15 HOURS AGO
AURUS - NEXUS TRANSIT
IDLAND, PRECIDIA - 3:31 AM
“To all passengers: four hours left until we reach our destination.”
The sound of the conductor’s voice echoes throughout the train cars, though none of the passengers pay attention as they had all fallen asleep with the exception of two passengers; Nick Altair and Elena Lune. The two agreed to take shifts in pying the role of the lookout, yet both have trouble falling asleep due to their anxiety. They had, after all, sughtered hundreds of Eternal Drive soldiers and made their violent mark in a mostly peaceful city. Sick of the silence, Nick opts to break it with a rather odd question.
“...Was that the first time you’ve ever killed someone?” Nick asks as Elena shakes her head.
“You?” Elena asks as well, yielding simir results as Nick also shakes his head.
“When was your first?” Elena continues inquiring.
“When I was about thirteen. I was walking back home when this guy tried to rob me, held a knife to my throat. I panicked, tried to disarm him but ended up pushing the knife into his neck,” Nick answers.
“So it was accidental?”
“At the time, yeah. I spent weeks dwelling on it, thinking I was a monster. Eventually I realized that he held the intent of murdering me if I didn’t comply. I’m not trying to justify what I did, but understanding it was self-defense did make me feel a little more at ease. Nowadays if you ask me, I feel as if you should be prepared to die if you have any murderous intent,” Nick crifies as Elena solemnly looks out the window.
“..What about you?”
“I…” Elena hesitates to speak.
“...’d rather not talk about it,” Elena continues. Nick nods. Perhaps death was a sensitive subject to her, though to Nick, he had been extremely desensitized as a result of growing up in a society controlled by Eternal Drive.
Even if Elena had wanted to continue the conversation, their train had suddenly slowed down, eventually ceasing movement altogether. Curious, Elena peeks outside to find them in the midst of a station in Idnd, a minor municipality in the vast region of Aurus. As far as the two were concerned, they were informed at the beginning of their trip that there would be no stopovers, lest there be an emergency.
Their concerns would indeed be correct as several Eternal Drive soldiers step foot on the train. The conductor reys an announcement once more as the train resumes movement.
“It has come to our attention that persons of interest are currently on-board. Please prepare for a thorough search and examination, and be aware as our staff may enter your compartments.”
“Did they really have to sugarcoat it? Just say that there’s two fugitives on the train,” Nick comments as several blue rays of light scan the entire car, turning red when they reach Nick and Elena’s compartment.
“It’s so they don’t cause mass hysteria. In their eyes we’re monsters,” Elena expins, unsheathing her bde.
“Right. So, what’s the pn this time?” Nick replies, manifesting a dagger as he stands beside the door, ready to strike.
“Survive,” Elena answers as two soldiers enter their room. Nick quickly pierces one in the neck while Elena impales another with a golden spear of light. The two demedioms rush out their compartment, facing back to back as soldiers surround them from both sides. Nick shoots three arrows towards the soldiers by the entrance while Elena manifests several threads to take out the soldiers at the rear. Having trouble fighting in a compact hallway, Nick decides to create a hole in the roof by making a rge cut, stepping out to get a better view while simultaneously giving Elena more freedom to fight. Outside, Nick spots several drones flying towards him. He decides to leave them alone, thinking that they would not open fire due to the presence of civilians on-board.
This would, of course, prove to be a poor decision as the drones fire several missiles. Fortunately Nick was fast enough to intercept them by shooting at each missile, detonating them in the air before they managed to connect with the train. Nick then destroys the drones himself by shooting bolts of lightning from his fingertips as he contemptes the non-existent morality of Eternal Drive. The megacorp was willing to sacrifice civilians with the intent of bming their deaths on the two demedioms; how much lower can they possibly go?
