The Pestilence, primordial insects, that brought the Modern world to its knees in a matter of a week. Giant insects controlled by humanoid Queen Ants, Termites, and even Bees lead their armies to every major city, nearly whipping humanity from the Earth.
With the emergence of such a large threat, the guardians that had kept themselves hidden from humans for thousands of years finally revealed themselves. Some believe they came too late, others were glad they came at all.
Three hundred years later, in 2323, humanity looked nothing like it once did. Technology regressed but advanced more than five times over. Portals were in all major cities, and one could travel to the opposite side of the planet in a matter of minutes.
The guardians that saved humanity now lived openly among them as Elites. The War against the Pestilence is still going on and for the first time, humans have been on a progressive winning streak. That's all thanks to The Spirit Guardians
The Spirit Guardians are the fighting force that combats the Pestilence using their use of their Spirit Beasts.
Spirit Beasts are Spirit Animals that reside inside of some humans and give them extraordinary abilities based on what Spirit animals they have.
"While technology is continuing to advance the Spirit Guardians are still the number one defense against the Pestilence. If you can unlock or acquire your own Spirit Beast you can be amongst the Spirit Guardians and Protect Humanity!" The middle-aged man said with overt enthusiasm.
Cyrus rolls his eyes and sighs as he puts his head on his desk. "Same old boring history every day in this class. The only good thing about coming is that they feed us." He thought.
A crumpled-up piece of paper hit Crysus's head causing him to turn around.
“Don’t Let the Teacher see you sleeping again or he's just going to lecture you again.” Said a soft concerned voice
Cyrus, still keeping an expressionless face, replied “So let him lecture most of the things he talks about don’t apply to us anyways. Not only are we poor but we’re orphans too, we'll just end up as servants or labor workers. Cyrus says, turning back around and placing his head on his desk.
“Don’t let him get to you, Maya. It's just one of those days he’s having, a deep voice coming from Cryus’s right side. He looks up and sees a young burly dark-skinned man with dreadlocks that touch his shoulders smiling at him while shaking his head.
Darius was Cyrus's best friend since neither of them could recall.
Maya, the girl sitting behind Cyrus, had a concerning look on her face. Maya was a deeply melaninated girl with flawless skin making her the definition of sunkissed. Her hair braided was twisted and she wore gold cuffs on her twists giving them more style. No one could deny the air of beauty around her.
“That's not true Cyrus we could all end up as Spirit Guardians and change our lives forever.” Maya pouted.
Cyrus throws his hand up dismissing the comment without even turning around.
“Girl I think you would be more convincing trying to talk to a wall.” A feminine voice spoke next to Maya.
Maya turns to the voice and continues to make her pouting face. “Is he always so negative before he even sees the results? Our Spirit awakening is happening tomorrow. Anything can happen.”
“Yes, for as long as I’ve known him” The girl named Ariachuckled. Aria was a somewhat chubby girl who acted like a Momma bear. She had a peanut complexion and wore her hair in an Afro ponytail.
“He’s not negative in his eyes, he's just a realist he can’t believe in something that doesn’t have a high enough chance of actually happening Darius replied.
Maya thought for a moment and realized it did align with Cyrus' personality. “But that still doesn’t mean not to take chances, not everything can be calculated.
“Cyrus heard Maya’s words and held on to them for dear life. Of course, he knew something like Spiritual awakening couldn’t be calculated. It was almost impossible to determine if someone would awaken a spirit beast unless it was already in their bloodline.
Among the common citizens, they say it's one in every ten thousand. Amongst the Noble families, it was one in every five. But even if they didn’t awaken a Spirit beast of their families they would always just buy one or have the elders pass it down. Although buying one was half a million Cyber-coins to start with.
With that kind of money, Cyrus and his three friends could completely change their life around. All it would take would be just one of them awakening a spirit beast and becoming a guardian or even selling it so they would invest the money. Cyrus had a plan for any situation if one of them awakened.
Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.
The four of them already agreed they would live together once they graduated High School. If nothing worked out Cyrus and Darius planned on going to work in manual labor while Maya and AriAria worked as servants somewhere. That would be the only way for them to live a comfortable lifestyle.
The Teacher continued to the class and the four friends sat there with their worries about the future: tomorrow they would be graduating and entering adulthood.
***
While leaving the school Cyrus's mood seems to get a lot better from what Maya could tell as they all walked back to the Orphanage.
They were in a large city that went miles both ways at the center. Yet currently they were at the edge of the city where most of the orphanages and low-cost houses were. Most people who lived on the edge of the city stayed there most of their lives. It was the most dangerous part of the city. While the Spirit Guardians protected the city. There would still be Stray Petilince creatures that broke through or even tunnels underground in the city's large force field.
“So what Spirit beast would you guys want to awaken if you do awaken tomorrow,” Maya spoke.
Without saying a word Cyrus's head went immediately towards the sky but he didn’t say anything.
“It doesn’t matter what I get as long as it's a strong one that I can use to punch stuff with,” Darius said, punching his fist in his hand.
Both Cyrus and Aria knew Darius was going to reply this way. He’s been like that since middle school.
“I want a Spirit Beast that protects my comrades, maybe like a turtle or a bear. Something with good defense Arianoded. “What about you?”
Maya thought for a bit. “Something that I can use to protect myself would be good enough for me.”
Cyrus his head around when Maya said those words which caused her to slightly blush a little. But no words left his mouth and he turned back around continuing to walk.
