as a servant brought it for her, "Today our revelation, shall make us the enemies of the world," she said as she got up from her throne and her servants kneeled.

The woman's name was Shamhat, she ruled the town of Luitol as the commander, the town at the south end of Choshire. She was the most feared woman in the entirety of Choshire, if she decided something then that something would happen. It didn't matter what consequences or risks there were.

The throne room was filled with riches, it was made from beautiful materials even unknown to those who have been living in Choshire for the past decade. She wore a red dress that matched her appearance, there are rumors among the Luitol citizens that her dress was painted with real blood from her enemies.

Lady Shamhat was seen as a ferocious commander, everyone feared her, and her unknown power. Many years ago, it was said that she won a fight in the blink of an eye, no one was able to even see how, but her power seemed incredible.

As she walked outside of the castle, over 200 soldiers could be seen at a distance, kneeling for Lady Shamhat. The soldiers were all holding a specific formation they had been ordered to follow, the formation would show higher-ups and Lady Shamhat if they were able to follow on with the mission that she would assign them.

The soldiers had been waiting for hours outside, Lady Shamhat had her schedule, and they had to adhere to her own time. So, they waited outside, until she eventually showed up. Her glory shone on all the soldiers; they had unfound pride in Luitol from just seeing the beautiful figure that commanded them.

Outside the Luitol castle, there was a stand where Lady Shamhat made her orders and any public announcements. Lady Shamhat had announced to the Luitol military that today would be the most important day in their history and that the world would change entirely.

Lady Shamhat walked gloriously onto the stand to make her announcement, "Today, we shall execute one of our prior missions, with our top personnel. Trained to defeat anything within sight, trained to travel across any fields," she declared as she stared at the soldiers with a neutral yet menacing expression.

The rumors regarding the bridge would get to everyone, soldiers started whispering among themselves in a frenzy wondering if it was about that mission, "We shall cross the Choshire Bridge, venture past our safety, and discover the truth behind Choshire," she commanded.

The soldiers all had a similar expression of shock, they did not know the mission prior to the announcement but knowing the result of the past attempt had to mean something must've happened that made the elite group not return.

The Choshire Bridge is a huge mystery in Choshire, the only bridge leading out of the country had nearly zero documentation. No one had come back from traversing the bridge. Luitol citizens had already rumored the possibility to reattempt the mission of crossing the bridge, the opinions were mixed, some believed it was essential to know the truth behind Choshire, and some believed it would just end in unnecessary deaths.

One of the soldiers got up to ask a question, "What is the point of crossing the bridge?" the soldier stuttered. Lady Shamhat stared at him with that same menacing expression, "If Luitol discovers the truth of the world, our control over Choshire would expand greatly," she insisted.

Questioning Lady Shamhat was out of the question for most of the soldiers, but he did it anyways. The other soldiers looked at him as he trembled while he asked the question, obviously despite their ability, most of them were terrified of the bridge. They were surprised he went unpunished for asking such a foolish question.

Lady Shamhat walked down from the stand, she decided to go back to the throne room. Everyone continued to kneel even after she had left, they were left in shock by the orders Lady Shamhat had given.

As Lady Shamhat sat back on her throne, a servant rushed into the room with a communication device, "Lady Shamhat, we have a call for you from an unknown recipient," the servant said as she handed the device to Shamhat.

Lady Shamhat grabbed the device, "Your spies are quick to work," she held forth as she crossed her legs and continued to drink her favorite tea. The servants knew of her love for tea, so they were always serving her tea on any occasion when she didn't have any.

"You are breaking our peace treaty; we have agreed not to explore the Choshire Bridge under no circumstances. Luitol is a town full of traitors," an angered voice spoke from the device.

Lady Shamhat puts her tea down and starts to laugh, "You dare call us traitors? Such foolishness, please do remind me of your past interventions," she said as the recipient hung up the call.

+++

[ Krester ]

A young man, of average build, sat on the grass outside a facility crying. It was raining, it was late at night, and there were barely any lights to see anything outside. He didn't care about anyone seeing him cry, he didn't care about anything going on the next day, he just wanted Uli to come back.

That young man was Enkita.

Enkita stood up, his clothes wet from all the rain, "I have an idea," he muttered to himself as he walked through the rain. He lost any will to care about the rain or the possibility of getting sick. He walked through another path leading out of the neighborhood near the facility, he was headed toward the most suspicious place to him, the Lyririe empire.

