7 people, in the time of 30XX. I was one of them. We revolted against the empire which controlled the whole world because of dictatorship. There were twelve of them making the whole empire all-in-all. Nobody else wanted to join us because they were too afraid. But us, we aren't. Most of them call us fools. Others? Heroes. One thing we do know though, is that we're never going to sacrifice freedom.

The Genius' Den

"An email." I whispered. I was scanning through my google mail, finding for new messages when suddenly, this came up.

From: Richard Sean
To: Aiden Kleyss


I took a look of a mix of disgusted and intrigued. Is this some sort of military camp and I got a special invite? Or just some random social gathering talking about love since Valentines was just 4 days away?
I couldn't apply either theories, since military camps don't give e-mails these days. Love? Not really popular because the dictator ruling this sector: Ortzchraft, which was called New York back then, forbids all kinds of romance. Most dictators are like this except the one ruling Rionel, which was called Canada before.
I still hesitated to pick up my jacket and get moving, so I looked back at the clock, "6:30..." I whispered. 30 more minutes.
I finally decided to go to the central park. Living in a world like this, worse stuff would be impossible.

I took a bath before heading out, I wore my regular outfit I laundry and wear everyday. A white jacket without a hood, but with a collar that had dark blue decals and stripes, coupled with black pants and black rubber shoes that have orange decals.
I headed out for Cole, my best friend and genius of the Silent Protagonists, as we call our best friend group before. I was the youngest among the three of them, with me being 17 and both of them being 21. With Cole being a hopeless romantic and Jet already having 5 girlfriends since he was 16, a playboy. I was known as the balance between them. If Cole was the Yin, and Jet was the Yang, I was the Yuan.
Cole is taking care of his mom and his brother was the one working, with Cole having a part-time job.

After a few kilometers of walking, I finally reach his doorstep. I knock, gently, then gradually turning into loud, hard, punches on the door. Call me impolite.
"Wait! I'm coming!" A loud but calm voice echoed from behind the door.
"Oh, hey Aiden!" He greeted me with a smile and a high five. "So, what are you doing here?" He said, still smiling. I see his mother behind him. She smiles always, but has a reputation before of being a very strict teacher. "Good Morning, Ma'am." I greeted her. She nodded carefully, still smiling.
"See, Cole, someone named Richard Sean asked me to meet him in the central park. It was something about revolting against the twelve dictators. He said to invite you and Jet, should we go?" I explained to him.
He paused for a second, and then closed the door. I waited for a full 10 minutes and prepared to go home, but just then, the door slammed open, and Cole came out, fully ready.
"Why did you take so long?" I asked, scratching my head.
"I asked my mom to let me go, because she always wanted this to happen, a Rebellion. He smiled, and pointed towards Jet's house, which was three miles away. "Come on, I don't want to travel on foot." I complained.
"Did you bring your hover board?" He asked, pulling from his bag a cube that had one opening that was a prefect fit for his thumb. The cube expanded forward, then backward, until it formed a wide board that looked like a skateboard but was hovering in midair.
"No, only my hover skates." I laughed. I pulled 2 similar looking cubes from my pocket. It expanded into hover pads to connect to the soles of my shoes. I strapped them on. Soon enough, I was floating, in midair. "I guess this is one of the only good things the dictators could give to us: advanced technology." I said.
"Alright, enough info, I'll race you Aiden." He said and started zooming towards Jet's house.
"No Fair!" I shouted. I started skating on full speed, catching up to Cole in no time. I started doing tricks as if I was flying, I dive bombed and did a grind on a nearby, floating rail. Sector Ortzchaft was very beautiful. Everything except the houses and trees were hovering. Hovering railroads, hovering cars, hovering skates. Everything, hovering.
I glided back to the safe road, and I noticed we were halfway there.
Almost there, I whispered, Let's get this started
"Let's go, Cole!"
'Right Behind you!"

Meeting the Captain

Minutes later, we were already at Jet's house. We entered through a window in his room. I dropped in first. The skates transformed back to 2 small cubes.
"Hey Jet!" I greeted him. He was wearing a black and red polo. Wearing his usual Beats 4.5 with Jeans and Sneakers.
"Yo Aiden! What are you doing here?"
I smiled, "When are you ready to go for a stroll in the park?"
"Right now, my parents aren't here anyway."
"Really? Alright, me and Cole will meet you outside in 5 minutes."
I climbed out of the window and crawled to the top of the roof, where Cole was waiting for me.
"Do you think we'll really be able to free this world from dictatorship?" He asked me as I sat down.
"Of course... Everything's possible." I replied. Silence filled the air for a few seconds.
"We'll just met Richard right?" He asked me.
"I don't know, maybe we'll still go home..."

Jet popped out of the window. "Let's Go."
He pulled out a hovercube which transformed into a hoverboard. Me and Cole followed.
We flew up and zoomed toward the park, which was pretty near to Jet's house. The feeling was incredible, feeling the wind gently touch your skin. Your clothes and hair fluttering wildly in the wind.

Before I knew it, we appeared on top of the park. We decided to search for Richard on air. "Does he look like anyone?" Cole asked.
"Not really, but he should stand out."
After minutes of searching, Jet pointed to a man that had white hair. Large bangs covering his left eye. He was wearing a dark jacket and jeans. He had shoes that had glowing neon lights in it.
"Is he that one?" Jet asked me.
"Let me ask." I flew down to the person. "Sir... are you by any chance, Richard Sean?"
"Oh, Aiden." He surprised me. He greeted me as if we already know each other.
"Please take these three cards. Always keep them face down all the time. You keep them, and meet with me tomorrow the same time." He said. He was talking rapidly.
"Richard, wait. Can I ask about the Rebellion thing?"
"Oh, of course. Now, we will make a group of thirteen people. I need 7 people from your school." He requested.
"Oh, sure. So, you'll leave now?"
"Yes. We will do introductions tomorrow, when we have a full group. See you!" Richard walked away.

"So, we met him." Cole said. Gliding down to my side.
"We? you mean I did." I replied. "Anyway, I'll meet you guys tomorrow. I need to do what Richard said if I want this rebellion."
"What Rebellion?" Jet asked.
"We'll tell you tomorrow." I smiled.
We split up from the park. That night, I started to forward Richard's emails to all of my classmates. Hoping the next day, they will reply to me in class.
I laid flat on my bed. I was about to sleep when the glinting of the three cards Richard gave to me appeared. The back of the card was patterned with a swirling black and white design. I have no idea what was put in front. What was in front of it? A void that will suck you in? My imagination began to run wild. But I controlled them, and began to drift to sleep.

The Alpha of the Omega

I wake up to the very annoying sound of my Alarm Clock. It's 6:30 and I need to get up to school. I lay down my notebook which contains the first 2 chapters of a story that I'm doing. I give a slight sigh and mutter beneath my breath: "I hate school..."
Just to fill you guys in, I go to this school called Darius. For others? Deathtrap. Giant Mechs patrol the school all the time and if you get caught, you'll get shot on the spot. Why? Zeus, the dictator of our sector, is an avid fan of shot in the spots because it references lightning bolts. One time, a student tried running away from the school. He got airstriked. Blitzed, if you want a clear explanation. The students were in charge of scraping his body parts of the walls and floor. I was there and it wasn't a pretty sight to scrape eyeballs from the wall.

