No more than a few hours have passed since I met Naomi but I have given her my complete trust. Almost as one would trust a sibling. I trust her with my life and I have gained a power I don’t fully understand. The Vortex courses through my body and has given me the power few have ever dreamed of. I’ll use this power to take the vengeance my people deserve.

Naomi preforms a physical on me to make sure the first phase is complete. After a thorough full body sweep, I am given a CT scan. Naomi looks at the results on a holographic screen that emerges from a band on her arm as we walk up from the medical ward.

“The second phase is better to have done the day you awaken from the first phase.” She says as she looks over the information. “We will trigger the next phase shortly.”

“What do you mean?” I ask.

“You’ll find out soon,” she responds.

We arrive at the door. She puts her hand on the console and it opens. She quickly rushes me to the jet. Once we are outside, she jumps up into the cockpit in one bound.

“Okay now you try. No hands though,” Naomi says.

The cockpit is five feet off the ground. That’s not too high but to do it in one jump is impossible. Preparing myself to jump, I plant my feet firmly then squat down to get optimal liftoff.

“Stop,” Naomi yells.

“What is it?” I ask while still in an awkward position.

“Are you trying to kill yourself?” she asks angrily hanging out of the plane. “With the amount of energy you would put out from jumping like that, you’ll injure yourself. I told you your bones have not been strengthened yet, didn’t I?”

“How am I supposed to know? I’m new at this!”

“Just jump normally,” she says as she pulls herself back into the plane. “That should be more than enough power.”

I stand and jump. She is right. With a single leap, I am a few feet above the cockpit and land in my seat. I’m glad she stopped me. If she hadn’t, no doubt I would’ve ended up killing myself.

She doesn’t close the cockpit this time I lean over the seat to see what she’s doing. Next to her right hand is what looks like a staff made out of a piece of faded old wood. I can see an inscription carved on its head.

“Only those who seek out the light know they are in darkness.” Naomi and I say simultaneously in Latianeus I think. I can’t tell anymore.

A keypad emerges from the staff, it is numbers and symbols appear in ancient Latianeus. Naomi inputs a code and the elevator starts moving upwards.

“That language can get you out of some sticky situations when dealing with the ancient ruins of the Black Technologists,” Naomi says.

“I’ll remember that,” I say as I scratch my head. “Are there any other ruins that still work like this one?”

“None I know of. Most ruins were cleaned out by grave robbers or other countries. They were pretty badly war-torn.”

“So this one is special and yet an Oracle knew of its existence. I find that hard to believe but I don’t think you’re making it up.”

“Good,” she says relieved. “The last thing I want is for you to think of me as is an evil conspirator.”

“Aren’t you a conspirator or an extremist? You did betray your country to help an enemy.”

“If you say it like that then yeah, I guess I am an extremist,” she says with a humorous tone. “The way I see it, we’re saving the world from a new reign of terror.”

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“How so? I thought this was just revenge.”

“I don’t want you to think like that. With the amount of Black Technology the Gandole now possess, Gods would fear them. The Gandole are more imperialistic then the Aidoshians were and now they have the power to become a sovereign ruler over all.”

“You have to be exaggerating,” I say assuredly. “Gandalia is a powerful country but surely not strong enough to take over the world. Besides you said only Aidoshians can use Pure Black Technology.”

“That was true until recently. I did not tell you this earlier,” she says. “My grandfather’s first apprentice Dr. Genome (Jē-nōm) created what they call an Artificial Intelligent Humanoid Life-Form Project AIHL. The artificial Aidoshian program.”

“Artificial Aidoshian. How is that possible?”

“Project AIHL was supposed to be the replacement for the Aidoshian race. As far as I know Dr. Genome spliced the DNA of one hundred male and one hundred female Gandole children. The project would have created a new race of superhuman soldiers however, only one male child survived Project Aihl. To make him into the perfect killer, he added a few animal traits. You will most likely have to fight and defeat him one day. He’s the pilot of the Alpha Myrmidon suit.”

