“Have you heard...?” This is the normal chatter of our school cafeteria during lunch break. I am focusing intently on the people talking and what they’re talking about. One of them is talking about the new games out in store. Me? I love video games.
Fortunately, that’s the only conversation I can filter from the rest of the nonsense that is currently surrounding me.

I stare at the food on my lunch tray: two spicy chicken wings and four pieces of broccoli. The fork finds its way to the broccoli and I find myself shoving the broccoli after broccoli into my mouth. As I take my fourth and last serving, a tall male wearing a black beanie embellished with a red skull shouts,

“Hey! What are you doing there all alone?” It’s true: I’m sitting with a large table in front of me, in solitude. Not a lot of people like me. Probably because I tend to be bossy and I’m very rude, but the truth is: I don’t like being alone. I remember last year I used to have a group of friends, but when my father died they all transferred and left.
My father, Einsatz Odean, was assassinated a year ago. The police explained that it was an ‘inside job’ and that the prime suspect was the son of our butler: Lark Iyason. Lark was my best friend when I was a kid, but my dad ordered our butler, Cain Iyason, to send him home. During our last days together he started to act gloomy and rude. He began to stay inside his father’s room and I never got to see him since he left while I was in school. My father owns the school and is named after him, Einsatz University.
If you might ask, I am in fourth year high school.

I don’t answer his question and keep silent. He starts to move to me. His white tank top hangs over his baggy pants that are adorned with a chain. A dog tag happily bounces as he walks.

“May I interest you in some chicken wings served from your lunch tray?” He tries talking with some kind of sophisticated tone.

“Fixing up on your English, Baxter?” Baxter Neeson. He is an airhead; everyone knows it. He spends too much time on the so-called soul eating network know as the internet. I might know him as a “hipster.” Baxter is a new student here in our school and I was the one who gave him a pushing force to like the school. He doesn’t like being in new schools because he cannot stand introductions.

“Maybe. Ya’ eating those?” He points at the chicken wings. I shake my head and he smiles. He grabs one of them and sits down beside me. I don’t recognize Baxter as a friend but more of company. I stay silent for the duration of his devouring. I can say he feels awkward, because he tries to strike up a conversation with me.

“Why do you always wear that glove?” He points at the black leather glove I have inserted my hand into. This glove was given to me by my father; he told me that if I miss him or he goes away, I can wear it and be reminded of the time when he would always hold my hand. He assures me that he is still holding my hand and he is my protective armor. Since the day he died, I’ve begun to wear this glove almost all the time. Of course, I don’t tell that to him. I don’t tell that to anyone.
I stay silent and an awkward silence fills the air.

“What happened to your mother?” He asks. He puts one hand over his mouth. Yes Baxter, that is the wrong thing to say, but since he has already mentioned it...
My mother is a Filipino, being of the Philippines. I have been there for a few times, they have a lack of cleaning and an excess of poverty. She travelled abroad to support her family but she ended up meeting my father. They married and had two children: me and my brother, Klavier. Klavier is my older brother who was sent away from our house because of his hostile and rebellious nature. He leaded a frat. I may be a daddy’s boy, but I still miss my mother. When she gave birth to me, my parents had an argument as to whom I would end up with, since they are getting divorced. I ended up with my father obviously.
I never knew my mother, but all I know from my father that he truly loved her. I never knew why they got divorced either.

“So, got any new games?” He asks. Finally, a good question.

“I’ve downloaded Phantasy Star Online 2 on my PC and got Assassin’s Creed 3.” I reply.

“Nice! You are going to let me play.”

I smile, and nod. He gives a sigh of relief.


After he finishes my wings, he waves and shouts,

“Yo, June! Here!” He shouts and waves like an idiot at the blonde haired girl who’s wearing a white jacket and a red shirt underneath. A red skirt flails around as she walks on her white sandals. He’s attracting too much attention and I try to calm him down. June notices us and laughs. She comes over and lays her lunch tray beside mine, then sits beside me.

“What’s up, boys?” She asks, speaking again in her English accent. June Hieden is from England, and she moved here when she was nine years old. She is also a new student here. Because of this, Baxter thinks they’re destined together and I slightly agree, as they had events where they would accidentally do something together.
I open my mouth to say something but Baxter interjects.

“Allow me to say, you look bashing today.”

“Dashing.” I correct him.

“Oh yes, thank you my good man.” Baxter tries to talk in his sophisticated tone again since June likes those men.

“I said I want someone who’s sophisticated, not one who talks sophisticated.” June informs him.

“And she doesn’t like dogs who can talk.” I connect.

“Ouch man!”

“Just kidding.” I joke. June laughs. This is the time I look at Baxter and see that he’s smiling.

“Anyway, have you guys heard---”

“Nope. I do not want to be part of your little gossip group.” I interrupt. I start to stand up, but June stops me and brings me back down.

“Come on Kylar, Baxter gives good gossip.”

“Exactly why I don’t want to.”

“Dude, you’re so killjoy.” Baxter says.

“Please Kylar?” June pleads. I sigh and nod. I put on my headphones and start to listen to music when Baxter catches my interests.

“Have you heard of ‘THANATOS’?”

“Thanatos? The daemon personification of death?”

Baxter stops for a while, and then continues. “Yeah, sure. Well it’s a site where they show the deaths of people. Most of the time, it’s just random people and animals. But sometimes it’s your loved one’s or your own.”

“Creepy.” June says.

“Eh. It’s an urban rumor.” I say and stand up. I’ve heard of it before, but haven’t really believed in it.

“It’s just for entertainment.” I say.

“How can someone be entertained by death?” June asks.

