He continued down the immense, curving corridor, the silence broken only by the faint, almost imperceptible hum of the building's systems. He was about to check his phone again when his eyes caught on a small splash of vibrant color against the stark white and blue, an anomaly in the otherwise spotless environment.
A girl was kneeling there, her back to him, next to a long, built-in planter that ran along the base of the massive window. Her focus was absolute as she gently tended to a row of brightly colored flowers, her fingers carefully pruning a wilted leaf here, adjusting the soil there. In a place that felt scrubbed clean of all life, here was a small, defiant garden.
He slowed his pace, intrigued. The girl didn't seem to notice him, her attention devoted entirely to the flowers in her care. Unwilling to disturb her quiet work, he gave the small garden a wide berth and continued on his way.
Niata glanced at his phone, checking the room number he had just passed. 327. The message on his phone clearly said 378.
Tiamoth should have asked someone to accompany me, Niata thought to himself, his legs rushing onward. These room numbers are as scrambled as my memories were.
He peeked over his shoulder without turning his head. The girl who had been tending the flowers was now walking right behind him. She was tall and seemingly skinny, with long brown hair, round eyeglasses, and clothes that seemed a size too big for her.
"Wait," a voice, light as a feather, whispered past his ear.
Niata stopped mid-stride and turned towards her. "Why are you following me?" he asked, his tone uneven.
"My name is Dea," she replied, looking out the window instead of at him. "We met a few days ago when you arrived. You introduced yourself." Her voice was soft, and her eyes shifted between Niata and the window.
"Uh... I'm sorry!" Niata chuckled, putting his hands in his pockets. "I can't remember because of the whole Origin Stone thingy."
Dea's eyes widened, and she shook her head from left to right. "No, I'm sorry... I should have remembered that the Stone does that!"
Niata extended his arm, a wide smile across his face. "Nice to meet you, Dea. I'm Niata," he said. Very shy girl, he thought.
Dea raised her hand quickly and gave his a light, brief shake. "I remember your name," she said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear and offering a small smirk.
"Okay, time is running out," Niata said, turning and violently pulling his phone out. The time was 14:54. "We should be at the hall in, like, five minutes."
"No, look. On your left," Dea said.
"Oh." Niata turned to see a plate with the number 378 written above a set of double doors right in front of him.
Dea slowly lifted a hand, took a black earpiece from her ear, and showed it to Niata. "Don't you have this?" she asked, her left hand supporting her right as it trembled slightly.
"Yeah, but I left it in my room," Niata said, raising a single eyebrow. "Why...?"
"Uhm... if you long-press the button with the headphone symbol, you can talk to the Guardian Dome... and ask for directions..." Dea's voice was barely steady as she slowly placed the earpiece back in her right ear.
A flicker of confusion crossed Niata's face. "Is that so?" He raised his phone to check the time again. "Let's go in..." Niata pushed the door inwards.
Why didn't Liosa or Tiamoth tell me about that? Are they for real? Niata thought as he pushed the double doors inward.
Beyond the doors, the sterile white of the corridor gave way to a vast, circular hall. Many of his peers were gathered in small groups, their voices a soft murmur of crowd chatter that filled the air. The walls and ceiling maintained the Dome's sterile aesthetic, but the floor was a polished, reflective black that mirrored every movement.
The moment Niata and Dea stepped inside, the murmur cooled. All eyes turned to look at them. Niata scanned the room. Every one of them, students of different heights and builds, was wearing the same form-fitting Tyroni suit he had seen on the website. He glanced at Dea; she wore one too, though hers was mostly hidden under her oversized clothes. I didn't even get the memo to wear the suit, he thought, his gaze drifting to nowhere in particular.
"Edge lord!"
The sharp yell snapped Niata out of his thoughts. A short, pale girl with a jangling pink highlight in her hair was walking towards them. She wore a high-top jacket, but underneath it, her Tyroni suit was visible.
"Ryple," a clear voice said. The tallest and biggest of the students, a boy built like a mountain, not in a fat way, stepped forward. "That's insensitive."
Ryple ignored him, a mocking grin on her face as she imitated Niata's own determined whisper from his training. "'What I seek is vengeance, not revenge! I seek the truth that was stolen from me!'"
Did I really say that out loud? Niata thought, a wave of secondhand embarrassment washing over him. Holy cringe fest. He felt his cheeks flush.
