A group of men and women stood in front of a large compound. The words “New Era” could be found on nearby banners and clothing items which they flashed with pride. Among this crowd, there were cameras and recording equipment pointed at a singular platform only a few meters away from them.

Moving to stand on the raised platform was Ezekiel, the leader of New Era and likely the most wanted man in the world. Wearing thick and baggy clothing while also sporting a long, entangled, blonde hair, and an untrimmed beard, he made his way to the center of the stage.

Even though he was met with cheers, he remained quiet and examined those in front of him like a hawk until it became silent.

“When I was young...–” he began, his voice low and commanding.

“My younger brother, Jace, and I dreamed of a world where heroes and justice reigned. Where the threat of otherworldly creatures would be far off and everyone would live in peace and harmony. My upbringing was a modest one and I didn’t want for much. That simple life of mine soon fell apart when my brother stopped speaking one day. At first, my parents and I assumed it was a childish protest or a joke he was content on keeping. Unfortunately, after a few days, our concerns grew. The doctors couldn’t make sense of it and neither could anyone else. After a few months, there wasn’t a day that passed without worrying about him.”

Ezekiel paused, his gaze briefly landing on a camera before turning his focus elsewhere. Each step carried an unseen weight that made him appear far more opposing than his rough appearance would let on.

“At first, I resented my brother. I formed the idea that his constant silence deprived me of my parent's love and affection. As a result of that sudden jealousy, I teased him. I started with small things to annoy him at first, but because I had become dead set on the idea that he was only pretending, I moved onto more overt acts of torment to no avail. Even as I twisted his arm to the point where I thought it would snap, he silently cried without saying a word. Even then, his stifled groans did little to alleviate my deep insecurity.”

A listless expression could be discerned among the mess of hair that obscured his facial features.

“Eventually, I became bored and lost interest in hurting my little brother when I failed to get a reaction. As you may have expected while hearing me tell this story, the reason for my brother’s silence was revealed to me as well as my family when a ruin appeared near to us. Could you imagine our horror and shock? Creatures we had only seen on TV destroyed our entire neighborhood, killing without any hesitation. And do you know what happened when those monsters came to our home?"

After a brief pause, Ezekiel continued. “My brother spoke. I can’t recall what he said, but what I can vividly remember is the pain and shock from that day. Jace's voice destroyed everything as far as I could see. Through some miracle, I managed to survive, while my parents weren’t as lucky. A single word from my brother’s mouth was so powerful that there were no traces of any creatures or even humans to be found. In the aftermath of it, my brother and I were rescued. I told him how sorry I was for everything and I tried to comfort him, to protect him from that feeling of loss, but Jace was taken away from me after that day and I was never able to see him again.”

The air around Ezekiel roiled with tension, his hair began to sway as a suffocating force radiated from his body.

“Regardless of the false image attached to me, I want to make three things extremely clear. One, I love my brother more than anything in this world. Two, based on the strength of my brother’s gift, I believe that Jace is the first human in existence with a class-eight gift but it could possibly be even higher than that. Three, I know for a fact that my brother is being held, against his will, somewhere in the US.”

Directing his chilling glare into the camera, Ezekiel spoke.

“This is a warning to every country, every guild, and every individual out there with a gift. My fight isn’t with you all, but there are many of you who have tried to stop me up until now. Therefore, I will go forward while treating you all as enemies no matter how small your transgressions against us. Expect to see New Era very soon. And if you manage to hear this Jace, I promise I am going to bring you home.”

With that, Ezekiel’s speech ended. Thunderous applause rang out from the members of New Era surrounding the stage.

It would only take ten minutes for Ezekiel’s message to be heard all over the world.

...

“So you’re looking to win badass of the year, right?” Sunny joked.

I laughed, hardly taking it to heart.

“Aside from the motorcycle, I didn’t choose anything else.”

“Then what about smoking?” She asked.

“What can I say, I’m impressionable. I must’ve picked it up from someone.” I shrugged lightly.

This was our second outing, but I felt that I could be good friends with Sunny. Ignoring our first encounter, I think we had a lot in common– or, just enough to speak comfortably.

“Oh yeah, I meant to ask you about witches,” I sat up with interest.

