Hello World

Clair

Clair was running through the forest in freight. Clair was a little girl, no older than eleven, she wore regular cotton and hide clothes, except hers were dirty and ripped in places. Her brown hair swept below he shoulders, and her brown eyes were moist once again. Clair was being chased by a band of human traffickers that usually only sold demi-humans, but could be persuaded to take on special jobs, like this one. They had no idea why they were chasing this little girl, they figured it was some noble with a perverse sexual taste, but it paid extremely well, so they couldn’t care less. Clair had no idea why they were chasing her either, not really. Only a year ago, Clair lived a normal life on modern day earth. She had her fair share of hardships, her parents died shortly after her birth and her only family was her older brother, however, her older brother was somewhat of a prodigy and provided enough to live comfortably. Clair was always a bit of a tomboy and possessed many undesirable qualities, one of which was skipping class on special occasions and when she didn’t want to be in class. She had some of the same genius as her brother, her grades never slipped, and she would erase any trace of a message the school sent to her older brother, so she never got caught. That came back to bite her.

On a fateful friday afternoon, Clair left school early and made her trek to the mall. She made a slight detour, though, she stopped by the bank. Clair was more than a little spoiled by her brother, she had full access a bank account of her own. She loved how the tellers always whispered about her age when she left with money a girl her age shouldn’t have. Clair made it to the bank fine, the trouble started when she was at the desk asking for a withdraw. The teller insisted that Clair was too young, but Clair produced her card in protest and the teller was thoroughly miffed as she checked the account. The glass door crashed closed with a slam and yelling filled the practically silent room.

“Everyone down on the ground!” shouted the robbers with shotguns. Clair froze, solid as a statue as she blankly scrutinized the robbers. Her brother would save her, he would come bursting through the doors at any time and take care of the robbers, he would. One of the robbers noticed Clair unmoving and provided the five star view of a shotgun barrel while shouting at her to follow directions or else. The teller pleaded with the robber, saying Clair was only a little girl, leave her be. Unfortunately, the robber was new to the job, anxiety plagued his thoughts and his gun shook with the unsteady support of his hands. This little girl just wouldn’t do what he said and his nerves were pulled taunt.

“If even this little girl isn’t scared of me, I need to set an example,” were the feverish thoughts of the robber. A robber taking care of the other hostages glanced over and did a double take.

“Rob, don’t fucking do it!” But it was too late, the robber shot Clair, her head was shot clean off and her brains and blood decorated the bland floor and stained the glass.

Clair leered blearly in and out of consciousness. She couldn’t feel or see anything. Somehow she knew her body was intact, but she also knew that couldn’t be true, she was just shot point blank by a shotgun. Clair was slammed into coherence when she collided with something solid. She yelped in pain and frantically shifted her head, eyes wide and mouth forgotten on the floor.

Her first thoughts were, “Am I…in heaven…maybe Hell?” She was in paradise, dropped in the middle of the silver city. Angels crowded the skies, giant buildings made of gleaming silver and gold littered the area, the air felt unbelievably clear, and the ground was solid clouds. The next second, she noticed the angels all brandishing weapons and just as many fell as flew in the sky. The buildings were damaged, some with whole sides crumbled and destroyed. Clair took a deep breath to steady herself, the smell of iron and smoke stung her lungs.

In the sky, half of the angels were rallied behind a figure enclosed in light, wings and a halo discernable from her long green hair. The figure was fighting with a different figure, also out shown by light; the other half of the angels rallied behind them, a halo and wings clearly ragged in his dimer light. This one was losing. The first figure flashed across the space and plunged a hand into the chest of the other figure. Time seemed to freeze, the fighting stopped, silence reigned supreme, and even the air held its breath; the angels were all enraptured by the two figures. They seemed to be whispering things to each other. Their lights lowered in intensity as they exchanged words, revealing human features. The first figure was a girl that looked as young as Clair, golden eyes and long green hair that reached her feet. She had wings made of millions of different plants intricately woven together sprouting from her back. The other was a man, much older and a carbon copy of the girl’s appearance, they almost looked like father and daughter. The man sank in defeat, golden blood gushed from his chest, the girl shedding a waterfall of tears. The man’s eyes greedily took in his surroundings melancholily, knowing full well that this would be the last thing he saw. His eyes almost popped out of his head and hope bloomed. The man shoved himself off the girl’s bloodied hand, a goodbye ripped from his throat, and streaked toward Clair while clutching his chest. He darted his attention rapidly surveying Clair and her immediate surroundings.

“I see, so it tore from our battle and a lost soul slipped through before it could repair itself,” the man muttered in his soothing baritone voice.

Clair was utterly confused, convinced that she was dreaming and that she would wake up. The man’s striking face and attractive body only added to her dream, though she had no idea why she would dream this. The little girl screamed in anguish. Angels swooped toward them, too slow to matter. The man gently brushed the side of Clair’s face and grabbed her attention. “I’m deeply sorry you have to bear this burden for me, when I have the power, I swear to make things right,” the man vowed as he leaned forward and kissed Clair on the forehead. A blinding light enveloped her vision and she was weightless for a few brief moments before she crashed down in a forest, tangled in roots, leaves, and mud. Unlike when she fell in the silver city, she felt no pain or too much discomfort from the bone shattering impacts. Clair swiftly learned that she wasn’t on her home world anymore and was hunted for reasons beyond her; the nightmare never ending, her brother never riding in as her knight in shining armor.

That leads up to this moment: Clair was running for her life, as per usual since that day. Clair still didn’t understand what was happening, not really. Tears streamed down her face and fell from the jarring impacts of running. That’s what sacred Clair the most, not knowing why this was happening. Had she done something that make God mad? Was she actually in Hell and this was her torture? She had no idea. The traffickers were gaining on her, Clair started full out bawling, urging her decimated leg muscles to keep carrying her.

