When the synthetic voiced finished its message there was complete silence in the orphanage. No one dared to move, not even the five little ones.

Ace was just as confused as his younger siblings. The promised 15 cycles? What was the voice talking about? He looked over at Thalia. Unlike everyone else in the building she didn't seem surprised at all by the ethereal voice and its warning. Instead, she seemed oddly... prepared? Her bright eyes were full of a grim determination as she sprinted towards a ladder and broke the silence with a booming voice. "Everyone, follow me!"

Thalia ushered everyone up to the flat roof, taking special care with the little ones. Once outside, they saw that the moon had been encircled by 12 green lights. They were as small as any other star in the sky but with each second they were growing in size.

Looking out over the slums, Ace noticed they weren't the only ones observing the spectacle. Thousands of people were climbing onto their roofs and pointing at the lights. Ace himself was unsure about what they were. Based on the little information Thalia had told him about origins of sever energy, he could only assume that these bright green lights were somehow related to the Interlopers and their supposed return.

Only a few moments after getting on the roof, the green lights had tripled in size. Then, almost like a firework, all but one of the green lights flew away from the Moon, leaving ethereal trails in their wake. The final light began a descent until it settled above GQC-1 at a size that was almost five times larger than Moon. Once settled, the light from the orb faded until the moonlight replaced it, revealing a gargantuan black diamond shaped object.

"ARRIVAL COMPLETE....COMMENCING EVALUATION"

With those words, Ace noticed a strange white glow. This time, it wasn't coming from above. Looking down he could see that he was shining like a star. He wasn't the only one...Thalia, Icarus, and all the kids too? Looking around the slums he saw brilliant dots of lights as the the millions of residents across the outskirts lit up. Even the city center was awash with white light as its population of almost several hundred million matched the glow of the slum residents.

Seconds passed as everyone grew brighter, eventually forcing Ace to close his eyes. It wasn't enough. The radiance was so blinding that Ace could see the veins in his eyelids. Scared of being blinded, Ace reached up to cover his eyes with his forearm but the light was gone.

With the same speed that it appeared, it had faded into nothingness.

The phantom voice once again resonated across the installation.

"EVALUATION COMPLETE"

"SEVER EXPOSURE DEEMED....UNSATISFACTORY"

"HUMAN BEHAVIOR DEEMED...UNSATISFACTORY"

"HUMAN COMBAT POTENTIAL DEEMED.....UNSATISFACTORY"

"JUDGEMENT WILL NOW BE PASSED"

Ace shifted around uncomfortably. It didn't take a sharp mind to see that humanity had seemingly wasted the 15 years it had been granted, at least for this installation. Three unsatisfactory ratings. He wasn't sure what they meant, but he could only assume that it wasn't good. He waited with bated breath, preparing himself for the worst as he gathered his younger siblings in a one-armed embrace.

Only a few seconds later, the voice rang out again, only this time it spoke with more speed, almost as if it was....excited?

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"NOTICE....NOTICE....NOTICE"

"HUMAN ANOMALIES DETECTED....REVALUATING COMBAT POTENTIAL"

"HUMAN COMBAT POTENTIAL DEEMED....SATISFACTORY"

"THE MARK HAS BEEN MET, COMMENCING STAGE 2 OF EVALUATION....COMBAT TESTING"

"DISTRIBUTING WARDENS..."

"RELEASING THE BARRIER..."

"PARAMETERS HAVE BEEN SET..."

"COMBAT TESTING WILL BEGIN IN TWELVE HOURS....DURATION WILL BE ONE EARTH YEAR"

"ANSWERS LIE WITH THE WARDENS"

"FAILURE WILL RESULT IN ERASURE"

As the voice fizzled out, Ace slumped down onto the floor, a wave of relief washing over him. He thought that was the end of the theatrics but as he looked back up he found an object floating in front of his face only a few inches away. It was a sphere as dark as the night sky and no larger than his fist. He could have easily reached out and grasped it but his cautious nature prevented him from doing so.

Incredibly confused, he looked around at everyone else and became even more concerned with what he saw.

Hovering in front everyone was the same black sphere. He looked to Thalia first but she only shrugged her shoulders as she looked back at him. It was clear she didn't understand what was happening either.

Deep in the throws of uncertainty, his mind began to wander. 'What is this thing? I'm almost tempted to-'

"Well, all this awkward silence is killing me! Watch this guys!"

Staying true to his adventurous spirit, Icarus brazenly reached out towards the sphere. Too late to stop him, Ace could only watch as his brother made contact with the orb and immediately jerked his hand back with a yelp. He glared back at the orb, but his expression quickly shifted from anger to confusion. Keeping his eyes on the orb, he remained unwilling to shift his attention to anything else, almost as if he was in a trance.

Unable to bear the silence, Ace spoke first "Rus! What's going on?"

"It's....It's....talking? The damn thing is talking!"

Everyone from the orphanage looked around. No one spoke a word but everyone gave Icarus strange looks. Thalia made their concern known. "We uh..... we didn't hear anything Rus. You alright?"

Icarus quickly responded, thinking everyone was playing a prank on him. "What do you mean you guys didn't hear anything?! This little guy was talking up a storm... and he said some interesting stuff too! Something about being 'enchained' and being unable to 'calibrate'? He's quiet now but I know I heard him! Come on Ace, you know I'm not crazy!"

Unable to hear the voice himself, Ace was at a loss. He looked over at Thalia and offered a suggestion.

"Since Rus is fine, I think we should all touch the orbs. Even though his is still near him, it's silent so I don't think anything bad is going to happen."

Thalia sounded skeptical but agreed. "Alright, we'll all give it a try, but let me go f-"

She was rudely cut off by the sound of the five children crying out in pain as they all touched the black orbs. Thalia had intended to go first, but the small children couldn't contain themselves. She was going to scold them, but the tears in their eyes made her reconsider.

Zeke was the only child to speak up and relayed that he heard the same message as Icarus. The other children nodded in agreement.

Since it was just Ace and Thalia left, he looked over and asked her. "Me first? Or you?"

"You can go, I went right after they started crying."

Already knowing the answer, he asked her a simple question. "What did you hear?"

She smiled wistfully as she responded. "Lets just say I made it past 'calibration'. Now stop being a baby and touch the damn thing!"

Bracing himself, Ace touched the sphere and endured the sharp pain. He waited for a few seconds before a voice resonated in his head.

[Sever energy detected! Individual is Notched! Warden beginning calibration.....]

[Success! We have been bonded! I am Warden 190845362!]

"What the!"

[Auditory communication is unnecessary, you can converse with me via your thoughts.]

Ace was left incredibly confused. Sever energy? As far as he could remember, sever empowered humans were supposed to have supernatural strength, speed, and regeneration. He had none of those things, at least that he knew of. If he did, then he wouldn't have spent the past few years getting bullied by his adoptive big sister.

'Hmmmm, this is definitely strange, I'll have to look more into this later'

Thalia called out to him. "So, what did you hear?"

Shrugging his shoulders and putting on a lazy smile, he responded.

"Same as everyone else... something about failing to calibrate."