Prologue - Breaking Off Pride

Apostle Marina's fingers traced the living grain of the white wood table, its surface cool and smooth beneath her touch. The table itself was a testament to their ways—grown, not built, shaped by photonforce manipulation. Twelve years she'd sat at this table in the Laguun Stronghold's council chamber, but never had the atmosphere felt so heavy.

Above the table, a holographic display cast its pale blue light across the faces of her fellow Apostles. Five men, seven women—all bearing the weight of their recent losses in the subtle tension of their shoulders, the tightness around their eyes.

"Play the first sequence again," she commanded, her voice steady despite the unease churning in her stomach.

The air shimmered as the recording materialized. Two fighters circled each other in the Battle Zone arena—Divinos warrior Kale Brightwood versus Ionic adept Serra Vale. Kale's hands blazed with concentrated solarforce, each movement leaving trails of light that orbited his body like a personal solar system.

Serra's response was more subtle: a quick tap to her forearm guard, activating a skill shard embedded in the metal. The crystalline fragment pulsed with a familiar blue radiance—photonforce, captured and refined.

"Watch closely," Apostle Dren murmured, leaning forward. "This is where it shifts."

Kale struck first, his enhanced speed carrying him across the arena in a blur of motion. Solar flares erupted from his fingertips, expanding into a swirling vortex of plasma that filled half the arena. Serra's skill shard flared in response, creating a prismatic barrier that split the solar assault into harmless ribbons of light.

But Kale wasn't finished. As his first attack dissipated, he channeled his solarforce into his legs, launching himself skyward. The arena illuminated like high noon as he formed a concentrated sphere of solar energy above his head, its heat making the air ripple.

Serra's second skill shard activated just as the miniature sun descended. The resulting collision shook the arena—solar energy meeting crystallized force in a spectacular display of light and power. When the glare faded, both fighters stood at opposite ends of the field, breathing hard. Serra's barrier was shattered, her armor smoking in places, but she'd managed to redirect enough of Kale's attack to stay in the fight.

The end came not with a bang, but with precision. While Kale gathered his strength for another solar assault, Serra's final skill shard activated. This time, instead of defending, she went on the offensive, using the stored energy from Kale's previous attacks to create a focused beam of his own solarforce. It caught him off-guard—no one expected their own ability to be turned against them—and blasted the skin of his chest to cinders. The match was over.

"A skill shard user," Apostle Rella said, her voice tight with frustration, "besting a powerful solarforce user."

Marina held up a hand, gesturing to the next recording. "The second match shows how the skill shards are being prepared strategically against specific opponents. Our best fighters."

The hologram shifted, showing a different arena. This time, it was Divinos Saint Jen Weaver and her divinos beast, Striker, against Ionic Champion Kross Steele. Jen's mastery of lightningforce manifested in crackling arcs of electricity that danced across her skin, each movement leaving traces of thunder in its wake. Striker paced behind her, its pale blue fur flowed with static charge.

Kross stood his ground, his armor a masterwork of Ionic engineering. As Jen unleashed her first strike—a horizontal blast of chain lightning that split into dozens of seeking bolts—he activated a skill shard that created a grounding field around him. The bolts were neutralized, but Striker followed up with a slash of its static charged tail. A burst of blue light neutralized Kross’s field, allowing three spears of lightning to break through, leaving scorched impacts on his armor.

Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

The battle quickly evolved into a deadly dance. Jen and Striker’s lightning bolts came faster and faster, each one forcing Kross to expend his limited shard uses carefully. His second shard bent space to avoid a particularly devastating attack, while his third created a feedback loop that sent a portion of their power back at them.

A pale blue wolf was blasted across the stage, but Jen had anticipated Kross’s counter. As her own lightning returned toward her, she caught it, wove it into her next attack, and amplified it. The resulting thunderclap left ears ringing throughout the arena. Both fighters were thrown back, Kross's skill shards shattered as Jen's lightning aura finally flickered out.

Kross took advantage of Jen’s depleted energy reserves and pressed on. The match ended in Kross's favor, but barely—both fighters had to be helped from the arena.

Marina paused the recording just as the medical teams rushed in. "Three shards against years of lightningforce mastery. A victory for the Ionic fighter, yes, but one that shows both the potential and limitations of their technology."

Silence fell over the table. The white wood seemed to pulse faintly beneath Marina's fingers, responding to the collective frustration of twelve powerful photonforce users.

"We are falling behind," Apostle Dren finally said, voicing what they all knew. "The Ionic Fighters have found a way to harness our own power, to store it, to reshape it. Their technology..."

"Goes against our ways," Apostle Rella cut in, but her voice lacked conviction. "Photonforce must be cultivated from within, to grow our strength as naturally as this table was grown."

Marina stood, her rustling robes stilling the argument. "The Starling Empire watches these matches. The entire Divinos Realm judges strength by what happens in the Battle Zone." She gestured to the frozen image of Jen's defeat. "What message are we sending?"

"That we're inflexible," Apostle Kai said, his deep voice resonating with unusual sadness. "That we're bound by tradition while the Ionics adapt and evolve."

The chamber erupted in overlapping voices, arguments both for and against what they all knew was coming. Marina let them debate, watching the play of emotions across faces she'd known for years. Pride warred with pragmatism, tradition with innovation.

She waited until the voices began to quiet before speaking again. "The Divinos Way is meant to be a light in the realm. But a light that cannot shine, cannot guide." She waved her hand through the hologram, dispersing it. "We need to adapt."

"You're suggesting we allow our fighters to misuse photonforce?" Rella asked, though it wasn't really a question.

"No," Marina replied. "I'm suggesting we study the technology, improve it. Our understanding of photonforce is unmatched—imagine what we could achieve if we applied that knowledge to this technology."

The silence that followed was different this time, contemplative rather than tense. One by one, heads began to nod.

"The younger generation already chafes at our restrictions," Kai noted. "Better to guide their use of this technology than to lose them to the Ionic Way entirely."

"We’ll begin with those at the Divinos Warrior stage," Marina said, feeling the momentum build. "Those who have already proven their dedication to The Divinos Way, who understand that these tools must supplement our power, not replace it."

“And perhaps the academies as well.” Apostle Kai suggested. “The cadets will be most malleable to change.”

More nods, more murmurs of agreement. Even Rella, the strongest voice for tradition, seemed to be accepting the inevitable.

"Then we are decided?" Marina asked, looking at each face in turn. "We will allow the use of skill shard equipment, and moreover, we will seek to perfect them?"

The vote was unanimous, though she could see what it cost some of them to raise their hands. Pride was a heavy thing to set aside, especially for those who had spent decades mastering the pure expression of their photonforce aspect.

As the meeting concluded and her fellow Apostles filed out, Marina remained at the table, her hand still resting on its living surface. The wood thrummed faintly, as if acknowledging that change, like growth, was natural and necessary.

"We adapt," she whispered to the empty chamber, "or we fade." The light of The Divinos Way would continue to shine, but perhaps through a lens they hadn't expected. In a realm that valued strength above all, sometimes the greatest power lay in knowing when to change.