“What are my coordinates, Rhys?” I demanded impatiently.
“Hold on,” he replied nervously. “Alright, listen to me. You’re located in the north-eastern sector; the Hibiscus forestlands, A-09256, B-00356, A1-5X, and once you’ve reached North Regional, head five-hundred meters west of the intersection. There are no roads at the meeting point—you will have to follow the direction of the Pacific Federation airline trails. It’s pretty hard to miss, I reckon.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked.
“I mean,” he cracked through the voice transmitter. “If you can’t see it, then you’ll most likely hear it, ‘kay?”
There were multiple webs of raindrops coated in the leaflets above. I could feel them sprinkle on my forehead and separate against the touch of my skin. They felt nice and cool as they rolled down my forehead, dripping off my chin.
Quickly, I stole a glance far into the night sky. I was hoping with all my heart that a miracle would happen, as I gazed at the forever starry blankets. Please, somebody survive tonight, I thought. It was hard to anticipate the worst—where did they all go? Two months ago we were a family—they were my family. It was hard for me knowing that I had been with them for two glorious years; it was all coming to an end. So maybe I was just trying to prolong the moment no matter how critical each one was. Maybe I was ready to die—or maybe I was desperately trying to escape.
“Hazel—HAZEL,” a voice on the other end shouted. “Are you there? Hello?”
“Yeah, I’m on it.” I replied.
Finally advanced, developed. Reborn.
A new generation of young developed guards regulating individual wielders of power that can access control over elements called the Lite. It is a force used to manipulate and bend objects in order to warp universal space and time. Users hold the new era in which they will decide the future. These people believe in benefitting the entire community by unifying these people in a specialized way. Ena was activated by the position of the planet to the sun.
A conspiracy group organized by the Elite type A-1, a corrupt minority group that is starting to force its way to the surface, was reported back in December. These manipulators, called the Anatic, suffer from the addiction or obsession to their powers. The constant need for these power hungry individuals soon become completely consumed by their own inability to control their elements. The Anatics contribute only to a mere three percent of the world’s population. It is a suicide mission to annihilate the regulars of our mother planet, Earth. The anatic feel as if they are superior to all living creatures, for their thought process is based on a simple theory of ones and lumirs. It was originally constructed on the fittest of spiritual power before the practice was outlawed for material use to mishandle the information and use it as a weapon against the government or any other civil groups. The mainstream of the anatic are somewhat, disturbed. Due to complications in their bio-chemical and genetic makeup the external chemical levels in the brain managing control and power consumption is what equals their insanity. Having created an enhanced breed, they’ve expected to be more powerful than the first line—a generation with unsurpassed bending abilities.
The Synthetic ENA, also known as Basic type SE-3, are a line of artificial, man-made, enhance, Anatics. The compound ‘ENA’ is extracted from a dominant chemical found in the subsection of chrome development that allows lites to awaken and gain access to their field of powers. ENA is a type 3, Catalyst, division E7-N3-A6 (Element-Nex-Anatic). Regulars that possess the ability whether they have potential or not, are given specialized chrome in their brain that gives them the chance to develop control as a born Lite user would. The catalyst is released into the body by several incision made to vital points. The process takes approximately 48-72 hours, it can be excruciatingly painful. As the body reacts to binding bacteria and proteins to speed up the process, the faster the process the more painful it can be. It takes awhile for the white blood cells to accept the new chemicals, finally taking affect when entering the blood stream held in each red blood cell. Once adapting to the compound, it grows chrome particles on the outside layers connecting to the brain and injects itself directly into the cytoplasm.
This was taught to us until we knew the information as if we had been the ones who documented these events. At the age of eight I enrolled as a Seraph Guard. For nine years I trained under Seraphim. But one day in late February I was called to the Grand Corps. It was the year 2997. I was about to witness the beginning of the turn of the century. There I was informed about the anatic crusaders, in a large room along with a couple of hundred other guards. I remember being assigned to my division of representatives. In a room surrounded full of adolescents and adults, these five people would be my confidents.
“Hazel Evelyn Adair. Age seventeen, born on January twenty-third. Division 007 of the Grand Corps and Seraphim reporting.”