“Why don’t you, take a look at kids today? Oh, and, Psychology.” I move to the glass cafeteria door and push, leading me to a large square room. An elevator is on the middle, and several doors line up to my left and front. I move to the large door on my left, which is the main entrance. I push once again, and I exit the interior. The smell of wind and a breeze welcome me outside. I love nature, and it’s sad to see some others don’t. I take a look at the large garden in front of me. It is a very large garden, as there is a complicated hedge maze to the left, which is filled with kids ranging from seven year olds to ten year olds: Kindergarten. The right side has a small hill and three towering pine trees stand firm on top and most of the time, students ranging from eleven to seventeen fill it. Today’s urban youth is ruled by their emotions, as I can see several thirteen year olds already kissing. I sometimes wonder why I still live in this crazed world.
I pace forward then start to walk to the right, which has a sidewalk leading to the exit. I’m planning on going back to the dorm. As I turn at the corner, I see a black van parked on top of the pavement. I walk forward and when I reach the passenger seat of the van, I see a large man with a rough beard and sunglasses smoking and looking at the cafeteria. I look to my right and see everyone is out except for Baxter and June and a couple more of students.

As I stare at the cafeteria, smoke covers my nose and it becomes hard to breathe.

“If you want to stay alive, you better get out of my line o’ sight.” The man says. I proceed to walk away, coughing.

Thoughts of what the man was doing quickly fill my mind and they don’t look good. I shrug it off and think that the man is probably just waiting for someone.
Because of my curious personality, I bring out my phone and google the site, THANATOS.
There is only one result, so I tap on that option and it enters me into a black screen. Neon lights start to move around and I make out the words: “What’s your name?”
The keypad of the iPhone pops up and I enter my name: Kylar Odean. I enter it, and the screen goes white. Two sprites of a boy and a girl come out. The site is asking me to pick a navigator. I pick the tall male with weird purple hair and wearing a butler suit. I know other males would pick the girl, but I’m not one of those perverted fools.
When I tap on the male navigator, he smiles and nods. The screen goes black, and then a video starts up. It appears as a very vivid video, almost having HD resolution. It shows the cafeteria, with June and Baxter in it. When June stands from her seat, several armed men burst from the glass walls and start wildly firing. All of students get killed, including Baxter and June. When the men start scavenging for something, I burst from the door with a bedevilled expression on my face. The largest man points a gun at me, then, the screen closes in on his finger pulling the trigger and when he fully presses the trigger, the screen closes down in the way of shutting off an old TV.

“Whoa.” The iPhone boots up again. This is a literal representation of curiosity kills the cat.
I look back, still thinking it’s not true until I see men with starting to walk from the van. They quickly hide in the bushes.

“Oh hell no.” I start to run and hide on the other side of the van as I pass. I then run inside the main door and when I reach for the door, a voice rings in the phone.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” I look at my phone, and it’s the navigator guy from THANATOS. “Do you want to live?”

“Of course I do and I want them to live too!”

“Good enough. I’m too lazy to do any more negotiations.” He smiles. He vanishes from the screen, and then seconds later he appears again.

“Please check the new app I have given you.” I quickly swipe to my left, and see a new icon depicted as fire. I look below it and it’s labelled as ‘Arcana.’
Blindly following the navigator, I tap on it, and the screen goes black. Several zeroes and ones appear, then it reverts back to the old iPhone menu, except the icons are replaced by varying icons depicting water fire and many more. Names are labelled below them. The navigator comes back up again.

“This is where the fun starts. Just pick one; you’ll know how to do the rest.” I hear glass shattering. “That’s your cue, good luck!”
Ignoring the confusion I’m currently having, I kick down the door and they fly open. The other students are dead, but June and Baxter are standing with their hands up.

“What? This isn’t supposed to happen!” One of the thugs says. Reluctant, I tap on the icon having Aestuo as its name. I definitely feel a slight tingle on my left, free hand. I look at it, and it’s burning up.

“Haha. Look at that dumb carp lighting himself up.” One of them foul mouths me. The fire does not hurt me at all; I try to shake it off but it doesn’t go away. I look at my phone again and it is giving some kind of demonstration on how to use it. I follow.

I put my right hand on my left arm, and then I thrust with my left sending an ever-growing fireball toward the thugs. They’re sent into a state of panic and confusion. The largest man tries to block the fireball, but it burns him to crisp.

“Aw carp!” All of them shout. They try to escape, but the fire reaches all of them before they can. I don’t want to kill, I let go of my current position and the fireball dissipates. Several men are burned but they are able to run and drive off with their van.

“You okay?” I ask June and Baxter. They nod, but they are both dumbfounded.

“This is the part when you say something clever you know. To make us comfortable? How did you do that?” Baxter stutters.

“Elementary?”

"What are you talking about?" June asks, baffled.

"N-Nothing. You have to thank me though, I just saved your lives." I say, pointing to both of them.

"What?" Baxter says as well.

"Well, out of pure curiosity, I checked THANATOS, and it showed me your deaths coupled with mine. I came back here as soon as I could, and I think it gave me powers." I smile. I open my phone and show them the new 'Arcana' app I got.

"Oh, you got that too? I tried to delete but I can't. Weird." Baxter shows me the Arcana app icon as well on the end of the long list of his applications. He has to delete some of them.

"Yeah, me too." June adds.

"Why don't you guys try to tap them---" A large rumbling sound coming from the ground cuts me mid-sentence. The ground wildly shakes afterwards.

"Earthquake!" Baxter shouts. I start to run out of the cafeteria through the hole in the large glass wall. A myriad of students are running in every direction. One of them is going to pass by us, and as he does he screams, "I told you! End of the world!"
I know him. He's Ethan Lumia. I remember him in biology class where he passes notes containing ridiculous superstitions.