“Not like last time, anything but like last time,” pleaded the girl in her mind. The traffickers inevitably caught up and surrounded Clair.

“No!” she screamed in warning, “Stay away, I don’t want to hurt you!” The traffickers looked at each other in confusion, but they shrugged and continued forward. The closest one got close enough to grab Clair’s arm before their head exploded. Clair was crying, screaming, and covered in blood and brains, again, just like the last time, and the times before that. She didn’t know how to make it stop. Heads popped one by one until Clair was left curled in a ball and crying while surrounded by gore, just like last time.

Then, something different from last time happened. Footsteps and the rustling of plant life reached Clair’s ears, there was another person. They seemed to be a knight, but had no crest showing their affiliation. They wore full plate armor, minus a helmet, and was fully equipped with a sword, shield, and strode atop a horse. The man’s eyes widened when he saw the massacre, they examined the bodies for clues and eventually his eyes rested on the sobbing little girl lying in the middle of it all. The knight jumped off their horse and ran to the little girl. Clair destroyed her throat, trying to warn the knight of their impending doom. When the knight grew near enough to touch her, Clair tensed in anticipation of the popping noise and splatter… but it never came. Clair looked up to see the knight shielded with his own mana, she had seen this before, from a mage that was trying to capture her, but the mage could only fight against Clair’s mana for moments. The knight was different, his mana was ice blue and held up steadily against the push of Equilibrium.

“Poor thing,” whispered the knight, “You house an endless amount of mana in that tiny body.”

Clair stared in disbelief before shaking her head and pleading, “I-I don’t know how you’re doing it, mister, but if you stay you’ll die! leave!...please.”

The knight chuckled, “I assure you that I am capable of defending against this level, as prodigious as it is.” Clair looked with skeptical eyes, it was true, the ice blue mana wasn’t weakening against the law defying Equilibrium.

“A-are you sure?” asked Clair, hope filling her with foreign, but lifting emotions.

“A knight never reneges on his word,” nodded the knight, before muttering, “Though, I am no longer a knight.”

Clair repeated the words, “No longer a knight?”

The knight smiled, “Don’t trouble yourself with my burdens. What is you name?”

“Clair.”

“I am Fargus Icelowe. Do you wish for the knowledge required to control you gift?”

“I want to stop killing people, I don’t want to hurt anyone ever again. And I want to go home, to my brother,” said Clair as she looked down.

“Then tis decided,” said the knight, “I shall be your loyal knight, forever by your side to protect you from thyself and foes alike. I shall assist in tutoring you, till a proper Magister is occupied. Finally, I shall do everything in my power to reunite you with your kin.”

Clair’s eyes were panes of glass showing the battle of despair and hope raging within her that bore into Fargus' unusually white eyes and she asked, “Really?”

“If you accept my KnightHood, I swear to the Gods,” vowed Kight Fargus. Clair accepted without hesitation, a deafening strike of thunder echoed through the forest. Knight Fargus’ eyes seemed to ignite with new purpose and he offered Clair a hand.

Clair looked at it for a few long moments before spreading her arms timidly and saying, “My brother gave me a hug every day...it’s what I miss the most.” Knight Fargus hugged Clair and lifted her by the waist before dropping her on the back part of his horse.

“From today onward, you can have as many hugs as you desire, my lady.”

Clair giggled for the first time in a year, her breath slightly rustling Fargus' ginger hair, “You talk funny, Fargus.”

Fargus warned Clair, "Brace yourself, my lady." and the horse’s reins snapped, sending them galloping forward, both of the riders finally finding meaning again.

Esther

Esther was sitting up by the edge of a lake, taking in the scenery. Esther was in the forest and observing a clear, large lake making a clearing in the thickets.

“I’ve been on earth for three months now and I still haven’t gotten over how beautiful it is,” Esther whispered to no one in particular. A black bird with grey streaks of feathers dive bombed from the sky and caught a fish from the water before flapping its wings again. The lake was reflecting the sun, high in the sky and blinding, rippling tranquilly. Esther laid down fully and found familiar shapes in the clouds. Her eyelids grew heavy and a particularly large cloud rolled under the sun, casting a comforting shadow over the forest, and coaxing Esther into a gentle rest. Hours later, Esther’s eyes snapped open and she shot to her feet. “Something is wrong. Mary is in trouble,” thought Esther as she unfurled her blazing, translucent white wings that jostled her waist length hair, small streaks of green still present, and she took flight. Seconds later, she arrived at the cabin Esther and Mary had been living in for three months, when Esther decided to rebel against the Goddess of Life. “Mary! Mary where are you!” shouted Esther, kicking the door directly off its hinges. Relief flashed through Esther’s body before being replaced with adrenaline again as she registered what she saw. Mary was sitting at the table, drinking tea, and Ariel was sitting beside her. “How did they find me?” were Esther’s first thoughts before she realized she needed to focus on getting Mary out of this situation first. “Mary, are you ok?” Esther asked. Mary smiled and nodded, the quivering teacup in her dainty hands being the only thing portraying her fear.

“Tell me Azriel, what is so good about humans that you abandon our purpose for them?” asked Ariel.

“My name is not Azriel, not any more. It’s Esther now,” she growled.

“Humans are not worth you changing your Goddess given name sake, please sister, return to Paradise,” pleaded Ariel half heartedly.

“You know I will never do that,” said Esther.

Ariel laughed, “Not even if the life of your precious human is at stake?” Pure hatred spurred Esther’s movements as she lunged at Ariel and slammed them through the cabin walls.

“Hurt her and I swear I will kill you,” threatened Esther. Ariel laughed in Esther’s face.