“Christopher Dean Young. Age twenty-one, born on August ninth. Division 059 of the Grand Corps and Minerva reporting for ena.”
“Aiden Theodore Baron. Age nineteen, born on July fifteenth. Division 023 of the Grand Corps and Dominations reporting.”
“Charles Rhys Moore. Age twenty, born on September eighteenth. Division 112 of the Grand Corps and Minerva reporting.”
“Vincent Alexander Lennox. Age twenty-four. Born on October first. Division 095 of the Grand Corps and Thrones reporting.”
“Markus David Grayson. Age twenty-seven, born on April tenth. Division 020 of the Grand Corps and Vessel reporting.”
“Lake Jayden Rockwell. Age twenty-three, born on December thirty-first. Division 071 of the Grand Corps Seraphim reporting for ena.”
Our general walked down the row and stopped once he got to me.
“Gentlemen, meet your first seat in command.”
I looked at him in disbelief. Obviously I wasn’t the only one. The rest of the division looked at me bewildered.
The general continued on, “She’ll be known as Captain Adair. From now on you’ll follow under her name and her orders.”
“General, are you out of your mind?” A voice thrashed out—it come from the man named Vincent. “She’s a godforsaken minor!” he accused.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw heads turn downward, eyes shifted as the rest of the men glanced away nervously. I’m sure Vincent would have continued with his accusations but the General cut him off.
“Divisionary, you’re out of order! If you’ve got a problem, you may take it up with the high guards,” the general leered acutely. He stared directly into the man’s eyes.
“No that won’t be necessary, sir.” The man’s voice seemed taken aback. Under his breath he muttered, “Damn subordinate.”
“Please return to your manors.” The overhead announcer instructed. The general stood before us once again saying, “Well you heard them, get going.” He handed me a crystalline insignia and exited the premises.
A hand reached out so fast around my neck I lost my breath for a second. I coughed deeply as I desperately tried to breathe. I was gasping until I found my rhythm again. It was him—the man with venom in his eyes. He was tightening his grip around my neck.
“Hey! Get off of her, Vincent! Come on, this isn’t what we signed up for!”
“Shut the hell up! Who are you to talk Rhys? I never asked for this. I never asked to sign my life away only for it to be killed off by some kid! Worthless piece of trash can’t even defend herself.” He was getting out of control. I couldn’t loosen his grip no matter how pathetically I tugged on his fingers.
“What in the name of Pisconệ are you doing, man? This isn’t cool!” Another voice barked out. It was Markus this time, he was three years older than Vincent, and the most experienced. “You want to be transferred back to the basic training grounds where you will never be put on a team?”
Vincent flashed around. “Back the ---- off Grayson!” As those words left his mouth everything else became a blur. I thought I saw Markus raise his hand but I wasn’t sure. Next thing I knew I was free from Vincent’s grasp and the man was pinned to the ground. He made multiple attempts to get himself up but Markus had him nailed down. I realized I was shaking uncontrollably. Someone put their arms around me gently pushing my head into their chest so I didn’t have to see what was about to happen next.
“If you keep lashing out like this,” I heard a crackling noise followed by a blood-rippling scream that echoed throughout all twenty-two stories of the municipal building, “I’ll have to put an end to you.”
What was this? I brought a hand to my face and touched my cheek. Tears.
“Hey, you’re gonna be fine. You don’t have to cry.”
I looked up. The guy wasn’t looking at me at all. In fact he was staring intensely at Vincent who was being restraint by Markus. His arms however, they did not let go of me. It was like he was encasing my entire body using his own body to act as the shield.
I followed his gaze and trembled. “I don’t understand. How come he’s so angry?”
“Because he doesn’t like anybody deciding for him, not even God. He refuses to be anything else. Nothing less than the best.” He broke his gaze from Vincent to look at me. “But he will never hurt you again.”
The last part made me all hazy. I was falling into a numbing state. Rhys caught me before I hit the ground. His arms lifted me up as my body hung lifeless and draped over his. My head tilted to one side lazily. He knew I was losing consciousness and so he took it upon himself to carry me out of the building. Christopher and Aiden ran out of the building after him.
“Hey! Is she alright?” Aiden inquired. Aiden was the second youngest so naturally he was concerned. Rhys seemed to like this boy, as well as Christopher.