"You! You're Kylar," He shouts. "you believe in those monsters right?" He shouts at me, then he grabs my shirt. I think I remember answering him "Yeah, sure." When he asked me if I did believe in mythology.

"It's a Minotaur. You know that right!?" He asks in an almost insane frenzy, his glasses are already drooping down. I open my mouth to answer, but one of the pine tress on the small hill gets knocked down. Ethan screams and runs away, going inside the main building. The screams and shouts get louder, but I can sort out one sentence:

"Earthquakes? Bull-headed people? The guy's right! It's the end!"

"Hey." I hear from my pocket. The navigator's back again. "You better leave now you know."

"Hey, your butler is less formal than mine, eh?" Baxter mentions. I ignore him.

"Why?" My question is quickly answered by a gigantic, gray minotaur-like monster with the roman numerals XII on its forehead. It sweeps its head around, until it's gaze is locked on me. After a few seconds of staring, it charges. We run.

"Run!" I shout.

"No carp, sherlock!" Baxter exclaims.

"Shut up, Baxter!" June says.

We run right for the gate, but the minotaur is too fast and it destroys it before we can get to it.

"That is one smart minotaur." June remarks. I look around, trying to find another exit but to no avail. A roar pierces the air and its fist almost connects with my body. But some kind of force is holding the fist back. A man in a black, hooded duster coat suddenly appears in front of me, and is holding the minotaur's fist with only one hand. His free hand snaps its fingers, and the monstrous horned beast is sucked into thin air.

He turns to me, and smiles a melancholic smile. He takes of his hood and his weird, pale white curly hair pops out. Its like he's sleepy with his eyes like that: Squinting.

"Who and what are you?" Baxter asks. I give him a scolding look and he shrugs.

"I am a friend. Just call me Louie, Louie Ciferre..."

"Are you ready?" He mysteriously asks.
"For what?" Baxter asks back. The man, now supposedly called Louie, begins to open his mouth, but he is interrupted by yelling.

“Get away from him!” A youthful voice yells. I whip around and see a young man, maybe about 16, running toward us. His blonde hair and blue eyes glisten from the sunlight. I see his red jacket and jeans running along with him. What does he mean, “Get away from him?” What do they care?

“What does he mean?” I say and look at Louie.

“Never mind what he means. Let’s go, grab my hand.” He says. I hesitate of course. I have no idea what he’s talking about.

“I’ll explain if you grab my hand!” He looks frustrated. I start to back away slowly, pulling out my phone. I’m surprised by his sudden transition from melancholic to frustrated.

Why does he want me to grab his hand? I pull out my phone completely, and the navigator is there.

“Don’t.” He says. I can hear the boy get closer.

“Why?” I ask.

“He’s dangerous.” The navigator says, and then retreats back to my phone.

“Why!” I shout at my phone. I can hear the boy almost by my side.

“You---“The boy’s words are cut off by Louie’s.

“Temporalia Transmuto, Converte.” He says and the boy is back in his running position, about three kilometers away, saying the same thing. I know that language: Latin.

“Get away from him!” He yells again.

“Déjà vu.” June speaks.

“I have to take you back forcefully, I fear.” Louie says in a pitiful tone. He raises his hand, and begins to speak in Latin.


“Ice Iaculat.” He says and several ice spikes shoot from his hand, and land beside me missing only by an inch. I shout, and pull out my phone. I look for the Arcana icon but it’s gone. I look at Louie again, and he’s holding Baxter and June by their necks.

“If you don’t join me, you will see ice spikes protrude from their chests.” He threatens. The young boy is finally near again.

“Stop it, Uriel. Temporalia Transmuto, Converte!” He shouts once again. The boy raises his arms in a guard position.

“Concido!” He yells. I wait for him to get sent back, but he doesn’t. From his guarding position, he puts two arms in front of him.

“Ardentissimi Flammae!” He yells. His hands erupt unto flames, and they turn into an intense blue color. He thrusts both of his arms, and two gigantic fireballs are sent flying against Louie. Louie let’s go of June and Baxter, then disappears.

“Whoa.” I say, eyes open and mouth agape. The fireballs dissipate, and I blink to try to snap back to reality, until I realize I am in reality. I look at the boy, who’s smiling confidently.

“Who are you?” I ask.

“Yeah, who are you?” Baxter says, rubbing his head.

“Just call me Hugh. Full name’s Hugh Ryell but just call me Hugh.” He says. I look at him for a few seconds, until he looks at me.

“Kylar Odean, we need to go.” I take on a surprised expression. How did he know my name? He turns to June and Baxter. ”Everyone hold on to each other!” He orders.
Baxter almost immediately grabs June’s hand, and I grab Baxter’s. Hugh takes mine.

“Scriptorium!” He shouts. I know what that Latin word means: Portal.

I’m right, though. Because I feel the air vanish from my lungs for a split second and the environment around me transforms from school into rooftop. I let go of his hand and regain my breathing. We’re very high from the ground because it’s difficult to breathe. I notice a “C” on the ground. I immediately realize that we’re on the highest point of Avenir Port Island. Circe Building, the place for corporal businessmen. How do I know?

My father built this island.

When my father saw the poverty in the Philippines, he tried to lessen it by sending kids and my mother’s siblings the school here in this island. He built it just for the university. Of course, I helped my father designed the island, so for it not to be congested we separate it into three parts.

The Living Region, the place where families and homes are built on. The Corporal Area, the place where business is held. My father is a very successful business man, so most of his clients come here just to meet him: at Circe Building. The third part is the school: Einsatz University, which is my father pride. It’s now my job to keep it alive.

My dad has done a very good job with the place, because now that I see it from the highest point, I can see it’s still beautiful.

“Wow, Kylar. Great place.” June says as she intakes the wind.