“If you wanted to rebel, you should have followed Lucifer’s example, he was almost successful,” said Ariel before jabbing Esther in the gut and pushing Esther off her, dashing back inside the cabin. Esther jumped to her feet and rushed back into the cabin, what she saw made her face blanche. Ariel was holding Mary up by the neck. Esther tried saving her, but found she was stuck in place, her arm stretched out and legs tensed. Jophiel was sitting in the corner and her right eye was glowing, she was using her divine power to hold Esther in place. Esther was helpless when she heard the crunching of Mary’s bones and saw her body went limp. She was powerless, she could do nothing , not scream or even cry when Ariel dropped Mary to the floor and wiped their hand like Mary was a filthy piece of trash. Something inside Esther broke, a shattering signaled the birth of the true angel of death.

“That’s enough, Jophiel, let her go now,” waved Ariel offhandedly. Esther fell to the floor and scurried over to the cold corpse of Mary, her lover.

“Mary...” Esther whispered as sobs broke her voice. “Mary……. I’m sorry...I’m sorry.”

“Now, there is nothing tethering you here, come back to Paradise with us,” said Ariel. Esther ignored them and continued to cradle Mary.

When Esther didn’t respond even minutes later, Ariel sighed and said, “Perhaps Mettatron and Sandalphon should have come after all, they used to be humans. Come Jophiel, Azreal will come back eventually.” Ariel and Jophiel stepped outside the cabin and sprouted their wings.

“I’ll kill you,” whispered Esther, far too quiet for them to hear.

“Speak up sister,” taunted Ariel.

“I’ll kill you!” shouted Esther savagely, “I swear to the Gods, I will kill you!” A deafening thunder clap rang in their ears, her pledge had been heard.

Ariel pinched the bridge of her nose, “Sister, you know it will cause the Goddess a lot of trouble to take something like that back, stop this fit.” Esther didn’t say anything else, instead she carried Mary’s body outside and sprouted her own wings before taking flight.

Esther held her face close to Mary’s and her tears streaked back and off her face from the wind. Mary wasn’t anyone special, just a regular human, no fighting prowess or special powers, or political power. None of that mattered to Esther, all that mattered was that Esther loved Mary and Mary loved her back. Esther flew halfway across the world to a place just off north the Crucible Empire. Esther dropped into another forest, this one was a redwood forest with massive trees, hundreds of them more than fifty feet in diameter. Esther walked to a specific one that didn’t seem any different from the rest. Esther dug a six foot deep hole and pulled out the sword dubbed Azreal’s Blade. She tossed it to the side and gently lowered Mary’s body into the hole before refilling it. Mary’s one wish in life was that she would be buried near the World Tree and serve as its nutrients. Esther kneeled at the foot of Mary’s grave and stayed stationary, allowing herself this time to grieve.

Hours later, Esther stood up, her eyes dryer than since she was created, she walked over to where she threw the blade. Esther picked up Azreal’s Blade and stabbed herself in the chest. When she first rebelled and fell to earth, she sealed away all of her angelic powers, only keeping things that were impossible to get rid of, like her wings. Azreal’s Blade started glowing with a brilliant light that engulfed Esther and returned her grace. When the light faded, Esther looked like an angel again. She had a barely perceptible halo above her head, her eyes turned a liquid gold, her hair plunged into a deep green, her sword morphing into its true form, and her wings turned from translucent to physical. That was the day the angel of death, Azreal, decided to embrace her namesake, and she would make every holy cretin she encountered embrace it all the same.

Caspar

Caspar was in a field, practicing his swordsmanship with a blunt, wooden practice sword. Despite that, the ground around Caspar was uplifted and cut into from the sheer shock waves of the sword. Caspar had a focused expression, his liquid gold eyes looking directly in front of him and his brain functioning at full tilt. Caspar took a deep breath before his sword blurred in a flurry of slashes. Peculiarly, his sword made no noise as it moved, and noticeable cuts that seemed to float in the air appeared as he swung his sword.

“I can do this! This I can do this!” Caspar motivated himself with his thoughts. Halfway into Caspar’s next swing, his sword quivered and the slashes floating in the air flew in random directions, some even flew backwards towards Caspar. Caspar dodged to the right, barely avoiding the slashes that continued to deform the ground or fall trees and claimed a stand of his green hair. Caspar sighed and sat down.

“I’ll get it next time,” he consoled himself. Caspar heard the flutter of wings and turned his head to see Ariel and Jophiel. They didn’t appear to be in a good mood. “What happened?” asked Caspar.

“She refused to come back,” answered Jophiel quitely.

“What did you do to convince her?”

“We killed the human she was staying with,” said Ariel, frustration communicated and hoped to be reciprocated.

Caspar was on his feet and grabbed Ariel’s collar, “You did what?”

“We killed her human toy,” repeated Ariel through clenched teeth, she obviously didn’t like humans, having to take orders from one grated her nerves. Caspar threw Aerial to the ground in anger, the ground shattered and dust lifted.

“You absolute moron!” shouted Caspar, “How can you be so ignorant?”

“I killed a useless waste of space, that is all,” seethed Ariel A flash of light was all that warned Ariel that Caspar moved and his practice sword was at her throat.

“Not. Another. Word,” Caspar spat in short breaths. Ariel shut her mouth, shivering at the overwhelming bloodlust radiating from Caspar. Caspar lowered his sword and sighed in exasperation, “Now she will never go back to paradise, who knows what she is planning to do now that you killed the person she loved.” Ariel was still in a cold sweat from Caspar’s threat and bit back her angry reply. “Go back to paradise and stay there. I’ll tell Grabriel who I want to replace you,” ordered Caspar. With a flutter of wings, they were gone, leaving Caspar alone. “Kerry, please give your creations some common sense,” sighed Caspar as he grabbed his sword and walked back to the elven village he was currently living in.

Klein

“Is everyone ready for breach?” Klein queried over the comms.

“Ready,” answered five voices in unison. Klein was waiting outside of the point of interest at the ready, using his C.B.I to see in infrared, allowing him to observe the movements of the seven weapons dealers.

