Voltrago stood as the preeminent city-planet in the Aries Stella System, boasting unrivaled Psionic Technology—often misinterpreted as "sorcery" by Primitives—and serving as the capital of the Aries Constellation. Its gleaming spires reached toward distant stars, a testament to centuries of innovation and ambition.
This advanced Psionic Technology branched into two principal disciplines: Chiology, the study of Energy, Spirit-Force, or The Flow within and surrounding Matter; and Deekeology, the examination of DNA Engineering for creating Super-Soldiers. While other scientific fields flourished on Voltrago, these two dominated technological innovation, particularly in Military and Psychic Defense applications, shaping the planet's cultural identity and social hierarchy.
The entire Aries Constellation relied on Voltrago's superior space defense mechanisms, where elite military and psychic-defense cadets trained before deployment to other galaxies, solar systems, and planets to instruct additional recruits throughout the constellation. This responsibility weighed heavily on Voltragan leadership, who understood their role as guardians of peace across countless worlds.
Monolithic super-skyscrapers dominated Voltrago's landscape, connected by smart bridges facilitating efficient transportation. Sky Cabs, aircraft, and private air vehicles filled the atmosphere, moving citizens in organized patterns despite their apparent chaos. Transparent Tubeways housed supersonic trains and trams that whisked passengers between distant locations at remarkable speeds. Sky Cities hovered above, mobile urban centers that could relocate within legally designated airspace, their undersides glowing with the soft blue light of anti-gravity generators.
In antiquity, Voltrago initiated the unification of galaxies within the Aries Constellation to protect against territorial invasions. This campaign garnered favorable responses across the constellation, with alliances multiplying rapidly within mere decades by Central Galactic Time Reckoning. As Voltrago evolved into the most advanced City-Planet in Aries, the Constellation Council naturally designated it the Capital-Planet. Subsequently, the Alliance of the Aries Space Marine formed to shield the constellation from external threats, cementing Voltrago's status as the planetary capital of the Aries Stella System.
The Aries Constellation itself occupied the Northern celestial hemisphere between Pisces to the West and Taurus to the East, with the Ram as its celestial totem—the same insignia Tcenex wore when his shuttle crash-landed on Earth. Though relatively dim when viewed from Earth, Aries contained four bright stars: second-magnitude Hamal (Alpha Arietis), third-magnitude Sheratan (Beta Arietis), and fourth-magnitude Mesarthim (Gamma Arietis) and forty-one Arietis. Its faint deep-sky objects included several interacting galaxy pairs, while meteor showers like the Daytime Arietids and Epsilon Arietids appeared to radiate from the constellation, creating spectacular light displays for astronomers across multiple worlds.
Ranking thirty-ninth in size among the eighty-eight known constellations of the Infiniverse, Aries encompassed four hundred and forty-one square degrees—approximately 1.1 percent of the Celestial Sphere by Sumerian Calendar reckoning—and lay about two hundred and ninety light-years from Earth. This cosmic region housed Voltrago, renowned as the Planet of Thunder and Lightning, where electrical storms danced across the horizon in mesmerizing patterns that inspired generations of poets and artists.
Within the prestigious Quantumatrix Cadet Academy on Voltrago, Drill-Captain Xadanex—whose name meant "Soft-Palmed HammerHand"—conducted a training session with new cadets. His weathered face, marked with fine lines around eyes that had witnessed centuries of galactic history, remained stern yet compassionate as he surveyed his charges. The Vontrago Central school, where Tcenex had graduated, represented the pinnacle of achievement for specially selected A-list cadets from every galaxy in the Aries Constellation, transforming them into either Super-Soldiers or Super-Sages.
"Today's lesson focuses on tactical applications of psionic energy," Xadanex announced to the three hundred cadets seated in their Classpods, his resonant voice carrying effortlessly through the vast chamber.
Their Mindpads—info-chip implants within each cadet's brain—biometrically recorded digital notes as long as they maintained attention. The diverse class comprised Human-looking cadets, Humanoids, and various Alien beings ranging from graceful to grotesque. Some sat with perfect posture, eyes forward and minds alert, while others fidgeted slightly, their auras betraying their nervousness or excitement.
Xadanex cherished his role, feeling a surge of pride as he gazed upon the eager faces before him. Nothing pleased him more than witnessing these gifted cadets graduate as Super-Soldiers or Super-Sages under his guidance. He had chosen this path not from interest in rank advancement—he could have become a General or Field Marshal by now—but from contentment in service rather than career ambition. The warmth of purpose filled him daily, a sensation he valued more than any promotion or accolade.
Moreover, only two individuals had mastered both Super-Soldier and Super-Sage training to the highest level, while most cadets selected either the School of Military Cadetship or the School of Monastery Cadetship. These two exceptional individuals were Tcenex and Xadanex himself, a fact that created an unspoken bond between them despite their different generations.
After completing both training regimens, Xadanex had volunteered as drill-captain for both schools, accepting that his rank would never advance beyond Drill-Captain regardless of his performance. He viewed his position not as employment but as service to his planet and the entire Aries Constellation. Each morning, he would stand before his mirror, straighten his uniform, and whisper his personal mantra: "To guide is to give life twice."
Centuries later, Tcenex enrolled in the Faculty of Special Armaments under Xadanex, who had barely aged—Voltragans experienced an extraordinarily slow aging process, their cellular structure reinforced by the unique electromagnetic fields of their homeworld. Xadanex immediately noticed the young cadet's exceptionally bright Frequency Signature, an aura brighter than his own had been at that age, pulsing with untapped potential. This prompted him to encourage Tcenex to apply for both schools, despite the cadet's preference for Military Cadetship.
"You'll thank me later," Xadanex had told the reluctant cadet, his hand resting firmly on Tcenex's shoulder, without revealing that he had foreseen Tcenex's destiny—a future across distant stars where the young cadet would become a superhero on some far-off world. The wise drill-captain kept this privileged insight private, believing Tcenex should discover his own path. His only gift was encouraging mastery of both disciplines, preparing the cadet for his eventual offworld fate.
Trusting his handler's judgment, Tcenex reasoned that Xadanex's suggestion must have merit. The younger Voltragan often found himself studying his mentor's expressions, searching for clues to the older man's wisdom. "Don't worry about admission to both schools," Xadanex had assured him, his eyes twinkling with secret knowledge, knowing which bureaucratic buttons to press. Thus, Tcenex graduated from both institutions, emerging as both Super-Soldier and Super-Sage, unaware of the cosmic journey that awaited him beyond the familiar skies of Voltrago.