I take a wash very easily, and start to wear my clothes. A black shirt that is designed with purple. Black pants coupled with a pair of silvery-black "Fila" Shoes. Now with glowing neons. Yes, our dictator, who is seventeen by the way, is also obsessed with neons. I don't fight him, I like it too.
I get my Ipad 7, hoverskates, and I hang the jacket I wore yesterday over my shoulders. I never leave without it. I head for Darius and I come just in time for my first class, and it seems we have a substitute.
"Hello Class," He starts, freely. "My name is Ronald Graeton, respect me and I respect you, got it?" He says. He's very carefree and talks like he's bored, but he always smiles. He tells us to get our notebooks, not to write notes, but to write down jokes. He's a cool guy.
"Alright, class is over, don't forget your homework!" The class laughs. I approach him and try to invite him. Now I get to see him close, he wears a bunch of green sweaters. Skinny jeans, a pair of sandals and wears square-shaped glasses. Surprisingly, he accepts and laughs. I still accept it though.
I try to scout for more people now. My first pick is one guy that I call my friend. You see, I'm very anti-social. I'm famous in the school for that actually. Ironic, I know.
His name is Jordan Bay, and boy is he queer. I find him quick enough just before lunch break. I explain almost everything.
"Wh-what the, kay dude, I'll think about it." He stammers, and quickly runs away. I try to run after a new girl. I think her name is Diana Forgaiz. I don't know if that's correct though.

I dash toward the Comfort Room. Our school looks like a typical Harvard. So the CR is always far away. I finally reach it just on time. Later On, I finish what I need to do. As I'm washing my hands,I feel something fall from one of my pockets... The Cards. I forgot it was there all the time in my jacket. I watch it lazily drift down and lay on the floor, motionless, facing up. Something inside of it forms, a picture. It's a sword that holds two balances, the picture I mean. I've seen it somewhere, in my card class. The Justice Arcana...

It suddenly transforms into a sword. A long normal looking sword. Gears on it's handle. Blue lights surging through it. Hesitating, I grab it. My first mistake.

It feels like someone is forcing itself to fuse into me. I scream and shout, and after a few moments. It finally ends. I see my hands blazing with some blue abstract energy. I look into the mirror. My eyes has somehow changed from Black to Mako and my hair has white strips on it. I look back and hear voices, guards appear outside the door.
"There you are!" One of them shouts.
I start to run, but I'm cornered as a titanic mech is blocking me from outside the wall. I start slashing at the wall, it splits in half. I look up and see a mech holding a gigantic howitzer at my body. I feel heat coming from it and assume that it's already charging it's fire.
"Fire at will!" One calls out and laughs. Instinctively, I jump up and the plasma fired from the cannon blows the guards into oblivion.
"Who's laughing now." I taunt. I turn my attention to the mech. Feeling confident, I dash and slice at the head. The cockpit splits open and freezes. My power, I assume, is Ice.
Hoping not to get in trouble and since I don't want to get Shot in the Spot; I run away and see the sword transforming into a short rod.
"So that's what those gears are for..." I mumble, still running. My phone rings.

"Aiden?" He says, it's Richard. He sounds different from when we met him.
"Yeah?" I say, after he hears my voice, I hear him laugh softly.
"It begins..."

The Criminal, The Outlaw, The Hero

I keep running, phone pressed on my ear. I look back to see two giant mechs and about a million guards chasing me. I can’t believe I have this stamina, this vitality.
“Kleyss, go back to the Central Park as soon as possible.” He says.
“But,” I say, rapidly breathing. “There are a lot of them chasing me.”
“Well we cannot have that, can’t we?” He says. He hangs up.
What did he mean? I should just ask him the chance I get. I keep on running until I see this black blur on one of the buildings. I stop to look at it and also catch my breath. I look back again to see that they have stopped chasing me. Well, this is bad.

Every time someone gets chased and they escape. The dictators send an elite assassin group. They are classified in two groups. Black Sword Masters called the Noxes and White Sharp Shooters called the Luces. White ones always seem to be slow, while black ones can have you crashing on the ground with their sword at your back in a split second. White ones usually use double snipers and at rare times it’s a multi-hit, M74 Missile launchers. Black ones have swords with a kind of synthetic fire, they don’t get burned but you do. The temperature of the fires in their swords match to a lightning bolt’s, it’s a lot hotter than the sun itself.

I look back to where the black blur was. None. I begin to walk forward cautiously, hoping they didn’t send Noxes. I get the dreadful feeling that that black blur was a Nox.
While walking, I see myself on the mirror, my eyes aren’t glowing anymore. I pick out the steel rod. The second I do, it transforms into the sword I had a while ago. Blue lights are surging through it again. I notice that every time I touch it, my eyes go from black to a bright, glowing turquoise. Aesthetic changes, but I love it.
I play around with the sword until I turn a piece of the gears. That piece glows and a second blade pops from the original blade. Just as I thought since this sword was pretty big for a normal one. I looked like a child playing with a toy and I completely forget the assassins.
I was dead. They had sent an entire horde of Noxes. Running and jumping like a speedy flurry of cheetah. I know I’m doomed.

I figure out how to change the sword to a steel rod and I dash away from the Noxes... until I see the black blur again. My heart is literally pumping adrenaline now. I run faster than my legs can do, as I see the black blur closing in from the front and the army of Noxes from the back. No way but up they say. But I can’t do that, I have a sword anyway. I’ll just combat the black blur and escape. I see the black blur speeding towards me with blinding speed. I hold out the steel rod until I hear someone saying something.

“Don’t pull out your sword.” It says. It was from the blur itself. I, dumbfounded, drop it and just stand there mouth agape. It sounded like Richard.
The blur came in closer and closer with me doing nothing. It can’t be Richard anyway. I see four terrible, black and red lights from the blur. I have no time to react since four Noxes are already pointing eight swords at my back.
It happened fast.
The blur starts with the four Noxes behind me, and then proceeds to the entire horde. With unbelievable speed each one of them falls down to the ground. I assume one of them died drowning from the blood. After this mass massacre, the blur materializes to become a man with white hair. A black open jacket with a white undergarment. A black necktie, coupled with black pants and black boots. He wears a belt to tighten the pants. He turns to my direction and smiles coolly. I will say that he is the most handsome person I’ve ever met. He walks to me until he’s close enough to speak.

“I’m Richard Sean.” Richard says.

“Wh-what? Isn’t that impossible? I thought we met you yesterday.” I reply.

“Confused, are you not?” He speaks very calmly. “The one you met was my brother, Noel. I couldn’t
meet with you because important matters came up.”