“We go in on three. One. Two. Go, go, go!” Klein activated his phase shifter and shifted through the wall to the other side, raising his S.H.A.R.C.W, usually just referred to as a shark, and opened fire. Five others also dressed in full dark camo colored titanium-kevlar mesh gear that consisted of, myers combat boots, pants and shirt with compartment space, a backpack with heavier weaponry and collapsable walls, and a hood that covered the face, entered simultaneously. Six bodies dropped to the floor, the weapons dealers were caught by surprise and weren’t equipped with defensive gear, one shot to the chest was all it took. Before the six bodies could thud against the ground, six guns were trained on the remaining weapons dealer, he was examining a rifle. The weapons dealer dropped the rifle with a clatter as they raised their hands in fear.

This was one of the supply bases of the weapons dealers that supplied the rebeling terrorist groups in Antarctica. Yorkson watched the prisoner of war while the rest of the Black Ops squad inventoried their haul.

“Shiiiit, look here Serg, they've got a next generation plasma gun,” said Ford.

“What did Pearl tell you about shooting up before a mission, Ford? Those haven’t been invented yet, even we only have prototypes,” dismissed Klein.

“Naw, I’m serious, Ochoa, you see and tell ‘em,” argued Ford.

Ochoa shrugged and walked over to the weapon crate, when he saw it he whispered, “Santa Maria, he’s not high, Sergeant Larkson.” Klein walked over in a start and his jaw dropped when he saw the plasma launcher. They asssumed it was a plasma launcher because it had the word plasma painted on the side of its white frame. It looked like a rectangular rocket launcher that narrowed into a barrel barely six centimeters in diameter, and the trigger was replaced with a button on the top. Looking vaugely jar like in shape.

“This is some serious shit we just stepped into,” admonished Klein.

“What’cha mean? This is awesome!” laughed Ford.

“He’s talking in terms of the war, pendejo, this confirms that the organization supplying the rebel terrorist has to be a foreign super power, no one else could make this,” insulted Ochoa.

“Well, it’s not all bad, this is probably only a testing prototype they want to get field data with, and now that we have our hands on it, our military should be making these before the end of the year,” Klein shared the glass half full perspective.

“So,” started Ford, “are we going to test it out?”

Klein cracked a smile, “Of course.”

Maverick was quick to protest, “Maybe that’s not such a good idea, Sergeant Larkson, remember the last time you did something like this?”

Klein’s thoughts drifted to three missions ago when he used a gravity bomb that had come under their possession; their field of work isn’t usually equipped with explosive technology, stealth was of the essence. Of course, Pearl, their mission handler, was unhappy. Any confiscated goods were to be brought back without tampering, they all knew that.

“I'm sure Pearl will understand, we just have to make sure we don’t blow it up this time,” Klein said. Maverick relented easily and joined the group outside in the cold tundra.

“You coming, Yorkson?” Klein asked.

“I’ve got to watch the prisoner,” replied Yorkson and he gestured with his gun. Klein walked behind the POW and chopped them. Klein grinned as he watched the unconscious man crumple to the floor, he still remembered how he felt when he found out that was real, a small amount of ludicrous amazement still visited him whenever he used it. Of course, it wasn’t a light chop to the neck, it was a much more forceful and brutal chop to the back of the head, gives the target brain damage if it’s used on them multiple times.

“Problem solved,” smirked Klein. Yorkson laughed and joined the rest outside. The only one still inside was Curca, the only girl on the squad.

“Why’re you waiting up?” asked Klein as he ambled next to her, vaguely aware of the short distance between them.

“I found something interesting,” said Curca plainly, her usual tone.

“More interesting than a plasma cannon?”

“Vastly so.” Klein’s smile fell lopsided and he walked over to see what she was so interested in. Curca was holding a phone.

“You found what they used to communicate? Why didn’t you tell me?” asked a surprised Klein.

“You never follow regulations,” she shot flatly.

Klein sighed and muttered, “Fair point.”

“I think this guy was the one delivering the weapons for the suppliers, he’s wearing different things and has a dog tag, they look vaguely european,” said Curca as she pointed to the closest body with her free hand. Klein crouched down and examined the body before asking what she found on the phone.

“Nothing much, it’s password protected, obviously, but….. I just cracked it, I’m in.” Curca relayed her findings, “It has one saved phone number and some downloaded media.” Curca tapped and swiped until she let it rest facing upwards in her hand, it was projecting a holographic blueprint.

“Yo, captain, we’re shooting now, you coming?” called Ford. Klein told them to do the first shot without him and turned his attention to the phone. Klein and Circa studied it for a few moments.

“It’s a blueprint for the plasma launcher,” deduced Klein.

“The plasma launcher?, it can’t be, this looks like some advanced bomb blueprint, that’s a primer right there,” denied Curca as she pointed it out on the blueprint.

“Look, it’s named,” said Klein as he interacted with the blueprint and read the name. The name was in red font and read, “Plasma Bomb, model F-16.” Klein and Curca locked eyes for a brief moment, obvious terror in them, before phase shifting directly outside of the building.

“Don’t fire! Stop!” shouted Klein, but it was already too late. Ford was crouching with the plasma bomb resting on his shoulder, finger pressing down on the trigger. The plasma bomb shook violently and grew warm enough for Klein and Curca to feel the heat from from two meters away, Klein hoped Ford was protected by his suit. Suddenly, the plasma bomb flew from Ford’s shoulder and plopped in the snow ten meters away. Klein saw from the corner of his eye that Curca had a C.A.P pistol in her hands.

Ford turned with an angry face and said, “Why’d you go ‘n do that, Curca!” Moments later, the plasma bomb exploded in a blend of blues. Plasma expanded outward and formed a half circle of pure plasma rotating like a cyclone that lasted for close to four seconds before it imploded and shook the earth with its impact. The shockwave alone still knocked the black ops squad off their feet and tumbling in a mini avalanche.

