Kiyan groans as he opens his eyes to a sterile white tiled room full of medical equipment; hospital grade NuYu gel packs, syringes full of red fluid, and clear cabinets full of an assortment of bandages and wraps. He tries moving his body but is unable to and quickly realizes he is suspended in the NuYu tank. A bespectacled auburn haired woman, with an entirely too large robe draped over her shoulders, enters Kiyan’s peripheral vision. She walks up to him, places her hand on the glass covering and mouths something inaudibly. Seconds later the NuYu gel drains from the tank and the glass door opens.
“Your vitals are looking good, all your injuries seem to have healed up nicely Kiyan” she says.
“Injuries?” he replies, stepping out from the tank. “ Was I hurt?”
“You don’t remember?”
“I remember passing out after I was trapped in some web, but I was fine.”
“You call breaking your arms and internal bleeding fine” she responds, lowering her glasses.
“Wait what? I broke my arms?” Kiyan flaps his arms vigorously as if he were preparing to take flight. “ They feel fine to me, wait how long was out for?”
“Two days and of course they feel fine, you’re in an infirmary...wouldn’t be much of one if we didn’t fix you up” she replies dryly.
“Two days? That hospital grade NuYu gel is no joke then, healing broken arms in two days is pretty insane.” Kiyan feels the cool air touch his body and, after looking at himself, notices he’s wearing nothing but his blue Planestrider underwear “Uh what’s with this? Where are my clothes?”
“ Well your jacket had to be cut off due to your arms, and your shirt and pants are being tested for residue.”
“So what am I supposed to wear?!” he yells as he tries to cover up. She points to a closet in the far right corner of the modestly sized room.
“We have some left over stuff you can wear. I promise we won’t take long analyzing your stuff” she says as she plays around with her robe, spinning the sleeves in a helicopter fashion.
“Are you a doctor? You look sorta young and that robe is way too big for you” Kiyan states as he makes his way to the closet. He opens it and a fold out hanging curtain appears, providing him such much needed privacy.
“I”ll have you know I’m twenty years old so some respect is in order! And my robe is being cleaned right now so I had to take a spare.”
“Right,well doctor whoever you are I can’t help but notice the lack of normal clothing options you guys have.”
“My name is Sam and this isn’t a clothing store Kiyan, just throw whatever on. You’ll be getting a visit from your dad about now, you should be dressed for that.”
“How do you know my name?” Kiyan asks as he puts on baggy black jeans that quickly conform to his shape. “Whoa, you guys have mollis infused clothing?”
“Well yeah, most clothing usesmollis. And to answer your first question, I’ve been the one monitoring you so of course I ran your bio data. Kiyan Alongi. Age 15. Height 5’8. Weight 120 lbs. Blood Type: AB. Last meal eaten was a-”
“Ok damn, you don’t need to read my entire history I get it” Kiyan interrupts, “but it is kind of impressive to recall all that info so quickly.”
“Oh, that’s thanks to AQUA” Sam cheerfully replies.
“AQUA?” Kiyan exits from the curtain, wearing a neon yellow long sleeve shirt with the word ‘Problem’ written over a horizontally reflected ‘Children’.
Sam smiles gleefully and sprints towards Kiyan, showing him a device on her wrist. “Yes, AQUA. This lil baby is something me and the other Technicians cooked up months ago. We’ve finally got a stable version running so are stress testing it to see if there are any holes in it.”
Kiyan stares closely at the device, marveling at the craftsmanship. A scriptor made with Vohltz design principles that’s been modified to use multiple scripts at once.
“Wait, if you have other people testing it, how are you managing the information load? Just having a multi-script system wouldn’t cut it, you’d need an Assistant with quantum level scriptor capabilities.
Sam slowly nods her head and smiles.
“Wait! You have a quantum level scriptor?!” Kiyan shouts in amazement
“Of course! AQUA stands for Asynchronous Quantum Utility Assistant” Sam replies as she beams with unbridled pride.
“Wait shouldn’t it be Asynchronous? I mean you guys are using asynchronous scripting to offset data overload right?” Kiyan places his right on his chin and begins to stroke his bare face. “ I mean otherwise you’re looking at constant slow down of reading speeds, not to mention the hell it would be to have the Assistant know which commands to prioritize.”
