Two worlds, each invisible to one another, collided a century ago. The twin planets, Gaia and Aether, had once harmoniously shared an orbit around the sun for billions of years without having any awareness of each other. Gaia was a colossus of a planet, two times the size of Aether yet somehow falling behind in terms of magic usage, and thus developed a system known as magic technology. On the other hand, the people of Aether, blessed with the natural capacity to convert aether into mana had advanced so far into the realm of magic that they can manipulate nature itself, though they have made violating it forbidden.

A century ago, a calamity occured: a rift between the two worlds began appearing, sucking both in a magical vortex--a phenomenon said to have already occured once, a million years ago. According to scholars, Gaia and Aether were once a single world, until the first vortex occured, an anomaly that split the two worlds apart. Now, as if the power that had divorced the two worlds had waned, another vortex appeared, one that joined the two together again.

It was chaos at first, as sovereign territories collided and new nations formed. The chaos lasted for a decade before diplomacy won over supremacy, and alliances formed, making stronger and more powerful nations. In The Republic of Branch, allied to the Kingdom of Cloud, an agency of eccentrics was formed to combat the growing tension between the two allied sovereignity.

This is the story of a Gaian police officer and an Aetherean mage.

"I am the chronicler of this story and I have the power to peer into the minds of the characters, this power I will share to you, allowing you a peek into their thoughts, feelings and the like. Now, come with me and listen carefully, to the chronicles I shall write to you."

Signed: secret memories

'A century has passed and the world is more stable now, I wonder if there'd be more serious work for people in my profession,' Arthur pondered as he sat lazily on his swivel chair inside the police station. Despite having excellent records in his more than five years of work in the force, he had a major flaw--at the age of 28, he still had not gotten himself a wife. To solve this problem he had opted to meet with a girl on a date arranged for him by a workmate. After the day was over, with little to no filed complaints from the public, he headed home and took a hot refreshing bath.

Arthur belonged to a special division in Branch's police force that handled undesirable tensions between Aetherean and Gaian people; this was because, after the territories of The Republic of Branch and the Kingdom of Cloud became close neighbors, it wasn't strange for tensions to occur between citizens of both sovereignty, at least, that was how it was a long time ago. Now, through peaceful diplomacy, both Nations have opened up their borders for trade and tourism and have become indispensible partners.

Through the magic arts of Aethereans, the magic technology of Gaians had improved to an astonishing degree, which, they never forgot to share to their neighbors as payment for their generosity.

After bathing, Arthur went on to wear his best attire, a hooded jacket paired with a pair of black jeans--this wasn't a formal date after all. He went out in that get up until he arrived at the rendezvous, a giant plaza packed with people from all walks of life. He sat on the bench and waited for the woman to arrive.

Evening came but there were still no signs of her.

'Figures... another failure huh?" he thought, pumping a fist. "Don't be saddened me, I know you'll find the right one soon."

Just as those last thoughts trailed off in exchange for some other random thoughts, a beautiful girl came running towards him dressed in a grey coat over a pink shirt and a pale-brown long skirt.

"Are you perhaps Arthur?" she asked him, slightly panting.

"Yes," Arthur gazed at her suspiciously, "I am Arthur. Where were you? I was waiting for ages here."

The girl flustered frantically, looking for the right words to explain her situation. Seeing her reaction, Arthur couldn't help but sigh.

"I was expecting to have dinner with you anyway so I guess we can just skip the sight-seeng and get right to the point," he said, standing up.

"O-okay!" the girl beamed a smile, haplessly replying, "thanks for your consideration!"

"You're quiet formal aren't you?" told Arthur, walking forward. "Do me a favor and loosen up a bit will you?"

"O-of course, e-er, Mr. Arthur."

Arthur puffed a snippet of laughter. "You've just contradicted yourself right there. Meh, let's just hurry on and finish this quickly."

****

"Aisha was it?" asked Arthur, munching on the noodles he ordered, "I'm sorry for this; as you can see, my salary's barely enough to make ends meet, for now I can only afford this."

