All five bodies jerked upright from the beds at the Commander's entrance. His voice boomed, filling the infirmary with authority. One by one, the teens responded, signaling their names.
"Kie, Miko, Seada, Tee, and Zod—the new Sentinels. Guardians of the planet."
At last, Tee had names for the faces tied to her near-death ordeal.
"How are we still alive?" Zod demanded, his wide eyes wild beneath a mess of dry, curly hair.
"I think you mean what attacked us," Kie muttered, a hand pressed to his temple, dark bangs shielding his strained expression.
"Where are we?" Tee thought that was the real question.
Seada and Miko stayed silent.
"That was a test to prove who you are," the Commander declared. "The monster was a hologram. We used tech to make it feel real, to create the impact. The drop, however, was real. You did splatter on the ground."
He gestured, and holographic screens flickered to life. The teens saw themselves bloodied, their uniforms soaked with crimson, bodies tangled with splintered wood. Grimaces spread across their faces.
"Then how are we alive?" Seada finally broke her silence.
"Why would you do such a thing?" Miko's voice cracked, tears threatening. "Couldn't you have tested us another way?"
The Commander remained firm. "You healed. Look."
More images appeared: the moment of their fall, their eyes and hands glowing faintly. Their Ultramite powers hadn't fully activated, but the regenerative effect was clear. The teens had survived through it, proving they were the right ones.
"That meant what, exactly?" Tee said, her voice sharper than she intended.
The Commander turned sharply toward the door. "If you can walk, follow me."
Tee tested the floor with one bare foot. A sharp pain shot through her leg, and a flashback of plummeting slammed her senses. Her whole body seized, forcing her to cling to the bed frame.
The others weren't much better. Zod swayed dangerously as he rose. All of them wore plain white shirts and pants—thin, clinical, leaving Tee feeling exposed. Moving like the frail and aged, every step was an effort as they trailed behind the Commander.
Through two towering doors, they entered a broad hall.
"Where are you taking us?" Zod demanded, his voice rough. "We deserve an explanation."
They all stared at the Commander's back, searching for answers.
"To an elevator," he replied dryly, as if joking.
No one laughed.
They entered in silence. The elevator shuddered, gliding sideways before sinking deep below. When the doors slid open, a solemn hall greeted them—its walls lined with portraits of figures whose hair blazed in impossible shades, each gaze following them with silent judgment.
The passage connected to another corridor, that one breaking open on one side to a wall of cascading greenery. Vines spilled down like living curtains, the air rich with the scent of earth and leaves. Sunlight poured through in golden sheets, revealing the world had already turned to a new day.
"The Grand Elders are waiting for you," the Commander said. "Inside, you'll have your answers."
The doors ahead slid open with a hush. He gestured for them to enter.
The five exchanged uneasy looks before filing inside, one after the other.
The room beyond swallowed them whole. Bookshelves soared high, ladders stretching into shadow. A great round table dominated the center, bathed in dying sunlight pouring through a cathedral window. Chairs lined one side, waiting.
But Tee barely saw the shelves or the table.
Four hooded figures sat before them. The one in gold, his long gray beard spilling from the hood, leaned forward slightly. The others wore deep shades of red, blue, and purple. Their presence pressed against her chest like iron bands.
"Please," the bearded man's voice cracked through the silence, ancient and heavy. "Be seated."
The yellow hood drew slowly back, revealing a face weathered by countless years. Deep wrinkles etched his forehead and cheeks, yet his blue eyes shone with piercing clarity, like fragments of frozen sky.
"Verily, it is a lofty honor to stand in thy noble presence. Thou may address me as Elder Caledor, as it pleaseth thee."
At his words, a tense hush fell over the room, broken only by the soft whisper of fabric as the other three elders removed their hoods.
"And lo, these that stand beside me are Elder Menrith, and Elder Seriphal, and Elder Earvangar, the grand Elders of the Realm of Chewlete."
The purple-clad figure stepped forward, revealing a dark-skinned woman whose black, glossy lipstick gleamed even in the faint light. Her ears were adorned with long, black drop earrings, and her hair, a deep, lustrous purple, was cut sharply at her chin, framing a face that bore the stern authority of unchallenged wisdom.
The dark blue hood revealed a man of plump, golden-hued complexion, his small, squinting eyes almost disappearing beneath a soft smile. His black hair was combed back meticulously, hiding its length, while two large black earrings punctuated the earlobes like ominous symbols of rank.
Finally, the dark red hood receded to expose fiery red eyes that glimmered with disdain. Spiky red hair jutted in chaotic directions, and a short, wiry mustache added to his jagged, menacing expression. He seemed barely contained, a volatile energy coiling beneath his skin.
Elder Caledor raised both hands in measured reverence.
"I perceive that thou hast already crossed paths with the Commander. He hath graciously assumed the role of mentor and instructor henceforth."
His gaze shifted deliberately, piercing each of the five youths in turn, lingering on their expressions as though reading the very marrow of their thoughts. After a long breath, he continued.
"However, thou, even ye five, art in need of a proper introduction, one which taketh us back unto the genesis of the First Apocalypse."
