Rome burned under red skies.
The sun had not been seen for three days. The air itself shimmered with a crimson haze, staining every wall and every street with a color that felt like the end of civilization. July 18th — only three days since the incident — and already more than three hundred thousand were dead across Italy.
The cities were silent except for the wailing of the dying and the distant screeches of the Faceless. Entire towns along the coasts had vanished beneath the red hemisphere that now covered the whole of Italy. Satellites sent back flashes of a crimson dome, lightning veins crawling across its surface. The world watched in horror as an entire nation became a sealed wound.
Every broadcast flickered between panic and disbelief.
"The Italian Peninsula is now completely enveloped by a red hemisphere… repeating, a red hemisphere of unknown origin. Communications are down and access is blocked by unidentified energy waves. The World Forces have declared Italy an Unreachable Zone."
Even the great Empires of Altera Earth had begun preparing their response. But there was no "entry." Nothing could penetrate the dome. Missiles disintegrated. Drones melted into black dust. Inside, the Roman Empire itself had declared martial law.
The Empress of the Roman Empire, resplendent and grief-stricken, appeared on every remaining transmission within the red hemisphere. Her voice echoed through emergency radios
"To all who still breathe beneath the scarlet sky, The August Palace is open together with other places across Italy. Bring your families. Bring the wounded. Bring your dead if you must. My Imperial Guard will lead you but heed this law. No one enters without confirmation. The Faceless walk among us."
Her tone was steady, but her eyes betrayed exhaustion. Behind her, flames reflected on the glass mosaics of the imperial hall. The Imperial Guard, elite Fluxers marked with the sigil of the Crowned Eagle, set up barricades leading to the palace gates. Long lines of refugees stretched through Piazza Navona. Faceless attacks were frequent. Sometimes, the thing that screamed for help was already one of them. Sometimes, the man calling for his wife was already a mimic, its mouth splitting open mid-cry.
So the checkpoints were ruthless.
Flux scanners were stationed at every archway. Their purpose was detect the absence of Xana signatures. And yet… even that wasn't foolproof.
°°°°°
A family of four approached the final gate.
A mother, whose eyes were hollow and sleepless. A father was limping, carrying their youngest daughter in his arms. And a boy, maybe five, clutching a half-broken weapon. The guards scanned them one by one.
Green light. Fluxer.
Green light. Fluxer.
Green light. Fluxer.
When it reached the smallest, a girl of three, the scanner pulsed yellow. A murmur rippled through the line. The guards' hands went to their weapons.
"Wait! She's— she's just cold! Please, she hasn't spoken since—since—"
One of the guards, a tall woman with obsidian hair braided down her back, stepped forward. Her armor bore the Ankh sigil of House Rameses. Her eyes glared at them.
"Shoot the child."
The crowd froze.
The mother's voice cracked. "No—no! She's our daughter!"
"Shoot. The. Child."
The father shook his head violently.
"She's not—she's not one of them! Please! Please, you don't understand, she—"
The woman raised her hand. Her palm glowed faint blue. The Flux Scanner re-read the signal. It was yellow again.
"If she were your daughter, her Xana signature would harmonize with yours. It doesn't."
"NO!"
She shot a bullet using her Combat Flux that struck the child's chest. For half a second, the little girl blinked. Her skin cracked. Her eyes melted into black slime. Her tiny body twisted. Her bones reversed. Her limbs elongated. A creature sloughed out of the child's shape.
Gasps turned to screams.
The woman slammed her palm forward. Blue light burst from her hand. The Faceless froze mid-lunge, turning into a grotesque ice sculpture. The guard lowered her arm and exhaled through her nose. She didn't even look at the creature she'd just frozen. Instead, she turned to the parents.
"Your daughter was already dead. The moment the Faceless copied her, her body was devoured. What you carried was an imitation."
The mother collapsed. The father caught her before she hit the ground. Their son just stared at the frozen horror that wore his sister's face.
"Go inside. Don't look back."
The family shuffled past, their cries muffled by the snow. The guard looked at the ice statue one last time. Cracks had already begun to form. She lifted her hand again.