“So, why not let’s talk right now? About the rebellion I mean.” I stammer.

“I will not talk to you openly until you have recruited five members.”

“I thought I needed seven.”

“Another small mistake from my brother. Remember this Kleyss, the end of the very world starts with one, very simple mistake.” He says.
“Now, I will only tell you a few. First of all is that we are not the only rebellions forming. We are part of the group called the Resistance. “

“So, they resist?”

“Mhm. Exactly. Now we are gathering thirteen members to become The Rebellion. We will be some kind of a guerrilla force teamed with the resistance. With great evidence captured from the past centuries, our technology was able to form cards that we gave you.”

“Oh you mean—“ I pull out the steel rod. “---this?”
He captures an angry expression, but returns to his calm composure.

“So, you’ve opened this card up. Where are the two others?”

“Here in my jacket.”

“Good, give those to your best friends and tell them not to face it upwards. Like Noel ordered you. We aren’t supposed to do this until the General Meeting. But it’s good that you get practice. Now unto my explanation... the problem with the cards is because they are only thirteen cards all representing the tarot cards. They range from Fool which is zero, to Hanged-Man which is the twelfth.”

“The Arcanas...” I whisper.

“Nice, you know it. Well I can’t talk with you more. I must go. Scout four more men or women. I
heard you scouted one of my good friends Ronald.”

“You know him?”
“Yes.”
“Alright, so, one more question. How old are you?”
“I am eighteen years old of age, surprised?”
“No, not at all.” I say, mouth agape.
“I’ll see you in the General Meeting at Wednesday, be there with five people.” He says, and then he
jumps up. His hoverboard catches him, and then he zooms off.

I stumble to the ground, and look back, a blood pool. I walk back to my house after this. Getting very paranoid since now I know I’m an outlaw...

The Other Side...

Continued in ???'s perspective...
I run through the rain. I always hated rain. I don't like Summer either. But I love everything that is icy. Maybe it reflects my personality. A cold blooded person but with an incredible amount of friends. Ironic, I know.
I run back after school in Darius. I live in Sector Ortzchaft. I keep hearing of this infamous person called Aiden Kleyss actually starting to rebel against our dictator, Zeus. Together with an unknown person that I obviously don't know. I heard he has white hair. It's pretty weird though, that Aiden kid has the same last name as me. Since my name is Lloyd Kleyss,
I run back to my apartment. I'm not that rich so I don't have any hover gear. I just climb up this cheap, rusty old ladder they hand down to climb on the floating I place I live in. A few steps up is the back door of my apartment. I run inside and quickly punch in the floor number in the elevator. 3. Yes I only live three floors up. What do you expect? I haven't even paid my rent. I quickly open the door and lay down on my bed, laptop at hand. I open it and type in my password. I rapidly try to search for any guy named Aiden Kleyss. 1934 matches. Nice. Instant popularity.
I like how the kid looks like. He's been in millions of blogs already with pictures shot in high definition even on cellphones. A kid with black hair, white jacket with dark blue stripes. Black baggy pants and silver shoes. He's seen holding this big sword. You know, blue neon light surging through the big thing.
Soon, a blackout takes over and the internet dies. I lie in my bed. I wonder hard and long why he has the same surname as mine. Maybe a brother? No, he was just 17 with me being 37. Cousin? No. Father? Of course not. Grandfather? Am I stupid? Then, it hit me... he's my son.

I pace around my small room. My son? Well, there is this girl I like very much and---
I probably have amnesia. I HAD a wife! Lucy Baves. Young, cute girl. Had a relationship. Got married. Had a son. Split up. Lucy died and I completely forgotten about my son. Aiden Lark Kleyss. I am totally mindblown.

The day starts to dim. Just in time though, the lights come back. I ignore it and start heading out. I pull up out the street and take my nightly walks. A mile later, this white haired boy comes in.

"Hello, Lloyd." He starts.

"May I help you?"

"Please, accept this. Do not open it on the front side. Understood?"

"What the?"

"A pleasure meeting you." He says, then suddenly vanishes leaving a black blur.
I have no idea what's going on at all. Summary? Weird white-haired kid comes. Gives me card. Vanishes. Nice.
I have no interest in this anyway. Now, I need to find Aiden.

Still Surfing for Members...

Again continued in Aiden's perspective
I tread down my path cautiously. Maybe this is a bad idea. Thoughts spin in my head. I'm so confused. I feel heavy, and it feels as if I'm dragging my feet and arms around. Heavy fatigue. It's probably because of the sword. A theory since I'm not Omniscient.
I still walk down the pathway until I see a big group of guards forming a few blocks away. Air time. I start to walk in the opposite direction and fortunately, not one notices me. I bet those gigantic helmets are hindering their eyesight even though I hear that they use it to have some kind of auto lock system. I pull out the two hovercubes and transform them into hoverskates. I swiftly put them on and I begin to launch up unto the air. Briskly evading electricity powered safety barbs. Which sounds wrong because they are not safe at all. Once I enter the skies, I speed off to my apartment.
Once I get around the block of my apartment, guards were heavily guarding it. Even from the rooftop. Even using floating portable guard towers around my room, the basement and the attic. Smart move by Zeus since those are the two places I hide the most. Very unfortunate that every person needs to give all of their secrets. He forces them out of people by torture, torment, blackmail and death. He's a very intelligent lifeform, but he has no sign of diligence. All he wants is power. Probably all the other 12 dictators too.
For safety reasons, I turn around once again and zoom towards Jet's house.

Once I get to Jet's house, I immediately notice that no guards were there. I have the advantage. I enter the rooftop and see Jet practicing on his guitar.

"Yo, Jet! Hey!" I whisper loudly.
"Hey Aiden!" He says, putting down his guitar.
"Jet, remember the rebellion? To make the story short, this will give you the weapon to fight in the rebellion. Do not, flip it up."
"Sure I got it..." He says confused already.
"Bye." I say and quickly fly off to Cole's house.