Klein dug himself out of the snow and shouted, “designation and state!” Maverick, uninjured. Yorkson, uninjured. Ford, sprained ankle. Curca, uninjured. Ochoa, dislocated shoulder. Klein sighed in relief, no one was in mortal danger.

“Yorkson, get on it,” Klein ordered the medical professional of the group.

“Have you ever thought that you might be a bad captain?” asked Curca from behind klein.

“Nope,” smiled Klein.

“I’m sure Pearl has,” said Curca.

“No doubt,” agreed Klein. Ford stumbled over, his equilibrium off balance with a sprained ankle, and fell at Curca’s feet.

“Thanks for the save,” said Ford.

“Proper worship position is a few centimeters lower,” joked Curca dryly. Ford stared at Curca, blinking a few times and then lowered a few centimeters.

“Stop, I was joking!” said Curca, some emotion finally colored her voice.

“Sorry,” mumbled Ford as he crawled over to Yorkson who had just popped Ochoa’s shoulder back into place.

“Yorkson, I think Ford might have a concussion, too” called Klein before turning to Curca,“I knew you were joking, if that counts for anything.”

“It doesn’t,” said Curca.

“Alright, it’s time to wrap this up, Maverick and Curca, you go collect the weaponry and POW. Ford, just make it to the vehicle. Yorkson, help Ford,” commanded Klein. Everyone snapped into action, fulfilling their tasks and making it back to the van in less than three minutes. The van had environmentally adaptive camouflage, it isn’t good enough to make the van invisible in any urban area, but was more than enough for the blizzards of Antarctica. They drove to their home base in Antarctica and handed over their haul. Their home base was a giant warehouse that was teeming with soldiers and equipment that were sent to help out the war effort.

“Sergeant larkson! What the Hell happened?! Why did radar pick up an explosion at your point of interest?” shouted Pearl as soon as she laid eyes on Klein. Klein turned to face Pearl, she was wearing a military uniform, she was a Brigadier General, who was wearing her service uniform that was colored white, she insisted on wearing that instead of her ACU to keep up moral since they aren’t in an actually war yet, but probably will be as soon as they find out who is funding these rebels. The service uniform consisted of a hat that had a golden symbols of an eagle under a circle with other decorative patterns surrounding it. A jacket with her colored rank over her impressive array of commendations and with a star on her upper left arm that showed her rank; it was folded outward under her collar bone and showing a flannel dress shirt that had a tie around the fully buttoned color. She had white high heels and a simple, straight skirt reaching to her knees on the bottom half of her body. Klein was only a captain, but he took direct orders from Pearl, someone three ranks above him, because of their clandestine operations, of course if someone were ranked above him in a war situation, he would have to listen to their orders too.

“Sergeant Larkson, explain yourself, now!” demanded Pearl.

Klein and his squad, minus Ford who went to the infirmary, saluted and Klein explained himself, “Brigadier General Golane, I was simply testing a weapon that had questionable functionality.”

“What weapon was it?”

“It was what we thought was a plasma cannon,” answered Klein.

“What you thought?” repeated Pearl, a plasma weapon making headway in quenching her anger.

“Well…. It turned out to be a plasma bomb designed similarly to a rocket launcher,” admitted Klein.

“You decided you should fire an enemy’s plasma cannon when out on a top secret mission? Not only that, but it turned out to be a bomb?” surmised Pearl, seething again. Klein didn’t know how to answer that besides a slight and hesitant nod. Pearl dipped her head and balled her fists before looking up and taking deep breaths.

“This is a blatant breach of protocol, and this isn’t your first, the only reason you are not given a dishonorable discharge is because of your unique track record. That being said, you and your squad will be given menial duty for the next week, and two more members will be added to your squad to meet structural regulations, you will be training them during your punishment week, it is up to you to get them trained in time for your next mission,” Pearl said that with a smile on her face, happy that Klein was being punished. Klein knew that most of her speech was empty threats, she would never do anything like dishonorable discharge him. Klein and Pearl were actually childhood friends, which is why Klein refers to her as Pearl whenever they aren’t at official briefings or in situations like this.

“The two members will be new recruits, fresh faced newbies, have fun,” snickered Pearl as she turned and walked away. Klein and his squad were working together before they joined the military, and they never got any new members because Klein insisted it would interfere with their synergy.

Their history as a team was interesting, it all started when they were going through college, close to six years ago. Klein was struggling financially, he was pursuing a degree in mechanical engineering, but couldn’t find any job. He was too ashamed to tell anyone close to him, or ask for money, so he turned to what he thought was his only option, a loan shark. Of course, Klein knew it was risky business, but he was almost done with his degree, he only needed three more months to finish classes and graduate. He did end up graduating, but he couldn’t get the money needed to pay the loan sharks back by their deadline, so he had to pay them back another way. The loan sharks worked with the Gordino crime family, he was forced to do some jobs for them. Turns out, he was talented in that field of work, they didn’t let him leave even after he had paid off his debt, Klein had no choice but to kill someone to cover his criminal ties, but Gordino crime family kept crucial pieces of evidence that could definitely get him convicted if they came to light. That was the first time he had directly killed someone, he was shaken up and filled with anger directed at the crime family.

He decided that enough was enough when he was going to assist in the robbing of a disguised military transport vehicle, the crime family had intel that said there would be weapons on board. Klein tried to sabotage the mission, but was caught almost immediately by the people he was supposed to work alongside with. Lucky for him, they were in similar positions to him, all but one agreed to work with him, they tied up the one outlier and left them. Those people were Ford, Ochoa, Curca, Maverick, and Yorkson. They worked with amazing efficiency and wiped everyone else participating in the middle of the mission.

They set it up to look like a car crash instead of a robbery, and they were going to disappear, Maverick ensured them that he had a guy. That was when, Ford, just being himself, took a peek inside of the truck. There weren’t any weapons inside the truck, instead there was a stache of phase shifters. Back then, they were just completed and were cutting edge technology-they still are six years later-the truck was to deliver them for use in the military. Temptation got the better of them, they tried the phase shifters. They got addicted almost immediately, they didn’t know at that point in time that it was possible to get addicted to using them.

