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The city was well ruined. Most streets had been broken in two. Buildings barely rose over two floors, and then the jagged wall edges begun, the broken windows, and of course the blood from the corpses. The walls had been flattened, and there were no living beings, in the area, baring three strange girls, walking right in, from what was once the main gate, and what was now, a shattered and mangled lump of metal. The beast had done it's work, and it had been very thorough. But the beast was not the problem.

A young boy about 15, made his way out of a ruined building. It had collapsed almost entirely, but one  of the steel beams, had managed to hold a falling part of the building in place, for the boy to hide under. A few rather traumatic hours later, and the boy could finally crawl out, into the city. And all that he saw was ruin. The street he used to walk in every day, was cracked. His neighbor's house, was broken in two, and one half had just fallen down for most part. His bike, was...well, it was many things, but not a bike anymore.

The boy couldn't find his parents either... he was worried. They said everybody evacuated, but the boy didn't get on the same airship as his parents'. A rather unfortunate incident. His airship was supposed to be last, and got attacked before they could actually escape. The guards had given all they could, to ensure everyone could run. A  lot of people died. The boy, Marcus, had little choice but to run to the safest place he knew, in town. His home. Perhaps he could go to the guards barracks, or maybe some hidden location on the west side... but that had been ruined entirely.

That was where the attack begun, after all. But now it seemed to be over. Marcus left the rubble, and started walking through the ruined streets. Everything looked to be in bad shape. His street had been safe, for most part, judging by what he could see on the other parts of town. There were points, where he had to leap through open gaps on the ground, not to mention having to leap over fallen street lights, or building parts. After a long while, he had managed to leave behind his original district, and was now on the upper part of town.

Over time, he had sped up his walk. He'd realized that maybe, just maybe the dangerous creatures were STILL around. He had been hearing voices... and he could swear at some point there was some shouting. But it didn't seem familiar, and he couldn't understand the words. So after reaching for the upper section, and coming to the last hurdle to leaving the city. The exit was in flames, ever since the assailants crashed the airship. And that was when he saw them...

Three girls, coming his way. The one closest to him, and to the left of her group, seemed to have taken notice as well. She looked...well, pretty. The girl had something ethereal about her. Wearing a simple white dress, with short sleeves, and lacking any significant decorations, reaching down to her knees... and on top of it, a small light red scarf.  The dress had golden buttons, throughout it's length, down the middle, and the girl seemed to be wearing a pair of light red fur boots as well. She had long blonde hair, tied up in a single, thick braid, and had a single bang fall over her face.

But the dress had an odd glow to it, her light blue eyes were visible, even from far away, and she looked awfully...pale? No...not pale... if he had to use a word for it, it'd be a term he didn't quite understand when applied to humans. Translucent, maybe? He couldn't warp his head around her. The other girls were...simpler. The one at the center of the group wore a black raiment, a singular piece, incorporating both pants, and a shirt in one. They were a little loose, only tightening around the upper arm and hips.

The outfit itself, seemed to have some metal adornments, around the shoulders, the knees, the trims of the legs and arms, and around the chest. One resembled the representation of the spades suit of cards, and another seemed to be akin to a small crown. Some other adornments too, but they did not look all that significant. She had short, white hair and bright green eyes, and seemed to be carrying a long black spear, taller than she was, even if it looked quite simple...much like her, overall. She was barefoot.

The third girl, seemed to be a bit odder. Dressed in a strange... wait, was it ice? It seemed the dress she was wearing, looking for most part normal... was covered in ice, near the edges. And she had this ridiculous pointy hat on, again, seemingly covered in ice near the tip. She had long, black hair, the tips of which were whitened, and her eyes were pale blue. Her skin on the other hand, was just pale. She was wearing a pair of relatively tall boots too... And she seemed to be wielding this odd staff weapon... the tip of which looked like a... snow...globe.

The sight was too bizarre for his (even if not fragile, still damaged at the moment) mind, and his body gave in, falling forward... except, he didn't make it to the ground. Someone...something, grabbed him. He could feel a pair of arms around his chest, pulling him up, and then carrying him...as he fainted. He woke up, an unspecified amount of time later... he couldn't tell how long it'd been, but from opening his eyes, he saw the night sky. At the very least, a few hours then.

"Hey..."-he heard a voice, besides him. He turned around to look, and saw the blonde girl from before. "You're awake, finally!"-she said, cheerfully smiling. "We thought it'd take longer, but well... you were mostly uninjured. Don't worry, we checked, and we're pretty sure you'll recover in no time. I took some...errm...liberties, and healed you a little. It is not something your people will be able to explain however. So do us all a favor and if they ask about how come you managed to come out unhurt, tell them you got lucky."

The boy however, could only tilt his head, and blink, trying to absorb all of the information. "Errm..."

"Sorry, umm...that was too fast. Let me try again. My name is Aria. Me, and my two friends found you, just as you fainted. We then settled here, treated your injuries, and waited for you to wake up."-she said, in a far more serious and straight tone, and of course speaking more slowly. Marcus got it this time around.