“We could always become gangsters,” Darius said, sneering and looking in Cyrus’s direction.
“We would still live in the Rim though? Why would I want to be king of the slums? Besides, we wouldn't be fighting the pestilence. for real just other people. Cyrus said.
Maya stopped walking. “Wait, was he serious about joining that gang that approached you guys two years ago? I thought you said he would never consider doing anything like that.” Maya said, turning to Aria
“Well.” Aria Said with a nervous laugh
Darius was trying to contain his laughter off to the side. Before Aria could explain Maya continued her questioning.“So what changed his mind?”
Before Aria could respond again. Cyrus let out a cough and she remained quiet. Maya began to blush at the realization.
"He didn't join because of me? Does he like me that much or because of the reason earlier? Maya thought for a moment but still couldn't come to a conclusion.
Maya was somewhat new to the orphanage she only became an orphan two years ago and it was Aria who became her friend and the person she
relied on at the orphanage. Aria was already close to Darius and Cyrus and so they added Maya to their little family.
Once they arrived at the orphanage they were greeted by the many younger children. Which put a smile on all of their faces. Maya noticed that Cyrus' whole demeanor completely changed. He wasn't wearing his stone-cold face like he usually would and there were even more children to greet him than Aria who was the mother hen for all of the children. Even more so than the sister nuns that worked there. She wondered why she never noticed before.
The Orphanage was a very large house that could almost be considered a mansion. It held about twenty rooms with about four children living in every room. It was run by the Vatican Church which was still operational and relevant today. They were in charge of keeping the World's history. So while they were not powerful outright they played a key role in the government.
The Orphanage was by no means run down or neglected, all of the children lived comfortably there but it was in a crime-filled neighborhood. As Cyrus, Darius, Aria, and Maya walked back to their usual hangout spot in the backyard they were stopped by one of the sister nuns.
“Oh, Cyrus, Father Paul wanted me to inform you that you and your friends can stay till the end of the month but will have to leave by the beginning of the next. To make room for more children of course.
Cyrus gave a half smile. “Yes sister, I am aware and my friends have already made the proper arrangements.
With that, she said her farewell and was off to tend to the other children. As soon as she wasn’t in hearing distance Darius scoffed. “Does he have to send a sister nun to remind us every week that he needs us out of here?
“Can you blame him? He should get a bigger budget once we get out of here. Younger kids are more likely to get adopted too.” Cyrus replied as he flopped down on the Gazebo bench.
There was a large Gazebo behind the Orphanage plus a basketball court and playground. Some people think this belongs to a wealthy family in the old world but no one was completely sure.
“So if one of us does manage to awaken a Spirit beast should we sell it?” Aria asked Cyrus who was staring off in the distance.
“It depends on who gets it and what the spirit beast is. Also most importantly the decision is the person who awakens. I am mainly saying this to you, Maya. If you awaken and want to leave us behind you are more than welcome too. You're not obligated to us. Cyrus said.
“You guys are my family! I would never leave you.” Maya snapped.
Aria held Maya’s arm to calm her down. “He was just asking because you're the newest one in the family, not because he doesn't think you’ll abandon us. She said gently.
“Anyways me and Cyrus already agreed that we would try to become Spirit Guardians if we awakened. Mainly because it's a steady income for the family. But we still need to know what the two of you would do if you were the ones. Keep in mind being a Guardian is very profitable but it's a dangerous job. Darius warned.
Maya and Aria both nodded their heads. “I would want to Sell mine. I wouldn't want to be anywhere too long without you guys. Aria said while throwing a glance at Darius.
“I think I would want to be a guardian too. There are people out there that need help and children that need to be saved just like how I was.” Maya said. “But what if all of us get awakened.?
Darius was the first one to laugh. “Then we'll start our own Spirit Guardian team and take the world by storm.”
Cyrus smiled and held out his hand. “We live together.”
Darius gave a smile of his own back while grabbing Cyrus's hand. “We Die together.” Darius and Aria replied.
Maya smiles at the boys and Aria for the strong bond between them. “How great it is to have found another family so fast.” She thought.
After that, they went to eat dinner and went to sleep. In the morning they were headed to the Spirit Guardian Center for their graduation.
***
Somewhere deeper in the city lives a young scientist who looked to be in his late 20s at most. He was at His desk looking at three sphere calendars that had a light blue color to them. If one looked closely inside they would see a beast within the palm-sized sphere. It was none other than a Spirit Beast Crystal easily worth Million if not Billions of cyber-coins. This man had three of them.
“These are worth probably 100 billion cyber-coins each. I would probably buy a small Nation or Guild with just one of these. He said. “If the world knew of these it would start a World War that would never end.”
He quickly gets up and places them in his pocket. “But why would I do that when I need to get my revenge on the most powerful family to ever exist? I’ve created the perfect counter to all of you.” The man says while looking out at the city.
“But I can’t just give these powerful beasts to anyone. I need to give it to someone who I can manipulate. Teenagers perhaps. An animalistic smile appeared on the man’s face. Of course, who would hate you more than me if not them? He says as he touches his wall-size window.
The glass seemed to blink out of existence letting in the cold night air. The man breathes it and steps forward and lets himself fall from the 20-story building he was just in. He lets out a smile as the wind hits his face and his lab coat blows in the wind from his fall. The Moment he is about to touch the ground the wings of a falcon Manifest on his back taking him right back up in the sky with a single flap.
“I should reach the border by morning. I’m sure I’ll find the right test subjects there.” The man began to laugh as he flew through the night sky.