I was about to begin speaking but something stopped me, suddenly the door to the 52nd training room opened and three individuals entered. I recognised two of them being deputy outfit leader Reas and King Zeaxar Hellborn himself, the third was another demon. The demon was very different from King Hellborn who was an abyssal demon, he was taller and leaner in frame like an Elf with other similar features being his long pointy ears and dark purple skin. But what set him apart from being a Dark Elf was that he had long blue pointy horns growing from his forehead and large leathery blue-grey wings growing on his back. He was a Wind Demon, one of the four Elemental Demon races. The Wind Demon had the same badges as Deputy Reas so I figured he was our outfit leader, his aura was thick and nauseating if you concentrated on him too much therefore showing how strong he was but when I tried to do the same with the King I felt nothing at all. At first I thought King Zeaxar was mana inept, just like how us humans were before the third wave and the arrival of the Etyrians who helped us unlock our potential with mana. But the further I tried the more I realised that he was simply too good, his control over his aura was so keen and skilled that he could make himself completely undetectable.

“Matthew Anderson, I hope you can explain yourself for your own sake. We do not take this kind of misconduct lightly young man, truly to try and toy with us this way is outrageous!” Deputy Reas looked exhausted and annoyed, but she had reasons to be.

“What has the kid done Deputy?” Captain Carlos stood up and walked over, I honestly took him for the type to just watch the drama ensue.

“This boy faked the test, he held back in both tests although passing the first hidden test.” The Wind Demon was the one to speak this time “Please excuse the abrupt visit Captain but, I outfit Leader Raij Tonitrui swear on my membership that he, Matthew Anderson, has not gone through adequate testing and requires further examination.” Raij turns to the King “What are your thoughts Sir?”.

King Hellborn ponders on this for a couple moments “Give him time to explain himself Raij, must be a reason to toy with us…Well if I hadn’t noticed he would have gone through perfectly…Kekekeke…” with that the two elites seemed to be embarrassed at their failure to notice but turned to look at me anyway.

I was backed into a corner and had nowhere to run and nobody to blame but myself, I had wanted to ace the second test but purposefully let myself lower my guard in the first to not get too good a ranking. You see the company truly likes to move their “resources” around like chess pieces, each squad made and moved with real purpose and without waste. If I had for example been ranked within B rank then my squad would probably have not been allowed on the survey mission to the other realms, as having too many individuals with a high aura signature would attract dangerous territorial monsters. With that in mind I formed this plan to limit my ranking therefore giving me higher odds of being picked for the mission. But they saw through it and I had no other choice but to let the truth flow, lying further would be useless with Zeaxar here. “My goal is to join the second survey mission to realm-X1, it is the reason I joined the E.A and the reason I had once joined the military. If I had been ranked too high then my squad would have not been allowed on the mission and I couldn’t have that.” I stood there waiting for an answer but Zeaxar just stroked his chin and waited.

“Sir?...” Reas was glancing between me and Zeaxar but finally tried to break the ice.

Zeaxar’s expression could have passed for bored but his eyes glinted a sort of excitement and interest “Recruit Anderson, you will follow through with re-examination under my watch and Deputy Castell’s testing. You will not hold back again as a re-examination can be life or death, I will not have you toy with my subordinates. However due to your remarkable effort in disguising your mana control and attack strength I will give you this opportunity that lays within the rules. If you are able to defeat your opponent within my expectations then your squad will be allowed on the survey mission with the requirement of you leading a platoon.”

“Sir? This child leading a platoon, are you sure of this?” Raij seemed confused and his expression bothered that he would even consider this.

“Would you question my judgement Outfit Leader Tonitrui?” Zeaxar turned to Raij and released his aura, a sickening and nauseating feeling washed over all of us as the pressure was enough to make Raij bend the knee and kneel down. “Cartell pick one of your platoon leaders to face Matthew here in combat, rank B[II] to A[I] and make them come to this room. Now.”

“Y..Yes Sir!..” Reas rushed through her Iris to open a list and went through the controls.

“There won’t be a need for that Sir…” Raij spoke out while Zeaxar released his aura “I will personally examine the recruit.”