The area was dark, and the rain kept getting heavier and heavier as he continued to walk, but nothing seemed to stop him. A beautiful garden, a huge gate, and a beautiful empire could be seen in front of him, "Maybe, just maybe. She's in this place? But why?" he said as he walked toward the gate.

There were two guards in front of the gate, making sure no one trespassed, or did anything suspicious, "Who are you? It's late at night commoner, get back home!" one of the guards commanded as they guarded the gate.

Enkita stumbled as he walked toward the guards, "I want to speak to the commander," he pleaded in a pitiful voice. The rain started to calm; the guards noticed how wet his clothes had become and how defeated he looked, "What is your name and what is the reason? The commander is not giving away money right now," one of the guards declared as they kept staring at Enkita's pitiful state.

The commander was a mysterious figure in Krester and Lyririe, no one knows who the commander really is besides for a group that relies on all the information from and to the commander. Enkita felt as if Lyririe would be a good bet to help him find his friend Uli, who happened to be missing on that day.

Enkita kneeled on the ground, "My name is Enkita, my friend Uli is missing, and I need help from the commander in order to find her! Please help me, I know you guys know her, she knows everyone around here!" he said as his voice gave out in desperation.

The guards stared at him with no reaction to what he said, "Who's Uli? I've never heard of them. I would usually remember everyone around," one of the guards said as he looked at the other. "Do you remember someone named Uli?" he asked the other guard.

The other guard went lost in thought for a minute, "I don't remember anyone named Uli," he said as he continued to try to remember.

Enkita struggled to get back up, he started to feel a little sick, and his clothes were completely drained, "How do you not remember Uli?", he stuttered as he stared at the name tags on their uniforms.

"Uli has told me about you two before, there's no way you don't remember her," Enkita questioned. He felt completely off as if time had frozen. He didn't comprehend what was going on, he was absolutely sure that she had met them at some point, but for some reason, they didn't remember her.

Enkita rushed from the gate towards his house, "What the fuck is going on?" he screamed. He continued running down the path that led to the facility so he could get back home, he couldn't process anything that was going on, so he just kept going.

And going, and going, and going. He kept running down the path, crying out in pain, and he continued walking for a few minutes. But then he realized, "What? I - I've been walking in this path for a while, and I don't feel like I'm getting anywhere, I don't even know what the fuck is going on anymore," he spoke to himself as he stopped to take a break on the sidewalk.

He sat on the sidewalk, and he saw something mysterious, a bright alley, with a door half open, seemingly inviting him to go through. Enkita stared at the alley, curious about it, he had no reason to go to an alley in the middle of the night after what had just happened, but to him, it felt as if it was calling out his name.

Enkita stands up and walks through the alley, "What is this place? I have never seen this alley here, am I dreaming?" he wondered as his tears stopped. He suddenly got lost in thought, curiosity got the best of him, and he decided to walk through the door.

He walked into an entirely dark place, there was not a hint of light inside, and the door closed shut behind him nowhere to be found. Enkita felt terrified, "Uh, anyone here!? I'm just visiting. Haha, can you please turn on the lights?" he yelled out nervously as he continued to walk in the midst of nothingness.

"I need to get out of here, NOW!" Enkita thought to himself as he tried to look for the door in all the darkness surrounding him. He noticed the door had vanished; he couldn't feel the door from where he walked from.

Suddenly, lights turn on one by one shining down what appears to be the arena of a colosseum. Enkita suddenly noticed a horrifying sight, something that would completely break his mental state even more than before, something that left him frozen.

A body hanging from a rope; a sign with the words "This is who you're looking for". Despite most of the body being unrecognizable, the clothes on the body were the ones Uli was wearing to go to work.

The lights weren't just shining down the arena for no reason, they were showing Enkita the worst sight for him to bear. A body so beaten up that it was mostly unrecognizable was hanging from a rope, a sign pointed at the body with the words, "This is who you're looking for."

Despite the body being mostly unrecognizable, Enkita could tell that it was Uli, the clothes it had on were the ones she left to work with. "N - No, that's, why would," Enkita couldn't finish a sentence, he couldn't speak, he couldn't move, everything felt frozen to him. His mind couldn't process any more of what was going on.

Someone who cared for him, his long-lasting friendship had come to an end this way, he was shocked beneath all else.

"Fate of the Choshire," a voice whispered behind him as the lights went off.