“Come on now, we need keep you safe.” Hugh says. He walks forward, and says some Latin words. A door appears out of thin air. He opens the door, and gestures us to go in first.

“After you.”

I walk in, and immediately awed. The hallway was gigantic. Golden pillars stretch from the floor to ceiling. Several golden ornaments sit from different pedestals. The whole room is paved with gold. A red carpet leads into three different doors, one on each side.

Hugh comes in and closes the door. It vanishes the way it came.

“You’ll sleep there.” He points at one point of the golden wall. Baxter looks around, then finally says,

“Excuse me, door?” He asks, stupidly if you might ask. But, we won’t get anywhere without asking right?

“Oh, right.” Hugh says. He takes his phone from his jeans, which is strapped on like a gun to a holster, and does something with it. He then points at my phone. I nod.

I look at my phone and the navigator’s back up.

“That was close.” He smiles, and then disappears. I scroll to the most left side and see the icon Arcana once again. I tap it, and the screen goes black. A few seconds later, the menu boots up with two icons.

One icon labeled Aestuo, which was the one I used a while back, and another new on labeled,Transire. The navigator pops back up.

“No need to tap, just say. I enabled the voice command function. You know, like Siri.” He disappears again. I hate that. I need some help in doing this. I trust my instincts ,though, and I do some trial-and-error.

I point at the point in the wall and say, “Transire!” A slight dizziness fills me, and I close my eyes. Once I open it, I’m in a large room with three beds. A television set in front of them and a snow white bathroom to the left of the set of beds. The whole room retains the consistent red-and-gold color and vibe.

I take my shoes off, and settle on the middle bed. I wait for June and Baxter.


A minute later, as I’m watching TV, June and Baxter materialize in front of the bed. Finally.

“Move I’m trying to watch.” I joke.

“Dude, this is so weird.” Baxter says, carrying some book. He puts it on my bed.

“Yeah, we’re suddenly sucked into this. I don’t even know what’s happening yet!” June rants.

“Yeah,” Baxter says, lying on the bed. “you don’t seem that weirded out though, Kylar.”

“You have no idea.” I say. I point at the book.

“What’s this?” I ask.

“Latin words.” June says. “We need to study them.” She yawns in unison with Baxter. I suddenly feel my eyes to get very heavy. Hugh materializes in the room.

“Sorry for being really sudden, but I’ll explain tomorrow. You need to rest.” He says. He smiles, the claps two times. The lights instantly turn off and I suddenly feel myself drifting off to sleep.

I unexpectedly wake, still with my eyes closed. Heavy fatigue still covers my body for some reason, even if I didn't do a lot of things yesterday.
Hm. Yesterday. A lot of crazy things happened, huh? I'm suddenly able to foresee people's apparent deaths, summon fireballs, meet people who could summon blue fireballs and shoot ice from their fingers, run through walls, you know, the usual stuff.

"Wake up!" I hear a girly voice resonate unto my ear. It's not in an English accent though. I cautiously open my eyes, thinking we've been infiltrated. Only to see a not that tall girl, not very short either. Her hair's pretty weird, one side of her hair longer than the other but it only reaches until her shoulders. She has a fair complexion, hazelnut eyes and is wearing a white, elegant robe that moves as she moves. She catches me looking at her and points her finger around me, set ablaze with fire. Hello to you too.

"Wake up, Odean." She has a weird accent that I can't put a finger on.

I jokingly close my eyes, and smile. Strange, I never had the feeling of being excited and shy at the same time.

"I'll force you!" She says. "Tracto!" She shouts. I feel a weird force tugging at my shoulder. First, it's weak. But suddenly gets strong. After a few tugs, a strong force blows me near the girl. Maybe an inch away; our noses are too close for comfort. I also notice that she's just a head shorter than me.


My eyes widen, and I start sweating even with the highly powered air-con of this room.

She gives a small smile. "The name's Cayden Amasius. Pleased to meet you." She smiles, then vanishes. I'm pretty sure both Baxter and June saw that, because they shouted in unison:

"Who was that!?"

I look at them and shrug, “No idea.”

June starts to hop off her bed to probably fix her hair and I also get ready to meet Hugh, he owes us some explanations. I enter the bathroom which looks just as first class as the bedroom. The hanger and poles are made of solid gold and the walls are an ivory shade of white. I look at the mirror and I see myself as a huge mess. I have some burnt marks on my cheek, my hair very messy and some part of the sleeve of the jacket I’m wearing is torn off. Bummer, I like my black and purple jacket. I dust off some, well, dust from my black cargo pants.

I sigh, and proceed to fix up myself. It takes me about seven seconds before June knocks on the door.

“Could you hurry up?” She says, “I need to take a bath.” I open the door and smile at her. She scoffs and enters the restroom, pushing me out while saying, “And don’t think your different colored eyes can fool me.” And then proceeds to close the door. Yes, I have Heterochromia Iridium on my eyes, causing my right eye to be blue and my left to be green. Anyway, I shrug and walk back to my bed and immediately notice the book of Latin words. Engraved on the cover are the letters that spell out: Verba Potentia. First step, find what those words mean. I grab the book and sit on my bed, looking for Verba Potentia. The first word, Verba, means Word while the second word means power. Put them together and you get “Word Power.” Or maybe “Power Word.” Or “Word of Power?” I don’t know.

“Hey man. What’cha doin’?” Baxter sits up, scratching his head. He fixes his little beanie and stands up. He looks around asks, “Where’s June?”

“She’s taking a bath. I’m just looking at this book.” I say. He nods, and cracks his knuckles. He then looks at me with sleepy eyes.

“When are we going to see Hugh?” He asks.

“Right now.” A voice comes from behind. Hugh, obviously.