They never knew exactly why it works that way, but they had a vague idea, their atoms are transferred into energy and move outside the bounds of space time, during that process the brain recognizes something good for you and rewards you with a rush of dopamine. The other leading hypothesis: their atoms traversed various different transformation, it's confirmed that they gain and lose electrons sporatically. It wasn't actually them craving it, but litterally their atoms as they experience a rush of completion and decomposition. Needless to say, none of them could part with the phase shifters, so they had to come up with something else other than disappearing. They decided to go after the Gorindo crime family, the phase shifters gave them an insane edge and let them face hundreds of people as a six man team. Somewhere along the way, the military was able to link the cargo truck’s crash and robbery to the Gorindo crime family. Klein and his team took advantage of the military going after the Gorindo crime family, and were able to topple them before the military knew what was going on.

They were able to stay off the military’s radar until the last mission, where Klein killed the head of the Gorindo crime family, Antonio Gorindo, in front of military personnel and made a hasty escape. That happened in the span of a year. Klein and his team were on the run as criminals for three years, with the phase shifters they were able to escape any direct altercations, and they became infamous for being ghosts. It was much more difficult to uphold their status as ghosts when the people chasing them started using phase shifters, too, things more than evened because of that.

Luckily, as if fate decreed it, when they were caught it was by Pearl, she was only a corporal at that time. Pearl couldn’t bring herself to turn Klein in, so she helped him fake his and his team’s deaths. Pearl’s orders were to bring them in alive, but only if possible, so they fabricated a story of Pearl killing them in an altercation. She got all of the credit and Klein and his team got a fresh start. During that three year period, they got a lot of battle experience, they decided to put that to use, they joined the military. The fact that they would be able to use phase shifters again, if they joined was also a big incentive. Pearl was able to ride the wave of killing the infamous ghost team, and went through officer school before being promoted to Brigadier General while Klein and his team went through basic training. They drew on their experience and racked up a flawless track record in black ops missions, Pearl pulled some strings and got their squad to take orders from her.

Klein turned to his squad and apologized for landing them menial duties.

“Yeah, you’re an idiot,” said Curca flatly, “You also forgot to give her the phone.” Klein face palmed and ran after Pearl, thanking Curca for reminding him.

Faith

Faith couldn’t believe the events unfolding before his eyes, his glasses defiantly slid down the bridge of his nose, but Faith ignored them. He had been working on this for the last four years of his life, he didn’t think he would even be near a working prototype until well into the future, yet here he was standing before the completed product.

Faith thrust the screwdriver in his right hand into the air, “Whooooo! I did it! Take that!” Faith was shaking from excitement, he felt like he had just chugged twenty coffees.

“Doctor? Are you celebrating? Did something of worth occur outside of my knowledge?” asked the newly created android. Faith grabbed the android’s metal shoulders and looked into her eyes, the iris was more of a silver than white and the computer chip green pupil shrank and expanded frantically as she took in her surroundings.

“I see, my apologies. It appears that this is my first activation, my memory does not go farther back than seeing you celebrating. Perhaps you are happy because you finished creating me?” deduced the android. Faith stopped bouncing off the walls and waving the screwdriver above his head like a strafer.

“Correct, excellent deduction skills. Of course, I would know because I engineered them.” Faith took in the sight of his culminated efforts. Obviously, as a nerdy teenage male he made the robot a heart throbbing, knock out of a body and calibrated her expressions to be feminine. She had platinum colored skin, perfect facial features, black hair pulled into pigtails-Faith’s favorite hairstyle-and was one hundred ninety centimeters tall.

The android pushed her lips into a frown, “Forgive me doctor. I request some time to organize my functions, existence is complicated.”

Faith granted the request and decided that he needed a break, as well. He had been burning the candle from both ends for so long that it seemed normal now. He spent every second of his time working on making her, he hadn’t thought of a good name yet. Faith sunk so much time and effort into the project that his grades in school were starting to fall. In faith’s book, that was utter insanity, the world must be coming to an end, he had a perfect grade no matter the class or difficulty. Frankly, Faith Fohster is a never before seen genius, and he knew it, he wasn't the humblest of people.

Faith walked over to the bathroom and splashed cold water on his face after washing his glasses. The ice cold water sent chills through his body and rejuvenated his sore muscles. Faith really looked at himself in the mirror for the first time in forever. He had spiky hair that Faith dyed blue two years ago, his face was an oily mess of acne and facial hair, and he had moon craters under his eyes from neglecting sleep. Faith took in his figure and lifted his shirt to see his stomach, brushing his lab coat to the side. His ribs were coherently outlined by his tight skin. In hindsight, Maybe he should have taken better care of himself after all. Faith cheered himself up with some saying about it never being too late and proceeded to wash his face with the proper creams before shaving and cooked some food.

Faith scrolled through his phone while eating and noticed he had a text. It was from Dan, his one and only friend, asking him if he was dead yet, and if not would he want to temporarily discontinue his caveman ways and catch up with him. Faith had been putting Dan second for a while, they only ever talked at school now, and he was his only real friend. At first glance, it looked like he had a good amount of friends and acquaintances, but Dan was the only one he truly considered a friend because he was the only one he actually liked as a person and reciprocated the calling of friendship. Faith sent an apology and made plans for the weekend while sharing some of his previous uproarious ecstaticness about how he finished ‘that project’. To add insult to injury, Faith never actually told anyone what he was doing, the most he did was tell Dan that he was working on a project and nothing more for the full four years. Dan responded instantly with a spree of exasperated comments about how the project better be world changing. A shit eating grin spread across Faith’s face and he texted Dan that he actually had two big surprises, he would tell him about ‘that project’ after revealing the first one. Dan sent a spree of excited gifs and told him that the surprises better be worth the four years that he watched Faith go crazy.