Back inside, Elena runs through several train cars, sughtering soldiers that she comes across. Two elite soldiers, simir to whom Entro would face ter in the day, rush at Elena from both sides. Elena creates a golden barrier that emits a beam of light, burning one soldier to a crisp while the other just barely manages to dodge. Using his augmented bdes, the soldier bsts Elena with an X-shaped ray that she blocks once more with her barrier as she teleports behind the soldier, stabbing him from the back. At this point Elena’s white dress had turned crimson, stained with the blood of her enemies. The cheerful young woman enjoying the festival mere hours ago was unrecognizable; a monster she indeed resembled.
On the rooftop, Nick struggles in facing off against an elite soldier as the velocity from the moving train forces him to be careful of his steps in order to maintain his bance. The soldier, sporting boots that adapt to any terrain, lunges at Nick. Nick is forced to defend as the soldier hacks away at his daggers. Nick eventually gets pinned down from the constant attacks, with the soldier continuing his assault. The soldier brings his left bde down, looking for the kill, but misses and barely scrapes Nick’s right ear. The bde pierces the train car, reaching all the way down. Elena, who witnesses the bde, manifests several golden threads to hold the bde in pce, trapping the soldier. With Elena’s assistance, Nick makes use of the distraction by stabbing the soldier in the neck, ending their scuffle.
Though they had fended off the initial assault, Eternal Drive’s trump card was quickly on its way. A huge silver mech, about twenty-feet tall, flies by the train, stopping when it scans Nick’s face. It begins to light up, glowing a bright shade of red as it fires a missile. Elena blocks the missile with a barrier, throwing a spear of her own that pierces the mech’s core. It is not enough, however, as the mech begins flying towards the conductor’s car with the goal of crashing the train. Nick quickly realizes this, and catches up to the mech, nding on its back. Nick fires an arrow that briefly stuns it before several miniature cannons reveal themselves on the mech’s back. Elena quickly pulls Nick away with her threads as the cannons fire, incinerating the trees that they connect with. Because of Nick’s electrically-charged arrow, the mech significantly slows down, allowing the two demedioms to catch up. Elena summons several spears of light from the air, incapacitating the mech as Nick shoots a massive arrow that destroys half of the mech’s body. A huge explosion occurs, but Elena shields the train from the bst and the flying shrapnel.
The two step back inside the train where several passengers, awoken from the chaos, stare at them with horrified looks. Though the two demedioms had saved them from Eternal Drive’s carelessness, the level of brutality the passengers had witnessed was enough to answer why the two were wanted in the first pce. Blood from the soldiers leaked from the compartment walls, mutited corpses spread throughout the cars; Nick and Elena looked like demons themselves after being drenched in blood.
The stares of a crowd were not foreign to the two; they had just been stared at hours earlier, when they jumped in the ke. This time however, felt different. There was no ughing to drown out the whispers, no music to distract them from the murmuring. The two walk past the crowd and the dead bodies to return to their compartment. Nick hangs his head in shame while Elena moves on, seemingly unaffected.
“In their eyes we’re monsters.”
Just who exactly is this woman? Why does she refuse to talk about her past? How does she have such mastery over her abilities, while feeling retively nonchant with regards to killing?
These questions would ring inside Nick’s head throughout the journey back to Aeternum. Elena had finally managed to fall asleep after successfully fending off Eternal Drive. Nick, on the other hand, was wide awake, beginning to be wary of the woman in front of him.
“Who are you, Elena Lune?” Nick thinks to himself.
14 HOURS LATER
LIONSCAPE SKYSCRAPER
EVERNIGHT, NAZENDEL - 6:23 PM
Tyson Gruff falls to the ground, lifeless as Entro and Zack look on. Entro roars, manifesting a gigantic translucent scythe that cleaves away at a dozen soldiers. Zack fires off several sers, destroying the robots surrounding him. Entro carries his brother’s body using chains while Zack clears a path, bsting away at countless soldiers.
The two rebels arrive at an outside area, where heavy rain comes crashing down. Zack continues sughtering soldiers while Entro keeps up from behind. The two slide down a massive ramp and drop down all the way from the fourth floor to the ground, crashing on top of a few vehicles. Feeling guilty over Tyson’s death, Zack decides to create a distraction in order for Entro to escape. He fires a huge, grey fre into the sky with his fingertips. Entro looks confused, but Zack nods at him.