“Hugh. What impeccable timing.” I say, sarcastically. I turn back to the book, trying to find the word for move, thinking I can somehow move something without touching it. Don’t blame me, it’s my creativity. I search for a good five seconds until I find it under the “Easy Spells” section. Huh, convenient. Move in Latin is “Movere.” Well duh, of course it is. I point to a pillow beside me and say the words.

“Movere.” I say, and the pillow floats in the air. I open my hand and control it as if I have telekinetic powers.

“Getting acquainted to the Words of Power eh, Kylar.” Hugh says. I drop the pillow and look at him, closing the book.

“Sure, yeah.” I respond.

“Anyway, I’ll wait for you outside. We’ll have a special meeting. Please come when you’re ready.” Hugh says, and then disappears. Baxter looks at me and I shrug.

“Hey wait, did you ask Hugh about that girl?” He asks.

“Why? I’m going to.”


“Nah, I just find her cute.” He says.


“Who do you find cute?” June interrupts. Baxter and I stare at each other. “Lie.” I mouth.


“H-H-Hugh, of course.” Baxter stammers. Nice one. We wait a full on twenty minutes for June to finish her hair, and then we are ready.

“I’ll go first.” I say. I open out my phone, and the navigator is there.

“Good morning, dude.” He says.

“Yeah, whatever.” I open up the Arcana app and point at the wall, saying, “Transire!” I get the nauseating feeling again and I close my eyes. Once I open them, I’m outside and in front of Hugh.

“Have a nice ride?” He asks.

“I never want to do that again.” I say, “Anyway, you owe me explanations.” I point at him. He looks at my finger and nods.

“Yes,” June and Baxter appear, with Baxter shaking his head. “I do.” He starts to walk and we follow him. As I said before, there are three doors. He leads us through the middle one, which apparently leads to this some kind of training area. Several kids are running around, fire in their hands and swords waving and stuff. As we press on, the kids become teenagers, close to my age, probably eighteen to twenty one. I see several bulky kids showing of muscles, elegant teenagers who are great with swords. There is this one guy who stands out. He’s wearing a blue jacket and has blonde hair. His eyes are weirdly red. Finally, someone who has different eyes as well. He spots me, opens his palm and tosses a fireball.

“Not now, Dunst.” Hugh says, easily dissipating the fireball with a touch of a finger. The boy, obviously named Dunst, rolls his eyes and walks away. I didn’t notice it before because I was too busy looking at the kids, but there is a large golden gate in front of us. I look around again and see the girl again. Caiden, was it? She’s now wearing glasses and reading a book. She spots me, and raises an eyebrow. I quickly look away.

“This is the master room. Be careful to only say the truth here.” Hugh says, and opens the golden gate. Inside are three tall men. One is wearing a blue windbreaker jacket and jeans. He is currently caught up in smelling a rose. The other one is wearing a white vest and t-shirt. He’s wearing white pants and some kind of “skirt” that covers his right leg. He was looking at his spear until he sees us. The one on the middle is smiling. He’s wearing a gray shirt and a white jacket is hung around his neck. He’s also wearing gray pants.

“Is this Kylar Odean?” The one with the spear asks, pointing at me.

“Yes, and these are his companions Baxter Neeson and June Hieden.” Hugh says. He leads us to the middle of the room.

“I am Mike Ikyel. Pleased to meet you.” The man, Mike, with the spear says. The one with the rose introduces himself as Gabe Ryell, while looking at the mirror. The smiling one introduces himself as Meda Tyron. Weird names, but whatever. After they have introduced themselves, I immediately speak up.

“Why are we here?” I ask. Meda looks at Mike and nods.

“We have seen you as powerful initiates for our army for an upcoming battle. This battle is not an easy one.” Mike says.

I nod. “Uh, yeah. So, why are we here? Can you send us back?” I say.

“I just said that you are powerful initiates for our army.”

Baffled and annoyed, I speak up, “What army? What battle?” Baxter holds me back.

“Dude, don’t worry. We have a lot of time for character development.” He says. I roll my eyes and go back. That was weird of me. I usually don’t lose my cool, especially to people I don’t know. Somehow, I feel connected to them.

“Tell us why we’re here.” I say, with my head down.

“You’re here for a very important cause. There is a battle to be won. You know what the date today is?” Mike says.

“It’s December twenty-one, two thousand twelve. Why?” Huh. Isn’t that when the Mayan calendar is supposed to end or something?

“So, you called us here because it’s the end of the world?” Baxter asks.

“Not really, I just thought it would be funny to start the war in a perceived date.” Gabe speaks. It is quite funny.

“You’ve seen Louie, right?” Hugh asks.

“Yeah. Why’d he want to take me?” I ask.

“It’s because something’s inside of you. Something he wants badly. Something he wants to unleash.” Meda says.

“Unleash?” I ask. Just then, my phone rings. I open it up and the navigator speaks, “We have a video from THANATOS.” He says, and the video boots up.

The scene is in the long room just before us now. Dunst, goes to the middle of the room and puts his hand on the ground. A red portal opens and several creatures, demonic creatures, pop out and start attacking. Most of the kids get killed. We pop out of the room and I am driven back inside by Dunst, bloodlust in his eyes. He raises his arm, and a bloody red spear appears and Dunst stabs me. The video abruptly stops and shuts down like a TV screen. I press the middle button and I’m back on the screen. Dammit, THANATOS.

“Guys, we have to protect the kids.” I say and hurry out the golden gate. Dunst is still hurling fireballs at dummies on the training area. Good. He’s just the same size as me and is probably the same age, nineteen. I walk by the side of the room, waiting for the time to strike. As I stalk him, I hear a voice behind me.

“What are you doing?” It’s a girl’s voice, with the weird accent. I turn around and we’re ridiculously close to each other again.

