From Dusk to Dawn in Miyaki/Transcript

Year: 320 CE

Waves of ships fly out of Izumo.

They look... oddly bland. Nothing too special.

People in Yakamoto spot people across the border for what seems to be the first time in decades.

Oddly, the country starts emitting radio waves.

This has never happened before.

Sizzle says ...?

Tritonia says "What is it?"

Sizzle says Izumo..

It's.. Not being weird for once?

There are people there, nd actual radio signals.

Tritonia says "Hold on."

"I'm.. just adjusting the frequency."

Radio operators hear garbled speech.

Gunshots are heard.

....Followed by the transition cutting out abruptly.

Tritonia says "Satellite photos show a lot of smoke over cities..."

"Visible... cities."

"I've never seen this before..."

"I'm going to prepare a taskforce."

Luvuria says "Count me in."

A taskforce of twenty thousand Confederate troops arrive in Halmahera and board boats.

...

---------------------------------PROLOGUE---------------------------------

A loud announcer sounds across the dock.

Authorised personnel only. Intruders will be shot on sight.

Among the troops, a man in plain clothes is escorted onto the boat, clutching a camera.

"Whose this?" a guard asks.

...

"The Confederates requested we send a dozen journalists."

"Journalists?"

"This is a special military operation."

"Top orders."

"Whatever.."

They take an elevator out of the inhospitable lower decks to a more humane-looking mess hall.

The soliders in the room seem quite tough... some have medals on their uniforms too.

The cameraman shuffles through a crowd towards his designated quarters.

Luckily for him, he was given a room for himself away from the other special ops guys.

He sits on his bed and opens his camera.

He scrolls through some aesthetic photos he took on the beach only two days ago.

Now it seems his life is just about to turn upside-down...

Feeling tired, he gets some rest, before exiting back into the mess hall.

He overhears some guys talking about the upcoming mission.

"So uh... where are we even going?" he says.

"I don't know man..."

The others kind of just grunt in agreement.

"All we know for sure is that this is a high-level operation."

"It could be nothing for all we know.."

"Or it could be hell out there."

"No one knows what to expect. Not even the strategists on board."

"We're going in blind.

"Huh."

He returns to his cabin and scrolls through the photos again.

He takes a photo of himself, not for any particular reason though.

He feels the gentle swaying of the ship, as well as the slight creaking of the hull.

It was a long road ahead, he thought.

He puts on the tv, out of boredom...

.....

National mourning lasting a month has been declared in the Confederacy to honour the victims of the Insurgency.

100 years on, what has happened to the Yomtach?

The channel is changed.

Reports are coming in saying 17 people were killed in a terrorist attack in Alkatse during centenary celebrations.

"Shit.. really?"

He takes a photo of this particular news story.

"Hmph."

The channel changes again.

This time, its a video of fireworks being launched in Aparty.

He reaches into his pocket and pulls out his passport.

He runs his finger over the Apartian coat of arms on the front.

Taking a photo of the cover, he puts his passport back in his bag.

Feeling unnaturally tired again, he rests more.

Three days later.

An announcer declares on the ship that they are 1 hour away from landing.

Out of curiosity, the cameraman runs to the front of the ship.

He sees land in the distance, with scattered small villages over the rolling hills.

Smoke bellows from the villages.

He sees faint figures on the shore.

However, they seem to disappear soon.

Soon, all the troops on board are summoned below deck to prepare to land.

He lines up with his designated bodyguards as the boat slows to a halt.

Alarms blare as the huge doors open.

All the troops begin walking, and the tanks trail behind them.

The army marches in formation onto the beach and up a cobblestone slipway.

The cameraman is taken aside by the bodyguards.

"So... what am I to do?" he asks.

"Go deep into this place."

"Find something, anything,"

"Am I looking for anything specific?"

"No. Just... just go!"

They lightly shove him.

Clutching his camera still, he runs across the beach and climbs a grassy slope.

Although he can hear the army marching, he is out of view now, and well and truly on his own.

He stumbles onto what looks like a rice paddy.

It's empty.

"Huh?"

"Looks like they were in a hurry."

Indeed, the rice seemed to be harvested hastily.

He enters a deserted hut next to the paddy.

It seemed to be neatly furnished. Or at least it was once upon a time.

There is a rustic bed tucked into the corner, with a beside drawer.

Taking a photo of the room, he sits on the bed and opens the drawers one by one.

He finds a considerable amount of cash.

"Huh.."

Its issued by the "Central Bank of Miyaki Despotate."

Sorting through the banknotes, he lays out each unique banknote on the bed and takes a photo.

He then puts the money in his pocket.

He also finds a passport, issued by the "Miyaki Despotate"

He opens it to find the pages damaged by water.

The faces are cut out too.

The name is intact, and it is a normal Japanese name.

He takes a photo of the page and puts the passport in his bag.

He leaves the hut, and decides to walk towards the smoke in the distance.

Suddenly, the sky turns dark, for a split second.

He looks up to see miniscule black patches in the sky.

Shreds of metal begin to fall from the sky.

Worried, he goes inside and finds a parasol.

He then continues on his journey.

---------------------------------CHAPTER 1: FROM DUSK TO DAWN IN MIYAKI---------------------------------

Having followed the smoke, he arrives in a village.

Half of the buildings have been reduced to rubble.

He takes many photos of the surroundings.

He hears gunshots in the distance.

"What.."

Suddenly, he spots unfamiliar troops in the distance.

"Oh, shit!"

He runs into one of the less destroyed houses to hide.

Shh!

"...."

"..."

"!!!!!"

"I-"

"I said shh!"

He looks across the room to see a young boy.

The boy shuffles across the room and sits next to him.

"They have a very good sense of hearing.."

"Wh...what..."