The following weekend, Faith and Lilly sat at a bench outside of the amusement park waiting for Dan. Faith wore black jeans and sneakers under a maroon shirt. Lilly wore a black knee length skirt with stockings and sneakers over a deep purple sweater. Two lush pig tails swayed in the breeze and she had trouble stopping her tinted glasses from slipping down her smooth metal skin.

"The glasses refuse to find purchase, what do you propose we do, doctor?" asked Lilly. Faith frowned slightly and reached before pocketing the glasses.

"We just have to hope he doesn't notice your eyes," shrugged Faith.

Lilly still looked for a solution, "I have an idea: We switch glasses. Yours were recently adjusted and are not as loose as your old pair. If we simply swap the lenses, you can wear your old pair." Faith praised her and did as she said. Faith's main pair of glasses sat stationary on Lilly's cute face, and Faith had no problem with his old pair that was still in pristine condition.

"Faith!" called a voice from behind them. Faith and Lilly stood and turned around to see Dan. Dan was exactly two meters talls with short brown hair and had a fit frame. Dan wore a slightly tight dark blue shirt, his muscles hinted at beneath the fabric, with jeans and sneakers. Faith and Dan exchanged a greeting. Dan awkwardly eyed the girl, a question mark over his head.

"The girl is...?"

"Oh," Faith exclaimed, purposely forgetting to mention Lilly. "This is Lilly, my girlfriend." Dan's brow furrowed, something wasn't adding up here.

Lilly had a perfect smile as she stuck out her hand, "Nice to finally meet you. Faith never shuts up about you."

Dan shook her hand and said, "Likewise... Faith's actually never mentioned you."

Lilly pouted and turned to Faith, "You've never mentioned me? I'm hurt!" Lilly giggled before turning back to Dan. "I'm only kidding, we've only recently gotten together, so it's no surprise he hasn't said anything."

"C'mon, let's hurry, the sun's only out for so long," rallied Faith as he started towards the ticket booth. Lilly followed giddily, along with Dan.

The sun quickly ran out of fuel for the day as the trio explored the park and rode in carts of metal. Faith struggled not to let the cat out of the bag, mistaking Dan's suspicious stares as ones of interest and couldn't wait to see how he would react when he found out she was an android. Lilly played her part masterfully, she spun the lie naturally and with no blind spots, Faith praised her in his head more and more. The concrete was painted red with light as they left the amusement park, Lilly was sharing the story of how they first met. Faith excused himself to go to the bathroom. Dan saw this as a chance and confronted Lilly once Faith was out of ear shot.

"What's your aim?" he asked.

"Sorry, I don't know what you mean," responded Lilly.

"Cut the crap, I know you've been acting this whole time. Why are you pretending to like Faith?" snapped Dan. Lilly stayed silent, her face unreadable as she ran calculations.

"I don't know what you're talking about," denied Lilly. Dan glared at her fiercely. Suddenly, he swiped the glasses of her face.

"You've got him in the palm of your hand: you don't need glasses, but you got Faith to give you his while he wears an old pair," deduced Dan while examining the glasses. Lilly quickly averted her eyes by looking down.

"Please give those back, I'm not lying to Faith, I promise."

Dan looked up and frowned when he noticed her sudden timidness, "I don't believe you."

"Oi," interrupted a voice. Dan and Lilly turned toward the voice. It was an older guy, taller than Dan and visibly muscular. "Is this guy bothering you, little lady?" Lilly searched her database for a split second before rolling her eyes.

"I'm perfectly fine, I don't need any help," Lilly said bluntly.

"C'mon, babe, you don't belong here, let me take you somewhere fun," said the man, throwing an arm over her shoulder.

Lilly ducked out of the man's embrace and said, "I refuse." The man wouldn't take no for an answer.

Dan got between Lilly and the man, glaring angrily as he said, "She doesn't want to go with you, give it up." The man scoffed and punched Dan in the gut.

"Where the hell did this stereotypical muscle head come from?" thought an irritated Dan as he clutched his bruised stomach. The man raised his interlocked hands above his head like a hammer. Dan was in too much pain to move and braced for impact. When the impact didn't come, Dan glanced up in shock. The man was face down on the ground, Lilly dug her shoe into his shoulder blade and tugged on his meaty arm with only one of her own, eliciting a scream of pain. Lilly gingerly held Faith's glasses in her other hand. Lilly put out her hand, presenting the glasses to Dan. Dan took them blankly.

Lilly's face contorted in anger, "You almost caused damage to the doctor's friend and glasses, that is unforgivable." Lilly's words stung and the sickening pop of the man's socket sounded as Lilly put more force in her pull.

"Lilly, stop it!" shouted Faith. Dan snapped back to his senses and realized that a thin girl like Lilly shouldn't be able to do what she just did. Lilly jumped off the man's back.

"Apologies, Doctor, the man wished harm upon Dan," explained Lilly. The muscle head wailed in pain.

"You're going to pay for this!" growled the man as he ran away.

"Ugh, this ruins the big reveal," complained Faith.

"Big reveal?" asked Dan lamely.

Lilly shot down Faith's expectations, "Actually, Doctor, Dan pierced through our lie. He confronted me shortly after you left." Faith sighed in defeat.

"You're too good Dan, if you aren't tricked by an android's acting, I don't know what you are tricked by," said Faith.

Dan laughed, "So, that's the big thing you've been working on?"

"You weren't even a bit surprised? An android is still science fiction to most people," asked Faith hopefully.

"I wouldn't believe it if it was just anyone, but coming from you, it's not hard to believe," Dan let him down.

"Do not be sad, Doctor, you should be happy Dan thinks so highly of you," Lilly consuled. The trio continued their walk as Dan asked all sorts of questions about the process. He even attempted to catch Lilly with a modified turing test. Lilly passed with flying colors, obviously.