"Send it away. It can't die so make sure it's secure..."
She paused when she saw who was approaching. The crowd parted instinctively when they saw who it was. A woman approached surrounded by ten guards. Their chestplates bore the Ankh of Rameses and every one of them walked in perfect unison.
Between them, in a deep cerulean cloak embroidered with hieroglyphic sigils that shimmered faintly with Xana, walked Princess Hinesia of the House of Rameses. Her eyes scanned the people before her without fear or disgust. The refugees froze. They had never seen royalty this close, not in their entire lives in fact. Even the guards at the gate straightened up, fists on their chests, their heads bowed.
The same woman who had just executed the Faceless stepped forward and dropped to one knee.
"Your Highness. We did not expect—"
"Rise up please. I came to ensure the process is fair."
"Your Highness, it isn't fitting for you to—"
"I said rise."
The tone left no room for argument. The guard obeyed instantly. Then, before anyone could react, Hinesia turned toward the Flux Scanner, the same one that moments ago had condemned a child.
"Scan me."
A dead silence fell over the crowd. Even the wind seemed to stop.
The operator, a young man wearing the crest of Augustus, looked pale.
"Your Highness… we cannot… You are of royal blood—"
"Then scan the blood of Rameses. If I cannot pass the same trial as the people, then I am unworthy of this crest."
Her words rippled through the crowd like thunder rolling across the plains.
Nobles, especially of the Twelve Houses, never submitted to being treated like Commoners. They were above such scrutiny. It was law that their lineage, their Flux purity, and their Houses' crests were proof enough of their identity. To ask them to be scanned was an insult punishable by death in normal times. But here she was, a princess, standing before the same machine that just marked a child for execution, waiting with her hands calmly at her sides.
The operator hesitated, trembling.
"Your Highness, if the scanner—"
"If the scanner does not turn green, then I will be executed as any other person."
There was nothing left to say. The operator slowly lowered the scanner over her chest, the light spreading across her body, reading the Xana frequencies within her body.
The guards looked up sharply, exhaling relief. Hinesia did not move. She simply turned her head toward her escort.
"All of you. Scan."
They obeyed without hesitation. One by one, the scanner passed over them, pulsing green each time. When it was over, Hinesia turned back to the refugees. Hundreds of them stared at her in silence. No one spoke. The only sound was the hum of the scanners and the crackling of distant fires.
Then, she smiled faintly.
"Now you see? No one is above safety. Not I, not my blood, not my guards. The Faceless wear the faces of the innocent. We cannot risk pride when Fluxhood itself trembles."
The woman from before, the one who had frozen the creature that mimicked the child, bowed deeply.
"Your Highness… your actions will not be forgotten."
"It's not memory I seek, Officia of Rameses. It's unity."
The crowd began to murmur again but this time, the sound was different. It wasn't fear. It wasn't chaos. It was hope.
A mother whispered to her son, "She let them scan her… a royal…"
A man muttered under his breath, "Maybe the Houses really do care for us."
Another added, "House Rameses… the Egyptian line… they've always been proud. But maybe they're the only ones willing to bleed with us."
The guards at the gate exchanged glances. Even they couldn't hide their astonishment. In that moment, the arrogance associated with the Twelve Houses cracked, if only slightly. The scanner operator bowed deeply, voice shaking.
"Thank you, Your Highness. You've given these people courage."
Hinesia gave a small, graceful nod.
"Then keep that courage burning. Fear feeds the Faceless. We have to meet the Empress."
"Yes, Princess!" They answered in unison, forming a circle around her once again.
As she walked toward the steps, the refugees began to move faster not because they were being forced to, but because they finally wanted to believe that salvation was possible. Hinesia glanced back once at the crowd, the faintest curve of satisfaction playing on her lips. Her actions had done more for the reputation of House Rameses than decades of politics ever could.
For centuries, they had been seen as merciless beings like all Houses. But in that moment, under the dying red sky, Princess Hinesia had turned that fear into faith.
'Huh. This should make the Commoners rely on the House of Rameses a little more.'