After those words Reas stopped her frantic searching and stared at her superiors “Sir…You know what that would imply if you lost? You’d be…”

“I know what I am Implying Castell.” Raij glared daggers at me “But I will not be fooled and then made a jester out of by a child, even if it means losing my rank as outfit leader.” He turned to look at Zeaxar and swallowed “I request this of you Sir.”

“Kekekeke…Did it hurt your pride that much Raij? Very well then, you will face the recruit in second examination combat while I and the Deputy give out the ranking. Under the rules set by me; If a lower rank or unranked combatant is to beat an outfit deputy or leader in combat then that elite is to resign his title and position to the next in line, this case being Deputy Reas Cartell while the elite in question is Leader Raij Tonitrui and the combatant is Recruit Matthew Anderson. I King Zeaxar Hellborn the third, Captain Carlos Houghes, members of Houghes Squad and Deputy Reas Cartell stand as observers. Warriors, enter the arena.” Zeaxar did not say this in an asking tone but a commanding one and before I knew it I had walked into the sandy arena with my outfit leader as my opponent. All that ran through my mind was how the fuck did I end up like this.

We both stood our ground awaiting the confirmation to begin as the others took seats on the benches, I had already summoned Ember and Wayne while Raij had unsheathed his blade. He wielded a long scimitar like blade with runic inscriptions seemingly burned into the blade and hilt, he held it skillfully forward with one hand behind his back and a smug look on his face.“Let us see what you were hiding from us recruit, please do make this worth my time.” He was looking down on me before the fight even started, under normal circumstances with a martial aether against a Wind demon of his rank he’d have every right but I wasn’t just any normal martial aether.

King Zeaxar stood up and called for the fight to start “The match will now, Begin!”

Raij rushed forward at speed incomparable to the Arger’s, his blade shone brightly as some of the runes took effect making his speed, power and agility enhanced. The edge aimed for my arm which held Wayne, he wanted to disarm me not injure me. So I let him, the top of his blade met with Wayne and knocked it away from my hand and with quick movements he did the same with Ember. He wanted to show off and finished with pointing his blade to my neck. “Wha..What the hell?” He was left surprised when my neck wasn’t there anymore along with Wayne and Ember having also dissipated into a purple mist. “You wanted me to go all out…” I got his attention making me spin to face me who stood behind him, holding Ember up I pulled the trigger. A barrage of mixed shots left the barrel, piercing shots to get his attention as they took the least mana, blunt shots to weaken the grip on his blade and two purposely missed explosive shots to make him dodge. He had his back to the barrier so his only option, was up. The second the explosive shots took effect he dodged the flank attack by leaping upwards and utilising his wings to steady himself and fly, the second he stopped moving scatter shots left Wayne’s barrel. These projectiles were special to Wayne as they required more chaos mana than fire, basically utilising chaos’s random and explosive nature to spread multiple projectiles forward like a shotgun. The projectiles tore through his wings making him start to lose altitude, that’s when I switched to Ember and fired blunt shots into his main body aimed at his chest. He saw them coming and through the pain he summoned a mana barrier to block them while at the same time pushing him upwards from the power of the projectiles hitting the barrier. I took a step back and aimed Wayne up as the blast shot left the barrel and expanded to its true size, a sphere of pure chaos with the sole objective of distorting and destroying anything in its path. When the projectile hit the barrier it dispersed it as that was in its nature and continued on or would have if the Wind Demon hadn’t finally come to a realisation to what his mistake was. He “cut” through the attack turning it into two projectiles that shot around his sides and smashed into the arena’s barrier, putting no dent in it.