“That’s exactly what I said but they told me that the Assistant has built in safeguards for that.”
“Right, like an Assistant’s safeguards can hold up to quantum level data transfers.”
Sam and Kiyan laugh at the absurdity of the scenario, completely unaware that they were no longer the only ones in the room.
“Uh, am I interrupting something?” Eren asks as he stands by the open door.
“Oh, Mr. Alongi I am so sorry I didn’t hear you come in and I was talking to your son and we started talking about quantum scripting and-”
“That’s fine, it looks like he’s in good shape if he can talk your head off about scriptors” interjects Eren.
“Oh, yes his vitals came back fine, like really fine actually.” Sam says with a slight hint of surprise in her voice. “ Oh I totally forgot, Kiyan when you’re ready Captain Hinson and Commander Villaumbrosia are waiting for you in the meeting room.” Sam walks towards Eren, bows deeply, and exits the room muttering about how the other Technicians are idiots. Eren closes the door and lets out a deep sigh of relief.
“Now that she’s gone, how do you actually feel?”
“I don’t know, she told me I broke both my arms but even after being in NuYu for two days, there’s no way my arms would heal that fast.” Kiyan opens his mouth but is stopped by Eren.
“Wait a minute.” Eren places his hand on a tile to the right of the door and a blue holographic panel appears.
“Recognized. Steward Eren Alongi” the panel voice says
“ Black Hole Sequence” Eren commands. A blue light scans Eren and Kiyan before shifting the makeup of the room. An inky black fluid seeps from the walls and covers the entire room in seconds, washing over the pair and flooding the room. The fluid splits open down the middle, leaving a light filled space for Eren and Kiyan.
“What just happened? Everything went dark for a second...and did it just say Steward Eren?” Kiyan asks as he scans the suddenly much smaller room.
“ It’s the Black Hole Sequence. Every room has this function, it's used to keep intruders from entering and disables all forms of technology, including script based.” Eren replies.
“So like some kind of super NulScript? That’s really impressive.”
“This is what NulScript is based on but that’s for another time, I’m more interested in what happened at the warehouse.” Eren gestures for Kiyan to sit and as he does, the black fluid rushes underneath him and forms into a chair.
“I don’t even know if I understand what happened myself. I was following Brick because I thought he was being overly suspicious, next thing I know there’s two guys with yellow eyes wrapping me up in some weird web.”
“Yeah I know about that, but what happened when you got out of it?”
A puzzled Kiyan looks at Eren. “ What do you mean? Wait what are you getting at?”
“You were watching Zariah fight and got hit with something…”
“Yeah, the web from that Queen lady.”
“How did you get out of it?” An intense expression washes over Eren’s face.
“ I don’t know! I just did it, what’s with the interrogation?!” Kiyan yells
“What did you feel?”
“Feel?” Kiyan thinks back to the moment, “ I felt a warm sensation, like in my gut. It travelled up my body and into my arms and then I just broke out of it.”
“Did they tell you how you broke your arms?” Eren inquires.
“No, she just said they were broken.”
“They were crushed from having overwhelming internal stress placed on them.”
“How?
“ You fortified your muscles in your arm to such a degree that it crushed the bone. You didn’t feel it because you were in a heightened state.”
Kiyan leaps out of his seat. “ That’s impossible, I don’t even know how to do that? Controlling your body like that is …” He trails off as he thinks about Sofia and Zariah, how they were able to do physically impossible things with the greatest of ease. “Divine force, what is that?”
“That’s something I can’t get into right now, but needless to say it's a requirement for becoming a Steward.”
“A Steward huh? Why didn’t you tell me you used to be one?”
“I still am one and I didn’t tell you because you never had any interest in the Kingdom, you never even hinted at wanting to be a Warden” Eren replies, smiling. “Let’s continue this conversation at home, we’ve kept them waiting long enough. Black Hole Sequence End.” The dark fluid retreats as quickly as it came, leaving Kiyan sitting on the cold floor.
“This stuff is weird, how come it doesn’t leave any stains?”
