Machina Arcanis: Two Worlds Collided
Interlude: Nohr

Somewhere far from the raging wars, on the far western edge of the Eurian continent, a small village lived in solitude. Their economy relied on both freshwater and seawater fishing, trading with wandering merchants. The village was connected to a seaport opening onto the ocean, and a fresh river ran down from the mountains.

The village’s geography consisted of two parts: a flat plain of greenery dotted with shrubs and herds of animals, and the northern rim, surrounded by dense forests with towering trees and tall mountains.

A quiet girl, Nohr, strode along the village’s outer rim. She wore a white dress with flowing frills and a large red bow pinned to her chest. Her fox ears poked out from the slit of the straw hat she wore, and a fluffy silver tail fluttered mystically behind her.

A cold summer breeze blew past, almost knocking her over. She nearly forgot she was just a small girl. She was about 130 centimetres tall, counting her ears.

“Ah!" she yelped, clutching her wide-brimmed hat and tugging the large basket tightly to her side.

As she walked along the brick-lined footpath beside the single-lane road, a few casually dressed villagers fluttered about, smiling amicably at the little girl.

Nohr appeared like an adorable ten-year-old, with silvery hair cascading like a waterfall of silk. Her skin was immaculate, flawless. Her sparkling blue eye was big and bright, while a white eye patch covered the other, giving her the appearance of a pirate of sorts.

With eager steps, Nohr made her way toward the bustling market, just a few hundred metres from the village entrance.

The crowd grew livelier here, haggling and bantering over prices. Their accent was noticeably thicker compared to the Mechanii on the eastern side.

In front of her sprawled a market lined with three to four rows of shops. On her left, long complex buildings had their front spaces transformed into stores selling spices, bakery goods, and small restaurants. In the middle rows, food stalls and miscellaneous wares formed a lively street market. To the right, her keen nose picked up the raw, fresh scent of fish coming from a large wooden shed where various types of seafood hung on display.

The mingling smells of rawness, spices, smoke, and grilling filled her nostrils, nearly overwhelming her senses.

Nohr swept her keen eyes across the fish market. A wide smile bloomed as her gaze locked onto a giant tuna. A rotund merchant with an unkempt black beard spotted her and waved.

"I almost didn’t see you in that crowd, lil foxy!" he bellowed over the passing noise.

Her white fox ears twitched. Nohr approached him, the stench of raw fish growing stronger.

"Uhmm…" She poked her head from behind his large body, eyeing the fish in her selection.

Stepping aside, the fish merchant pointed at a tuna with silvery, sheen-like skin, over two metres long. "This bluefin tuna came in just today. Ultra fresh," he said, resting a hand on his hip.

Nohr’s ears and tail wiggled with excitement, her eyes sparkling. "Really?" she sniffed, confirming its freshness.

The man nodded and spun the gigantic fish around, showing off its beautiful skin glittering under the light.

Nohr found herself drooling at the sight, already imagining the sashimi she would soon enjoy. She was sold without further persuasion.

"Can I please get five kilos of this?" she said cheerfully.

The merchant smirked and motioned for one of his crew to bring him a knife.

"If I remember correctly, young miss, you’re planning to make sashimi?" he asked, inspecting the razor-sharp blade. It curved gracefully along its length, like a scythe.

"Oh, you remember me! I’m Nohr, by the way," she said, surprised.

"Ain’t a lot of fox Wildrens around this part. But lately, I’ve seen you and your sisters too. I’m Bjorn," he grinned, pointing at the belly section of the tuna. "How about this? The medium-lean belly part? It’s a perfect balance of meat and fat — not too oily."

Nohr found herself nodding eagerly. "Yes, I’ll have that part, please," she said, pulling out a small purse from her pocket. The coins inside jingled softly.

With expert hands, Bjorn skilfully opened the tuna’s skin, revealing the beautiful pink meat underneath. He made precise cuts into chunks, weighing them to exactly five kilos.

"How much is it?" Nohr asked, fidgeting with her purse.

"Thirty thousand credits!" he said, then paused as he looked into her bright blue eye. "Maybe twenty-five thousand credits," he chuckled with a loud belly laugh.

Nohr paid her due, and soon her basket was filled with beautiful pink tuna meat for tonight’s dinner. It was quite heavy, and she had to carry it with both hands.

"Alright, Miss Nohr. Thanks for your patronage!" Bjorn called out with a bow before tending to another customer.

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The fox Wildren girl hauled the basket across the outskirts of the village toward a wooden bridge stretching over a river, where some villagers were fishing. Nohr noticed that most of the men around here wore long beards.

As she crossed the bridge, the treeline of spruces, easily two metres high, greeted her. The brick path ended, replaced by a withered grass trail. Nohr soon disappeared into the evergreen forest.

***

After fifteen minutes of walking, Nohr eventually emerged from the other side of the forest. A clearing appeared before her, dotted with signs of seasonal farmland, and in the middle sat an oversized cabin — the kind wealthy nobles would use as a winter retreat.

Two white wooden fences lined the white pebble street. Nohr, feeling her arms exhausted, laid the basket down by the roadside and rested a little.

"Hey! Lil’ Nohr!" a girly voice called from behind. Nohr quickly spun around to meet a smiling fox girl in a similar straw hat. Nhel, her bigger sister, had the same features as Nohr but looked more mature. The teenage sister wore denim overalls over a long-sleeved shirt, and her white gloves were stained with dirt.