"No, it's not a problem Mr. Crane, I'm very happy for the noodles."

"Now your resorting to my last name? This date seems to be doing the opposite," Arthur chuckled, "but enough of that tell me more about yourself."

Hearing that, Aisha turned gloomy all of a sudden and found it hard to speak. Arthur could see her face flushed with shyness and timidity. He, realizing she didn't want to talk about it, quickly changed the subject, relieving the stiff air by talking about his line of work and the like.

At the end of the day, nothing eventful happened, nothing clicked, and no hearts fell in love. Arthur, being a considerate fellow, offered to accompany Aisha home, and despite being declined many times, insisted and won over her approval.

They walked towards the station together in a merry atmosphere, occasionally laughing and smiling along the way.

****

The moment they arrived at the train station, Arthur noticed the stillness and silence in the air and immediately pulled a magic handgun from the holster hidden under his jacket.

"Get behind me Aisha," he said, putting an arm in front of Aisha, while holding the handgun on his right. "Something's not right."

"Mr. Crane, what are you talking about?"

"The train station is empty," he said inspecting his surroundings with a careful gaze. "I've heard stories like this before. An anomaly called dimensional pockets caused by a--"

"An Elemental!" exclaimed Aisha looking into the dark distance.

"What do you mean by Elemental? This is obviously the work of a Mutate."

'Ah, that's right, difference in vocabulary huh?' thought Aisha.

"Let me handle this," said Aisha in a concerned tone.

"Don't joke around Aisha, this thing can kill us in an instant!"

Not heeding his words Aisha quickly stood in front of Arthur and pulled something from under her coat—

'A magic wand!' mumbled Arthur, surprised by the sudden revelation of Aisha's magic tool.

"I invoke, flames of nature manifest yourself before me and heed my command!"

She pointed her wand at the darkness in front of her.

"Consume!"

A gust of flames came gushing forth from the tip of her wand, lighting up the environment and revealing the thousands of mice-like creatures with glowing red eyes that had infested the area. The fire engulfed all of the mice until only ashes were left of them.

"You're a mage!" blurted Arthur in astonishment. "Incredible, what powerful magic!"

Suddenly the whole place began packing with people as the anomaly wore off after the cause got incinerated by Aisha. Aisha turned around to look at the befuddled face of her acquaintance.

"Sorry for not telling you earlier," she explained, "I was afraid you'd find it uncomfortable."

Arthur's face suddenly brightened up, recovering from the initial shock and spoke the words that broke Aisha's prejudice towards Gaians.

"Why would I? That was amazing!"

"But you were shocked, weren't you?"

"Of course I would be shocked. In the face of that spectacle no man wouldn't be surprised."

"I-I see," Aisha said, looking down in embarrassment. "I thought Gaians were jealous of Aethereans' magic?"

"Who told you that?" asked Arthur candidly. "While I'm not gonna hide the fact that there are activists who seem insecure of your power, I guarantee that there are a lot of us who see nothing wrong with you people. So it's all fine, no need to hold back towards me."

"In that case," responded Aisha, "can I continue meeting with you?"

"Of course! How about next week, sound good?"

"Yup," Aisha smiled happily and adorably, "it's a date then."

Weeks had past and Aisha and Arthur had begun seeking each other's company more often. They had treated each other's company as a wonderful excuse to escape the stressful atmosphere of their jobs. Being together somehow relieved unwanted mental tensions and relaxed their bodies. The other day, they had decided to go visit an ancient relic of the past—a large open field, wherein buried under it's earth, the countless Gaian soldiers who fought heroically during decisive battles in history. Many graves could be dated back to three hundred years, while the earliest ones were around eight years. It was Aisha who suggested they'd go here as she wanted to see the heroes of Branch.

Arthur, on the other hand, was completely opposed to this, as if there was something he didn't want to see. During their quiet stroll in this strangely serene graveyard, while Arthur browsed the names of famous generals, Aisha had separated from him and went on to look at graves of people with lesser names.