“Do I look like I know? Get off the floor and let’s go.”
“I’m just saying, it's weird how it behaves...I wonder if it’s similar to NuYu?”
“I don’t know, also where are your shoes?”
“They have them, running tests or whatever. Oh, you think I can keep the pants?”
Eren groans loudly and picks Kiyan up with one arm, exiting into the hallway. The pair walk down a long, twisting black hallway full of gold color doors and blue circuitry.
“ What is this place?” Kiyan asks as he’s being carried like a bag of groceries.
“We’re in the medical wing, well the isolation wing, of the underwater outpost” Eren replies. He makes his way to a gold platform and places Kiyan down. “Meeting Room Sigma” Eren commands. The gold platform shines brilliantly, engulfing the two in an orb of yellow light, transporting them into a room containing a large wooden table, four tall black chairs, black tile floors and Zariah standing a few feet away.
“D-did we just teleport? I just teleported? What kind of scripts are they running to do that?” Kiyan asks as the light fades around them.
“I see that you are well, I am glad” says Zariah, “ I did not know if your arms would recover but it looks like they are fine.” She quickly looks at Eren and bows deeply. “ Captain Alongi, I am glad that you are also in good health.”
“You don’t need to be so formal Zariah, especially since I’ve heard you’ve also made Captain” Eren replies as he heads to the table. “You coming or is the ground more interesting?” He asks a frozen Kiyan.
“Huh, oh yeah hold up.”
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
“You come to my outpost and don’t even say hello? You’ve lost your manners Eren.” A silhouette figure emerges from Eren’s shadow.
“You’re the one hiding in the shadows like a creep Amaro” Eren replies. The shadows retreat from the figure and reveal a man with smooth olive skin, ashen hair, white robes with black trim, a gold sash around his waist and white gloves with the symbol of Cambria.
“Is that anyway to talk to a Commander?” Amaro asks.
“Oh please you only Commander because I didn’t want it.” They both stare at each other before breaking into laughter and embrace.
“Man, it’s been what five years since you’ve been here?”
“Six, but it looks like you’ve been busy all this time.”
Kiyan stares in disbelief. “Uh, did you just come up from the floor?”
“Oh, where are my manners? I am Commander Amaro Villaumbrosia of the Stewards Southwestern Division, and no I came from the shadow.” He walks to the table and takes a seat, signalling the rest to do the same.
“So, I’ve heard that you were present at the warehouse two days ago” Amaro asks
“Yeah,” Kiyan rubs his temple as he winces, “ I was attacked by some yellow eyed dudes. The Queen lady kept calling them drones?”
“ Are you alright Kiyan?” a concerned Zariah asks.
“I don’t know why, but it’s really bright in here. You guys are like really shiny, can we turn down the lights or something?”
Zariah and Amaro look at Eren, who gives them a knowing glance.
“ Oh yes, my mistake I haven’t used this room in a while. AQUA reduce luminosity by 30%. Is that better?” Amaro asks
“Yeah a bunch, thanks.”
“ So when you were attacked by the drones, did they do or say anything before I got there?” Zariah asks
“ Well I was wrapped for the most part, but I do remember that the Queen said I was too good to be sent away, so maybe they are shipping people? There were a lot of pods being loaded into containers.”
“Does that clear things up Amaro?” Eren asks, “ are you gonna do it?”
“What? Do what?” Kiyan asks, looking at Eren and Amaro.
“ We were tracking the movements of Chimeric Beasts within the kingdom after Zariah ran into one during a mission.”
“Yes, although it was not the same one from the warehouse, we have reason to believe that someone is creating Chimeric Beasts” Zariah adds.
“ I thought Chimeric Beasts were the result of the Cataclysm, aren’t they natural?” Kiyan asks
“They are, but these types have been enhanced. Most Chimeric Beasts have the intelligence of a toddler and it's extremely rare to encounter one capable of speech let alone strategy” Amaro states.
“ So someone is altering beasts and it involves taking people from the district. You guys think the people are turned into beasts?”
“Or fed to beasts. Remember, animals with the Chimeric Gene can take the attributes of whatever they consume” chimes in Eren.” So basically all we know is that somehow, someone in Cambria is experimenting on people and that’s in direct violation of the Royal Decrees.”