I probably get there in the blink of an eye. No guards either. Great. I land down and knock on the door.
Cole immediately responds and opens the door. I give him the card and explain shortly. He says thanks and closes the door. I fly off.
I head for Darius. Hoping I can get at least one person before I end the day. I'm thinking of getting a tough guy. There are a lot. But I have no idea why I picked the guy I just thought of.
I catch him trying to walk out of the gate. He's sporting his usual appearance which I actually like. His black hair that's styled like a fohawk, light blue eyes, black ripped jeans and a red belt with a skull keeping it in place. Nice touch if I say so myself. He also has an orange hoodie, blue Nikes. He has a nice height of 5 feet and 9 inches; a few inches taller than me. Finally, he wears a red t-shirt with the face of Zeus inside a circle with a mark across it. Signaling that he apparently hates Zeus. I approach him slightly. Once he sees me in his periphery, he makes a somewhat angered expression. Anger issues he has. I laugh lightly. He gives an even angered expression.
"What are you laughing at?!?!" He shouts. The entire school looks at him, then looks to what he's looking at. Me.
The whole school screams. Even the boys and especially Jordan. Screaming like a little girl. That rules out my inviting of him. Giant mobs of students, teacher, and even the principal, messily rush towards the main gate and out. Except him. The guy who hates Zeus. Roy Crystal.
He's standing there. Scared. Maybe thinking that I'll kill him. But no, I won't kill him.
"At ease, Roy." I say to calm him down.
"Please don't kill me with that weapon." He says.
"You mean this?" I say and I pull out my steel rod. It transforms into the big, one-edged sword.
"No..." He says, holding out his arms.
"Don't worry. I won't hurt you." I say just before silence fills our the whole school. The school was empty. The giant main building in front and at the back is a big garden. We're near the front gate.
I start to explain to him almost everything and he actually picks up what I'm saying even though I'm speaking really fast.
"Well, Nice! I hate Zeus but I like you. Your like polar opposites." he says laughing and shaking my hand. "So, when does the general meeting start?" He asks.
"I'll just contact you via cellphone." I say and we exchange numbers. I forgot about giving my contacts to Ronald.
"Do you know where Sir Ronald is?"
"Ronald Graeton? Cool Guy huh?" He says. I don't need it. I need to find him. For the very lucky me, he pops out of the schools main lobby door.
"Where did everyone go?" He scratches his head. I laugh and go to him. We exchange numbers .
"Nice. Now I have to go, guards will come here so I need to go now!" I tell them. We say our goodbyes quickly and I fly far enough to escape the guards until my hovergear run out of energy. I need to charge them with a magna battery again. I float down after a few more blocks and begin to charge. It's at 2%.
A relaxed, laid-back guy walks by. He starts to talk to me. I ignore him at first, but I guess there was no use. The charging will take a long time anyway.
"Where do you go to school?" he asks.
"Darius, but let's get to formalities first. I'm Aiden Kleyss, you are?" I respond.
"Oh you! Yeah I know you."
"But do I know you?"
"Right. I am..." He pauses. "Lloyd."
"Hey man, I gave you my last name. What's yours?"
"You already know it. Kleyss."

First Time, Sword Fight

I sit there, looking at him. Lloyd, Lloyd Kleyss? Impossible. No, I do not have a brother.
“Aiden? Your staring at me for a long time now.” Lloyd says. He smiles. He does look a lot like me. Very handsome. So that’s why he wasn’t afraid of me when he met me. Not like the others.
“Who are you?”
“Lloyd Kleyss. Your father.” He says. I don’t believe him at first, but then I start to believe as we start talking to each other. He sounds like me. He looks like me. I inherited his personality and his love of icy things.
“Hey, Lloyd.” I say, interrupting his lecture of the sea. First of all, we don’t worry much about the sea actually, since all of us are floating. Everything below us is just a vast amount of water. Second, I have no damn idea how we got to discussing the sea. “Can I call you dad?” I ask.
“Nah, won’t be cool. Just call me Lloyd.” He replies. He’s just as cool as Ronald if you ask me. Maybe even cooler. Speaking of Ronald, maybe I could invite him! He is my dad. Maybe we could spend some more quality time together if I enjoy him. He also has a nice build which could be a big asset to us. I couldn’t listen to him because of me thinking too much until I see something glinting in the corner of my eye. A card.
“Hey Lloyd! What’s that?” I ask, interrupting his lecturing of photosynthesis. I wonder why we keep changing subject.
“What? Oh, you mean this?” He says. He starts pulling the card. I stop his arm just as he is pulling the card from his pocket. I remind him not to flip it up.
“Oh yeah. Thanks for reminding me.” He says.
Something starts to beep loudly from my back. It’s the charger. It is already full. I hurry to pull the charger and I start to put on the skates.
“Aw, leaving already?” He says.
“Not really, I am going to start up another conversation.” I say as I finish putting on the skates and stand up, “It’s about... a rebellion.” I start. I continue to explain him the important things.
“But then, since you already have a card. It means you’ve met Richard before.” I finish
“Richard? White haired, handsome kid?” He says.
“Yes, him. Now, are you in or not?” I ask.
“Of course. I already have the card so that means I’m supposed to join, right?” He says. I nod.
“Now I have to go. Do not flip open that card. Got it?” He says. He nods this time, smiling. I say goodbye before

I rocket off to meet a very nice friend of mine. He’s younger than me and he’s got a lot of charisma. Stephen Cyrus.
His house is very run down and he is currently living alone. Poor kid; he’s only 15 and he’s alone already. His house is near to Zeus’ palace. We met just weeks ago and me and my other best friends already like him. He’s a nice kid. With a pure heart but he has nothing to do in life since he’s alone. He can go to school because Jet’s father pays for him. Nope, there are no scholarships here. I see him outside drawing which is one of his favourite hobbies. Together, we make a great team since I write and he draws almost everything that’s in my story. I greet him with his name and he waves, laughing. He is also very cheerful and will always boost your morale. He’s currently wearing his signature outfits, a white vest over a red t-shirt and some jeans. He also wears a pair of vans sneakers. He has blonde, spiky hair which are not going upwards, and dark brown eyes. I only need one thing from him though, and that’s approval. I land down close to him, we greet each other, do stuff we usually do and I introduce him to the rebellion. First, he couldn’t accept it because he was very scared. But as I progress, he begins to like it and eventually joins. I give him some details to our captain, Richard Sean.
“How do I contact with him?” He asks.
“He’ll contact you, so no need to worry.” I say.
“Alright, thanks!” He says. Apparently being grateful because of the rebellion we staged. He tells me that he has to go and we part ways.
I begin to rush to Jet’s place since I need a place to crash. By tomorrow morning, if they still don’t spot me, they will send assassins. Jet’s house may also be a good place to hide.
I reach Jet’s house and I open up the window. “Hey, Jet, I need a place to crash. Can I stay here?” I ask. He nods and laughs. I smile too and I enter his room. His room takes up his family’s whole roof. DVDs were scattered everywhere and there is a large wardrobe full of clothes. He also likes Tennis because it consists of floating platforms and you need quick reflexes. Which is one Jet’s great points. A large TV is also poised in front of his bed. Jet was playing with his touch-screen computer a while ago. A kind of computer that looks like a bunch of glass which is actually monitor’s and keyboards. They are also, of course, floating. Now he is watching TV. The TV also looks like one large plane of glass which is also floating, apparently. I press a button on the side of Jet’s bed and 4 poles pop up and start to form a new bed. I lie down, feeling unusually sleepy at 8:00. The sound from the TV was loud and annoying, but I was still able to slowly drift off to sleep.