"Where am I?"

"Who are you?"

"What is happening?"

"..."

"You're from the boat we saw..."

"Very big boat... scary boat.."

"..."

"My name is Chiharu."

"But.. they told me my name is Haru."

"They took away the kana from my name.."

"What does that mean?"

"In Miyaki... kana means honour."

"No kana... no honour.."

"Chiharu.. I still don't get it.."

"P..please... call me Haru."

"I am not worthy of my name.."

"..."

"They came.. took away all the kana."

"I can't read anything anymore."

"Make.. zero sense."

"What do you mean... they took the kana?"

"Aren't those letters?"

"Grandpa told me... bad people come. Then no human is worthy of kana."

"Kana is for the Overlord.."

"Sigh... make no sense."

"You are not from Miyaki."

"You never understand."

Haru peeks through the window.

"Bad men gone."

"Follow me."

The two walk down the cobble road.

"What happened here?"

"Why is everything destroyed?" the cameraman says as he takes photos

"Every time we upset the Overlord... they tell me..."

"A house gone."

"There were 500 of us here."

"One day, half of them gone."

"House gone too."

"Mum and dad... disappear."

"Neighbour said they went to The City."

"Then neighbour gone too."

...

"Who is the Overlord?"

"Overlord rule Miyaki. Lead us into battle against dangerous Jenoces."

"I-I'm sorry... I ask so many questions..."

"What is Jenoces?"

"No worry. Come in."

They enter a bigger house in the woods.

The boy uses 5 different keys to unlock the door.

They enter the well-furnished house.

There is a hole in the wall with cables dangling out. Was a TV meant to be there?

The boy leads the cameraman upstairs.

They enter into a bedroom.

The boy sits on his bed and retrieves a crate from under it.

He opens it to find books.

"Bad books."

He searches for a specific book.

He gets one out called "An outlander's guide to Miyaki."

He hands it to the cameraman.

"Take, read."

"I go make meal."

He turns the page.

.................

The first page is pretty blank. It reads "I wrote this book one year ago."

The one is crossed out, and replaced with a two, which itself is crossed out and replaced with a three.

This repeats until 96 is reached.

He turns another page, and it reads:

Hello, outlander.

I guarantee that the situation will not change for centuries. Not until someone finds this book.

No outlander has ever come to Miyaki.

And I cannot imagine one will for a long time..

My name is Hideo.

Wherever you may hail from...

Miyaki is your world turned upside down.

4 years ago... (100 years ago)

We peacefully led our lives in Yakamoto.

One day, ships arrived.

They marched soldiers dressed in white into our villages, and told us to offer rations.

We refused, and they killed my wife.

We tried to fight back, and they killed five more people.

And then no one resisted.

They tell us it is for the Overlord.

Yet we do not know who the Overlord is.

All we know is that we must obey.

We are forbidden from leaving our villages, or we will be shot.

...

On year 2, they built a dome across Izumo.

And their brainwashing program began.

First they upset our circadian rhythms.

They used the dome to simulate day and night...

FIrst they prolonged days and shortened nights, then they would swap at random intervals.

We lost track of time in weeks.

Then the soldiers went to the villages, and ransacked our houses.

Using some kind of... paint...

They took all our books.

Then they painted over all our signs...

Leaving only the kanji.

We were forbidden to fix any of them...

Then they gave us our books back

again.. just the kanji.

Then they took the first kana from all our names.

We were forbidden to use our birth names.

I don't know why...

On Year 4, a scout arrived from our neighbouring village.

They told us the revolution was imminent...

But half of us were sceptical.

We thought it was some kind of set-up...

But the others knew we had nothing to lose...

I think about how stupid I feel now.

Half of the houses disappeared overnight.

And if there was no house...

That's it.

They were dead..

At least that was all they had left, wasn't it? Hah..

They told us to increase our food output so we could fight the army of Jenoces.

We know nothing about anything outside our borders.. so people took it for granted.

The only thing I know is history.

No present, no future.

And we're frozen in time.

Please, outlander. If you find this... Leave and get an army.

Echo our calls for help.. and maybe we can all find out the truth.

.............

The rest of the book is blank.

Haru comes back upstairs.

"Sorry, I didn't know if you were hungry.."

The cameraman says "Listen, Haru."

"An army is here. I came with them."

"This will all be over soon!

The sky outside goes dark suddenly.

"WAH!"

The boy runs downstairs, and the power goes out with a thud.

He comes back up.

"Patrol, hide."

They both get under the bed.

"Why is it dark?"

"It's night time now... and I'm not home..."

"I've been bad.."

An alarm blares in the distance

Curfew violation in House 37A.

Surrender immediately or face capital punishment.

Haru says "Where boat?"

"Boat take you home?"

The cameraman says "I..."

"Yes.. the boat."

"Safety first.."

"I.."

"The men that took me here told me to find something, anything."

"We'll go back to the boat... bring the book."

"Then we'll go home.."

"It's safe at home.."

They leave the house and run through the woods

"I remember its this way.."

The dome above begins to flicker between day and night.

"AGH!"

"It's blinding me!!"

They pass the rice paddy, and the hut has since been destroyed.

They climb the grassy hill next to the beach

"It's just over..."

"....here..."

The boat has since gone.

He runs towards the footprints the army left behind and falls on his knees

"No... nononono!!"

"Where did you go?!"

He sees a helmet half-buried in the sand.

It's a helmet from a Yakamoto soldier.

He finds a letter inside written in Japanese.

All the kana have been removed.

"Where did they go.."

"Haru... where did they go..."

"!!!!"

"......."

"Alright... you know... Plan B...."

"In an isolated country... with no way out.."

"I..."

"Haru..."

"Where is "The City?""

To be continued....