“Hey!” I say walking backwards. “Caiden, right?” I say. I try to walk away, but she stops me.

“Don’t walk away. I’ve got a lot of questions from you.” She pulls my arm.

“I have a lot of questions too. But, I’m very uncomfortable right now.” I pull free from her arm, but she clings to it. June must’ve seen it because she suddenly comes in.

“Oh hello, mysterious stranger I’ve met this morning. How’s it going? What’s your name…” I hear their voices fading. Great. I look back at Dunst, who’s already on the middle and is about to put his arm on the ground. Thinking quickly, I get a nearby shield and throw. He sees it before it hits him and throws it back at me without touching it. I have bad aim.

“What are you doing, Odean?” He says. I’m suddenly famous. I lunge at him and pin him on the floor.

“Stop it, Dunst.” I say. To my surprise (and today is just full of surprises) he lifts me off the ground by saying Movere. He throws me and I hit my back on a solid pillar.

“Ow.” I stand up, scratching my back. Friggin’ THANATOS and friggin Hugh messing with my normal life and a cellphone that gives me powers. I’d rather jump off this building. But something compels me to stay with them. Something that’s telling me things are about to go dangerous. I boot up the Arcana app and see a bunch of new spells. Movere, Efflo, Conglacior, Tracto, and Fortitudo. A big grin covers my face. Eagerness is crawling inside of me.

“Efflo!” I shout, wanting to know what it will do. To my surprise, again, he flies back. Dunst lands on his feet. He raises his arm and a blood-red spear appears in his hand. He stabs the ground with it and a bigger portal appears.

“Infernum!” He shouts. The demonic creatures come out. They have twisted bodies; some are birds with human skulls. Some are just little girls with pale white skin and black hair just ready to come at you. Those send shivers to my spine. Screams fill the air as a miniature war wages inside a hallway. I look around for my party. They all are doing fine defending themselves. Hugh, Mike, Meda, and Gabe are all beside June and Baxter. Even Caiden!

I try focusing my attention on Dunst, but it’s hard when demonic little girls are trying to kill you. Their faces are super hideous, but I stand my ground. I clench my fist, look at my phone and shout, “Fortitudo!” A surge of energy fills me, and I punch at one of the girls. Once my hit makes contact, they are blown away. I feel exhilarated. I feel rejuvenated. I brush off the little girls and other demons as I rush for Dunst. He looks at me with those glowing, bloodthirsty eyes as I run to him. He waits for another demon, a man with blades for hands and a sewn face to exit before pulling the spear, closing the portal. The faceless man charges past me and heads for Hugh and the others, who are getting pushed back. I have to get to them as fast I can. Dunst charges at me, and I block with my newfound strength. He thrusts the bloody spear farther until it makes a cut; I have to get a weapon of my own. I run strafe around him and shout Efflo again. A green blast hits him, but does nothing to him. He lunges at me once again. Desperate, I shout, “Conglacior!” Ice immediately encases Dunst and he falls to the ground. He thaws out immediately though.

I look at Baxter, who’s now firing bolts of lightning. Seeing that they can handle themselves, I look back at Dunst who lunges at me and pins me on the ground. He raises his spear, but I say Efflo and hets blown back. Hoping for new spells, I look at my cell and see the word: Xiphos. Why not?

Before Dunst can get back up, I shout Xiphos and somehow find myself holding a sword of pure ivory. Its blade is whiter than snow and its hilt is transparent, seemingly made of diamond. I… have no idea how to hold a sword. But it’s so damn cool. I stand at ready, and Dunst lunges again. He swings his spear and I block it with my sword. I take on offense, and I swing my sword to my left. Dunst blocks it, but the power of the sword sends him inside the master room, meters away. Wow.

I chase after him inside the room. I see him lying on the ground, without his wind. I pin him and put my sword on his neck. I then remember what Hugh said about not lying inside. I wonder what will happen.

“Let’s have some fun.” I point with my sword, “Do you hate me?” I ask.

“Yes!” He says with a very low voice. “I hate you so much!” Nothing happens. Means his not lying. (I’m hurt.)

“You…” Hesitating, I blurt out the first thing I can think of. “Like Caiden don’t you?”

“No!” He says, hesitating as well. “I never did---“ before he can finish, he goes up in golden flames.


Love hurts.

“Kylar, are you all right?” I hear Hugh calling from behind me. I turn around and nod in confirmation. Hugh, who is dirtied from the battle, sighs in relief. God, I am tired. I find my self breathing heavily, but Hugh didn’t even break a sweat, even though he probably had a harder battle than me.


We head outside to meet up with the others. Meda, Gabe and Mike are all running around, helping the other children. At first, I forgot to ask the question: “Why are there kids here, and why do they know how to use Latins spells just like us?” I turn to Hugh to ask that question, but he is already with Meda and the others. I guess I’ll be saving questions for later.

I find Baxter, lying on the ground with a great cut across his chest. June is kneeling beside him, sobbing. I go next to her and comfort her. Baxter’s still breathing, though.

“I can’t save him. I don’t know how to.” She says, with her head on my chest. I hug her, just to comfort her even more.

“We can still save him. He’s still breathing. Maybe we can…” A stroke of genius hits me. “The cellphone, we might have some spells!” I exclaim. She shakes her head, saying she has already tried. And on that sentence, it feels as if I have given up as well.

“You can still save him.” I hear Meda. He kneels beside Baxter. “We just have to pray.” He says. I don’t think prayer will really help right now. Nevertheless, Meda puts a hand on Baxter’s wound, making Baxter wince, and utters: “Deus omnipotens, sanare fratres grátiam tuam lapsae. Amen.”

A ray of light descends on Baxter and his wounds almost immediately heal up. Baxter suddenly bolts up afterwards. “Where am I?” He asks.

