[Back on Earth]

A dimly lit room was filled with murmurs echoing of the bare walls. Half a dozen were people seated around a long, metallic table. Only a sole chair on the very end was vacant. Some were cautiously glancing around, others staring at a pair of double doors like vultures at prey.

At once, the double doors were flung open and a man with a ramrod straight posture walked through with powerful steps. Immediately, all mumbling stopped and as a wave, silence crashed through the room. Everyone’s attention was directed on the man, now in his mid-forties, with their heads turning to follow him.

He sat down, placed his elbows onto the end and started rubbing his temples.

“Okay gentleman, I have been called at five in the morning. Not been told anything. And now that we are all present, would someone be so kind as to inform me of just What. The FUCK, is going on!?” Ignatius shouted, slamming his fist onto the metallic table.

The men in the meeting room twitched from his outburst, but no one broke eye contact.

“Sir, I am afraid our operative, Cato, has gone missing along with Eagle and the prime target.”

A man in his thirties, dressed in a full suit spoke up. With a quick motion, he placed his phone onto the table.

“Cato’s squad has just arrived and I wish to play the last segment of their mission.”

“Go. On.” Ignatius ordered through clenched teeth.

A hologram came to life showing a dark room with four people in the scene. All of them were armed to the teeth with army gear, rifles, pistols, vests, and countless other equipment. Two stood around the perimeter guarding the exit, one held a robed man by the collar. The last one was hunching over something. He rose and walked alongside several wires connecting a laptop. It was hooked up to a strange glowing piece of ore.

“Really? So you just focused some energy, did you?”

“I s-swear! That’s all I know. Let me go! Please!”

The man struggled against Cato’s and flailed around. He was slammed against the table, picked up, and smashed face-first against the wall. A loud bang rang across the room from the impact.

“Hey captain, I connected the wires to my laptop but need you to give me permission, so that in case I break it you take the blame.”

While holding the man I looked over to Eagle,

“And will it?”

Eagle jerked his head to the side,

“Well no, but -”

“Then go ahead.”

No sooner than Eagle had finished speaking than the room became engulfed in a blinding white light. The intensity was so severe that the people in the meeting room had to cover their eyes and turn away. A minute passed and the lighting returned to normal. All attention was focused on the hologram once more.

“Everyone alright?” Someone shouted. The camera wildly spun side to side.

“Looks clear, nothing abnormal.”

“Where’s Cato?”

“What do yo- Shit, Eagle’s gone as well!” Everyone started to approach the center of the room, the epicenter of the light, but there was no one there.

“The target is missing with them.”

“Where the hell did they go?”

“Doesn’t matter, we have to return and report. There is nothing left here.”

Silently the remaining three people walked out of the room. The recording abruptly cut off, eclipsing the spectators in darkness for a second until the lights came back on. Everyone’s faces turned various shades of stern, worried or downright shocked.

“I hope you have at least something to present of what I just saw, an explanation perhaps?” Ignatius spoke in a cold tone that gripped the souls of everyone present.

“I- We, we do not know the cause or consequence of the light, it is currently being investigated by the research department. Cato’s and Eagle’s whereabouts are currently unknown, if we do not receive contact with them in the next forty eight hours…” The man trailed off, his pulse racing.

“Is that all?” Ignatius asked.

“This, is what I’ve been called for? I sincerely hope that someone else has anything else to add?”

He looked around the rooms, taking the time to make eye contact with everyone present. Despite all the present members being hardened leaders that fought countless covert battles for their positions, there was a noticeable restlessness among them. No one wanted to be the target of Ignatius’ anger.

“Uh, it- it’s not been confirmed or verified but approximately an hour after Cato’s disappearance, there was a video posted on the internet of a man crushing a knife’s blade with his bare hand. There weren’t any signs of blood or cuts at all. Shortly after, there were several dozen more uploads featuring people jumping well over a metre, many approaching various Olympic records and performing what would take a life’s worth of dedication.” Another formally dressed man spoke up with a shaky voice.

“You know, that is a nice joke and maybe would have had me laughing if not for the sour context. Did you seriously expect me to believe in a bunch of videos?! Look around! No one else is laughing, do you know why that is?”

Ignatius’ voice turned ice cold, the poor man had visible sweat stains forming around his neck.

“I-I, I don-”

“The reason none of us laughed is because we have received our own reports of such rumours and are in the process of verifying them. So far, they seem true.” A different person spoke up. Ignatius’ head swiveled towards the man sending daggers from his eyes.

“I want everyone to raise their hand here who supports the claim.” Ignatius gave a short command.

At first only three hands rose, but like an accelerating avalanche, more and more hands rose. Until all twelve members have voted.

“So you’re telling me, that, all of a sudden people are gaining superpowers? That we had no prior knowledge of such occurrences?! We, who have access to cutting edge technology, radars, satellites, spies all over the world and the only thing any of you can tell me is a bunch of internet videos!?”

Ignatius was borderline screaming by the last sentence. He looked around again.