"A..lright. Thank you, miss Aria."-he said, looking around. He wasn't too far off from the spot he remembered fainting at. "I'm Marcus."

"Pleased to meet you, Marcus!"-Aria said, smiling a little. A few seconds passed.

"What is going on?"-he asked. He had so many questions he could ask, but he couldn't sort them all out: what to ask first, last or in between. Luckily, Aria understood.

"Well, we came here to destroy the daemon that destroyed the town. And it's masters. We've been told he was lead by about three or so humans, to this place, and then goaded into ruining it. We think one of them is controlling him."

"... The daemon...it's big. Dangerous..."

"Duh. That's why WE came to deal with it. We're good at what we do, don't worry. And we're really strong too."

"What...are you?"

"Hmm... think of us like... magical girls?"-a question, at which the boy only blinked.

"Oh... don't have those in this region. Hmm... think of us as kind of like H.A.T agents except much cuter, much stronger, and on occasion far better at our job!"-an explanation, that stuck this time. "Either way, to be PERFECTLY honest, I can't tell you most of the stuff about who we are. I can however, give you..."-she produced a small triangular golden shard. And then a small chain, stringing it through a small hole on the shard, before moving over to Marcus, and placing it around his neck. "Now... hmm... this is going to be weird, but basically, if any daemon decides to attack you, that thing is going to keep them away."

"... is... is it Glass?"-obviously, it was Glass. That was kind of a stupid question.

"Oh, you'd think so... no, not really. It's a piece of...errm..."-she coughed. "Of something. It's a material that has protective qualities. Not only against dream force... it can do quite a few things, to help you. It's a gift. To a very brave person, and the only human survivor brave enough to remain in the city."

"I wasn't... I wasn't brave. I hid, for hours. I panicked. I waited in the ruins of my house, and then tried to escape when everything had cooled down."

"Then you're a very honest person. Doesn't matter. Besides, I like giving random people those shards. It's... hmmm..."-she took a seat, atop a mostly flat piece of a shattered wall, right next to him. "You might have been used to life in the city, but in truth, life for most part is, well... like this."-she said, and then gestured outwards, towards the city. "Savage, dangerous, painful. Full of death, and despair. Ruined. Pretty unpleasant, all in all. So it is why, in these conditions, the beauty of meeting a friendly stranger is amplified many-fold."-and then she tipped the shard, in Marcus' necklace.

"I mostly travel, and that means I see lots of different parts of the world. It is why I end up seeing a lot of this, and very little of what you were used to your whole life. It is why I like gifting stuff to random people. It's like a bond. You can't stick around for too long and neither can they, so you have to make the most out of any encounter you get."-she said, and patted him on the back. "But for now, stay here. We are going to deal with the huge daemon that attacked your town."-and with that, she stood up, and...started floating.

A bright flash emanated from her body, as a pair of large, feathery white wings seemed to appear behind her. "I'll be back!"-she waved him off, and then flew away. A second later, a sonic boom came, and she was far too away to be seen anymore. Marcus stood up, chasing after her...or well, running to the spot he'd last seen her at. He couldn't make anything out of the city, especially this late at night. Some space beside him, a fire had been lit. Small...relatively unnoticeable. But even then, he had to wonder why had they taken the risk of getting noticed, or worse, getting HIM noticed...

And then he realized. He realized, as a large beam of light, erupted from somewhere far to his left, and left a large trail of fire in it's wake. The daemon. It was attacking something, or someone...probably Aria. He wanted to run and do something, maybe help if he could, but...well, he couldn't. The daemon was a tall monstrosity, winged, possessed of a massive spiked tail, a large horned head, and a bulky, muscular body. Four arms... two reptilian legs... a veritable abomination.

And his enemies were just three girls, only about five or six years older than Marcus. Then again, one'd be surprised at what those girls could accomplish, as Marcus saw a small glistening white light in the sky above the trail of fire, very much reminiscent of Aria's flashing light from before.... and then multiple beams of that same light, emerging from behind her, and then they approached the source of the flames, which was becoming easier to see, and resembled the monster more and more with each passing second as Marcus' eyes adapted to the darkness.

The beams, then turned hard corners, to home in on the monster and the following explosions were too bright for anything of the beast to be observed for a few moments. But after the light faded, it was still there, and still very much standing. Dangerous... He had warned them. But right out of the sky, a white lightning bolt struck the creature. Then another... a third... and then a large number of them, coalescing unto it. Followed by a singular beam of electricity, that struck the body of the creature vertically, engulfing it in it's light and heat. The ground shook too, and Marcus had to take cover, as a wall of debris flew past him.

Even more dangerous, apparently... he had underestimated the girls. He looked out again, and could see numerous light beams, lightning bolts, and what seemed to be these purple missiles, flying out of random places, and exploding into a shower of small purple particles. The battle was heated, and it was raging. With every second, the air got hotter, colder, more humid and wetter, changing states rapidly. Clouds formed, flames rose, and the night briefly turned into day once in a while.