“We know he’s there.” I hear a low, heavy voice near the door. I’m only half awake so I squint to see what the trouble is. I see Jet arguing with a guard. A guard, there were two of them actually. They’ve found me, no, Zeus found me; and I need to get out of here fast. I start to grab my things and my jacket. I look over Jet and he looks at me. He signals me to go and I motion with my lips, “I’m sorry.” I start up my hoverskates and fly off to the skies.
I don my Jacket and think everything’s fine until I get the sense that I have completely no idea where I’m going. They know where I’m heading off too. I stop thinking as I feel a great pain on my ankle. My left leg is laminating some sort of bluish aura. It continues to sting. The pain gets worse until I realize what’s happening. I’ve been shot. I reach for the glowing, pulse arrow as it is called and pull it out. I cover my right hand over my mouth and see blood. That’s how painful it was. The pain “pulses” through your whole body, spreading out the pain. Pull it out, the pain seemingly explodes from your body. This is the first time I felt one. I start lose balance and I was limping through the air, with my left leg failing me because of the pain. A bunch of Luces already found me and are shooting at me rapidly. I start to fly low so I won’t get hit by the range of the arrows. Another dumb mistake of mine because the second I look back, a battalion of Noxes are chasing me. I can see their red eyes glowing and filled with rage. They kill brutally and relentlessly. They don’t talk since their tongues are cut out. I begin to make a detour to Darius. I hear that school is postponed because of me. I’m also guessing guards are there too. Now, no place is safe and I don’t know where to go. I begin to go to his house, assassins still hot on my trail, and check him out. The lights are closed which is a signal that people are not there. Now I truly don’t have a place to go... until I receive a call from Richard.
“Kleyss. Come to Central Park now. You don’t need to scout anymore.”
“What? I thought I needed one more!”
“No, you don’t need to, I’ve found 1 already. I hear that you’re in a high speed chase with assassins. Now, you can use your sword. Good Luck.” He says, then he hangs up.
My sword? I should. It’s my only chance of survival and I’m desperately trying to survive. I pull out the steel rod and it transforms into the big, one edged sword. I begin to stop my detour since it’s useless, and I start boost into the skies. I see that I’m apparently making wind streams when I go this fast. Wind streams make the people behind you speed up, so I stop and look around, only to see an army of Blacks and Whites. I hold out my sword confidently. I have no sword experience whatsoever, so I just copy the ones I see in video games.
I start the battle against the army with a loud battle cry, and I blindly rush towards the nearest one. I literally decapitate him to pieces. This provokes the others apparently and they attack me all on the same time. I knew this was a bad idea. White sharks aiming for me and black piranhas are swarming over me. Still with a weak left leg, I have less than adequate time to pedal back and evade. I see a flame blaze through my left arm. Thankfully the sword didn’t hit, but the fire did. It’s just a small flame, so I quickly brush it off. I proceed to look at the millions again and see that they’re charging at me again. I have no idea how to handle this. Soon enough, I get badly injured by a myriad of swords slashing at me. Not good. The next thing I hear is a loud impact. I didn’t know that I could still hear it since what hit me was a missile. It completely knocks everything out of me, everything burning inside. I don’t want to die yet.
For some reason, I think my sword heard my wish because I see a white shroud covering me, and then I feel nothing. Nothing at all. No bruises, no burns, not one scratch even on my clothing!
It can heal? I think. I look at the sword and it seems like the gears are working. The sword is literally breaking apart, it looked like some kind of transforming robot. I see the inside of the sword after all the pieces are broken apart. In a glowing, light blue colour. It seemed like it’s made off unstable energy and it’s signalling me to use it since I direly need it. Sensing that I can wipe off these guys in just matter of seconds with this new-found power, I do use it. I begin to slash at the air, the sword is sending out energy waves coming from the slashes I make. Killing one-tenth of them each time I do. Soon enough, they all die and you can see blood splattered from the dead bodies. I see the parts of the sword forming around the energy again, and then transforming back into a steel rod. No time to waste, I proceed to Central Park.

The Resistance Forms

I look at my cell, just on time. I see the central park down below. I’m not keeping track of my altitude, so maybe that’s why. The first person I see as I’m descending down to the park is Zeus, doing a speech in the centre of the park. He’s wearing a very different getup now. I see him wearing a blue, long coat with baggy pants and gold-coloured shoes, his long, fluffy blonde hair almost seemed like flowing in the wind. I come in eye contact with his dark brown eyes; it seems he has spotted me. I just see him smile, and look back to the ground. I land down on the park, deactivate my skates and quickly spot both Cole and Jet running towards me. I grunt as they hug me tightly. It seems they miss me very much, even though we only saw each other yesterday.
“Hey Guys! Where are the others?” I ask after we do our signature high 5. Jet points at a group of people. A bunch of similar faces: Richard, Ronald, Stephen, Roy and Diana. Diana!?!? She got recruited by Richard? I then look at the unfamiliar faces: A girl with hazel eyes, black long hair tied in a ponytail and pale skin. She’s wearing the same uniform as Richard’s. Next to her is a cool looking guy with very stylish, spiky hair. He’s wearing a cyan jacket, and underneath it is a plain white shirt. He’s wearing brown Jeans, and black rubber shoes. He sports a blue hand band and necklace with two swords as its design. Another unfamiliar girl was sitting beside the guy with pointed hair. A normal looking girl with a variety of clothing, and her hair tied in a messy bun. Her eyes reflect her state of boredom. How can she be bored at a time like this? We are staging a rebellion against the twelve infamous dictators. Anyway, I won’t tell you details on her clothing anymore because of me being lazy. Don’t blame me, blame my personality but I will tell you about Diana. She has tied up blonde hair, her emerald green eyes empowering everyone that is around her, I am told she is very sweet and smart. Almost everyone younger than her looks up to her. I see Richard looking at Zeus with an angered expression but once I start to approach the group, he spots me and returns to his calm composure.

