A Great Era

On the outskirts of Cecil City.

A massive Magic Net Relay Tower stood at the edge of snow-covered fields. Beneath the bright sunlight, the tower gleamed with metal and crystal. The enormous antenna array and Crystal Array atop it rotated silently under the control of a series of Mechanical Structures, relaying Magic Net signals to the city and the vast surrounding region.

At the tip of the tower, a long snake tail clung to the cold steel surface of the rotating antenna's base.

The tail contracted and swayed as Tir poked her head out from beneath the antenna. She raised her face into the biting wind, her long hair dancing around her. A "song" that only sea sirens could hear and understand drifted around her ears on ripples of magic.

"Naga..." The sea siren frowned and muttered to herself in confusion. "I haven't gone back for a while, and something this strange happened..."

As she spoke, she gently shook her head, bent down, released her tail, and prepared to climb back down the tower.

"Whatever. Strange things are always happening in the deep sea. I just don't know whether Gawain would be interested in this... Hmm?"

Tir blinked in confusion and arched herself forward, but the latter half of her tail did not move at all.

She looked back and saw that her tail was still tightly wound around the antenna base. A layer of clear ice crystals covered its scales, and even the flesh beneath had become translucent.

"Ah..." The sea siren finally began to panic a little, struggling twice as hard to move her tail. "Damn... It's frozen... Why is it so cold up here... Somebody help..."

A soft crack reached her ears. Tir suddenly stopped struggling and stared blankly toward the sound, only to see the rear