“Oh wait, Brick! I was following him after he was with this dude with orange hair, maybe that guy knows something?”
“That man Brick was of no use to us” Zariah states, “ he seemed terrified of something and would not give us an answer.”
“So you guys just let him go?! He could probably lead you to the guy!” Kiyan says as he slams the table
“ I appreciate your enthusiasm but we’ve been monitoring him ever since he left” Villaumbrosia states calmly, looking at Eren.
“Yeah, he hasn’t been in contact with any orange haired man, or anyone for that matter. Dude has been holed up in his house the whole time” Eren says.
“I do believe that concludes our meeting. If you will have me, I will be more than willing to escort you two back to Vallis” Zariah says as she rises from her seat and walks towards the platform.
“Why not? Let’s take your ship though, mine is still in storage.”
“You have a ship? I feel like you’ve been holding out on me Eren.”
“Let’s go. Amaro, if you find something let me know. I don’t like the idea of Chimeras running wild within the walls.” Eren gets up and makes his way to the platform, beckoning for Kiyan to follow him.
“Likewise if anything happens in Vallis I expect to get a call from you. Oh and Kiyan, I hope you understand the need for discretion.”
“He does” replies Eren as he Kiyan steps on the platform.
“Sea Port” Zariah commands. The trio are instantly teleported to a massive room with giant oval windows. The sound of machinery whirring fills the area as ships are being made and repaired. Autonomous arms grab sheets of metal and spray them with liquid mollis before molding them into ship parts.
“Whoa, you guys have a SAS?” Kiyan asks in amazement.
“Yes. Self Assembly Systems are fairly common in our bases, otherwise we could not complete construction nearly as quickly” Zariah responds as she leads them over to her ship; a plain, modestly sized black submersible with clear trim and the insignia on of Cambria; a golden hawk.The ship descends down from the ceiling and docks on a tank of water.
“Um, are we all gonna fit in there? Eren alone is gonna make this a tighter fit than his shirt.”
“What was that? I couldn’t hear you over your shirt?” Eren retorts.
“This isn’t even mine, they had nothing else to wear!” Kiyan replies, “speaking of which, where are my clothes?”
Zariah steps towards the docked ship and touches it with her right hand, summoning a door. “Your belongings have been transferred to my ship, please this way.” Kiyan follows Zariah inside and is amazed at how spacious the vessel is. It could easily seat a hundred people, or about fifty Erens. He walks around the interior of the ship and notices a wall panel.
“Is this where you guys put your scripts? Gotta be running some kind of storage script configuration.”
“That is correct, we are able to utilize the storage scripts to create interiors much bigger than the exterior. You have quite the eye.” Zariah sits at the helm of the ship and a panel appears in front of her. “Feel free to sit anywhere, the ship will create seats for you. You will find your clothes and shoes in that box to the right of you.”
“Oh thanks, I was getting tired of walking barefoot” Kiyan says, “ but my feet don’t look dirty or even feel cold.”
“That’s because the floors are lined with a small amount of anti gravity scripts, you never actually touched the floor” Eren states.
“Really?”
“No. It’s just a side effect from the NuYu, you stay in pristine condition for a few hrs.” Eren plops down next to Zariah, who is preparing for takeoff.
“Hey Zari, it’s his first time so make sure you go through the tunnel” Eren requests.
“Of course Captain Alongi. I will take the tunnel route.”
“Again you don’t have to be so formal” he replies, “ Yo Kiy, come up here and have a seat!” Kiyan joins them at the front of the ship as Zariah deploys. The ship submerges fully into the massive tank and blasts off through the circular exit. They travel inside the turquoise blue tunnel, passing by a series of underwater rock formations until they enter the expansive deep blue.
“Whoa, this is the sea? It's so big! Hey Eren you gotta check…” Kiyan looks over at Eren who is fully asleep in his chair. As he looks back into the ocean he sees a myriad of aquatic sea life; a school red glowing fish, spotted seahorses destroying rocks with bubbles and eating prey, lightning cackling from the tips of a fifty foot jellyfish as it zaps a massive stone pillar, though one creature in particular holds his attention. A ten foot wormlike creature with six humanoid arms scurries across the sandy floor and buries itself almost completely underneath, leaving only its head above the sand. It opens its mouth and creates a localized vortex, sucking in the surrounding sea life.