“She’s fine. Had her breathe knocked out of her by dumb--- Vince, but she’s gonna be okay.”
“The kid has got to be traumatized. Damn Lennox, always gotta be the tough guy.” Retorted Christopher. “Though I have to say, that was exhilarating to watch.”
“I know she’s trained and all, but if she can’t even control Vincent how is she going to lead a team full of guys?”
“I didn’t want to say it earlier, but in a way I had to agree with Vince. I have nothing against girls, it’s just…I wasn’t too happy to hear the only girl in our sector was gonna be assigned to Captain—such a vital position and enormous responsibility on top of that.”
“I heard the girls basic training was different from the guys. What were the generals thinking? This could really mess up the fortification of our missions.” Aiden kicked a few pebbles in his way while scratching his head.
“Nah, I don’t know about that. It depended on your sector. I had a couple girls in my basic training group and they had the same routines as us. But it does worry me, those girls were only okay.”
“We can’t have okay if we want to survive. We have to have the best…maybe we can show her some techniques?”
“We could give it a try; she’ll need all the experience she can get if she wants to become a real guard.”
“I heard about thirty percent of the newly trained female guards were slaughtered in the Ziem A-11 mission.”
“Holy----, so we lost about nine high guards?”
“Yeah, it cost us millions of dollars to train each one. Plus there were two male guards who got seriously injured, one of them I think graduated from Markus’s basic training group a couple of years back. Guess they were friends.” Interjected Rhys, he lifted Hazel shifting her onto his back to give his arms a rest.
“No wonder he’s in an awful mood, like the rest of us.”
“Yeah, right. Vincent needed that. He was totally out for blood today and Markus is the only one who has a shred of hope of controlling that mother----er.”
“Yeah. But goddamn, why so many casualties in the last month?”
“Can’t say, but if we’re sent in too early we’re not even going to last a month.”
“You think we’re going straight to hell?”
“I don’t know. She doesn’t seem that strong.”
“She looks like she’ll get blown up on our first mission.”
“Her name’s Hazel, right? Isn’t that what the general said?”
“Yeah. She doesn’t look like a fighter, you’re right. But man...is she fit.”
“Knock it off; you can’t bang our new Captain. I’ll have to think about it everytime we’re on a mission and then we’ll really get our heads blown off.”
“Aye, she can be my dynamite anytime she wants.”
“Shut up Chris, I don’t want to think about it.”
“You know it’d be hot. I can see it in your eyes you want her bad. I can’t see any guy not wanting her, if you know what I mean.”
“You don’t want her as our commander anymore than Vincent I bet.”
“That’s not what I said, bro.”
“Both of you chill. It’s her first day.” Rhys frowned disapprovingly at his friends’ remarks. “I mean wait until you’ve seen what she can do before you think she’s useless. I have a feeling she’ll surprise even the most ignorant of us.” Rhys defended the girl without a seconds thought. It made him wonder himself, what was so special about this girl?
“You talking about Vince? I doubt that guy will ever forget about this little—.”
“He’ll come around. I know he will.” Rhys intervened.
“He’s nothing like you, Rhys. You’ve got more potential than him, even if you two are related. I just can’t see him outgrowing that killer instinct of his. We all know that the killer instincts inside of us don’t make us any better at fighting than before.”
“He’s had it hard. We all have. I look out for him when given the opportunity but there is only so much I can do for him. And I don’t think our little Captain here is worthless. I think she could really benefit us. She might be able to unify us so we can all reach our maximum potential.”
“Well I have to admit, I think we’re all drawn to her.”
“Yeah I guess—I hope we’re right though.”
“Just give it time.”
Inside the municipal building Vincent Lennox lied motionless on the floor. He had finally stopped writhing in pain. Markus Grayson stood next to him, hovering over his bloodied body. There was enough blood to fill a gallon there was so much fresh blood as it leaked into the wooden boards beneath them. Lake Rockwell stood on the other side of him with his back turned. Lake turned around slowly and knelt down rocking back and forth on his heels.
“You really did him in.” Lake said, finally. He tilted his head upwards to get a look at Markus. “Grayson?”