“Alright Aiden, now that your here, we can start.” He says.
“You know, you could start without me.”
“Well that won’t be fun, right?” He says and invites all of us to form a circle. He then spreads out his fingers and a plane of floating glass appears.
“Lay all of the cards down at the table and we can start.” He commands them. Me, his teammate, the spiky haired dude, and the girl with freckles stand behind him. Richard’s teammate starts to introduce herself to me as Rika Estivan. The others follow, the pointed hair guy’s name is Axel Ride and he’s fifteen years old. While the girl that has hair tied in a messy bun’s name is Kyrina Brooks and she’s fifteen year old too. They’re both three years younger than me yet they sound more mature. I do find out, though, that both Kyrina and Axel lost their families similar to Stephen. Poor Kids.
I give my attention back to Richard and see that they are done with the ritual. Well, my ignorance does well for my being impatient. I see various weapons on the table and see that they have finished with the painful process of “Bonding” as Richard calls it.
I break away from the group for a while to come a little bit closer to Zeus’ speech, Keeping my head very low so I don’t attract attention, and quickly insert myself inside the giant crowd of people. Ugh, people, I always hated them since it’s either I don’t understand them or they don’t understand me. Have I told you I’m antisocial?
From what I’m hearing, he’s talking about how dictatorship gives only peace and that he is only concerned with our well being. Hypocrisy. First of all, he doesn’t give a damn about our well being. Second, the way the dictators’ rule is by a Merit System. If you have great power and wealth, you will not even be touched by the guards, let alone Zeus. Zeus is wearing something different from his usual get up; he’s now sporting a normal hooded shirt and black pants with both of them being gold and blue. He’s also wearing some kind of shoes that have golden energy surging through them. I hear that Zeus has a storage house of some kind of material called Rylin. I don’t really care about the study of rocks anyway.
I glare sharply at Zeus, looking at his sharp, almost pure black eyes that seem to pierce through your soul. Women and Men alike are jealous of his long, flowing hair. They say that it’s every salon’s dream to try and recreate it. I keep looking at Zeus even though people are ramming through me, trying to get a closer look at him.
“Damn it!” I say beneath my breath as one more cameraman rams through me, striking my right shoulder. I retaliate and punch back at the cameraman, only to hurt my fist by accidentally punching his camera. He doesn’t feel a thing and continues on. That action blew my cover. A guard spots me and it soon attracts a bunch of Zeus’ elite soldiers. The Bregades, as they are called, are a group of tough, heavily armoured soldiers. Mechs are usually part of Bregades as they are also heavy duty.
The group of clad armoured soldiers pull out their guns and Zeus orders them to fire at me. Zeus laughs sadistically as I yell out, “Very impolite, Zeus.”
“I should know.” He says. He has some sort of a smooth but deadly voice.
He orders the Bregades to stop shooting and pulls out his signature blade that I keep on seeing in TV. It is labelled as the “Cloud Gasher” because of it being very lightweight but destructive. He slashes his sword vertically upward, aiming for my position in which I quickly dodge. I look back and see the slash disrupt the very air itself, sending waves of fire and lightning streaming through the golden sword. He gives a devious grin and slashes horizontally this time. I get hit this time and a burning gash is sent through my chest. Soon I feel a searing pain blazing through my body.
What am I doing? I need to get out of here. I quickly run back to my group while the group of Bregades follow me. Despite them being heavy, they run very fast. I abruptly stop and fall down. I can’t even hold my scar because of the heat, only if I had a weapon... That’s when it hit me. I do have a weapon and it has healing properties. I reach for the steel rod in my pocket, only to be held back by the pain. I grunt and still try to reach for it. No use. My burning scar is making my muscles burn too. I need to get healed, fast.
I finally accept my seemingly inevitable fate. No use fighting death they say. I keep thinking of negative thoughts until I see the Bregades come in just a few kilometres away. I start to pickup myself and try to surrender to them. The Bregades apparently spot me and point their guns at me. I’ll just let them kill me, that’s what I thought.
The centremost soldier falls to the ground with its armour eradicated. Another one falls after that, and they fall one after another. One more is left. I see some kind of yellow bullet pass by my ear, almost hitting me, but it hit the remaining Bregade. I look back to see Kyrina putting back her guns back to their holsters. I look at front and see both Richard and Rika.
“You piece of trash.” Richard says, kicking one of the armour pieces. I smile and suddenly feel nothing of the burning scar. I look down and see no trace of a burning scar. I’ve been healed, but by who? I hear a voice right behind me.
“You’re welcome.” It says. I look back, startled and see Diana face to face. She and I stare at each other for about 3 seconds until Ronald comes in.
“Want me to be the cupid?” He asks. I glare at him sharply. “I’m just joking.” Everyone proceeds to laugh.
Richard comes in and smiles at me.
“Good work in provoking Zeus. You just started the rebellion itself. Now, the chaos begins.”

Power
After the battle, we head to the Resistance’s headquarters and I learn, the very base is behind the monument of Zeus in the Central Park. So we need to stall out the remaining Bregades, Noxes and Luces; only them because Zeus already left after his assault on me.

“Don’t you like Zeus?” I ask Diana. She’s already fixing her hair, making it into some kind of stylish, short hairstyle. She turns her attention to me.

“Well, I don’t. But he made our family a disgrace by framing me of a crime. He thought that we were getting too joyous so he started to balance it by sending me to prison.” She says.

“You still got out?” I ask. Normally, prisoners are not allowed to leave jail. Ever.

“My family sacrificed everything by giving Zeus everything they had. Zeus allowed me to go out,” She responds. “Now, we’re being supported by the Sean family.”

“Well, that’s,” I pause. “Nice, I guess?” I say. I don’t like people either. I just don’t understand the logic of telling someone your past the first time you meet them. But, I think that’s what they call, “Forming a Bond.”

We are stalling inside a small room in a nearby hotel. Richard rented one a while ago, though, I want Richard to get a better one since we’re pretty much cramped here. I also don’t like a room with lots of people but for some reason, I wanted to talk to Diana. Weird really because I don’t like communicating at all, I’d rather get some headphones and put it on even if I’m not listening to music.

A while later, Richard reports to us that Zeus came back. “It appears he wants to engage in combat,” He theorizes. “If he doesn’t leave soon enough, we need to fight him. Don’t worry, we have the Resistance’s backup.”

I sit at the farthest seat in the corner to observe people. I see Cole and Jet talking with Rika. I think they’re either trying to learn the weapons they just received, or are just bewitched by her beauty. In my opinion, she doesn’t look beautiful at all, nobody looks beautiful to me. The only reason I said “Beauty” is because Cole and Jet were asking me a while ago if I think she was beautiful. Of course, I didn’t agree. But they do. Next I see is Ronald talking with Lloyd. Is Lloyd, my father? I still don’t believe it and that’s why I wasn’t too surprised when I first met him. I switch my vision away and close my eyes, focusing on Lloyd. It’s impossible. My mom died and my father is in Sector Krairigh, the one ruled by Hera. I know he has another family. I think. I am abruptly interrupted from my thinking by a loud crash, and then I hear a loud laser sound. After that is another loud crash.

“What the hell!” I hear Roy shout loudly. I open my eye to see half of the room destroyed. Wow, only half? It’s only a small room and he could’ve blown us up easily to bits. I hear Richard barking out orders as I stand up.

“What happened?” I ask.

“Zeus happened.” Roy replies before jumping at a large mech. I see him starting to slash at it with his gold and silver sword.

I start to run towards Richard, only to be interrupted by a large wave of white energy. I smoothly evade the vertical arc but as I look up, more guards come in. I pull out my sword and swing at the nearest guard before me. He falls down, without an upper body. Richard comes in too and slices off another guard’s head. I see Stephen, with his weapon seemingly looking like cards because, well, they are cards. He throws one forward and it transforms to a hammer and without any thought, he quickly grabs the hammer and bashes it to the nearest opposition. It isn’t enough to knock him out, so I tag in and impale the guard Stephen bashed to the ground. There were more guards, but they retreat. I sheath my weapon.

“Haha. Imbeciles. I’ll teach you authority.” I hear a loud voice coming from the door. The door creaks open and person comes in. I can’t see clearly because of the smoke, but I see a silhouette of a normal, but tall figure that is similar with Richard. I see the silhouette raise one arm and the next thing I know I’m lifted into the air. The person reveals himself from the smoke.