“It seems I have underestimated you” His expression was calm and his blade shone brighter as each and every rune was currently active and draining his mana.” Truthfully you are strong, worthy of C rank Tier two but with me now going all out. A B rank tier one officer, the fight ends here martial aether. You simply do not have the experience or combat knowledge to beat me, for a hundred years I have fought while you have merely just started your battles. No green recruit still wet behind the ears will beat me!” He rushed forward as wind mana engulfed his wings aiding his speed, before i could even blink an eye he was in front of me. “You know nothing of me or what battles I have fought.” My figure spoke before disappearing into purple mist again, two blunt shots hit his shoulders from behind and dislocated them. He screamed in anguish and turned to face the shooter, I stood where I had stood at the start of the fight with Ember aimed at him. “No point hiding it anymore I guess. I am Matthew Anderson, Beta Martial Aether and test subject under the now abolished Cerberus Program.” I stepped forward as purple mist flowed out of my body and trailed behind me, with both Ember and Wayne aimed at my sole target being an insolent demon. “The bandits you have killed and beasts you may have slain count for nothing, I was raised from childhood to be a monster.” Another blunt shot left Ember which he dodged by leaping to the left, only to get his right leg dislocated by another blunt shot. “Eleven years of physical and mental preparation to fight enemies I cannot see, smell, hear or sense. Eleven years of shooting and killing trained soldiers to perfect my trade only because they did not hold the abilities I held. Eleven fucking years of slavery under men and woman of my own race, who’s only interest was themselves. You have heard of the Cerberus Program from our government haven’t you?” I was only meters away from the panting demon, his expression full of pain and he had dropped his weapon after those last shots.

He took in heavy breaths“The…Cerberus…Yes…Like the dark…guilds that once roamed Etyria…Part of the old Earth government wanted to take over…They…Trained children into machines of death…using a technology of their invention…Bound Aethers…Kept it secret…Started a two year long war against the rest of your kind…” he stood up in a sitting position ”Hah…the monsters revolted and ended their campaign, only to be exterminated in the process.” He glared into my eyes “We were told that none of them survive, that all the labs were empty except for corpses and signs of massive fights… You? One of them?”

“My people took pity in me and covered for my existence, they wanted me to have a normal life going forward. I joined the military afterwards only to be kicked out after the ones responsible for the cover up noticed, officially I was a rookie Martial Aether researcher but it wasn’t known that I could utilise two nor that I could even fully utilise other magic known only to a Cerberus.” I looked into his eyes “And then there’s you, talking shit to me cause of my age. You think you’ve been through it all? You think you’ve seen a true battle? War isn’t two sides clashing into each other like your kind has seen, no war is a one sided annihilation or a multisided massacre. Seven years old watching your old man eaten alive, seeing your mother crushed to death by the roof you called home. Twelve years old watching children of your age beat into submission and forced to go through shit you couldn’t even start to picture. Made to go on assassination missions and kill, made to take up fear tactics and mess with the minds of our enemies at only the age of eighteen. I’ve killed in ways that would churn your stomach.” I move closer and kneel down, whispering into his ear so only he can hear “You think you’ve seen it all?” A hiccup of a laugh leaves my lips, slightly more mad than amused ”I’ve lost it all and twice over, so tell me…What is stopping me from ending your miserable life right now?” I unsummon Ember and wrap my hand around his neck“ Right now I have nothing, therefore nothing stopping me from doing something stupid and therefore nothing stopping me…from killing you.”

I feel a hand grabbing my arm and pulling it back, I turn my head and see Zeaxar behind me “This fight is over.” He pulled me back and off Raij, ending up in an awkward position of me aiming Wayne at his chin while he held my arm as I glared at him. He wasn’t angered at this but instead he smiled, a grin from one ear to the other and an ever madder glint in his eyes “You remind me of someone I use to know, you humans can be terrifying creatures if raised the right way…Trust me boy if you think your story is over then you’re wrong.” He looked down at Wayne, frowned then grinned again ”Don’t shoot the messenger.” I calmed down and lowered the gun, he stepped away “Recruit Matthew Anderson you are as of today ranking B[II]-B[III],Houghes squad will be taking part in next week’s survey mission and you will be leading one of the four platoons going on the mission. Outfit Leader Raij Tonitrui, I’ll be waiting for your resignation in my office. Deputy.” He passed by Reas “Congratulations on your promotion.” And he left the room.