A shadow seemed to deepen in the corners of the chamber, and a chill crept along Tee's spine, curling into her nerves with a ghostly touch. Her last thought wavered, trembling like a candle flame under a draft. The air thickened. The mechanical whirring of metal pines closing, sealing the windows, plunging the room into an almost tangible darkness.
Only a handful of luminescent lights offered a feeble glow, casting fractured shadows that danced unnaturally along the walls. Each distorted figure leapt and writhed in the flickering light, triggering an instinctive tightening of Tee's fingers around the arms of her chair. Flight felt suddenly urgent, though escape seemed impossible in the oppressive gloom.
Yet then, a faint holographic screen flickered into life. Tee allowed herself to relax slightly, leaning back into the chair, realizing the darkness was not an omen but a canvas, intended to focus their attention on the images before them.
A scene unfolded with hypnotic, terrifying clarity. A colossal object hurtled through the black void of space, a blazing inferno trailing from its surface. The moment it collided with Earth, the room seemed to tremble in resonance with the impact, echoing like the roar of a distant thunderclap. Awe and terror intertwined, pressing down upon Tee's chest as though the catastrophe had breached the walls of the chamber itself.
"Our realm hath been plagued by the calamities of the First Apocalypse, which is referred to as Apocalypse Prime," Elder Caledor intoned. "Whilst it bestoweth upon us the essence of life known as Ether energy, the malevolent forces that exist in contrast hath bestowed upon us a grievous and enigmatic affliction, capable of transmuting humankind into ravenous abominations."
Tee's pulse quickened. She knew at once that he referred to the Xenosapians, monstrous predators the Mid-Guard trained them to run away from. And a cold realization struck her — she herself could mutate into such a creature at any moment. The thought of being trapped there, in darkness, so close to the others, made her stomach churn.
Yet the holographic display pressed on, weaving its grim tale. Each flicker revealed grotesque creatures, veined and malformed, their shapes seeming to writhe in and out of the very air of the chamber. Every glimpse sent shivers crawling across Tee's skin, a visceral reminder that the perils they would face were no abstract threat; they were tangible, immediate, and horrifying.
"Though it doth stand as the foremost peril known to mankind, it is not the sole adversary that besets us. And amidst all perils, it is, by far, not the most dire—"
He paused, tilting his gaze sharply toward one of the group. "I beseech thee, permit me to conclude. Ere long, all queries within thy hearts shall find their answers."
Tee glanced at Zod, who slowly lowered his hand, signaling patience.
Tee's brain worked overtime, parsing the archaic dialect, yet the visuals lent clarity to his meaning.
"Thine gathering hither hath been declared as the preparation for thy consecration as warriors, poised to aid humanity in the face of the Xenosapian menace," he continued, his expression flickering briefly, almost imperceptibly. "Yet, I must confess, that proclamation holds but partial truth."
Tee's heart skipped. The truth hung in the air, heavy and electric. She was not at a Mid-Guard. The realization struck her like a hammer.
Brows knitted, hands clenched the armrests, and feet stamped lightly against the cold floor. Anxiety etched itself into all five teenage faces. Or perhaps, some had simply yet to grasp the meaning of his words.
"Methinks thou hast lost them with thy words," rumbled Elder Earvangar, his low laughter vibrating through the room.
"Forgive me. Allow me to speak more modernly," Elder Caledor replied, a small, almost mischievous smile brushing his lips.
Their attention shifted from the flickering holographic emblem to the Elder himself, whose presence now filled the room with palpable authority.
"Unbeknownst by many from the modern world, the First Apocalypse broughteth to Earth a relic which was directly connected to the Second Apocalypse. The relic became known as the Alpha Seal, which, when combined with the Omega Stone, hath the ability to make any mortal into an immortal and indestructible force.
"Drevarus, once a practitioner of the ancient art of Vergants, akin to many brethren and sistren dwelling within the nearby village, had attained mastery over the harmonization of light and dark sorceries. His heart, however, became consumed with an insatiable yearning for the Alpha Seal, the relic that descended upon our realm, instigating the cataclysmic Apocalypse Prime.
"This arcane artifact, when joined with the Omega Stone, possessed the potential to bestow unparalleled might upon any mortal soul. Alas, the Omega Stone remained elusive to the comprehension of our reality, its dual nature concealed from the cognizance of all. Driven by his greed, Drevarus, resorting to the employ of forbidden dark sorcery, sought to forcefully extract power from the Alpha Seal—"
Tee blinked, stunned. The narrative shifted unexpectedly. Her mind raced, trying to reconcile that history with the facts she had always known.
"—thus transforming him into the abomination known as Severin, a creature bereft of humanity's noble essence and consumed by unquenchable darkness. His form distorted, his spirit corrupted, he became an embodiment of malevolence and chaos."
The chamber fell into a tense, almost suffocating silence. Tee's eyes darted to the holographic monsters, flickering with unnatural life in the dim light.
Every shadow seemed to whisper of ancient evils, of powers beyond comprehension, of a world poised on the knife-edge of catastrophe. The elders' presence, commanding and eternal, contrasted sharply against the fragile, mortal youth who sat before them, unprepared yet already bound by destiny to confront the darkness ahead.