We’d already finished eating and by now I was just waiting for the bill.

“Ask away,” she replied.

“I remember you called Hope a dreamer or something like that, but what does that mean exactly?”

“Well… All witches don’t have the same abilities if that’s what you’re wondering about. There are four main types as far as I know. I’m a spellcaster, same for Rusalka. Control over a certain type of natural element or things similiar to that our niche. Joy, who you probably haven’t seen much of is an enchanter. What she does is self-explanatory. Hope is a dreamer, or dreaming witch, which just means she’s clairvoyant and a little eccentric sometimes. Lastly, there's Rosemary who is a healer. I think that explains it all pretty much.”

“When you put it like that, how is being a witch much different than having a gift?” I asked.

“Well, for starters, we aren’t restricted to just what we specialize in and we have more control. I’ve heard that for most people, having a gift is like having a specific action pre-programmed for them whereas we have more potential for growth. I'm sure the line between witches and gifted probably blurs as you go further up the ladder, much like the other precursors.” Sunny took a sip from her drink before glancing off into the distance.

“The last question is about Evanora,” I spoke, briefly taking note of her reaction as I continued. “What type of which is she?”

“Well, she’s much different than the rest of us, I can tell you that. A so-called ‘Great Witch’ as I’ve been told hundreds of times.” Sunny said, making air quotes as she expressed her skepticism. “It’s a nice way of saying she is good at everything whereas I would struggle to have prophetic dreams without first performing some very complicated ritual.”

“Ah, I think I get it.” I nodded.

I couldn’t get much else out as a small commotion began to take over the area around us. The ringing of phones filled the air as everyone glued their eyes to their screens.

“What the hell?” I mumbled as I checked my phone.

Sunny did the same and we both stumbled on the answer quite quickly.

Covering every news site, forum, and social network was New Era, or specifically, the ringleader, Ezekiel. As if we had some tacit understanding, both Sunny and I viewed the video and showed the same perplexed expression.

“I–”

My own phone rang, and the caller was none other than Alexandra.

“Hello?” I answered.

[I’m guessing you’ve seen it already?] Alexandra inquired.

“Yeah, I have,” I looked at a curious Sunny, but didn’t give an explanation.

[Good, saves me the trouble of explaining things. Remember when I told you that Stanley was going to be replaced with an informant?]

“Sure.”

[Well, that informant has been, for lack of a better word, informing us of some things. From what I’ve heard, it looks like New Era is going to make good on Ezekiel’s promise and this island is one of the targets. As a pre-emptive measure, we’re going to be raiding several suspected hideouts in a few weeks but there’s some bad news...] her voice trailed off, making feel as if something was off.

“What is it?”

[They will most likely put a lot of resources into finding out who killed Henry and Stanley as well as any operations that disrupted their actions here.]

“Do you think they’re going to use artifacts to find me? Over two guys?” I was stunned to think they would go that far.

[I’m almost certain they will, that’s why I'm calling to warn you. New Era is essentially on the level of Sleeping Lion, except they have the benefit of operating in whatever they want without accountability. These aren’t like the guys you’ve been fighting so far and they are extremely fucking persistent. It would be in your best interest to take a long vacation– I'd suggest somewhere much warmer.]

“Thanks for the heads up but I can’t just leave. My dad still lives here and he definitely won’t want to leave.”

[I guessed you’d say something like that… It won't help to hear this but the Emerian government is in possession of several obscuring artifacts that would help protect you from being tracked down, but they won’t even let me rent one for you. They’ve wizened up to the fact that you aren’t apart of my guild and deemed you an ‘unpredictable asset,’ which basically means they want you to personally come forward and get tangled up with them. I refused to give them anything on you and in return, they’ve refused to let me borrow an artifact that would help you.]

“It’s fine, really” I replied calmly. “I’ll figure it out.”

[Sure, but call me if you need help otherwise, just try to be careful.] Alexandra left me with those words before she hung up.

With cold water poured on my mood, I was just about ready to leave and Sunny seemed to notice it. She didn’t ask about my phone call, but it was obvious that I wasn’t very chipper.

“You’re ready to leave?” She asked.

“Yeah, just about,” I said, flashing a smile while hiding other thoughts behind it.