"This one's so young," Aisha morosely said, looking at a grave's tombstone. "Cast Shadow group? What could this be?"

"What are you doing?"

Aisha jerked, unwittingly stunned at Arthur who appeared out of nowhere.

"You left me alone," he said, approaching near, "and I find you here earnestly looking at a dead man's tomb, what a shame." Arthur chuckled amiably.

Aisha cutely pursed her lips in disagreement, "Correction," she said, averting her gaze, and crossing her arms to her chest, "it's a 'she', and please don't say it's a shame. To be honest I'm here for an important business, I'm looking for someone's grave."

"Someone's grave? You know a Gaian soldier?"

"Not exactly," Aisha said, looking down with her cheeks turning red in embarassment. "It was someone I met eight years ago, when I was still fifteen."

"Oh?" reacted Arthur. "How did it happen? Tell me, I'm curious."

"Well, remember the buzz about that dark organization eight years ago? I was actually kidnapped by them, and then this Gaian agent swooped in to save me, I never got his real name, all I know is that people call him, Wisp. I've got sources telling me he died long ago and I was hoping I could pay tribute to him, supposing his body would be buried here; however—"

"You haven't found him?" asked Arthur, reading the tomb stone bearing the name, Lily. "This girl right here, she's his ally for sure."

"What? How can you be so sure?"

"Cast Shadow," said Arthur, turning his back on Aisha and walking away. "Even a layman could deduce that they're on the same team. You said the guy was a Cast Shadow right? It's not too difficult to put two and two together."

"But—" Aisha followed after Arthur in a daze. 'I did not tell you,' she thought, 'that he was a Cast Shadow'.

Aisha could see Arthur clenching his fist with force; she could feel something akin to frustration in Arthur's demeanor.

"He's dead," added Arthur. "I'm sure people buried him where no one else could find him, so don't go looking for his grave."

"How do you know he's buried somewhere else?" asked Aisha catching up to Arthur's side.

"I'm a police man, I should know."

***

After the graveyard, Arthur invited Aisha to a nearby river, he said that the air there was refreshing, Aisha agreed immediately and followed after him.

While at the river-side, the two happily talked about a bunch of interesting stuff, half-way through their conversation Arthur stopped talking and looked at Aisha intensely.

'Eh?' she thought, 'what's wrong with him?'

Looking at Arthur, Aisha could feel her cheeks tingling; she began blushing as she stared at Arthur's face. Arthur probably had the face of an average man. To say it correctly, he wasn't ugly, but he wasn't a one-in-a-thousand handsome kind of a guy at the same time. He was handsome, yes, but it was merely average. Yet somehow, at this moment, Aisha felt as though Arthur had become the handsomest man on the planet, and her chest started beating fast. Her face kept getting redder and redder and her movements became more and more awkward until—

Arthur reached his hand to her face. Her immediate reaction was to briskly lean backwards, avoiding his hand. But it was all futile, she felt Arthur's hand land on her head. Getting too embarrassed, she closed her eyes, hoping Arthur didn't notice the strange reaction she was experiencing.

"It's a spider," Arthur calmly blurted, flicking the spider with his thumb and fore-finger. "It's gone now, no worries."

Suddenly, Aisha began calming down. She heaved a sigh of relief. 'What was that just now?' she thought to herself. 'All that for a spider?'

"Please," Aisha said, averting her gaze and awkwardly playing with her hair, "don't ever do that again."

"Why what's wrong?"

"It makes me uncomfortable," Aisha replied, pouting. "It made me feel strange, okay?"

Arthur laughed, "You look cute like that you know; maybe I'll do it again to get another reaction like this from you."

"As if," said Aisha, walking away, "you'll never catch

me off guard again."

To Aisha, although she would not admit it, Arthur had become someone she could talk to without stiffness. Usually, whenever she talked with the people around her, under her 'special circumstances', she'd have to be rather careful; to Arthur, however, she could simply be casual.