“Now, you die. I told you that any opposition will be suppressed even if it takes my own power.” He says. Wait, that was wrong, Zeus says.

He pulls out Cloud Gasher, I look back at Richard to see what he does to get out of here. He throws both of his arms downward and we are laid down in the ground. Richard smiles, Zeus smiles. Zeus thrusts his sword towards Richard, forming a spear of energy. It doesn’t directly hit Richard but it catches Richard by his right arm. A white scar is left in this arm. It also destroys the back part of the room.

“Stephen, Aiden! Run!” He shouts. We obey and we escape by running out the destroyed back part. We start running from the room, jumping from one roof to another. Good for me I’ve been practicing free running since I was a kid, but I see Stephen isn’t having a hard time too. By the seventh roof we run on, a cloud of white forms in front of us. The sight we see makes us stop in our tracks. The cloud transforms into Zeus. I look back and see Richard pointing us to run away. But Zeus makes multiple copies of himself, surrounding us. No point in running. Stephen throws another card high unto the air and it transforms into the sword Richard uses.

“I know who the real one is!” Stephen says and points to Zeus. I also notice the Zeus copies don’t have a shadow. I go first and slash at that copy, only it wasn’t a copy, it was Zeus! He staggers back by the power of my slash but quickly regaining balance.

‘You think you can beat me?” He says. He floats up and the slash mark I left him has healed.

He points on finger up into the sky, summoning multiple thunderclouds. A lightning bolt zaps his finger; this doesn’t do a thing to him apparently. He points this finger at me, and a blast of lighting burst from his finger. It covers a wide range and it will also hit Stephen. Well, all I have to do is protect Stephen. I can die, but not him. I start to run towards him but I am stopped by an unbearable pain that is pulsing from my head. I drop to my knees, holding my head and screaming. I open my eyes and see the large mass of lightning coming towards me with blinding speed. I can’t let Stephen die. I need to protect him. I force myself to stand up. This triggers the most excruciating pain I’ve ever felt. It’s like a powerful force is trying to push itself from my head.

“Augh!” I scream. The bolt is just a meter away from us before I pull back my head and a powerful, white energy envelops my head. The wave of lightning has stopped moving. I know what I’m doing now. I have gathered enough energy; it’s time to release it. The pain is still in my head though.

I thrust my head forwards and it releases a beam of white-purplish energy. It overpowers the wave of lightning and it makes a direct hit with Zeus. A Zeus copy that is. The beam penetrates to the sky and dissipates the thunderclouds Zeus has summoned. The real Zeus comes up, smiles, and vanishes. I stop releasing the beam and everything seems to go back to normal. I feel limp. I slowly try to walk to Stephen, but after a few steps, I finally kneel down, and collapse as everything fades to black.

Simulations: They Hurt
When I come to, I feel soft bed sheets covering me. Bed sheets? I bolt up and see me lying on a bed; I look to the side and see Stephen on another bed too.


“So, you have awakened,” Richard says, coming out of the curtains that are in front of me. “Welcome to the Resistance’s hideout.”


“This is the hideout? A hospital?” I joke. Richard faintly smiles and tells me to call him when Stephen wakes up, then he says his farewells.


Now, I stand up from the bed and retrieve my belongings. They have taken from me my jacket and weapon, while they’ve taken from Stephen his deck of cards. I go and observe these cards and find out that there are only twelve, each representing the 12 primary arcanas. I do not want to dictate all of them because there are 22 arcanas all in all. I do know that mine is the Justice Arcana. I look at Stephen. He doesn’t seem like he’s about to wake up so I do what I need to do. I fix my hair and my belongings and after minutes of this does Stephen finally wake up.


“Where are we?” He asks.


“At the headquarters of the Resistance.”


“It’s a hospital?”


“I know right?”


After this very complimenting talk about how nice the headquarters is, I decide to call up Richard.


“Hey, Richard? Yeah, Stephen’s awake.”


“Good, now meet up with me outside.” After he says this, he hangs up. I tell Stephen to pick up what is his and follow me outside.

We get out, with my jacket over my shoulder. I have no plan of wearing it today. Once we do get out, the first things I notice are the giant, gold paved walls and automatic floor panels. There are also huge planes of glass which float upon the air and rather small ones which surround it. I see plenty of personnel swarming around the whole building, doing work I presume. I look down and see the floors also paved gold and energy linings that channel through it.


“This is the headquarters.” Richard voice calls from my left side.


“It’s not a hospital.” Stephen says. We both laugh. Richard accompanies us to a certain room with a large gate and a big sign above saying “Training Room.” We enter it and immediately see my “team,” Roy, Ronald, Kyrina, Axel, and the others too.


“Hey, Aiden!” Jet shouts across the room. I wave as Richard guides us toward the front row of chairs.


“You sit here.” He says and quietly leave.


I look up in front and see a tall, firm male who has side parted brown hair and wearing the uniform of Richard. He starts to inform us about what we are doing here today.


“You are now officially part of the Resistance against the Dictators. First of all, you are not part of the main branch of the Resistance but you’re part of the important part. You are the rebellion itself. You will be leading our forces against the dictators because of the special powers you have obtained from the cards we have distributed. Now, you must be asking the question, why couldn’t they make more cards? Simple answer, it’s only twelve and each card has been collected for the past 38 years. Yes, these cards were scavenged from the remains of an old country in Russia after “The Distortion.” Thank you for your cooperation, now we will be introducing President and Leader, Richard Sean.” The man said.


“Thank you, Harry.” He says to the man who is obviously now called Harry. “Now, I don’t need to tell you anything, because Harry explained almost everything. So now, all I can say is good luck in the testing.” He says, sending out a peculiar smile. As he leaves the stage, the 10 people around start mumbling about the testing.


“You’re first. Please stand up and follow me.” A man standing beside me said. I follow and they guide me to a nearby door. The door in front of me twists around and finally opens. We go inside. Well, if there was an inside.


As we go in, it is completely white. There’s no mass of matter at all except for me and the men. I am left there for about a minute until Richard’s voice booms through the whole room.

“The training simulation will begin. Since you are uneven, I will join. Good luck.”

After he says this, a similar person appears in the other side of the room. I squint a little and notice how big the room is. I little more squinting and I see the person is Kyrina. Two more people come, and I see that they’re Roy and Axel.

“Okay Aiden, for your training you will combat three of them.” Richard announces.


“What? They’re just holograms right?” I say back with a nervous voice.


“Oh no, they’re the real ones.”


“You question us, Aiden?” Kyrina’s voice echoes through the room. It is them.


“Now, all you need to do is knock them out and they suffer from severe injuries. If they beat you, you suffer from severe injuries.” He laughs softly, “I hope the odds are in your side.”


Yes, he’s gone and now I’m in a pit against three people. Damn, I hate handicaps. I lift a foot to walk but I’m stopped by Axel’s voice.