“Every. Single. One of you is to prepare proper reports by 19:00 tomorrow. I want the whole situation under control by us and crystal-clear before the meeting a week from now. Anyone who I feel underperforms will be cut. Are. We. Clear?”

Nothing changed, yet every single member present has now broken out in cold sweat. Never has anyone heard or even imagined the possibility of Ignatius turning violent. The instilled fear of such an occurrence chilled their very hearts for they knew better than to disappoint at this stage.

“Yes sir!”

Everyone responded in unison.

“Dismissed”

With a final scan of the room Ignatius ended the meeting.

**********

I froze as I watched the man approach. All my instincts told me to run, hide, to do anything but let him get any closer.

‘No wait, those two are together, if they wanted us dead then we would already be. Does that mean they saved us? Or was the pressure caused by them to make it seem like they are our saviours to elicit trust?’

I continued to look in his direction, there were two strange objects on his shoulders. The glow coming off the moon wasn’t enough for me to make out much more.

‘Just what is he carrying?’

Finally coming in range of the campfire’s glow, the objects started splitting into countless smaller segments until I recognized them as bundles of sticks and branches on the knight’s shoulder.

‘So he was out gathering fuel for the fire…’

The man stopped short of the fire and threw the bundles into a messy pile. He spared a curt nod in our direction and lied down beside the old man,

‘What did Eagle say his name was...Marden?’

I looked over at Eagle but he only returned a shrug before continuing to converse with Marden. They started pointing at the sky, moving their arms about and ended placed their hands next to their face.

Eagle stopped talking and headed my way.

“Hey Cato, I think he wants us to sleep. No clue why, but it’s a pretty enticing idea for me - we haven’t slept since departing onto the mission.” Eagle said as he sat down next to me.

“Wait, what happened to the other kid?” I asked while looking around.

“…I have no clue.”

I closed my eyes and focused, trying to relive the memory of what happened before I woke up in front of the campfire. The crushing sensation enveloped me once more, I watched as Eagle collapsed and right before my vision went blank I saw the knight carrying something.

‘That’s right! The knight went towards the other kid before we were knocked out… was it his doing?

I opened my eyes and hurriedly asked,

“Eagle, do you remember what happened before we woke up here?”

I watched as Eagle closed his eyes and focused on remembering the past events. He opened his eyes-

“Yeah, something weighed down on us after the knight headed towards…” Eagle paused, his eyes widened with the realization.

“You mean the knight did that? You think he was angry when he saw what we did to the boy?”

I looked down to my left for a second and then back towards Eagle,

“Exactly, that’s what’s bothering me, why are we still alive and where is the kid now?”

“I’m not sure.”

I breathed out, our situation was completely hopeless. I looked over the crackling fire at Marden. The old man seemed to sleeping but there was a strange feeling coming off him, ‘is he meditating?’

I let my gaze drifted down at the fire, mesmerized by the intricate patterns the flame forms.

“Hey Cato, I’ve been thinking and this may be a bit far fetched, but you know how we were...put into these bodies?”

“Mhmm” I responded, still watching the flame.

“What if the other kid is actually the prime target? I mean, it would make sense as both of us ended up here, while none of the others have. I’m guessing it was something along the lines of an area of effect dictating who got affected. And by that logic, the three of us must have been close enoug-”

“Wait, you remember what happened?” I cut of Eagle, jerking my head towards him due to the unexpected response.

“No, not at all, but it would make sense wouldn’t it? Why else would the three of us end up here? The only thing connecting you and me is the organisation, if we follow that thought then our entire squad should be here. Moreover, since that kid clearly didn’t recognize our names and attacked, then he isn’t part of our group.”

“When you put it that way…it sounds possible, but that still doesn’t prove that the prime target is that kid…for all we know it may have been someone I was about to kill. But then why would you be nearby?”

I shook my head. There were two many unknowns to be sure. Even then, Eagle’s proposal was rather convincing. Now I truly understood why people called him a genius, his deduction abilities were superb. He managed to make a completely baseless hypothesis sound accurate.

“Anyways, if what you say is true, then all the reason we have to find the kid and…talk to him.”

A dim glimmer flashed across his eyes for a brief moment.

“I suppose, but I’ll sleep for now. We don’t know how long the days and nights are, but I do know we’ll need all the rest we can get.”

With that, Eagle laid under the blanket next to me and fell asleep almost immediately. I stared in amazement at his carefree attitude.

‘Just how did he end up in the organisation?’

I looked over at Marden but he still had his eyes closed and the knight had likewise remained on the grass.

I reached over for one of the smaller branches that the knight had brought and placed the end into the fire. I watched as the tendrils of flames slowly licked the tip and climbed upwards, consuming it. Once the heat became unbearable I tossed the entire branch at the mage. Before it even came close, a gust of wind completely threw it off course.

‘So it was you old man. Suppose I should thank you.’

Deciding to lie down and recover my strength as well, I closed my eyes, breathed out and relaxed.

‘Just what kind of situation have I gotten myself into? Was all my hard work wasted, or did I get closer to you? Did I ever get closer?’

‘Don’t worry, I’ll find you even if I have to travel to the depths of hell and back.’