“The Gandole are crazy,” I pause for a moment, “except for your grandfather and you, of course, Naomi,” I say to catch myself.

The steel door opens above us and the beaming light fills the dark catacomb. The sky is as blue as the day I went down. A calming sensation fills me as we get closer to the light and the alluring aroma of the wild flowers fill the air. I lean back in my seat to enjoy the trip up to the surface. This bliss is only momentary.

“Alright can you get out I need some privacy,” A Naomi says as soon as we get to ground level.

“Yes of course,” I respond.

I climb over the side and slide off the aircraft. I hit the grassy field and don’t feel any pain. Naomi does not come out but about a minute later she tosses me a military grade green camouflage uniform and army-style boots. The jacket has the Gandole Griffin crest stitched on the left sleeve.

“This will be your disguise for now. Hurry and put it on,” she says as she peeks over from the plane’s cockpit.

I had completely forgotten I have been strutting around in my underwear since the Vortex was implanted.

“What’s the matter? You want me to dress you?” she asks sarcastically as she retreats from sight inside of the cockpit.

“I can dress myself,” I say as I pull the pants on and button them.

After a few minutes she climbs out of the cockpit with a uniform like mine. She has a duffel bag stretched around her and the old staff in her hand. It is much longer than it looked in the jet it must have been integrated into the plane’s systems. Surprisingly it is nearly as tall as Naomi who is at least five foot seven.

“The city we’re going to is in a Gandole province. If they find out you’re Aidoshian they will report us, and the last thing we need is for the Gandole to find out about the Black Technology Ruin.”

“Wouldn’t it be better if I didn’t go then? My accent and skin is a dead giveaway,” I say.

“Not if you were a spy that had to pick up the accent to slowly crawl and claw your way into the Aidoshians Brotherhood. Lucky for us a lot of people here share the Aidoshian reddish complexion. So you don’t have to worry about sticking out.”

“You sure have thought this through.”

She nods and walks towards the tree line that circles the open field. I trail behind her wondering why we wouldn’t take the plane. She stops and looks up at one of the trees and in one leap, she jumps into the tree canopy, vanishing in the leaves and branches. Moments later she appears lazily sitting on one of the branches.

“Your turn,” she yells down.

“Are you crazy?” I shout back. “I can’t do that!”

“Just let the Seed take you. It will show you what to do,” she says.

I close my eyes and look deep within myself in hopes to hear a voice or some sort of guide, but after a minute passes to no avail I reopen my eyes. “If I have to do this, I’ll give it my all!”

“That’s the spirit,” Naomi says cheering me on.

I squat down and jump up. Within seconds I am in the air a couple of feet above the tree canopy. It is so amazing that I let out a single, “Yaahoo!” from my excitement. The sensation abruptly leaves me as I fall back down to earth. The world turns in slow motion. Even my fall slows down, but I can move just as fast as I could before. This must be the Black Seed. I reach for a branch in front of me. When I grab hold of it the world speeds back up.

“That was acceleration,” Naomi says to me. “The Black Seed supercharges every muscle, quickens your reaction time and, enhances all of the senses beyond superhuman levels. Right now you can only use acceleration in times of distress or adrenal stimulation by accidentally activating the program subconsciously. I will train you to be able to use acceleration at any given moment,” she says as she stretches the staff over to me. With one hand she pulls me over to her. “The enemies we face that have Black Technology will be fully trained to use acceleration, because it is the most basic of Black Seed skills.”

“That was the basics? Then this might be impossible for me,” I say as I position myself on the branch so I won’t fall.

“Don’t say that,” Naomi says with a smile. “I believe my grandfather. You will ride the Rift.” Naomi stands. “Come on. Let’s get going,” she says as she hops to the next tree.

“This is crazy,” I say followed by a long sigh as I stand and prepare for another jump.