“I’ll take it from here. Now go!” Zack shouts as Entro nods back, breaking into a bck SUV. He puts his brother in the backseat, creates a spectral key that he inserts into the ignition and drives away as Zack is approached by even more infantry. Zack fires sers in all directions, bsting holes through soldiers while blinding those nearby. He continues rampaging through the streets, the soldiers’ blood mixing with the rainwater. Two silver mechs, simir to the one Nick and Elena had taken out hours prior, approach Zack from both sides of the street. They each fire two huge missiles, totalling to four which are intercepted by an unbreakable gss dome that Zack creates. Inside his dome, Zack fires a ser that gets amplified by the gss, creating a rge hole inside one mech, effectively shutting it down. He fires another ser at the other mech who dodges and is instead caught in the shoulder. Zack shatters his dome and rushes straight at the mech, sshing it with the same technique he used to slice the demonic worm. The mech, sliced in two, blows up as Zack blocks the debris by creating another gss dome.
An elite soldier comes rushing from behind, failing to break Zack’s dome. Zack readies firing a ser, but struggles for a few seconds before it goes off, piercing a hole through the soldier. Zack was starting to get drained; he had been fighting constantly for half an hour at this point and the numbers were not looking to stop as even more footsoldiers show up. Needing time to think, Zack fires tiny sers that briefly distract the soldiers.
Zack decides to go Entro’s route by breaking into a vehicle. Manifesting a gss key that he inserts into the ignition, Zack starts driving at a high speed and rams his vehicle into the soldiers. He swerves and goes west as several drones start catching up to him. He fires a ser at the mirror, deflecting it and scattering the ser throughout the air, destroying the drones.
NAZENDEL DRAWBRIDGE
EVERNIGHT, NAZENDEL - 6:48 PM
As Zack approaches the Nazendel Drawbridge, he notices it slowly rising. The bridge was only drawn in order to let ferries pass, yet no ferries were in deployment due to the storm. This was deliberately done in order to try and catch Zack, who steps on the gas pedal with full force. The bridge starts to rise bit-by-bit, eventually coming to a thirty-degree angle before Zack reaches the end, his stolen vehicle situated in the air for a few seconds before coming down onto the downwards ramp. Zack continues his escape, driving through the barrier at the toll gate where Raymond and Candace Altair had passed away.
LILY’S HOME
ROSCHER, GRATA - 7:26 PM
Zack abandons his vehicle in favor of stealing another parked car in Roscher to lessen suspicion as he makes his way back to Virtum. While in Roscher, he stops momentarily after witnessing Lily’s former house lit up. Zack looks through the window where inside, a family of four can be seen enjoying dinner together; the life Zack and Lily always dreamed of. Unfortunately, they were not able to live out their dream as Lily’s story ended abruptly twenty years ago when Trent Omega drove a bullet through her head. Though, perhaps other more fortunate people may carry on their dream.
EVERGREEN RESIDENCE A
VIRTUM, GRATA - 7:48 PM
Zack arrives at his house, bloody from the fighting, wet from the rain and tired from the running. As he makes his way up to his bathroom, the assassination attempt runs through his head.
He had sworn that he had Estreval. Prior to the assassination, the three had done extensive research regarding the floats. They were merely glorified stages, no barriers set up, no threat detectors, no fail safes. Why is it that the bullet was intercepted not once, but twice? And how did Damon quickly learn about their position? It couldn’t have been a spy; Tyson ended up dying and Entro wouldn’t risk his brother’s life.