Reas sighed “I’ll take the dumbass to medbay.” She walked over to Raij and effortlessly carried him to the control panel where she selected the medbay emergency teleportation. I turned to see multiple expressions and reactions, I had said things I didn’t want to be known and put them in ways I shouldn’t have but couldn’t stop myself. The captain just sat there looking at me, he didn’t know what to say. Jerrald and Kale did the same and Lia shifted uncomfortably, they also didn’t know how to react. Ell had a surprised expression on her face as she held Anabel’s shoulders who was currently pale as a ghost with signs of possible tears, everyone was shocked. I didn’t blame them, my past was nothing to laugh at. I guess having lived through it myself doesn’t affect me as much, I hardened my emotions long ago. In kind of a fucked up way my past experiences built me to be whom I am today, although left me with nothing to look forward to or dream about. That is why I wanted to join the survey mission and discover new worlds, so maybe what doesn’t exist on Earth or Etyria I may find there and maybe leave my past behind me.

“I..I’m…Matt..What I said…” Anabel was stuttering, trying to apologise for some things she said the day before.

I glance around the group “Let me be clear, I do not need your sympathy even less so your pity. My past is my own and I require no emotional assistance, captain I’ll be taking my leave for today then.”

“Yeah…sure.” The captain seemed relieved that I didn’t expect an answer as I left the room.

I walked down the corridor and then down the stairs until I reached the male dormitories, pushing my palm to the panel I got teleported inside and then walked over to my assigned room. On the way I received the ranking notification, (“Zeaxar moves fast”) went through my mind as the examinations were probably still going on and would be all day today and tomorrow. I was now rank B with my tier ranging around two and three, I was also allowed onto the survey mission but had to lead as a platoon leader. The platoon leader could be any member of any squad within that platoon and would follow the outfit leader’s orders directly while co-ordinating the squad captains. I didn’t want to lead but I guess I didn’t have much of a choice, being so close now I couldn’t give up so easily. Why didn't i want to lead? Well that’s a longer story, it can be shortened to an extent with my previous rant but it wasn’t something I planned to tell anybody anytime soon. Back in project Cerberus, I was assigned my own squadron. Not that I held any kind of rank or rights within the project, I was simply put the pack leader of a pack of dogs that took orders and led intel and assassination operations in the field. While on an operation I’d be given orders directly via an earpiece and would orderly give tasks to the others, I wasn’t allowed to think only to act as told so I wasn’t actually a leader but more of a proxy.

I entered the room and sat on my bed, checking the time I saw it was still noon so I decided to take a short nap to get my sleeping schedule situated. So I took a shower to wash up and clear my thoughts then laid down on the bed, I needed some rest after all the whole morning was a bust. I closed my eyes and drifted away without worry, I figured out that the Iris had a wake up system for notifications that could be given a timer so I set it for two hours. I don’t know what I expected as I drifted into my usual dreams, or nightmares as most call this specific type of dream. Even with how much humanity has progressed with technology due to the ability to use mana and therefore magic, dreams and nightmares were still a mystery to us and so I drifted into the depths of my consciousness. Past events entering my dreams happened all the time to me, as it was the only thing my unconscious mind could bring up. My parents and sister, the Cerberus program, the other Cerberi, it seemed that everybody I came to know had to die in the most ironic ways. When I was “selected” for the project or more like kidnapped, secluded and left unfed if I even spoke out of line. The inhumane treatment the scientists and guards gave us along with the abuse and malnutrition was nothing compared to the things we were forced to do. When the coup started us Cerberi were the ones to start it all, our first real operation and field test.

Back in the project there was a total of nine hundred of us, divided between four labs within hidden locations all around the globe and well-kept secrets for that. The first mission was when it all began, not just the two year war but our plan to fight back. I don’t know who it was that started it or why but on the first mission a small paper with instructions was passed between each Cerberus in my squadron of forty five, the instructions were simple; Read paper out of sight, under bed sheets or squadron blackline. Each Cerberus was equipped with a camera located somewhere inside our equipment, someone figured out its location was on the front of the collar they put on all of us. The collars also held a poison injector in case one of us tried to run mid operation, a deadly poison that would almost instantly paralyse you and slowly kill you in case another Cerberus was able to recover you. Nobody was ever recovered though, we all respected the choices of those that tried to run and left them to pass on. During the two years of assassinations, Intel procuration and guerrilla warfare we kept passing these messages between each of us and sometimes between labs during joint operations. The plan wasn’t a plan at all, it wasn’t any kind of master move to save everyone or to turn the tide of this war. No it was an end to our suffering and to give back to those that kept us as slaves, it was our very own cry of rage. It took two long years to sync every single Cerberus to one day, one hour, one moment and on that moment we would strike out and fight back our slavers. We didn’t know how our chains would be removed, how the security systems would be turned off, how the cell doors would be unlocked or how the guards would be dealt with. We only knew one thing and that was the date and time, we only knew when but that was enough to light up a small spark of hope within every one of us.