Kyle

Kyle had a condescending expression as he shoved the grand doors of the throne room ajar, followed by his servus. Kyle slightly adjusted the traditional gold and red robes of the king while walking down the long, florid carpet leading to the throne, three steps above everything else. An ornate crown rested on his black hair, swaying slightly as he walked. His hazel eyes looked down upon the crowd of nobles called to gather and standing on both sides of the carpet. His servus traipsed meekly behind him, his disheveled brown hair hanging over his face and the robes of the king’s protector hung on his gaunt frame. His robes had the same pattern as Kyle’s with the color inverted, red where there was gold and gold where there was red, it looked extremely out of place adorned by the timid boy.

Murmurs spread through the crowd of nobles, no one was briefed on the situation before hand. Kyle walked the distance and grandly sat on the red throne, crossing his legs and shifting his arm to rest on throne’s arm, his hand holding his head. His servus even had the audacity to slouch directly left of the throne, his head down and rubbing his left arm with his right hand, his hair still covering his face. Gasps resounded through the room, the prince dared to pull such a stunt?

The court mage wearing embroidered gold and red robes that was standing two meters to the right of the throne addressed the prince, “Prince Kyle, wha-”

The court mage was cut off by Kyle’s low, yet domineering voice, “King Kyle.”

The court mage snorted and continued, “Your father, the current king, will be angered by this stunt.”

“Court Mage Forn, shut your mouth,” ordered Kyle lazily. Court Mage Forn was stunned, Kyle had always been the prodigal and entiteled son, but he had never gone this far.

Court Mage Forn held in his anger for obvious reasons, “Prince Kyle-”

“Did I not say to be silent!” shouted Kyle. Court Mage Forn could no longer put up with this prank and used a charm spell to convince Kyle to stop, the king would understand. Kyle simply pointed at the hyaline symbols forming in front of the Court Mage, and the symbols dissipated, canceling the spell. The Court mage was flabbergasted, Kyle jammed the spell casting.

Kyle laughed haughtily, “You dare? No Name, execute that traitor to the throne.”

His servus, No Name, turned to Kyle and asked, “A-are you sure? In f-front of all these people?”

“Do it,” Kyle nodded and gave a supporting gaze. No name suddenly snapped to proper posture, his hair flying upward to reveal his blood thirsty expression, his grey and bottomless eyes portraying deep killing intent.

“My name is… death!” muttered No Name. Suddenly, his hands morphed into pure black claws, each finger a spike half a meter long, and he moved faster than most in the room could see. The next second, Court Mage Forn’s corpse collapsed in a shower of blood. No name had a savage smile as he kneeled and presented the dripping head of Court Mage Forn, a shocked expression still on it, to Kyle. Kyle waved his hands dismissively; no name bared his fangs and dropped the head, no name’s jaws snapped shut as they ate the head whole. No name relished the rare treat for a few moments before their hands returned to normal and they regained the same timid demeanor with their hair covering his face.

“S-sorry for t-the mess,” No Name apologized.

“It’s of little consequence,” assured Kyle. The crowd of nobles erupted in worried yells of a monster.

“Silence!” Kyle ordered, his voice felt like it had a spell attached, all the nobles’ mouths trembled white as they pressed them close. The crowd flipped their fear to fester on the inside, restless in silent terror.

“Guard,” called Kyle. A guard wearing pure golden plate armor jogged to the foot of the steps and kneeled, struggling to maintain his stone faced expression.

“Raise your head, look me in the eye,” said Kyle.

The guard trembled for a split second before regaining composure, “I apologize from the bottom of my heart, I shall not raise my head, it would be improper and worthy of execution.” the guard’s voice was a steady baritone.

Kyle smiled, “Good, I like you, go fetch another qualified mage… someone to desecrate that traitor’s body.”

It was only then that the guard raised his head and saluted, “Yes your majesty!” before running to fulfill his order.

“Bring me the head visser, as well,” Kyle added lazily.

Half an hour later, a team of sixteen mages were interlocking hands and group casting a spell. Throughout the Kirlandhill empire, massive blue screens appeared in the sky, no one in the empire could possibly miss this announcement. Being broadcast on the innumerable amount of blue screens was the king casually sitting on the throne in the robes of the king and no name shyly looking down by his side, wearing the robes of the king’s protector.

Kyle cleared his throat and addressed his empire, “Attention all! I am Kyle Kirlandhill, many of you know me as the only prince of our glorious empire. However, this morning my father, the king, died.” Kyle was an excellent showman, tears welled in his eyes and his facial expression was downcast as he delivered the crushing news. Kyle lifted his gaze with resolve, charisma burned in his eyes, “For my first act as king, I declare that we mourn the death of my father on this day every year.” Suddenly, Kyle spread his arms grandly and righteousness filled his being, “For my second act as king, I declare the conquest of the world! It is what my father would have wanted. The Kirlandhill Empire was founded on strength above all, what better boasts domineering prowess than ruling the world? I will carry the burden of making the collective dream in our hearts a reality!!”. Kyle rested his hand on the hilt of the Glorious Sword.

A Glorious Sword had long been apart of wordly tradition, the three Glorious Swords made it crystal clear who the three strongest in the world were. Currently, the Crucible Empire has the top spot, the Kirlandhill Empire has the second, and the Demi-Human Dukedom has the third; each sword is decorated with the nation’s colors, orange and blue, gold and red, and green and yellow respectively.

“For today we mourn!” said Kyle before unsheathing his glorious sword and raising it heroically, “After, we go to war!”. The people were surprised and remorse at first, but were quickly roused into high spirits; strength was the principle that the Kirlandhill Empire was found on, nothing declares absolute strength more than conquest and war. Word quickly spread like wildfire, smaller nations across the globe either gathered their meager defenses and prepared for death, or directly surrendered. This was the start of a golden age for the kirlandhill Empire, led by its glorious emperor, Kyle Kirlandhill.