“I know, I know.” Markus replied.
“Knowing him his arm would probably heal in only a few weeks. But the damage you did, he could lose his arm.”
“Seriously? No. He’ll manage. I can’t see him not being able to get through this. Let’s get this man home before he wakes up and kills my ears.”
“I’m not joking. We might have to replace his arm.”
“Well tell me this Rockwell, can you do it?”
“I can’t say I’ve ever seen a piece of work like this before. I’ll see what I can do though. But we have to get him back to headquarters.”
“Immediately?” Markus asked.
“Yes, immediately. If we leave his body like this then it will start to heal in a few hours, making it ten times harder to fix. His body is trying to heal itself as we speak.”
“Alright, I’ll let the others know.” Markus sighed.
Markus flipped out his cellphone. He dialed a number of protocol and let the phone ring. The other end picked up.
“Markus, what’s going on over there?”
“Hey, we’re taking Vince back home. Can you get the medical room ready?”
“You got it.”
“How’s our girl?”
“Oh you know…” His voice trailed off for a second and then came back. “Rhys has a real good handle on her.”
“That guy doesn’t know when to stop.”
“Say what?”
“Nothing. We’ll be over in a few minutes.”
“Take your time.”
“Oh, another thing Chris…”
“Yeah? What is it?”
“We need to hold a meeting tonight. Let the others know.”
“No problem.”
Markus returned the phone to his pocket. “Let’s go.”
Lake and Markus got on their knees getting in the right position to pick the man up without damaging his wound even further. Soon as the guys had figured out the best way to pick the man up, Vincent’s eyes flashed open.
“Oh no you don’t you mother----er, don’t you dare touch me.”
Both of the men looked down in disbelief.
“Oh, so you’re conscious after all.”
“I guess the dumb--- really is tougher than he looks.”
“Shut up Grayson! I refuse to be carried by a piece of --- like you.”
“Did you forget it was your arm I broke? You’ll be walking now that you’re awake. Saves us the trouble of actually carrying your sorry lack of testosterone home. I can’t believe you passed out from the loss of blood, though.”
“You want me to fight using elements? I’m not afraid to blow up this entire building.”
“You’re a real dumbass. If you do that, they’re going to have to replace three guards and a building. And if you survive you’ll be crippled and in debt, also responsible with murder.” Lake alerted him with a concerned look on his face.
“I'll never forgive you. Just fix it, okay?”
“Good old Vincent, always relying on others to fix the problem.”
Vincent’s eyes were on fire as he glared at the walls. He stumbled to get up refusing help from the other two men.
“We better get going; we have a lot of ground to cover.”
“I thought you’d never ask, let’s bounce.”
Christopher got off the phone and stopped walking. The others saw him from the corner of their eyes.
“What’d he say?”
“We’re having a meeting.”
“Did he say anything about, ya know. What’s going to happen to my cousin?”
“They said to get the medical room set up.”
“Wait, is it that serious?”
“Well from his voice he sounded like it was nothing but…” Christopher trailed off.
“What? Chris, what?”
“You saw it, how he snapped his arm. The bone was completely out and half of his skin was ripped off. I mean it’s probably nothing man, just looked pretty bad. All over this little Captain of ours.”
Rhys ignored the comment about their new Captain. “I know. There was a fountain load of blood everywhere.”
“Hey Rhys, how did your cousin even get into wanting to be part of the Grand Corps?”
“I don’t want to talk about it right now.”
“You mad about his arm?”
“Leave it Aiden; he’s probably got a lot on his mind.”
“I just wanted to know, mere curiosity. I wasn’t trying to start anything.” Aiden defended in protest.
“I know you weren’t, I’m just having one of those days Aide.” Rhys smiled weakly at his comrade.
“Hey, I can understand that. So I wonder what we’re having tonight. We better look at our meal rations and funds ‘cause I don’t know about you guys, but I eat like Thomas Divine.”
Christopher started laughing, “That’s messed up. Considering that you look like him.”
“Dude that’s not funny.” Aiden shot back.
“It is as long as the jokes aren’t about yourself they’re always funny.”
“Why are you always rippin’ on me?”
“I’m not, Baron. You just never bite back, that's why you always get burned.”
Normal User