“I don’t know what I just saw but I am equal parts terrified and amazed” Kiyan states with his eyes wide open.
Kiyan is startled by a suddenly nearby Zariah, which causes her to let out a surprisingly innocent giggle. “That was a Whirling Devil. They cannot swim so they use their powerful arms to move on the ground until they find a suitable area to feed.”
“By using a vortex? That’s insane. The ocean is insane...what about that one?” Kiyan points to a large, purple fish with green fins and a foot long horn on its head.
“That is a Ravfish. They are a carnivorous breed of fish.”
“And that one?”
“ Oh that is an Iron Worm. They use their bodies to dig through sediment as a way to find food and escape predators.”
“Are their bodies really made of iron?”
“No, it’s actually much stronger. In fact, we use a combination of Mollis and Iron Worms to make our underwater buildings and vessels.”
“Now approaching the Sunlight Zone, please prepare to exit tunnel” a computerized voice says
“Sunlight Zone? Wait then where were we before?” Kiyan asks
“ The Abyssal Zone, a place where the light from the sun does not reach” Zariah answers.
“Wait, then how were we seeing all those creatures?”
“I cannot tell you that, it is confidential Steward information. Also, I do not know how.” Zariah walks back to her seat and presses a silver button. Suddenly the white trim around the ship shifts to a turquoise blue as it exits the tunnel. The ship glides through the water effortlessly under Zariah’s piloting, able to weave past the sea life at a moment's notice. The vessel breaches the surface and Zariah idles it before pulling a lever to the right of her seat. The ship’s ceiling splits open and retracts like a convertible top, turning the submersible into a boat.
“This is amazing, I can’t believe all that stuff is right under the surface” Kiyan states as he gazes at the endless blue.
Zariah chuckles softly.
“What, did I say something stupid?” Kiyan asks.
“Oh not at all. You have just reminded me of how I must have been when I first saw the ocean too” she replies.
Kiyan looks at Zariah for a moment before his eyes widen. “Oh! I never thanked you for saving my life,” he bows, “ so thank you for saving me.”
“You do not have to thank me, it is both my duty and my honor to help a citizen of Cambria.”
“Really all about duty and honor aren’t you?” Kiyan stands upright and glances at Eren to make sure he’s still asleep. “ Hey, what was that move you did at the warehouse? You took out all those guys in one hit, that was real yaxsy.”
“Yaxsy?”
“Yeah, like cool. I guess you don’t go on the Cycle a lot.”
“ I do not, but that move was my Gale Strike.”
“That is an awesome name, that sounds like something Planeswalker would use!”
“Y-you watch Planeswalker?” Zariah hesitantly asks
“Oh yeah, I’ve seen all four seasons and two movies. They keep delaying the third film and they haven’t announced a new season, but rumor has it production is held up due to contract negotiations.”
“Absurd, what negotiations need to be had? It is one of the top grossing films in Cambria and is in the top ten in Gyeol. Surely money cannot be an issue, perhaps it is-”
Eren lets out a loud yawn as he stirs awake, stretching his massive arms above his head.
“Captain Alongi! I did not mean to wake you sir, I apologize” Zariah says as she immediately bows.
“Huh, it’s fine I have to be up anyways. Looks like we are close to Vallis, bout a mile from shore?” Eren asks as he uses his hand to block out the sun.
“That is correct sir. I can bring the ship closer if need be.”
“Nah, don’t bother. This is close enough, you should head back.” Eren picks up Kiyan and carries him towards the bow of the ship with one arm. “Alright Zari, I’ll see you later.”
“I look forward to our next meeting Captain Alongi, Kiyan” Zariah says as she once again bows.