As Ryple laughed, his eyes drifted to a boy standing near the back, a quiet figure as tall as Toro. He wore a mask that covered the lower half of his face, and the eye holes were so darkened that nothing was visible within. He had bushy black hair. Just as Niata thought, He smells like a good person, the figure turned, pausing for a moment as he looked at Niata. Then, he gave a small wave.
As he stood in the formation, Niata's eyes scanned the room, taking in the faces around him. He did a quick, almost subconscious headcount.
I count eleven others… then there's me and Dea. And Toro, though he's not here, since he's still busy with his space exploration stuff. So that makes about fourteen of us. Fourteen. That's nearly double the number who came five years ago, and they're all from different parts of the world.
"Hey again! I'm Noah," he said with a loud, friendly chuckle.
Across the room, Neo waved at him with a cheerful smile.
"FUTURE GUARDIANS!"
The voice was a thunderclap from behind them. The scattered students scrambled, and in an instant, everyone had repositioned themselves into perfect military lines. In perfect alignment, they stood shoulder to shoulder, heads raised, eyes fixed ahead. Their arms rested stiffly at their sides, a formation forged in discipline.
Niata stared in confusion as it happened. Neo, now standing in the line to his right, gave him a sharp head gesture, urging him to get in line. Before he could react, a bulky figure appeared right behind him. Neo extended her right hand and pulled Niata into the formation. He quickly tried to mimic the others' posture, his heart hammering and his palms slick with sweat.
An average-height, bulky man in a leather jacket, with a black buzz cut, walked past them. He held a thick, ancient-looking book in his hand. He stopped at the front of the formation, his gaze landing directly on Niata.
"New kid," he said.
"Y-yes..." Niata responded, his voice shaky. This guy smells of cigarettes, he thought.
The man walked to the center, in front of them all. "I am Rhino, kids," he said, his eyes flicking back to Niata before addressing the group. Rhino. A high-level 4 Guardian, Niata recalled from the website.
"The current year is 600 Post-Catalyst Incident," Rhino spoke loudly, his voice like rough stones rubbing against each other. "We all know what happened around this month 600 years ago. An asteroid carrying the Pure Energy crystal, now known as the Essence Seed, crashed into the Earth!"
This is so weird, Niata thought, his face beaded with sweat. Are we the police?
"This event shifted our world, made it unique! Because chains, invisible chains of balance, millions of them, extruded from the Earth, across and out of our vast and endless universe, extending through our Multiverse! It made our Earth, our galaxy, our solar system the very center of the multiverse itself! Our world against infinite other universes. Us!" A smirk played on his lips as he spoke. "Over a hundred years passed, and then a man, our Sovereign Knight, revealed himself. Great in power, he shared vast knowledge of Essence, the power to reshape worlds, universes! He shared this knowledge. He created the Origin Stone. He taught. He wrote!"
He continued, "His greatest disciple, Soilimiah, 'The Progenitor of the Guardians,' created our ranking system, our Guardian Association, our Guardian Program! She further shared his knowledge with the world! It is written by Liku!"
"I heard the Existence Text book makes people go insane," Neo whispered next to Niata. "Especially reading past the first chapter. It has a written warning in it."
Niata nodded, his face still sweaty as he side-eyed Neo.
Rhino raised the massive book in his hand, suspending it in the air. "Though we do not know where Master Liku went, we as Guardians were tasked with his legacy! To protect our civilization! To grow!"
Every student slammed their right fist to their chest. "And do what?!" Rhino yelled.
"WE SET OUR SOULS ABLAZE!" they shouted, their uniform voice echoing through the hall.
Niata didn't say it with them. He was too confused. In an instant, Rhino disappeared from the front and reappeared directly in front of him, his face inches from Niata's. Niata stared into the abyss of the man's gaze, trying to stay calm.
"No Tyroni suit?" Rhino said, his voice low and dangerous. "And not appreciating the greatest motto EVER?" He pointed the edge of the massive book at Niata's chest. "Who was your instructor, new kid?!"
Niata's heart beat faster. "It... it was Miss Liosa," he said with a shaky tone.
The other students remained stone-faced, looking directly ahead, though some were now side-eyeing the confrontation.
"Clearly, ranking higher isn't a true measure of intelligence," Rhino said, nodding his head. "No visible earpiece. No Tyroni. Not prepared. Liosa, low-level 5 my ass!" He leaned in closer. "Tell me about Essence, boy! I'll give you twenty seconds! Go!"