"Nhel, don’t call me Lil’ Nohr," Nohr pouted, puffing out her cheeks.

"Okay!" Nhel beamed, poking her face over the fence to inspect the basket.

Sniffing the air, her heterochromia eyes sparkled — one golden, the other blue. "Are we having sashimi for dinner? Are those tunas? Is it Chūtoro?" she blurted out excitedly, rattling off questions one after another.

Nohr rolled her eyes irritably before removing her eyepatch, revealing the golden eye beneath. Apparently, she had the same heterochromia eyes as her sister.

"No… It’s for Grandma," Nohr said, a hint of sorrow in her voice as she sprang back to her feet.

"Wait, wait! I’ve finished picking the weeds. I’ll help you with the basket," Nhel offered, glancing back at the tomato crops in the field. She began climbing over the wooden fence.

"No! Your hands are all dirty. I’m not letting you spoil the meat!" Nohr said, striding forward without waiting for her sister.

"Wait up!" Nhel groaned, but Nohr didn’t heed her.

***

The front doorbell rang as two fox Wildrens stepped inside. Over to the far right, toward the kitchen, another sister was arranging white tulips into a vase.

"Welcome back!" she called instinctively.

This Wildren sister appeared even more mature, taller, and a little chubbier than the others. She wore a white apron over her dress, her fringe swept into a slanted part that covered one of her eyes.

Her humming stopped as Nohr and Nhel approached, their presence carrying an unsettling air.

"Are you two fighting again?" she asked gently, her voice so soothing it could lull you to sleep without effort.

Nohr, the youngest sister, shook her head vigorously. "She’s gonna ruin the fish with her dirty hands!" she exclaimed, glaring at the teenage Wildren.

Nhel wiggled her tail innocently. "I just wanted to help!" she protested.

"Quit it, you two," Nirie, the mature one, said more firmly, exerting her authority. She helped Nohr with the heavy basket and inspected its contents.

"Tuna!" Nohr replied gleefully. "Chūtoro!" Nhel interjected sharply, causing Nohr to growl at her.

"My, my. Nice pick, Nohr," Nirie said, patting her on the hat. The young fox purred contentedly.

Nohr suddenly fidgeted with her legs sheepishly before confessing, "It’s for Grandma."

Nirie’s eyes widened slightly in surprise, her lips parting. "Oh dear, how considerate of you to pick the mid-lean section of the tuna?" She eyed her with genuine affection.

Crossing her arms in conceit, Nohr proclaimed, “Because I’m super smart!”

But her triumph was short-lived as Nhel teased, "She probably didn’t even know and just picked the expensive one again," Nhel said, inspecting the almost-empty purse she had pickpocketed from Nohr and let out a chuckle.

"Hey! Don’t just steal my purse!" Nohr growled, lunging for it, but Nhel simply raised it above her head and stuck out her tongue.

Nohr hopped a few times before giving up. She was simply too short. Nothing but frustrated growls escaped her lips.

"Stop it, you two!" Nirie tried to mediate between the siblings, but to no avail.

***

When night fell, the sashimi platter was prepared by one of the sisters — mainly Nuhl, the short-haired sister and the most skilled cook among them.

Nohr volunteered to bring the platter up to the second floor, where Grandma’s room was. Nervously, she knocked on the door.

"G~Grandma Nohrell?" she stammered, a tempest rising in her chest as she struggled to steady her hands.

"Come in, Nohr," a soft voice answered shortly.

Twisting the knob, she pushed the door open with her shoulder, entering a dimly lit room.

Only the moonlight streamed through the open window, the eerily translucent curtains fluttering in the wind.

Nohrell sat upright in her white bed, her face illuminated by the pale light as she turned sideways toward Nohr.

Her dull eyes stared distantly into the dark mountains. Despite the darkness, Nohr could still make out her grandma’s features — her once-proud face now frail, her cheeks hollowed, her ears drooping over messy hair. Dark circles around her eyes stood as a testament to endless weeping.

This was what loss had done to the once-glorious Astral Empress, reduced her to a mere shell, adrift without purpose like a rotten log in the sea.

Fool… Weakling… Loser…

Those words haunted her every single night as the vision of glowing blue eyes, Aurora Vere Borealis’s gaze, looked down on her. So mighty, so arrogant. Just the memory made her grind her teeth.

Even hatred and vengeance could no longer sustain her. She was tired of it all.

Strangely enough, Nohr, Nhel, Nirie, Nuhl, and the others were like fragmented versions of herself.

Her Nine-tail Apparition was dissonant, much like how her once-great empire had fractured.

It was an extremely rare kind of essence, rivalling the power of primordial ones, so unique that no one truly understood how it functioned.

Not even Aurora, among the wisest of the arcanists, could anticipate her scheme.

Only Nohrell knew that by deliberately killing herself, her essence would be reclaimed into her prime body.

The fight with Jovian of Sagittarius had been inconsequential.

And when she fought Aurora in Namvie? She had already been one step ahead of the Elven Empress, hiding her last essence away for safekeeping. Aurora would never predict this, not in another hundred years.

Now, drowning in sorrow, she wasn’t sure if it had been worth it anymore.

Slowly creeping toward her grandmother, Nohr held up the platter, beautifully arranged with slices of pink tuna.

"Please, Granny, please have the sashimi with me," she said, forcing back her tears as she deeply resonated with Nohrell.