Unbeknownst to her, Arthur hid his own embarassment. The moment he flicked the spider earlier he had realized he was too close to her and felt a feeling of daze. His pulse beat fast; and he started sweating profusely. Aisha seemed to him as a fragile creature, one who needs to be protected. Such feelings of nearness made him rather awkward; and the smell of her perfume made his heart beat faster even more. However, unlike Aisha, he masterfully hid his reaction.

***

"Do you get it now?" asked Aisha, confirming if Arthur had understood her explanation.

They had already left the graveyard and was now walking towards the bus station. Arthur had been meaning to ask how magic worked, he'd always been curious about it so he had tried asking Aisha to tell him but it took a while before she gave her consent. Magic is a classified art, but Arthur convinced her he only wanted to know the basics and thus teaching him about it wasn't really a problem.

Aisha asked him why he wanted to know an art he couldn't hope to practice, and he replied that if he were to continue working as a Light Tower police man, he had to at least know something of the other side. Seeing the logic to his argument, Aisha finally agreed.

"So basically," Arthur uttered, looking into the distance while digging his memory for the right response, "the original source of energy that flows through the universe called aether is where mana is derived from, and this mana determines the existence of an object?"

"Exactly," told Aisha coolly, pointing two fingers up. "There are two types of mana: fundamental mana and formal mana. Formal mana is mana that has taken shape, like a tree, a chair, a human being and etc. Since it has taken shape, it is called a 'proper object' or to put it simply: a material object. Magic on the other hand uses fundamental mana that all Aetherean's produce from their body to cast 'spells'. By means of spells, Aetherean's can give form to this formless mana or fundamental mana for a temporary period."

Aisha took her wand and began casting magic, "Burn," she commanded. A small fire suddenly appeared on her wand's tip.

"This fire is called projected fire," she continued explaining. "It's a fire I've produced from my fundamental mana. Currently, it keeps consuming my mana, if I stop feeding it the fire would disappear. Unlike a real fire, it doesn't use flammable objects to fuel itself, it uses my mana. Although it can burn objects, it's merely because it shares properties with a real fire. Projected objects are objects that temporarily exists because of a mage's will, but they cannot exist independent of its caster—the source of mana."

"Is that so?" asked Arthur, a bit confused. "But I hear Cloud Kingdom is protected by a spell cast by a mage who died a century ago, how come it has outlived its caster?"

"As I've said, a projected object cannot be independent of its caster as the source of mana, but if you were to replace the source with another source then it's possible to sustain a spell for longer periods. For example: if a mage is strong enough to bind a spell to nature, then nature itself will provide the mana to sustain the spell until a point where the written incantations get rusty and disappear."

"That is amazing!"

"This is just the basics," Aisha said, looking at the enthusiastic face of Arthur, "I can't give you an in-depth explanation regarding the use of magic—"

Out of a sudden, Aisha slipped on a small puddle on the broken part of the road's pavement; but before she could hit the ground, she felt two sturdy arms and a broad shoulder catch her and envelop her body. Her heart started racing immediately.

"Be careful will you?" Arthur nonchalantly said, averting his gaze while slightly blushing; other than this small indication of embarassment, he was once again successful at hiding his frantically swaying emotions.

Aisha on the other hand rattled frantically, hence, her awkward efforts to quickly get off of Arthur.

"Why did you do that?" she said, "I said don't do something like that again!"

"Shut up!" Arthur responded, scratching his nose. "You're a lady, how can I be so dumb as to allow you to fall?"

Those words caused a flurry of emotions to explode in Aisha's heart. Of course this wasn't the only time this would happen. Later on in their friendly dates, she would experience it more often.

Arthur and Aisha continued their friendly dates and felt happy with each other's company. They could not explain it, and each of them could not be honest to one another, hence, adorably awkward moments weren't unexpected. Slowly, days passed, then months, and they'd realize—

That they had fallen in love.