“Baxter!” June hugs Baxter tightly, catching him off guard. Meda stands up, and waits for our reunion to end. After it does, he asks us to go inside the Master Room.

“How did you do that?” I ask as soon as we enter. Meda smiles.

“I prayed to God.” He bluntly says. God? As in, God Almighty? I never thought he answer prayers that quickly.

Meda and his friends proceed to line up. “You can now ask us anything you want.” He says.

“Who, or what, are you?” I immediately blurt out. Meda crosses his arms, and then nods with the others. Gold wings with fire protrude from Meda’s back, dark blue wings protrude from Gabe’s, bright red ones from Hugh’s, and bright white ones from Michael’s. That caught all of us off-guard.

“We are the angels of God. Servant to the greatest power. I am Metatron, His voice, this is Gabriel, his messenger,” He points to Gabe. “Uriel, His flame,” He points to Hugh. “and Michael, His warrior.” He says as he finally points to Mike.
Angels…. I can’t believe they’re angels. “Angels?” I ask. “So, God is real?” Meda nods and laughs as well.

“Of course! You just can’t see Him, because if He makes himself visible, you would burn up in golden flames and balance would not be maintained.” He explains. “Our whole universe is just in God’s thought. Even His angels cannot come into His countenance because we would burn! Only the spirits of saved humans can.”

His last sentence threw me off-guard. I guess He really loves us more than His angels, huh?

“Okay.” Mike speaks up. “Now that that’s out of the way. Let us start with the most important explanations. We have gather children all over the world who can use the “Arcana” app, which is a device given by God, to fight in the war He kept telling us about. Basically, the war is between angels and demons, and the balance is in the people who can use the application. The application, by the way, is just prayers simplified into words, because prayers are long to utter. Anyway, God cannot intervene with this matter, because now he is contemplating to end the world or not. The sole switch to the Apocalypse is in you,” Mike points at me. “inside of Kylar Odean.”

“What!?” I interrupt. “Apocalypse? How? I don’t feel anything! This is impossible. This is just a dream, and I will wake up in three seconds.” I say, trying to comfort myself. That “Apocalypse being in me” thing hit me like a freight train. I mean, how is that even possible?

Three seconds pass, and I still do not wake up. Poor me.

“Don’t worry. With Apocalypse in you, your abilities have boosted. The only way Louie can get you is if you don’t pray enough.” Hugh says, with all of them flying. I now promise to pray every time I can. But wait, who is Louie? He told me he was a friend. He even saved me.

“What’s up with Louie? He saved us.” I ask, calming down a little, knowing I have at least Someone to back me up.

“Louie Ciferre is Lucifer. He is the fallen angel. The reason he befriended you, is because if he killed you and unleashes the Apocalypse the way he likes it, God would have to calm down in a weak form to send him back to Hell, but Lucifer would’ve already gained an army, and the balance would’ve tipped to his favour. He can even taint us, angels. His sole goal is to have his revenge, and gain power greater than God’s.” Mike says. Wow, that is scary. I’d never thought Lucifer would even try to touch God anymore.

“You, Kylar, would be our main weapon, our trump card. You would have to find the Deus Xiphos to challenge Lucifer. The Deus Xiphos, or God’s Blade, is located on the far noth of Avenir Port Island. You would have to take a journey to find it. Hurry, Odean, you may be our hope or our demise.” Mike says.

I hesitate a little, thinking that I’m not brave enough to get to this job. But if it means saving the world or something? I’m game.

“Do I get to bring company?” I ask. I hear Baxter and June’s quiet “Yes’s” behind me.

-----


After I met up with some of the students learning spells there, and eating dinner of course, I went up back here: my bedroom. Baxter and June are still enjoying themselves, so I’ll just and… Well… might as well pray. I go on my knees, looking up at the night sky and put my hands together.

“Father in Heaven. I know I have not communicated with you that much, but I sure am going to need your help. I thank you for helping me pulling through tough times, but this would be the toughest one yet.” I close the prayer with an “Amen.” I go to bed, feeling like a seven year-old, but I have to have faith on Him. We are going to leave tomorrow, and I have to prepare a lot. Speaking of preparing…

I get the Latin Wordbook, but I notice another book beside it, and a steel crucifix. I grab the other book, and see the words in a big font: Holy Bible. I also grab the cross, and it glows a bright gold once I do. I examine it more clearly, and on the back is a Latin word I have used before: “Xiphos.” I utter them, and a purple blade erupts from the cross. Awesome.

“I guess God’s on my side.” I say, looking up.

The next day Meda, or Metatron, tells me that I can bring along at least four people. He introduces me to a handful of their best trainees, but I settle for June, Baxter, and, since she threatened me and wanted to see the outside world, Caiden. After packing for our trip, Hugh, or Uriel, calls me over.

“Are you sure you want to do this, Kylar?” He asks. I’m taken aback, because he used to believe in me so much.

“Why not? I have to do it right?” I reply, with a tinge of regret. He seems to have sensed that and flashes me a smile. He pulls out his phone.

“I’m sending you some of my most powerful spells.” He says. “I hope you put them to good use.” I pull out my phone as well and the transfer immediately finishes. I quickly enter the Arcana app to see his spells. One says Ardentissimi Flammae, which is the spell he used to combat Louie, and another says Alas Flamma, which I don’t really know what it means.

“It means “Wings of Flame.” He says, seeing my curiosity. “You can glide with it for a short period of time. Put it into good use.” He pats me on the back as June calls me over.

“Meda says we need to wear these, so we can be protected.” She points to four articles of clothing. One is a white jacket that has a large crucifix emblazoned on the back. June takes that jacket and commands me to wear it. I do, and it feels incredibly cold inside even if it’s a jacket.