When the day came nobody was on edge, we simply went on with our usual day of training and missions. The time specifically for my lab was nine p.m., at night just like two of the other labs while one would still be noon. Hours passed as most of us were returning from a battlefield, the location of one of the labs was found but the government’s forces were eliminated swiftly with twelve Cerberus squadrons and multiple war machines our captors had created. The personnel, equipment and Cerberi were all divided between the other three labs and the day continued on or would have if it wasn’t for the fact that each lab was now reaching its holding limit for us and most of the guards were busy with moving equipment. Minutes away now and we all started showing signs of unrest as our auras started to get the attention of the scientists watching us, each Cerberus had their own special Bound Aethers along with spirits but most of all were the specialized abilities we held after the binding. Powers so different from one another that the scientists probably held an archive of each they knew about, one was probably the cause of what happened next. Everyone felt it, Cerberus or not everyone felt the shockwave that flowed throughout the whole planet. Electricity was cut everywhere like a large scale EMP, one that was obviously caused by magic but more specifically by a Cerberus.

When the power went out it was like the third wave was happening all over again…Monsters unchained and free to roam the world exited their cells thirsty for blood. It was a massacre for both sides as Cerberi rebelled and guards fought back while the scientists activated the war machines. The guards numbered four times our own while the war machines were huge and numbered close to our numbers, we were completely outnumbered but we didn’t care. That sight is something I will never forget as it now still floats through my unconscious mind, steel doors being opened and chains falling to the ground as hundreds of sixteen to eighteen year olds walked out. Most were healthy but some skinny almost to the bone due to punishments given out to the unorderly. Our bound aethers were locked away somewhere within the lab so we were unarmed except for the powers we shared with our spirits, powers we gladly made use of. Even back then Ember and Wayne were my spirits, Waynes dark and chaos elements allowed me to faze in and out of a misty form allowing for agile movements and unpredictable ambushes. Ember’s fire and wind elements allowed me to create flashbang like attacks while also opening up the use of similar attacks, a sub- element. Sub elements are the joining of two elements creating a new one, to do so you must have at the least a medium amount of dense mana from one element and then a sparse amount of mana from another element. By forcing the sparse wind mana into dense fire for Ember and sparse dark into dense chaos for Wayne, I was more than able to fight without my aethers but what the scientists didn’t know or understand was the bond between a Martial Aether and their Bound Aethers. We can sense our aethers no matter where they are, we located the rooms that kept them and armed most of us which allowed us to fight with a lot more power.

Between gunfire, explosions and magic the two year war ended with one side being killed off by their own hunting mutts. More of us would have survived if it wasn’t for the scientists bringing the power back up, which ended the fight by activating the collars on each Cerberus. I watched as that last scene repeated itself in my mind, each one of my kind falling to the ground paralysed and slowly died. I was unaffected by the poison as somehow at some point my collar was damaged and the injector stopped working, I was spared by sheer luck and it was too late for the guards and scientists to recuperate. The remaining governments were able to regain power faster and with the escapee Cerberi they located each of the labs and finished off the survivors. Although even those escapees died from the poison, the collars could not be removed by normal means.

My nap ended with one final scene, my blurred vision as I fell to the ground surrounded by a snowy forest. Aircrafts flying ahead while soldiers I had seen so many of already surrounded my blood bathed self, I crashed down into the snow as the adrenaline subsided and exhaustion took effect.

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Edited by: Birse; Author trying to work me to death :

Author; He’s fine :D…I take food down to the cellar from time to time :D Remember to rate xD

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Edit: Author; Formatting fixed... Blame Birsey....