“If you don’t want to get blown sky-high, that’s a bad idea.” He says. Seems like he already has experienced this before or he has been informed, either way.


After Axel talks about this, the whole room changes it’s terrain from a blank, white void into a dense forest. The forest is not that big because the room is not big as a whole but there are still plenty of trees. This is actually the first time I see a forest because there are no forests at all in Ortzchaft. Trees yes, but forests? No. Before I can even move, a bright yellow bullet zooms through a nearby tree, disintegrating the tree. After this, I hear a tree crash far enough. I can guess the yellow bullet belongs to Kyrina, and the chopped tree is a result of Roy’s sword. Axel’s weapon is the one I don’t know. Feeling cautious, I pull out my sword and hold it in front of me, waiting for attacks. I strafe though the forest, occasionally bumping into trees.


“Got ya!” I hear Roy’s voice call from the side of the tree that I’m leaning on. I do some evasive actions as Roy is swinging his sword and retaliate with my attack, in which he flawlessly evades. I hear a loud sound coming from the left side, and then I see yellow ball speeding towards me.


“Gah!” I grunt as the yellow bullet hits me directly. I crash against a tree, knocking the wind out of me. I still have energy, and though I’m having a hard time to breath, I lunge towards Roy and slash at his stomach. He falls down, seemingly in pain. I look at Kyrina and rush at her also, but she has range advantage and tries to shoot me with a bullet. It misses and I take the great opportunity to slash at her face. She seamlessly dodges this slash and fires another bullet. I crouch down, avoiding the bullet and kick at her head. This kick I sent knocks her out.


“Axel...” I hear her mutter. I won’t wait for Axel, so I run from the dense forest landscape into a wide, open space. A lake completes this space. The good thing is that this open space helps me recover my breathing. I regret this though. Axel rushes at me and kicks me right in the stomach. I double over and he sends another kick, making me fall down. I stand up and try to run, but Axel has incredible dexterity and makes me trip before I run. I lie up and see Axel with his weapons, blades on his arms. He points one blade at me, pierces the right side of my abdomen, and pulls the blade. I put one hand on the place he stabbed and feel warm blood flowing.


“Carp.”


Axel raises another blade but I stop him by ramming him with my shoulder. Now he doubles over. I get my sword and plan to take him out with one hit. In a tremendous amount of strength, I swing my sword in a huge arc which leaves a slash mark at Axel and takes him out for good. I look up in relief, thinking that this blood-fest is over until I feel a sharp pain pierce through my stomach. It literally goes through me and I see the flying object that hit me already flying up ahead. I begin to lose consciousness,


“A yellow bullet.”

The Finals

I regain my consciousness. I have no idea how long I’ve been out because once I look around, I see I’m in a very shabby room. Paint-chipped walls, broken glass windows and there is no door at all. The whole room is very dirty itself.

I stand up and I notice that my injuries are completely healed. Even my clothes are healed. I wonder who healed me this time.


“Oh, Aiden, you’re awake.” I hear a girl’s voice. The girl enters and I see that it’s Kyrina.


“What happened?” I ask.


“This is the finals of the training simulation. It’s a two-on-two match.”


“Okay. How could you be so calm?” I say.


“Because you’re here and you’re pretty strong.” She smiles.

“Ah, how very touching.” I hear Richard, clapping his hands.

I pull out my sword and Kyrina pulls out her guns. A wave of dark energy appears and splits the entire room in two. The bad thing is that the room is elevated to the second floor. My half of the room crashes down and I barely escape, although I still land hard on my back.

I pick myself up and look around, the first thing I notice is our battlefield has changed into a big, desolate city. The room has become bigger too. The second thing I notice is my sword is lost, and is probably under that big pile of rubble.

I run towards the rubble pile and desperately search for my sword. I am interrupted of my search by a glowing arrow piercing my knee. I fall down on the ground, pull the arrow from my knee, and look around only to see Diana on the far distance starting to shoot another arrow. The arrow didn’t bury itself deep enough to actually make my leg unusable, but I still start to limp. I reach for a long stick inside the pile of rubble and see that it’s my sword. Great, but now I can’t even run and attack.

“I’m sorry Aiden!” She shouts.

I twist my body and bat away the arrow she sent. She gasps and I take this opportunity once more to close in. There’s a huge gap between us and this gives her time to shoot arrow. I bat it away once more and continue to limp towards her, batting away anymore arrows.

I finally reach her and I notice that she’s out of arrows. I also notice that she’s shaking very hard. She’s very afraid I assume. I take time to look her in the eyes, it presents fear. I don’t want to even injure her, but, I have to do it. I close my eyes; I hold my sword above my head and bring it down swiftly.

I expected to hit her head, but I hit something hard instead, something metal. I slowly open my eyes and see that Richard is holding his sword across Diana’s head, blocking my attack. He smirks and counters my attack by piercing me on the left shoulder. I don’t really care because all I use is my right arm, so I twist my body around, and slash at Richard. Unfortunately, he blocks this, but a yellow bullet hits him on his face, knocking him out.

I drop my sword and look at Diana, who’s looking at Richard’s incapacitated body.


“Diana.” I whisper. She looks at me.


“Finish me off, Aiden.” She says.

“I can’t.” I respond.

She looks so innocent and fragile that I can’t possibly kill her. I look away, but I feel Diana’s hand on my cheek, I look back at her and she lunges at me. I close my eyes thinking that she’s going to do some sort of wrestling move, but she doesn’t. Instead, I feel her lips resting on mine. I don’t push away; she doesn’t either, prolonging this action.

“Ooh, love on the battlefield,” I hear Kyrina, I push Diana away. “I’ll finish her.” She says and shoots a bullet at Diana. I use my body as a shield to block the bullet. This makes me lose my consciousness again. Everything is going black again. Darn, I hate it. This is my third time.


I regain my consciousness once again and I am greeted with bed sheets. Huh, Déjà Vu. I touch my body and feel no pain at all. Wow, healing of the 22nd century is awesome. I put on my T-Shirt and my rubber shoes. I walk out of the door and I notice Cole on the far corner. He notices me too and runs toward me.

“Dude, we’ve been waiting for you. Kyrina’s upgrading our weapons. It’s awesome! Let’s go.” He says and excitedly drags me too a room full of technology. I look up and see that it’s labelled “Weapons Room.”

Once we enter, I am greeted by Richard who directs me too where the team is. I see that most of them get upgraded weapons to increase efficiency of killing Dictators. I see Kyrina is fixing my weapon so I approach her.

“What are you doing with my sword?” I ask.

“Fixing it, it got broken by the pile of rubble. Unfortunately, I can’t upgrade it because it’s made from a weird material, similar to Lloyd’s and Richard’s.” She replies.

She gives my sword back, having a sharper point and cleaner edges. I thank her.

“Okay everyone. Tomorrow, we will be heading for Doxsphuage and we will assassinate the first Dictator, Hermes.” Richard calls out. I look at Stephen, because he told me Hermes killed his parents.

But first things first, how can we kill him?