The Wasteland is a general term used to refer to the areas outside of the control of any of the major powers in the world, such as the Order of Rejuvenation or the Western World Union. With the size of the super-continent and the minimal population of humanity, the Wasteland comprises over 80% of the landmass, almost every corner of it teeming with the ever-present threat of Amalgamations.

  However, even so, another, more malicious party had taken it upon themselves to take the Wastelands as their own. And unfortunately, like a pack of rabid animals, they don't take kindly to others encroaching on "their" territory...

  KRBOOM!

  Somewhere out in the vast landscape of the Wasteland, an explosion spread out over the remains of an already ruined city. As the already shaky and unstable structures crumbled against the force, the sound of panicked cries and shouts could only barely be heard. However, there was one voice that managed to call out above the chaos.

  The voice belonged to a rather scruffy-looking man, the scorch marks and tears in the uniform he shared with the three running alongside him being a clear sign of some sort of conflict, despite its somewhat more ornate design.

  "Come on, keep moving!" He called, and the three behind him followed the order in earnest.

  "Too slow!" Despite the playful, whimsical tone of the voice, the man and his three companions all still felt a chill run up their spines. Doubly so once they heard the voice, much closer now, say, "On your left!"

  As if he felt something coming, the man dove forward, offering a warning to the three behind him, screaming "Get down─!"

  However, it ultimately served no purpose, as a powerful explosion seemed to appear at the center of the group. Fortunately, depending on how you look at it, the man was able to avoid the worst of it, only getting sent flying by the shock wave of it.

  With his body already bruised and battered and charred, the man was left writhing on the ground, trying, and failing, to get his breathing under control as he attempted to stand back up.

  Meanwhile, the sound of footsteps crunching against scorched ground and ash grew louder and louder, as his assailant came closer.

  "Oh. Guess I didn't exactly say who's left. My bad..." They remarked, the tone of their voice almost making it sound genuine. "Ah well, they were pretty weak, anyhow. Not an ounce of room for growth from them... Oh, or you, apparently."

  The man finally managed to get to his feet as the dust from the explosion cleared.

  Walking past the charred bodies of his companions, the assailant revealed themselves to be a person about a head shorter than the man, wearing what looked like a pure white fox mask, one of the ears being adorned with a large golden ring.

  Hooking a gloved finger over the large scarf around their neck, the person went on casually, as if they were speaking to an old friend.

  "Hey, you think that explosion managed to catch any Amalgamations' attention?"

  "W-What the hell..." Physical damage aside, the callousness of the person who had just murdered his companions seemed to anger the man more than anything, "Why the hell are you chasing us?! Why did you have to kill them?!"

  "Hm?" The person simply hummed in response, as if confused. "Who? Those three?" They asked rhetorically, briefly turning back to the bodies of the man's comrades. "I was just gonna ignore them since they were weak ─ I mean, they didn't even have Expressions ─ but then they kept being annoying and getting in the way."

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  The man only seemed to grow angrier with the casual response, a strange energy spiking around him.

  "You, on the other hand ─ I've never gotten the chance to fight one of the Order's... Pack Leaders? That's your rank, right? Honestly, I don't get you guys' ranking system..." They scratched the back of their mask dismissively, however, they seemed to perk up once they caught onto the aura radiating off of the wounded man before them.

  Knowing first-hand that running from this person was not going to be an option, the man figured that the only choice he had was to fight back. That was the rule of the wasteland, when it came to people like this.

  "Oh? Are you finally gonna fight back? Sweet!" The person cheered in excitement.

  With gritted teeth and tensed muscles, the man lunged at his assailant.

  "That's the way! Don't disappoint me after all the work I put into chasing you!" With a laugh, the masked individual responded by lunging forward at the same time, a flame-like gold energy flaring from the sockets of their mask.

  Anemoia: Noun.

  Described as "Nostalgia for a time or place that one has never known."

  Following the Rapture ─ the event that preceded the chaos that plagues us today and brought all the continents together ─ a considerable number of people had reported experiencing deja vu at the most random of times, as if they had done, seen, or said something already.

  With a majority of the population being relegated to rather monotonous tasks, most cases were pretty easy to write off as the days simply blurring together.

  However, for those with more static, unpredictable jobs, such as members of the Order of Rejuvenation's military force, it's a lot more noticeable when something really familiar goes on. One such case being last night, when I (reluctantly) joined Molly on Oscar's tour.

  With all the people that come and go in the Saber, it becomes real easy to forget them after a while.

  They just become another name to attach to an empty casket sooner or later. But, somehow, even though I was certain that it was the first time I had met him, and no matter how many times I had thought of just writing him off as someone else I would see on a fatality list later on...

  "Nice to meet ya! I'm Oscar Breindel."

  "So... Uh... Are there always Amalgamations crawling through the ceilings around here...?"

  "Sweet! How was that?"

  I couldn't shake the feeling that I had already been through it all before, and more than that, even after I woke up I couldn't help but think to myself, '...Why am I so sad right now?'

  But before I could spend too long thinking about that, I heard a knock at my door. Three light knocks that seemed too uncharacteristically hesitant to be anyone besides...

  "Mira, you up?"

  Yup, the newbie in question.

  Seeing as I was already more than awake after that random case of deja vu I'd been trying to shake off, I got out of bed and went over to the door.

  As soon as I got close, the magnets holding the metal door closed shut off, letting it slide open smoothly.

  "Oh, hey! Good morning." He greeted with what I assumed was his usual chipper tone.

  "Hey..." I responded simply.

  But, for some reason, when he looked at me, his expression switched to... worry? The heck was that about?

  "Uh... Are you okay?" I raised an eyebrow at him, wondering why he was asking me that. "It's just that you're... Uh..." Seemingly catching onto the confusion, he pointed to his cheek.

  Still confused, I wiped my own cheek with the back of my hand.

  As I did, I felt something cold and wet against it.

  Tears.

  '...Was I crying just now? That's... new...'

  Wiping away the newfound stains on my face, and not feeling like keeping focus on this whole sequence of events, I figured I'd ask him about a question that had been on my mind since he showed up at my door.

  "So, why are you in uniform?"

  It was pretty standard, all things considered. The black and white color scheme of the Saber's uniform was there, as expected, with a black jacket over a white shirt, along with black pants, boots and gloves. What set his apart from the standard uniform was some fur around his collar and boots, a cross necklace, and the fact that just jacket had shorter sleeves than the shirt.

  "Oh. Well, Ms. Ingrad said it was time for my first mission. She told me that I should come get you, though."

  ...It is so weird hearing anyone call Alyx "Mrs. Ingrad"...

  But, come get me? Between that and the fact that he's in uniform, that must mean she wants me to babysit the newbie, huh? Urgh...

  There are so many people she could've gotten to do this...

  Molly, Noise... That bitch, Albina...

  But, whatever. No point trying to argue about it.

  "Yeah... Alright. Lemme change."

  I can only hope that, whatever this mission is, it's nothing too time consuming. This job is already awful enough without having to keep the newbies on a leash...