"Huh...? Oh, okay," Niata responded, his mind racing. "Essence makes up souls. Humans have always had two souls from the dawn of their existence: the inner and outer soul. All plants and animals have one soul, the inner soul. The outer soul is used, commonly used to draw out and use Essence..." he mumbled, but was cut off.
"I CAN'T HEAR YOU, BOY!" Rhino roared.
"THE INNER SOUL HAS THE PUREST ESSENCE AND IS WHERE CONSCIOUSNESS LIES!" Niata shouted, his unsteady voice echoing through the hall. "SO ATTEMPTING TO ABSORB FOREIGN ESSENCE WILL DAMAGE IT! THAT IS WHY, WHEN ENERGY SHARE IS USED, THE ESSENCE SHARED LEAVES THROUGH THE WOUNDS OR OTHER PARTS BECAUSE IT CANNOT BE KEPT IN THE BODY! IT IS REJECTED BY IT, AND..."
"That's enough, new kid," Rhino said, cutting him off as he slowly walked back to his initial position. "I mean, Niata. I can see why my big friend Tiamoth allowed you in. You're smart." Rhino chuckled. "You could probably recite the entire ten-thousand pages of the Essence Mastery book."
He turned back to the group. "Young Guardians, I believe in your potential! I believe you won't be stuck at high-level 4 like most of us veterans in the Guardian Association! You can go higher through progress! I see that with Tiamoth's genius guiding you!"
"We can reach the power Vika has," a shorter, black-haired student said.
"That's quite a goal you have, kid. I mean, Herpin," Rhino responded.
Every head in the formation turned towards Blitz. Niata was confused.
"Blitz, Vika is your older sister, no?" Neo asked.
Niata's eyes widened. He had known who Vika was, but not her family relations. Blitz was unresponsive, his face stone-cold and stoic.
She is the most powerful Guardian in the current era, Niata mumbled to himself, his mind racing. Only one of two who are low-level 6. I didn't know Blitz was her younger brother.
"She goes around with a giant sword on her back," a ginger-haired girl with green eyes said, pointing at Herpin. "It's literally almost as tall as her, and she is short. Shorter than Herpin." She chuckled.
Herpin puffed out his chest. "Hey! I'm not that short!" he protested, though a faint blush crept up his neck.
"Kid... I mean, Valra," Rhino said, ignoring the interruption. "She's got powers that let you levitate, fly, lift things without touching them. And just walking around with that behemoth like it's no big deal? That's some crazy business. But hey, not my business, it's Vika's."
"It's a greatsword, sir, but not as epic as my swords," a bald-headed boy with a katana on his hip said.
"Alright, sword nerd, Aric!" Ryple chimed in.
"Alright, kids! Young Guardians, do not limit yourselves..."
A girl with a short afro and large, visible earrings rushed out from the line and bolted out of the hall.
"Where is Xho going?!" Rhino yelled.
"Not a fan of interactions," a pair of identical twins, one with shorter brown hair and the other with longer, said in perfect synchronization.
Niata stared at Blitz's stone face, then looked away. Not responding to anything about his sister is weird, he thought. Especially when she is the most powerful in the entire world.
"New kid... Show us what you got," Rhino said, his voice cutting through the quiet.
The students broke formation, a ripple of excitement passing through the room. Niata's eyes widened. "What I got?"
"You will be facing Blake," Rhino said, nodding slowly toward Blitz, who had already approached the center of the hall and stopped. "Though... he will be minimizing his potency. Right, Blake?"
"Blitz. Not Blake, old man," Blitz responded dismissively, not turning to look at Rhino.
Niata moved slowly towards the center, clenching his fists. "Why do things just happen so randomly?" he mumbled loudly to himself. "I should have been notified."This guy is even more intense than Miss Liosa.
"Sorry, kid," Rhino said, resting himself against the wall and folding his arms. "You have to talk to Liosa about it."
"Don't burn him! Don't burn him!" Herpin yelled, his voice echoing across the room.
Ryple rushed forward and kicked his right knee. "Ahgg!" Herpin screamed, hopping on one foot.
"Please shut it, short stuff," Ryple said.
Across the hall, at the very center, Niata and Blitz faced each other. A brilliant turquoise aura erupted around Niata, while a furious red one blazed to life around Blitz.
Niata settled into a ready stance. He stood tall, feet shoulder-width apart, his rear heel raised slightly. His fists hovered just below his eyes, elbows flared forward to guard his center. Every muscle seemed ready to spring, his posture both defensive and dangerous.
From the sidelines, Valra's expression lit up, her eyebrows lifting, her eyes glinting with sudden interest.