Was there another factor that the three were unaware of? As far as they were concerned, Eternal Drive consisted of three main demedioms: Trent Omega, the shapeshifter, Brian Mathers, the man who could create barriers but with a very distinct appearance unlike the seemingly invisible barrier that protected Damon, and Damon Estreval himself, who possessed the ability to create fmes. None of the three were capable of intercepting the bullet, unless…
Zack quickly searches Damon’s speech on his phone. He skims through the broadcast before noticing something off: beside Damon Estreval were two people. One of which was Brian Mathers, the man with the ringed tattoos, as well as an unknown individual whose face could not be seen. Initially Zack deduced it to be Trent Omega, though he remembered Trent hating being in the spotlight. Trent loved to work in the shadows as Damon’s right-hand man, conducting vile experiments on human beings. So who was this other individual?
Frustrated at this pse in judgement, Zack punches a hole through his desk. Whenever it feels like he finally has the upper hand, Eternal Drive is always two steps ahead. Was there truly no chance of overthrowing the megacorp?
Taking a moment to calm down, Zack rewinds the broadcast. He uses all of his energy to think: who else could have done it? His fellow experiments, Brock Allister who had been killed by a Paldium officer after rampaging near a toll gate the night of the breakout, Falco Bivelli who had managed to escape and live for a decade and a half but was thwarted by Luke, Celeste and two Paldium officers. Riko Naiyo, who had passed away from the side effects of the experimentation. Zelkneiss Mortan, who was killed by Brian Mathers in an earthshaking battle. Every other demediom that went loose during his break was either put down…
…or captured yet again.
Zack’s heart sinks as he comes to a realization.
21 YEARS AGO
ETERNAL TOWER - 38TH FLOOR
EVERNIGHT, NAZENDEL - 11:17 PM
Screaming can be heard from a distance as Zack, curled up in a corner, stares at his own blood dripping down the floor from several cuts on his body. He had been subjected to physical tests after being injected with a demediom serum that enabled him to manifest gss. Normally, demedioms are immune to their own abilities; Nick especially loved to show this trait off by grabbing power lines as a result of his immunity to electricity. Zack, however, was already injected once with a serum that gave him the ability to create sers. As proven by recent tests, Zack was not immune to gss, being cut all over by Damon and Trent who took turns torturing him.
The sound of cell doors can be heard opening as a body is thrown next to Zack. It is none other than Jason Diaz, who had been injected with a serum that allowed him to manifest regenerateable tendrils from his body. This, of course, opened up countless possibilities that enabled Trent’s curiosity. He would hack away, forcefully pull out and subject these tendrils to other forms of torture. Unlike most objects manifested by demedioms, these tendrils were directly connected to Jason’s nervous system, allowing him to feel immense pain. He eventually passed out after Trent had plucked out 36 tendrils in the span of one night, Jason’s current limit.
Zack gives Jason a brief gnce before quickly looking away, disgusted at the sight. The skin in Jason’s back had been ripped out countless times and forced to heal immediately, creating deformities that left him resembling the demons that roam North Lavia.
“Zack…” Jason mutters, getting Zack’s attention. How was he still conscious after going through so much?
“When will it end?” Jason asks.
“...I don’t know. I don’t want to know,” Zack replies, accepting his fate. He had been Eternal Drive’s brat for three years now with no hint of freedom. Even if he were to be freed, he had gone through too much in the halls of Evernight. Even if Lily had been waiting for him to return, he was a different man altogether. Things will never be the same, and it is all due to his decision to go against Damon Estreval.
“D’you think maybe… They’ll leave us alone if we work for them?” Jason weakly asks.
“I did work for them. Look at what I’ve become,” Zack answers.
“But… you… betrayed them…” Jason replies as Zack clenches his fist.
“They betrayed humanity,” Zack replies with conviction.
21 YEARS LATER - PRESENT DAY
EVERGREEN RESIDENCE A
VIRTUM, GRATA - 8:10 PM
Recalling his past, Zack remembers the st time he had seen Jason was the night of the breakout, where the former abandoned the tter. As far as he remembered, Jason was merely pinned down and restrained; gunshots were not heard at the time of his capture. Jason Diaz is alive.
To Be Continued…
AUTHOR'S NOTEWhen all else fails, run away and escape.
...If only it could be that simple.
