Our world has tons of incredible things floating in the sky just overhead.
Things like pure-white castles built on top of giant, fluffy clouds. Or long and stout dragons that have curled up for a slumber. Or the giant statue of the goddess Talia that miraculously floated up there one day.
The floating cemetery was just another one of those oddities.
These phenomena dated all the way back to around twelve hundred years ago, during the battle of the summoner of ruin, Oldenier Gallow. Oldenier had summoned seven wyverns and bathed the lands in fire, but the summoner’s collective gathered, overcoming national borders to defeat him. After that, the geniuses of the collective constructed a cemetery in the sky.
The floating cemetery’s purpose was to act as a resting place for the departed souls, but it had a second goal of acting as a deterrent, too. It’d circle the skies of the world as a reminder for the summoners who looked up and saw it to not become a second Oldenier. It basically served as a lesson in self-restraint and a warning that pulling a similar stunt would inevitably lead to ruin.
To us, however, the whole battle between Oldenier Gallow and the collective is ancient history. It basically sounds as ridiculous as an actual fairy tale.
But the important point here is that the floating cemetery still flies.
They say the place is chock-full of treasures that could even re-create the gods’ miracles. Supposedly, the great necrospecter Tory watches over the slumbering dead, too.
Tory was this greater elemental who lived through the age of gods, spirits, and humans—basically, she’d lived a helluva long time. The origin elemental of death, which was rumored to be the reason for the concept of death in this world, had given birth to her. It’s said she even killed one of Oldenier’s wyverns with a curse.
“Looks like there’s a whole lotta people. There’s a hundred already, even before dawn…”
“The cemetery’s full of rare artifacts. I’d guess ninety percent of them are looking for relics of the summoners famous enough to go down in history books.”
Right before the face of dawn peeked over the distant mountain range, Cyril, Myfila, and I mingled with the crowd of students on the school roof, clad in our cloaks.
“So sleepy… Cyril…carry me… Cyril…”
Myfila, who was vehemently not a morning person, was holding hands with Cyril and seemed like a marionette whose strings would be cut at any moment. He was barely keeping her up by the right arm.
“That’s Agnika Aluka, and that’s Socie Record over there. Looks like some of the more well-known third-years are here, too.”
“This only comes around once every five years, after all. It might be worthwhile to attempt, even with the risk of serious injury right before graduation. Maybe they need some ancient artifact to stand a chance against Sasha’s invincibility or something.”
People made a concerted effort to keep the volume level low.
Then again…we were still making a commotion for our surroundings to a certain extent, considering over a hundred of us were gathered on a wall-less, fenceless roof and speaking to one another in hushed voices. It felt like the morning of a festival.
“Good morning, Feil Fonaf, Cyril. So you’re planning to fly, too?”
I turned around to find a brunette being accompanied by two other guys. It was Lulua Folicker. Their team was second rank in the first-year Academy matches and sixth overall.
The loose and soft curls of her long hair were held back by a scarf, and her expensive-looking coat, which made lavish use of lamb pelts, guarded against the early November chill of the morning.
“Who would have expected it? And here I was convinced you had no interest in treasure hunts. Especially you, Feil.”
Her smile was bright, not even showing a hint of drowsiness or lethargy.
I had to hold back a yawn when I replied to her, “I’m not gonna go diggin’ up peoples’ graves. I’m here to have a chat with the gravekeeper.”
“You mean Tory, the necrospecter?”
“Heard she’s a temperamental greater elemental, so we’ll see if she’s interested in what we have to say first.”
“Well, isn’t that intriguing? Will you let us know if you hear anything interesting, then?”
“Sorry, it’s kinda complicated… Actually, you guys are already second rank. You could sleep in on the weekends, y’know. What’s the point of rootin’ through a cemetery just to get even stronger?”
“Ah-ha-ha-ha. I might be greedier than you think.”
“Who likes a prodigy who doesn’t care about appearances? Just makes ’em unmanageable.”
I gave her a strained smile, and the crowd around us suddenly began to stir.
I was trying to figure out the source of the commotion, and that’s when I saw it—three pure-white pegasi had appeared on the roof, the sun rising against their backs.
Their great white wings beat against the air, allowing them to hover in place as they carried their riders—three beautiful girls who were instantly recognizable as the top team in the Academy. At their center was the Princess-Knight Sasha Shidoh Zultania, wearing light armor in the colors of the devout.
I had no idea who the hell designed her armor, but her helmet was just a headband that protected her forehead, like the outstretched wings of a bird, and her breast plate was wide-open at the front. Because of her short skirt and the shin guards, which only came to the tops of her knees, her unblemished thighs were in direct contact with her pegasus’s white coat.
The girls on either side of her wore heavier equipment, their feminine silhouettes fully ensconced in armor without a hint of thigh. Their chests were covered with plates of metal. It occurred to me that the imperial knights who protected the palace of the land of Shidoh probably wore armor like that.
The commotion from the summoners gathered on the Academy’s roof immediately died down.
There were some dudes who yelled, “Princess Sasha’s here!!” “Her Highness’s boobs are huge!!” “C’mon, show off more of those thighs!!”
“Quiet, you fools!!” A single shout from Sasha’s teammate was all it took to silence the riffraff.
A hush fell over the morning crowd.
“My name is Sasha Shidoh Zultania. I am here today to represent my father, the successor of the throne, Jikfrit Shidoh Zultania.” As she drew the sword at her side, Sasha’s melodic voice declared her name. Then she pointed the tip of her sword directly at the more than hundred summoners below her feet. “Students who seek the wisdom of yore, and the youth who trample upon the resting dead for knowledge.”
As we fell into silence, our meekness showing on our faces, we listened to the words of the third princess of the land of Shidoh.
No summoner here was unaware of what would happen in this place.
“The floating cemetery was originally the resting place of the dead, and because of the great power the land holds, the eight great royal families are in agreement that entry shall be rigorously restricted. It would be a nicety to call a grave robber shameless.”
This was the long-standing Ceremony of Rebuke and Permission.
In order to enter the forbidden domain under the management of His Majesty, everyone had to go through the appropriate procedures, no matter where they hailed from or what age it was.
“However…the sages who rest in this cemetery were once pupils of this very Academy. It stands to reason that the forebears entrust the future generations with their knowledge.”
The floating cemetery we were all headed to right now was one of those forbidden grounds, appearing above the Academy’s skies once every five years. It was established that the only way to enter was to gather on the Academy’s roof on the morning it appeared, then receive the rebuke and permission of the royal family.