It was a battle straight out of a dream, or a movie or maybe even a story. Marcus watched on, wide eyes, seeing the girls give back to the creature each and every single bit of damage it was dealing to them, or the city. And they were doing it...they almost had the beast downed. Marcus almost felt like cheering... at least, until he heard the steps behind him, felt two arms atop his shoulders, and then the cold blade of a knife against his throat. The only thing he could see were the man's robes... his broad sleeves, colored purple, and green on the inside.

"Not a word. Come with me."-the man threatened in a hoarse voice, and Marcus was forced to head in the direction he was sent to, by the man. Towards the battle. He was too scared to look at the battle, but he could see the occasional beam from the monster, light blasts, and then, something he didn't miss, because the man restraining him stopped, and most  likely watched too...

One of the girls had leaped high in the air and was holding something, wreathed in lightning. Judging from the fact she threw it afterwards, it was probably the one with the spear. It bolted towards the beast, and then through it, tearing a hole... which then exploded into a much larger tear, before the lightning tore the beast into pieces, and then evaporated it entirely. It was gone, in one fell swoop. The knife against Marcus' throat, trembled just a little, and he looked down...

The man's hand was trembling too. He hadn't expected the daemon to be felled so quickly. But a second later, the grip tightened. He was probably the last one of the enemies standing. And Marcus was his final bargaining chip. The boy understood that. He waited. Soon after, he could see the light from Aria, and the other two girls, soar nearby. The one with all the ice covering her, seemed to have made a trail of the stuff in air, and skated through it, to reach the area. And then landed right behind the man. Aria, had landed to his left instead.

And the other girl, to the right. "It's going to be alright Marcus."-he could hear her say. "Just...hold on for a second."-to which he could do nothing, but look back at Aria, trying to focus on her. In the meantime, the other girls waited there. "Surrender now. I will kill the boy, if you do not."-the man spoke, tightening his grip on the knife further. But Marcus could feel him shake, just a little.

"Alright... alright, we'll give up. Just... let the boy go."-the spear wielding woman said. "Let him go and...we'll surrender."-the spear woman said, before lowering her spear. "I'll roll this over to you."-she said, rolling the spear over to the man. The other girl did the same, rolling her staff over. The man put a foot, over the staff, and picked the spear up a moment later, using it as another tool to threaten Marcus life, with the tip pointed as his chest. "Alright, now..."

He couldn't say anything else. He only gasped, for a second, as a sense of bone-chilling cold overcame Marcus. And then light. He found himself in the arms of somebody...and judging by the cold feeling against his chest, the ice wreathed girl. He pushed himself off of her, and looked back, to see the spear lady, behind him..and the spear right through the man. It had been a clean kill...she'd avoided showing the bloodier parts of the deed to him. Marcus was thankful.

"Are you alright?"-Aria asked him, looking over the corpse, as she waved her hand at it. A beam of light erupted from the ground, and when it was gone, so was the body. "I...yes. He didn't do anything..."

"Good."-the spear wielding girl said, and approached Marcus. She must have noticed the necklace, because she reached for it, and picked it up, and left out a slight smirk. "Hmmm. What's your name?"

"Marcus..."

"You met Aria before, didn't you?"

"Y...yes."

"I gave him a shard of...the thing..."-oddly unspecific, but Marcus was too tired to notice. "It's sort of like a promise!"

"A promise?"-the ice girl asks. "Hmm... Yeah I can get behind that. My name is Lymin."

"Clio."-the white haired girl said. "What you did was impressive. You may not be all that strong, but you still had guts. That takes more than a bit of something."

"I... who ARE you guys? Girls..."-Marcus had to ask.

"I told you. Think of us as magical girls. Or really strong independent H.A.T agents."-Aria said.

"That is fairly accurate as to what we DO. But now as to what we are..."-Clio added. "Let us just say we want to help."

"Yeah! We try to help whenever we can. This time we arrived just a bit late, but most of the people were safe. There were some casualties though... We are sorry about that..."-Lymin said, cheerful at first, but growing progressively more downcast, as she spoke. "Sometimes we just...don't make it."

"It is fine. At least you managed to kill the monster and everything."

"Yeah, but that's not the point. We gotta save everyone. Because technically speaking we can. We haven't perfected our performance yet."-Aria said. "But we'll get it right soon! Right?"

"Yeah. Although Aria here is a bit too...cheerful, about that."-Clio said.

"A bit?"-Lymin asked, laughing at that. "Aria keeps the time alive, really. And Clio runs it."

"...and...umm...what do you do?"-Marcus felt relieved enough to be able to ask that.

"Comic relief."-Lymin folded her arms, and stared right at Marcus. "The most important role."

"I... woah."

"Yeah, we're pretty amazing alright. but that aside, I think... I think we have to go now. Who knows where we will next be needed."-Lymin added.

"Yeah, it's been fun! But we have to leave now!"-Aria said. "We'll walk you to the nearest settlement."

And with that, they went off, into the night. The trip took a hour or two, as the refugee camp hadn't been set up too far. They let the boy off near it's edge, and went off. Before he entered the camp, and returned to his parents, he turned around... to see a single light, shimmering in the air, a lightning bolt striking somewhere in the distance and a trail of ice in the air.