Kiyan thrashes against the immovable grip of Eren until it dawns upon him that they are leaving the ship. “ Wait, if she’s staying then how are we getting home?” Eren walks off the front of the boat and doesn’t hit the water but remains parallel to it. He braces himself before firing himself off, lifting the front end of the boat out of the water. Zariah rapidly shrinks before disappearing completely from view as Kiyan is rocketed away. He only sees an erupting white spray of water trailing him like a snake following its prey, when suddenly his hands are digging into the warm, brown sand.
“Oh boy, I must be getting rusty! I couldn’t fully control my landing” Eren jests as he stands on newly exposed sandstone. He coughs as the uplifted sand dances in the air around him. Kiyan remains on his knees, frozen in thought. “ Yo Kiy, we can come back to the beach another day.”
“So, that’s the kinda stuff a Steward can do…” Kiyan says to himself.
“What you’d say?” Eren asks. Kiyan stands up and faces him.
“Zariah was able to take out twenty guys with one move and fight that freaky Queen. Sofia can beat up ten men and destroy scriptors with ease. You just landed from a ship that was a mile away like it was nothing.”
“ So what are you getting at Kiyan?” Eren asks, his expression becoming more stern.
“ I want to be a Steward!” Immediately after saying that, an overwhelming feeling of pressure overcomes Kiyan, forcing him back on his knees. As he looks at Eren, his head begins throbbing as a blinding, white light emanates from his body,violently kicking up sand and wind. Kiyan’s breathing quickens and sweat forms on his brow as the familiar sensation of fear creeps in.
“You want to be a Steward but just looking at me puts you on your knees. This isn’t a world you can leave once you enter it, you’ll be put on the radar of a lot of people, some of them real bad. If you tell me you want to stay here, I can make it so that you can live a normal life with no memories of this.”
Kiyan pushes slowly against the tremendous weight.
“Hard pass.”
He thinks about how he was saved by Zariah as he manages to lift one knee off the ground.
“I’m already on someone’s radar and I don’t want to go back.”
He places his hand on the sand and pushes himself onto his feet,all the while thinking of how helpless he felt against the Queen.
“The world is big, and I wanna see all of it. I wanna be strong enough to do the protecting and not be protected!”
He widens his stance and lifts his head up to meet the gaze of Eren. Kiyan’s eyes hum with a faint blue glow as grains of sand flutter away from him.
“So if that means I have to become a Steward, then I’ll do it!”
Eren remains stone faced as the two stare into each other's eyes with unwavering resolution. The air around Eren intensifies, causing Kiyan to grit his teeth and firmly plant his feet into the sand.
Kiyan’s body suddenly feels lighter and his throbbing headache quickly fades away as the violent winds from Eren dissipate. “Well, you passed!” a jovial Eren declares.
“Huh?” Kiyan lets out as his eyes return to normal. “ Passed what? That was a test?!”
“Of course. I had to test your mettle. Ya know, see if you were all talk.”
“Geez, I thought my head was gonna explode. Warn me next time!”
“That’s not how a test of mettle works.” Eren reaches into his pocket and pulls out a storage script the size of a tennis ball.
“What’s with the huge script? I don’t have a scriptor on me” states Kiyan
“Don’t need one.” The storage script glows in Eren’s hand and he begins drawing a doorway in the air, leaving a white contrail. The space inside of the door glows brilliantly white before displaying a view of a cliff overlooking a vast forest.
“You coming?” Eren asks as he places a foot in the doorway? Kiyan braces himself and crosses the threshold with Eren following behind. He looks to his right and sees a meditating Sofia wearing a plain white t-shirt, black track pants with yellow horizontal stripes on the sides and gray running shoes.
“Oh, will you be joining us finally Kiyan?” Danae asks, sitting on top of a small boulder a few feet away.
“ Yup, he decided on his own to become a Steward” interjects Eren.
“Oh he did, did he? I’m sure he wasn’t shown anything to influence his decision” Danae slyly retorts. “In any case, let’s see where he is at. Nieta!”
Sofia opens one of her eyes, “ yes abuela?”
“How about you practice with Kiyan?”
“Really? I wanted to focus on learning this new technique”
“There will be time for that later, help your brother.”
“Yes abuela.” Sofia sighs and she gets up from the ground and dusts herself off. “Ok conchudo, let’s see what you got.”