“It fits you so well.” She says, looking directly into my face. I nod and thank her. I walk over to Baxter who is pacing things into his backpack. Since he has the largest bag, he needs to carry our most important items.

“You alright man? I mean, you have to carry a lot of stuff.” I ask him. He’s wearing a trench coat this time, which is weird, but he tells me it reminds him of his favourite video game character: Dante. He has a crucifix implanted onto the side of his pants.

“Of course bro. I mean, it’s not everyday that I get to be someone important.” He says, flashing me a smile. Everybody today seems to be in a good mood because they keep smiling at me, but inside Hugh’s, June’s, and Baxter’s eyes I see a tinge of pity and sadness. Must be because I have Apocalypse inside of me. At first, I didn’t think that having Apocalypse would change anything, but I’m wrong. It’s like they’re treating me like a touch-sensitive bomb that would explode if anyone would do something to it. I don’t want my friends to feel bad for me.

The last person to rally with the team is Caiden. She walks down elegantly with June, but the thing that struck me most is that instead of her usual robes, she’s wearing very modern clothes. She’s quite… pretty in it too. I look at Baxter, who has his jaw on the floor and is drooling. Caiden is still wearing her square glasses because she can’t really see without them, but she’s… beautiful? I didn’t think I’d use such a word. She sports a gray shirt with her shoulder exposed along with some denim jeans. Instead of her crucifix being on her clothing, hers is seemingly tattooed to her right shoulder which is the one exposed. She walks over to us with June, who has her crucifix emblazoned on her skirt.

“C-Caiden… Y-you’re…” I stammer as she comes close to me, but Baxter jumps in between us.

“You are hot! Hotter than a pig being barbecued in the sun by a fire extinguisher.” He says. Incredible. I could not let out a single sentence, and Baxter practically rapped. Although none of us understood what he said.

“Um, thanks?” She says, as she walks over to me. She looks me in the eyes, which reminds me of our first encounter.

“There’s something wrong with you. And I’m going to find out. That’s the whole reason I went on this trip.” She says before going back to June. June giggles, but she shake she shakes her head. Girls are impossible to understand. What did she mean by something’s wrong with me, though? In a little mission to find answers, I go to Hugh and ask him if Caiden’s been informed about me having Apocalypse inside of me. He shakes his head in denial, and tells me that it’s best that we don’t get close. Which is fine by me, because getting close with people is not my forte.



After hours of pacing and planning, we head off. Hugh escorts us to the outside of Circe Building, but tells us that he can’t be of use to us anymore, and then vanishes, leaving a flame behind.

“So… What now?” Baxter shrugs. Meda told me before we left is to find the Northern Cherubim on the northernmost part of the island. He informed me that there are four Cardinal Cherubim that guard this island. They protect us from the outside, and don’t let anything go outside. The Cherubim were set up only when the war started which was yesterday, December 21, 2012. We don’t have a definite deadline and Meda only told us to get the Deus Xiphos before “Beelzebub,” the Prince of Lies and King of Flies who is the right hand of Lucifer, shows up and get it for himself. Unfortunately, Circe Building is on the Southernmost part of the island. Tough luck.

“We just have to keep moving north.” I command. “To do this we need to visit the school first.” The school is the center of the island, so we can navigate better from there.

“Alright. Let’s go then.” June starts first and walks forward. Unfortunately again, since the war has started, electricity has been down and backup generators have mysteriously disappeared. The island is in a state of chaos. I do expect there to be camps for the other people who are not involved in the war and Mike did say that he sent angels to protect all the humans. Transportation is mysteriously down too, so we can’t take the train or take the buses. It’s as if an Angel of Death passed over.


After seemingly hours of walking, June gets tired and sits down. We left about ten o’clock this morning and the sun is right above our heads, hinting that it may be afternoon already. The sun’s rays did whip at us earlier so we have to take shelter. Luckily this time, we stopped right at the mall. And this got June overjoyed. She quickly grabs Caiden and dashes inside. I look at Baxter and he shrugs. We follow them.

Inside is still pretty hot because there are no air conditioners that work. Stores and booths inside the mall are also deserted and the items are left behind, which means that they’re free for taking. Baxter takes this opportunity and snags himself a PSVita, but as he turns it on, he realizes that it does not have battery and there is no electricity.

“Dammit!” He throws the gadget to the ground and it breaks. Caiden and June don’t need batteries though and they enjoy getting all the clothes they “need.”


After we ransack the mall, we head to eat something. A local McDonald still has food inside, so we were able to eat somehow. Baxter, June, and Caiden all sit together while I sit down at a table far from them. Solitude is better in this state because I can process what’s happening. I put them all in order. First: Cellphones can launch fireballs. Second: I meet Angels. Third: I have Apocalypse inside of me. Fourth: I still have to save the world from a war and from God who is contemplating whether to end life or not. Before I can think on all these things though, winged demons protrude from the wall and I hear June scream. They’re being attacked!

I whip out my cell phone and brandish my crucifix. I shout “Xiphos!” and a purple blade erupts from the cross. The demons must’ve heard my shout, because they turn around and fly toward me. They are all pink colored but they have terrifying bulging black eyes that suck your soul in.

I stand firm as they fly towards me. In a flash they are in front of me, but I hold one hand up and shout: “Ardentissimi Flammae!” An intense blue fireball envelops my hand, and I thrust it forward. The blue fireball gets larger and hotter as it swallows up the pink demons. After the last demon is gone, I snap my fingers and they dissipate, right in front of Baxter and his friends. Louie is smart. And since he’s Lucifer, he must’ve sent those demons. And since we’re trying to get the Deus Xiphos…

“We need to go.” I say as I help them up. “They’re after us.”