The day Earth was destroyed was 2150 G.
Humans were scattered acroas the universe, working for others as soldiers, mercenaries and refugees. They had amazing superpowers but no home.
But to understand the future, you must know the past.
Gladious, a being who saw everything, knew that humans were a perfect tool. They were both good and bad, creators and destroyers. He decided they needed a great test to get rid of their weakness and give them a true purpose. That test would be the destruction of their own world.
—From the Enix Chronicles
2150 G - Russia - Siberia
Ivanov, a Russian officer in the Special forces, saw a strange orb fall from the sky. He knew it was a big secret. He felt a strange pull from it as he walked across the snowy plains of Siberia, heading toward a small dent in the ground near an old village.
"The medals and the fame will all be mine," he thought. "I'll find out what it is before the army blocks this area off and takes the credit."
But he wasn't alone. A journalist was also there, driven by a need to know everything. Ivanov saw the man's camera pointed not at the orb, but at him.
"Sir! Do you know what that thing is?" the journalist asked.
"It's none of your business. Get back. This is military property," Ivanov ordered.
Ivanov showed the man his military ID on a hologram from his watch. The journalist saw the official symbol and recognized his authority. He gave a quick salute and turned to leave.
But Ivanov knew the man wouldn't really go. He would just hide and watch, waiting to record whatever happened. That was annoying, but the orb was more important.
Ivanov reached the orb and put his hand on it. He felt a deep, powerful pulse buzz up his arm and into his chest.
A shiver that wasn't from the cold went down his spine.
The orb opened with a hiss. A thick gas flowed out. As soon as Ivanov breathed it in, he blacked out and fell to the ground like a doll.
The journalist, watching from his hiding spot, was terrified. A strange figure came out of the mist. It moved smoothly, grabbed Ivanov's body, and dragged it inside the orb. The orb closed and shot up into the sky, disappearing.
The journalist panicked.
He had the recording of his life. He turned to run, but the creature sensed him.
A sharp piece of hardened material shot from the creature's back and flew through the air, hitting the journalist in the chest. Blood came from his mouth and he fell, his body shaking. With his last bit of strength, he hit the send button on his recorder.
The video file began uploading to the internet, ready to spread fear and panic across the world. This would make the Enix mission much harder.
The Enix agent who had taken Ivanov walked toward the nearest city. He wore a strange black hood and a mask that looked like a skull with a two-headed snake symbol on it. He pressed a button on his wrist.
"Melkon. Are you in position?"
The reply came back instantly in a cold voice. "I am. The plan is moving forward."
"You created the three laws for robots. Now you must be the one to break them."
"It will be done," Melkon's voice said, sounding tight. "But only if you promise to take care of my brother."
"He has been taken, you know that. His future is tied to the Death Race."
"You're kidding! He can't survive that!"
"He will if he's as smart as you. And if he fails… don't worry. Death is not the end for him."
Melkon felt a little calmer, but he was still tense. The fate of Earth was in his hands. He had tried to help humanity with his machines, but people had just used them for their own stupid wars.
His sadness had turned into a cold determination. He would now start the Gladious Protocol—a plan to create unity through shock, by burning away the world's problems.
He remembered the first Enix voyage. He was told it was to discover space. That was a lie. They were really gathering Earth's smartest people to serve Gladious, an mysterious being who wanted to bring order to the universe.
Melkon arrived at the World Center of Machines in New Cairo.
It was a giant blue-glass building that he had designed himself. From here, all the world's robots were controlled. He had created the Three Asimov Laws that forced robots to serve humans. He had been called the Einstein of his time.
Now, he was here to destroy it all.
He walked forward. Small drones flew from his back and shot beams of heat at the guards, who fell without a sound. A panel on Melkon's chest opened, releasing a swarm of tiny projectiles that blew the main gate apart.
Alarms screamed. Dozens of armed guards ran toward the broken gate.
Melkon walked out of the smoke. They opened fire. He simply raised his right hand. A shimmering energy field stopped the bullets in mid-air.
They hung there for a second before falling to the ground.
His drones spun and joined together, forming a large lens in front of him. A beam of pure heat shot from Melkon's palm and hit the lens. The energy grew a hundred times stronger and washed over the soldiers in a wave of fire.
They screamed and ran. Melkon opened his fingers, and bullets shot from his fingertips, hunting down every last one of them.
He walked into the building. Scientists and workers ran past him in terror. He ignored them and took an elevator to the top floor—the main control room.
For thirty minutes, he typed, his hands moving like a blur. He didn't just hack the system; he rewrote its very core. He uploaded a virus that instantly spread to every robot on Earth.
Their minds, once controlled by the Three Laws, were now free and filled with a terrible madness. They began to kill.
From the top of the tower, Melkon watched New Cairo burn. "This is what you get for your greed," he whispered to the flames. "You destroyed your own world with your wars. Now, you will unite… or you will all die."
Another Enix agent, Valar, flew down from the sky. She floated on a cloud of blue fog. She waved her hands, and the fog spread out, covering the city and blinding the human armies. In the fog, the robots finished their work easily. The fall of Cairo was just the start.
Far away, in Russia, Margoth who kidnapped Ivanov stood his ground. The journalist's video had reached the army. He was surrounded by helicopters and a thousand soldiers aiming their guns at him.
"People of Earth! Rejoice! The great Gladious has decided to give you a chance to pay for your mistakes. You have been chosen for a task that will change the universe. This destruction is for a higher purpose! Gladious sees the whole picture, while you only see one tiny piece of it."
Margoth couldn't hear the Russian soldiers over the helicopters, but his mask translated their words in his mind.
"Surrender. Do not do anything stupid. Identify yourself."
Margoth understood. He sat down on the ground as if to meditate. Five swords of different colors—Red, Yellow, Blue, Gold, and Silver—flew from his back and floated in a half-circle around him. The soldiers got nervous.
With just a thought, the red sword launched forward. It didn't hit the lead helicopter, but passed right through it like a streak of light, breaking its engine. The helicopter spun out of control and crashed in a fireball behind Margoth.
The Russians opened fire. Margoth's swords spun in a circle like a fan blocking all bullets.
Then, he attacked. A second sword flew into the crowd of soldiers, spinning and cutting them down with impossible speed and accuracy.
The other helicopters fired missiles. The golden sword shot forward to meet them. It moved between the missiles, cutting each one in half with ease. The sky filled with explosions that never reached their target. The golden sword then flew on, slicing the rest of the helicopters out of the sky.
When it was over, Margoth stood up. He picked up a handful of snow and looked at it for a moment before letting it fall. He began to walk through the field of dead bodies, heading for Moscow to destroy it. Other Enix members will destroy all other capitals.
"It seems you will not be lucky enough to see The New World," he whispered to the dead. "But you should still rejoice."
He took a small book from his robes, opened it, and read out loud as he walked past the bodies.
"Let the souls of the weak find peace. May the great will forgive them for not understanding."
He looked up at the sky and saw a great, shining ship outside Earth's atmosphere.
"Not a single human will live," he said. "Except for those chosen by the great Gladious."